Chương 50: The Son vs. The Corrupted Great Spirit

The Corrupted Great Spirit For a moment after the light, there was nothing. No trees moving, no roots, nothing at all. Even the fog seemed to have become completely still. Even the ash did not dance in the air and remained completely on the ground. But then, something beneath it moved. And Enel's arm emerged from the ashes. He pushed down, freeing the rest of him as the black and gray slid down from his golden hair.

He slowly stood up, the roots wrapped around him crumbling when he moved, falling from his limbs in flakes.

"Ugh…" But he dropped to the ground on one knee. Half of his tunic had been burned away. The armor beneath it had split smoothly across his shoulder and chest, some parts still glowing orange from the heat before fading away. Enel's skin was exposed, and it was slightly red, too. His chest, shoulder, and arm—as if he'd spent hours boiling in the sun. There were hints of scratches too, but too faint to notice. But despite his undignified appearance, there was not a hint of blood on him.

Still, he stared at the redness on his skin for a moment, narrowing his eyes at it and not understanding what it was for a moment. He lightly touched his skin, only for him to quickly lower his hand as he felt something he had never truly felt before—pain. It… hurt. He winced for a moment, sucking in through his teeth as his eye twitched. But it did not take long for a hint of a smile to crawl on his face. But the smile faded as soon as it came when Enel's head snapped toward Blakwud.

"You… made Mother feel this?" he whispered.

"You—" And the forest started to move again. Blakwud stood beyond the smoking path its own attack had carved through the trees. The beam had torn a long wound through the Dark Forest, burning away fog, roots, flowers, and from what Enel could hear… he had killed other spirits as well. Enel curled his fist and stepped forward, but then stopped. He stared up at the gigantic spirit, then turned his ear toward a certain direction.

His ears began to ring, but they quickly faded away as the sound of Lamb's steps whispered to him. Her gait was uneven, but she was moving away. Mira's breath was still faint, carried against Lamb's shoulder, and each time Lamb stumbled, Enel's fingers curled. But Lamb did not fall. She kept going, deeper toward one direction—away from where he was. And when the steps became weaker and weaker, Enel finally looked up at Blakwud again.

The Great Spirit's hollow eyes remained fixed on him while vines crawled over from its legs, seemingly rebuilding parts of the forest it had destroyed.

"My mother did nothing to you," he whispered again.

"Why… did you have to hurt her?" Blakwud lowered its head in response, then let the forest once again rush into Enel. Trees burst from the ground in front of him, behind him, beside him, their trunks twisting into each other before he could move. Roots wrapped around his waist, vines snapped toward his face, and the mud beneath his feet opened into black water deep enough to swallow him to the knee. But this time, Enel stepped forward. The roots groaned loudly as he tore one leg free, then the other.

A tree slammed into his side, but his fingers sank into the bark and managed to split it apart in half. His teeth clenched, his nose twitching as he threw the tree back to where it came from. Blakwud stepped forward, and the ground answered. The ground beneath Enel pulled him down, trying to bury him in the earth. And for a moment, it did.

Half of his legs were instantly buried into the forest, but Enel only scoffed at this and casually lifted one leg—the ground split apart, and he climbed up like it was just a step of stairs.

"You hurt my mother…" Enel whispered again, but this time, it was followed by another quiet growl. But nothing beastly, no. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work! And Blakwud's antlers spread above him in response, branches moving through the fog. And then, seeing those antlers and remembering Mira hanging from them, Enel roared. The sound burst out of him and tore through the clearing. Any nobility he had in him… was gone.

His roar was a child's rage, loud enough to shake the roots.

"You hurt mother!" Enel lunged toward Blakwud, but this time, he did not leap up but instead just stayed close to the ground, mowing through the roots that were snapping and whipping at him. And when he got close, Blakwud moved to meet him. One of its forelegs came down, large enough it could probably crush one of the houses on Widow's Wall, but Enel did not dodge, no—he lowered his shoulder, then finally leaped. The ground beneath and behind him was blown away, and he struck Blakwud's leg just below the knee.

The crack that followed made the whole forest bend, along with Blakwud as its leg folded. The Great Spirit staggered, and the trees around it screamed as if they had been struck too. Enel slid through the mud, turned before he stopped, and ran again. Vines whipped across his back, shoulders, and face, leaving red lines everywhere… but he did not care. He rushed toward the second knee and lunged even harder. This time, the entire front of Blakwud's body dropped.

Its antlers crashed through the trees around them, tearing trunks from the ground as its head lowered toward the mud. Even with how large it was, however, the forest did not rumble or quake at all. Perhaps spirits did not weigh as much as their size might seem—but Enel was not focusing on that at all. He only watched as the forest seemed to want to catch Blakwud's head, the ground beneath it opening up into a bed of flowers to cushion the impact. But… Enel reached its head first.

He grabbed one of Blakwud's antlers with both hands. It was impossible for him to wrap his arms around it, but it did not matter. Like he had done with the trees several times, he dug his fingers into the antler that was like bark and bone.

"Gr…" He gritted his teeth, his fingers trembling as they dug deeper and deeper. Blakwud tried to pull back, dragging the forest along with it.

"No!" But Enel roared, then pulled its head down as his boots sank into the mud and the ground beneath him broke. Roots wrapped around his arms, his waist, his throat, but he only leaned back and pulled harder. The first few trees near them tilted, their branches stretching toward Blakwud as if begging him not to move. But Enel did not care.

"You will pay for what you have done to my mother. To Widow's Wall!" he screamed again as he pulled, and this time, the Great Spirit moved. Not much at first. Its head turned only slightly, dragging half the forest with it. Then Enel pivoted on one foot, turning with the antler still in his hands.

"Graaaah!" Enel stepped back… and Blakwud's head followed, then its shoulders, then its entire body. Enel turned again, this time, with even greater force, to the point the clearing began to twist around him. The fog spun, and the branches swept through the air. Blakwud's broken legs dragged across the mud… as the Great Spirit was pulled in a circle around the boy holding its antler. Yes, Enel was spinning the spirit as large as a hill, and the sea of trees around them followed. It had to. Blakwud was the forest…

and Enel was turning him. At the same time, outside the Dark Forest, the fog began to move. At first, the soldiers on Widow's Wall thought it was wind, but then the trees turned with it.

"H-huh?" The vemons had stopped again. Every one of them faced the forest, bodies trembling as the fog spun faster and faster. Robert stood near the broken gate with his spear in hand, thinking another blast of light would come. But then… a roar came from the forest. And it was not the roar of a deer, nor the roar of any other corrupted spirit or vemon.

"Enel..." Robert whispered. And then, they saw it. Beyond the fog, above the forest, a colossal black silhouette rose above the trees. Several men fell backward when they saw that, their breaths completely stopping as they found themselves drowning from the sight.

"What in the Sovereign…" Gawen did not fall, his weapon only lowered at his side as he stared at the forest, and for once, his age showed in his voice. Then the silhouette vanished back into the forest. A moment later, the ground shook. Inside the Dark Forest, Blakwud struck the earth hard enough to flatten the trees beneath him. The impact threw mud, ash, and roots in a wave. Enel did not let go, and instead…

he began pulling Blakwud closer to him, his hands digging into its antlers as he treated the bone like rope. Blakwud wheezed and grunted as its face was violently dragged and shaken—it really only stopped as its head was finally right next to Enel.

"Blakwud…" Enel climbed onto its head, and the forest tried to stop him.

"Under the Sovereign of the Seven Laws…" Vines wrapped around his ankles, branches clawed at his back, and roots rose from Blakwud's own skull to drag him down. Enel broke them all without looking. He stood right on top of its head, just between its eyes… and he raised his fist.

"I, Enel of House Blackwood…" The Great Spirit shifted beneath him, trying to lift its head.

"Stay down! I am not done!" Enel drove one foot down, and Blakwud's skull struck the mud again. The earth cracked beneath it, and somewhere deep in the forest, the trees started to wither. Enel raised his fist higher, and his eyes sizzled again, smoke curling from the corners as the moisture around him dried away.

"I, Enel of House Blackwood…" he repeated. Blakwud's hollow eyes moved, and black sap slid down from one of them, almost like tears. And beneath this darkness… something green flickered. It was not bright at all, but it was enough. It was enough for Enel to see his reflection in it. His hair was wild and filthy, and there was smoke coming out of his eyes. His face was twisted in rage, and his mouth was open just enough for him to see the shape of his teeth. His canines…

he did not remember them being so long and sharp.

"Who…" Enel stared at the face reflected in the faint green light… and he did not like the person staring back at all.