Reborn as a Demonic Tree

Ashlock watched on as Stella closed her eyes. After taking a deep breath, she spread her arms in a sweeping motion, and the hundred swords wreathed in white flames fanned out and vanished into the aether. Like a conductor, she motioned at the air, and the slaughter began.

In quick succession, her swords cleaved through reality, decapitating unsuspecting monsters from behind. Some she outright killed by herself, while others were already being seen by other members of the sect before she intervened.

Five seconds had passed, and as promised, a hundred headless corpses freefell through the sky. Stella lowered her hands and recalled all her bloodied blades as quickly as she had dispersed them.

Ashlock reached out to the corpses with his telekinesis, wrapping them in his spatial Qi and dragging them toward Mytherion, who was already surrounded by nearly a thousand corpses that were being devoured as quickly as possible.

"You've gotten stronger, Stella," Ashlock said, genuinely impressed.

She slowly opened her eyes, her gaze still tranquil from her bloodline. "Slaughtering weaklings isn't a good gauge of strength. I still have far to go if I want to stand beside someone like Larry and take on the heavens," she sighed, "But thank you."

"Raw cultivation strength isn't everything," Ashlock reminded her, "While your cultivation realm may lack compared to others, your control and knowledge over daos are impressive. Anyway, thank you, that should be enough corpses for now—"

Stella's eyes suddenly widened, and she fazed into the aether—just in time to avoid a beam of Larry's ash from striking her. She reappeared a bit away, only for another beam of ash to almost hit her from below.

"What is going on?! Why is Larry attacking you?"

"It's not Larry," Stella replied before vanishing again, "The heavens have control over his domain."

Ashlock traced the origin of the latest beam of ash. It had come from the sphere of ash that represented Larry's domain, leaving behind a hole through which he could see the praying mortals below. In fact, the sphere was riddled with holes... Larry's domain was collapsing.

"What? That should be impossible. The whole point of a domain is to have absolute control over your affinity."

"Against weaker foes, perhaps. But did you forget our opponent is the heavens?!" Stella reminded him.

Ashlock looked up at the wrathful energy pouring out of the rift that Larry was trying and failing to close. "The heavens... shit, Ryker got turned into a statue, didn't he? If Larry's domain collapses, he won't be revived."

The giant hand made of souls, which had been swiping at Larry until now, suddenly jerked downward and attempted to crush Stella like a bug. It was strange. All Stella did was kill a few monsters. Why was she suddenly a target?

It seemed Stella shared the same frustration as the attacks on her multiplied. "What is happening?!" She shouted as dozens of beams of ash were crisscrossing in a vain attempt to strike her, alongside the giant soul hand cutting off her escape routes. She was entirely wreathed in white soul flames at this point as her Star Core roared with power.

Nobody could move to help her lest they got caught in the crossfire and were reduced to statues.

Ashlock tried to think of why the heavens reacted so violently to her. "All she did was kill some monsters... no, wait, she activated her bloodline before that. It's said that a person bearing the ancient Crestfallen bloodline appears before the fall of the nine realms. Are the heavens threatened by her?"

If their actions were anything to go by, it seemed her presence had sent the heavens into some kind of berserk state where killing her was its only objective.

"Stella, it's your bloodline that has enraged the heavens! Deactivate it and hide in the aether."

"It's fine," Stella dismissed his concern, her voice eerily calm, "I can draw fire like this for a while. With everything focused on me, you can focus on getting that Blessed Land setup."

"Drawing fire like this is only causing Larry's domain to collapse faster. Don't worry, we will be fine. But if Larry's domain is to falter, Ryker will die."

"Oh, you're right. God, I hate the heavens. I will retreat for now, then," Stella said, vanishing as ten beams of ash crisscrossed where she had been half a second earlier. The ash harmlessly dissipated into the air, and the hand-loomed overhead, searching. But Stella did not reappear. heaven's wrath cracked through the air, lashing out randomly in rage.

Ashlock eyed his system menu.

"4754 credits, I'm so close." He muttered before addressing everyone, "I have enough corpses. You should all retreat to Moros and defend it for now."

"What about the monsters?" Diana called out while she tore one in half with her claws, the two halves of the once-living beast falling to the ground in a bloody mess.

That was a good question. Ashlock would have told them to just forget about the monsters, but there were holes in Larry's domain, meaning they could fall through and cause thousands of deaths.

"Deal with the ones still around first; I'll close the rift now to stop more from appearing." Ashlock went to close the desolation rift, but it did not respond to his order. Heaven's wrathful energy surrounded it, blocking his control. His Inner World thumped with power as he unleashed his will and tried to forcefully regain control. Just as he felt heaven's hold over his desolation rift falter, a new wave of power from the beyond descended, and Ashlock felt like he was trying to push back against reality itself. In a way, that's exactly what he was trying to do.

"Shit," Ashlock cursed to himself as he relaxed his Inner World. His Qi supply could not match Heaven's seemingly endless power, even if he pulled on all his Qi sources without restraint. Luckily, he didn't have to. All he needed was for Larry and Mytherion to hold out until he had finished devouring all the monster corpses.

"New plan. Larry, stop trying to close the rift to the afterlife. Eat as many monsters as you can to replenish your ash. Right now, our top priority is keeping your domain alive. Everyone, kill monsters and bring them to Larry. Cover each other, so if someone should die, their statue can be brought to Moros safely."

Ashlock watched as everyone dispersed in groups to complete their assigned task.

"Oh, come on," Ashlock grumbled as he saw the giant hand of souls that Stella and Larry had been distracting until now return to focusing on Mytherion. "Incoming! Brace—" He shouted as the hand curled into a fist and came with immense speed, slamming into Mytherion's ethereal body. There was a loud crack, and Mytherion howled out in raw pain. Ashlock felt it too, but since he only had a fragment of his soul implanted in Mytherion, it was reduced.

Even so, that wasn't the type of hit they could survive two of.

"Master!" Larry roared, his voice thundering out like a wrathful god. While the spider's body had grown a bit from the few seconds of devouring monsters, his earlier efforts against heaven were showing. His body was less dense, his crown of ash was orbiting at a snail's pace, and the luster in his eyes had dimmed.

The guardian of Ashfallen was on his last legs. When he had upgraded to being an SS-grade summon, the system description had made it clear that Larry was practically immortal. But those currently relying on his domain to stay alive weren't. Should Larry be pulverized to his last ash, the domain would collapse.

"Larry, stay where you are."

"But Master, I can still fight—"

"And if you come to help me, that will no longer be the case." Ashlock snapped back. "I'm ordering you to stay away."

He could continue to devour monsters even if Mytherion were to fall.

"If only I could use one of my defensive skills." Ashlock cursed. The problem was that the hand was made from the very souls he was trying to save, so zapping them with void lightning was a surefire way to destroy his reputation.

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[+146 SC]

A notification popped up, summarizing the credits gained from a batch he had devoured. He now had a total of 4900 credits, meaning one more batch of monsters like that, and he would have the needed five thousand.

Yet the heavens had other ideas. The hand of souls reeled back, ready to punch again.

"Father." Mytherion sounded filled with concern, "I can't survive this."

"Don't give up just yet," Ashlock firmly replied as he shoved as much Qi as he could into the soul fragment, causing the ethereal form of Mytherion to glow with power.

"It's okay, I was raised as a sacrifice, and Elysia is more than happy to die for your cause."

"That does not come across how you think it does. You are my offspring, and Elysia is a member of the sect I value greatly. Do you think I'm heartless? I refuse to let you die."

"What can you do about it in the face of heaven?" Mytherion asked, genuinely curious.

Ashlock paused. What could he do at this very moment? His immense Qi pool and Nascent Soul Realm strength could not compete with the heavens. Any of his skills that could help against the soul hand would result in killing those souls.

Anger boiled in his soul. How could the heavens use the souls of his followers, dead friends, children, and parents against him like this? He was more powerful than ever before, and despite having solutions to the problems before him, he felt caught between a rock and a hard place.

The hand of souls, uncaring of his inner thoughts, shot toward Mytherion with seemingly more strength behind it than before. The heavens' energy invading the realm was condensing and getting even stronger.

It was like a darn plague.

"Brace!" Ashlock surged forth with his presence toward the hand to try and reduce the impact. His Inner World shuddered as he unleashed everything he had—the hand slowed—but it was not enough.

"You think you can fuck with us?! Get away from Ashlock's offspring!" Diana barreled down with her wings tucked in and trailing demonic mist Qi. She wasn't alone. Grand Elder Redclaw followed close behind as a literal human meteor. Before Ashlock could tell them to stop, they smashed into the fist. There was a sonic boom and shock wave of clashing Qi's that echoed out and cleaved through the sphere of ash.

A tense moment followed as the three of them combined their might to try and repel the hand. Blood trailed from the sides of Diana's mouth, and the skin on the Grand Elder's hand and forearm was blackening from the heat. They were going beyond their limits, and when it looked like they might win—the heavens retaliated. The soul hand convulsed, a wave of pure energy traveling from the rift above.

"Guys, get back now!" Ashlock's voice thundered in their minds. They listened, but too late. An explosion of energy radiated out from the fist, making reality ripple back and forth, compressing and stretching apart anything in its way.

Diana and the Grand Elder screamed as they were torn apart, their bodies turning to ashen statues and falling to the ground. Douglas and Elaine swooped in to secure them and carried them back to Moros.

The fist reeled back once more—this time far more powerful. It was almost as if the heavens had been mocking him until now. While he was giving the fight his absolute all, the heavens hadn't even gotten serious yet.

Ashlock's arrogance faded.

"I can't block this one."

Larry moved despite his orders. The ashen spider surged forward and wrapped himself tightly around the fist. Even as the chaotic heavenly energy radiating off the fist burned at his body, he did not yield.

"It's useless, Larry!" Ashlock shouted, "You can't devour the souls, as that would kill them! Without the ability to decay, you have nothing."

"Master... that doesn't matter. Protecting you is my purpose," Larry replied, his ancient voice filling the entire sphere with his majesty and resolve. "Despite being able to do nothing at all, I'd rather do this than watch on as you die—"

The heavenly hand unfurled its fingers, ripping Larry apart and silencing him. Ash rose from the bottom of the sphere, feeding into the remnants of Larry's body. He slowly reformed, but the fist didn't care. Its focus was on destroying Mytherion.

Thousands of mortals peered up through the hole in the sphere. Despite Ashlock's best efforts, their prayers were wasted on him. The heavens would kill Mytherion before he could finish devouring the 5000 credits.

"This is goodbye, Father," Mytherion said. His voice carried a profound sadness to it. Clearly, he wasn't ready to go, but fate had other plans for him. The hand of heaven curled in its titanic fingers into a fist, ready to land the finishing blow. Reality seemed to coil around it, dragging the reforming Larry with it like a vortex. The sheer force of the energy gathered into the fist made the mystic Qi surrounding Mytherion falter. Perhaps if Mytherion had the same delusional outlook as Elysia, he could shape that mystic Qi into a shield to save him.

Ashlock tore open a rift and analyzed the fist through his Evil Eye for a possible counter, only to give up. The heavenly energy stored in the fist was many times that of his Qi reserves. Not only that, it was made up of so many daos that he had no hope of fine-tuning his desolation Qi to try and weaken it without harming the souls. With that realization, Ashlock was accepting of death now.

"A god has to fall to create a Blessed Land," he muttered. "I had planned to do it myself, but it looks like the heavens will be forcing my hand."

The heavens fist rocketed forth with earth-shattering power. It was traveling so fast that a wave of superheated air preceded it. Pushing Larry aside as if he were nothing but dust.

"Mytherion, my son. This is indeed goodbye," was all Ashlock had time to say as his vision was entirely consumed by the incoming fist. That was until a notification flashed in his consciousness.

[+172 SC]

He had reached 5000, but too late.

"System, create the—"

A person stepped into reality between him and the fist from nowhere. Wreathed in soul flames as white as snow and a layer of void, he knew who it was instantly. It was Stella, but she was unarmed. Despite the incoming fist, her gaze was tranquil and calm. That was when Ashlock noticed the sheer aura around her. It was as if a godly being was possessing her.

But it was undoubtedly her in control as her eyes blazed with fury. "You think everything will bow before you," she snarled, drawing back her fist. "But you're not as all-powerful as I thought."

As Stella defied the heavens with her back to him, Ashlock couldn't help but remember when she had, without hesitation, jumped up to face heaven's tribulation as a child. However, reality wasn't some fantasy. Back then, she'd almost died for her arrogance if not for Senior Lee's intervention. Yet here she stood, years later. Facing the heavens in the same fashion.

Before Ashlock could tell her no—that it wasn't worth standing up to a foe she had no hope of defeating even with Larry's failing domain as a safeguard—she flew forward to meet heavens' fist.

They collided.

"Stella?!"

Her void shield was instantly wiped out from the impact, the force carried on down her arm, causing it to rupture in a shower of blood and bone. Before anything else could happen to her, the spatial anchor Ashlock had long ago placed on her body automatically activated, warping her back to Red Vine Peak.

In her absence, the heavens' fist kept going. However, through his Evil Eye, he could see Stella's aether Qi that she'd delivered with her attack rippling up through the arm and causing the souls to break free from heaven's control.

The fist had slowed, losing a lot of its momentum as its energy became dispersed. Ashlock saw a chance. He tore open a desolation rift as fast as he could and had Moros float through.

Moros's two layers of shields, empowered by the two main spirit trees onboard Erebus and Akasha, managed to hold firm. The force of the fist merely pushed Moros back through the rift, and the souls, no longer held together by heaven's energy, harmlessly dispersed around Mytherion.

They had survived.

Ashlock's vision blurred. He returned to Red Vine Peak, where Stella was hauling her broken body over to the bench.

"How did you know that would work?" He asked.

"The heavens didn't follow me into the aether," Stella hissed through clenched teeth as she cradled what was left of her destroyed arm, "Which got me thinking. My ancestors, who are known to cause the fall of the nine realms, were able to pass the daos that made up aether Qi to me so I could repair that origin stone. The heavens reacted violently to my presence, not only my bloodline but also my Qi." She lay down on the bench. Her breathing was erratic, and her face pale. "You always said that a good cultivator never shows their fear. I took a chance on heaven's fear."

"But how did you know aether Qi would work against that fist?"

"Aether Qi is all about the in-between," Stella explained, "like water, it seeps into the cracks of rocks and can slowly break them apart from within. Just replace rocks with reality and water with my aether Qi."

"I think I get it. Heaven is reality manifested, and the aether is what lies between the gaps in reality," Ashlock said, and Stella nodded. "I see now. That makes perfect sense. But you still shouldn't have done that! If not for the void shield, you would have been pulverized, and Larry's domain wouldn't have saved you, as your statue would have been warped back to here!"

"I'll be honest, I did not think of that outcome," Stella replied. "But Dad, do you really have time to argue with me right now?"

"Dad—Now, of all times, you call me that... shit, you're right. I got to go." Ashlock opened a desolation portal, "Sol is in your room looking after Elysia, right? Take this portal and get healed up."

He didn't wait for her response and switched his view back to the battle.

"System."

Idletree Daily Sign-In System

Day: 3671

Daily Credit: 13

Sacrifice Credit: 5190

[Sign in?]

"Create the Blessed Land with my credits."

[Are you sure? The fragment of your soul in Mytherion will be sacrificed, causing you to lose memories that you can never recover]

"What are some memories compared to the souls of millions burning in the hellfire of reincarnation? Get on with it already."

[Understood]

Ashlock saw the credits vanish from his system screen.

[5000 credits consumed, initiating soul death now...]

His death... was instant. One moment, he was there, next to Mytherion. The next, he was gone. He knew a part of him was now missing, but all he knew was that he did not know what was lost. It was an incredibly unnerving experience. Having almost experienced death before, he thought there was more to it.

But nope. Just... instant nothiness.

[Dispersing soul fragment and 5000 sacrificial credits worth of divine energy into the land to artificially create a Blessed Land]

Ashlock often doubted himself, but looking down and seeing the flood of divine energy and the sheer profoundness from his soul being pushed into the land made him realize...

Maybe he was a god?

[Creating Blessed Land: The Eternal Grove of Rebirth]