NOVEL NEXT Chapter 480: The Will in Chains
From beyond the rift in space, thick emerald branches surged outward, coiling around the shadowy figure with startling speed. They wound tighter and tighter until he was sealed inside a living cocoon.
"No... what in the hell are you? How can you suppress my very essence?!"
The Will of the Spirit Realm gave a final, desperate cry, but the void answered with silence.
"Wah... Yaya, if you wrap it up like that, I won't get anything tasty out of it!"
Luna drifted back down to the central island just as the towering Tree of Life shimmered and collapsed into the form of a little girl once again. She reached up to ruffle Luna's spiky hair, her tone gentle and chiding.
"It's not good for you to absorb it directly, Luna. Its aura would poison you. And... Brother can't take it in either, or he'll be tainted the same way."
"Then what do we do?"
"What do we do?!"
The two voices overlapped—Luna's petulant, Ethan's sharp with frustration. He couldn't help himself. He had already been imagining the reward slipping right into his hands. To be told at the last moment he couldn't touch it—wasn't that like watching a cooked chicken fly off the plate?
Yaya shrank slightly at his outburst, her tone soft as she explained. "Once I absorb it, I can purify it into something safe for you both..."
"Ah..." Ethan exhaled and rubbed the back of his neck, realizing how harsh he had sounded. To cover the awkwardness, he reached out and ruffled her hair lightly.
Her floral wreath had disappeared, though the crown of the Tree of Life still hung above them. It dawned on Ethan that the wreath must have been shaped from the crown itself. The twenty-seven fruits glistening there were the Youth-Preserving Fruits he had seen before—but now, something about them seemed subtly different, though he couldn't place what.
"So what happens next?" he asked.
Yaya answered in her usual calm way, "We can only digest it slowly. That will has existed for billions of years. If I hadn't completely suppressed it, I'd never have been able to restrain it at all."
Ethan frowned. "We don't have that kind of time. We need to make it surrender quickly."
Her brows knitted together as she tilted her head, lost in thought. After a long moment, she only shook her head.
"That's easy!" Luna interrupted, cracking her knuckles. "If it won't surrender, then we just beat it until it does!"
Yaya gave her a look. "How do we beat it? If I loosen even a little, it'll escape. Then we'll never catch it again."
"Watch me." Luna flew up onto the cage of vines, planting her feet on top. She leaned down, glaring at the cocoon below. "Hey, ugly monster! If you beg for mercy right now, maybe I'll let you off easy. Otherwise, you'll regret it!"
She waited. Silence.
"Hmph! Not answering? Then you're being bad!" she huffed, folding her arms in indignation.
Ethan pressed his fingers to his temple. Watching her was like watching a child scold a misbehaving pet. How reliable could this possibly be?
"Beastie! Get over here!" Luna suddenly called out.
Ethan blinked, then groaned inwardly. Another one? Was his Mindscape going to turn into a kindergarten?
"Coming!"
This time the reply was clearly a boy's voice, ringing out from the south.
Ethan's expression darkened just as a streak of earthy-yellow light shot across the sky and landed before him. His jaw almost hit the floor.
"The Sigil of the Wild Legion? You... you can take human form too?!"
What was this place turning into? A hatchery for human-shaped spirits? His eyes darted to the corner where stacks of instant noodle packs sat. The absurd thought crossed his mind: 'Please don't tell me those are going to sprout arms and legs one day too.'
"Master, Beastie can't fully transform yet, but it's close." The figure hovered before him, speaking with stiff formality.
"Beastie? Who named you that?"
The names echoed in his mind. Luna. Yaya. Beastie. All far too similar.
"Sister Luna named me, Master."
Ethan sighed heavily. Of course. He turned his gaze to Yaya, who simply nodded in quiet confirmation.
"Fine, fine. Go help her," Ethan muttered, waving the boy toward Luna.
She was still hopping excitedly on top of the cage, threatening the silent prisoner inside with variations of the same line: surrender now, or else. Unsurprisingly, there was still no response.
Ethan leaned toward Yaya again. "Can he even hear her?"
"Yes," Yaya said softly.
"Then why can't we hear it answer?"
Her cheeks flushed. She twisted her fingers together, murmuring, "I... forgot..."
Before she could start casting, Ethan waved her off with a chuckle. "Never mind. Let him stew in silence for a while."
Boom!
The crash shook the ground.
"Ow! That hurts!" Beastie yelped, flying backward and bouncing high into the air.
Luna doubled over in laughter, utterly merciless. "Hahaha! Yaya, can you make the branches a little softer? He's too easy to bounce!"
"Mmm." Yaya nodded, adjusting the vines.
Ethan shook his head. Yaya, quiet and cautious, was the complete opposite of Luna, who was every bit as brash as the Twilight Warspear she embodied.
Time dragged on. The black mist still cloaked the space, holding Ethan's consciousness hostage. With nothing else to do, he watched Beastie hurl himself over and over against the vine-woven cage. Each impact flattened the sphere like a pancake and squeezed out wisps of black mist.
At first, Ethan feared the mist might re-form into the shadowy figure. But Yaya explained that it was merely the essence of the Spirit Realm's will, pressed out like juice from a crushed fruit.
She herself had not been idle. Branches sprouted ceaselessly, leaves whirling through Ethan's Mindscape to capture and draw in the mist. Each trace she collected flowed back into the tree crown, where it was purified.
Drop by drop, glowing green liquid fell from above, dripping onto the Source Energy Island. The ground absorbed it instantly, and Ethan knew at once what it was: purified Source Energy.
But his relief was short-lived. His Source Energy Lake, once crystalline, was already tainted with a creeping blackness.