"The only reason the tree is in this state is that Erlik couldn't predict that the interaction between Body Sculpting and the mold would cause long term side effects. Tier five light magic twists the life force, while the mold is capable of preventing its victim from reclaiming its lost parts.

"Both effects were supposed to be destroyed by the tree's recovering abilities once the devices had been removed, but even after its death, the mold's life force blocking properties allowed the sacks of life force twisted by Body Sculpting to survive."

Her words made Lith think about a mosquito bite and how the annoying pest would inject an anti-coagulant to suck blood to its heart's content.

'The mold does something even worse. The toxin it produces prevents the victim's life force to recognize the invasion so that the mold doesn't encounter any resistance aside from that of the immune system.' Lith thought.

"If not for the synergy between the two attacks, the treehouse would have long since healed, like what happened to Leannan's hand, and we wouldn't have noticed anything." Quylla said.

"Can you fix this?" Leannan pointed at the treehouse. The Titania had almost no experience with high tier light magic and calling upon the Sapling's power would have been a liability.

Leannan had finally understood Erlik's game. He had never meant to take over Laruel by fighting her fair and square. He wasn't even trying to fight dirty. The Draugr plan was to take her crown without throwing a single spell.

Leannan cursed her arrogance, which had led her to think that an undead would be so foolish to care for traditions to the point of fighting a losing battle. By becoming a Draugr, Erlik had gained many great powers, but also several limitations.

His link with the Great Mother was severed, most of his abilities as a Treant were lost. Even if Leannan was younger than him, even if she couldn't tap into the Sapling's powers during a ritual fight, she was certain of her victory.

Unlike her opponent, she would still be able to draw upon the nutrients in the soil to achieve regenerative abilities and a stamina that would put even an Awakened to shame.

Mana was the only thing she couldn't recover by feeding, but the same stood for her opponent, who would be unable to recover as fast as her. Either he chose to fight her one on one or army against army, he was doomed for.

His followers were nothing compared to Laruel's forces, even after growing their numbers thanks to the plague. It was the reason why Erlik had kept buying time with guerrilla tactics.

To keep her distracted long enough to complete his real plan. Leannan had still the opportunity to win, but to do that, she needed to do the hardest thing for someone who was both a seasoned veteran and a ruler.

Asking for help.

"Yes, Your Majesty. I can fix the tree." Quylla placed her hands on the nearest wall and started to dissolve the sacks of life force in the basement, restoring its natural flow.

Quylla also wanted to confirm her theory, hence she chose the biggest sack as her first target. The moment she undid the damage inflicted by Erlik's Body Sculpting, the tree's life flow destroyed the mold's toxin and moved on to the next sack.

Quylla needed to give it just a nudge to fix the second sack as well. After that, she didn't need to do anything anymore. The restored flow triggered a domino effect that washed away all the sacks and killed the mold in a matter of seconds.

The light element that had been shackled until that moment stopped bloating the tree's life essence and was drained down the roots back from where it came. Leannan followed the entire process from within, through the vines she had spread throughout the treehouse.

It allowed her to observe the Sapling's consciousness as it moved back into the depths of the ground, yet the undead life force remained. The space between the treehouse's roots and the Sapling's was tainted with a scar that refused to heal.

It confirmed Leannan's worst fears and left her only one way to survive.

She snapped her fingers, moving everyone back to the lab.

"My dear allies, our situation is way worse than we suspected. Erlik is but a few steps away from gaining total control of Laruel." Her voice was steady and her tone calm, yet it echoed like thunder.

Everyone stopped working, incapable to believe their own ears.

"What do you mean? You're still alive and Erlik's army still in hiding. How can he possibly win if he never showed up?" Marth asked.

"All of this was just smoke and mirrors." Leannan waved at the tables, clicking her tongue at her own idiocy.

"His real goal has never been defeating me or creating more undead. His objective has always been taking Laruel for himself. Literally." She added after noticing the confusion in the eyes of her audience, plant folk included.

"Laruel isn't just a city. It pains me to admit it, but due to the chaotic nature of my species, of our inability to consider anyone else as either food or a mating partner, we would have never been able to build something so majestic.

"Laruel's power doesn't come from spells or artifacts, it comes from the World Sapling that grows at its very center. It's a living being of untold age that shares its power with us.

"The Sapling keeps the city hidden, granting to us a safe haven where our powers are multiplied and those of our enemies are locked. The Sapling, however, is far from being a benevolent ruler.

"It's simply a dying creature who has chosen its final resting place. A Sapling slows down its metabolism and enters into a deep slumber, using the knowledge it has accumulated during his millennia-long life and the magical research we share with it to try and prolong its existence.

"It's precisely because of the pact between the Sapling and the plant folks that a ruler is needed." Laruel pointed at her runic tattoos.

"I act as its consciousness and make sure that the community thrives so that the mind of the Sapling is constantly fed by new knowledge. All the treehouses are grown from the seeds of the Sapling, allowing it to reach and control them even in its dormant state, akin to an automatic reflex.

"The reason I'm telling you all this is because Erlik has found a loophole in the Sapling's system and he intends to use it to take over its body." A shocked silence fell on the room while the mages from the three Great Countries pondered the destructive abilities that such a creature would obtain.

"Whenever a treehouse has to be grown or repaired, the Sapling simply wills it to happen, turning it into reality.

"Erlik has used a combination of Body Sculpting and an unknown moss on one of the Sapling's offsprings to inflict to it a great damage for a prolonged time. He did it so that a simple sliver of power wasn't enough, a stray thought wasn't enough to solve the problem.

"Even in the Sapling's dormant state, the pain the tree experienced was enough to draw the Sapling's consciousness and with it a link to the source of its powers. A link that Erlik used to connect with the Sapling via the disease just as I do with the runes."