The roar did not come from the demon.
It came from the Mother Tree.
A deep, wrenching lament swept through the grove, as though the great trunk's very insides were splitting apart. The upper branches convulsed violently, and a tide of black mana burst outward, withering the leaves on contact.
Grisela immediately raised her bow.
—FORM RINGS! ARCHERS ON THE FRONT LINE, DRUIDS BEHIND THEM!
The elves reacted instantly. Energy-infused arrows aimed at the Mother Tree while the druids channeled purification circles over the roots. However, the earth's mana lasted barely a second before being devoured by the demonic filth.
A cavernous laugh escaped Bragoz. He remained motionless, embedded in the center of the wood like a gigantic parasite that depended on the tree to remain invulnerable.
—You can keep fighting until you collapse... or surrender. The result will be the same. —Black sap ran down his embedded chest. —As long as I remain connected to this heart, this forest belongs to me.
The trunk fractured again.
A gigantic crack tore open the bark, and the tree began vomiting corruption. Dozens of deformed beasts crashed into the mud, their limbs trapped in living wood and roots writhing beneath their skin.
Grisela held back the tide with her people.
—HOLD THE EXIT! DON'T LET THE ABOMINATIONS ADVANCE!
The druids and archers engaged the horde while Emily raised a dome of sacred light to keep the caustic air from choking the combatants. Thunder and Elizabeth intercepted the larger beasts with bursts of lightning.
But Lusian wasn't looking at the monsters.
His target was the core.
The strategy was clear: Bragoz would not leave the trunk willingly. He was using the Mother Tree's life force to regenerate any damage and accelerate the ritual. The only way to save the forest—and obtain the fruit of purification—was to forcefully sever the connection.
—Dayana —Lusian ordered without taking his eyes off the demon. —We need to sever the main arteries.
—With pleasure —the vampire hissed.
Lusian lunged forward, wrapped in a dense Cloak of Shadows.
Dainslein did not aim for Bragoz's head, but for the thick black roots emerging from the bark and burying themselves into his back like colossal veins.
CLANG!
The blade of Shadows struck the right anchor point. Sparks and rotten sap exploded through the air. Bragoz's face twisted into a furious grimace as he felt the loss of vital flow.
—You damn insect!
At that exact moment, Dayana burst in from the left flank. Her vampiric mana claws sliced through the opposing cluster of living veins.
CRACK!
With the network of arteries no longer holding his body in place and the anchoring points destroyed by the combination of Shadow and blood, the connection collapsed.
Bragoz's body was violently ripped from the cavity in the trunk by the shockwave, sending him crashing into the mud of the clearing.
For the first time, the parasite was outside its host.
The Mother Tree shuddered in relief, but the residual channel of black sap remained open. Bragoz staggered upright over the roots, coughing up dark blood as his eyes burned with impure fury at being separated from his source.
Lusian advanced slowly through the smoke, covered in liquid shadow, Dainslein ready for the final duel.
—Now you're out.
Because behind the demon...
Grisela was already moving.
The Nature Hero drove her hand into the bloodstained earth. A tide of emerald mana erupted along the corrupted roots, and elven runes began spreading beneath the base of the Mother Tree. Glowing vines coiled around the dark connections anchoring Bragoz to the bark.
Her breathing was ragged. The demonic filth burned through and devoured her magic the moment it emerged from her body, but Grisela endured the pain and pushed forward.
—Hurry... —Lusian muttered through clenched teeth as he blocked a savage strike.
His arms trembled from the violence of the impact. Bragoz was stronger, faster, and the tide of corrupted mana still being pumped from the trunk made every collision more brutal than the last.
However, Lusian had no intention of overpowering him in a direct clash.
He only needed to keep his attention.
And then Bragoz noticed.
The demon's pupils widened in blind fury.
—What the hell are you doing...?
Lusian didn't bother answering. He lunged at him again before the creature could turn its head.
Northern Front — Ryndel and the Elves
The abominations spewing from the Mother Tree advanced with unsettling synchronization. They did not run or roar.
They moved like a single hive mind.
A six-limbed beast armored in living wood charged the front line. The impact sent three elven warriors flying before they could even raise their barriers.
Ryndel raised his bow.
The Bow of the Last Sprouts vibrated between his fingers with an agonizing hum. Something was wrong. The grove no longer answered his call with its usual warmth.
Even so, he released the string.
Three arrows of light tore through the darkness.
The first shattered a joint.
The second severed the monster's lower jaw.
The third pinned it to the ground.
Despite its mutilation, the creature continued crawling toward them.
A blackened root erupted from the leaf-covered ground at absurd speed. Ryndel reacted instinctively, severing it with his dagger as he stepped backward.
Rotten sap splattered across the mud.
That wasn't natural magic. The ancestral earth had never reacted with such viciousness.
—DON'T FALL BACK! —Ryndel roared over the chaos. —THIS IS STILL OUR HOME!
For a fraction of a second, the grove seemed to awaken.
Glowing vines tightened around several beasts, while razor-sharp leaves rained down like green daggers.
But the response was fragile.
Barely an agonizing flicker.
The corrupted roots tore the vines apart almost instantly.
Ryndel understood in that instant.
The forest was no longer listening to them.
The plague was usurping control of the land.
Beside him, an archer was impaled straight through by a black thorn and collapsed without a sound. Another warrior was buried beneath a mass of living roots.
The defensive line retreated half a step.
Then another.
The hordes advanced without pause, blind to fear.
Ryndel clenched his jaw and poured the last drop of mana into his weapon, desperately trying to force his spiritual connection with the environment.
The ancient runes along the bowstring glowed...
For one second.
Only one second.
Then they faded into ash.
—...It no longer answers me... —he whispered.
The enemy continued gaining ground as the air filled with the foul stench of rotten sap and fresh blood.
Ryndel stepped forward.
Just one step.
—Even if the forest is wounded... —he murmured, barely audible— as long as I have one breath left...
He drew the string one last time.
But the arrow never flew.
A black thorn pierced through his side, tearing through flesh and armor.
Time seemed to freeze.
Ryndel's fingers went rigid and released the string.
The Bow of the Last Sprouts fell silently onto the dead earth.
Southern Front — Emily
Emily raised both hands toward the crimson-stained sky.
Divine light detonated around her body and spread across the clearing in a warm golden tide, tearing through the filth contaminating the surroundings.
Upon contact with the sacred radiance, the horde's advance halted.
The creatures slowed. Their muscles seized as though the impure force animating them were being devoured from within.
Several beasts staggered backward, emitting warped shrieks.
However, the corrupted hive reacted instantly.
Demonic mana condensed around the sacred dome. It crawled across the ground like dead fish and spiraled up the trunks of the oaks, devouring the barrier from every direction.
—Emily, the barrier is collapsing! —a druid shouted, dropping to his knees with his burned palms exposed. —We can't maintain the frequency!
The nature runes floating above his fingers went dark one after another.
Emily gritted her teeth as she felt a titanic weight pressing down on her shoulders.
—I KNOW! —she shouted, her throat burning. —BUT IF I GIVE UP NOW, NO ONE WILL SURVIVE!
At that moment, the ground in front of her collapsed.
A creature emerged from the miasma accumulated beneath the earth.
But before its claws could reach the healer, an elven warrior stepped in front of her, blocking the attack with a wall of living roots.
Behind him, more abominations began emerging from the blackened earth, crawling forth in an endless tide as the grove convulsed.
The corruption gathered once more before Emily.
Pitch-black roots twisted together at frantic speed, while infected sap hardened into a biomechanical mass.
The beast charged.
Emily raised a purification shield at the last possible instant.
BOOM!
The impact shook the foundations of the defensive barrier.
The abomination shrieked as the sacred light burned through its structure, dissolving layers of corrupted flesh.
But the shockwave struck Emily directly.
Her breath was knocked from her lungs, and a thin line of fresh blood ran from the corner of her mouth.
In response, the radiance surrounding her flared with blinding intensity.
Too much.
She was exceeding the safe threshold of her mana reserves.
And yet, she didn't take a single step back.
Under the protection of her divine mantle, the druids began catching their breath and restructuring their channels.
It wasn't enough to crush the horde...
But it was enough to keep the line alive for one more second.
Western Front — Elizabeth and Thunder
The sky tore apart beneath Thunder's continuous lightning strikes.
Elizabeth remained upright on the silver steed's back, gripping the reins with white knuckles as the contamination in the air attempted to seep into her veins like a dull poison.
Every spell burned inside her.
Every arcane shield consumed an absurd amount of energy.
Thunder reacted to threats milliseconds before the beasts emerged from the mist.
It wasn't mere animal instinct.
It was the resonance of the telepathic bond he shared with Lusian.
A silent bolt of lightning plunged from the heavens and split the ground apart.
Two shapeless monsters exploded in a storm of electricity, but three more charged through the charred remains.
Elizabeth extended one hand and raised another containment barrier.
The structure formed imperfectly, arcane cracks spreading across its surface the instant the first claw struck the light.
—I won't be able to hold this threshold much longer... —she muttered through clenched teeth, struggling to calibrate the frequency of her magic. —The demonic mana in the environment is resonating with something inside me...
Then a viscous, reverent voice slithered directly into her mind, crossing the distance from the Mother Tree.
"My queen... what a pleasure to see you. Just give the order. This faithful servant will obey..."
Elizabeth stifled a gasp and pressed a hand against her temple.
Bragoz's voice wasn't resonating through the air.
It was inside her mind.
Recognizing her as his sovereign.
Thunder slammed his hooves into the ground.
A dome of high-voltage electricity detonated around him, forming a defensive ring that forced the horde to retreat for a brief moment.
One second.
And the beasts charged again with renewed fury.
At that critical moment, Lusian's voice crossed the mental link with the steed, cold, sharp, and unquestionable.
"Hold the line. Don't let a single abomination reach the core."
Thunder answered with a furious neigh, his body bristling with blue lightning.
Elizabeth drew a difficult breath and clenched her teeth, ignoring the demonic whispers fighting to seize control of her body.
Her hands trembled from the magical overload, but she once again condensed her mana in the air.
They weren't winning on the western flank.
They were only buying the seconds Lusian needed to execute the parasite.
Central Front — Lusian and Grisela vs. Bragoz
Lusian was bleeding as he barely managed to remain standing at the heart of the carnage.
It wasn't the first time he had faced the impossible, but the difference this time was overwhelming.
Every impact reverberated straight into the marrow of his bones.
He blocked another attack, his arm trembling violently beneath the force of the collision. The shockwave drove him backward, and for a millisecond, he felt the hilt of Dainslein threatening to slip from his fingers, slick with sweat and blood.
Bragoz didn't fight according to any methodical pattern.
He fought like an adaptive entity, absorbing and learning from every exchange.
Lusian gritted his teeth, forcing his stance on the bed of roots.
—Damn it...
His breathing came in ragged gasps, and his body was no longer executing movements with its usual speed.
Yet he didn't give up a single meter.
Because Grisela was still behind him.
Lusian turned his head slightly to look at her.
The Nature Hero stood before the mass of the Mother Tree, eyes closed, her figure wrapped in an emerald aura that descended into the earth as though her own veins were intertwining with the primordial roots.
This was no simple spell.
It was an absolute, mystical communion that bound her to the heart of the forest.
Sweat ran down her forehead, but she didn't allow herself even a blink, fully aware that if her concentration broke too soon, the connection would collapse beyond recovery.
Bragoz sensed the ritual immediately, and his smile twisted into an expression of cruelty.
—You're leaving her exposed while you pray for a miracle?
Lusian stepped forward and blocked another attack that sent an explosion of pain down his spine.
—Shut up.
His voice had lost its usual composure. It sounded worn, rough, and choked by exhaustion.
Grisela remained motionless as time stretched on, heavy and suffocating with every second of resistance.
Lusian clenched his jaw to hold the line.
—Come on... —he muttered to himself, never taking his eyes off the abomination. —Finish this already...
He doubted how much longer he could maintain that pace.
But one thing was certain.
If his guard fell before she finished, Grisela would be slaughtered before completing the ancestral attunement.
Grisela was no longer connected to the Mother Tree through spells.
She was connected as though her own roots had remembered their place in creation.
Demonic mana attempted to devour her, crawling through the link like a searing fluid seeking to dissolve her mind and sever the connection by force.
Grisela clenched her teeth as spasms shook her body.
The earth's mana desperately fought to maintain itself while the filth tried to repel it.
She was losing.
She knew it with bitter certainty.
A mouthful of warm blood spilled from her throat and stained her clothes.
Her torso arched with pain, but she did not sever the flow of mana.
If her life was the price for saving the Mother Tree, she would gladly pay it.
And then...
The Mother Tree answered.
It reacted like an ancient consciousness that, after ages of nightmare, once again recognized the heartbeat of its daughter.
The entire grove convulsed.
Titanic roots tightened around the plague, halting the advance of the demonic mana with monumental force, as though the tree itself were closing its wounds around something that no longer belonged to it.
Lusian could barely remain standing.
Every breath tore at his lungs.
His pulse came out of rhythm, disordered, as though his body had lost synchronization with the very fabric of the world.
He blocked a direct strike.
The impact did not knock him down, but completely shattered his momentum.
His arm gave way, and Dainslein's blade nearly slipped from his hands.
The force of the blow forced him into a misstep he failed to absorb.
Bragoz did not move in for the finishing blow.
He froze.
For the first time in the battle, he stopped calculating Lusian.
His attention slowly shifted toward the center of the clearing.
Toward Grisela.
And then he sensed it.
It wasn't a visible alteration, but a tectonic fault in the fabric of mana.
The balance of the battlefield shifted violently.
For the first time, the demon's grotesque smile vanished.
—What... are you doing?
The Mother Tree was expelling the infection with relentless fury.
Its roots closed around the parasite, exposing the demonic core in the middle of the split wood.
Lusian collapsed to his knees on the earth, exhausted, supporting himself only with the hilt of his sword buried in the mud.
His body felt like a block of lead.
Bragoz, only a short distance away, raised his claw to deliver the final strike.
—In the end... —the demon murmured— you lose.
Lusian tried to rise, but his strength failed him completely.
Then the forest exploded.
The Mother Tree released all the power it had been suppressing, and a pulse of pure purification swept through the grove, obliterating the contamination like an unstoppable tide.
Bragoz's core was exposed.
The demonic tide froze instantly and began to fracture.
The demon fought to cling to the trunk, but the roots of the earth seized him violently, dragging him back toward the epicenter as the symbiosis shattered into a thousand pieces.
—No... —Bragoz roared, his voice twisting into a guttural crack. —This... shouldn't be...
The sacred pulse pierced straight through his core.
His body froze for a second before beginning to disintegrate from within.
First, the filth covering him lost its form.
Then the flesh followed.
The roots wrapped around him, leaving no room for escape as the Mother Tree eradicated him while purging itself.
Bragoz's agonized scream reverberated through the depths of the forest, not as a cry of physical pain, but as the absolute denial of an entity being extinguished.
His silhouette fragmented into a dense storm of dark particles, scattering through the gloom until they were completely consumed.
Lusian raised his head with extreme difficulty.
Bragoz's body dissolved without leaving the slightest trace of his existence.
And absolute silence fell over the battlefield.