Year 256

I spoke to Lilies first, and Lilies understood. Our roots connected, and I shared the images and experiences on the demon’s comet. There was a shared, mutual realization that evacuation should be our utmost focus. There had to be a way to achieve it without losing so much we’ve built so far.

I felt Lillies understanding, and more importantly, agreement. We would need to rethink our strategy, move our people.

Will of the World.

Lillies’ first thoughts were to beg for aid. To move our world in the void sea. I promptly tried it, through my roots all over the world. I sent my thoughts through ley lines to the will deep beneath.

Nothing.

Refusal. I cursed. I tried it before, but even with new information nothing changed. The will would not move without the suitable authority commanding it. My Valthorns and domain holders returned to Treehome, and they felt a little defeated. But it was not over yet. This battle against the Comet was not yet over.

But our odds were slim, and Stella redirected a group of the void mages to other projects. Mainly, to find new worlds that we could spread our population.

The Central Continent has been incredibly prosperous over the past few decades, and that meant we are dealing with far higher levels of people than we’ve ever had in the history of Treehome. It’s likely there was never a time in history when there were this many living beings on this world, thanks to all the periodic disasters.

I thought about teleporting large quantities of star mana bombs over to my clone on the demon’s comet. It might be enough to shatter it, if I could get enough. But Alka’s immediate computations suggested it wouldn’t be sufficient. Not at our current quantity, or strength.

The heroes needed to make a far more powerful star mana bomb. Something capable of doing a lot more damage than anything we’ve done before, but sadly, the heroes are not in the best shape for that assignment.

***

Lumoof was happy to be back in more comfortable dwellings, but even I could sense the nagging worry at the back of his mind. I could feel him occasionally take moments just to calm himself, and to live in the present. There was no point thinking about whether this was all going to be gone soon.

Life was on a timer. It was always on a timer, in different ways or forms. Change was inevitable. Stella dropped by to visit one of those days, with food from their favorite restaurant.

“How many worlds do you plan to visit?” Lumoof looked back at Stella. “Any good ideas?”

“-I think it wouldn’t be enough.”

We had reports from the Tropicsworld that it wouldn’t be able to absorb large quantities of refugees. Its production and resources still significantly lagged behind Treehome due to its generally weaker levels of ambient mana.

Even with my blessings and the presence of stronger druids, the soil itself was weak, and there was only so much one could squeeze out of a parched soil. The planetary core’s strength ultimately fuels everything about that world.

Still, the druids tried their best to get the world ready. They used spells meant to massively restore the land’s vitality, special plants that feed life back into the soil. Just like my trees.

But we couldn’t avoid the fact that if we moved everyone to Tropicsworld, our current estimates indicate that the food output of Tropicsworld would just be enough to provide subsistence for the entire world’s population. I wouldn’t be able to feed the population the way we do today. Not without large scale food imports from both Mountainworld and Threeworlds.

Maybe I should be happy with that, but no. It’s not good enough. Not with our goal of freeing our world from the demons. The reality of creating an army at the strength of the Valthorns required a lot of resources, a lot of food. It is difficult to train strong warriors and maintain a powerful standing army with terrible food supplies.

The soul nourishes the body, and the body nourishes the soul. It is a feedback loop. With a poor physical condition, it has effects on mana generation, mana capacity, healing, and mental faculties.

That didn’t even go into the issue of construction. The sheer numbers of the world’s population of at least a few hundreds of millions meant we’d have to provide housing for that many people. This was an issue that would need the combined effort of multiple million workers.

Even with the construction of multiple new cities on Tropicsworld, the scale still wasn’t enough to adequately for that many people. It would truly test the theoretically with my upper limit of Subsidiary Trees, spawn a few million trees, and that would house that many, but still not enough.

But, with the low levels of ambient energy, it’s likely I would ultimately end up with a huge mana sink. If we lost Treehome, my current largest source of natural mana, the mana deficit would be even worse.

We had to mitigate it. Not substantially, but at least a tenth or a fifth of the world’s population would have to move to Mountainworld and Threeworld. We looked at Branchhold, and my growing hidden city on Threeworlds. We’ve been expanding them gradually over the past few years.

Branchhold was a prime candidate for massive expansion, even if I’d resisted it in the past. There was no choice, now. Circumstances forced my hand and I’d have to make this world do their share and absorb some of the people. I would need to mitigate the political fallout afterward.

As for Threeworld, I’d need to have another talk with Zhaanpu.

Lumoof and Stella sat in his fancy dining room. His residence was decorated in an understated style but had a fantastic view of the sprawling metropolis. He kept few trinkets or decorations, his wall filled with all his broken equipment. The food was decent, and Stella activated a small crystal gem that projected out a starmap.

“My void explorer continues to move to more worlds, and if we hit one that’s habitable like the Beastworld, I think we should take it.”

“Take it?” Lumoof flinched.

“Invade.” Stella said. “I’m not mincing words here, but if we encounter a world that can support us, we should take it.”

“That doesn’t make sense. You might as well advocate for an invasion of the Mountainworld or Threeworld. Those worlds can support us. Hell, let’s invade the angels too, Angelworld surely can support our population.”

“That’s not a bad idea. I came to the realization that invasion is ultimately a necessity.” Stella countered.

“I think you’re not thinking straight. Why not the demonworlds?” Lumoof rebuked. “The Valthorns can handle most demonic foes, and the demon king never actually attacks its’ own world.”

“A waning world is not sustainable. The demon controlled worlds fade, eventually.”

“We can free multiple worlds.” Lumoof countered. “We did it on Houndsworld. A few more free worlds and we spread the people around.”

“-do we have time for that?” Stella looked out of the balcony. I didn’t need Patreeck’s mind reading to know how tormented she felt.

“I don’t know.” Lumoof shrugged. “But they won’t be linked by Aeon’s clones. We will have to build riftgates. Those cities and worlds will have to find ways to recover without Treehome as the Core world.”

Stella thought. “What if they don’t move? Like the dwarves.”

“All we can do is offer them a choice.” Lumoof said. “There will be those who take the mantle and be pioneers. There always will be. We will support them, and they will lay the foundations for the majority.”

My void domainholder shut her eyes for a while, her eyes of eternal darkness swirling. “I’ll need to get started. Start looking.”

“Let me know if you need me.”

“I think you’re needed elsewhere, for now.”

***

Kei sat next to the aging Ken. His age was increasingly more noticeable lately, partly due to the stresses of the Comet. It’s been a few years since the fellow mber’s death, but it still hangs over them.

“You alright?” Kei asked.

Ken just frowned. “Aeon still refuses to answer me about what to do with the hero class.”

“Give him some time.”

“I asked him two years ago.”

“That’s still not enough time.” Kei chuckled. She plateaued in terms of levels, not more than level 110. It was partly because she stopped participating in the higher level battles, as well. Former heroes, Kei, and Ken, seem to still retain some leveling benefit, even if they didn’t keep any of their heroic blessings. “Is that why you’ve called me?”

“Nah. I wouldn’t bore you with my whining about Aeon’s slow decisions.” Ken shrugged and offered her a glass of tea. She didn’t need it. “I want your views on the hero class. What can we do about it, and- have you heard about our plan for a League of Heroes?”

“Yeah I heard. It goes around. But with us not discovering new hero worlds-”

“-yet.” Ken coughed. “But that’s not the point. Long ago, they wanted me to lead it. I’m beginning to think I’m not the best suited for that role, and I want to pass it onto someone. Someone immortal, like the heroes.”

Kei’s artificial face still revealed a look of horror. “Oh no- you want me-”

“Genius!” Ken laughed. “I’ll die of old age, or someshit like that in a decade or maybe two if I get lucky. Look at these creaky old bones. Even with the blessings of high levels I’m nowhere near my best shape.”

Kei frowned. “That’s because you refuse to participate in battles. Without the battle experience-”

“-I know. You don’t have to repeat it to me. I’ve heard that nagging lecture a thousand times.” Ken said. There was a burst of de-aging at level 100, level 125 and level 150. Between and below that, the effects on aging were subtler. He was nearest to the level 100 threshold, but he refused to participate in any of the tasks needed to get there.

Chung called it planned suicide. I couldn’t disagree.

“I’m beginning to think my approach was too- aggressive. Too- in your face. I see how you work with Lausanne and the heroes, and I think your gentle, less-intrusive approach may be the better one. I can’t be the bridge, or the chain that holds the heroes together. But I think you can. You have the most complete hero experience of all. You did your part as a hero, I didn’t. I just ran when I could.”

A long silence between the two, before Ken continued.

“Even now, I’m running. I’m leaving this shit to others to clean up.”

Kei sighed. “I- I can’t do it. I couldn’t even convince my two hero-mates to fight by my side, and I died to the demon king. You’re asking for someone who has a bad track record to lead something much bigger.”

Ken nodded. “I believe dying-on-the-job still counts as work experience. A great testament to your commitment.”

The golem lady chuckled, and then turned serious. “No.”

“There’s no one else. I don’t know the two other former heroes, and from what I heard, we can’t trust them. Just think about it. I hope when I die, the answer will be Yes.”

“You’re a manipulative piece of shit, putting it like that.” Kei just cursed.

“I know. I’m a master of running away and leaving shit for others to clean up. I even thought long and hard about what to say.”

“I hate you.” Kei said. I knew she didn’t mean it.

***

On the demon’s comet, I continued to experiment.

Trapped. Surrounded in a sea of demonic mana, my domain was the only thing that kept me safe.

I spawned trees and watched them turn into stone-and-crystal. My beetles, they splattered whenever the rivers of demonic mana entered them.

It exploded.

Most of my creations too, then I began to wonder- was it linked to the type of creature?

Would people do better? I wanted to witness the effects of large amounts of demonic mana on people. I thought about sending my soldiers, and I knew some would volunteer to die a martyr, but ultimately that was suicide.

I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t want to be an old man sending young people to their deaths, without knowing why or what they died for. I wouldn’t do that who volunteered to serve in my army.

So, curious, I looked back at my prisoners on Treehome. I have many prisoners, criminals on the death row who did things they were not supposed to. Murders, rapes and all that. Actually, if I was judged by an astral judge, maybe they’d find me horrifying too.

For a brief moment, I hesitated. Was I being cruel? Was this terrible?

Yes. But my vines, roots and leaves were always bloody. We were executing these criminals one way or another. Death by drowning in demonic mana was just the means of execution.

I decided I didn’t cross a line. Maybe someone else would judge that I did.

I pulled one of those convicts through my ability to teleport people, and pushed them out of my tree’s domain projection.

The criminal died. Instantly. It’s as if they choked. Their bodies shriveled as all life was forced out of them.

Sadly that wasn’t the end of it.

Then their bodies were transformed by the overwhelming demonic mana. Those human bodies, dead from the toxicity of too much demonic mana, began to warp and transform. I began to vaguely sense the demonic mana reaching into that man’s soul, and felt as if that demonic mana was beginning to hijack the corrupted corpse. I had a really bad feeling, and immediately pushed against the wall of the demonic mana around me, launched a root strike and destroyed that body.

“That wasn’t a good idea.” I cursed as I watched the remnants of the criminal. I thought about what I could do, and then remembered my hybrid plants dying slower than the rest.

Could I use demonic mana, or creatures made of demonic mana that still remained under my control? Does the Comet know how to distinguish my demonic mana and its’ demonic mana?

The hybrids we used before still died and were destroyed by the overwhelming amounts of demonic mana.

Ironic. This was us being on the other side of my ability, [Natural mana Overwhelming]. It seems to me that the demons have their own version, though their mana seemed to cause things to blow up.

In my fields of demonic hybrid plants, I pulled their demonic energy to my clone, and was surprised by how effortlessly my mana slipped out.

It went out untouched, as if the rivers of demonic mana around us were never there.

It was clear.

If I wanted to destroy the demon’s comet, I’d have to coat myself in demonic mana.

I’ll have to be a demon.