Tree of Aeons

317. Blossoms

317

Mountainworld

Lausanne double checked her armor and triple checked her arsenal of spears. They were all tremendously powerful weapons, and there were fifty five of her peers around her. All of them were preparing for the battle. Ebon. Hoyia. Lausanne. The dwarven mage Blackthorn and many others prepared for a battle against the demon king.

Fifty five Level 140s would attempt the first attack on the demon king, and the hope was that some of them would make it past the finish line. 

For some, the mood was relaxed. “I heard you’re making big waves on Twinspace.” Ebon grinned and tapped the matriarch on the shoulder. He looked proud of his fellow Order teammate. 

“It has to be done.” Hoyia answered, the matriarch had more armor on than the rest of them. Her physical abilities were probably one of the weakest, so she had to shore it up with more armor and equipment. “Just as what we have to do today.”

Lausanne thought about what Hoyia did ever since the developments were updated on their shared intreenet. She was there during the crusades against Aeon and felt a little bit of unusual envy. She should’ve been there. She should’ve tried the same thing with Magisar, too. 

Mages were not immune to religious propaganda, but as someone who grew up with Aeon in her life, it was just something so taken for granted that she didn’t even know where to start. For Hoyia, inventing a tale and a myth was perhaps easy. Maybe it was her class, that of a priest, that made storytelling easy. 

Somehow, the knight noticed Lausanne. “Has someone relieved you on Magisar, Lausanne?”

Lausanne snapped out of her thoughts and nodded. “Ah, yes. A Mage [Lord] finally arrived to do so, but I’m staying back to help the transition of power. What about you? I heard you were on Caval for a bit, was there anything interesting there?”

“It’s nothing much.” Ebon shrugged as if it wasn’t much. “The living weapons are interesting and worth researching, but I think it’s going to be quite challenging to get anything else of value out of it.”

“Good that you called it quits before you’ve spent too much time there, then.” Lausanne added. “Or are you still headed back there?” 

“About that, it is complicated. I think we’ll see each other on Twinspace instead, once Hoyia’s naval expeditions are in full swing.” Ebon said, as he also checked his weapons. The knight’s assortment of weapons came from many different craftsmen, and he had a wide range of spears, swords and lances, but one of the things he tried to do differently was minimize the use of blessings from other domain holders. 

There were some competing theories on whether the assistance of other domain holders made it harder for a person to make that final cut, so even amongst the group of Level 140 Valthorns, there was some variation in whether their equipment were enchanted with the blessings of other domain holders. 

A few of them went as far as surrendering Aeon’s familiar, just so that they could truly put themselves on the line. 

Lausanne breathed. She didn’t go that far. The [Court of the Deitree] was too important to her. She nodded. “Yeah. Let’s go get that demon king.”

Ebon nodded. In theory, there was enough firepower here to match a demon king. But because it was split across multiple individuals and not focused, that it partly meant its effectiveness was minimized. “You too. See you later.”

One of the mages in front made a signal and everyone got into position. It was time to step through the portal and head to where the demon king would arrive. Patriarch Lumoof would watch the battle from somewhere relatively nearby and step in once the Level 140s were spent. 

She hoped it never got to that point, but took a moment and looked around. Some of her peers had no backup teleportation device. Some of them did. 

Reckless, but they’ve been stuck so long.

Was recklessness one of the factors? She didn’t think so. But after such a long, frustrating stagnation, one step before the finishing line for years, she could understand why some of them tried such unusual strategies. 

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A few of them looked nervous. If she told anyone else, they’d probably think it would be fiction. Even if their foe was a demon king. 

To the regular folk, it was hard to imagine people who were Level 140s being nervous. Folks that were so close to divinity having to give themselves a pep talk was a hilarious image. 

Those not here would not understand the emotions they have, or what it is like to face a demon king with few exit routes.

Lausanne closed her eyes momentarily and gave herself a pep talk. She would make it. 

She closed her eyes briefly and imagined her mother. She remembered her childhood, hiding in the tree. The decades since Aeon’s presence had made Mountainworld into a safe place. She would like to help spread that presence to more worlds. 

Everyone deserved freedom from a plague that did nothing but destroy. Some forms of destruction resulted in renewal. They destroyed the old so that the new could replace them.

The rift gate opened, and the Level 140s waited. 

And they were off.

***

Lausanne watched the demon king emerge from the rift, in one of the thousands of mountainous valleys of Mountainworld. Mountainworld was home to numerous mountain ranges, created not by tectonic plates but by the flows of magic that forced the terrain to flow with it. 

[Demon King Armaddon has arrived]

The demon king was a large scaled creature, resembling an armadillo with heavy armor, with four legs, all ending in sharp claws. It emanated a toxic aura, and the gaps in the armored scales periodically released some kind of gas. A root-mask emerged via her [Court of the Deitree] and covered her face. Some of the other Valthorns changed into full body suits of armor and magical masks, while others relied on Aeon’s familiars to create a breathing mask. 

Her spears charged with power, as she ran up to the gigantic armadillo demon, while the rest of the regular demons also emerged from the rift. 

Distractions. 

The skies rained with fire and magic, as the mages of the Valthorns bombarded the area with magic. These attacks quickly thinned the battlefield, and Lausanne herself closed in. The poison was slightly corrosive, requiring her to activate a healing ability in response.

The first strike slammed into the heavy armor and left a crack. But it was healing.

She cursed and struck again. About half of the level 140s were priests and healers, and they mostly kept their distance. 

She struck again, as she felt the priest’s blessings kick in. Her body, enhanced by the priest’s [Strength of the Divine], made a deeper strike into the armor. 

“Try the gaps between the scales!” Ebon shouted, as he treated his weapons as if they were disposable. He thrusted the powerful magically charged spears and lances into the gaps, and detonated the stored magical power.

It ripped a few of the scales off, and exposed some kind of flesh underneath. 

“Eh. You’ve made the opening.” Lausanne smiled, as she dived at the unprotected flesh. The key to the demon king was the demon king’s core. There were two real ways of killing the demon king.

One, was to drain the demon king of its energies. Each time the demon king regenerated or repaired itself, it used up the energies within the core. That was its ‘health’. Once that ran out, the demon king wouldn’t be able to restore itself and would die. Of course, the demon core also could regenerate its magical energy, so the damage delivered would have to exceed the regeneration in order to reach the point where that is even possible.

The other way was simpler. Damage the demon’s core itself. Lausanne knew this worked because she had seen how Lumoof and Edna’s strikes delivered damage to the core, even if it didn’t hit it directly. That was key to quickly defeating the demon king. 

Aeon’s ability to deal spiritual damage directly to the demon king’s core and mess with the rest of the demon king’s abilities worked exceptionally well and was partly why demon kings felt weaker in his presence. 

Lausanne dived into the flesh herself and thrust her blade into the opening. The armadillo demon king responded by flooding its flesh with poison and some kind of acid. 

“I can’t stay in there long with that.” Lausanne said as she leapt out. The barrier created by her familiar wasn’t strong enough to overcome the deluge of poison and acid. Some of her armor was already partially corroded. 

The mages and priests that kept their distance understood, and she was then blessed with an array of shields and barriers. “Thanks.” 

“Me too.” Ebon said, as he briefly retreated to the mages. His armor was heavily damaged, but he managed to rip apart some of the armadillo demon king’s scales on the other end. “I’ll get in from the other side.”

There were about twenty other level 140s harassing the demon king, and a few of them tried what Lausanne did. So far, not one of them died yet. 

“Don’t be reckless.” Lausanne said, as her spears glowed. “Even if this demon king is slightly on the weaker end, they shouldn’t take such risks.”

“Says the one diving into a flooded pool of acid and poison.” Ebon smiled as his armor somehow regenerated magically, armor shining as if it was newly forged. “We are all prepared to die, milady. Our conviction is just as strong as yours.”

Lausanne blinked, and then smiled. “Ah. That is true. Then let’s see who gets to it first.”

***

The Valthorns launched wave after wave of attacks, but the demon king’s toughness was truly impressive. A few of them tapped out and retreated.

Lausanne kept trying, but the demon king’s core proved elusive. The creature was too large, and each of their strikes wasn’t deep enough. She remembered how Edna once said that she felt thoroughly frustrated. 

She was a domain holder, but even at Level 150 to 190, she didn’t have enough firepower. 

But no. Lausanne knew she couldn’t think that way. Edna was Edna. She was someone else, and her talents were different.

She saw Ebon run through different weapons, each of his strikes cut fairly deep, but consumed the weapon itself. She needed a way to strike the demon king’s core and yet, could she replicate some of Lumoof and Aeon’s spiritual sensing ability? 

She activated her [Court of the Deitree] and used her spiritual vision. It couldn't  see through the demon king’s body. 

She should have been able to see through it. Frustrated, she moved much closer to the demon king and landed into one of the regenerating wounds, stabbing her spear deep into the demon king’s body. Using the spear as a listening, sensing tool, she tried to sense where the turbulent magic of the demon king came from. 

The demon king flooded her with demonic mana. 

Lausanne saw her skin change color, as the demon’s magical energies flowed through the spear and into her hand. 

Ebon, on the other side, slammed his sword into the demon king’s flesh with all his might. The attacks caused the demon’s magical energies to wane slightly, and Lausanne’s own spiritual energy pushed back and regained control of her hand.

Still, she tried to find the demon king’s core. The armadillo was too large. They wouldn’t get anywhere if they keep attacking like this. 

Then, Lausanne felt herself flooded with holy energy. Hoyia and a few other priests noticed what Lausanne was trying to do and combined their energies to bless her.

The best thing she could do now was to not waste it, so she pushed her own spiritual presence through her hand and into the spear. 

“Where was the demon king’s core located-” She cursed, as she felt the two powerful forces fight within her soul. Hoyia and the priests channeled their powers through her, and the demon king’s energy fought back. 

“Keep up the attack!” Ebon rallied the rest of the fighters to buy Lausanne some space. The rest of them launched volleys of attacks against the armadillo. 

Lausanne searched systematically through the demonic creature and then she found it. 

She immediately took out a special spear and held it up. “Hoyia! Bless the spear!” She commanded as she channeled her own magical energies and abilities. The spear glowed, and she lunged it towards the demon king’s core, hidden beneath multiple layers of demonic sinew and muscles.

That attack caused the armadillo to flail wildly, as the spear’s energies barely grazed the demon king’s core. 

The attack hurt it slightly. 

“Again!” But this time, the armadillo flailed like a wild bull and began to curl up into a ball. A few of the druids and mages tried to stop it and used the weapons to hold the demon king in place, but they were not strong enough. Lausanne’s spear touched the demon king’s core again, and she felt a little crack. 

Then, the demon king released a powerful burst of energy. 

Lausanne cursed and immediately moved out of the way, as a spherical explosion emerged from the demon king. The demon king transformed, as the explosion forced all the Valthorns to retreat. 

The giant armadillo transformed into a smaller, human sized beast, and immediately charged towards Lausanne with tremendous force. 

“That’s enough.” Lumoof emerged, as his avatar formed. A massive shield of wood slammed into the demon king with a thunderous boom sending shockwaves throughout the valley. Then the spiritual roots emerged. If the attack hit her, Lausanne knew that was the end. “We’ll take it from here.”

Aeon emerged, and the demon king was no match for their enraged divine patron.

The demon king was slain in but a few moments later. Lausanne watched the battle end and knew they’d have to try again-

[Demon King Armaddon has been slain]

That would’ve been the end of it, as it normally did.

But then, Lausanne felt the system’s whisper continue. 

She blinked.

[You’ve gained a level. You are now Level 150, and may now select a domain. You have three available choices].

[Domain of the Spirit Warrior]

[The Spirit Warrior is a master of weapons that strike at the spiritual heart of your enemies. You will gain a range of abilities and weapons that attack both the spirit and the flesh. These spiritual attacks are able to ignore conventional and magical defensive abilities. You are also able to bless weapons to grant them the ability to temporarily deliver attacks that pass through conventional and magical defenses]

[Subdomain of Aeon - Aeon’s Huntress]

[As a subdomain of Aeon, You gain an ability to link through Aeon’s clone and tree network, allowing you to move seamlessly through the multiverse at will. You will also gain a range of combat abilities similar to your patron god, to enact fury on his behalf. You are able to transform trees into Aeonic War Treants and also summon Aeon’s beetles to support you in combat.]

[Domain of the Unchosen Champion]

[You once wanted to be a hero, and you’ve finally reached the starting point. This domain replicates certain heroic abilities you’ve encountered in your journey, except for the [hero’s forge], and allows you to use star mana, convert your mana to star mana, and vice versa over a period of time. You gain the ability to use and manipulate unprotected hero-items without any penalty]

Lausanne blinked again, and then turned to look at Lumoof with shock.

“I’m Level 150 and I have a very important choice to make.”

Spaizzer

Next week I'm taking a break. Just want some time to myself to play some games, write some experimental stuff, build up my backlog. 

Also, patreons voted for Unchosen Champion. What would have the SH folks choose?