Contrary to being a fallen nation, Wanguo had good hearts among its people. This was partly because Wanguo was a good nation, but also because this land was so difficult to live in.
A distant land isolated beyond the Enger Plains. In the endless jungle spreading across the southeastern continent stood the World Tree. The king of trees, the pillar supporting the world, the Earth Mother Goddess's first creation. The World Tree that stood as a twin to the Metasequoia in the northwestern continent, the Blessed Ginkgo, towered grandly.
Isolated jungle. In this primordial land where neither help nor contact from others could easily reach, Wuhou built a nation. Gathering all the tribes of this land and spreading her influence, she established a brilliant civilization that none could imitate.
However, no flower blooms for ten days. That beautiful and brilliant civilization faded just as quickly as it had appeared. Along with the World Tree that had kept its place through the distant ages.
Why did the World Tree burn and fall? How did Wanguo fall? Why did Wuhou not return? In this land isolated by trees as high as castle walls, the clear truth was not passed down.
But one thing alone remained certain. At the very spot where the World Tree burned and fell. A new tree grew by devouring the World Tree that had turned to ash.
A cursed World Tree called the Tree of Vice.
And the being that rules over the Tree of Vice….
"An evil omen?"
Rash, who only now recognized Nebida of the deer antlers as the primordial druid passed down like a legend, was horrified. Before the bewildered man could take any action, Kalis grabbed him tightly from behind.
"Rash! Stop!"
"What?"
"You must stay still. Don't draw attention! Stand like part of the background, don't catch her eye!"
Kalis desperately held him back. Reading Kalis's terror from her slightly trembling hands, Rash complied with her will and kept his mouth shut.
She was a monster who had turned the Offering God into a tree in an instant. Even Rash, an immortal, couldn't guarantee his life and death. For now, following Kalis's will, Rash held his breath.
In a situation where it was hard for anyone to help, a being more dangerous than the Offering God had appeared. What was she thinking?
I tried to read Nebida's thoughts, but what I sensed were calm emotions similar to inorganic matter. Her immediate surface thoughts could be read, but reading Nebida as a person remained difficult.
It wasn't so much that she had resistance to telepathy… rather, like Tyr's shadow, the current Nebida was also something beyond human.
To know what she's thinking, I'd have to ask. But would she answer?
"Um, Miss Nebida? I have a question."
"Ask, Your Majesty."
"What is that preparation you mentioned? I haven't heard anything about it."
"It is preparation to reclaim Your Majesty's power."
Fortunately, Nebida's loyalty toward me was at least somewhat genuine. Nebida bowed her head deeply and faithfully answered my question.
"Your Majesty is the undeniable king of humanity, the proxy and spokesperson for all humans. You should personally reign over this world."
Nebida's glance briefly darted in one direction. For an instant, in the far distance of Nebida's vision, a being made of light flickered. Before I could recognize that form, Nebida withdrew her gaze and continued speaking.
"Due to the Harlot's curse, Your Majesty lost power and disappeared. While the throne was empty, false kings dared call themselves kings and considered this world their own. At this outrageous state of affairs, this servant was preparing to reclaim Your Majesty's power."
Return power to me? Give it back? Huh, that actually sounds like a good deal? I was about to ask if she was serious, but paused and fell into thought.
"Uh, so if I get my power back, I can just drive out all those kings with that power?"
"If Your Majesty reclaims your power, things will flow according to Your Majesty's will, so what problem could there be? That would be the true form humanity should have. Please do as you wish."
Honestly, it would be a lie to say I wasn't tempted, but stories that only benefit me are the ones I tell myself. If someone else says they'll secure my interests, that's a scam.
What should I do? While I was deliberating, Nebida slowly rose and spoke to me.
"Your Majesty. This servant will guide you there. Follow me, and reign as king of this world once more."
"It sounds like a really good offer, but I'm not sure if it's okay. I need to think a bit more."
"This servant will serve you with all my heart."
Oops, right! Nebida has no intention of considering my will! She's planning to take me there first and make me reclaim my power!
Well, if I can't avoid it anyway. Maybe receiving that power wouldn't be so bad….
[I am where faith exists. Having come here.]
"Argh! My eyes!"
Light flashed briefly. It was so sudden I couldn't even close my eyes. When my vision recovered, a girl's figure had appeared as if she had been there all along.
The Heavenly Saint who had guided us here, Mayel. She, who hadn't answered the regressor's questions for so long, finally revealed herself. Nebida looked at the cluster of light as if she had been waiting.
"After cleaning up all the Harlot's children."
The form of the Heavenly Saint, Mayel, looked at nothing. As if neither Nebida nor I existed in her awareness. With her gaze fixed on empty space, she murmured blankly.
[Shea. I still hope you will make a different choice. It's not too late even now. But, if you will not.]
Mayel gently reached out her hand. Beneath the flowing robe, her delicate arm—seemingly too frail to hold even a spoon—extended toward Nebida.
That slow and fragile gesture was impossible to perceive as a threat. That would have been true even if she were an actual person, but as a faint afterimage made of light, it seemed even more ephemeral, as if it would vanish at any moment.
[Until you awaken, I will dream the same dream for you.]
However, right after Mayel finished speaking.
Space distorted.
Nebida and a 10-meter radius around her. Everything in the world curled and flowed into that point. Wind, water, earth, broken bushes and branches. Noisy sounds and wildly scurrying insects. Even light. All compressed to crush the existence called Nebida.
It was power of a kind that couldn't be intuitively understood. As if the world itself was trying to exclude Nebida. It was a strange attack where no method of resistance came to mind.
A torrent of power that would have killed me more than ten times over. Within that… Nebida resisted all of creation and slowly moved her body.
She pushed back the wind crushing her body, endured the deafening roars shaking her, and withstood the pressure with both feet planted on the ground. All of creation couldn't break her, who had endured through eons of time. Nebida stood firm like a great tree and glared at Mayel.
"How presumptuous, Harlot. Did you intend to step on this land without even bringing your body?"
The aftershock alone seemed enough to kill several people, but Nebida remained unmoved by all that pressure. No, she was adapting to the changing environment. Her slightly swaying flesh soon found stability.
Instead of answering, Mayel looked up at the sky and murmured.
[Light. Sun. Heavenly Father who watches over all things. Watch over this place.]
And the sky tore open.
There was no way to describe it. The dense forest, so thick the sky was barely visible, burst into flames in an instant. Through the leaves turning to ash in midair, a white-hot cluster of light rained down like spears.
In an instant, the world was dyed white. All the various colors that had filled this lush forest disappeared, colors burned away, and the world divided into only black and white.
[There is no place light cannot reach. Therefore, I too am here with the light.]
Light. It was as if all the hot bundles of light spewed by the sun in a midsummer sky were gathered and poured forth. That light was power itself. Grass blades burned in midair, the ground dried up in an instant. In the pure torrent of power, different from mere heat, space itself boiled over.
Amidst the overwhelming brilliance, the world lost its color and split into only light and shadow. Momentarily blinded, I couldn't endure it and turned my back to the light.
"Ugh! What is this?!"
I knew the Celestial Gods were gods originating from the heavens, but! Just what kind of power did she have?
Simply by the light existing there, the air ignited and storms raged. I was blinded a moment ago. I regained my sight through my regeneration ability, but even the aftershock was this intense! Furthermore, Nebida's body was currently being disintegrated by the light!
I hadn't even noticed it myself, but my body had already retreated quite some distance. Even though those two weren't particularly paying attention to my existence, I was pushed back simply by their presence.
This is the power of the Heavenly Saint? Just the light scattered from hitting the ground is enough to blind me? I couldn't even tell what state Nebida was in. The space made of light blocked my vision. All I could do was turn my body and keep my back to the light.
"Hughes!"
At that moment. Riding the light, the regressor leapt in. Seemingly struggling just to enter, the panting regressor urgently grabbed me and pulled.
"Hughes. Run! While Mayel's attention is turned, you have to escape from Nebida! If you don't want to become the King of Sin!"
"Huh? Run? It looks like she's winning though?"
"That might be true on the Enger Plains, but not in this domain! Depriving her of the future alone won't bring Nebida down! Hurry! There's no ti—"
Then the regressor's expression hardened as she swung Cheon'aeng. The tree vines that had been creeping toward us came crashing down in droves.
"A Source Tree? She has the leisure to watch over this place?"
"No? Those are just regular tree vines?"
"…Tch!"
The regressor concentrated ki in her eyes and activated the third color of the Seven-Colored Eyes, the Azure Eyes. Piercing through this cluster of light with deep-blue eyes that saw depth, the regressor startled at the life writhing beyond the forest.
Trees were growing. At a visible speed.
That wasn't a druid's power. A druid's power rapidly consumed a tree's life force to sprout branches and leaves. It looked impressive, but because it used the life force of trees and earth, it had limits. No matter how outstanding a druid was, they couldn't produce a tree from a single leaf.
But the phenomenon occurring before my eyes was pure growth. Light that seemed capable of burning the world. Even receiving that, the leaves held the light within and gradually grew. Drawing in air and water, gathering and absorbing light to form their bodies.
"I'll break through!"
The regressor simultaneously drew Cheon'aeng and Jizan. Sheathing Jizan and folding Cheon'aeng into its sheath, she drew it in one swift motion. The compressed space, imbued with ki, traced a single line.
"Heaven and Earth Sword! Horizon Split!"
A crack formed in the pure white light. A slash that cleaved even light tore through space. In the sword draw that severed even the flowing wind, if only briefly, the forest was split in two, top and bottom. Hundreds of trees fell simultaneously, exposing their few rings, and through the vegetation crashing down left and right, a single path opened.
"Hurry! Before the Green Barrier is completed—!"
The regressor, about to dash forward immediately, stopped and twisted her body. Sharp thorns sprang up in the space the regressor had been heading toward a second ago. The sharply grown branches were as pointed as spear tips, easily capable of tearing through human skin.
Despair flashed across the regressor's face.
"Was it already… too late…?"
The space the regressor had cut through with her slash was growing grass and trees once more. As if imprisoning everything, letting nothing escape.