.oOo. YEAR 1, Day 7 .oOo.
The shouts echo through the surroundings, and 2 of the 3-unit types present moved. Acting on the command of their respective leaders. The Lamia, being the fastest units present all shot like pythons at the group.
"Well, this escalated quickly," Arthur said. He half expected this to happen, after all, Lamia and Treants. Being super dependent on the earth and water for survival would easily be tempted by the resources Arthur posed. They were also prideful by nature, claiming to be the truest life-forms of the world.
So, Arthur knew they wouldn't just submit, and the moment he presented something equivalent to the fountain of youth for them, he expected them to attack.
Marvin, next to Arthur, raised his staff and slammed it on the ground, forming a swirling dome around the group. The snakes slammed against it before being flung away and into the air.
Galion was next to act and slammed his fist into the ground with a shout of.
"Seismic quake!"
The ground shook and broke apart, and slabs of stone flew everywhere, smashing and crushing into the approaching enemies.
Tholios was the first to act, seeing the danger the man posed and leapt from his throne, limbs raised and ready to smash into them all. Galion saw the tree move and raised his arm; it transformed and was covered by thick earth with veins of lava within. Then punched at the approaching tree monster.
"Martial art, Wind pressure fist!" He shouted.
The punch moved quickly, superheated the air and sent it flying. The hot air hit the Treant, sending him flying like a rag doll, smashing him through his throne, and hitting the ground harshly 5 meters away.
"Well, he's certainly stronger than I expected," muttered Galion, seeing that his opponent wasn't blown to pieces by the attack. Then he grinned, "Finally someone who can take a beating!" he shouted in joy and leapt off the ground heading for his new treant friend who was quickly getting up.
"Holy Isolation!"
Screamed the priest dragon-kin, and the barrier from before finally set in, sealing the three leaders in a 500-meter-wide barrier that isolated the selected targets, this being Arthur and his team along with the 3 leaders.
"You fends!" shouted the Lamia princess while making her way out of a slab of stone that crashed into her. "This was your plan from the beginning!," she shouted.
"Not really; it was just a backup plan. I genuinely wanted you all to serve. I would have gained strong fighters, and you would have gained free rein over the spirit field and holy spring as long as you could produce soldiers and crops. However, you decided to attack," spoke Arthur while stepping forward and pulling out his sword.
"Morgan, please make the queen see our way," spoke Arthur before stepping forward, blurring in a burst of speed, and appearing before Alphretas. He slashed with his weapon, aimed at the Lamia's neck. The princess weaved, utilising her flexibility, while utilising her tail to try and catch the king off guard.
PTSD kicked in for Arthur and lashed at the air, charged with wind. A small gale formed, pushing her away from him and flinging her into the air.
Most Lamia would be flailing in the air as creatures who predominantly live on land, but the princess showed her skill as she curled up into a ball and spun rapidly, at her descent ready to crush Arthur under her tail.
Arthur roared, and a powerful wave of flames shot toward the approaching princess. She screamed in pain but powered through until she reached the appropriate distance and lashed out with her tail, shattering the empty ground.
Arthur, who dodged the attack, readied his next attack.
.OoO.
Morgan approached Alseid, her stride calm, and a smile on her face. The Nymph readied her staff that was charged with green lightning. "Was this your plan?" she asked.
"Yes and no, like my lord said, you attacked first, and this is just self-defence. Now why don't you just be a good little queen and give up? I don't want to force you to do so; I need you to work for us by your own free will." Spoke Morgan.
"Why? Nymphs are not all that powerful?" asked Alseid.
"Simple, Nymphs make for good farmers; you speed up the growth and nutrition of the fauna near you. Out of the three species here, yours is the one we desire the most," spoke Morgan.
"How do I know your words are just sweet lies?" asked Alseid.
"There is no way, but isn't that how things work? We all learn to trust each other over time?" asked Morgan.
Alseid frowned deeply.
.oOo.
"VINE THRASH!"
Shouted Tholios as his hands extended into thick vines and he lashed out continuously at Galion, who weaved through the barrage of attacks, each one leaving thick marks on the ground.
The drake moved quickly and soon appeared in front of the battered and burnt Treant, and pulled his fist back and a rich aura wrapped around it.
"Martial Art! Internal eruption!"
He punched the treant in its torso, injecting the aura inside of it and letting it erupt like a volcano, breaking the treant's body apart, nearly severing it in two.
"GYAAAA!" he roared in pain. Then Lashed out at Galion, landing a hit that sent him flying back.
"Life absorb"
"Life reconstruction"
The treant sunk its leg roots into the ground, absorbing the nutrients into itself to allow it to repair and restructure its body. Galion kept a calm smirk on his face, allowing the Treant to reform.
He wanted a fight that he could enjoy, and the more he beat up the treant, the more it reformed its body to be able to take his attacks a lot better. This made him very happy; he was finally able to test out his new powers.
The treant was now smaller inside but much bulkier, having reformed its bark to be thicker and layering it with moisture to combat the heat coming from Galion's attacks.
"You ready?" he asked while charging his fists with dragon aura.
"You die, you fool!" shouted the Treant before kicking off the ground and appearing in front of Galion, fists barbed with spikes of branches, and tried punching Galion matched the attack with his own.
Then the trade started taking place, as barrage after barrage flew, fists colliding at tremendous speeds and they kept increasing.
But after 10 seconds of this quick exchange, it was clear that while Galion was continuing to gain speed with his punches, Tholios was breaking apart; each fist of Galion tore his bark off, forcing him to continue to use Life absorb and life reconstruction to reform himself.
However, his regeneration couldn't keep up with Galion who's fists were heating up with each punch he made.
"Draco Meteor fists!"
Shouted the drake as his fists broke through the weak guard of Tholios and slammed into his face and torso. Each punch had enough force to shatter Galion's thick bark, causing bloody sap to leak out from him.
Galion whined back and punched. The impact caused a shockwave and shattered the ground before sending Tholios flying, and he hit the dirt hard moments later, lifeless.
.OoO.
Galion dragged the body of Tholios back to the priest, who was busy holding up the barrier.
He saw Morgan talking to the Nymph queen and small explosions of dirt and aura in the distance. "The lord isn't done?" asked Tholios calmly while dropping the body of the Treant.
"Yes, it seems he's busy testing his newly found strength," spoke Marvin before looking at the nearly destroyed body. "You destroyed it." He said. Galion blushed in embarrassment.
"Can you use Restore to fix it?" asked the drake with a pleading tone. Marvin looked at him and sighed.
"You owe me," he said before holding a hand to the treant body and using the spell Restore to fix its body.
"Yes, I'll return this favour, my friend." Said Galion with a jovial grin on his face.
.oOo.
Whoosh!
Wind blew, and the body of Alphetas hit the rubble that was once her throne and fell limp.
"I guess I got a bit stronger." Spoke Arthur, a smile on his face while looking pristine. He walked and finally reached the fallen princess and looked next under him to see his soldiers all standing on the foot of the sole remaining throne. He smiled and looked outside the range of the barrier to see the many struggling units all trying to break in and help their leaders.
He smiled, "Guess they didn't try to escape." He said before closing his eyes.
"Holran, Lucias, commence capture." He said, and nodded at the group before him. "Go help them." He said, and the barrier fell. He saw his soldiers attack the army of treants and Lamia who were either trying to escape after noticing the death of their leaders or trying to get revenge.
He looked up to see units descend, along with a massive dust cloud that exploded around the settlement.
As he watched all of this happen, a single thought came to mind.
"What a way to end the week."
.oOo. END OF CHAPTER .oOo.