Time stood still after Black Sorcerer’s death, and everyone regained their freedom. They looked around blankly, sensing something amiss but unable to pinpoint it.
It wasn’t until they noticed the two remaining figures, and the complete disappearance of Black Sorcerer, the Old Man, and several Five-Star Sovereigns, their very essence gone, that they realized the battle had concluded.
Three World Guardians had joined forces to defeat the supreme powerhouses of the Demon and Elf races. The two sacred lands that had instilled fear in the Tatus World for countless ages were annihilated in this moment!
“We won, we won!” someone from the demon ranks roared, followed by the ecstatic cries of billions of demons, and the entire land erupted.
“We won! Our Tatus World is finally restored!”
“The elves’ plot has been destroyed by us!”
“Long live Lord Hou Ying!”
“Long live the Patriarch!”
“Surround the elves!”
“Yes, surround them all and exile them to the barbaric hells!”
“Damn elves, may they never find peace!”
Stripped of their supreme protector, the remaining tens of millions of elves and countless demonic plants were immediately surrounded by half-demons, demons, and the Lex Empire’s army.
The elves had lost the will to fight. Their arrogance stemmed from their belief in their unique nature, representing beauty and wisdom, favorites of the world. But they never imagined they had been actively killing the world’s protectors all along. This collapse of faith was more devastating than the loss of magic.
Soon, the vast armies of elves were brought under control by the demons and half-demons.
In the sky, Sidon and Hou Ying, ignoring the events below, gazed up at the stars.
“Do you think Bai Ye can go through with it?” Sidon asked.
“He has left this world, beyond my sight,” Hou Ying shook his head. “We’ll know when he returns.”
The two waited in silence, while below, the demons and half-demons were busy apprehending the elves. They were bound tightly and subjected to magic that sealed their powers.
Meanwhile, the black mist that Black Sorcerer had become seeped into the deep territories of the elves. In a region of birdsong and fragrant blossoms, a lake shimmered, and a colossal tree rose from its center, its canopy blocking out the sun, casting a vast shadow over the lake.
This was the Elves’ Sacred Tree, their holy ground and also a forbidden zone, where no living being was permitted to approach.
As the black mist entered the Sacred Tree, the lake water began to boil. Where the mist submerged into the tree trunk at the lake’s center, the water boiled violently, revealing a hidden space.
At the base of the roots, a figure sat in meditation, for how many years, it was unknown. When the black mist arrived, he slowly opened his eyes, eyes as deep as the starry sky, holding the weight of countless ages.
He slowly stood up, and the entire space seemed to slacken. It slackened because all the world’s rules disappeared. The flowing elemental essence ceased, the lake became still, and the verdant plants no longer exuded their fragrance.
When the man stood and looked at the Sacred Tree, his imposing, starlike eyes suddenly softened.
He gently reached out and caressed the trunk, his gaze now solely focused on the Sacred Tree before him.
“Patti… ten thousand years. Do you know how much I’ve missed you?”
“A World Stone couldn’t awaken you, but it preserved your soul. I cannot hear your voice, but I can feel your presence. Perhaps with just one more World Stone, you will recover…”
“Even if one isn’t enough, there are three there. We will see each other soon…”
The man gently stroked the Sacred Tree as if it were a lover. An overwhelming tenderness emanated from him, making it difficult to believe he was the source of the calamities that had dominated the Tatus World, initiated interdimensional wars, slaughtered countless beings, and annihilated innumerable races.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, the Sacred Tree seemed to tremble, and leaves began to fall.
Seeing this, a flicker of immense joy flashed in the man’s somber eyes. “Patti, you… you can hear me? I knew it, you’ve always been by my side…”
The man became agitated, his demonic power inadvertently radiating outward, creating terrifying energy fluctuations around him. Unintentionally, he commanded the very elements.
“Wait for me, we will see each other soon.” As he spoke, the man looked into the distance, gently caressed the Sacred Tree again, and then vanished.
The Imperial Capital of the Lex Empire.
Sidon and Hou Ying had waited for an indeterminate time when the space rippled, and both looked in unison.
As expected, Bai Ye’s figure appeared, his expression a complex mixture of coldness.
“Dead?” Sidon was the first to speak.
“Dead,” Bai Ye replied coldly.
Hou Ying watched with a smile, saying nothing. He had experienced this feeling before; his situation was similar to Bai Ye’s. Raised by a divine split of Manjushaka, he had almost died at his hands.
All of this was the power within them, capable of changing the world and breaking free from shackles.
“My condolences…” Hou Ying was about to offer some words of comfort when a terrifying power, unprecedented, enveloped them.
The demons toiling on the ground also felt it, their gazes instinctively drawn upwards to the sky, filled with inherent fear and dread.
“He has arrived!”
In the sky, Bai Ye, Hou Ying, and Sidon looked towards the not-too-distant expanse in unison.