Malakai had severed it in a single, clean slash. But that wasn't what shook it so deeply. As a darkness creature. especially a manipulator, a being that could control the darkness it was made of, its healing capacity was supposed to be near limitless.
As a grade three, healing a severed hand shouldn't have taken even a second. But several seconds had already passed, and its body wasn't responding to its commands.
The creature's gaze narrowed on the severed stump, where thin wisps of smoke sizzled from the wound. Its eyes widened in realization.
Somehow, the vita in the air was preventing its body from healing. The darkness around its severed arm hissed and burned as it tried and failed to regenerate.
The manipulator gritted its teeth and turned, about to lash out at Malakai when the ground began to tremble.
Its gaze darted around quickly, mind spinning. There was nothing but shattered trees and broken branches everywhere.
What the hell was happening?
It had barely formed the thought when a staggering number of thick roots burst from the earth.
The roots coiled around the broken trees, and the trees began to grow, expanding, twisting, merging. Their trunks thickened, their forms reshaping as colossal limbs of coiled roots formed into arms and legs.
Their height stretched skyward, towering like ancient titans. A green aura of life radiated from their massive figures, engulfing the battlefield in raw vitality.
The manipulator's breath froze. The sheer vita coming from the trees was overwhelming. Somehow, each of them had gained life, consciousness. This chapter is part of the collection on MV2LEMP2YR.
Malakai hovered high in the air, his cold, glowing gaze fixed on the creature. An intense green light surged out of him, streaming into each of the titanic trees.
The manipulator watched, stunned, as faces, eyes and mouths, formed on each trunk. When Malakai's arm dropped, they let out an earth shaking roar that sent tremors through its core.
They moved in unison, stomping forward, their massive arms crashing toward the manipulator. The force of their swings sent howling gusts spiraling outward.
The creature's expression hardened. It raised both hands, and its white eyes turned abyssal black. The darkness around it churned violently, then exploded just as the giant fists closed in.
A roaring storm of darkness erupted from its body, expanding in all directions like a tidal wave. The violent burst shredded through the towering root creatures, tearing them apart, their fragments scattering like dust.
The force continued outward, spreading over the land, swallowing everything in its path.
A thick haze drenched the area. Through it, the manipulator's glowing eyes scanned rapidly.
'Where's the filth?' It thought, eyes narrowing.
It had accepted that Malakai had somehow achieved a sudden power up. It had accepted that Malakai made it feel something it hadn't felt since its creation, a deep, primal fear it couldn't understand.
It had accepted all of that.
Right now, its focus was singular. Defeat Malakai.
'The filth's watching,' it realized grimly. It could feel those piercing green eyes on it, eyes that made its very being crawl.
Malakai was watching. Waiting.
The manipulator stayed still, fully alert. It didn't have to wait long. Suddenly, a wave of death slammed into it like a freezing wind.
It spun, its eyes locking on a blade screaming toward its head. It darted to the side with a burst of darkness, but as it glanced at the blade, its eyes went wide.
There was no Malakai.
Before it could comprehend what was happening, a heavy force crashed into its temple. It was like a bomb detonating on impact.
The sheer force of the kick sent shockwaves spiraling outward, clearing the haze in a violent burst.
Its eyes had barely registered Malakai's form when its head slammed into the ground.
The impact sent cracks spider webbing outward, the ground fracturing and splitting as the force rippled through the earth.
The manipulator felt its brain rattle inside its skull. For a moment, its vision went black. Pain roared through its body like fire, but none of that mattered.
It shook its head violently, forcing its vision to clear. When it looked up, a blade was descending toward its skull.
For the first time, the creature felt a wave of finality wash over it.
It had spawned with arrogance. It had been beyond elated when it found what the darkness had been searching for over millennials.
It had rejoiced that the essence was in the hands of a weak little human. It had been excited, no, ecstatic, at the thought of receiving its master's praise.
But now, that same weak human was about to kill it.
Every attempt to summon the darkness for protection failed. Malakai's vita was overwhelming. It streamed into its body like a flood, burning away its darkness, rendering all resistance useless. Just by being near him, its power was collapsing.
The manipulator lifted its gaze and met Malakai's.
Those cold green eyes, that impassive face, it felt like being judged by an ancient god.
But while the manipulator spiraled with dread, Malakai's mind was unnervingly calm.
Consuming the vita core had given him more power than he knew how to wield.
Now, Malakai could sense the vita across more than a kilometer. He could control it, shape it, make it obey his will. Beyond that, he felt something even deeper, a call of life.
It was hard to put into words, but he felt like a god. A being who could give life, who could enhance all living things.
He could hear the cries of the shattered trees. They were alive, begging him to heal them, to give them life anew.
And his body… Malakai's body had become a vessel for vita. Every inch of him was flooded with it, his cells surging with power he would never have dreamed of enduring before.
But now, not only did he endure it, more kept streaming into him.
Regardless of this awakening, Malakai's mind was clear, focused solely on one thing.
Killing the darkness creature.
As his blade descended like judgment, the manipulator shut its eyes, accepting death. But it never came.
Like a candle snuffed out, Malakai suddenly felt his control over the vita vanish. The overwhelming flood of energy dispersed into the air.
'Shit!' His eyes widened. He reached into his sack, intending to swallow the remaining cores and refuel the essence, but an intense weakness slammed into him and his vision went black.
A moment later, Malakai collapsed, unconscious.