Aswelth

The battle had changed. Before Grand Elder Betaca had entered the battle, it had been a battle between armies. Now, it was a competition between the peak powers. The place where the Archduchy was weaker.

Aswelth moved to block the Grand Elder’s attacks, but found himself blocked by a water ball. And as before, he could not destroy the bloody water balls. Sighing in frustration, Aswelth went all out on them. The water balls may be immune to his attacks, but the Grand Trees weren’t.

The water balls clashed against his defenses as he headed straight for the Grand Trees, his sword primed to cut them to pieces. The Grand Trees surrounded themselves in water balls, clearly using them to block him. Aswelth took a deep breadth in, and shot through the layer.

The water balls tried to suffocate him, the water stuck to his face, his throat, his body, applying what little force it could. But he preserved, using his senses to locate the Grand Trees. And it paid off. Aswelth felt his sword sink into something, something that let out a scream that was heard even through the water.

So, he continued. The Grand Trees died, and the water around him loosened. In the end, the water fell apart, falling down as he stood in the air, having finally killed the Grand Trees. But not without cost, the only reason he had even survived was because he did not need to breathe anymore.

The water had left his entire body feeling like it had been ironed. Just about every muscle was spasming in pain, leaving his mind foggy. But he preserved through even that. The thing about things like this was that they ended, eventually.

And it did. ASwelth opened his eyes to see Grand Elder Betaca fighting Elder Mauriss. A massive wave emerged before here, several kilometers tall, and headed for the Capital. Elder Mauriss’ body glowed as roots shot out from around the wall, forming a barrier before the wave. And Aswelth immediately knew that he would not be able to fight in this fight, only observe.

Elder Mauriss

Mauriss felt sweat trickle down his trunk as he fought against Betaca. The arrogant woman was far more powerful than he had estimated, but he was still preserving. Betaca sent yet another wave his way, forcing him to make the exact same move he had before.

Just as he thought, she was playing the Qi game, a game he knew he would lose. Betaca had more Qi and better stats for it. Mauriss might have experience, but he was not built for combat. No, he had given it up millennia ago, preferring to live in peace instead. But this was a war he couldn’t escape. Not now.

Mauriss shifted gears, moving to attack instead. Betaca blocked, and sent yet another wave. The woman was not ready to give up yet. Mauriss seeded the mountain behind her with seeds, willing them to grow. And use her massive tsunami that she had kept there for some reason as food.

The plants did so, drawing Betaca’s attention to it, and Mauriss took the chance to send more attacks towards her. Betaca turned towards him, sending waves of ice shards. Mauriss blocked, the ice shards cracking against his wood shield. But Betaca did not stop, she continued on, for minutes, increasing the shards that attacked the shield.

Mauriss struggled to keep his defense active, scrambling to fight back. But Betaca did not give him the chance, she froze the air all around him, forcing him in place. A killing move. But Mauriss had not lived for so long without a few tricks of his own.

A wind began blowing as Mauriss removed an item from his spirit space. Betaca did not understand spirit as well as they thought, no one did. Just because spirit was a fluid, did not mean it obeyed the laws of space. Or that you could not attack through it if you were blocked in reality.

A wave of fire Qi spread out from his spirit space, heading straight for Betaca’s engaging her on a mental level. Betaca reacted instantly, stopping the advance, but it also halted her attacks. Mauriss did not waste the chance, he unfroze the space, sending more waves toward Betaca.

Betaca reacted instantly, attacking back this time. The woman was a genius alright, Mauriss had hoped it would take her a bit longer to figure out how he was doing it. But no matter, he still had more experience.

The two of them exchanged blows for a while before Betaca made her first mistake. A funny thing about spirit was that Qi acted in its natural state there, and that meant that Water Qi would nullify Fire Qi, even if they were cast by the same person. Mauriss took the chance to send some fire her way.

Betaca was not lost, however, in fact she seemed even more aggressive in her following attacks. Mauriss could barely react fast enough to defend, but even in that she erred. A fluid got turbulent when it gained too much velocity.

And so did spirit. As he watched, prepared for it, the spirit turned turbulent before them, halting Betaca’s attacks and putting her spirit space in jeopardy. Mauriss took the chance to attack her in reality.

Betaca could not defend herself, her arms burning to cinders as Mauriss’ attack hit. But she recovered fast enough to heal the damage before it became fatal.

“I have to admit, Elder Maurris, you surprise me. I have underestimated you. I shall not do so again.” she said as figured began appearing beside her. A dozen Spirit Trees, a hundred Grand Trees.

Mauriss knew that this was it, the end. “Retreat into the forest!” he announced, moving to block the army, but it was too late. The massive sea Betaca had brought with her ahead already moved to block the way to the forest.

And Mauriss found himself dodging as he came under attack from a dozen different sources. A sigh escaped his lips as his trunk began burning. So, this was how it died. Betaca laughed as a typhoon of fire appeared below him, ready to end his life.

But it didn’t. The typhoon approached his body, but found itself blocked by some invisible force.

“Oi! What is going on here? Did I give you permission to burn the city?” a voice he had not heard for a long time spoke. Mauriss’ eyes widened, as he turned towards her, shouting, “Altura, run! Betaca is a Grand Elder, you can’t beat her! The Arch duchy is lost!”

But Altura only smiled and shook her head.

“Oh, the little girl has decided to present herself? Do you know how much you have earned me? I assure you, it's more than you could possibly imagine.” Betaca quipped.

“Do us all a favor and surrender, and I will let your people go”

Altura did not, reply, but instead removed a strange scepter. And then tilted it towards the Spirit Trees. As if they were always there, hurricanes appeared around the Spirit Trees. And three weren’t normal hurricanes either, they were powerful enough that Mauriss could feel space rend just by their presence, powerful enough that the Spirit Trees died within seconds of them appearing.

Betaca’s face was pale, her eyes wide in shock.

“What are you? What was that?” she exclaimed, her voice wavering.

“Just a little thing I got from my trip. Though it's even more powerful here, I suppose it has something to do with me being in my domain. And the fact that my stats are much higher than before. But come, Grand Elder Betaca, it's time for you to die, so I can have enough Qi to become a Warrior Tree.” Altura said.

Betaca ran. The woman had been relishing her victory mere minutes ago, and had now teleported away. But Altura was not done. Mauriss did not know what happened after, and perhaps he never would, but about ten seconds later the world found the sun covered by a snowflake that yelled.

“I, Archduchess Altura Selrin, do hereby conquer the Oceana and name it a vassal land under the Arch duchy of Alvere’

Altura

The battle with Betaca had been boring. The Grand Elder was powerful, there was no doubt about it, but she was also exhausted and injured from her battle with Elder Mauriss, and scared from my demonstration before.

I had not expected the hurricanes to be so effective, but I expected it had something to with how I had put so much aura force into the action. But now it was time for me to finally level up again, to level into the last level I needed.

System, show notifications

Qi gained!

11 Early Spirit Trees killed: 13 million X 11= 143 million Qi

1 Mid-Spirit Tree killed: 39 million Qi

1 Half-Step Warrior Tree killed: 275 million Qi

Unnamed co-operative organization levelled up! 76 million Qi

Oceana's conquest: 150 million Qi

Total Qi: 683 million Qi

Late-Spirit Tree (1,814,507,896/1,258,291,200)

Level up requirements unmet, begin trial?

Yes, System. Please do so.

I once again found myself in front of the hole, and this time, it thankfully asked me a question. I did not have anymore ‘interesting’ things left to do with spirit.

‘Tell me, Archduchess, what is it that troubles the world today?’

Oh, hole, how big of a list do you want? Cause I am going to give it all to you.

‘The war-like nature of the society. The lack of focus on industry. The pettiness of its rulers. And not to mention the fact that you need to kill things to get Qi. Oh, and there is the lack of understanding of cultivations.’

‘The lack of education. And what made you think restricting healthcare so much is a good idea? Not to mention the slavery. The tyrant of a ruler. The lack of System transparency. Oh, and let's not forget the lack of non-combat seeds. Do you want me to go on?’

‘No. Archduchess, you pass, congratulations.’ the hole said, disappearing much faster than before. But I did not care about that. I was now a Warrior Tree.

Grand Elder Artica.

Artica looked at the First Warrior warily. The man had always been threatening, but this time he looked even more so. The glower on his face screamed death, and the way he clutched his spear impaled far too much enthusiasm for what was to be a death match. And then there was the spear. Artica had never seen it before, but its aura scared her. And that was saying something since she was a Warrior Tree.

“Are you ready to lose yet, Grand Elder Artica?” the First Warrior baited.

“Are you ready to give up your throne, you child-killer?” she responded, taking the bait.

“What makes you think that I will be the one falling?” he said, holding up the spear. “Do you see this? I have finally found a spear that can take my power. And it shall be your death, woman.”

Artica frowned, the First Warrior seemed even more off than usual. The manic grin, the overconfidence, the lack of seriousness.

“Oh, is little Artica angry that I am not taking this seriously? Well, sad to break it to you, but I am not. Cause you’re not my match you fool, you’re the dirt beneath my teeth.” The First Warrior said, patronizingly.

Artica took a deep breadth in, reminding herself that to kill this man, she would need to be calm.

“So, you wouldn’t have any problem if we started the battle now?” Artica said, preparing for the battle. The battle was to be held in a large sky lake near the tip of the System Tree. Artica found the battlefield quaint.

“Well, if you insist. I was going to let you live for a few more minutes, but well…” The First Warrior said. Now all that was needed was for the System to initiate the battle.

A notification appeared in the air, but before it could go forward, a ripple spread through reality. Just for a single second, Artica felt every force, every elements' nature change. And then things went back to normal.

The System offers hearty congratulations to Archduchess Altura Selrin for braking through to the Warrior Tree stage.

Archduchess Selrin is requested to participate in the duel for custodianship of the world

Artica had to admit, she was more shocked than happy. The thought of her granddaughter reaching the Warrior Tree stage in time for the duel had not occurred to her. A fourteen-year-old Warrior Tree, the First Warrior was going to be laughingstock.

Altura arrived mere seconds later, sauntering onto the lake surface.

“So, you are the lauded Archduchess? What a disappointment, had you waited a bit then you could have run away. Now you shall instead die with your grandmother.” The First Warrior spit out, his distaste clear.

Altura merrily looked at him as if he was beneath her. “Are you going to fight? Or are you all bark and no bite? I wouldn’t mind accepting your surrender, I am sure we can find use of a Warrior Tree laborer.”

Artica shook her head at Altura’s antics. But at least the First Warrior was having a taste of his own music.

The duel shall begin in

Artica readied herself, but found Altura and the First Warrior still staring daggers at each other. Altura she could understand, she was still a teenager, but what about the First Warrior? Was this some game she was missing?

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The System said, as emotionless as ever, as if it was timing the time to open a bottle of wine, not the battle to decide custodianship of the world.

Arctic turned her attention to the First Warrior, ready to make the first move, but to her surprise the battle had already begun. Altura and the First Warrior were still staring at each other, but they were also attacking each other. A hundred attacks every second. A hurricane was conjured and ended before it even began.

Artica knew that the battle would be too dangerous to interfere in, it was too fast, too delicate. But one thing puzzled her. The speeds. The two of them were fighting at speeds nearly a third faster than she could fight, and they were just getting faster with the second.

The stats puzzled her, Altura she knew had a [Royalty] trait to grant a third more stats, but what about the First Warrior? Was it the spear the as doing it? What exactly was the spear?

The battle continued, every second a great many disasters were conjured and ended before they could mature. To the naked eye it only seemed as if there were things constantly flickering, but Artica knew better. A Warrior Tree could, if they pushed themselves, fly at the speed of light. The level of a Warrior Tree was several magnitudes higher than everyone else.

The use of such power would exhaust the Qi within seconds, but it may be of use at times. Artica watched, ready to act as the two of them fought. At long last, the First Warrior attacked, his spear stretching towards Altura. Altura dodged, spinning around, causing hundreds of hurricanes in the First Warrior’s direction.

The First Warrior froze them all. And so the battle continued. The tow of them had fought or less than a minute till now, but they had unleashed enough power to destroy all life on the planet.

As the minutes went on, it became clear that he First Warrior was losing. The man could not even get close to her granddaughter, but spent precious Qi desperately trying to do so. Artica attempted to interfere several times, and nullified several of his attacks, but it required far too much planning to make even the minutest contributions.

Altura would have begun countering even before the First Warrior had completed casting. Had the two of them been familiar with their fighting styles, then perhaps Artica could have fought more, but at the moment it was impossible to do so.

The battle continued, and the First Warrior began to sag. And Altura became more aggressive, even attacking occasionally. But that did not last long. The First Warrior grunted in frustration and clutched his spear, and as Artica watched, vines began growing on his hands.

And his aura rose to the Mid-Warrior Tree level. The weapon was not something from the planet, Artica was sure of it. The System would not allow something like this to exist.

Altura did not falter, however, and continued attacking, matching him blow to blow. The scepter clashed with the spear as the disasters caused huge gashes in space. But neither of them paid it any heed, too engrossed in their battle.

The blows continued, the fight more equal now. The battle would be lost by wherever made the first mistake. Artica watched with increasing concern as the battle heated up. And then Altura slipped up.

The First Warrior unleashed a blizzard, and Altura countered with a hurricane. And the mess began, the First Warrior immediately took advantage, attacking her ferociously, moving to kill her. Artica moved to intercept, ice charging from her hands towards the First Warrior, delaying him.

The First Warrior attacked her, unleashing hurricanes and tsunamis at her. But it was enough, Altura had already recovered. And even better, she had a part in the battle now.

As Artica attacked the First Warrior, Altura took a back seat, solely countering him. The tactic worked well, destroying the First Warrior in minutes. But one thing worried Artica. The vines had continued to climb his body, reaching his throat and then his face.

A little by little they grew across his body as they battled, the more he lost, the more they grew, and by the end they covered the entirety of his body. The second this occurred, something changed.

The First Warrior’s aura changed, becoming something deeper, more bloodthirsty as the vine began to glow red.

“Artica, you will regret this.” he growled as the vines began to glow with blinding light. Artica had no idea what to make of it, all she could do was attack him some more. After all, was that not what you did in the middle of a battle.