Reborn as a Demonic Tree

Chapter 298: Life-Death Equilibrium

"That seemed to have drawn their attention," Ashlock sighed with relief as the Lunarshade Elders turned their backs on the now-defenseless Geb and were enthralled by the monstrosities birthed from their fallen comrade's corpses.

No matter how much his {Necroflora Sovereign [SS]} skill had altered them into new forms, some resemblance to their past selves remained. The dome head and flickering lunar flames told the Lunarshade Elders all they needed to know.

They were fighting themselves.

As the only one who wasn't fazed by his words, as she was already too far gone, Ashlock spoke to Elysia Mystshroud.

"You should lead the charge against them—shit."

All of the Lunarshade Elders vanished in flashes of moonlight and reappeared before his freshly spawned Ents.

"Defend yourselves," Ashlock quickly commanded of his Ents, and they surged lunar Qi into their defenses and raised their lunar-wreathed arms.

The Lunarshade Elders decided to group up on the left one.

Crescents of moonlight from their silver blades cut deep into the Ent's layers of lunar Qi, leaving deep indents in the wood and outright obliterating chunks from its arm. Once the Ents arm fell loosely to its side, they went for a round of punches to topple it despite its titanic size and wide-spread roots for legs that should have kept it stable.

"No way..." Ashlock muttered in disbelief as the twenty-meter-tall Ent fell backward and collapsed onto the Bastion's shield, making the Bastion tremble and throwing up a cloud of dust. He tried to slow its descent with telekinesis, but the flickering lunar Qi coating its form interfered. The spatial shield barely held up as the Ent lay against it, looking up at the encircling Lunarshade Elders with fading eyes.

"Accursed creation," one of the oldest-looking Elders snarled as he raised his hand to the moon. "The moonlight will cleanse you."

The other Elders raised their hands to the moon in unison and called down a tactical strike of moonbeams. The world went blindingly white and then deathly silent. Much like Khaos, the lunar Ent was obliterated, and all that remained was a layer of ice coating the spatial shield resembling its outline and a flash-frozen crater.

The ten Lunarshade Elders floated overhead on their swords of moonlight with their hands clasped behind their backs under their flowing white robes that fluttered in the nightly breeze. Despite their calm appearance, Ashlock could tell from the flickering of lunar Qi between them that words were most certainly exchanged as they eyed the second Ent.

"Shit. This isn't good. I need to stop their ability to teleport. Otherwise, they might go and assist their Grand Elder before I can stop them," Ashlock cast Spatial Lock on the Elders and started trying to match their frequencies simultaneously but quickly learned this was a single target technique rather than one that could be used on a large group with differing cultivation levels.

Ashlock knew he needed to go on the offensive quickly, so he was about to go and inform the gathered Grand Elders to make a move, but to his surprise, someone decided to take matters into their own hands.

"You bastards dare defile my god's children!" Elysia screamed as she burst through the spatial shield of the Bastion on a pillar of purple smoke. A soul-crushing pressure filled with wrath and a hint of divinity exploded out of the girl, and her eyes glowed with power.

The Lunarshade Elders eyed the newcomer with contempt. Yet, their arrogance faded as Elysia's wave of pressure smashed into them, slapping them out of the sky with immense force. They plummeted to the ground like asteroids striking the moon, and the ground exploded upon their impacts, leaving craters. Even the Bastion's shield rippled and groaned under Elysia's soul pressure.

"I remember Stella telling me that Elysia's presence carries the weight of her god. Before, she believed Pluto was a godly being, but now she believes in me." Ashlock muttered in amazement as he watched dozens of spinning ritual circles manifest above Elysia, dominating the night sky. "Is this the type of pressure I will be able to wield once my Inner World is formed?"

Elysia looked to the stars, spread out her arms, and began chanting.

"O All-Seeing Eye, whose godly gaze pierces the veil of my soul,

In your everloving sight, I accept the splintering of my whole.

Let the fragments of my psyche be the mosaic of your grace,

Each piece a testament to the depth of your embrace."

The bloodied carving of an eye on her forehead slowly opened, and tendrils of an eldritch being not of this world slithered out of her 3rd eye alongside mystic Qi that leaked out and coiled around its form.

Unfazed by the monstrosity emerging from her forehead, Elysia continued the chant with her passion, reaching new heights. Blood leaked from her nose and eyes as the ritual circle forming overhead began spinning faster, and the pressure further increased.

"In the abyss of your scrutiny, I concede,

The fractured pieces of my broken mind.

Non-believers have arrived at the gates,

Allow me to show them your welcoming embrace!"

Pluto emerged in his entirety, wreathed in a shroud of mystic Qi, and descended on the pinned nonbelievers. Ashlock wasn't entirely sure what Pluto was supposed to look like, but he seemed far more ominous than the descriptions he had been given.

"He looks like the embodiment of the All-Seeing Eye. It's as if he has become a manifestation of me."

Pluto was nothing but a giant floating green eye surrounded by a ring of wriggling tendrils. He had no mouth, limbs, or body to speak of. He was a truly alien creature born from a twisted mind devoted to Ashlock. Under Elysia's reverent shouting about killing the nonbelievers, Pluto loomed overhead, unleashing a barrage of tendrils upon the Lunarshade Elders.

Unfortunately, despite Elysia's immense presence by wielding the name of her god, she could not pin the Lunarshade Elders down for long as they blinked in and out of existence along the streaks of moonlight. Ashlock glared at the celestial object that dominated the sky with annoyance, which was letting them teleport around.

"If Larry could be freed from dealing with the Lunarshade Grand Elder, he could blanket the sky with his body and stop their teleportation," Ashlock sadly couldn't depend on Larry, so he decided to use Spatial Lock one at a time to cull the Lunarshade Elder's numbers.

Locking onto a bald woman first, he matched his soul pulses to hers, causing the moonlight to fail to recognize her and refuse her passage through its light. She stumbled in confusion before a stray tendril from Pluto smacked her right in the stomach, dispelling the moonlight wreathing her form and causing her to cough blood as she flew through the air and crashed into the ground.

The woman lay sprawled among craters, wheezing and trying to conjure even a flicker of lunar flames to heal her internal wounds.

Ashlock was not so kind to let his foe recover.

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Her eyes widened as a portal ripped itself into existence, and a black vine covered in thorns lashed out and impaled her to the ground. She gasped for breath as she reached up and tried to claw at the vine rammed through her chest. Such a wound would kill others, but the woman's flickering lunar Qi kept her alive long enough to experience a slow death.

The thorns drew blood from her hands that dyed her pristine white robes a dark crimson. Since she was managing to hold onto life, Ashlock flooded her body with digestive fluids, liquifying her organs, and the embers of life faded from her eyes.

"That's another one down," Ashlock said without a hint of emotion as he dragged the corpse over to the Bastion with telekinesis and cast {Necroflora Sovereign}. As much as he wanted credits, those could be gathered later. Creating Ents was the most efficient path to victory.

The last Ent perished under the Lunarshade Elders' concentrated efforts, but they wasted a lot of Qi doing so. Whereas creating the Ents cost nothing for Ashlock as he wasn't putting in any effort to customize them to his liking.

While the new Ent was being created, Ashlock cast his sights back to the battle at hand. Elysia had lessened her pressure on the area as the other Grand Elders took to the battle. The Lunarshade Elders were strong under the moonlight and worked well together, but they weren't the only ones stronger during the night.

Evelyn, much like her sister Nox, wielded shadow Qi. However, the difference between the two's capabilities was vast from a mere glance. Her Shadow Armor was more like a dress than full medieval plate armor conjured from shadows. The fiends she summoned were more annoyances than threats, and her bladework was vastly inferior. It was clear that Evelyn had lived the life of a noble daughter while Nox fought tooth and nail in the outside world as her techniques lacked that refined ruthlessness.

Because of this, the Frostveil Grand Elder had to send a few of his Elders to assist her while she fought. Ashlock was honestly impressed as the man was an absolute tank. He manifested walls of ice to block crescent slashes and went toe-to-toe with a Lunarshade Elder in an airborne boxing match.

Ashlock also saw the Mystshroud family joining Elysia in the air. Abominations birthed from their imaginations manifested from their mystic Qi, and how they differed from Pluto was obvious. Their creations had more ethereal forms, like illusions, rather than physical bodies.

"After my talk with them, it looks like they are also going with an eye and tree theme, much like Pluto," Ashlock mused. He had gone all out earlier with {Abyssal Whispers} to flood their minds with visions to inspire them.

The Mystshroud Grand Elder commanded an ethereal giant hand made from black wood floating in the air. In its palm was a glowing red eye that seemed to carry a hint of Ashlock's demonic eye powers, capable of inducing madness in the Lunarshade Elders as they tried to flee its grasp.

That just left one group out of the fight. Ashlock looked back at the ground beyond the Bastion's shield and saw the Blightbane family gathered around the Lunarshade Elder's corpse and praying to it. Their bodies were withered and rotting, and their eyes a liquid black.

"Bringer of death, heed our prayers," they chanted, "Purge the lingering regrets from this nonbeliever and envelop us in your blessing."

Ashlock was curious about what death affinity cultivators were capable of, and he had no reason to refuse their pleas as it was simply a side effect of the skill and not something he was doing on purpose.

"I hear your prayers," Ashlock spoke into their minds, "So have your reward."

He didn't really know what to say to their misplaced prayers, but anything that would make them revere him more and boost his divine energy was a plus in his book.

The black root went down the corpse's throat and deposited the seed. All the Blightbane cultivators stood and clasped their hands before their chests as they waited for their god's blessing. Death Qi miasma exploded as the corpse twisted upwards and took on its new wooden form, much like the last two.

The Blightbane family absorbed the death Qi and cried to the heavens as their skin melted off their bones, revealing the ivory color beneath. It was one of the most gruesome sights Ashlock had witnessed in this world and was made all the worse because they seemed to be enjoying it. Their cultivation soared the closer to death they came.

"Have they become undead? The Grand Elder almost resembles a lich at this point," Ashlock muttered to himself in disbelief.

With death miasma leaking from their mouths like bad breath, the half-dead-looking members of the Blightbane family finally joined the war after a brief celebration of Ashlock's god-like capabilities. The Grand Elder, whose black cloak flapped in the winds, barely concealed his skeleton body as he took to the sky and faced off the oldest-looking Lunarshade Elder.

"The scent of death around you is sickening," the man grimaced as he brandished his silver sword, burning with white flames. "You are a plague on this realm that should be purified in the moonlight."

Grand Elder Blightbane answered with a crooked grin, "I will be the judge of that." He raised his finger and gathered Qi toward it before saying, with an almost inhuman voice reverberating through the lands, "Life-Death Equilibrium."

The Lunarshade Elder tried to run, but Ashlock cast Spatial Lock on him. He staggered in the air as his beloved moonlight rejected his passage, and the bolt of death fired from the Blightbane Grand Elder's finger impacted him. It phased right through his lunar Qi and clothes as if they weren't there.

"What did you do to me?" The Lunarshade asked as he frantically patted his chest with wide eyes.

"Just wait and see," The Blightbane Grand Elder sneered, "Oh look, it's started."

"What has..."

Ashlock saw wrinkles spread across the man's flawless skin, and his eyes darkened. He went limp as what Ashlock assumed was the man's soul rose into the air as a dense burning ball of white flames, illuminating the night sky.

But he wasn't the only one to have his soul exposed. From Grand Elder Blightbanes's chest, a sinister black sun floated forward. Even Ashlock felt a chill run down his bark looking at it from afar, and he wasn't the only one. Everyone paused their fights and turned to watch the spectacle unfolding.

"Under the heavens, our souls will now be weighed against one another," Grand Elder Blightbane explained, "Your life force will be compared to my death Qi, and whoever is found lacking will have their soul forfeit, and the victor will claim the other."

Ashlock now realized why the Grand Elder sought out the oldest member of the Lunarshade Elders. No matter his foe's cultivation level, if they are nearing the end of their lifespan, then their life force could be close to that of a mortal. Only those in the Nascent Soul Realm and above can escape the shackles of mortality by reincarnating into their infant souls.

A heavenly scale manifested in the sky constructed from golden light and began to weigh the two burning souls.

The old man, who could not move his limbs, shouted to his fellow Elders, "Lend me your life force! I only have a century of lifeforce remaining, so I won't be able to survive!"

"What are you saying, Elder of house Lunarshade?" Grand Elder Blightbane laughed. "Life force is the most precious thing. Why would these fine Elders here waste their life force to save a blundering old fool like you who can't even use Lunar Step correctly?"

"You silver-tongued snake," the Lunarshade Elder grimaced, "You spew lies about my good name to sow discord among us. We are all worshipers of the moon's grace and will stop at nothing to purge disgusting vermin like you from our sacred lands. Isn't that right, my fellow Elders?"

An uncomfortable silence was shared among all present.

"Isn't that right?" He insisted and still received no reply as his fellow Elder's exchanged glances.

"Much like the moon, there is always a dark side to life," Grand Elder Blightbane shook his head wistfully, "Only when one stands at the gates of hell do they learn the truth of life."

"No... this can't be," the old man, visibly aging as his life force was consumed by the sinister death, muttered in horror, "I still had time! My foundation was perfect, and my path to take over the spot at the top of the family was assured!"

"Lofty ambitions held back by a lack of talent. Your death was inevitable either to the clutches of time or at the blade of your Grand Elder." Blightbane, who resembled a lich, uttered a death sentence for the man, "A fact your fellow Elders have known for a while. But don't fear. Now, your strength will become mine, and I shall wield it to slay those who turned their backs on you. Surrender yourself to me, and I will take on your regrets and burning desire for revenge."

Desperation and rage flashed across the dying man's face. The Blightbane Grand Elder's words seemed to bite deep and tempt the darkest depths of his soul to give in.

"Only if you promise that the Lunarshade Grand Elder will die in the worst way possible will I surrender my soul to you," the man hissed.

As if he were the reaper himself, Grand Elder Blightbane grinned, "I accept this pact."

"Then I concede."

Upon uttering those words, the heavenly scale tipped drastically in the Blightbane Grand Elder's favor. The Lunarshade's soul was stripped of its life force and flowed to the Grand Elder, reforming his skin and flesh.

Meanwhile, the old man's corpse fell to the ground as nothing but a sack of flesh and bones with a sickening crunch—the soul and Qi having been stripped and added to the Grand Elder's strength.

"That's another century of life force to stave off the death Qi. Always important to maintain a healthy balance." The Blightbane Grand Elder chuckled as he reabsorbed his soul and wreathed himself in death Qi, "Now who is next—"

An explosion rumbled the land as something shot through the sky. The titan of moonlight in the distance, dancing with a silver cloud of ash, tumbled to the floor with a metal rod sticking through it.

"Was that Douglas?!" Ashlock was in disbelief as he saw Geb slowly close his mouth. The Lunarshade Elders seemed to panic and dispersed. Most headed to their fallen Grand Elder, while one flew straight at the defenseless Geb and teleported into the stone tower's control room before anyone could react.

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