Chapter 192: The Battle Begins 5: Glint Of Hope

Morbius screamed through closed lips, a sound that manifested as a low guttural gurgle that came from deep within his chest. As a Jacob had commanded him not to speak, his mouth was permanently sealed until commanded otherwise.

The battle raged on, most of them did not even notice what Seraphina had just done, as they were all occupied with a horde of demons in front of them.

Seraphina lay at the edge of the garden, up against a cracked wall, she struggled to breathe as the light in her eyes was fading. The sap that be as infused with the Demon King’s essence was meant to corrupt the World Tree and cause it to be controlled by the Demon King, in a bid to harness its power and use it to free himself from the prison world called Helmand.

Xenia, however. Noticed the sacrifice that Seraphina had done and rushed to her side as quickly as she could. The flying demon called Skaltha shook its head in disappointment and appeared to retreat to the portal which it came through, only to be burned mid-way by Raijin. The demon screamed as it’s entire body was lit up in flames, it wings lost power immediately as it crashed onto the earth, splattering into smaller pieces of pure ash and bones.

"Seraphina! Are you okay?" Xenia reached the Phoenix quickly and began to infuse her body with Qi, attempting to heal her. "Don’t worry, you’ll be fine... aagh!"

Xenia yelped, she felt a resistance that was far greater than what she could handle as she refrained from using her Qi any further, she had began to panic as Seraphina’s appearance was changing, her once golden and purple scales were now turning red, and black. Her eyes turned pure red as the Phoenix began to hyperventilate, it seemed as though her body was barely able to contain the immense power that was now coursing through her veins.

"Seraphina! Seraphina!" Xenia called out to the woman, but it was of no use as she had already been corrupted by the Demon King’s energy.

Xenia didn’t relent, she kept on screaming her name, hoping to draw the strength of the woman out and have her fight against the corruption. "Seraphina... Sera—"

The phoenix’s hand shot upwards in a very quick motion and grabbed Xenia by the throat, lifting her up into the air as Seraphina—or what used to be her—stood up slowly, her entire body burning with rage and a sinister aura swirling around her.

Xenia had dropped her sword on the ground so as to be of assistance to Seraphina, and now she was too far away to even reach it. She struggled to breather and her face turned red slowly, her energy was barely enough to overpower this death grip that the body of Seraphina had her in.

"No, no—Not Seraphina." The body of Seraphina smiled sinisterly as it tossed Xenia hard against the wall in one quick motion, causing the wall to almost break down completely.

"Gahh!" Xenia screamed in pain as her back crashed into the wall. But Seraphina’s corrupted body was not done, it grabbed Xenia by the neck again and slammed her into the wall again, causing the wall to break down into rubble this time.

Xenia was bleeding from her head now, a wave of blood cascaded downwards on her face, almost entering her eyes as she barely managed to keep her eyes open.

"What a weak body." Seraphina had clearly been corrupted by the Demon King’s essence, which had caused a part of him to inhabit her body and change it.

The Demon King looked across the battlefield and saw Morbius kneeling helplessly on the ground; unable to open his mouth as he cut each hand one after the other.

"Morbius, what a useless creature, disgusting little cretin, you never fail to disappoint me with your utter weakness." The Demon King nearly spat on the floor as he moved his gaze from Morbius to the tree.

"This body may be weak, but it will serve, all I have to do it touch the tree and fill it with my power." His lips curved into a sinister smile.

The second he took one step forward, a very strong fist slammed against his jaw, sending him flying meters away from the tree.

BOOM!

The body of Seraphina slammed into an even distant wall as the Demon King grunted loudly, unamused that someone had sent him painfully flying so far away.

It was Light, who had seen Xenia in trouble and come to her rescue as quickly as he possibly could.

"How dare you lay your hands on her!" Light yelled, his eyes were flowing completely white as the air around him crackled. This was the first time he was sent in a rage over something that he had seen happen to someone he cared about.

He rushed over to Xenia’s side. "Xenia! Xenia! Are you okay.... Xenia can you hear me." Light screamed at her by the woman had already passed out due to the bleeding.

"I’m gonna fucking kill you!" Light said to Seraphina’s body as he got back up.

"Another ant in my way, this is starting to get even more interesting." Said the Demon King as he stood up, wiping a smudge of blood from his mouth.

Light gripped his blade tighter, flickers of dark and light crackling around it. The rest of the elders had heard the noise, but they still had to deal with the demons as most of them still did not know where the sap was. They could not allow the Morbius’ cronies to reach the tree at any cost.

"Rhaenys! Attend to Xenia!" Alaric yelled as he blocked her another attack from Destro, causing one of his knees to buckle.

The large unappealing demon was still unaffected by his attacks and had fought ferociously to protect its core, not allowing Alaric touch it at all.

Morbius, seeing what had happened, smiled with his eyes, as his eyes began to water, he could see a small glint of hope, even though they were not able to affect the tree directly, the Demon King was here now, and no one could stop him.