The pale tree’s crown spread before them, a platform ford from interwoven branches, open to the sky above. At the center, elevated on a mound of pale roots, blood a flower that defied natural description.
Purple, crimson, and grey petals are arranged in spiral patterns that hurt to observe directly. The colors shifted constantly, never settling on a single shade. Pale roots stretched from its stem in all directions, connecting to the tree below, spreading across the platform like veins.
This was the source, and the Dark Silence’s true form.
"That’s our enemy." One golden warrior breathed, his tone mixing awe with revulsion.
Reinhard’s eyes narrowed as he gripped Zenuken before rushing forward, and the lo Warriors responded imdiately. They didn’t follow but instead spread out around Reinhard as roots burst from the platform.
These weren’t controlled ones held by the spirits but the flower’s direct defense.
"Protect the Commander!" Bargest roared.
The warriors engaged instantly.
Fifty-plus spectral forms throwing themselves against the root assault, weapons striking with devastating precision. But the roots were endless here, fed directly by the flower’s power.
A warrior was shattered with his spectral form being overwheld by dozens of roots striking simultaneously. He dissolved into golden particles before quickly reforming and rejoining the fight.
Then he hacked down on the roots, smashing them into pieces, and then he quickly rejoined the others.
Reinhard continued rushing forward, trusting them completely.
The roots erupted in a frenzy, a living storm of pale tendrils converging on Reinhard as he sprinted up the slick, spiraling mound. The flower at the summit started to shake, every tremble sending another wave of defense into the fray.
Five warriors intercepted, their shields forming a wall. The roots struck with enough force to shatter stone, but the shields held.
The warriors grunted with effort, boots left cracks in the wooden ramp as the warriors slid backward, but not one of them yielded even an inch.
"Keep moving, Commander!" One shouted.
Reinhard ducked beneath their raised shields and bolted up the spiraling path. He felt the wind of a root as thick as a man’s waist slicing past, nearly taking his head.
Behind him, the five warriors grunted with the effort of holding the barricade until the roots wrapped around them like serpents.
The squad was ripped free of the ground and hurled bodily into the walls with a sound like hickory shattering. Reinhard risked a glance and saw only a rain of golden specs where they’d stood.
The defenders, even shattered, reford as spectral afterimages and threw themselves back into the battle.
Forty-four warriors remained.
The number dropped rapidly. Warriors threw themselves into impossible positions, blocking attacks that would have reached Reinhard. So leapt onto the writhing tendrils, driving their blades in up to the hilt before getting whipped away.
Others hurled themselves bodily as shields, taking blows ant for Reinhard and allowing him to surge forward another precious step.
A tide of roots erupted from the left, but then a cluster of ten warriors rushed toward it. Their leader shouted sothing before they hit the roots at full force. They hacked and smashed and died, over and over, their bodies returning only to be shredded again. Yet each ti they bought Reinhard another mont, another ter of progress.
Others created diversions, drawing roots away from his path.
Thirty warriors remained.
"Don’t look back!" A warrior shouted while being overwheld. "Just reach it!"
A new wave of roots burst upward, but the warriors t them head-on, two to every root, hacking and biting in a desperate bid to slow them.
One man with both arms torn away tackled a root with his teeth, clinging to it until the root ripped him in half and sent his upper body tumbling into the abyss. His spirit reford instantly, and with a scream of pure defiance, he launched himself at the root again.
Twenty warriors remained.
They maneuvered with the precision of a single mind, each act of sacrifice perfectly tid to shield Reinhard. He felt every loss reverberate through the Star Jewel, like chords snapping on an unseen instrunt.
The next barrage was different as three massive roots erupted directly beneath Reinhard. He was thrown high, before the roots twisted to impale him. Four warriors launched themselves in midair, colliding with the roots and slamming them aside just enough for him to crash down on the ramp.
The four landed in a heap, battered but alive, and turned their backs to Reinhard as they squared off against the roots.
"You go!" A woman shouted with a massive grin. "We’ll handle this!"
Bargest and three others ford the final defensive line, holding back two massive roots that erupted from the flower’s base. The roots were thick as buildings, moving with speed that contradicted their size.
"This is as far as we go, Commander!" Bargest grinned despite the strain evident in his stance. "Make it count!"
Ten warriors remained. Each one found a place along the ramp, a final redoubt against the encroaching roots. They fought with every ounce of will, holding off the avalanche even as their bodies were decimated.
One by one, they fell, exploded into sparks of gold, then reford, and fell again.
Five warriors left, all clustered near the flower’s base. They braced themselves, weapons raised.
"One more push!" they shouted in unison.
Two massive roots burst from the ground directly in front of Reinhard, blocking his path. The four remaining warriors threw themselves at the roots, weapons striking, bodies interposing.
They held the roots back through pure force of will, creating a gap just wide enough. The roots buckled, but instead of retreating, they split into dozens of whip-like branches, each one snaring a warrior and wrapping tighter until their bodies imploded.
"Go!"
Reinhard rushed through. Behind him, the four warriors shattered into specs of light before reforming and then continuing to hold back the roots.
One warrior remained, the last of the golden army. He positioned himself behind Reinhard, a massive hamr raised overhead.
Reinhard jumped up before the final warrior’s hamr ca up, striking Reinhard’s boots with perfect timing.
The impact launched Reinhard forward like an arrow. He rushed past rushing roots erupting from the flower, their sharp tips missing him by inches. His trajectory carried him directly toward the center, toward the purple-crimson-grey petals.
His hand extended, reaching for the flower.
But then roots burst from the petals themselves, wrapping around Reinhard mid-flight.
They coiled around his torso, his arms, his legs, and bound him completely before he could touch the flower.
He hung suspended, re feet from his target.
The root’s voice returned. Don’t you understand? If you destroy us, then all the people captured by the roots will die!
Reinhard’s expression showed no surprise, no regret as he softly said. "And all of them have prepared themselves for this. And so it will be done."
Light shined on the back of his right hand, before a symbol appeared, burning itself visible through his glove.
Reinhard glared at the flower, his light blue eyes mixed with the Fire Rune’s radiance. "It’s ti for the Forerunners and Precursors people to move on with their lives. And ti for you to be left in the past, you damn parasite."
Flas erupted from Reinhard’s hand, the flas were golden-red. It erupted with a terrifying intensity that made the pale tree’s interior seem dark by comparison.
The roots binding him caught fire imdiately before shattering. Reinhard’s hand moved forward, no longer restrained, reaching for the flower’s heart. The flas caught the purple-crimson-grey petals, and they erupted.
A scream tore through the air!
It was terrifying, inhuman, carrying layers upon layers of voices.
Millions of them, Reinhard realized, it was every person captured. Every Phantasm Beast consud, every life the tree had claid over the last three hundred years.
All of them screaming simultaneously through the flower’s agony. The sound made reality tremble, the pale tree’s entire structure shaking from the force.
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