Chương 95: Chapter 81 – Aquamarine Beneath Violet

White fire erupted from Cade's mouth and washed directly across Aquelion's face. The corrupted Viscount bellowed beneath him. The sound vibrated through Cade's chest and arms as the white flames spread over obsidian-black scales in branching streams of pale radiance. Violet corruption hissed and curled beneath the fire as it spread between the seams of Aquelion's armored hide, but the scales themselves did not burn. The flames slid across them harmlessly. Cade's eyes widened as he saw past the flames.

Beneath the shrieking violet in Aquelion's eyes, a faint glimmer of aquamarine surfaced for the briefest instant. Aquelion roared again.

"Stop!" Pearl's voice cut through the chaos. Cade's eyes darted toward her while still holding onto the gator's back. Pearl had pushed herself upright several meters away, one hand pressed against the ash-covered ground while the other clutched at the side of her face where Aquelion's teeth had scraped her cheek.

"You can't kill him!" she shouted.

"We have to save him!" Cade cut off the flames. The white fire vanished from his mouth as quickly as it had appeared. Aquelion thrashed violently beneath him in response, claws gouging deep trenches through the damp ash as the massive gator tried to tear itself free of Cade's hold. Save him? Cade's grip loosened around the Viscount's throat as deep down, he realized something uncomfortable. Part of him had wanted to burn the corruption out of existence completely. No. Not just the corruption.

The realization settled coldly into his stomach. When he had breathed the flames into Aquelion's face, instinct had taken over. A sharp violent instinct that wanted the threat gone permanently—wanted to burn the threat itself out of existence. He shoved the thought aside. Now was not the time to examine why desolation had felt so natural. Especially when the flames had clearly done something. He had seen the aquamarine beneath the violet.

"A little help would be nice!" Cade barked as Aquelion bucked beneath him hard enough to nearly throw him loose. Pearl scrambled closer through the thinning mist.

"We can still save him," she said breathlessly.

"The songs speak about him. Ever since this realm became knotted from the multiverse, the songs have spoken of the one who would untangle it."

"What?"

"Aquelion!" Pearl shouted.

"He's the one the songs speak about! The one destined to break the knot and stop the cycle of growth and desolation!" The Viscount roared again beneath Cade, then the world violently spun. Aquelion rolled. Cade barely had time to lock his arms around the gator's throat before the corrupted Viscount launched into a brutal death roll. The world became black scales, ash, mud, and impact. Cade slammed into the ground hard enough to drive the breath from his lungs.

A fraction of a second later, Aquelion's massive body rolled on top of him. The [Cloak of Ash] hardened just in time, locking rigid around Cade's torso and shoulders just before the gator's weight could crush him into the ground. Essence tore through the tether. Then Aquelion continued the death roll. The massive gator spun with terrifying speed, twisting its entire body in violent rotations meant to tear prey apart underwater. Cade hit the ground again and again. Mud exploded around them.

Every impact siphoned more essence from Cade's channels as the cloak absorbed the relentless blows. The pearlescent ash flickered around him between impacts, sections thinning and losing cohesion before fresh essence surged back through the tether to reinforce them. The drain was becoming noticeable now. Aquelion rolled out from beneath the Great Tree entirely, past the outer ring of root-pillars while Cade clung desperately to the corrupted Viscount's back. The black mist thinned rapidly behind them.

"Cade!" Pearl shouted. She sprinted after them, weaving the mist aside as she ran. Black vapor peeled away from her in spiraling currents while the pair rolled violently across the soaked ground. Aquelion twisted again with explosive force and this time Cade lost his grip as the Viscount's massive body whipped sideways and hurled him free. Cade slammed shoulder-first into wet earth and skidded through mud. He scrambled back to his feet. Several meters away, Aquelion rose from the mud with a deep guttural hiss.

Then Cade saw the Viscount exhale. A thick strand of dark green life essence poured from Aquelion's mouth and plunged into the soaked ground beneath him. Cade knew what came next as he watched the essence split underground. One tendril shot directly toward Cade. The other raced toward Pearl just as she burst free from the edge of the mist.

"Pearl!" Cade shouted.

"Watch below you!" He focused on the strand of green life essence racing toward him. The current surged closer in branching streaks in his [Essence Sight], cutting through mud and saturated ash with frightening speed. Only when the strand was right below him and he saw the earth beneath him shift did Cade react. He jumped. The instant his feet left the ground, the woody growth erupted upward beneath him and twisted through a violent horizontal sweep exactly where he had stood a heartbeat earlier.

While midair, Cade exhaled. White flames poured downward from his mouth and engulfed the growth before it could redirect toward him. The fire spread across the pulpy wood, breaking down its structure and converting the essence within. Cade felt the drain bite into his channels, the essence within running dangerously low. His cloak no longer flowed around him in smooth drifting currents. Parts hung thinner now, the ash struggling to maintain its cohesive shape as his essence reserves dwindled.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. Between the [Cloak of Ash], repeated flames, and the constant combat, he had burned through far more essence than he was comfortable with. But the woody growth beneath him collapsed into ash and pure essence just as Cade touched down. Cade landed directly in the middle of the cloud and inhaled sharply. Dense pure essence rushed into him, far richer than he expected.

The current flooded through his channels in cool surging waves as he absorbed the liberated energy. The corrupted growth carried far more usable essence than he had expected. Not nearly as much as the ash worms but still enough to feel the drain on his channels ease.

"Cade!" He turned toward Pearl. Several meters away, another woody growth repeatedly swung in wide horizontal arcs from the ground beneath her. She darted between them with surprising speed. Mist curled around her body as she moved, each attack narrowly missing while she studied the movements of the plant with focused intensity.

"I've never seen Lifebreathing used like this!" Pearl shouted as another thick branch exploded upward beside her.

"Aquelion is using it offensively!" The growth lunged toward her again. Pearl twisted aside just before it smashed into the ground hard enough to spray mud outward in every direction.

"He's on another level entirely!" Cade frowned.

"Pearl!" he shouted as he broke into a sprint toward her.

"Quit studying it and move out of the way!" Cade reached her just as the woody growth erupted upward again. He inhaled sharply and released the [Flames of Desolation]. White fire washed across the attacking growth. The corrupted wood blackened and collapsed into a cloud of ash and essence. Cade stepped directly into the cloud and inhaled again, drawing the liberated essence into himself. Relief spread through him immediately. His channels still weren't full, but he was no longer running on empty.

Pearl stared at him in open disbelief.

"The Destroyer's flames…" she whispered. Before Cade could respond, movement exploded toward them as Aquelion charged. The corrupted Viscount burst across the clearing with terrifying speed, massive jaws spread wide as he lunged directly toward Pearl.

"Move!" Cade shoved Pearl sideways with one hand and at the same moment he drove his will into the rhizome. Grow. The familiar drain tore through his health, stamina, and mana. Wood exploded outward from Cade's right hand and lengthened into a dark two-meter staff. The thick shaft twisted together from dense interwoven grain as he thrust one end directly into Aquelion's open jaws just before they snapped shut. The Viscount bit down hard.

A violent crack echoed through the clearing as the massive jaws clamped around nearly half the staff's length. The wood groaned beneath the pressure. Deep fractures splintered across the surface as Aquelion's monstrous bite force threatened to crush the weapon outright. Cade grit his teeth and fed more of his health, stamina, and mana into the rhizome. The staff thickened under his will. Fresh wood surged beneath the cracking outer layers, reinforcing the structure faster than the Viscount could destroy it.

Dense roots twisted through the grain while the entire length hardened under Cade's will. Aquelion bellowed furiously around the obstruction. Then Cade activated [Prismatic Conduit]. Light surged through the staff in spiraling currents as the rhizome drank deeply from Cade's health. Unstable prismatic charge flooded through the wood in escalating pulses, racing toward the end wedged deep inside Aquelion's mouth. This time Cade did not picture destruction. He did not want to kill Aquelion.

He only needed to stop him. To stun him long enough for them to save him. Cade released the charge. Prismatic lightning detonated from the embedded end of the staff in a violent burst. Multicolored arcs erupted through Aquelion's mouth and exploded outward beneath black scales as the current surged through flesh, muscle, and bone alike. Aquelion convulsed. The massive gator's limbs locked rigid as the discharge hurled him sideways through the mud. The staff shattered apart a heartbeat later.

Fragments of reinforced wood exploded outward trailing fading arcs of prismatic lightning while the sharp scent of ozone flooded the clearing. Aquelion crashed hard into the soaked ground. Violent spasms rippled through his body as stray arcs danced across his scales. Pearl stared again in disbelief.

"You stunned him."

"I don't know how long it'll last," Cade said sharply.

"So let's make this count." He turned toward the convulsing Viscount while his mind raced. The white flames had worked. At least partially. The corruption had burned while the black scales themselves remained relatively untouched.

"Aquelion's scales didn't react to the flames," Cade said quickly.

"But the corruption did. I saw it burning away before. I think I can target the corruption specifically if I focus hard enough but I need him restrained." Pearl hesitated before she nodded reluctantly.

"I think I can help." Cade blinked once.

"You can?" Pearl crouched low and pressed one hand into the mud.

"I watched how he shaped the Lifebreathing," she said quickly.

"The principles are wrong, but…" Her expression tightened.

"I think I understand enough to imitate it."

"Do it." Cade began cycling essence through his channels again. This time he formed the white sphere in his chest more carefully, clearly focusing his intent on cleansing the corruption within the gator. He did not want to kill Aquelion. He only wanted to cleanse the corruption festering within him. He forced the intention into the growing sphere again and again while Pearl exhaled a dense stream of green life essence into the soaked ground beneath Aquelion.

Green essence spread beneath the mud before dozens of thick vines exploded upward around the stunned Viscount. They wrapped around Aquelion's limbs first. Then his torso. Then his jaws and tail. The massive gator convulsed as the vines constricted tightly around him, forcing his body flat against the soaked earth. Pearl grimaced visibly under the strain.

"He's much stronger than me," she warned.

"Just hold him." Cade grunted out as the white sphere climbed into his throat. He compressed it tighter while keeping his focus on the violet rot spreading through flesh that did not belong to it. Burn that and leave the rest. Cade exhaled slowly as Pearl controlled the vines away from the area Cade had targeted first. White flames poured from his mouth in a controlled stream. The corrupted Viscount bellowed beneath the vines as white fire spread between the seams of his obsidian-black scales.

Violet corruption shrieked and curled beneath the flames while the black scales themselves remained untouched. As the violet burned away aquamarine emerged beneath it. Pearl gasped.

"It's working!" Cade did not respond. His entire focus remained locked onto the flames. The process demanded far more control than before. Every second, Cade adjusted the flames with his will, forcing them to ignore healthy flesh. He targeted only the corruption buried within Aquelion's body. The Viscount thrashed beneath the vines. Several bindings snapped apart beneath the sheer force of Aquelion's movements, but Pearl forced more vines upward to replace them.

Cade continued spewing flames along the Viscount's body, careful to avoid any of the wriggling vines binding him in place. White fire spread across black scales as violet burned away, leaving a soft aquamarine glow behind. The sight stirred something deep in Cade's chest. For just an instant, he remembered the tiny alligator hatchling emerging from the egg back in the swamp. He had been so small and curious back then, pouncing on sticks and following Cade around like a swamp puppy during those first few days.

That time felt impossibly distant now. This dungeon had twisted that innocent creature into the monstrous thing beneath the vines. Cade's jaw tightened. He had spared Aquelion because the hatchling had deserved the chance to become something more than what this world tried to force upon him. But the corruption had stolen that choice. It wasn't fair. None of this was fair. Not the System. Not the dungeon. Not the endless cycle of growth and desolation plaguing this realm. Anger settled hot and sharp in Cade's chest.

He pushed himself harder. More violet corruption burned away beneath the white fire while smooth aquamarine channels spread further across Aquelion's body. The Viscount screamed as he worked. The sound tore through the soaked clearing while Cade forced the flames deeper into the corruption threading beneath the scales. It was working but the drain was becoming severe now. Cade felt the essence inside his channels dwindling as the flames consumed more with every passing second.

What little essence he recovered from burning the corruption barely offset the cost of sustaining the technique. Grimacing, Cade reached through the tether and pulled essence back out of the [Cloak of Ash]. Sections of the cloak unraveled around his shoulders and legs as the ash lost cohesion, drifting apart into sparse ribbons while the reclaimed essence surged back through his channels and into the flames. The white fire brightened again but the cloak weakened visibly alongside him.

Its once-fluid motion now broke apart in places around his body, strands of ash dispersing into the rain before sluggishly reforming. He was losing the exchange as he failed to bring in enough essence to keep up with the cost of maintaining the flames. Still, he kept going. They had already cleansed nearly half of Aquelion's body when something cold struck the back of Cade's neck. He absentmindedly reached for the spot and felt wet. A second drop followed immediately afterward. Pearl looked up first and gasped.

Cade followed her gaze toward the sky above the Great Tree. Massive purple thunderheads now covered the sky overhead. Multicolored lightning flashed constantly within the clouds while heavy rain began pouring downward in thickening sheets. Pearl's entire expression lit up.

"The Rains of Restoration," she breathed. Then excitement flooded her voice.

"It has to be! First Elder Rowana!" Pearl laughed in open relief.

"With her here we can definitely save him!" But instead of relief, Cade's stomach tightened. The rain hit the white flames and weakened them at once. Steam hissed around Aquelion's body. The heavier the rain fell, the weaker the flames became. No, Cade thought. He pushed harder but his flames sputtered, dimmed, and petered out in the now torrential downpour. Pearl cupped her hands around her mouth.

"First Elder Rowana!" she shouted into the storm.

"We need your help!"