Screams, screechings, squealing, bellowing. They came from everywhere at the same time.

There was enough commotion to give the just woken up Gabriel a scare like he hadn't had in a long time.

He had fainted and had no idea what had happened in all this time.

When he opened his eyes, it wasn't clear where the screams had come from. What was clear was that Syandra was not by his side, she should have been, but she wasn't. So weren't most of the party's guests, including the Royal Family.

The reason was clear as he lifted his head up.

They were levitating in the sky.

Some sort of ritual was taking place linking them all together with an ethereal chain than his Mana Sight suggested to him to be Mana; he had no idea what shade tainted that Mana, but he guessed it to be Life.

The Royal Family, including Avrelyssyandra, stood at the center of the formation, forming an inner circle inside the bigger ring. The link then enlarged to an even wider ring coming from outside of the palace; it probably linked to all the other Yggdrasilians that did not come to the party.

What is going on? He thought, and at that moment, Liz came out of him. She was as baffled as him.

"Did you pass out too?" She nodded in response.

Gabriel and Liz looked around; there was nobody there except him and a few other younger fellow that had fainted like him.

Nobody he knew anyway.

"We need to leave this place. We really need to check on Com and the others."

He threw a look at Syandra and whispered, "I'm sorry," Gabriel needed to make sure that those he had come to care for were safe.

It was clear as he left the castle's precincts and its garden that something was afoot; something extremely dangerous was taking place. He could hear the wind as he had never before; it felt almost as if a huge hurricane was raging near Yggdrasil. But he simply could not see it.

Gabriel and Liz chose to fuse to increase their speed, and it was better to simply proceed through the Crown instead of taking the elevators. If it was an invasion, he would only be more exposed to it.

If anything, it was easier to get inside the Cradle from Wallcity's side.

Or at least that was the idea until Gabriel noticed something very weird from the Crown's south side. Although it was night, there was far too much light then coming from the firmament.

When in Half-Human form, they reached the edge of the Crown, where the zone was supposed to be covered by the perennial shade of the branches.

The first thing they noticed was the absence of the guards, the massive Ygg-dogs. He had met none as he moved through the city, which meant they had descended to fight. He did not know if that was the praxis, given what he had been told about Yggdrasilians not attacking if there were still Guardians protecting the mother tree.

Gaia's safety came to his mind, but he shrugged the thought away. The Elder was the last line of defense, and damn if he was powerful. He could feel his battle presence even before he received the Yggdrasilians shock. The Elf was a damn monster.

But what baffled him more was something else, something that definitely wasn't there before.

A gigantic withered tree was emitting a dim silver light. It was almost as big as Yggdrasil, the actual size was hard to say, but the thing definitely wasn't there before.

What more, he knew he should not have been able to even see the tree, not from there anyway. Yggdrasil's leaves canopy should have been too thick for him to see through.

There were barely any leaves remaining.

The branches were utterly devastated.

Great Wakan Tanka… What the hell has happened here?

The gigantic branches, some as thick or even thicker than highways and certainly much more resilient, had been torn apart, broken, destroyed. The entirety of Yggdrasil's south side had been ravished.

We need to hurry!

Gabriel switched Fusion to Assimilation and jumped from the tree; more stability meant better chances at surviving the fall. Then he threw himself from the Crown, falling toward the unknown, toward The Cradle's main gate.

What he started seeing even from up there, with the wind washing over his face, was chaos.

Thousands of bodies that, even from up there, looked like ants for Gabriel's Enhanced Sight were exchanging Skills, tangling their bodies into a fight, and getting thrown about.

It was clear that it was war.

But what had happened outside, what about the tree? Where did it come from? And what about the- water?

When a massive wave of water, which wasn't really water as much as liquid Mana, made a turn around the tree and came crashing down on the tangling bodies, not discriminating friends from foes. Gabriel decided that he had to pull on the brakes.

He used Built to Fly to halt his descent, then threw his spear to launch himself back on the platform of see-through Mythril that made the Outpost.

He tumbled down inside of it, then recalled the Sk'rayr spear.

The Outpost had been broken through. The wind cutting itself onto the broken walls made little whirlwinds that raised dust and pieces of splintered Mythril in the air.

It was at that moment that he started to see the first Angels and Demons.

There were a couple of those following Spirits and escaping Druids.

He recalled then what he had heard about Priests. A memory said, ' They are not sent on missions until they are Tier 4.'

Was he capable of facing a Tier 4?

A Tier 3 maybe, but a Tier 4? That was not something he had to mess with. He knew at least that… or could he?

When an Angel's attack slashed the Spirit he was following, and the little Goat screamed of pain, something broke inside of Gabriel.

The screaming had been echoed by Liz.

What's going on!? Lizzy, are you alright?

There was no answer, only other screams of pain that were soon driven back by her.

Gabriel could feel that Liz had no idea what was going on. Why was she screaming? She could not say.

What they both could say was that they would not stand and watch that Spirit getting killed .

They threw themselves in the battle.

Gabriel rushed over the Demons as Liz projected herself at the Angels.

She lashed out with savagery, ineffective savagery, while Gabriel, having access to more Skills, managed to slash the monster in the face.

He should not have done that.

The following moment, both Demons disappeared, and Priests took their place.

Fuck!

"The Herald! Catch him!" They said.

Gabriel was alone there, with two Priests to fight, two Angels, and Spirits too weak to help him.

He already knew he had to go all out.

Fusion, Meridians, Burst of Fury, it all happened in a second. The next moment, he started battering them with slashes and bolts of lightning that were strong enough to incinerate his clothes. But not his armor.

No, his new armor was resisting. He could feel it ignore the damage almost entirely.

There were still exposed parts, of his body, like his hands, his face, but the Helping Hand he had automatically cast was working to heal him back to full.

The problem was that although he had been fast, the damage he was unleashing on one of the Priests was being absorbed by some sort of shield, while the other one was receiving no damage at all.

It was clearly impossible; Gabriel knew he had managed to hit him. The screams of pain were the main indicator of that. But soon, Liz pulled at his enraged conscience and directed him to notice the Angel, one of them was clearly on the receiving end of the damage he was unleashing on the Priest.

Tsk!

He was successfully overwhelming them, although it was clear that they were holding back since they wanted to catch him. His power output was low, too low.

Their exchanges continued for a few seconds until Burst of Fury ended, and Gabriel's attacks became barely a mockery of what they were before.

With a cage of light appearing around him that he barely evaded, it was clear that he was not in any conditions to fight off this duo.

Maybe he had chipped at their defenses, or maybe not. But would the second use of Burst of Fury really ensure him the victory? He didn't think so, just as he didn't think he could successfully have enough leisure time to sip at a Mana potion.

And what if instead, they did? What if he consumed their defenses only for them to renew them with a potion?

No, there was little he could do here.

I'm so utterly weak, he recognized.

"We've got him!" One of them said to the other.

The light cage successfully formed around Gabriel, only to be shattered the next moment, when a red half-man, half-insect, plunged its arm through the stern of one of two Priests.

To the bewilderment of the victim and his companion, joined the screams of the man's Angel and Demon, which vaporized the following few seconds.

A handful of men dressed in the green uniform peculiar of Yggdrasil's police revealed behind the Priest's slowly collapsing corpse.

The second one was soon overwhelmed by the party of police officers. He tried switching places with his Demon, it revealed a useless struggle.

When that one died to the hammering blows of a man in the shape of a humanoid Green Beetle. Gabriel received a level up screen.

You have gained:

Level + 137.25%

Class Level + 122.01%

Spirit Level + 28.69%

Congratulations, Gabriel Walker.

You have reached Level 39.

You have 4 unspent Body Attribute points.

Congratulations, Gabriel Walker.

You have reached Class level 34.

You can increase your Pools by 10 points.

Congratulations, Gabriel Walker.

You have reached Spirit level 35.

You have 2 unspent Spirit Attribute points.

He immediately placed both Body Attribute points into Power, Spirit Attributes into Affinity, and Pool points into Mana.

He could now choose a Spirit Skill for Liz, and he already knew that he would have to choose a Skill related to Affinity with that placement. It was her next highest Attribute point. But this wasn't the time nor the place for it. It would have to wait.

When the Druid that had killed the Priest morphed back into human form, it was clear he was someone Gabriel already knew, it was Marcus.

"Hey there, Gabriel. Are you still in one piece?" He asked with a half smile.

"Yes, but maybe we should have kept them alive; there was precious information they could have given us," Gabriel said. Like my mother's location.

"Herald," said what looked like the Party head. Gabriel remembered him; he was the man under which Marcus served. The green beetle guy. "Priest do not talk, not even torture works with them. They are impregnable fortresses. He would have let us kill him if we asked."

"Besides," added a man with a flying blue and yellow flying bee. "There's too much chaos for wasting our time asking. Yggdrasil is falling," he declared.

"What? The Druids are losing?"

The officers gravely nodded.

"But they said this could not be? The Guardian and all? The Yggdrasilians? How is that possible?" Gabriel asked.

"The Priests are assaulting us with the Dancers. And some types of Yggdrasilians are attacking us from all over. They are the Bastards from Large Leaf Dungeon. We have no idea why they are not turning into Mana, but they are all sentients now," said a man with spider legs coming out from his back. "I'm Norton, by the way, it's a tragedy meeting only in these circumstances, Herald."

The man with the bee tugged Marcus, "If Marcus here told us about having met you, we would have organized some sort of dinner."

"Don't listen to Vasily; he's just mad he has to contend with the Yamamoto boy, once again, the position of the most promising sniper," said Marcus.

"Shut up, everybody!" Ordered the man with the green beetle. "I've been sent here by the Seer herself," he said once the others were quiet.

"She saw you coming here, and our mission is that of getting you out of Yggdrasil, by hook or by crook," he added in a serious tone, too serious for Gabriel's tastes.

"Wait, wait, wait! I need to check if my friends are okay!"

"The Seer can tell you, Norton will keep his channels open for you to communicate with her. She needs to speak with you, by the way."

"I-" Gabriel was about to answer when the two officers who stayed in the back, two women, one with a Mantis the other with a Scorpion Bond, interrupted him.

"Incoming!" said one.

"Captain Forest, there are too many. We need out!" said the other.

The man with the green beetle, Captain Forest, nodded to her. Then took Gabriel by the wrist.

"Do I have to force my hand? Or will you let us protect your life?"

Gabriel held the man's gaze. After having gone through what he did. No one could threaten him.

"I'm not leaving before I check on my friends, okay?"

The following moment, Gabriel was hit in the solar plexus.

The punch was strong, full, heavy, but not meant to damage him as much as to make him unconscious. It was not enough, not even close.

Although he had to restrain a retch, Gabriel backed away. Then he immediately shot down from the Outlook's platform and down the tree.

"No!" He heard Marcus's voice say, "The wind will tear you apart!"

But Gabriel had released concealment-tainted Mana to disappear. Besides, he was already plummeting toward the ground when he heard him; there was no way they would catch him now.

And yet, when the massive walls of the hurricane appeared out of nowhere, he knew the unnatural power making it move was, indeed, enough to tear him apart.

He cast Toughen to receive the incoming burst of wind, but when he was reached by it and pushed aside, Gabriel was launched toward the bark of the tree, falling unconscious at that moment.

He woke up with a headache and a lack of feeling in his whole body. Gabriel could not move a muscle. He had been paralyzed from head to toe.

His broken body lay on a lucky branch, the only thing that had stopped him from a fall two-three miles long.

Gabriel cast Helping Hand and closes his eyes. It would take him around thirty-five minutes to regenerate his zero Life back to full.

He couldn't even properly sigh.

I might as well focus on something useful.

Congratulations, Gabriel Walker.

You reached Spirit Level 35.

Warning.

Choosing a Spirit Skill makes your Spirit incur a physical evolution other than a spiritual one. The physical changes will reflect the Skill you choose.

Choose a Spirit Skill.

There really were few results worth focusing on. The others were meaningless.

Skills

Skill

Berserker (Very Rare)

Description

Permanently increases Affinity by 1.5. Can use Epiphany. Gives Dark Resistance (+). Affinity is applied to Power. Use Life Points to double physical attacks Spirit Power. Spirit Power increase based on Life lost (up do double at 10% Life.).

Slot

Affinity

Type

Active - Passive - Spirit Skill

Skills

Skill

Ghostly (Very Rare)

Description

Permanently increases Affinity by 1.5. Can use Epiphany. Gives Dark Resistance (+). Phase through objets for 5 Spirit.. Random curses are applied while making contact with the enemy. Can seal the enemy upon contact.

Slot

Affinity

Type

Active - Passive - Spirit Skill

Skills

Skill

Stellar Crown (Epic)

Description

Permanently Doubles Affinity. Can use Epiphany. Gives Light Resistance (+). Gives Dark Resistance (+). Summons a permanent Crown of Light to continually replenish your reserves. Can use Phase through Light for 5 Spirit. Summon a Light Barrier for 10 Spirit.

Slot

Affinity

Type

Active - Passive - Spirit Skill

Skills

Skill

Lion (Very Rare)

Description

Permanently increases Affinity by 1.5. Can use Epiphany. Gives Dark Resistance (+). Can shoot Corruption bolts and summon waves of Corruption Summon a Corruption Minion for 10 Spirit . Summon a Corruption Shield for 10 Spirit..

Slot

Affinity

Type

Active - Passive - Spirit Skill

Skills

Skill

Ruler (Very Rare)

Description

Permanently increases Affinity by 1.5. Can use Epiphany. Gives Dark Resistance (+). Can use Aura to gain control over targets in a radius determined by Affinity. Affinity bolsters Aura’s strength. Power bolsters Aura’s strength.

Slot

Affinity

Type

Active - Passive - Spirit Skill

They had barely managed to read them all when Liz started squirming inside of my Soul.

Of course , he chuckled. She wanted the one with the crown made of light. Who would have thought?

Gabriel, though, was very intrigued by the Berserker one. It would magnify their Power when using Fusion by a huge amount.

However, he wouldn’t force that on Liz. Besides, Gabe just couldn’t understand why an Epic Light Skill appeared in the middle of all the others.

There were more than a dozen; most were Uncommon, then there were the obvious Dark ones, surely related to my own experience with Darkness. But this Light element that kept presenting itself with a good if not better choice than the others, bugged him.

It was too good to skip, but he couldn’t help and be suspicious of it.

Yeah, yeah! I know! Stop having a fit already! Of course, we’re going to choose Stellar Crown. He internally screamed at her. She was joyous.

You have chosen Stellar Crown

Warning, you have been bestowed with an Epic Spirit Skill. All your other Non Basic Spirit Skills will go through an Evolution.

Oh, damn! Oh, da-

When the wave of pain hit them, they passed out. They had no idea what would be expecting them next time they woke up.

But the last thing that Gabriel thought before he fainted was… How many times are we going to pass out in this life? It’s getting out of hand, really.