"Did Stella go anywhere else?" Dante asked Nox as the wind rushed past them.

"No idea," Nox said as the flying sword shot toward the mountain peak, "My technique can only track the lingering shadow Qi left behind for a week. After that, it becomes too weak to accurately track."

"Still a handy skill."

"Indeed," Nox agreed, "Though it only works at night, so we are lucky the sun has only just started rising, and it's stupidly Qi intensive. Or at least it was when I was in the Star Core Realm. I probably shaved a few hours off my life using it, but I don't have the time to ask around and track her down."

Nox snapped her fingers, and a bubble of shadow surrounded them and obscured them from view as they got closer. "This place is guarded by titans of wood that attacked me last time. Keep your head low when we land. We don't want to attract their attention."

Dante was about to ask what they looked like, but then they flew past something towering over the trees. It had been stationary before, so he hadn't noticed it, but he knew it was strong as it swept the surroundings with blazing eyes of purple soul fire embedded in the face of black wood.

"What in the nine realms is that?" Dante whispered.

"That was the easiest one to deal with," Nox replied, "The worst was one made from the void. It killed one of my fellow Merchants in one hit before he could even react."

Dante frowned. The void affinity was rare. So rare, in fact, that he hadn't heard of anyone outside his family wielding it. Yet this place had enslaved void monsters? Just who were they dealing with?

I don't think this is a good idea at all. Dante thought as they crossed over a mist wall that shrouded the mountain peak. If not for my dependence on Nox for survival, I would rather we run off to the Tainted Cloud Sect together right now and forget about Stella. But with Nox's soul being cursed, we have no choice.

"I don't feel the presence of that powerful spatial cultivator anymore," Nox muttered as she scrutinized the giant demonic tree that loomed over the mountain peak, "Did they leave?"

Dante wasn't sure who she was referring to, but this place was creepy. It was deathly silent except for the rustling of leaves, and the wall of mist between the trees was odd.

"Stella was last seen over here." Nox floated the sword near a strange fog that seemed contained near a giant hole that dominated the center of the mountain and hopped off, with Dante following close behind.

"There's nobody here," Nox dispelled the bubble of shadows that had been obscuring them. "I checked with my spiritual sense, and the nearest cultivator should be over on the other mountain, and I doubt they will detect us."

"So what now?" Dante asked, "If Stella's shadow hasn't been here for a week, maybe she is long gone?"

Nox withdrew the sword into her spatial ring and dropped to one knee. She traced the spot where Stella's shadow must have been during her Shadow Search technique, but it was nothing but stone now.

"There are two options," Nox said, "Either Stella teleported so far away that it was beyond my technique, or she went into this strange fog."

"Have you seen a fog like this before?"

Nox shook her head, "It seems artificial. Perhaps held together with a runic formation running under the stone... wait, are these shards?"

"Shards?"

"Yeah, doesn't it look like there are shards of glass floating around in this fog?" Nox stepped closer and squinted at it. A gasp of surprise escaped her lips, and she stumbled back. "Are those all pocket realms? How could there possibly be so many gathered in one place?"

Dante took a look for himself, and she seemed correct. He had seen a gate for a pocket dimension before when he had visited Nightrose City with his Father... back when he was still a respected family member.

"So Stella might have gone into one of these pocket realms," Dante suggested, "Should we follow her?"

"Well, unless she suddenly appears, I don't have a choice." Nox narrowed her eyes, "But there are so many. How would I know which one she went in?"

Nox fell silent for a moment as the sun illuminated the mountain peak. Dante thought she was weighing her options, but her head suddenly snapped toward the giant hole.

"They know we are here," Nox stood up with shadow flames manifesting in her palms.

Who? Dante glanced toward the hole and felt what Nox had. Many Qi types were flying at them as if a whole group of noble families had been waiting in the darkness.

A freezing aura that knocked the wind out of his lungs and made his hands and face instantly numb overcame him. It was followed up by thick green vines that exploded from the ground and wrapped tightly around his limbs.

Dante's Soul Core flared up, and with a single pulse of void Qi, the vines disintegrated, and the intense chill ceased, just in time for a wave of spatial Qi to push him backward with enough force to lose his balance. To save himself from falling on the stone, he tried to use Void Step, but to his utter surprise, something was suppressing him. It was as if his soul was locked in place, preventing any movement.

When did they even cast these techniques? Dante thought as he hit the ground and pushed himself back up with a frown. Usually, the gathering of Qi is noticeable before a technique is even cast. But it was as if they came instantly.

Nox walked past him with a cape of liquid shadow laid out in her wake. She spread her arms and announced, "Shadows, heed my call."

Nightmarish fiends with spindly limbs and claws crawled out from the shadows and gathered around. Having gathered a small army, Nox pointed to the hole. "Devour anyone you find."

The fiends surged forward at the command toward the hole. Dante examined their destination and noticed a strange stone building built upon a pillar in the center. What struck him as odd was how its roof was open so a scarlet-leaved tree could grow through.

Now that I think about it. Wasn't there a red-leaf tree present at the Alchemy tournament? Dante wondered. His eyes widened as fire Qi exploded out from the tree, and a wall of flames consumed the incoming fiends instantly.

"Tsk," Nox clicked her tongue, "The sunlight weakened my creations, and they also have fire cultivators hidden over there? This is going to be troubleso"

Nox froze mid-sentence as Dante felt a sudden, tremendous presence weigh upon him as if the entire mountain had come to life. He instinctually tried to Void Step away but he couldn't. His soul was still locked in place.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

What kind of monster have we awoken? Dante wondered as he slowly turned toward the source and stared down the demonic tree that lorded over the peak. The ground began to tremble, and two titans made their appearance. One he had seen earlier as they flew in, but the other was even more memorable. It had been the one that attacked Slymere alongside a blonde-haired girl with a mask...

"We have to hide," Nox grabbed his arm and shrouded them in shadows.

***

Ashlock awoke to the rising sun and slowly shrugged off the deep sleep he had enjoyed under the nine moons.

"Ugh, is today the day the Mystic Realm ends?" Ashlock yawned as his body woke up. "It's been so boring waiting for them to return."

Idletree Daily Sign-In System

Day: 3596

Daily Credit: 33

Sacrifice Credit: 1865

[Sign in?]

Ashlock sleepily did the maths and confirmed today was the day. It had been a week, and he could finally see how much his sect had grown. He also hoped to welcome thousands of new Mudcloaks and his new Ent.

His slow morning was interrupted when a wave of fear overtook him. "Quill? What's wrong?" Ashlock blurted out through the root network as he left the confines of his mind, spread out his spiritual sight, and blanketed the area in his presence. It had been so quiet all week he had gotten lazy, but this seemed like a serious situation.

For the briefest moment, he saw Nox before she vanished into the shadows alongside someone else he didn't catch. There were signs that Quill had been keeping them at bay with his defensive techniques, as frost covered the roughed-up ground and a swirling wall of flame shrouded the library.

"So the cockroach merchant has returned," Ashlock cursed. It was too early in the morning to deal with such an annoying person. He had thrown everything he had at her so many times, and yet she always managed to escape.

Ashlock couldn't directly locate her, but he had a vague idea since she was hiding in the shadows within his realm of influence. Activating {Abyssal Whispers} and targeting the general area, he reawakened the seed within Nox's mind. To his surprise, her consciousness was far harder to penetrate than last time, but he managed.

"There's no use in running and hiding Nox," Ashlock said within her mind, without holding back on the hallucinations like he usually did when talking with his sect members. "Don't you know that I can see you?"

To further the point and get a better lock on her location, Ashlock opened his {Demonic Eye}. The world took on a red hue, and he could see the flow of Qi, which made the blazing ball of shadow Qi stick out like a sore thumb. Penetrating it with his gaze, he saw Nox standing beside Dante Voidmind. What they were doing here, he didn't know. But there was a bigger issue... that level of Qi coming from Nox was beyond even him.

"Nox is in the Nascent Soul Realm? Shit. When did that happen? No wonder it felt so hard to penetrate her consciousness. She is a whole fucking realm above me." Ashlock couldn't believe he had just revealed himself to someone stronger than him. What was he supposed to do now?

"That accursed gaze!" Nox dispelled her sphere of shadows, revealing herself and Dante to the world, "You're the one who cursed me, right! You are the soul-devouring tree."

"So that is why she is here," Ashlock muttered to himself, "If her only goal is to rid herself of the curse, then she is in for some bad news, as the only way to dispel curses is some kind of antidote which I don't have and killing the caster of the curse. And I don't plan to die so easily."

Nox wreathed herself in blazing flames of shadow and shot toward him with her sword tip pointing at his eye. With no time to close his eyelid of wood to protect his weak spot, he went on the defensive.

"Do you think I fear a cockroach like you?" Ashlock taunted to further the hallucinations as he quickly opened his {Dimensional Overlap} menu, and without time to look or adjust the settings, he summoned the strongest light realm he could. 1100 credits vanished from his account, which he had gotten from devouring thousands of Kobolds, and an intense bubble of light expanded out. "Perish before me."

Nox reeled back her attack as Ashlock dropped a light realm on her head that obliterated her conjured shadows and caused her to scream out in surprise. If not for Quill having her soul locked down with Spatial Lock, Nox could have used Shadow Step to take out his eye instantly and avoid the light realm. But she had been left with no choice but to charge at him.

Ashlock's spiritual sight was blinded by the Peak Star Core light Qi, but his {Demonic Eye} could gaze through it without issue. He saw that Dante had been completely taken out as the man had fallen to the floor and was trying to fight back and blink away the light. But Nox was a different story. The initial wave of light Qi may have wiped out her conjured armor of shadows and made her cease her attack on his eye, but other than that, she seemed unfazed.

Ashlock knew from the way she glared at him with an oddly youthful face he didn't remember her having and her overwhelming confidence, despite being bathed in a realm of Qi that should counter her, that something bad was about to happen.

"Titus and Zeus, attack her now," Ashlock commanded as he removed his limiter on his Star Core. Now wasn't the time to conserve his Qi output. It was time to go all out. His body surged with power as Qi rose up through the roots from thousands of his offspring spread throughout the land that had been cultivating under the nine moons every night. His own Star Core also pulsed with power as lilac soul flames exploded, covering his bark and leaves in a column reaching for the stars.

He then slammed his entire presence and gaze upon Nox and Dante while casting {Consuming Abyss}. More sacrificial credits vanished from his balance, but he didn't care. He would go to zero if it meant he could get revenge on those who had hurt his sect members deeply. The void lake spread out at a high cost due to the light Qi, and tendrils rose from the darkness alongside black vines wielding swords. Ashlock infused the swords with Warp Strike, which allowed them to hit from unexpected angles or bypass defenses by momentarily warping space.

Dante dropped to one knee from the pressure, but Nox stood tall and amusedly eyed all the incoming attacks. It was not exactly the reaction Ashlock had been hoping for. He grew even more concerned when multiple lightning bolts rained down upon Nox, and she simply shrugged them off.

"You can't escape the light, Nox," Ashlock insisted. His A-grade {Abyssal Whispers} skill amplified his words with hallucinations, so he chose words that would maximize the impact of his attacks.

"The light only fears one thing," Nox replied as she raised her hands, "An all-consuming darkness."

A tidal wave of liquid shadow surged from Nox's hands and devoured the light Qi Ashlock had summoned. Within seconds, it was all... gone. The light had been consumed and replaced with darkness.

[Dimensional Overlap Destroyed]

Nox began walking toward him. She met the void tendrils with summoned fiends of shadow, her sword wreathed in soul flames cleaved through his black vines as if they were misbehaving snakes. His swords bit into her skin, drawing blood, but Nox simply ignored them and let the darkness heal her.

But he could see that this immense power was not coming for free. Nox's movements grew sluggish, and he could see the skin on the back of her hands transitioning to wood. The curse ate her alive, but Ashlock worried he would die first.

He felt his branches creak under immense gravity as she approached. It was as if the sky had fallen upon him. "So this is the power of a Nascent Soul Cultivator," Ashlock hissed as he used his own 8th stage Star Core Qi to try and fight back to little success. His Qi quantity may be more than Nox's due to his tree-sized Star Core, but his ability to focus it all on such a tiny person compared to his expansive body was beyond his level of control. The best he could do was blanket the area and hope to slow her down.

Nox eventually came to a stop before his trunk with her sword pointing at his eye that he hadn't closed as it would render him blind in this darkness.

"Now tell me soul devouring tree how to rid my soul of your curse, and I may spare your life," Nox narrowed her eyes, "Or die."

Ashlock thought how best to answer as he felt the sun fully illuminate the mountain peak. He then felt a presence rocketing toward him, and he knew his answer.

"I pick the third option," Ashlock replied as lightning continued to hammer down on Nox, "Surviving for my daughter."

"Your what?" Nox asked but then coughed up a mouthful of blood as a blade poked out of her chest. She turned her head to look over her shoulder at the blonde girl who materialized behind her with Spatial Step. Stella's eyes were tranquil, and her aim was true. Her bloodline had clearly activated.

Nox's eyes narrowed, "It's you."

"So what if it's me," Stella replied calmly as she twisted her blade still inside Nox's chest, "Don't you dare hurt Tree."

Nox reached up and snapped off the end of the sword with her bare hand and grinned with blood coating her teeth, "Make me."