Blade of the Goddess-Chapter 136

"Is that demonic energy? Wait, is the tree rotting?" Zion wondered, just as everyone else there did.

But maybe it was because of their culture and history that they didn’t want to believe such a thing could happen. After all, their tree was blessed by their goddess, so how could it fall to demonic energy?

"Of course it’s not rotting! It’s...It’s just..." An advisor tried to answer, but they couldn’t. They didn’t understand how or why this was happening, and they refused to believe that the world tree could be in such a state, yet what they were looking at was telling a completely different story.

"I’ll take a look," Nimreth said, walking up to the massive tree and putting her hand on its rotting bark, feeling its energy and life force. Upon contact, a sudden wave of darkness enveloped her senses, and her mind was summoned to a dark space.

"What just happened?" She wondered, confusion riddled all over her face. "Hello? Queen Melina? Zion? Anyone?" She called out, but no one answered.

Suddenly, without warning, thick vines lashed around her, constricting so brutally that she felt the pressure crush her limbs and halt the flow of blood in her veins.

"What the hell?!" She fought back, breathing free from the vines and destroying them with her power. But that wasn’t enough.

The vines kept lashing out, moving at high speeds, and constricting Nimreth’s every movement. Again, she would break out, and again the vines would grow back and capture her once more, getting stronger each time.

It was an endless loop, and nothing seemed to break it, no matter what Nimreth did. She used her holy power, called out to her goddess, tried to connect with the spirit of the World Tree, and even tried to contact the outside world, but it was to no avail.

"N-No...Not like t-this." She cried, her voice strained as vines wrapped around her throat, choking the life out of her, and with one snap of her neck, she died.

"AHHGHHHHHGHHH!!!!!"

"Nimreth?! What’s wrong?! What happened?!" Melina asked in a panic, rushing to aid the wailing divine apostle who collapsed to the ground.

"Y-Y-Yggdrasill, it’s dying, and furious. It tried to k-kill me." She passed out from mental strain, her body growing limp in Melina’s arms.

"I want every scout and ranger searching for the saplings—now! We’re running out of time. Order the royal guards to secure the one in the castle and defend it with their lives. Lefyr, rally the other Fae families—do whatever it takes to protect the sapling in your care. If even one of them falls into enemy hands, it’s over for all of us!"

"Yes, My Queen!" Everyone shouted, rushing off in a panic.

"That’s demonic energy inside the tree, right?" Zion asked. "Maybe I can heal it with my holy power. I was able to cure that disease after all."

"That...That would be great. Please try it." Melina asked, her voice filled with panic and worry.

Zion stepped into his Apostle form, holy power crackling around him as he approached the massive tree. Placing his hands against its ancient bark, golden light surged from his touch, racing up the trunk, threading through every branch, until the entire tree blazed with brilliance—its radiance washing over all of Alfheim like the dawn of a new age. But then, the light faltered. The tree resisted. With a shudder that rippled through its roots and canopy, it rejected Zion’s power, violently expelling the holy energy in a burst that shattered the stillness and sent shockwaves through the land.

"The fuck?!" Zion growled, struggling to stabilize his power, forcing it against the tree’s will. But it was stronger—far stronger than he had anticipated. The brilliant golden light that once danced across the bark flickered and died, snuffed out like a candle in a storm. In its place, a dark, red-black energy bled down the trunk, writhing like a living shadow. It reached his hands, seeping into his skin, cold and unnatural, as if the tree itself was fighting back—with something ancient and malevolent.

"This fucking tree! Don’t think you can get rid of me that easily!" Zion roared, unleashing the full force of his power in defiance. But even with everything he had, it wasn’t enough. The red-black energy overwhelmed him, surging up his arms until his hands were completely consumed. Then, as if the tree itself had had enough, the energy pulsed once before detonating in a violent blast. The explosion sent Zion hurtling through the air, crashing through branches and dirt before slamming into another massive tree hundreds of feet away, the impact shaking the forest around him.

"ZION!" Melina, Valindra, and Syrune all shouted, rushing to his location.

"Arghhhhh!!!" Zion screamed, agony ripping through him as the red energy scorched his hands, devouring his holy power like it was nothing. "W-What’s happening?! Aghh!" He poured his strength into resisting, calling on every ounce of holy power—but it was useless. The holy light sputtered, then vanished entirely, swallowed by the relentless crimson force. It wasn’t just overpowering him—it was unmaking him.

"T-Tessa! My arms! Cut off my arms!" He demanded, his voice heavy and hoarse.

The nanotechnology moved on its own, commanded by Tessa, and blades formed, promptly cutting off both of Zion’s arms from the elbow as the red energy had yet to move past it.

Instant relief washed over his face as he took a deep breath, thankful that whatever he had just experienced was over. He didn’t even feel the pain from his arms being chopped off, just the relief of not feeling the red energy burn his arms to a crisp.

"What the hell was that?!" He wondered, staring at his now severed, charred hands and destroyed nanobots.

[Some form of Demonic Energy?] Tessa asked, replicating nanobots to go into Zion’s newly grown arms.

"Maybe, but it didn’t feel like demonic energy. My holy power didn’t do a thing against that energy, which should be, well, impossible, right? I couldn’t even sense the energy, even when it was on my body."

’That’s because it’s not demonic energy.’ Luminera answered, her voice not as confident and radiant as it normally would be.

"Then what is it?"

"Infernal Energy."

The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel