SCC Chapter 37 Culmination(7)

  The transparent tubes that entered through her shoulders became less transparent as color invaded them, a dark emerald hue that brought a certain joy to Reed. That meant that his method was working. But he didn't let that go to his head. There were thousands of things that could cause the process to fail, with some possibilities even outside his imagination.

  The trembling came to a stop a few minutes later, when the color had spread along every inch of the transparent tubes, eventually breaking them off from the ceiling. Reed poked a hole in the cylinder, close to where it met the fleshy roots, causing the liquid within to start draining out, before he shattered the cylinder, teleported right by Lily's side, and then once again to another spot with her, laying down her unconscious form, while at the same time taking stock of her state.

  The wound in her navel had closed, with her core going back into its metaphysical state. It seems like the living organisms that had been the tubes, had somehow had a way to cause its manifestation onto the physical plane.

  Her state wasn't optimistic from what he could glean. She had slipped into an unconscious state, and from what he could sense, there appeared to be many things wrong with her.

  (Let me take a look at her.) Nikolai crouched beside him, with blue light sparking upon his fingers.

  As he touched her body, the small Sparks of lightning traveled inwards, with a frown appearing upon his face afterwards, making Reed's heart skip a beat.

  (Her energy vessels have been extensively damaged. And since they are superimposed along the blood vessels, her blood flow is also somewhat chaotic. Her core has become dormant, and for some reason, I can feel fragments of energy, one akin to the nascent soul itself, scattered across her entire body.)

  (Nascent soul fragments? Are they foreign?) Livia beat Reed to the punch.

  (No... They are wholly hers. It's very strange. She is clearly a Core Formation cultivator. Why would she have nascent soul fragments without going through a Tribulation?) wondered Nikolai.

  (It might mean that the nascent soul is a true soul. And if it's scattered...) Reed turned pale even as he explained. Resources related to the divine soul didn't exist anywhere on the planet! That was the whole reason everyone had banded together years before the Federation to eradicate all evil cultivators, as they had used souls to cultivate. Every evil cultivator only became one upon reaching the Nascent Soul stage. There was no greater temptation than learning that absorbing other people's souls could let you advance faster within the Nascent Soul stage. Below that stage, sensing someone else's soul was impossible.

  (Reed. Don't even think of using those evil methods!) warned Nikolai.

  Reed's hands trembled as rage took over his body. Zeus had done this! All the others they had met had clearly not been as this overdrawn as her. That only meant that what had been a lengthy process for the others had been compressed into this small time frame. How much pain had she endured? How had she managed to hold on for this long? Had it been because of that promise?

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  Reed released the mental constraints that had been holding him back, with his spiritual energy blasting out of his body and suit to take on a form akin to emerald flames burning around him. They weren't hot, but filled with life and the potential for growth.

  "Reed! You need to calm down!" shouted Nikolai, this time without the transmission.

  "I have always been calm, not taking any drastic actions until now. But that time has passed, Nikolai. How long are we going to be cautious about everything? They have had the initiative in everything while we simply followed their backs. I need to see Zeus dead before I can settle my wrath and think about other things." Reed surprised himself when his voice came out calmly as he spoke to Nikolai.

  The aura round him, which had been flaring like a flame, started morphing, with protrusions rising out of it and starting to solidify. He would have loved to use his symbiote, but right now it was the only thing stabilizing Lily's condition, leaving him with no choice but to use only his spiritual energy reserves to mimic physical plant matter.

  The protrusions started morphing, becoming certain plants with teeth like protrusions, the fly traps, before speeding towards the far wall, where they burst through it, exposing the room to outer space, which in turn sucked out all the air within the room. And through that hole, there was the darkness. An unnatural darkness unlike the void. They had finally managed to make it to the inner side of the ring, where the dark sphere was looming.

  (Take care of her.)

  With that instruction, Reed started floating out into space, priming himself for the battle and destruction that was to come. It had been a long time since he last faced battle, but the wrath within him was preventing fear and hesitation from manifesting. It was fuelling his mind, making him feel as if endless energy was coursing through his veins, making him feel as if anything that hit in his way could be broken, killed or destroyed. This time, logic was pushed to a corner, with impulsiveness taking centre stage.

  Around him, the aura spread, filling the entire room behind him, creating a domain with visual illusions of ever-growing trees, vines and all manner of bizarre plant life, before massive logs of wood manifested, sharpening themselves. He willed the spiritual energy within his domain to do his bidding, which was infiltrating the ten massive logs. The only sign that they had become saturated with spiritual energy was the fact that the emerald glow they released had become blinding enough to cause blindness in a non-cultivator.

  His preparations didn't stop there as the walls of the room were invaded by the wood energies, causing the metal to bend and break, enlarging the room by adding in those nearby. Then, the logs spread out, yet each tip was pointed towards the dark sphere.

  Reed took a deep breath to try and calm himself down enough to see whether he could second guess himself. But that didn't happen. So, the logs were propelled from his domain as if launched by a slingshot, yet their velocity was far far greater than a normal slingshot. Within mere moments, they had arrived and penetrated through the dark outer shell, or whatever it was before all hell broke loose within. He felt each log start to sprout buds before they grew in every direction, breaking through walls, machines, setting off explosions dangerous enough to wipe out a Nascent Soul, yet... He didn't feel any loss of organic life.

  Where were the people that were supposed to die? He wondered idly even as two auras, one crimson, and another gold, bathed the space outside with their majesty.

  The two auras had stationed themselves in opposing directions of the dark massive sphere, with one originating from a crimson giant, the domain of the President, while the other aura was being generated by a massive golden coin. Reed in only took a glance before turning back towards the dark sphere. He knew that there might be something terrifying hidden within, but that wasn't going to stop him from going in. Zeus had to die! That was a condition that was non negotiable!

  Seeing that his attack didn't seem to have captured anyone, Reed decided to change the method. He could feel the trees that had sprouted from the logs still growing, seeking to fulfill his instructions, which were to seek out those with filled with life and power. They had been programmed with the capability to search for spiritual energy trails, no matter how minute, though it seems that the pipes transporting spiritual energy, coupled with the various machines using it, were the casualties.

  But his mind wasn't idle. A new kind of attack was being formulated which started its manifestations within the domain surrounding him. From the space beside him, his emerald spiritual energy coalesced into a small shoot that grew before budding. With a thought, the growth was halted at the budding stage. Then, he started adding his parameters to the things within the bud, such that they could act in the way he wanted them to. His wood attribute spiritual energy allowed him to, apart from manipulating actual plants, recreate any ability within a plant he had ever come into contact with, or read its genetic makeup. And since spirit energy was malleable, his wood constructs could be made to have multiple traits, abilities, or even mutated to create brand new species entirely. Though, ultimately, they dissipated without a source of spiritual energy. But the effects were real.

  After his preparations, the bud started to open, petal by petal, with its tip pointed towards the dark sphere in the distance, now partially visible because of the green wooden growths sticking out of it, coupled with the holes caused by explosions.