With the huge scythe blade swinging towards him, Sage finally felt a bit of threat from this Count Voctem. Before the weapon could strike him a large figure appeared in front of it. A nearly ten foot tall figure appeared between the two of them and interposed its body between Sage and the scythe. The large form used its hand to grab hold of the scythe’s haft, rushing forward to slam its body into Count Voctem. In the process the blackish-green energy as well as the blade it surrounded connected with the figure’s shoulder. It sank down to the center of the figure’s chest before the pair of large hands managed to clamp down on the scythe’s haft and stop its motion.

At the same time, Sage twisted at the waist and neck to face the servant and his mouth opened. The aura surrounding him pulled back from his lips and a torrent of brilliant white flame was expelled towards the spindly man that was crouching a dozen feet behind him. Faced with the evil dispelling fire of the First Light, the servant rolled and scuttled away like a huge four limbed spider. This freed Sage’s feet and he stomped hard, sending him rapidly into the distance. A moment later, he felt a little pained as the figure holding back Count Voctem crumbled. The Blacksilver Knight had already been halfway sliced through by the scythe, and then the energy surrounding it finally impregnated its armor. Somehow this power not only damaged the Blue Icesilver and Black Enhydros, it also sliced apart some of the Soul Fragments that he used to control and power it.

Having not really suffered much damage to a Soul Fragment over so many years, it was painful to feel this sudden loss. He’d also not had a lot of use for Soul Fragments and had prioritized his own soul rather than making more fragments. This seemed to be a bonus at this time as they were much weaker than his main soul and so the loss he felt was greatly reduced. Even so, he realized that the name ‘Soultaker’ was not just for show. The Blacksilver Knight fell apart, no longer able to maintain its current shape with the loss of so many Soul Fragments. A pile of black tar and bluish mercury spilled onto the ground. Then, a large portion of the materials reformed into the smaller Blacksilver Pawns and fled quickly from Count Voctem. These smaller oily fellows rushed towards where the spindly servant had crept off to, using their numbers to try and suppress the man.

At the same time, Sage also rushed backwards, opening up some distance between these two enemies. The servant could lock him down in close range and Count Voctem had that powerful scythe to look out for. While backing off he moved closer to the cage of trees and after dodging a few of their tentacle-like whipping roots he moved back towards the central area. There wasn’t a whole lot of room here for him to maneuver with the large carriage, Cerberus, and whipping roots. If he wanted to avoid the two people as well it would be quite limiting. Of course, that was the strategy that Count Voctem was aiming to rely upon by bringing him here.

With Sage creating so much distance, he expected Voctem to be annoyed, but it was actually the opposite. The cracked tooth man actually had a pleased smile on his face as if this was his goal. He spun his scythe in a vertical circle and then swiped the blade down upon the ground in front of him like he was harvesting wheat. The blackish-green aura splashed into the soil and a huge crack was formed in its wake. The ground split apart and revealed a gaping black chasm. Sage wasn’t close enough to look down into it, but that didn’t matter as something almost immediately crawled up out of it. Thick black limbs curled up and grabbed the edges of the crevice and in just a moment their nature as thick roots was apparent.

In mere moments these thick roots extended upwards and outwards from the chasm, rapidly piling onto each other until it took the shape of a huge tree. These blackened tendrils wound together, braiding themselves into a thick trunk and then climbing higher to form a full tree. Sage was surprised to see that the tree was almost a clone of the blackened one in Count Voctem’s backyard. It also meant that the tree Voctem had stepped out of was not as simple as it seemed. Sage had assumed it was a secret room, or maybe a special Storage Treasure that could hold living things like his Universe Ring. Now it seemed that it was something else entirely. It might just be the same tree that had just traveled here, or maybe something created from his Qi like Sage’s Sacred Banyans.

Whatever the case, he now saw that it wasn’t just a dead tree. The light in the area dropped a few more levels, growing dimmer and causing all the shadows in the area to lengthen. This was especially annoying as the servant had scuttled away to press his back up against the tree cage. The whipping roots knocked the Blacksilver Pawns back and also made it impossible for Sage to move around behind the servant. The servant had placed himself in the same direction that the shadows were thrown. There was no way for Sage to circle around and protect his shadow behind him. The servant was up against the wall where he was protected by the tree roots and also in the best location to attack Sage’s shadow that had now doubled in size.

Worse yet, the charred tree at the center of the area was not as dead as it looked. In the dim light, Count Voctem pressed one hand up against the charred trunk and a ghost bluish glow spread from to cover the tree’s blackened bark. Soon the soft glow spread over the whole tree and then it slowly disappeared. The glowing aura split in the middle from where Voctem was touching the trunk. Half of it sank down into the roots and the crevice it sprung from while the other half traveled out towards the tips of the many branches. The evenly spread aura of energy started to concentrate into many smaller points and soon these dots of light started to grow.

In just a few moments the aura of energy completely covering the tree had been transformed into dozens of small buds. These little buds started to grow larger and larger, hanging from the branches and starting to take the shape of large oblong fruit. These fruits were not corporeal and instead were made of glowing blue energy. In fact, Sage realized he had an advantage here. To just his normal vision it only looked like the tree’s limbs were covered in bluish fog, but for one of the first times a power he’d attained a while back came into play. With this more powerful vision, he could see the energy forming into fruits and hanging down. As they grew larger they started to look more like seed pods or gourds.

Not sure how to deal with this new development, he quickly focused on a few loose ends instead. Behind Sage a half-dozen silvery cylindrical objects appeared floating in mid-air. Then they spun in place, pointing towards the servant in the distance. They glowed brightly and then streaks of light shot from them, rushing towards the servant who was hiding up against the tree cage.

“Grikori!”

Count Voctem’s concentration was broken for a moment as he worried for his subordinate. He crouched and slapped his hand on the ground. The soil rippled, forming a small trench in the ground that shot out towards the place where the servant was dodging rapidly to try and avoid the beams of light. Some of them hit his limbs, tearing holes clean through them, but he was able to avoid hits to his vital points. When the trench reached the tree near him the tree suddenly expanded, spreading wider and pulling the servant behind it. The beams of light struck against the tree and blasted holes into it. Voctem’s eyes widened and he pushed more energy into the ground, making the tree shielding the servant, Grikori, even thicker and wider.

Sage gave up on the rapid attack and then turned to look at Voctem again. As he did, the Shard Rifles floating behind him twisted and shot into the Cerberus and the large carriage. The servant was heavily protected, but the carriage and the Demonic Beast were torn to shreds and crumbling to the ground.

“You’ll pay for that!”