“Oh, Soun tree, obey my order, become a symbol of imprisonment, not a symbol of protection, become a symbol of weakening and not a symbol of strengthening. I offer this Dimsha to aid you in exerting your full power. Obey!”

The tree shifted its color to pink and gave an ominous glow. All the energy I had gotten from the tree disappeared. The tree grew and roots spread out over the ground. 7 enormous roots dug into the ground and tunnelled to who knows where. A pink energy wave burst out and a strange barrier appeared, the size of the plateau. It matched the size of the area she had marked with her [Light Spears].

I finally reached her and attempted to slap her with my hat but she countered and slapped me back. It hurt. I tried my best to stay conscious. The tree briefly shifted back to purple and sent out a purple energy wave that dispelled the pink barrier and gave me some broccoli energy.

“Ugh, obnoxious tree! Why does everything need to defy me?!” She put her hand back on the tree. “Obe...” A [Shadow Crane] abducted her and flew skyward. I started attacking too while clutching my side. The tree seemed to shift from pink to purple and to pink again.

“The tree is fighting back!” Paula sent more [Shadow Cranes] after Biian who had destroyed the other [Shadow Crane]. I used a [Water Snake] and sent it to Biian who tried to get back to the tree.

“Paul, Paula! We need to protect the tree!”

“Braids”

Paula and I, who had braids in our hair turned into braids. Paul had to save Paula again and the [Water Snake] made it back in time to block the attack for me. It did get obliterated in the process. We had turned back to normal but Biian had already reached the tree.

“Obey! Become these ground crawlers' eternal prison!” The tree tried to resist but it completely turned pink. It formed large pink spears of condensed energy and started shooting them at us. They were extremely fast. Paul picked up Paula and ran away.

I used [Enlarge] on my hat and hid behind it. I should have thought of this earlier.

“Hmm, it does need an adequate power source though…” Bian looked over at me. Or more specifically my hat.

“No!”

She teleported to me, punched me to the floor, and grabbed me by my hair.

“How about this? Your excellence will become your prison.” She tried to rip my hat out of my hands but the magic which prevents our hats from getting stolen kicked in. It did considerable damage because I still possess some broccoli energy but it got exhausted quite quickly and she just powered through it and managed to rip my hat out of my hands.

“Noo! Not my hat! It’s all I have!” I tried to fight back but she punched me in my stomach and dragged me by my hair to the tree. She blocked any magic spell I flung at her. Some made it through but I didn’t do as much damage as I did when I had the broccoli energy.

“Consider yourselves lucky. Killing you would take a while. Time, I don’t have. So how about this? Rejoice since you have bested me. But this comes with a heavy price. This will be the last victory you will ever be able to enjoy.”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“Let me go!” I used [Tsunami] but Biian hit me with a [Laser]. It killed me but since I was still close to my hat, I got a burst of mana and instantly revived.

“How obnoxious, but this proves I was correct. I am always correct, extinguishing you will take too much time.” She slammed me into the ground and pushed my hat into the tree.

“Accept this source of mana” Biian commanded the tree and it started to glow.

“Nooo!” Tears fell from my cheek as a part of me got pushed and sealed away into the pink tree. I saw the words ‘Boshi’ before the blood disintegrated off my hat and disappeared into the tree. I immediately lost connection with my hat and my mana plummeted.

“Give it back!” I crawled over the ground toward the tree. Biian smiled and dropped her foot on my head.

“Yes! That’s a look that suits you more! Crawling over the ground and crying, this pleases me.” I didn’t care. I just wanted my hat back. I reached the tree and pounded on it.

“Give it back! Give it back!”

“Aya!” Paula attempted another [Dark Past] but a beam of light pierced her torso.

“And for you. How about you lose your hat just like this bitch?” Biian pulled on the light that had pierced Paula and yanked Paula to her. She also tried to steal Paula’s hat which was met with resistance but eventually gave in. Paula screamed and lost consciousness.

Biian threw the hat into one of the roots of the tree. The root absorbed the hat and it grew further. Paul ran at her and checked on her. I had given up on pounding on the tree and was just crying. Nothing in my life had ever worked out. My peers hated me, the Misha responsible for our race’s progress hated me. Even gods hate me. Why was I ever born? I made an [Azure Flower]. Took a petal and tried to take my life.

The azure petal got shot out of my hand with a small [Laser].

“Oh, you don’t get the relief of death. But thank you for the reminder.” She shot a strange skill through my torso. Paul and Paula also got hit. She yanked on it and we got pulled toward her. The light pulsed and we got hit by a feeling similar to getting hit by lightning magic.

“Aaah!”

“You are hereby unable to take your life. You will spend an eternity in this prison. Your abilities will be sealed. You will spend your life as those lowly humans. You will stay here until you rot! Yes! This is better than killing you! I am such an amazing deity!”

I had lost all the will to fight. She kicked me around but not enough for my life to be in danger. I was similar to a human now. Everything that made me Ayaru Mistflower had been taken away, my research, my hat, my magic, my freedom. I can’t even die. More tears flowed out. This must be a dream, right? I will wake up from this nightmare any moment. Any moment… I slapped myself and pulled on my hair trying to wake up. It started to dawn on me that this is reality. This is my life. Can this even be called a life? It was full of misery. It had some bright points but was this a life worth living?

“Please! Don’t do this!”

“Too late bitch, you shouldn’t have pissed me off. Enjoy your life as an insignificant ground crawler. I hope your life will be miserable! Hahaha! I feel way better now!”

I looked over at Paula who was unconscious and Paul who was shielding Paula with his body and glaring at Biian.

“At least let them off! They have nothing to do with this! They wer… I forced them! They are here against their will!”

“Ayaru! Please…” Paul shook his head.

“Nice try bitch. My intelligence is unparalleled. You won't fool me this easily. But I love the state you are in now." She walked over to me and pulled me up by my hair.

“How about this? I will hunt down all your relatives and kill them off. A special gift from me to you. She threw me into the tree and walked off. “Well, I will have to depart. Have fun. Oh, wait! You won’t hahaha!”

Biian turned into a beam of light and shot to the sky. It was just us 3 left on a wasteland afflicted by light and ice. Ice? What is ice doing here? It was slowly absorbing the light. Somehow the word ‘Boshi’ came up in my mind.

Is this Boshi? It started to rain. It turned our miserable state even more miserable but this Boshi ice fed on the rain and sped up and eliminated all the light corruption and disappeared. Now the threat of our mana getting corrupted and turning into light-afflicted zombies was gone.

“Thank you Boshi ice.” The rain washed over us. Sleep also washed over me as I was mentally, magically, and physically tired. I tried to muster up some mana to create a shelter but my focus slipped as I kept slipping out of consciousness.