Suah called out to the Mother Tree of Desire with every fiber of its being.
She was its mother, its father, its faith, and the force behind everything it did.
Every gift and blessing it possessed had come from the Mother Tree. Every shred of its suffering and madness had been granted by that same source.
Its love, hatred, lust, and curses... every last emotion ultimately converged upon a single name, one that made the world itself tremble:
The Mother Tree of Desire!
For an instant, time seemed to stand still.
Then, something appeared to turn its attention toward this place.
It was a fleeting glance from another world, a presence frenzied and twisted, overflowing with malice and desire, corruption and curses, reason and madness. It was filthy, incomprehensible, and utterly alien.
That gaze came from an unimaginable distance, faint and indistinct, as though it had passed through a thick barrier.
No matter how much effort it exerted, the influence it could project remained limited. Even so, the effect it had on Suah was terrifying.
"BOOM!"
Every pitch-black arm across the island erupted with activity. They thrashed and convulsed wildly, as though they had been forcefully flooded with more blessings than they could contain.
Suah's main body, the pitch-black trunk, left only a fraction of its attention on the two sovereigns. The rest focused entirely on Silas.
"Glurk..."
Several pitch-black arms descended and coiled around the trunk.
One arm was densely covered in eyeballs. Every eye turned toward Silas at the same time, firmly locking the curse's aura onto him. Countless fangs and spines sprouted from the remaining arms.
This was... a curse that inflicted damage on the caster?!
From within the lake, Bernadette immediately understood what the Divine Abomination intended.
Suah planned to inflict the curse's pain and effects upon itself, then reflect that damage onto the Blood Reverend.
At this crucial moment, Silas was pouring his spirituality into summoning a reflection from the past. He would have little strength left to defend himself.
If Suah's curse succeeded, the ritual would fail outright!
At the same time, Bernadette saw the Sequence 2 Angel position herself in front of the Blood Reverend, attempting to Distort the curse Suah was forming.
However, Suah was no longer the wounded Divine Abomination from before, its spiritual foundation damaged and its mind driven halfway into madness.
The descent of the Mother Tree's will had temporarily suppressed its injuries, allowing it to unleash the full power of a true Sequence 1 Angel!
Bernadette knew the most critical moment had arrived.
"Bring that item out. Now!"
She issued the order to her invisible servant.
The servant immediately opened the doors to the treasure vault. Amid howling spiritual winds, it respectfully retrieved an item and placed it in the hands of the Queen Mystic.
It was a pale mask with a metallic sheen. Its entire surface was smooth, broken only by two eyeholes.
It carried an air of supreme nobility and merciless cold, along with a dense, oppressive presence of death.
A Sequence 0 sealed artifact crafted by Roselle:
Pale Death!
Bernadette had used it once before to suppress the Red Angel's vengeful spirit as it attempted to consume Silas.
Now, facing an Angel of the same rank, she had no choice but to bring it out again.
She took the mask from her servant and pressed it against her face without hesitation.
She intended to use this Sequence 0 sealed artifact to hold Suah back!
An aura that was deathly cold and dignified, yet completely devoid of life, spread outward at once.
A dense, oppressive force of death swiftly blanketed the surrounding sea, descending upon every pitch-black giant arm on the island like a tangible weight.
In the waters around the island, the pirates who had already been shaken by the battle between Angels suddenly found themselves unable to feel excitement or fear.
It was as though something pale and cold had seeped into their bodies, compelling them to walk step by step toward death without the slightest resistance.
The pirates had merely been caught in the aftermath. Bernadette's true targets, the rampaging pitch-black arms, suffered a far heavier blow.
They immediately stopped moving, as though every force driving them had been stripped away.
The connection they shared with the Mother Tree was severed by an unseen power, disappearing without a trace.
The giant arms preparing to curse Silas froze instantly. Their surfaces rapidly shriveled, as though they were aging at an impossible speed.
Feathers stained with pale yellow, oily filth pushed through the flesh one after another, gradually changing the color of the arms themselves.
The effect was remarkable.
Beside the Dawn, Nast, the King of the Five Seas, solemnly raised his right hand and altered the surrounding rules.
He was assisting the Queen Mystic, Bernadette, and amplifying the effects of her Sequence 0 sealed artifact, Pale Death.
The support offered by his Pathway was truly extraordinary.
"AAAAH!!"
The Divine Abomination Suah released a furious, piercing shriek.
The blessing granted by the Mother Tree was being forcibly extinguished.
Suah had no choice but to divert its attention, unleashing even more attacks and curses toward Bernadette and Nast.
"...!"
Bernadette endured.
Behind the pale metal mask, her deep blue eyes gradually grew cold and empty, losing every trace of life. Pale Death's power was immense, but so was its cost.
The mask would slowly drain the life from its wearer until she became a true undead creature, enslaved to it forever.
Bernadette held on for several more seconds.
Then, just as her body reached its limit, she ripped the mask from her face and threw it back to her invisible servant.
By then, her face was as pale as a corpse, and there was no warmth left in her eyes.
But her efforts had not been wasted.
At the edge of the sea near the island, a deep, heavy rust-red color drew everyone's attention.
It was the color of iron and blood.
A hymn of flame and destruction.
"Cough, cough..."
Silas struggled to straighten himself, his face twisted in pain. The spiritual pressure bearing down on his body had reached a terrifying level.
Every time he moved, cracks split open across his skin, spraying blood into the air.
The instant the blood left his body, it drifted toward the space behind him on its own, merging with something else.
Behind Silas, three illusory, iron-red figures slowly rose into view.
That's right.
Three of them!
"Damn it... All three of them came back at once... If Antia hadn't forcibly Distorted the spiritual cost, I never would've lasted this long..."
Silas thought, a chill running through him as he realized how close he had come to disaster.
The spirituality inside him had been completely drained. Not a single drop remained.
The cost had far exceeded his expectations.
He had believed he would only need to sustain a single Sequence 1 vengeful spirit.
Never had he imagined that all three would return together, each restored to the height of their former power!
In that instant, every gaze across the sea turned toward him.
More precisely, they turned toward the space behind him.
The three crimson figures looked around, their presence as majestic as that of gods.
Medici.
Soren.
Einhorn.
Three Angels.
Three Sequence 1s.
Three Conquerors!
۞۞۞۞
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