Expert Mystic Grade Pranic Beast—Empyrean Transcendent Eater!
Its roots sprouted across the Dralh Sea, enclosing it from the rest of Sumatra. At a farther location, situated on one of the islands were four Mystic Humans, engaging in research to help increase their numbers and improve the fertility of their race.
Boom!
A Transcendent Eater root burst out of the glowing seawater, causing large swathes of ice to fall off from it. It rose to the sky, stopping upon reaching a height of a kilometre. One of the Mystic Humans moved towards the root in worry, for if the root were to fall down, the sheer tidal wave it could generate was sufficient to destroy their island.
"Lord Blola!" He shouted, "Please state your reason for appearing in the Dralh Sea!"
In response to the shout, a vein coiled out of the root as a fruit sac appeared on its end. The sac hatched seconds later to spit out a Free Human with Iron Grade strength, who cupped his fists and announced respectively, "My Lord has appeared here to deal with an enemy. Please don’t fret, as we’re neither enemies nor have reasons to be one."
"I’ll take your word for it." The Mystic Human nodded, surprised to see the Free Human commit suicide spontaneously after. Frowning for a second, he eyed the rest of the Mystic Humans on the island.
[We need to verify his claims. Contact the council!]
One of them had a Spirit Eater build, which was their fastest mode of travel without any baggage to carry around. The Mystic Human turned into a Parute Tree and wilted. Farther away, at a spot a kilometre from the current location, sprouted a Parute Tree.
A second later, it wilted, and sprouted another kilometre away. With every subsequent sprouting and wilting, the Parute Tree’s presence diminished. Spirit Eaters could move in the same fashion as the Transcendent Eater, but their speed was a lot slower.
Their recovery means also couldn’t maintain the expenditure for long, as soon, the Parute Tree stopped moving. Its roots dangled in the Dralh Sea’s water and sucked up nutrients, replenishing its Prana reserves.
Once it had replenished enough, it wilted and appeared a kilometre away, resuming its motion. In a similar fashion, Parute Trees appeared and wilted, starting from the many islands scattered across the Dralh Sea as they made their way towards the Abode of the Mystics.
"Stop!" As a few such Parute Trees had joined to move together as a group, a shout resounded. It was a Councilman, who was clutching his injured arm to shout, "Don’t head in any further. Retreat, and wait for news."
Behind the Councilman was a group of Mystic Humans on a Tratham ship. They were vacating the place.
"Are you...fleeing?" One of the Parute Trees reverted to human form and asked, expressing anger, "If a situation happened, weren’t you supposed to face it, seeing as you take up seat as the highest authority of our race?"
"Of course, I do." The Councilman shouted, "The rest of the Council is at the scene. My task is to vacate the rest of us."
He pointed at the Mystic Humans on board the ship, "If the lot of these were to die, it will cripple our development. Protecting them is my responsibility."
"Also!" He shouted, "Four of us Councilmen are already dead!"
"No way!"
"That’s impossible!"
"Who even has so much strength?" One of the Mystic Humans pointed at the roots to ask, "Is that why the Transcendent Eater has appeared here? Is the enemy so powerful that we have to seek external aid?"
"What about our Chief?" Another Mystic Human asked, "Surely she can handle any situation."
"The Chief already lost..." The Councilman muttered sullenly and then raised his voice, "We will retaliate. But first, we need to evacuate our people to safety."
"Exactly who is the enemy?" One of them asked and noticed the Councilman remain mute about it, "Please tell us. Who is it?"
As Parute Trees began to gather around the ship, they reverted to Mystic Humans who shouted, in anger, "Who dares attack us?"
"We Mystic Humans will destroy..."
"It’s the Boar King!" The Councilman roared.
"Just a Boar King...?" One of the Mystic Humans scoffed.
"Did Councilman Yoribu betray us?" Another expressed confusion before soon, realisation set in them all. In the present time, Boar King was an Expert Gold Grade Pranic Beast, a powerful existence, but nothing the Mystic Humans had to worry about.
However, in the past, it was the term used to colloquially describe one individual—Brangara!
The Councilman didn’t use the words Celestial Boar, but rather, the Boar King, "Surely you jest..."
The Mystic Humans then noticed the expression on the faces of those on board the ship—pale, frightened, hopeless. They looked just like in the past when they were miners who didn’t even have the honour of living on the surface but had to live their lives underground.
So many powerful existences had appeared in Sumatra’s recent history that many began to gloss over one fact: This era was still named after the Empyrean Boar King, called the Boar King’s era.
The seriousness in the presence radiating off the Transcendent Eater roots across the Dralh Sea was a testament to the danger posed by the individual in question, of one whose era it remained.
And the person in question, was calmly standing 180 metres from the Chief of the Mystic Humans.
"Bran...gara!" Resounded a rageful voice as a carnivorous head popped out of the water and glared at the man in question, "You don’t belong in that body. Return it to its rightful owner!"
"Let me see if memory serves right." Brangara wasn’t in the slightest bit concerned by the threatening presence oozing out of the Transcendent Eater. Instead, he tapped his chin and pondered aloud, "A Mystic Human consumes the body of a Pranic Beast and obtains it as a part of their power. Virala obtained my power by consuming my body, not of my volition."
"And then, he slept with my wife to spawn that," He pointed at Ruvva.
"Now," He stared at the carnivorous mouth in disdain, "I’m supposed to give up my being to that shit? For what?"
"For the sake of a potted plant that begged me?"
"Then so be it," The carnivorous mouth uttered and retreated into the water, "Don’t complain later that I didn’t attempt to talk things through first."
"You showed up uninvited," Brangara shrugged as he leapt backwards, "Do you get off behaving like some grandiose mediator?"
"Aren’t you merely a bundle of luck?"
Rumble!
Roots behaved like whips as they lashed at Brangara, causing tsunamis with every hit. Some of the waves travelled at such speeds that they turned into mist with enough pressure to penetrate through large islands.
One of the waves was about to hit the ruins of the Abode of the Mystics when a pile of roots jutted out of the water and coiled around it, forming a bud. Such buds appeared around every island in the Dralh Sea.
The roots that had appeared across the Dralh Sea sprouted carnivorous mouths and dripped a sweet-smelling nectar, which lured in every Pranic Beast in the vicinity. As the Pranic Beasts converged upon the root and began gnawing on the bark covered with the nectar, a bud appeared to house them in.
This happened across the Dralh Sea until all Mystic Humans, Pranic Beasts, and islands were protected by the buds.
A large column of roots shot into the sky, reaching a height of eight kilometres to surround the Abyss Range, cutting it off from the rest of the Dralh Sea. Now, everything of value, whether it be monetary or living thing, was protected by the roots, only leaving behind the water.
It was done so that Blola could fight without worry about collateral, as a carnivorous mouth appeared next to Ruvva and whispered in her ears, "I’ve protected everything and everyone."
"It took some time to make preparations without damaging the foundations of this region. I apologise for that." The carnivorous mouth uttered, "You’ve done well holding on for so long. Now,"
As it uttered, the roots bombarded the entire region without hesitation, causing a cascade of thunderous drumming, "Leave the rest to me."
"He’s scary!" Ruvva felt relieved by Blola’s words, but her worries didn’t dissipate, "He’s Brangara, but has all the means, intellect, and thought process of Virala too."
There was a flinch in the roots for an instant due to her words, following which the carnivorous mouth uttered, "...I see,"
"That is dangerous."
A leaf propped out of the carnivorous mouth’s stalk and presented a pile of Parute King Fruits to Ruvva, "Eat and recover first. I might need your assistance depending on how this fight goes."
"Will you bring her out?" Ruvva asked, implying Barla.
"I planned to do that at the start, but I’m not sure now, seeing as how Brangara seems to have been waiting for me." The carnivorous mouth stated, "But you needn’t worry. I have more than one heavy hitter in my reserve."
"But still..." The carnivorous mouth asked, expressing confusion, "Was Brangara always been able to use it?"
As the roots descended without rest, a crimson flash could be seen forming straight lines of evasion between the roots. The radiance grew closer to violet to make sharp turns, somewhere around green or yellow for leaner turns, and finally, red for long, straight distances.
Staring at the scene that seemed straight out of her nightmare was Ruvva, "That’s...my Prana Flash!"
Brangara was using the force emitted by his Tratham armour to emulate the same effects of Prana Flash to move around at speeds faster than he could when he faced her, "H-How is he doing this?"
As she spoke, she could swear she heard the carnivorous mouth utter something, with extreme frustration. It seemed to have controlled itself to prevent voicing it aloud. However, based on the movement of its mouth, Ruvva feel what it wanted to voice out.
"SHIT!"