Echoes of the Abyssal Blade: Path to Free Will-Chapter 57: Lenaia vs Lyneex

After a long silence, even Rhydian seemed to be momentarily stunned.

"You’re telling me the Dark Tide healed the rift between his body and the heart?"

"It wasn’t its intention, but somehow this miracle happened," Lenaia scoffed. "And here we all have been trying to fuse this heart to many for quite a long time, but we have never been successful."

She stood slowly, her voice still laced with disbelief.

Rhydian pulled his hood lower and sat down with relief in his eyes, "It means we don’t waste this chance, he’ll need time to recover, during which we will head to the Starfall family and ask his holiness for his direction."

Lenaia nodded once, her expression sober. "Take your time in arriving at the Starfall Family, you can come back after he heals completely."

"Yes," responded Rhydian with a confused expression.

Her eyes narrowed, "If the others find out how close we came to losing him, they won’t be pleased, and I don’t just mean His Holiness."

"As for that bitch Lyneex, let me take care of her, I am sure she must have sensed my interference, we cannot let you and young master be in danger again, wondering if she might pursue you, after all she has already decimated the entire city already."

"I know, and will do as you have suggested, and you are right that Monarch might not sit still satisfied," replied Rhydian with a somber expression.

Lenaia’s form began to fade, green light was peeling away like petals in the wind, and then she was gone.

The carriage continued to roll along the dirt path, following the caravan toward the nearest city, where the outside life carried on as if nothing had changed.

Meanwhile, where The Wailing Shadow city stood once, was now crumpled and shattered beyond repair. At the end of the city stood a small girl with a petite figure; nowhere was her colossal figure to be seen.

"My poor son was brutally killed, I hope the souls of these mice might give him comfort," sighed Lyneex with an uncomfortable expression, her face making a twisting expression akin to crying and smiling.

Lyneex, who was in her reverie, was suddenly caught off guard, and her expression turned sour, and she muttered with gritting teeth, "So, killing these mice didn’t change anything, and you, the real killer of my son have managed to escape, I must say you humans are truly insidious creatures."

With a raging hiss, she disappeared from her place and went in the direction where her ability was obstructed, but before she could disappear, green vines with thorns instantly summoned from the ground beneath her, and locked Lyneex’s figure, binding her tightly. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

"Are you monsters that desperate to evolve into an abomination, that you would possess this pitiful mortal girl, How dare you filthy beasts, dare to lay hands on a human, even after attaining the realm of a Monarch, you are not satisfied with being a mere beast, is that it, Lyneex," Lenaia uttered with a cold and solemn expression.

The thorned vines wrapped around Lyneex’s mortal vessel with a jarring crunch, biting into the earth beneath her and winding upward, thorn after thorn gleaming like emerald blades in the shadowed dusk, the petite girl trembled more within the bindings, her eyes glazed, filled with a swirling mix of pain, and anger.

Lenaia’s feet barely touched the ground as she floated forward, her green cloak trailing like drifting leaves behind her. She studied the girl silently, her fingers twitching slightly as another set of vines coiled around the girl’s ankles, careful not to harm her but to keep her still.

"Poor child, you must have suffered a lot, knowing this beast, she must have tortured or killed your family by using your own body, ughh these beasts always leave a bad aftertaste, they just never learn, " Lenaia’s voice was flat, but disdain radiated from every syllable.

The girl’s lips moved, but the voice that came forth was not hers.

"Shut Up, vixen, what do you know, the difference between an abomination and a beast, even after achieving the realm of Monarch, I have to bow in front of other Abominations, how is that fair?" Lyneex spoke through her.

Lenaia coldly replied, "Is anything in this world fair? Didn’t you also play with this pitiful mortal, and destroy an entire city full of hope and bravery, but look here you are unapologetic and a narrow-minded beast, whose station will always be a beast."

"Keep Quiet Vixen, How dare you say such thing about, I have lost my son, my one and only hope, and I will kill whoever is responsible for this, and its quite a play you are acting out, I was just on my way to intercept and kill those who have escaped, but look here you are stopping me."

Lenaia’s lips curved upwards, "Looks like you are quite smart for a beast."

Without saying another word, Lenaia raised a hand, and green energy spiraled from her palm, settling into the girl’s chest like a blooming seed, the mortal girl’s body jerked, and suddenly her eyes flared wide, the swirling miasma evaporating in an instant, she gasped, breathing heavily and crying at the same time.

"H-help... please...please....save my sister" she croaked, before fainting.

With a swift motion, Lenaia waved her hand, and the vines loosened, catching the girl gently before lowering her to the ground. A protective cocoon of foliage formed around her like a cradle. Lenaia didn’t even look down as she turned her gaze toward the sky.

"Such a pitiful child, Lyneex, it looks like you must die for your crimes," Lenaia said calmly, her fingers curling.

There was a pause. Then, all at once, the world grew dark.

A deafening roar tore through the clouds, and the air turned heavy, as though soaked in oil. Trees bent backwards from the sheer force of the aura descending upon them, the ground beneath Lenaia cracked in places, and the sky itself shuddered.

"You dare interfere again?" Lyneex’s voice echoed from all directions, like thunder crashing through a cathedral. "You dare stand before me lecturing on the ways of the world, let me—"

"No," Lenaia interrupted coldly. "I’m just cleaning up trash."

She raised her arms.

The earth around her exploded.

Thorned vines erupted in spiraling towers, reaching toward the sky like hungry hydras. Each one shimmered with arcane runes, glowing with greenish gold, they danced and swayed like they had minds of their own, and then launched toward the towering serpent in a flurry of bladed foliage.

Lyneex snarled and twisted her massive body, sweeping her tail across the battlefield. The sheer impact sent waves of shadow crashing outward like a tsunami. Trees were obliterated, the earth torn apart—but the vines bent with the wind, slithering through the devastation, lunging for her throat.

The clash began in full.

Lyneex struck with shadow tendrils and soul-tearing screeches. Entire chunks of darkness were thrown like missiles, each exploding with enough force to level a city block. Lenaia weaved between them, her figure blinking in and out of sight like an afterimage. With every gesture, more vines emerged—some massive and thick as towers, others thin and needle-like, perfect for piercing scales.

One vine drove deep into Lyneex’s shoulder.

Lyneex started screaming in rage, her body started to convulse, and lashing out, she flung herself at Lenaia, her jaws wide open far enough to swallow whole buildings. Yet as she moved closer with her jaws, whip-like thorns burst up and flailed across her face, exploding in bursts of emerald fire. She pulled back, shuddering the air with her scream.

"You sure love screaming," Lenaia called out, voice unwavering. "Imagine how your victims screamed from your torture and unnecessary massacre."

Lyneex’s form twisted unnaturally, suddenly stretching like a liquid shadow. In a blink, she closed the distance, her coiled lower half slamming downward.

The ground split.

Lenaia vanished beneath the impact.

But out of the wreckage, a thorn dome grew like an opening flower, breaking the suffocating weight above.

Lenaia emerged, blood dripping from the corner of her mouth—but her face remained unaltered.

"I’m done with this nonsense," she whispered.

Then she spread her arms, and the battlefield changed.

A vast field of green glow erupted around them, a domain of verdant fury, every blade of grass glowing with enchantment, every tree brimming with arcane light, her ability was etched into the sky, casting down radiant green beams.

Lenaia activated her full power.

The vines began to move faster, they were acting as weapons themselves, they burrowed beneath Lyneex’s scales, erupted from her eyes and nostrils, constricted her neck and limbs with impossible strength.

Lyneex roared, trying to rot it all away. She released a wave of black ichor, which was extremely corrosive.

But the plants remained undeterred through the corrosive ichor.

They were unrelenting.

The green glow met the dark, and in that clash of color, the battlefield trembled. Lyneex reared back, her eyes wide as she finally began to realize she was being slowly killed.

"You desire to evolve into an abomination, yet you haven’t even learned to manifest your abilities completely, and you wish to be an abomination, haha, that’s the biggest joke I have ever seen," Lenaia said, her eyes twitching with glee.