- “Very well. If you wish so much to sacrifice your body and soul for these worthless beings you like so much, do it.”

- “I thank you, master.”

- “Enough. I will be going now.”

As I said this, the Trees’ consciousness began to fade. It was already too weak when I came by, and the one holding it afloat was no other but me.

Soon, the old Tree Trunk, now entirely hollow in its insides, started to fall.

The old branches had fallen a long time ago. The leaves had not been seen for millions of years now.

Then, even the old trunk began to fall.

If things had followed their course, the old Tree accepting my proposal, it could have stood still for at least a few more hundred thousands of years.

It had enough Magical Power to suppress the amazing pressure inside, the pressure which came from Tiphoons’ mantle.

Still, since its death would signal the moment when its suppression would turn into a deadly contraption for the beings of this world, the forcefully cooled piece of basalt at the end of its roots exploding like a cap at a champagne bottle, it had chosen not to.

The trunk hit the ground, the amazing thickness of its bark causing hundreds of thousands of kilometers to shake uncontrollably.

Where it fell, an extremely deep ravine formed. It was full of the old Trees’ trunk and bark, now reduced to smithereens.

Where the last of its roots remained, intense heat and sulphurous smoke started to arise, covering hundreds of thousands of kilometers as well.

Still, huge chunks of lava and rock didn’t erupt from there.

Instead, the Trees’ suppression became stronger. I sighed at the sign of the old Trees’ fading soul doing its best to move Magic Power down the huge main crater, the place where its main root was located before.

It desired to cool off as much lava as possible, filling the crater to the point where it was strong enough to avoid explosion. Where it became as thick as Tiphoons’ crust. Unfortunately, it didn’t know how to properly move the Qi inside lava or how deep to send it.

- “That is not the way, Marianne. You should do it like this.”

As I manipulated the Magic Power stored inside the little ghost my consciousness inhabited at the moment, showing how to move all of the Qi inside the lava downwards, back to Tiphoons’ mantle, Marianne learned how to do it.

Soon, the main explosion was avoided and Mariannes’ soul faded into nothingness. Only the tiny Seed of Reason inside of it remained, as it flew to my hand.

-“… worry not. I shall find you a good family.”