As the battle between the two beings at the center escalated, the forces facing the surrounding Niskari were starting to sense a change.

“Ogmai, do you feel it?”

With his sensitivity to the magical forces being above most fae, Amver was the first to sense it.

Ogmai scrunched his brows to determine what Amver meant, but it didn’t take him long to detect it after.

“The mana in the air seems to be returning. Faint, but indeed returning. This could mean one thing – the influence of the Nachtnamari is somehow weakening.”

Amver nodded in response. It was indeed as Ogmai deduced. Normally, the mana in the environment wouldn’t replenish in the presence of the Niskari due to their nature, but they could faintly sense its presence. This was proof enough that their nemesis’ power was somehow weakening.

“All we need is a little more push, but I don’t know how much further the remaining fae can go. The Felvalim are too few and even the beasts of Noctus are waning in strength.”

While their enemies were weakening, so too were their forces. Even after having fought valiantly, their enemies’ numbers were still simply too great. Their enemies didn’t tire, so it was only a matter of time before their endurance gave way.

Just as their thoughts were turning grim, several shining beacons of mana tore across the battlefield bringing swathes of Niskari to their end.

Seeing the scene before them, relief washed over Amver and Ogmai. Their reinforcements have finally arrived.

A surging body of water in the form of a great serpent tore across the Niskari like a tidal wave. Alongside it, several twisters scattered about and shredded everything in their path. Lastly, numerous spear-like brambles and thorny vines ripped and tore through their enemies like living blades.

Among the cataclysmic forces of nature, a lone green figure that appeared to be a cross between animal and man had passed through nimbly and unscathed to arrive before the two relieved fae.

“Whinereos, you and our sisters couldn’t have come at a better time…,” sighed Ogmai.

While scanning around, the wildling nodded towards them, “Brothers, I’m glad you were able to pull through. Not only that, but it seems you were able to achieve far better results than we could’ve hoped for.”

Amver shook his head with a sigh as he turned towards the primatus.

“If only that were truly the case. The Red King had proved far more prepared than we could’ve imagined. If not for the assistance of these beasts, we wouldn’t have lasted for long.”

Whinereos was surprised when he heard this. He sensed the presence of the primatus long before they entered the fray, but he never thought they would have made a difference due to the nature of their enemy. Yet, somehow Amver claims they served a pivotal role.

“It is true, brother. The Red King had managed to summon one of its Primal Evils – the one we call a Hollow Lord and what the Felvalim call a Fetid Aberration.”

Shock could be seen strewn across Whinereos’ face after hearing Ogmai’s affirmation. A Hollow Lord! The fae called them as such since they commanded the Nachtnamari second only to the Red King, but possessed no real sentience. The Nachnamari as a whole were the antithesis to the fae, but nothing embodied this nature more than the Hollow Lords.

Without the direct protection of Syldrasil, any fae that had survived and still standing here alive and well was already a miracle in of itself. Just how were his brothers able to withstand such a calamity on their own? If this information had shocked him before, the next news he heard had completely shaken him.

“Even with the Magister’s help, we were at a loss until the primatus arrived. At first, we only thought they’d serve as a distraction while our forces retreated. We hardened ourselves to prepare for a massive boost to our enemies’ numbers, but shockingly the beasts were somehow immune to the [corrosion].”

Whinereos was flabbergasted. Immune to the Nachnamari’s [corrosion]? What living creature on this world could possibly possess such an immunity? Not even the very mana itself is immune and yet an entire army of such creatures were?

To anyone just hearing this would simply think it was utterly ludicrous, and yet the wildling was plainly able to see the truth around them. He didn’t notice it before, but he was finally able to see that the primatus were indeed not being corroded.

Being stunned speechless, Whinereos was finally able to shake off his daze as soon as he heard a familiar voice join their conversation.

“Amazing! To think these beasts were immune to the [corrosion] all this time! I didn’t think it’d be possible. We should’ve recruited them sooner!”

As though the wind carried the voice all around them, the very air soon churned and coalesced into a wispy feminine silhouette appearing as though it were made of mist.

“Fierris, as we know from our sources, these beasts weren’t immune from the beginning. However, it seems as though they’re now led by a new Tyrant, although… this one was strange. Not only was it not a primatus, but the creature itself seemed to give off a strange… presence. The best I could describe it was that I felt the mana-presence of multiple creatures coming from one source.”

The vague feminine-shaped fog quivered slightly. “Are you saying that this… new Tyrant is the source of their immunity?”

Amver nodded, “We believe so. Otherwise, I don’t see how it’s possible given what we know of the Nachtnamari.”

Other than Ogmai, the other two were simply speechless.

“Should you all be having such a casual discussion at this time?”

A gentle yet stern voice called out to the four Fae Lords as their remaining two fellow lords approached.

“While it’s a great boon that we’ve received miraculous support, we must not squander this chance to fully seal the Red King. The vessel is ready and needs only an opportunity to fulfill its purpose,” said the voice coming from a watery serpent that soon transformed into a beautiful woman as though made of fluid crystal.

Nestled elegantly on vines beside the crystalline lady, a woman of verdant green moved alongside her being cradled by her spindly throne.

She then pointed towards the center of the battlefield, “I could sense my daughter over in that direction. Not only her, but I’m feeling the radiance of many a great source of power. However, there is also what feels to be a massive void that seems to want to draw in all unto itself. I could feel myself being pulled in, so I had to cut off my senses from there.”

The others nodded as they prepared to move, but suddenly all the Niskari around them began to shudder violently and cry out in ghastly wails all around them.

“What is happening?”

As if to answer their question, gradually each of the red monstrosities began to shrivel up and erupt into concentrated [Red Mist]. The eruption was so sudden, some who were caught simply disintegrated into dust.

“Keep away from them and watch all around you! They’re turning into living bombs!”

Warned one of the expedition fighters just as he hopped back to avoid a sudden burst of the mist.

Fortunately, the fight hadn’t devolved into a complete free-for-all as the Niskari didn’t charge out and remained in their defensive line. The ones maintaining the pathway for the leaders of the expedition aren’t as fortunate however.

They were deep within the enemy defensive line trying to secure the path, but that meant they had the highest chance of exposure to the concentrated [Red Mist] since the Niskari were still fighting to close the break in their formation.

The Fae Lords acted fast and started to create multiple layers of elemental barriers to stave off the mist as they too were within the enemy lines, but that meant they wouldn’t be able to bring the sealing vessel to the Red King.

“Whinereos, go! Only you can bring the vessel now! We’ll hold off the mist for as long as we can, so you must seal the Red King!”

The others collectively agreed as they concentrated all their powers to stave off the mist. Whinereos could only grit his teeth in acknowledgement as he dashed off towards the heart of the disaster.

– - –

The changeling’s body tingled all over.

The mechanical part of its mind suppressed most of its sensations, but it didn’t completely deny the main ego’s feelings of euphoria. This was a new sensation it needed to record for analysis, hence it restrained it only to the point it wouldn’t lose control.

The surge of mana throughout its body was an incredible sensation. Fatigue and heaviness were somehow suppressed, and a surge of vital enhancements coursed throughout its limbs. Unfortunately, the amount of dopamine produced by this surge can give one the impression that their power was greater than what one truly possessed, hence the emotional restraints. This was what its rational mind analyzed before wrestling some control from the main ego.

It couldn’t deny, however, that the mana coursing through its body gave it an incredible boost in performance. There is only one problem: for some reason, the coursing mana has forced the changeling into a singular form.

Due to its inability to control the mana completely, the mana flowed to predisposed pathways that followed its base structure at the time. In other words, whatever was its body when the mana flow was released, that was the structure the mana followed.

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Rigid due to a lack of control, it was forced to fight in one form with no way to alter itself since the mana acted like a skeleton that reinforced its form.

This state was completely antithetical to its nature, so despite the euphoria and surge of power, there was an intense sense of discomfort. Due to this, to the others watching their fight, its movements appeared… erratic.

“Hmm… while it made such a grand display earlier, its current movements appear to mimic those of a marionette.”

This was what Jortus concluded after discovering the changeling’s position from earlier. He was close to the mark since the changeling actually felt a sort of detachment whenever it tried to move. It was similar to how one would try to move an object through the use of a device instead of directly.

While it would take time to completely analyze and achieve full motor controls, the mechanical mind of the changeling had temporarily left full control to the main ego. The reason was because it believed in its perfect battle sense.

SHRIEK

The Niskari Lord leapt towards the changeling with a sudden swipe at its face from overhead, but the changeling easily avoided it by simply bending backwards in an unnatural manner.

While in its current angle with the red beast directly above it, it then awkwardly threw a kick that sprung at an arc from below towards the Niskari’s side.

Helpless in midair, the Niskari Lord was smacked away with the force of a cannon, but before it could even fly a few meters, the changeling had already followed up with a forward somersault that directly stomped onto the Niskari’s body from above with all the force of gravity and momentum on its side.

The result was the Niskari being forcefully buried several feet into the earth while the changeling leapt off with another flip and landed with its upper body tilting to one side.

The entire interaction spanned no more than but an instant. The changeling’s body may have strangely moved like a puppet, but it was still easily able to deftly deal with its opponent.

In terms of ability, the changeling didn’t actually possess an advantage in physical traits since both entities’ states were enhanced by their respective powers.

However, the outcome of the fight was mainly due to the Niskari Lord’s mind having mostly deteriorated. Whatever it did to bring itself to its current state, the changeling theorized it was a form of devolution that enhanced its main traits, but surrendered the capacity to make cognitive thoughts.

While its specialized traits were indeed much more hazardous to other entities, this wasn’t as effective against the changeling.

Despite its marionette-like state and though normally one main mind usually directs the body as a whole, each of its cells still possessed limited thought with the capacity and instinct to adapt and survive.

As it freed itself from its earthy prison, the Niskari Lord became frantic. No matter how quick or sudden its actions, the changeling kept avoiding them at a hair’s breadth. Glancing blows were useless since the changeling was capable of countering the effects of its [corrosion]. Much more so now that its mana state has been released.

With the data it has acquired, the changeling has hypothesized that the Niskari Lord couldn’t actually properly perform as an individual and thus needed the support of its minions, which virtually serve as detached extensions of itself.

It was similar to the changeling in that it worked with many as one, but unlike the changeling being multiple entities that shared one identity with multiple forms and fought as an individual, the Niskari Lord was its opposite in that it needed its external extensions of itself to properly function.

An army of one versus one with an army. But the one that needed its army currently didn’t have their support.

Perhaps stimulated by an instinctual desire to survive, the Niskari Lord began to wail in an eerie manner.

Its monotonous shrieks gradually formed a haunting rhythm that was soon followed-up by multiple wails from the distance. It seems that it was finally summoning its army.

Or so the changeling thought, but the night sky suddenly alighted with a muddy-red shade as the light of the stars were blotted out by a vibrant scarlet mist.

The mist and the current situation bore similarities to the earlier one where the creature was absorbing a massive red twister. It seems that it was finally pushed into absorbing its remaining forces unto itself.

The changeling chose to wait, since it would mean that it would finally be able to consume the red entity and all its extensions in all their entirety. Its mouth watered at the thought of the delicacy being prepared to perfection before it.

“Whinereos! You’ve arrived!”

The changeling’s attention was slightly pulled from its desired meal when it sensed the arrival of another strong being. It half-turned to see the newcomer and was a little surprised to see a humanoid that seemed to be an amalgamation of man and beast.

“Jortus, it’s good to see you and the others alive. How goes the battle? What’s currently happening?” the beast-like man asked as soon as he approached the old mage.

“Bolragmal has been pushed to a corner. With assistance, he was finally brought to a mindless state. He’s currently in the process of assimilating the remainder of his forces to consolidate what powers he has left.”

Whinereos nodded at Jortus’ response while keeping his eye on the Niskari. He then brought out a glowing golden spherical object.

“In that case, this is the perfect opportunity to finally seal the Red King for good. Before he can amass more power, I must risk entrapping him. We can then simply get rid of the remaining refuse afterwards.”

Jortus and the other expeditionary members agreed. The mysterious creature that fought the Niskari Lord while bringing an army to aid them had been a miracle, but now it was finally their turn to finish the job once and for all. Unfortunately, their savior didn’t agree with their thoughts.

“W-Why’s it turning against us?”

One of the expeditionary members asked when the changeling soon stood before Whinereos and the others with incredible bloodlust emanating from it. The intelligent eyes it used to possess had now turned black with an eerie red glow in the center.

As soon as the beastman pulled out the glowing sphere, the changeling’s hairs began to stand on end. It felt a sensation coming off from it that could be described as though it sought to entrap its entire being. While it wasn’t directed towards the changeling, it could determine that these beings intend to steal its prey. Above all else, this it could not allow.

“Jortus… what is this thing? I could feel a familiar malicious power from it. Why is it here?” said Whinereos as his eyes narrowed and slowly readied a staff.

“I…,“ Jortus gulped as he could feel the intense bloodlust, “this… was the beast that assisted us by facing Bolragmal single-handedly. It’s also the lord of the Primatus that somehow gave them the ability to resist the [corrosion].”

Whinereos snorted as he could directly sense the origins of the being before them, “You do realize what it means to be able to resist the [corrosion], Jortus? This beast… reeks of the Void!”

Jortus was speechless. He went over his thoughts along with the evidence before them and knew immediately that Whinereos wasn’t wrong. He also probably knew for a while and he wasn’t trying to deny it, but something in the old mage just wasn’t able to perceive the beast before them as an enemy. He knew that this was folly since there have been many accounts of such deceptive creatures, but something in the old man just told him it was different. The problem was that there just wasn’t any way to justify it. Hence, he kept silent.

Whinereos faced the changeling bravely while pointing his staff, “I don’t know how you managed to deceive these people with your lies but now that the truth of your nature is revealed, I won’t let you get in our way!”

The wildling charged forth readying to strike the changeling with his staff. However, before he could strike, a little green ball of fluff suddenly unfurled and stood in his way.

“Whu- What are you doing!? Keep away from that thing!” cried Whinereos as he leapt backwards to avoid hitting the small fae that suddenly stood between them.

He took another look and his eyes widened when he recognized the fae.

“Farora!"

He doesn't know why Neylune's daughter stood by the beast, but he firmly believed that he must save her.

"Get away from her, beast!”

He charged once again, but this time with more fervor, as though he didn’t care what befell him as long as he would arrive in time.

The changeling simply received the attack and blocked with its arm since it didn’t want the little green fae to be caught up in the attack. Surprisingly, the blow actually dealt some painful damage despite it being merely a large stick that was swung.

The attack itself didn’t really cause any actual damage, however, the logical part of its mind simply dismissed it while numbing the pain receptors. With its other free arm, it carried the little fae.

“L-Let go of her, monster!”

Seeing the changeling’s actions, the wildling attacked even more relentlessly than before.

However, with a simple twist and a shift here and there, the changeling was simply dodging while taking the blows with its arm; shielding its face by angling it differently with every attack.

It may seem like the changeling was treating it like a joke, but in truth its actions required precise calculations, consistent timing, and immense reflexes, and against something at the level of the being it was facing that possessed preternatural speeds while itself was using just one arm that couldn’t alter its form, the processing may prove to heat up even a lone supercomputer of the 21st century.

From the perspective of Whinereos, however, it was bordering impossibility. He was among the peak existences of the Wild Fae. Physical enhancement was his forte and his skills with the quarterstaff were gained through multiple Felvalim masters during his travels across centuries. Having the advantage of longevity, he had enough time to master the weapon’s arts and improve upon it on his own.

That was why it couldn’t be overstated how shocked he was when his pure arts alone couldn’t penetrate through changeling’s single arm defense.

Contrary to the wildling’s inner turmoil, the changeling paid no heed to this and gave half of its attention to its little companion. Despite the amount of bloodlust it was emitting, it had the mind to direct it away from the little fae and its allies.

Seeing its little companion express concern for the being it was facing, the changeling understood that it didn’t want them to fight. While it was upset, it understood that the being was related to its little green friend in some way.

It gave a thought and decided to simply take the item of imprisonment to decrease the factors that may make it want to eliminate the others should they steal its prey.

With its choice set, it put down the little fae and gestured it to stay away. Seeing this action stunned the wildling so much that he actually slowed down and stopped attacking entirely to process what just happened.

With its opponent somehow dumbstruck, the changeling saw this as an opportunity to strike the beastman with a heavy straight.

Caught off guard, Whinereos received the changeling’s fist straight to his face and was blown away by the attack.

The changeling heavily restrained most of the power from the blow, so the wildling was merely sent flying for a few meters.

Whinereos soon stood up while feeling his chin to assess the damage and took it that his foe was simply making fun of him since while the punch hurt, it didn’t really do any real damage.

His annoyance soon turned to distress when he realized that the vessel he kept by his side was now gone.

He looked back towards the changeling and found it possessing the vessel. This in itself was shocking since no void entity should be able to hold onto the vessel, but its next action drained him of all color.

It proceeded to give the vessel to the little fae.

“NO!”

While the vessel was an item that was turned into a spatial prison, the vessel itself was still made from the seed of a World Tree. The seed was already artificially enhanced through the energies of the World Vein, so while the seed was forcefully matured to be made into a prison, it still possessed its nature to bond to an inheritor of the Fae Cycles.

That was why only the Fae Lords were made to hold the vessel, since they already possessed a Seed of the World.

In other words, by receiving the Seed of Spring, the little green fae – a fae of Spring and a daughter of the current Lord of Spring – she had been chosen to become the Inheritor of Spring.

The inheritance process, however, means that the seed has bonded with its chosen inheritor and thus can no longer be used for any other purpose.

Seeing that the deed is done and that both the little fae and the beast appeared clueless, Whinereos could only crumple onto the floor in defeat. In his mind, he has failed not only his duty, but also failed the entirety of everyone who had made a sacrifice for the conversion of the vessel and to seal their enemy.

Seeing the beastman kneeling on the floor and mumbling to itself, the changeling simply thought that he gave up when he left the object in the care of the little fae. Though there was a strange light that flashed when its little companion received it, seeing as there was no visible damage or alteration, it deemed that it was pointless to think about since it sensed that the beastman and its little companion were emitting similar energies. Knowing this, it didn’t think the item would harm them since it appeared harmless while in the beastman’s possession.

It deduced that the item was only harmful to beings other than them since it could feel its own energy being sucked into the object before it passed it on to the little one.

Now that the matter was dealt with, it finally turned its attention to its true foe.

All of the corrosive energies have been collected and the red entity was finally going to change into its final manifestation.

The stage is set, it can now fully enjoy its complete meal.

***