Chapter 93: One More Strike

Chapter 93: One More Strike

"Sky!"

He looked at her. Vesper’s breathing was heavy, her shattered shoulder guard shedding brilliant flakes of golden mana that dissolved into the freezing air before hitting the stone floor. Yet, despite the damage to her armor, her posture remained an unyielding line of absolute defiance.

"Get inside."

Vesper’s eyes narrowed. She didn’t look back at him, her attention locked entirely on the writhing mass of white timber that was preparing for another coordinated thrust.

"Are you sure?"

"No."

Sky raised his Blood Blade. The crimson steel vibrated violently, responding to the chaotic surge of adrenaline and raw willpower pumping through his veins.

"But it’s our best option."

Chloe immediately understood. The tactical engineer adjusted the calibration settings on her wrist console, her eyes scanning the fluctuating energy signatures within the colossal trunk.

"Your Soul Clone."

Sky nodded. His expression was grim, his jaw set in a hard line as he prepared his mind for the inevitable spiritual agony that was about to follow.

"If I can reach the core again, I can destroy it from inside."

Vesper stepped forward. She shifted her stance, placing herself directly between Sky and the encroaching wall of razor-sharp roots.

"Then I’ll keep the roots away from you." Chloe raised her Forge Visor. The reinforced glass slid up with a sharp, pneumatic click, revealing her determined eyes as she prepared to commit all of her suit’s remaining processing power to tracking the internal target.

"And I’ll guide you."

Sky looked between them. For the first time since entering the labyrinth, the three of them moved as one. The hesitant distrust and calculated boundaries that had defined their temporary alliance melted away, replaced by the fluid synchronization of a true combat unit.

Vesper charged.

Her Holy Scepter Blade erupted with radiant energy. She didn’t wait for the tree to strike first; she launched herself into the thick of the approaching timber, a blazing comet of righteous light.

BOOM!

The roots recoiled. The intense heat and purifying properties of her holy aura scorched the pale bark, sending a shower of burning splinters into the air as she cleaved through the front line of defense.

Sky’s Soul Clone emerged from his body. The shadowy silhouette materialized in a plume of dark, smoke-like ether, its form denser and more focused than it had ever been before.

It immediately phased into the tree. Bypassing the outer layer of shattered wood, the clone plunged directly into the thick, suffocating density of the internal fibers.

Chloe’s holographic map appeared before him. The bright blue wireframe grid projected directly into his shared consciousness, slicing through the mental static thrown off by the entity.

"Straight ahead!"

The clone moved. It tore through the dense pulp of the trunk, navigating the narrow pathways between the trapped fragments of screaming souls.

"Ten meters!"

Sky pushed forward. The spiritual pressure inside the wood was immense, a heavy, grinding force that felt like trying to swim through wet cement.

"Five!"

The tree reacted. It realized that the true threat wasn’t the golden warrior outside, but the dark parasite burrowing deep into its vital systems.

Every root in the chamber suddenly turned toward him. The lesser branches and underground tendrils abandoned their assault on Vesper and Chloe, whipping around to focus entirely on the spot where Sky’s physical body stood motionless.

Vesper roared.

"Not him!"

She slammed her blade into the ground. She didn’t just strike the stone; she drove the point of her weapon deep into the bedrock, channeling every remaining drop of her holy mana into a singular, desperate defensive technique.

[ACTIVE ATTRIBUTE: HOLY PRAYER]

A massive golden aura exploded outward. The radiant runes spread across the floorboards in a wide, interlocking circle of sacred geometry, filling the chamber with a brilliant, blinding light.

The roots entering the circle were instantly scorched. The moment the pale wood crossed the golden boundary, it burst into flames, the purifying energy dismantling the cellular structure of the roots before they could pierce Sky’s defenseless frame.

Chloe continued guiding Sky. Her fingers flew across her console, keeping the telemetry lock active despite the massive electromagnetic interference caused by Vesper’s spell.

"Three meters!"

The black core appeared. The smooth, obsidian orb loomed ahead of the clone, its central horizontal slit peeling back to expose the shifting, tormented mass of fused faces beneath.

The face inside it opened its mouth. A yawning chasm of absolute darkness split the center of the collective features, revealing an empty, bottomless throat.

A silent scream erupted. It wasn’t an acoustic sound, but a concussive blast of raw psychic agony that rippled through the internal chambers of the tree, hitting Sky’s clone with the force of a tidal wave.

Sky’s Soul Clone began breaking apart. The shadowy edges of the copy fractured, dissolving into loose wisps of dark ether as the psychic blast tore at its structural integrity.

His vision blurred. Back in the chamber, Sky’s physical body staggered, blood pouring from his nose and ears as his brain struggled to process the immense metaphysical trauma.

Pain exploded through his chest. It felt as if his own soul core were being subjected to a hydraulic press, the delicate spiritual arrays cracking under the strain.

Sky gritted his teeth. He ignored the flashing crimson warning in the corner of his vision, forcing his fingers to tighten around the phantom hilt of his weapon.

"Not enough."

He forced the Soul Clone forward. He poured every ounce of his remaining willpower into the projection, patching the fracturing edges of the clone with the raw desperation of survival.

[SOUL INTEGRITY: 48%]

The black core began pulling harder. The leathery eye wide open, it exerted a massive gravitational pull, trying to drag the clone into its central mass to be digested and added to the collective.

[SOUL INTEGRITY: 35%]

Sky could feel his connection weakening. The mental link that allowed him to command the clone was stretching thin, fraying like a rope under a massive weight.

If it reached zero... He didn’t know what would happen. He didn’t know if his consciousness would be permanently trapped inside the tree, or if his physical mind would simply collapse into a vegetative state.

But he wasn’t willing to find out.

"COME ON!"

The Soul Clone plunged forward. Defying the crushing pressure, the dark silhouette threw itself across the final remaining distance, bridging the gap between itself and the core.

Darkness wrapped around the core. The smoky ether of the clone lashed out like tendrils, anchoring themselves to the smooth, black surface of the orb.

The countless faces inside suddenly screamed. The jagged, mismatched teeth gnashed in fury as the dark energy began to constrict around their prison. Sky saw flashes of memories. The moment his energy fused with the core, the stolen lives inside flooded his mind, a chaotic torrent of foreign thoughts and experiences bleeding into his consciousness.

People running. Through burning villages and darkened dungeon corridors, fleeing from monsters they couldn’t defeat. People fighting. Screaming battle cries that were cut short by the sudden, silent strike of a pale root from the shadows. People begging. Falling to their knees in the dim light of the grove, crying out to gods that wouldn’t answer them.

People dying. Their eyes going dark as their life force was ripped from their chests and dragged into the roots.

Then— He saw himself. A small child standing alone beneath the rain. The world around him was gray, the cold water splashing against his face as he looked out into an empty, uncaring void.

Sky froze. The sudden shift in perspective threw him off balance, the familiar, buried memory striking a chord deep within his chest.

The core was showing him his own memory. It was digging into his mind, searching for a weakness, a fragment of regret or sorrow it could exploit to break his concentration.

It was trying to manipulate him. It wanted him to hesitate, to let his guard down for just a single fraction of a second so it could snap the remaining threads of his soul.

Sky’s eyes hardened. The momentary shock evaporated, replaced by a cold, unyielding clarity that burned hotter than Vesper’s holy flames.

"You’ve got the wrong person."

He raised his Blood Blade. The weapon appeared inside the Soul Clone’s hands. The phantom manifestation of the sword glowed with a dark, blood-red intensity, drawing directly from the raw anger of his soul.

The black core trembled. The fused faces within widened their mismatched eyes in sudden, visceral panic as they realized their illusion had failed to break his resolve.

Sky swung.

SLASH!

A crack appeared across the core. The crimson edge bit deep into the smooth, obsidian surface, tearing through the leathery eyelid and splitting the mass down the middle.

The entire chamber went silent. The violent thrashing of the roots stopped instantly, freezing mid-air like puppets whose strings had been suddenly cut.

Vesper stopped. Her Holy Scepter Blade remained driven into the ground, her golden aura flickering weakly as she looked up toward the central trunk.

Chloe froze. Her tactical display ceased its rapid calculations, the error messages replacing themselves with a single, massive structural failure warning. Sky stared at the damage. The crack in the black core was leaking a thick, dark smoke, but the sphere was still holding together, its internal energy rapidly trying to seal the breach.

"One more."

The face inside the core screamed.