Strongest Incubus System

The first root came from the left.

Damon leaned aside and let it pass only a few centimeters from his chest.

Another immediately burst from the floor, trying to wrap around his ankle.

He jumped.

Landed badly.

Without the Heavenly Body automatically correcting his muscles and joints, the impact traveled through his entire leg.

"I really miss my body," he muttered.

"That is your body," Xue Lian replied.

"The better one."

The third root came directly for his face.

Damon raised his sword.

He did not try to cut it.

He simply placed the blade in its path.

The root struck the metal.

Stopped.

Damon noticed.

It made no attempt to break the sword.

The root simply slid along the side, searching for another path toward his hand.

He immediately pulled the weapon away.

"It doesn’t want to kill me."

"I already understood that."

"No. You understood that it wants to choose me."

Another root came.

Damon dodged.

"I’m saying it’s avoiding anything that isn’t my body."

Xue Lian looked at the sword.

A root lunged toward her.

Damon threw the weapon.

The blade fell between them.

The root changed direction.

Curved around the metal.

Xue Lian noticed too.

"It only seeks living matter."

"Maybe not."

"Do you have another theory?"

"I have several bad ones."

The tree pulsed.

Damon felt the vibration travel through the floor.

The roots retreated for a moment.

Then opened.

Not like whips.

Like hands.

Dozens of small white tips appeared, all aimed at him.

Xue Lian became serious.

"Do not let any of them touch your skin."

"You keep repeating that."

"Because one is enough."

"That would have been useful to know earlier."

"I DIDN’T KNOW!"

Damon looked at her.

The answer had come out irritated.

Actually irritated.

Not like a legendary figure trying to preserve her dignity.

Like someone who had just discovered centuries of knowledge were incomplete.

Strangely, he preferred this version.

The roots lunged.

Damon ran to the side.

Xue Lian tried to follow, but the root was still piercing her shoulder.

She grabbed the white structure and pulled.

Nothing.

The root seemed to have become part of her flesh.

Damon saw it.

"Don’t rip it out."

"I know."

"You were trying."

"I was testing."

"That is exactly the excuse I use."

"Now is not the time."

Another wave came.

Damon ducked, rolled across the floor, and felt two roots pass over his back.

A third tore through the side of his shirt without touching his skin.

He stopped.

The root remained caught in the fabric.

For less than a second.

Then it withdrew.

Damon looked at the torn shirt.

"It doesn’t count clothing."

"Obviously."

"It isn’t obvious."

He tore off his coat.

Xue Lian frowned.

"What are you doing?"

"Finding out what it considers me."

Damon threw the coat to the other side of the chamber.

No root reacted.

"Clothes don’t count."

He removed the band from his arm.

Threw it.

Nothing.

The sword lay on the floor.

No reaction.

Damon looked at Xue Lian.

"The authority recognizes identity."

"Yes."

"Then the tree is trying to identify where object ends and person begins."

"Probably."

"A criterion exists, then."

A root nearly hit his leg.

Damon moved away.

"We can discuss philosophy after you stop being hunted."

"This isn’t philosophy."

He ran toward the wall.

The root followed.

Damon stopped one step from the black stone and turned sharply.

The root struck the wall.

It did not pierce it.

It was compressed against it.

He used the sword to pin the structure against the stone.

The root began twisting.

Damon did not cut it.

He only maintained pressure.

"Does it feel that?"

Xue Lian watched.

"I don’t know."

"It doesn’t seem to like it."

"That doesn’t mean pain."

"But it means response."

Another root struck Damon in the shoulder.

It did not pierce.

The fabric of his shirt held for a fraction of a second.

It was enough for him to escape.

Damon released the pinned root.

"You said the tree always responded whenever your authority grew."

"Yes."

"How did it respond?"

"It produced new branches. New roots."

"Did it ever try to touch you?"

"No."

"Then why is it doing this to me?"

Xue Lian looked at the tree.

"Because you have no authority."

"Exactly."

"You’re empty."

"I don’t like that word applied to me."

"Damon."

"I’m thinking."

The tree pulsed again.

This time, the light inside the trunk spread through the roots.

Damon felt something.

Not energy entering him.

Recognition.

As though thousands of nonexistent eyes were examining every part of his body.

He stepped back.

"That was new."

"What?"

"It’s examining me."

Xue Lian tensed.

"Don’t let it finish."

"Any practical suggestions?"

"Get out of range."

Damon looked at the completely blocked door.

"Excellent."

Xue Lian tried to raise her authority again.

Nothing.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

Damon noticed.

"Stop."

She opened her eyes.

"What?"

"You’re trying to force it."

"We need to get out."

"You said your authority began exactly like this."

Xue Lian went still.

"Something wouldn’t obey. You pushed harder."

"Don’t compare this."

"I am comparing it."

A root lunged.

Damon dodged.

"The more you try to take control, the worse this may become."

"It isn’t even responding to me."

"Maybe exactly because it’s busy searching for someone else to respond to."

That made Xue Lian look again at the root piercing her shoulder.

She had not been attacked to receive authority.

She had been pierced because she got in the way.

The tree did not want Xue Lian.

It already knew her.

Damon was new.

"Continuity," he said.

Xue Lian followed his reasoning.

"The authority needs to continue."

"But not necessarily in a person."

"We already discussed that."

"We discussed it theoretically."

Damon pointed at the tree.

"Now we have the thing that handled the transfer before you."

Xue Lian went still.

The tree.

It was not merely a witness.

It was a mechanism.

Xue Lian’s mother had carried something.

The unknown man had used the tree to transfer it.

Maybe the authority had never belonged to either of them.

Maybe both had only been temporary vessels.

Damon smiled.

"You aren’t the original center."

Xue Lian did not answer.

"Neither was your mother."

"We don’t know that."

"This tree existed before you."

"Yes."

"Did it exist before her?"

"I don’t know."

"But it was used for the transfer."

"Yes."

"Then maybe this is where it’s supposed to be returned."

Xue Lian looked at the tree.

For the first time, not as part of herself.

As something separate.

The distinction seemed difficult.

"If I return my authority to this..."

"You don’t need to die."

"Or we release something much worse."

Damon nodded.

"Finally, a reasonable concern."

"That isn’t reassuring."

"It shouldn’t be."

The roots advanced again.

Damon did not run.

Xue Lian widened her eyes.

"Damon."

He raised the sword in front of his body.

The white tip of a root stopped a few centimeters from his arm.

"It wants continuity."

The root moved closer.

"Don’t do this."

"I want to find something out."

"You don’t know what happens when it touches you."

"Neither do you."

"EXACTLY."

Damon smiled.

"Then we’re learning."

The root touched the blade.

Slid along it.

Approached his hand.

Damon released the sword.

It fell.

The root continued.

He stepped back only enough to maintain distance.

"It is choosing my body because I am an empty living structure."

"Yes."

"But what happens if I show it a better continuity?"

Xue Lian went silent.

Damon pointed toward the blood on her shoulder.

The root piercing her was stained red.

"Your blood."

Xue Lian understood immediately.

"No."

"You are still the current center."

"That is exactly what we need to interrupt."

"I’m not returning it to you."

"Then?"

Damon pointed toward the trunk.

"To it."

Xue Lian looked at the tree.

"My blood won’t do that."

"Maybe not."

"Maybe?"

"Would you rather keep waiting for it to turn me into the next world-scale problem?"

She closed her mouth.

Damon tore off a piece of his own shirt.

"Press this against your shoulder."

"I can—"

"Without authority."

Xue Lian looked at him.

Damon raised an eyebrow.

"Is it strange when someone says that to you?"

She took the cloth.

"A little."

Damon approached the root piercing her shoulder.

"When I pull, keep pressure on it."

"It’s stuck."

"I’m not pulling it out."

He examined where the root entered.

No barbs.

No branches.

It was smooth.

The structure simply passed through the flesh.

Damon placed the sword close to Xue Lian’s body.

She became serious.

"You said you couldn’t cut it."

"I can’t cut the root."

"Then?"

"I can cut you."

She blinked.

Damon cut through the sleeve and opened the fabric around the wound.

"You have problems."

"I’ve heard that."

Now he could see more clearly.

The root pierced through the shoulder and emerged from behind.

Blood ran along the white surface.

But it was not being absorbed.

That caught his attention.

"It isn’t drinking."

"It isn’t an ordinary plant."

"Neither am I."

Damon ran two fingers through Xue Lian’s blood.

The entire tree reacted.

The roots chasing Damon stopped.

All of them.

Xue Lian went still.

So did Damon.

"Interesting."

"Don’t do anything."

"Now I’m definitely going to do something."

"Damon."

He spread the blood along the side of the sword.

No reaction.

Then touched the floor.

The roots moved.

Not toward him.

Toward the blood.

Xue Lian stopped breathing.

Damon smiled.

"Identity."

The white tips surrounded the small red stain.

They did not touch it immediately.

They examined it.

Then the light in the trunk pulsed.

Xue Lian felt it.

Damon saw it on her face.

"What happened?"

"It recognized me."

"Your blood."

"No."

Xue Lian looked at the tree.

"My continuity."

Damon became serious.

The root piercing her shoulder began withdrawing on its own.

Xue Lian pressed the cloth against the wound as soon as she was free.

All the other roots abandoned Damon.

Returned to the tree.

The exit remained blocked.

But no one was trying to pierce him anymore.

Damon exhaled.

"That worked better than expected."

"Don’t celebrate."

"I wasn’t."

"You were smiling."

"That’s different."

The tree pulsed.

The blood on the floor disappeared.

It did not evaporate.

It was absorbed into the stone.

The fissure beneath the tree began to glow.

Xue Lian looked down.

"Damon."

"I saw it."

The roots withdrew completely.

The door was clear.

But the tree did not return to its previous state.

The trunk began to open.

The white fissure slowly widened until it revealed a dark space within the wood.

Something was there.

Not light.

An object.

Damon stepped closer.

Xue Lian grabbed his arm.

"Now you don’t touch."

"Fair."

The opening widened.

Inside the trunk was a small sphere.

Black.

With a single white line running through the center.

Xue Lian went pale.

Damon noticed.

"You know it."

She took a moment to answer.

"Not personally."

"What does that mean?"

"I’ve seen that symbol before."

"Where?"

Xue Lian did not take her eyes off the sphere.

"In the earliest memories my master erased."

Damon went silent.

"You remember erased memories?"

"No."

"Then how do you know?"

"Because I found references I left for myself before I forgot."

Damon looked at the sphere.

"You left messages for yourself."

"Yes."

"Smart."

"It wasn’t enough."

"It usually isn’t."

Xue Lian took a deep breath.

"I called it the Seed."

"Original?"

"Maybe."

"Of your authority?"

She finally looked at Damon.

"No."

The tree pulsed.

The black sphere moved for the first time.

A single word appeared inside both of their minds.

It was not a male voice.

Nor a female one.

It was an intention transformed into meaning.

Return.

Damon stared at the sphere.

Then looked at Xue Lian.

"Good."

She looked alarmed.

"How is that good?"

Damon pointed toward the Seed.

"You spent centuries saying there was nowhere to return it."

The sphere pulsed again.

The entire tree responded.

Damon smiled.

"We just found the address."

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