​Yuki and Nyquella entered the forest in a full sprint. The Holy Knight was gone, having sacrificed itself to buy them precious time to make it underground—but things were not going to be that easy.

​The forest had transformed into a nightmare zone. Monster corpses were scattered everywhere, trees were uprooted and tossed around like toothpicks, and massive boulders from the collapsing cavern roof were embedded deep in the dirt. Entire sections of the path were completely blocked off by collapsed buildings.

​"We have company," Yuki said, grabbing her hand and pulling her to a stop.

​"Which direction?!" she asked, instantly readying her great bow.

​"Left. Up. Looks like some sort of giant spider."

​"Explosive or piercing?" Nyquella asked, her focus razor-sharp.

​"Explosive!"

​Thwack!

​The arrow flew through the dark air and struck the creature dead in its face.

​SCREECH!!!

​"Good shot," Yuki said, scooping her up into his arms and sprinting forward once more.

​"This really sucks!" Nyquella sighed in frustration. "I can’t see anything because it’s too dark, and everything is too far out for my senses!"

​"Monster—northeast, forty-five degrees! Piercing!" Yuki instructed.

​Not wasting a single second, Nyquella turned in his arms, summoned her smaller bow, and drew the string back. But just as she was about to take the shot, the sound of crumbling stone echoed through the forest.

​Before she could even ask Yuki what made the sound—

​A blinding, incandescent flash illuminated the entire northern sector of the metropolis, followed instantly by a soul-shattering BANG of a massive explosion that shook the foundations of the cavern.

​The shockwave slammed into them, sending Yuki, Nyquella, and dozens of massive trees flying through the air. A wave of searing heat instantly scorched their skin, and within seconds, red-hot stones were hurled through the air at over 500 meters per second. The burning debris rained down, ripping through the forest and setting anything flammable ablaze.

​Luckily for Yuki and Nyquella, they were far enough away from the epicenter that they avoided the absolute worst of the blast. Even so, the force left them with severe internal injuries, third-degree burns, and broken bones. If they were normal humans, their lives would have ended on impact from physical trauma and internal bleeding.

​Yuki sat up, his entire body screaming with unbearable pain. But he didn’t let it stop him. He frantically searched the wreckage until he found Nyquella, knocked unconscious, her body covered in cuts and severe burns.

​Forcing his broken body to move, he dragged himself over, picked her up, and stumbled through the burning forest, heading deep underground toward the God Tree.

​Once inside the hidden cavern, he gently laid her down on the roots.

​"S-System..." Yuki stammered out, every single breath making his lungs feel like they were full of liquid fire. "What... do I do now?"

​[Cut open the trunk of the God Tree and place yourself and Nyquella inside,] the System urged, its voice urgent. [It will grow over and through you. It’s going to hurt, but it is the only way you two will survive this.]

​"Got... it."

​Forcing his hands to work, Yuki followed the System’s instructions, carving open the glowing trunk and pulling Nyquella inside with him.

​He lay there, breathing heavily as his hyper-regeneration struggled to heal his broken body. The fast-acting healing only made the agony worse as bone fragments snapped back into place.

​Looking up toward the cave entrance, he could see the wildfire slowly creeping inward. The giant roots near the opening were already burning away.

​"Vee... please be okay", Yuki thought, his heart aching. "I’m sorry I couldn’t make it back home to you..."

​His vision began to blur as exhaustion overtook his mind. Just as he was about to lose consciousness, a fresh wave of agonizing pain shot through his nervous system. Thin, glowing roots began to puncture his skin, weaving through his flesh and muscle. His consciousness faded away completely as the God Tree wrapped them tightly into a protective wooden cocoon.

​A moment later, the entire underground metropolis shook violently.

​The living city began to rise out of the earth, ramming itself directly into the cavern ceiling. The floor beneath the city solidified into dense layers of living stone, forming an unbreakable hydraulic battering ram that crushed everything above it into fine dust.

​The rising city—now a massive, moving cube of solid stone—carved its way through the underground mountain rock, tearing the subterranean caves apart as it forced its way toward the surface.

​On the surface of the mountain, the snowy ground began to tremble. At first, it was subtle—like a heavy machine passing nearby. But soon, the rumbling intensified into a violent quake. Wildlife, beasts, and monsters stopped dead in their tracks. Then, as if a collective warning bell rang in their minds, every living creature turned and fled in a desperate stampede.

​The trembling shattered the landscape, triggering massive snow avalanches that roared down the peaks. Then, the mountain itself split open as the stone cube breached the surface.

​Crackle! Crackle! Rumble! Rumble!

​BOOOOOM!!!

​The living city broke through the mountain peak with a deafening blast that sounded like an erupting volcano.

​The massive stone cube tumbled over the ridge, crushing everything beneath its immense weight. The far end of the peak was curved upward like a natural ramp, and due to the cube’s staggering velocity and momentum, it couldn’t stop its own forward trajectory.

​The stone cube, a 5.5 by 5.5-mile slab of living metropolis—was launched off the mountain ramp like a catastrophic missile.

​It sailed through the sky before gravity claimed it, bringing it crashing back down to earth like a falling meteor.

​The impact was apocalyptic.

​Upon hitting the ground at terminal speed, the stone city detonated. Millions of sharp, house-sized boulders exploded outward in a deadly radius, completely flattening a 30-square-mile area in a fraction of a second. The kinetic force sent hundreds of massive stone shards flying into the air at such violent speeds that friction ignited them, turning them into red-hot meteors that slammed into the surrounding countryside.

​Thick, pitch-black smoke billowed into the sky, blotting out the sun. Forests for miles were uprooted and vaporized, and raging fires painted the horizon in a sickly red glow.

​Then, as if the gods themselves were watching and decided to intervene... the sky broke.

​A torrential downpour slammed into the burning wasteland. From the ruined mountain peak, the view became surreal. The moment the massive sheets of freezing rain struck the red-hot meteors and burning forest, the water instantly flashed into superheated steam. A deafening, collective hiss rose from the valley, drowning out the dying echoes of the explosion.

​The rain didn’t put the fires out immediately; instead, it fought them. Blinding, scalding walls of white steam rose up to mix with the black smoke, turning the ruined landscape into a boiling, bubbling cauldron. Rivers of black ash and mud torrented through the flattened forests, illuminated from beneath by the stubborn, glowing embers of a city that was now nothing more than shattered rock.

​The Living Metropolis Core had gambled everything to kill its attackers—and lost.

​Everything it had built over centuries was gone in an instant. It wasn’t dead, but if it didn’t find a new host vessel soon, its energy would fade completely.

​Crawling out from the wreckage of its primary housing the cube, the Core’s perception swept the ruined area. It could sense only two living energy signatures nearby.

​They dare... they dare use my God Tree to stay alive?!

​The Core’s fractured mind spiraled into madness. How dare they?! It’s... it’s THEIR fault! Yes! It’s all their fault! I’ll take their bodies as my new vessels! I lost everything because of them—it’s only fair!

​Struggling for every inch, the Core dragged its mangled, slug-like form through the mud and burning ash, pulling itself toward the buried cocoon of the God Tree.

​Embedded deep in the scorched earth sat the wooden pod, its dense outer shell having survived both the impact and the falling debris.

​The Core stared at the pod, its maddened thoughts screeching: I let you live! And this is how you repay me?! I saved you from dying, and you betray me?! I sacrificed so much to shield you in the heart of my home! I protected you from the explosion! I lost EVERYTHING to save the very people who destroyed me! I’ll... I’LL KILL YOU!

​In a frenzy of blind rage, the Core slammed its fleshy tendrils against the shell of the cocoon over and over again. Cracks spider-webbed across the wooden surface until it finally shattered under the relentless assault.

​The moment the shell broke, the Core shoved its tendrils inside and violently dragged Yuki and Nyquella out, dumping their limp bodies onto the wet, muddy ash.

​Driven completely insane, the Core turned around and began wailing on the God Tree itself, attempting to destroy the ancient plant.

​Awakening from the violent assault, the God Tree reacted. A massive, thick root lashed out like a whip, slamming across the Core’s body and sending it tumbling backward through the mud.

​Staggering back to its feet with a horrific screech, the Core unleashed the full force of its remaining fury upon the tree.

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