3147 Foreign Land (Part 1)

Squads of seven Chroniclers Warped at a safe distance from the Engine and conjured the anti-Guardian spell, Silverwing's Annihilation.

Solus cursed and in answer to her distress, long stone tubes erupted from the surface of the Engine, bolting at the elves. They were forced to break formation and Blink away, but it wasn't that simple.

The Ears followed the flow of mana to the exit point before the Eyes could see it and those who failed to Blink again quickly were captured by the tubes. Just like the first Chronicler, the Engine had no reason to kill them.

They were trapped inside the tower's space-compressing arrays and then into one of the Bleed's gene tanks along with their weapons. Chronicler's standard equipment was made of living Yggdrasill wood which meant more food for Solus.

Even better, the World Tree suffered the pain they received as feedback from both the imprisoned elves and branches.

'Mogar, mercy!' Ripha Menadion had lacked time to study and control the Yggdrasill like M'Rael had done, but the agony her workings inflicted upon them was nothing to scoff at. 'Stop her! Bring her one inch from death if necessary!'

A seven-elf squad came out of a dimensional rift and unleashed the Annihilation. The Engine conjured the Bastion, knowing there was no point dodging a spell that would chase its target.

Solus had just raised her hand for a return Annihilation when a second squad appeared.

'Oh, shit!' She was forced to use her Annihilation to counter the enemy's but a third squad appeared.

Then, as she tried to use footwork to buy the seconds she needed to kill the first unit and focus on the new threat, the ground below the Engine opened, and rootd trapped its legs.

Solus tried to Blink, but even in the open the Yggdrasill's control over the Fringe's space was too strong. She tried to Tower Warp one more time, but the Warp Mirror was still blank. She found no exit point, as if she was stranded on a different planet.

Those precious moments of hesitation caused the third Annihilation to blast the Engine's left arm and allowed the anti-Guardian spell from the first squad to blast a hole through the colossus' chest.

Solus screamed in pain as her own left arm crumbled and a hole opened in her guts.

'You may have forgotten about this due to my kindness, but inside MY Fringe, with the support of MY Chroniclers, this humble bright violet core can go toe to toe with a Guardian!' The World Tree activated a powerful Spirit array that amplified gravity around the Engine by hundreds of folds.At the same time, the emerald energy seeped inside the ruined limbs, ravaging the floors of the tower. A second Spirit array conjured a pillar of light that descended from the sky and hit the Engine like a hammer.

The first blow opened cracks all over the gold-veined white stone surface. The second blow spread them like spiderwebs that also appeared over Solus' skin. The third blow flattened the Engine on the ground like a downed animal.

'I can go on like this all day, Elphyn Menadion.' The World Tree said as all the injuries she had inflicted upon them healed at a speed visible to the naked eye. 'What about you? Do you want to keep fighting a losing battle and die or do you want to surrender and live?

'On my terms, sure. To my whims, indeed. But you'll live.'

Pain and fury ravaged Solus' heart as much as the wounds ravaged her body. Her first impulse was to go out with a literal bang by detonating the tower.

Then, the images of Lith came to her mind. Then Elysia and Valeron, quickly followed by the rest of her family. Yet it was the memory of the World Tree's words that stopped her hand.lightsnovel

'You know Verhen is a dangerous man and he would chase me to the ends of Mogar for you.' Solus quoted them one by one.

'Lith is still alive and he's coming for me. I just have to resist for a while.' She thought. 'Until that moment, I'll play ball. Or rather, hardball.'

"Fine. I surrender." She took a deep breath, focusing the energy reserves of the Engine on the repair protocols.

"Good. Then release the Chroniclers you have captured, come out of the tower, and deactivate it. In this order." The Yggdrasill said, inwardly regretting having lost so many Chroniclers to Menadion's cruelty.

"Your order is my command." Solus increased the output of the Bleed to the maximum, sucking the elves and the living wood dry before spitting them out respectively as bones and splinters.Lots of life force was lost in the rushed process, but she was going to lose it anyway so she might as well make the most of it.

'Well, with this, the Bleed has enough energy to feed me for a couple of weeks, if I don't suffer any more wounds.' A cruel smile appeared on Solus' face as the entire Fringe shook with the Yggdrasil's pain.

"Here I am." Solus came out of the tower, wearing only a day dress, the rest of her equipment safely stored inside the pocket dimension. "Just as you ordered."

The Engine shrunk back to its ring form and flew on her right middle finger. It had lost full access to the mana geyser but Solus had made sure the tower had enough energy to complete the repairs.

On top of that, in its ring form, the tower required minimal power and despite the Yggdrasil control over the Fringe, there was more than enough world energy left to feed the tower and in turn Solus.

"You killed them!" The World Tree roared. "You killed my Chroniclers and my saplings!"

"And?" Solus said with a Lith-like smirk on her face. "You told me to release them and I did. You never said anything about how you wanted me to release them."

"You little…" The ground shook as the colossal Yggdrasill shook in outrage.

Now that she could afford the time to take a look around the Fringe, the heir of the First Awakened was a majestic view. The World Tree was at least 100 meters (330') tall with branches thick and large enough to host entire villages populated by elves with golden and silver skin.

lightsΝοvel Black- and brown-skinned elves lived under the roots and above the ground instead. Pink-skinned elves similar to those Solus had met in the past lived farther from the Tree, surrounded by cultivated fields and forest glades.

Somehow, a water spring gushed from the top of the Yggdrasil and fell down, forming on each branch it traversed a lake that in turn generated a new waterfall.

It gave the semblance of multiple waterfalls each producing a perennial rainbow that covered the entire span of the Tree.

She was still gazing upon the cultivated fields, the temples, and the wondrous pieces of art of elven culture when a punch to Solus' gut made the elf who had dealt it fall to her knees crying.

"Oopsy! Did you forget that I have the constitution of a tower, dear?" Solus said with the fakest compassion on Mogar.