Chapter 268: Sanctom Of Judgement, Forest Burial
Azalea glanced toward the roiling Deathmist and spoke calmly, her voice steady but serious.
“Remember—this one is far stronger than the last. It’s already merged with one of my soul fragments.”
I nodded, fully aware of what that meant. This wouldn’t be like the previous fight.
Lowering my gaze, I checked my Essence reserves.
It was filling up quickly.
“Silver.”
He gave a sharp screech and instantly took to the skies.
The Deathmist churned violently, writhing in unnatural patterns. A thunderous roar echoed through the pocket space Azalea had created. From within the swirling mass, a monstrous form began to rise.
Three serpentine heads emerged, each far larger than Azalea’s true form, and each bearing slight but terrifying differences.
The body that followed was a grotesque imitation of a serpent, with mist trailing from its scales like smoke off dying embers. Its sheer size dwarfed everything else in the space.
Azalea’s expression turned grim.
“It took that form from my memories,” she said quietly. “That used to be one of my old skills. The fragment it devoured must have remembered.”
The moment the serpent emerged, an even stronger presence erupted from my body. In an instant, the serpent went wild—its six eyes flaring open and locking onto me with raw, instinctive rage.
I watched as the first head hissed. Its eyes were hollow, a swirling pit of black and grey. With a shriek, it opened its mouth and released a beam of concentrated Deathmist, the fog cutting through the space like a blade.
I flared Essence from my feet and dodged sideways. The mist scorched the ground behind me, corroding even the ambient Essence. That wasn’t just deathmist.
Azalea raised her hand. Green light burst from her palm and slammed into the beam midair. Massive roots sprouted up like a wall, shielding us both as the Deathmist hissed and burned against the thick bark.
“That head controls the pure Deathmist,” she said, already preparing her next spell. “The second—”
A venomous hiss interrupted her. The middle head lunged forward, fangs dripping with something that made even the air ripple with corruption.
“—that one,” she continued, “has corrupted Lifeforce. A twisted mirror of what I use. Be careful. That bite can eat through more than flesh.”
Before she finished her warning, the corrupted venom sprayed out in a wide arc.
I raised [Spatial Shield] just in time. The violet barrier shimmered as the poison splashed against it, hissing, steaming, and cracking at the edges.
Azalea didn’t wait. Vines thick as towers erupted from the ground beneath the head, coiling tightly around its throat. Pollen burst from her hands, exploding like fireworks and blinding the serpent’s central face.
But the third head raised itself calmly—watchful, waiting.
Then, its jaws widened.
The air rippled. A spear formed midair, shaped from Deathmist but laced with glowing runes. It launched the next second—aimed straight for Azalea.
She waved her hand without flinching.
Thick roots burst from the ground, blooming upward and twisting together in a tight spiral. They coiled into a dense shield just in time—the spear slammed into it with a deafening crack, embedding deep into the wood but failing to break through.
“That one,” she growled, “it can create. That’s a corrupted trace of the Law of Creation.”
My grip tightened on my staff.
“So three heads. One uses Deathmist directly, one uses corrupted Lifeforce, and one can create using a twisted version of the Law…”
I spun my staff in my hand. Violet Essence flared at the tips, coiling like a storm.
“Fine. Let’s take them all down.”
I shot forward, wind cracking behind me from the force of my wings’ movement. I aimed for the first head—the pure Deathmist one—twisting in midair as I slammed my staff down.
“[Blitz Hakai]!”
The air pulsed as I poured Essence into the staff, increasing its weight, its charge, its wrath. The staff smashed down onto the side of the creature’s head.
BOOM!
The serpent screeched as its head jerked sideways from the impact. Deathmist scattered.
But it wasn’t over.
The second head turned toward me. It bared its fangs and lunged.
Azalea was there in an instant.
“Not today.”
Massive branches shot upward, forming a cage. Bark as hard as steel wrapped the creature’s neck mid-strike, redirecting its bite. Vines pierced the side of its head, and a burst of healing pollen exploded into its eyes. It screeched, blinded again.
“I’ll hold this one!” Azalea shouted. “Take the third!”
“Got it.”
I zipped to the side, dodging another spear conjured by the creation serpent. It had formed a hammer now—a jagged, corrupted thing dripping Deathmist. It hurled it at me.
I activated [Spatial Shield], and the barrier shimmered into place, effortlessly absorbing the impact of the attack.
Then I let my power surge.
[Absolute Domain].
The space around us shifted. The three-headed serpent, Azalea, and the churning Deathmist were all present into the boundary of my domain.
Violet light pulsed from my staff as I lunged forward, Essence gathering like a storm at the tip.
“[Havoc Sfera]!”
I unleashed a condensed orb of Essence directly into its face. The blast struck clean, disrupting its forming spell. Mist exploded outward, dissolving the next creation.
But even as I fought, the third head’s jaw opened again—this time summoning a massive construct of all three forces: mist, corruption, and false creation. A twisted chimera of wings and claws and chains roared into existence.
I braced.
Then Azalea’s voice cut through. “Now!”
The ground beneath the construct erupted. A colossal flower bloomed—its petals made of glowing blue leaves and pulsing with raw life. The chimera shrieked as the flower consumed it in one giant burst of Essence, unraveling the threads that held it together.
The third head reeled, injured by the loss of its creation.
I didn’t wait.
I raised my hand.
[Sanctum of Judgement]
The space around the three-headed serpent instantly warped. The Deathmist coiled in protest, trapped within the new boundary.
Then it began.
At the center of the enclosed space, a sphere of pure golden light bloomed into existence—calm at first, pulsing gently like a heartbeat. Then it unleashed its wrath.
Beams of light erupted outward in all directions from the sphere, burning through the Deathmist like sunlight tearing through fog.
Each beam lanced through the serpent’s writhing heads, severing mist and unraveling its unnatural form. Wherever the light touched, corruption peeled away, burned clean by layered precision—space compressed, light intensified. One of the heads tried to escape upward, but the sealed space held it fast.
The serpent thrashed violently, its massive body twisting as it tried to protect the core of its form.
It started attacking the sealed space but I kept my focus to maintain the space.
Outside the sealed space, Azalea floated still, her blue glow dim and steady. She raised her hand calmly, whispering the name of her own technique into the sealed space.
“Forest Burial.”
Roots thick as towers burst through the ground, slamming into the weakened body of the serpent. Flowers bloomed along them instantly—bright, vivid, and strangely mournful.
They exploded in unison.
A wave of green fire and pollen rushed through the serpent like a blooming apocalypse. Its body convulsed, losing all coherence. Deathmist scattered into shreds of vapor, pulled apart by light and buried by nature.
Creation is hard, cheer me up!