After a few minutes, there was no change. A few hours, still the same. Barla continued to inspect the Dralh Sea while constantly using different Natures. "What about you?"
Maintaining contact at eye level was a carnivorous flower, which shook upon her question and then responded a few seconds later, "I’ve yet to find him too."
"Why don’t you release an army?" Barla suggested, to which the carnivorous mouth nodded.
"I’ve released them already. They’re actively scouring through the Dralh Sea as we speak."
"What if...he left the region?" Barla asked as she stared at the carnivorous flower, "Will you be able to know if that were the case?"
"I have posted a lot of Free Humans and Pranic Beasts with powerful detection means across the roots I’ve used to block off Dralh Sea." The carnivorous mouth replied, "And within my roots are millions of Mud Vipers who treat it as their home. If something were to intrude, they’ll clamour. I’ll know immediately when that happens."
"So, Brangara won’t be able to escape this region without my notice." Blola did state it with confidence; however, that would only be relevant if Brangara were to make an escape attempt.
As she continued to scout the region, she heard soft footsteps behind her. Even without turning around, she knew who the other party was, "Welcome, my youngest sister."
She asked upon seeing the hesitant rhythm behind the steps, all while her eyes didn’t shy away from the two pillars of light reaching a fair distance into the sky, "How was it?"
"Fighting against Dad."
It was unknown as to whom Barla was implying exactly, for technically, Ruvva’s biological father was Virala. However, her genetic father could very well be Brangara. In either case, the Mystic Human Brangara satisfied both conditions, so Ruvva couldn’t ask for the specifics of the addressal.
"I..." Ruvva hesitated, stopping a few metres away from Barla, "I couldn’t do anything against him."
"If you were given time to prepare," Barla slowly turned around, made eye contact with Ruvva, and asked, "Will you be able to kill him?"
"I...am not sure," Ruvva bit her lips hard in frustration, "Nothing I did worked against him. From the very beginning, he set the pace. And all I did was dance to his tune."
"He did that, huh?" Barla had some things to consider as she turned silent. She nudged in the direction of the two Minor Treasures, "They are property of the Mystic Humans, right?"
"Take them."
"Thank you," Ruvva was surprised Barla didn’t try to claim the two Minor Treasures for herself. It wouldn’t have matter if she tried that, for Ruvva didn’t have the strength necessary to oppose her.
Even if she were to kill Barla, nothing would change, for Blola would casually revive the latter anyway.
Therefore, Ruvva was grateful in that Blola didn’t try to take advantage of the situation, ’Well, it’s not like he would even need these Minor Treasures. They’re too weak while he’s too strong.’
If Blola fancied an ability, he would consume and revive a creature with the respective ability. He needn’t worry about obtaining a Minor Treasure. No matter what type of Minor Treasure it was, the benefit it granted him would be next to nothing.
Most of the time, Blola was only hindered by the collateral damage he could unleash. If he didn’t have to worry about anything, he could simply spam any opponent to death.
His go-to method would be to elevate Barla to the 10-Life Stage, and make her launch as many Astral Punctures as was necessary.
Ruvva was hesitant, nervous Barla might strike her from behind. She didn’t show it externally, but internally, her secondary hearts were ready. Spontaneously, she was prepared to use Prana Flash using her legs and Prana Shock using her hands.
It was anticlimactic as Ruvva touched the two Minor Treasures and absorbed them into her body. And then, nothing happened.
Hours turned into days, and the flashes of violet in her eyes only grew stronger. Ruvva approached one of the islands on the Dralh Sea and entered a secret tunnel in it, eyeing her puppets remaining on guard until now.
"Anything amiss?" Ruvva asked, sighing in relief to see her puppets shake their heads. "Thank goodness."
She stared at the metre-long Mystic Ewworm with a Rirenal tool attached to its tail. It remained bound, currently held by a couple of puppets, slightly twitching from time to time.
"It has begun recovering its memories." One of the puppets commented, "We would have had to work harder to restrain him many days later."
As a Mystic Human, Virala’s body would resist external influence. The effects of the Minor Treasure of Mystic Human Stamp fell under an external influence. Therefore, Virala’s memories were steadily returning to his empty mindspace.
And as more of them piled in the mind space, the more the Mystic Ewworm twitched in response, attempting to break free.
Minor Treasure—Mystic Human Stamp!
Ruvva used it on the Mystic Ewworm and extracted all the memories in its mindspace. She observed it once and frowned, ’They are appearing in a manner that would result in the body being controlled by Brangara instead of Virala.’
The Mystic Ewworm’s twitching stopped once Ruvva emptied its mindspace. She stuffed the Mystic Ewworm in her stomach, cleared out the puppets in the space, and returned to the surface.
The moment she appeared on the island, her body froze up to see a carnivorous mouth calmly standing before her. Its thin stalk raised the mouth to be on eye level with her.
’Is he planning to eat Virala?’ That was the first thought that appeared in her mind. Even though Virala’s return spelt endless trouble to the Mystic Humans, she had no intention of giving control over Virala’s body to Blola.
And most of all, Virala’s Mystic Ewworm form was a necessity for her to create Minor Treasures for both herself and the Mystic Human Race. She couldn’t give up such a strategic resource to an external party.
Even though Blola was on their side, that was only for this time. Depending on how the situation changes, there may come a day when the Transcendent Eater would bear its attention on them.
"So, you were hiding his body here." The carnivorous mouth uttered and then turned around, "Come with me. I want your help in finding Brangara."
"What?" Ruvva was stunned by his words for a moment before she grasped Blola’s intentions, ’Oh, so that’s what he wants.’
Ruvva held Brangara’s second body now. They were part of the same Life Stage stack. So, as long as she moves within 180 metres range of Brangara, their minds would synchronise. She would be able to immediately notice the changes in the Mystic Ewworm body in her stomach.
That was their cue, and pretty much their only means of finding Brangara.
"Okay," Ruvva said and accompanied Blola, watching a root wrap around her and move her across the seabed. From time to time, the root stabbed into the seabed, spreading as deep as possible, while one of the tendrils extending from it held Ruvva and moved her body across the network.
This way, Ruvva found herself being transported throughout the Dralh Sea. However, no matter how much they looked, they were unable to find any traces of him.
"You know," After a futile search, a root brought Ruvva to the surface and placed her atop a leaf while a carnivorous mouth popped nearby to speak, "That Minor Treasure of Mystic Human Stamp, it was created out of me?"
"What?" Ruvva wondered where Blola was heading with this, wondering why he brought up this topic, "I’ve seen his memories. So, I know how it was created."
"Good," Came a response from the carnivorous mouth. A few seconds later, it said, "Even after seeing that, you still think I intend to eat him?"
"..." Ruvva tensed up in response, only to see the carnivorous mouth chuckle in response.
"Relax, I don’t mean any harm." As it spoke, it morphed into Blola’s form, who casually sat atop a root tendril and uttered, "What I intend to say is that I cannot control Virala."
"If I were to consume him, it’s just a matter of time before he breaks out of my control. While in the process of creating the Mystic Human Stamp, he raised his resistance towards me." Blola let out a sigh and got up, "Well, I just wanted to say that."
He approached Ruvva and patted her on the shoulder, "I can’t afford to waste any more time here. It has already been a month."
"So, if he were to appear again, it’s up to you to face him." As he spoke, the roots covering the Dralh Sea retreated into the ground and wriggled slightly, mending the damage to the region before vanishing.
Ruvva turned to the side and noticed Barla walking towards her. There was no contact as the two passed by each other without even a cursory glance.
Silently, Barla appeared next to Blola as a carnivorous mouth formed out of the latter’s hand and devoured her.
"I have retracted the army I had dispatched in the region. The region will soon return to its usual self." He said and waved his hand, "Farewell, Ruvva."
With that, he transformed into a Parute Tree and wilted. Ruvva noticed a Parute Tree appear far away, and a couple more times. And then, it was no longer in her line of sight, having gone too far away.
A day passed in such a fashion as Ruvva met up with the rest of the Mystic Humans and began to conduct repairs in the region. Thankfully, most of the damage was done to the Abode of the Mystics, which was easy to repair, thanks to the tool forms of the Mystic Humans with Ewworm build.
In a mere four days, they finished repairs and inaugurated the brand new Abode of Mystics.
"We have been through a tough spell, but that won’t stop us." Ruvva concluded her speech before the Mystic Humans, "Throughout all trials, we will prevail!"
"We will prevail!" The Mystic Humans shouted.
Ruvva excused herself from the party that followed and walked to a secluded chamber in the palace, where the Spirit Eater was located. There was one Mystic Human Stamp. She intended to return the extra one in her possession to the chamber.
With that in mind, she opened the chamber’s entrance and had just taken a step inside when fear gripped her, for she sensed the Mystic Ewworm in her stomach wriggle. "Im...possible!"
"We just rebuilt this place. It doesn’t make any sense." Ruvva blurted out in terror.
"How can you be here?" Calmly seated on the Mystic Human Stamp before the Spirit Eater was none other than Brangara, making stretching exercises.
Brangara calmly turned around and grinned upon eyeing her terror-struck expression. "Took a while for that bastard to leave."
And then, the door closed behind her.