“I’ll… go… and open… a path...” Midori stood up and twirled his wooden fingers around.

“RARARA!!! Don’t be stupid!” As anticipated, Akai was the first one to protest. “Rarara, you’re weak! I’m strong! I should be the one to open a path!”

“Do you even know how to isolate space?” Saint Heigui scoffed with folded arms. “Before that, are you even confident that you can hold back fighting against the Prince, two Spirit Saints and a Primordial Beast? You are a pure fighter, not one that could weave in between them… Not that they’ll let you do that though...”

The Spirit Saint was by far the most level-headed of them all. He knew the powers of Saint Longyu Tian, the Azure Dragon Lord and the legendary Prince of Water. Saint Heigui even knew a thing or two about Saint Atossa’s power, given that he’s the oldest Spirit Saint in the Alliance. Hence, he knew how daunting it was to open a path against those monsters.

“RARARA!!! What do you know about me, old human?!” The Lion Chimaera roared. “Rarara, I’m Akai! The most powerful Noble Beast there is! I can burn oceans and level mountains with a single breath! RARARA, those assholes? I can deal with one finger!!!”

“You...” Saint Heigui rolled his eyes. However, instead of waiting for the other Black Masks to do something about their ally, the elderly man made the first move. Pushing his right palm down, Saint Heigui instantly locked down space around Akai, completely binding him in place.

“RARARA!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Akai flailed his four mighty thighs about, or at least he attempted to. No matter how much he denied it, Akai was still a mere Tier 9 Spirit Beast. Against a Spirit Saint, particularly at this range, the Lion Chimaera was nothing more than a simple fly in the wind.

“Midori, go do your thing… Open up a path for us to leave.” Saint Heigui gave the simple order, not caring in the slightest about the Lion Chimaera’s protests.

“Thank you...” The Gargantuan Treant sighed. “Shiro… Wait for… my signal...”

“... Midori, you sure about this?” The white-haired boy didn’t give the affirmative answer. Instead, his mind was wholly focused on the loving Treant of the Black Masks. “You do know that if you leave this barrier, you-...”

“I… know...” Midori shook his head. However, that was all the Mirror Deity needed to understand the Gargantuan Treant’s feelings. After all, Shiro was present when the Allfather recruited Midori into their ranks. From the very beginning, the Gargantuan Treant never joined the Black Masks for eternal life like the rest of the Noble Beasts. His intentions were far more personal and also… the only one that the Allfather had actually fulfilled.

“Shiro… Thank… the Allfather… for me...”

“Hah… Looks like I can’t change your mind...” Shiro shrugged his shoulders. “Don’t worry about the Allfather… I’ll know what to do once you’re gone...”

“Mmmm… Thank you...” Midori slowly nodded, content with the Mirror Deity’s answer. He stepped closer to the edge of the Tidal Shell barrier, all while he reverted back to his original size.

Each step that the Gargantuan Treant took, a bed of trees would immediately sprout from its feet. Each time he inched closer to the edge, the spiritual energies of the land started to reverberate. Although the Gargantuan Treant wasn’t a true Primordial Beast, his aura wasn’t all that far from one. Eventually, the Noble Beast had reached his final position… The shores that were a metre away from the vast ocean and the menacing Saint-levelled beings that waited outside the barrier.

“RARARA!!! YOU CAN’T DO THIS, MIDORI!!! I-...”

“Shut it!” Twisting his wrists, Saint Heigui silenced the noisy Lion Chimaera.

“Akai… I’m sorry...” The Gargantuan Treant shot his longtime partner a sombre look, much to the Lion Chimaera’s horror. “Live well...”

“Thank you, Midori...” The elderly Spirit Saint smiled. However, deep down, he was heaving a big sigh of relief. He’d betrayed the Lantis Republic for the Black Masks. If he didn’t escape, god knows what would have happened to him. Raising his free hand, Saint Heigui gestured at the barrier. “You only have a half-second to leave my barrier. Any longer, the Spirit Saints will be able to infiltrate us. Ready?”

“I’m ready...”

“Good...” Saint Heigui slowly weakened the front where the Gargantuan Treant was supposed to leave from. “On my count… One… Two… THREE!!!”

In less than a blink of an eye, the barrier that protected Heigui Enclave and the rest of the Black Masks dimmed, and a translucent hole opened up. With a single breath, the Gargantuan Treant stepped into the open and freeing itself from the island. And just as quickly as the Tidal Shell opened, it closed with blinding speeds.

Naturally, Shin and the other Saint-levelled beings were unprepared for such an event and were a tad late with their reaction. By the time they noticed that something was off, Saint Heigui was already strengthening the barrier with all of his mana, even making it far sturdier than before. The only thing that changed… was the colossal Treant that stood hovering above the water like a hallowed messiah.

“That’s...” Zishen, the only one who was wholly nonchalant about external affairs, raised his brow in confusion. He hadn’t seen or heard about the Gargantuan Treant in his entire life, and it was the first time he was looking at one in the flesh.

On the other hand, Shin had a wealth of experience with the said beast. Back in Aldrich’s Keep, when he was a mere novice healer, Shin had seen the Gargantuan Treant run amok within the fortress. It killed regular human beings without mercy and had led the charge for the first-ever Black Mask Beast Horde. One could say that it was the event which led Shin and the world to realise how powerful the Black Masks really were.

During those days, Shin was nothing more than an ant to the Gargantuan Treant. If it wished for Shin’s death, all it needed to do, was to step firmly upon his weakling body. No, back in the day, it wouldn’t even care if Shin died or not. That was how inconsequential Shin was to the Gargantuan Treant.

Alas, the times had changed. Shin was now capable of matching the Gargantuan Treant in a head-on battle and had even forced the being into a showdown to the death.

“Midori...” Shin spat as he watched the calm creature walk on the ocean. “Be careful! The Black Masks are up to something! There’s no way that they’ll send a mere Tier 9 Spirit Beast to deal with us! There has to be a trap somewhere!”

“...” The Gargantuan Treant looked up at the four beings that stood in his way and flashed a bitter smile. Bit by bit, vines and roots emerged from his bottom, covering the entire ocean with a patch of leafy green. Not just that, thousands of trees grew from the base, and a dense rainforest suddenly appeared above the endless water source. With a wave of his hand, millions of vines and tendrils gushed heavenwards from the wooden platform that he’d created.

“Tsk! Annoying!” Shin summoned out all of his mana and caused an eruption of Celestial energies. The moment the tendrils tried to pierce through his guard, it was vapourised like sand through magma. The Celestial Dragon Avatar was no slouch either. With a roar, the familiar shard flashed with all of its mana and a dense pressure fell upon the Gargantuan Treant’s shoulders.

By all accounts, the Gargantuan Treant’s attack was a massive failure. Not only did he fail to damage a single soul, but he’d also even been subject to a brutal counterattack. There was nothing that Midori could do to escape out of this precarious situation. Which prompted Shin to ask: “That’s all you got?”

“No… Not yet...” However, even though the Gargantuan Treant was in the midst of pain, it could still crack a smile. It looked down at its feet and was delighted to see the completion of an airtight tunnel which led out into the open oceans, far away from the Celestial Dragon’s influence. And then…

PLOP!!!

The humongous Tidal Shell, the pinnacle of all defence arts, disappeared entirely. There was no trace of mana, no trace of life and worst of all… No trace of Saint Heigui within the burning island.

“W-What?” Shin gulped, looking down at the Gargantuan Treant in horror.

And all he got…

Was a simple smile.

“Sorry… We win...”