"STOP! DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH MY VESSEL!"
The voice of the Evil God Fragment echoed from within Ash's body, as his miasma and soul transformed into a monstrous wolf-like beast, opening its jaws, and trying to devour both Maria and Emeraldine with ferocious bites!
CRASH! CRASH! CRAAASH!
However, Maria swiftly shapeshifted her body around, utilizing her brand-new Eldritch Body Skill and her Spirit Fusion with Tyr to become an even more terrifying abomination, catching his bites, and then devouring the wolf back to nothingness using a single and deadly bite!
"AARRGGH…! UNGH…! M-MY POWER…! YOU DEVOURED MY POWER?!"
The Evil God Fragment was left temporarily weakened, as he realized Maria's attack devoured a part of his powers, and he couldn't summon the same power again for at least a few seconds before he charged some more.
"Ungh…! W-What is… happening?" Ash muttered, his red eyes opening weakly as he woke up from his slumber due to all the commotion.
"Emeraldine, now! While the bastard's reloading his ammo!" Said Maria. "Hold my hand!"
"O-Okay!" Emeraldine nodded. "Don't worry, Ash, we'll help you!"
Maria temporarily fused a part of her soul with Emeraldine, as both of the girl's souls, and powers, merged as one, piercing Ash's chest and entering his own body and soul!
"Ungh?! Agh…! Aaaarrgghhh…!"
While Ash screamed in agony due to the pain of having his soul tampered by Maria, the two girl's consciousness quickly landed on a completely different place, a dark and desertic wasteland.
"This is… what is this place?" Emeraldine looked around.
"This is the Soul Scape that the Evil God Fragments create." Said Maria. "Before I devour a fragment, I always have to fight their minds and wills in here! However, this time, we can't just do that, I need your purifying power so we can separate the Evil God Fragment out of Ash and save his life!"
"I see!" Emeraldine nodded, just before a huge mass of chaos and miasma surged in front of them…
"You… You bastards!" It roared, shapeshifting into a huge wolf of over fifty meters, possessing two large heads, black fur, and several Demonite horns spread across its body. "Now that I've got you here, you won't be able to escape so easily! I'll devour both of your souls, and come out on top as- Huh?!"
[You have activated the full power of all your [Evil God Fragments]!]
[All of your Stats have increased by +500%, your Chaos and Miasmic Power has increased by +1000%! Due to the enormous pressure, this transformation only lasts for a small time.]
[Duration: 3 Minutes.]
Maria's entire body shapeshifted and became even larger, and even monstrous, completely overpowering the wolf and pushing it down into the floor!
"You can't hope of winning against us when we've got so many fragments on us already, dumbass!" Laughed Tyr.
"Y-YOU FAKERS!" The two-headed wolf screamed in frustration, constantly trying to free itself, only to pushed further down!
At this point, Maria was just bullying him!
"Emeraldine, now! Use your magic to purify this being and connect with Ash's Soul, I'll help you on that part!" Maria said.
"Okay!" Emeraldine nodded, putting her hands down into the floor, this entire Soul Scape was already connected with Ash after all! "[Divine Yggdrasil's Aura]! [Divine Spiritual Domain]!"
A bright divine light spread across the entire place. The darkness started to be constantly purified, as even the huge two-headed wolf began to turn into ashes slowly, while at the same time as being devoured by Maria.
"AAARRGGHH…! S-STOP! I HAVE… BARELY ACOMPLISHED ANYTHING YET!!!"
The Evil God Fragment roared with endless resentment and rage, but it was too late. Emeraldine's and Maria's combined powers pierced deep through the roots of his own soul, and then reached Ash's soul.
Emeraldine used her magic to quickly cut the strong connection between both souls, which was almost parasitic, and at the same time, with Maria's aid, purified the rest of the will of the Evil God Fragment, while successfully devouring it!
"Your little game ends NOW!"
With a last, agonizing scream, the entire soul scape collapsed, and the Evil God Fragment was completely devoured by Maria, while the little Ash was freed from its powers!
Both Maria and Emeraldine regained their consciousness in their bodies, quickly grabbing the unconscious Ash, who seemed to have healed thanks to Emeraldine's spiritual aura, and then quickly flew away from the collapsing tree, which was already long dead…
As Maria and Emeraldine flew back to their friends with Ash in Maria's arms, Emeraldine glanced back at the big Ancient Spirit Tree with a saddened expression.
The many memories she shared with this beautiful, and big tree, that protected and nurtured this huge forest for so many generations…
"Ancient Spirit Tree…" Emeraldine cried. "I'm sorry… For not being able to come here earlier…" She started crying, feeling regretful and saddened.
The enormous tree collapsed into pieces, a lifeless husk of what once was a beautiful and glorious tree that feed the forest with spiritual energy and life…
Once Maria and company regrouped, everything was finally over. The dark skies cleared completely, and with Emeraldine and Jonathan's light magic, Maria was able to purify the dead forest out of all the miasma around.
"It's finally done…" Maria sighed. "I'm sorry I couldn't had brought you here earlier… It is all my fault… All of this."
"Eh? O-Of course it is not your fault, dummy." Emeraldine sighed. "You did what you could… We did what we could. We saved an innocent life… It would had been even worse, if not even this child's life could had been saved."
"…" Maria sighed, glancing at the desolate and dead forest, now a husk of its former beauty and glory. "Yeah… For now, let's go back. I'll help you refill this place with plants and life later. We need to prepare and antidote as fast as we can."
"Right!" Emeraldine nodded, cleaning her tears. "Let's collect this dried wood left behind by the dead spirit tree. I think this might be enough!"