Chương 97: Chapter 83 – The Battle of Ash and Corruption

White fire swept through the battlefield in towering waves. The flames consumed everything they touched. Rampant violet growth blackened and collapsed into drifting ash while thick roots twisted and shrank beneath the heat. Dense clouds of pure essence rose from the destruction in shimmering currents that flooded the hollow beneath the Great Tree. And through the burning haze, the Ashen Emperor emerged.

The giant tortoise towered over the battlefield as he strode through the sea of white flames with deliberate steps. Pale leathery skin hung in loose folds over his ancient skeletal frame while curtains of ash drifted from his shell in spiraling currents. The shell itself gleamed beneath the rain like polished ivory streaked with faint blue-green iridescence. White fire curled between the layered plates across his back and leaked from the corners of his broad mouth with every slow breath.

His black eyes locked onto Rowana.

"You are a coward," the Ashen Emperor rumbled. His deep voice shook the soaked ground beneath Cade's feet.

"You let the corruption fracture your mind. Tear apart your soul. And still you kneel before the one responsible." Rowana laughed softly.

"That is amusing coming from you, Tharvok." Violet lightning flickered behind her glowing eyes.

"She offered you the same gift, yet you still rage against your liberator." The Ashen Emperor's expression hardened.

"I may have been broken," he said.

"Fractured. My path scattered and torn asunder across endless cycles of desolation." White ash spiraled harder around his body as his voice deepened.

"But I have never bent my knee to her will." Rain hissed against the burning battlefield around him. Rowana spread her arms slowly.

"And yet you still cling to your cage." Her voice carried something akin to pity now.

"You have seen the truth, Tharvok. The door stands open before you, yet you choose to remain chained." The growths beneath her skin wriggled visibly as she smiled.

"You should thank the one who shattered your shackles. Even if your soul needed to be broken to do so." The Ashen Emperor exhaled slowly through his nose. White heat bled from his nostrils in long streams.

"You have lost your way, Rowana." He lowered his body slightly.

"But the path of desolation can still help you see the light again." The ancient tortoise's clawed feet dug into the soaked earth.

"Come." The five-meter giant exploded forward with terrifying speed. The ground detonated beneath each thunderous step as the Ashen Emperor charged straight toward Rowana through the sea of flames and new growth. White fire streamed behind him while plant matter blackened and collapsed beneath his approach.

"Aquelion!" Rowana shrieked without taking her eyes off Tharvok.

"Ignore the pests! Get beneath the Great Tree and prepare for the ritual!" The massive black-scaled gator immediately turned and sprinted toward the hollow. Then Rowana thrust both arms outward. Her fingers spread wide. And she screamed. The sound ripped through the battlefield like tearing metal. Cade immediately clamped his hands over his ears while beside him Pearl cried out and pressed her palms tightly against the sides of her head, covering her tympanic membranes.

Even muffled, the screeching felt like needles driving into Cade's skull. But through the pain, he kept his eyes locked onto Rowana. The growths beneath her skin began writhing violently. Then her flesh split open. Dozens of slick leeches burst from the ruptures in Rowana's body and spilled across the soaked ground in wriggling masses. Half immediately launched themselves toward the advancing ash tortoises while the rest collapsed into twitching piles around Rowana's feet.

Then the ones around her feet began growing. Vast streams of green life essence flooded from Rowana into the writhing masses. The leeches swelled grotesquely as their bodies split and molted apart in wet tearing bursts. Thick armored plates pushed outward from beneath rubbery flesh while their mouths widened into circular maws lined with spiraling rows of jagged black teeth. The creatures elongated rapidly.

Armored plating spread across their expanding bodies like overlapping shields while jagged protrusions erupted along their sides. Ash worms. The newly transformed monsters let out shrill screeches before diving beneath the soaked earth. The ground bulged violently. Then the ash worms surged toward the ash tortoise lines while the remaining leeches swarmed forward in shrieking waves. The battlefield erupted into chaos. White flames erupted across the battlefield as the tortoises met the charge head-on.

Leeches burst apart into ash beneath torrents of burning white fire while massive worms erupted from underground and crashed into the tortoise formation hard enough to scatter ash and mud in every direction. Rowana's screaming stopped and Cade looked up just in time to see the Ashen Emperor reach her. Tharvok opened his mouth wide. Blinding white fire erupted outward.

"Down!" Cade shouted. He tackled Pearl to the soaked ground and wrapped himself around her just as the flames washed overhead. White heat roared across Cade's back. Plant matter all around them ignited instantly. Thick roots blackened and curled while violet growth collapsed into ash beneath the overwhelming fire. Pure essence flooded the air in dense shimmering currents as the battlefield disappeared behind a storm of white flame. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval.

Report sightings. Ash and pure essence flooded the air. Cade felt it immediately. Dense currents of essence gathered around him as the destruction liberated enormous quantities from Rowana's rampant growth. The flames died several seconds later. Cade inhaled sharply. Pure essence rushed into him. His channels filled almost immediately while the tether greedily drank from the influx. Pearlescent ash burst outward around his body as the [Cloak of Ash] reformed itself in a flowing wave.

The drifting cloak settled across his shoulders and back once more, a pearlescent sheet of ash spiraling around him as fresh essence reinforced the construct. Relief washed through him. Then the battlefield came back into focus. White fire still burned through scattered patches of rampant growth while ash worms erupted beneath the soaked ground in violent bursts.

One of the massive creatures lunged upward and swallowed an ash tortoise whole in an explosion of mud and screaming white flame before another tortoise crashed into its side hard enough to split its armored plating apart. Leeches swarmed everywhere. White fire consumed many at a time while others latched onto tortoise limbs and necks in writhing masses. But Cade's attention snapped toward the retreating black streak racing beneath the Great Tree. Aquelion.

Cade immediately pushed himself off Pearl and grabbed her arm.

"We're going after him." Pearl nodded weakly. Cade hauled her upright before slinging the frog over his shoulder and breaking into a sprint through the battlefield. Behind him, white fire erupted outward as the Ashen Emperor slammed bodily into the corrupted First Elder. The impact detonated hard enough to shake the soaked ground beneath Cade's feet. Twisted roots and burning ash exploded skyward around them. Cade did not look back. He knew better than to involve himself in that fight.

He would only get in the way of monsters operating on an entirely different level than him. Aquelion was his priority. He sprinted beneath the Great Tree while ash and rain whipped around him. Leeches launched toward him repeatedly from the soaked ground, but Cade smashed through them without slowing down. White flames burst briefly from his mouth whenever larger masses blocked his path, reducing the creatures into ash before they could latch onto him. An ash worm erupted from the earth directly ahead of Cade.

The massive creature burst upward through mud with its maw spread wide enough to swallow him whole. Before Cade could react, a torrent of white fire slammed into the worm from the side. The impact drove the creature sideways hard enough to tear a trench through the soaked battlefield. Vorduun crashed into the worm immediately afterward.

"Keep moving!" the old tortoise bellowed as white flames poured from his jaws.

"The Viscount matters more!" The worm shrieked and twisted toward Vorduun, but the old tortoise met it head-on in an explosion of ash and white fire. Cade did not hesitate. He sprinted past the battling tortoises while the battlefield only grew worse around him. White fire illuminated his surroundings in violent flashes while rampant plant growth twisted across the soaked earth in writhing masses.

Ash worms crashed through the tortoise lines around the towering root pillars thick as buildings while rain and ash hammered down from above. Then Cade crossed through the ash tortoise line entirely and entered the hollow beneath the Great Tree. Ahead of him, Aquelion reached the ninth root pillar. The massive gator slammed to a halt beside the enormous root and exhaled a thick stream of green life essence directly into its bark. Cade's eyes widened as the pillar responded instantly.

Dense life essence pulsed through the giant root in vast rhythmic surges before a deep crack split open across the side of the pillar. The root began unfolding inward, exposing a dark hollow lined with glowing channels deep within.

"Aquelion!" Pearl shouted from Cade's shoulder.

"Stop him before he reaches the ninth root!" Cade dropped her halfway to the root pillar and accelerated. The Viscount turned. Violet lightning flickered behind his glowing eyes as he lunged toward the opening in the ninth root. Cade surged forward. He hit Aquelion from the side just before the massive gator reached the gap. The impact slammed both of them sideways through the mud. Aquelion bellowed.

The Viscount twisted violently beneath Cade and snapped at him with massive jaws while black mist exploded outward around them.

"Pearl!" Cade barked. Black vapor spiraled away from them as Pearl's Mistweaving tore through the spreading haze, ripping open a clear pocket around them before it could fully engulf the hollow. Green life essence surged from Pearl immediately afterward. Dozens of thick vines erupted from the soaked ground and wrapped around Aquelion's limbs and torso. The Viscount thrashed violently as the vines constricted around him in spiraling layers. But the renewed corruption had strengthened him.

The massive gator tore through the first set of bindings almost instantly. Cade drove his shoulder down against Aquelion's neck and locked both hands around the Viscount's jaws while Pearl forced more vines upward from the earth. Thick roots wrapped around the gator's legs and tail before constricting beneath her will. Aquelion bellowed and convulsed beneath them.

"Hold him!" Pearl shouted, voice strained.

"I'm trying!" Aquelion surged upward hard enough to nearly throw Cade loose. He grit his teeth and poured essence through the tether. The [Cloak of Ash] exploded outward from his back in a spiraling wave of pearlescent ash, wrapping around both Cade and Aquelion before hardening into rigid structure. The hardened ash locked Cade and Aquelion tightly together. Aquelion's jaw crashed back into the mud beneath Cade's weight while the rigid ash pinned the Viscount tightly against him. More vines exploded upward.

This time Pearl wrapped them directly around Aquelion's jaws and neck. Thick green growth tightened layer after layer around the Viscount while roots spread beneath the soaked earth to anchor the restraints in place. Slowly— Aquelion stopped moving. The massive gator still trembled beneath the bindings, violet corruption flickering beneath black scales, but the restraints finally held. Cade stared down at the restrained Viscount while his chest heaved for breath.

Beyond the hollow, ash worms still crashed through the tortoise lines while white flames rolled across the soaked earth in sweeping waves. Vorduun and Brahm fought side by side against a pair of enormous plated worms, their white fire illuminating the rain in violent flashes. Cade almost called out to them. Vorduun could probably purge the corruption from Aquelion far faster than he could. The Duke had walked the path of Desolation for longer than Cade knew.

If anyone knew how to perform an Ashen Baptism properly, it would be him. Cade released the command holding the cloak rigid. The ash softened immediately and unraveled from around both of them in drifting pearlescent ribbons. He pushed himself off Aquelion's back and started to rise.

"Where are you going?" Pearl gasped. Cade glanced back toward the exhausted frog. Sweat mixed with rainwater across her face while her vines trembled visibly from strain. Even maintaining the bindings looked difficult.

"I'm getting Vorduun," Cade said.

"He'll be able to cleanse the corruption much faster than I can. Just hold him a little longer." Pearl's eyes widened.

"No." Cade blinked.

"What?"

"You can do this," Pearl said through a clenched jaw.

"Besides…" Her vines tightened again as Aquelion bucked beneath them.

"We're running out of time." The restraints groaned loudly and Pearl's expression tightened further.

"My Core is almost dry," she admitted.

"I barely had time to adapt to using Lifebreathing in combat and this…" She winced as another vine snapped apart.

"This is draining me far faster than normal growth ever did." Aquelion bellowed beneath the bindings. Pearl gasped and forced more vines upward from the soaked ground, but the new growth emerged slower than before.

"I don't know how much longer I can hold him," she whispered. Cade clenched his jaw.

"I don't have enough essence left to generate the amount of flames I'd need to purify him." Pearl looked toward the partially opened ninth root pillar, then back at Cade.

"There's plenty of life essence in there." Cade followed her gaze. The exposed interior of the giant root pulsed steadily in his [Essence Sight]. Vast rivers of deep green life essence surged through the center of the root in dense flowing currents. Even from here, the quantity made his channels ache. Cade hesitated.

"That's the Great Tree." Pearl's expression hardened.

"The Great Tree does not matter right now." Her voice sharpened with sudden intensity.

"Aquelion matters. He's the one the songs sing of. The one destined to undo the knot strangling this realm." Another vine snapped apart. Pearl flinched visibly.

"Please," Pearl whispered.

"Hurry."