Chương 94: Chapter 80 – Growth Through Destruction

Violet light consumed everything. The screeching bolt slammed into Cade and tore through his body with enough force to rip the breath from his lungs. Agony exploded through him as the lightning surged across his skin and burrowed inward, crackling through flesh, marrow, and channels alike. It was far stronger than the leech's lightning. This felt closer to the Stormsap Crucible itself.

For an instant, the world outside the lightning ceased to exist, leaving only the shrieking violet current flooding through every part of him as it tried to reduce him to nothingness. Cade did not panic. He inhaled and welcomed the storm in. The lightning surged deeper the moment he opened himself to it. Violet current poured through his channels and shot upward into his skull in blinding bursts before plunging deeper still, spearing down toward the very center of his being. Toward his soul.

There, Cade felt it clearly. The Stormsap Crucible's lightning had tried to overwrite him. To subsume him beneath something larger and more primordial. This lightning was simpler. It wanted only death. Not conquest or assimilation. It sought to break him down into nutrients and ash. To return his body to the soil so corrupted life could feed upon what remained. Fertilizer for Aquelion's path. The realization settled into him with startling clarity.

Cade stood still beneath the torrent and let the feeling spread through him completely. He felt death in the lightning—the violent collapse of one life so another could grow from the remains. And beneath that— Transformation. The thought resonated strangely deep within him. Lightning coursed through every fiber of his body, and Cade seized it all. His will rose to meet the intrusion. The Law Seed of Inviolable Self stirred within his soul. A pulse of certainty rolled outward through him. His body was his.

His channels were his. His soul was his. No foreign will would dictate what flowed through him. The affirmation pulsed through him like a second heartbeat and something deep within [Inviolable Self] shifted faintly in response. A tiny, subtle fracture that Cade barely noticed. He was too focused on the lightning. On circulating the violet current through himself, forcing his will into every shrieking strand. The violet lightning resisted.

It screeched through his channels and tried to tear itself free, but Cade held it tighter instead. He dragged the lightning deeper into himself, forcing every violent spark to circulate through his channels again and again. He stripped away its purpose piece by piece, breaking those intentions apart beneath the weight of his own will. Lightning was not merely destruction. Storms burned forests and split mountains, yes—but after fire came fertile soil. Destruction opened the path to new growth.

Then the lightning bent beneath the weight of his will. The moment it did, Cade forced a new purpose into the current. Change and renewal. Growth through destruction. The lightning obeyed this new directive. Cade exhaled sharply and drove the transformed current downward through his body. Violet light exploded from him. Lightning burst from his feet and slammed into the soaked ash-covered earth beneath the Great Tree in branching arcs. The ground convulsed as the redirected energy poured into it.

The earth drank deeply. The lightning penetrated the ash and plunged into the damp soil beneath, pulling the energy downward into the dead earth. A pulse of violet radiance expanded outward from Cade in a wide hemisphere, violently shoving the oppressive mist away from him for several meters. For the first time since the fight began, Cade could see normally again. The ground around him had changed. The pale ash-covered earth darkened into rich soil as the lightning spread through it.

Tiny strands of green burst upward in its wake before vanishing beneath the returning mist. Then the dark fog crashed back inward. The hollow vanished once more beneath black vapor. Cade's normal vision disappeared again, forcing him to rely on his [Essence Sight] as he searched for Aquelion through the suffocating haze. Thunder rolled overhead again loud enough to penetrate the mist's suffocating silence. It was closer now.

The deep crashing boom vibrated through the hollow and echoed beneath the roots of the Great Tree. Then he spotted the gator again. The long line of green life essence remained eerily still through the fog several dozen feet away, a thinner spiral of green still wrapped tightly around one end where Cade's rhizome still bound the gator's jaws shut. Aquelion was no longer thrashing.

The corrupted viscount had fought against the rhizome bindings before, but now the massive line of life essence remained unnervingly still within the mist. Had he accepted defeat? No. Something else was happening. Cade narrowed his eyes as a thick band of dark green life essence peeled away from the point where Aquelion's head would be and sank downward into the earth beneath him. The moment it touched the ground, the essence spread. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen.

Please report the violation. The green current branched outward through the soil in rapidly splitting lines before one of the tendrils abruptly redirected toward Cade. His instincts screamed of danger. He sidestepped while simultaneously willing the [Cloak of Ash] to shift around his body. Pearlescent ash flowed across his chest and left shoulder, gathering defensively between him and the approaching essence. The line of life essence changed direction as he moved. It's tracking me. Cade's expression tightened.

The green current raced through the ground beneath the ash, adjusting course every time he moved. Then the earth beneath his feet shifted. Cade barely had time to react. The moment the green essence reached him, something exploded upward from below. A thick band of life essence erupted from the ground in a violent horizontal sweep aimed directly at his torso. His [Cloak of Ash] responded, hardening instantly across Cade's front just as the strike connected. The blow slammed into the hardened ash.

Essence tore through the tether as the cloak reinforced itself against the blow. Cade felt dense pressure crash against the ash hard enough to stagger him sideways, but the cloak held. Cade didn't hesitate. The moment the growth recoiled, he drove forward and threw a punch directly into the center of the green line of life essence. His fist exploded through soft pulpy resistance. Wet wood split apart around his arm. For an instant Cade thought he had broken through completely— Then the plant responded.

The pulpy growth constricted violently around his forearm and wrist. Fibrous wood tightened with shocking force as the living structure swelled and twisted around his arm, locking him in place before he could pull free. Cade jerked backward hard, attempting to free his arm but the growth held him fast. More life essence flooded through the structure immediately afterward, thick green currents flowing around his trapped arm as the corrupted plant rapidly expanded and hardened around the point of contact.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Aquelion moving again. The eight-meter line of life essence circled wide through the mist off to Cade's left. Toward Pearl. A cold sinking sensation settled into Cade's stomach. The bastard had baited him. This whole attack had only been meant to pin him in place long enough for Aquelion to circle back toward Pearl's unconscious body. Cade yanked against the growth again but his arm remained firmly stuck. Thoughts raced through his mind. Can the rhizome get me out?

He reached inward immediately and forced his will into the rhizome. Grow. The rhizome obeyed. Wood stirred within his palm and began pressing outward— Then stopped. Aquelion's plant had already enveloped Cade's hand too tightly. There was no space for the rhizome to properly emerge. Fuck. Cade's mind raced faster. Without a weapon, he couldn't use [Prismatic Conduit]. Even if he could use the skill barehanded somehow, he wasn't convinced lightning would stop a corrupted plant fast enough.

But there was one thing that would. Desolation. The thought hit him instantly. He could burn the growth away using the white flames. The problem was time. The technique still wasn't a true skill. He had never formed the flames quickly under pressure before. And Aquelion was already moving toward Pearl. Cade churned the essence cycling through his channels and began stripping small portions away as the current passed through his chest. He compressed the siphoned essence into a tiny sphere.

The image of the desolate wastes sharpened in his mind immediately. Endless white ash. Dead fields beneath silent skies. The silence left behind after life had been stripped away and reduced to nothing. He didn't need much. Just enough to burn the growth trapping his arm. Cade compressed the sphere tighter. The process moved faster than it ever had before. Urgency sharpened his focus as he siphoned more essence into the growing bead while forcing it to spin faster and denser inside his chest. Pearl.

The thought hammered through him. Aquelion was getting closer. Cade fed more essence into the sphere. Normally he waited. Let the process stabilize before moving the construct upward but he was almost out of time. Even though the bead was unstable, Cade forced it upward through his channels anyway while simultaneously continuing to compress and feed it more essence. The sphere surged through his throat, unstable and violent, growing larger even as he condensed it further. Cade's eyes widened slightly.

He had never done both simultaneously before but it worked. The process felt smoother than it should have—almost natural. The spinning sphere climbed into his mouth while doubling in density under the pressure he forced upon it. One final thought settled into his mind. Desolation. The end of life. The end of growth. This corrupted thing wrapping around his arm would burn. Cade exhaled and white flames erupted from his mouth. The fire engulfed the pulpy growth instantly.

The corrupted wood blackened and curled as the white flames consumed it, racing up the twisting plant matter in branching streams of pale fire. Dense black mist recoiled around the flames, pushed back several feet as the desolation spread outward. A sharp pain stabbed through Cade's channels— Then a familiar chime rang through his mind. Ding! Cade knew instantly what had happened. The Record had finally acknowledged the skill. He dismissed the notification without reading it. There was no time.

But he felt the difference immediately. Something within his channels had restructured itself. The pathways carrying the white flames now felt smoother, more natural, as though his body had finally accepted desolation as part of itself. The burning growth in front of him lit the mist with flickering white radiance. And beneath the flames— Deep, dark violet glimmered. The plant Aquelion had summoned was corrupted all the way through.

Veins of violet spread beneath the cracking outer bark while thick red liquid oozed from the ruptured interior like blood from torn flesh. The sight twisted Cade's stomach as he ripped his arm free. Burning fragments of corrupted pulp tore loose around him as the white flames consumed the growth entirely. Then Cade launched himself through the mist toward Aquelion's moving line of life essence as fast as he could. The ring of life essence marking the rhizome bindings around the gator's maw was gone now.

Aquelion had broken free somehow. And Pearl still lay unconscious only feet from the gator's jaws.

Pearl woke with a violent gasp as mist rushed into her lungs. Her eyes snapped open as instinct screamed through her body. She rolled onto one arm and immediately reached for the surrounding mist with her will. Disperse. The dark fog recoiled at once. Currents of black vapor twisted away from her in spiraling streams as her Mistweaving tore open a clear pocket around her body. The first thing she saw was teeth. A massive black maw lunged toward her from less than a handspan away.

Rows of jagged ivory teeth glistened beneath strands of saliva while violet light flickered faintly between the seams of black scales. Pearl froze. She instantly recognized the Viscount's enormous head as it bore down on her, violet eyes fixed directly onto hers as its body surged through the clearing mist. Then movement exploded out of the darkness beside it. A figure burst through the black fog in a blur of white ash. Pearl's eyes widened in realization. Cade.

For one impossible moment her mind refused to process what she was seeing. He was somehow alive. Pearlescent ash flowed around his body and streamed behind him as he charged straight toward Aquelion. The trailing ash moved like smoke and silkmoss together, pale against the darkness of the mist. How did he survive the Destroyer? The thought hit her before another sensation prickled across her skin. Desolation. Pearl's breath caught. A Destroyer was nearby.

The sensation intensified immediately into a burning pressure crawling across her skin. Pearl's gaze snapped back toward Cade. White flames flickered faintly from the corners of his mouth as he sprinted through the mist. Her eyes widened in shock. Aquelion snapped for her, but Cade intercepted him just as the gator's teeth scraped across her cheek. He slammed his body into the massive gator's side and tackled the Viscount before its jaws could close around her.

The impact shook the earth beneath her as both of them crashed into the damp ash and rolled violently across the hollow. Aquelion bellowed while Cade locked himself onto the gator's back during the roll, one arm hooked beneath the viscount's throat while the other clamped down behind its skull. The massive gator twisted violently beneath him, claws gouging trenches through the damp earth as it fought to throw him free. But Cade held on. The burning sensation of desolation intensified across her skin.

Pearl stared in disbelief as white light flickered brighter between Cade's bared teeth. The flames were coming from him. Pearl's pulse hammered. How had he become a Destroyer? Then Cade tightened his grip around Aquelion's throat and exhaled.