Dance with the Nightingale-Chapter 118 - 113: Devouring the light.

Things started slowly, as I kept my eyes closed and gathered mana in my palm, using it to slowly interact with the Tree of Light.

Unlike the leaf, which got triggered in an instant, the Tree of Light wasn’t bothered by my intrusion, letting my mana seep into it without much resistance.

The problem started when I made a grabbed a minuscule part of it with my mana and tried to draw it into myself.

It reacted instantly, pulling right back on its fragments so that I couldn’t haul any of it.

But it didn’t stop there, doing a Uno reverse on me, it grabbed my mana and yanked, pulling almost all my mana in one jerk.

Almost, because I had some certain black pikes attached to my soul who saved the last bit of my mana just before it was all sucked out.

In terms of numbers, only 58 mana of my 30,000 remained in my mana pool.

But something very special was happening with that 58 mana.

A red current that originated from the pikes, steadily colored my soul, accessing the 58 mana through it, causing it turn red too. The infusion of red was like having my essence replaced, the mana was mine but not mine at the same time. It was like when I used [Attribute Infusion] with my equipment, it was part of my body but it was not.

Except I was filling in the equipment’s role here.

It was a curious feeling; Either way, I didn’t feel any rush of power from that change, but I somehow believed that I was invincible, at the same time I felt infinitely small.

With that red current blending in me, I could somewhat sense it.

The greatness of Tree of Light, and the greatness of the power embedded in my back, so much so that my mind blanked.

But this wasn’t the time to be discouraged, I was the one who is going to use these powers after all!

So, opening my eyes, "Go get your food.", I commanded, even though it was unnecessary.

Needless to say, unlimited power v/s unlimited power stared at that moment in the earnest.

And as soon as it did, all hell broke loose.

"…!"

Shivering, I gasped. Feeling an extremely strange, out of the world sensation as the red stream gathered in my palm, forming a small ball of red that had the world flickering around it, as if rejecting its presence.

But the ball of red didn’t care.

Leaving behind a red stream no thicker than a hair, the ball of red jumped, diving straight into the Tree of Light.

-Whomp

-Whomp

The Tree pulsed as the ball of red tried to enter it, igniting its countless galaxies to resist the invasion. Alas, the tree’s previous greediness gave the pikes a backdoor. The ball of red, ultimately made of my mana, used that connection to sneak its way in.

A deep red slowly seeping into the countless galaxies, through the dark matter halos and voids, as my mana, now tainted red, spread throughout the Tree of Light.

Just as slowly, the hair-thin stream of red connecting me to the Tree of Light, got noticeably thicker, a golden glow travelling through it, getting absorbed into my soul. The absorbed power travelled through my veins, into my spirit body before finally landing in my soul-scape, all while being carefully coated by a tin film of red.

And inside the red film was a tiny dot, almost like a seed floating in the infinite expanse of white.

I smiled as I looked at the floating spark of light, relieved as my plan was working right, before, my expression turned grim.

The reason?

That small seed of power that was stolen, finally seemed to trigger the Tree of Light.

The tree, even though non-sentient, was finally awake!

Even though, it was a power, a non-sentient power with only instincts, I could instantly feel it, the Tree of Light was awake.

I kept my eyes peeled open, with my heart beating faster as I felt a soundless ripple resounding within the tree.

A soundless ripple that grew in intensity with each second, growing more ferocious till it wasn’t soundless anymore.

-Flash…!

There was an explosion of light.

How big? How strong? I didn’t know.

I couldn’t tell, I couldn’t see anything, anymore. It was too bright for me to see anything, and my ears had a constant ringing sound in them.

I know I shouted, but couldn’t hear my voice. Did I actually speak? Or had my eardrums ruptured?

I didn’t know.

I couldn’t feel my body, much less my sense of touch… and yet, I wasn’t worried, or rather I couldn’t be worried.

My mind was blank.

Like an empty slate, it was blank.

It had no capacity to be worried or horrified, after all, it was too occupied, too shocked by the presence of the Tree of Light.

Now, that the Tree had awoken, it wasn’t inert, it wasn’t invisible to my senses, atleast some part of it wasn’t. And that part alone, blanked my mind. Its presence was so great, so unfathomable, so incomprehensible, that my mind got empty, all its capabilities reducing to null.

The Earl’s array protecting my mind?

It was shattered. I don’t know how or when, I just know it did. And I know that it wasn’t a struggle.

Then… I fainted, unaware of the commotion that I caused next.

***

[Zuri’s POV]

Zuri was terrified. Not of his enemy, but for his enemy.

It was only five minutes before the battle, that he had arrived at the location.

He saw his captain, standing on an invisible barrier along with the Elementalist. Both of them peering into it.

Of course, as soon as he arrived, he was debriefed about the situation from his Captain and a slightly wary Elementalist. Then, he tried to bypass the barrier, break it, or somehow enter it, but just like with the other Archmages, it was futile.

He couldn’t even sense the barrier.

With nothing else to do, Zuri joined the two Archmages, looking into the barrier as the fight processed.

The fight was going on in the middle of the forest, approximately ten to twelve kilometers away from their location, so he wasn’t able to see it unless he actively tried to.

It was kind of a filtering system of Archmages where they normally limited their senses, after all there was no need to take in that much info in their daily lives.

So, when he actually saw what was happening, being shocked was an understatement to how he felt.

He was told that the Elementalist’s disciple was in there, and together with Young Master Rayne, who was currently in a disguise, they were fighting the vessel.

For obvious reasons he assumed that Rayne would be playing a supportive role, adding an attack or two while the Elementalist’s disciple actually fought with the demon.

How wrong he was… the Young Master, was fighting at the forefront. Going toe to toe with the demon whose body had entered the realm of a B ranked magic user, his spells were kind of watered down, but that was not important!

The important thing was Young Master Rayne, being a D ranked magic user was holding back a vessel of B rank!

That was a two rank difference! And every rank had an exponential difference in power, making this a feat, hard to match!

Sure, Young Master had support of a C ranked magic user, and was burning money like paper every second, but it was an incredible feat nonetheless.

His younger self couldn’t reenact this feat given the same conditions. So, while his personal relationship with the Young Master was superficial, he was thrilled… kind of.

His blood would have boiled, if he didn’t know that it was a 14 year old kid facing the devil, getting mutilated every few seconds.

Alas, he knew, making him feel more frustrated than thrilled.

That’s when Zuri had the thought, ’If I am feeling this frustrated, what about the captain?’, as he did, a really foreboding feeling settled in his heart as he peeked towards Amelia’s face.

"…!"

’No… no expression…’

Zuri was terrified as well. That was the expression captain had when she was really, really, really angry. And when she was that angry, it was best to not touch her.

So, when the plan succeeded, which he didn’t think it would, as luring a demon centuries old was very difficult task, he quickly took on the role to relax the Young Master, before leaving him in Captain’s embrace.

Then, he tried to defuse the situation the dumb old Archmage unnecessarily created, and isolated the demon and his captain in a barrier, where she could take that anger out.

Then he watched over the Young Master through the barrier till he went to sleep before joining his Captain in the ’interrogation’, thinking he had seen all that was to be seen today.

Again, how wrong he was…

As Zuri was calming down Amelia, who had been torturing the demon for the past hour, he suddenly stopped. Feeling something strange in the air, he turned to the side.

Surprisingly, his captain, who had been stabbing into the demon like a madwoman just seconds ago, also froze.

"Something is wron-." She hadn’t finished speaking when—

-Crack…!

Something cracked… in their brains.

What?

Zuri didn’t know, didn’t understand. His brain wasn’t working. Before he knew it, they were falling through the air. For some reason, he couldn’t fly. He couldn’t use magic. He couldn’t even think.

All he could do was flail his arms helplessly.

Something was wrong with his brain, and something was wrong with his body, too.

’I am… sweating?’

With his slowed-down brain, that was all he could think.

Sweating—a sensation he hadn’t experienced in a long time. With every flail of his arms, drops of sweat scattered into the air. Zuri felt trapped in his own body.

-Bang…!

The ground cracked as his body hit, but as an Archmage he wasn’t injured. Still, he couldn’t seem to get up. He was… shivering, his whole body trembling uncontrollably, as if having seizure.

Somehow, he managed to lay face up, staring at the sky, though he didn’t know what he was seeing. The sky… it wasn’t blue. Deep, unfathomable colors bloated the heavens.

As soon as he saw those colors, Zuri shivered harder. His body shook violently even when he looked away.

The colors kept expanding, swallowing the sky, yet this was the brightest moment of his life. All because of a pillar of light—blindingly bright, so intense he couldn’t even look at it with his eyes closed.

But as soon as he became aware of the pillar, things clicked into place.

That pillar of light was what occupied his mind.

Its presence, its aura, its power.

It was unfathomable, transcendent, and terrifying. So much so that it petrified his mind, shattering all his spells before he even understood what was happening.

His body knew before his mind, cowering before the sheer force of it.

And now that his mind finally understood…

"Hraaaghhh…!"

Zuri screamed. A raw, primal sound ripped from the core of his being, filled with horror.

"Hraaaghhh…!"

"HHHRRRAAAAAGGHHHHHH…!"

He screamed again, and again—cowering on the ground, hands gripping his head as his entire body trembled uncontrollably. He screamed and kept screaming, even forgetting to breathe.

"HHHRRRAAAAAGGHHHHHH…!"

"HHHRRRAAAAAGGHHHHHH…!"

Amidst his screams, he barely heard it—"ZURIII! ZURIIIII!!"

Slap…!

His captain’s palm landed hard on his cheek, and her voice cut through his haze: "Restrain your senses, Zuri!"

But those words felt like disconnected syllables. He knew what they meant but couldn’t make sense of them.

It took two more solid hits that shook his brain before he finally connected the words together and acted on them.

Straining, he exerted everything he had to restrain his senses—reining in the flood of sensory data that overwhelmed his mind, doing the opposite of what magic users usually do.

When he managed it, he was finally able to breathe.

And god, he needed to breathe.

Zuri gasped, dragging in as much air as his lungs could hold, breathing heavily for a while. His body didn’t stop shaking—fear still ravaged every part of his being—but at least now, his mind was working again.

Though, he wasn’t sure if he was grateful for that.

"Are those… eyes?", he gasped, the words slipping from his mouth as his brain pieced together the incomprehensible sight above. The unfathomable colors that bloated the sky weren’t just random.

They were eyes.

Colossal, mountainous eyes stretched across the entire horizon. The swirling, alien array of hues that had confused him moments ago formed the irises, each eye distinct in its feel, look, and nature.

If one was holy, radiating an aura of pure divinity, then the other was unholy, a dark force that reeked of malevolence. One eye seemed to belong to a mythical dragon, ancient and unfathomable, while the other held the essence of an omnipotent god, supreme and invincible.

Though Zuri had restrained his senses to survive, his instincts screamed at him—whoever owned these eyes—was far stronger than humanity’s strongest champion. A being beyond human comprehension.

Their only saving grace was that none of the eyes were focused on them. Instead, every eye locked onto the pillar of light, a blinding beacon that eclipsed even the immense power of these transcendent beings.

"What’s… going on, captain?" he asked, finally able to form the words after collecting his breath. His gaze shifted toward Amelia, who crouched near him, her eyes also locked on the celestial horror in the sky.

Zuri was confused, overwhelmed, and scared. And for someone who had once stood before an SS-class being’s aura, that was saying something.

"I don’t know…" Amelia’s voice trembled as she replied, her confusion and fear mirroring his. "But we have to move. Young Master Rayne is right in the center of that commotion...", her voice cracked, a mixture of worry and frustration oozing out of her as she continued, more to herself than to Zuri. "So, move. Move. Move. Move. Move, now!"

Amelia’s form shook as she tried to rise, spasming muscles and shaking hands betraying her determination. But slowly, she forced herself onto all fours.

Her maroon fur turned white as she ignited her blood, which finally gave her the power to take that first step. One step, then another, and another—every movement a struggle against the overwhelming pressure, but she persisted.

Watching her fight against the force that terrified him, Zuri felt something stir within. There was no way he could stay still. Not now.

-Bite

Zuri bit his tongue hard, tasting the sharp tang of blood in his mouth. The pain snapped him back to reality, or so he would have liked to say, but he was still trembling. Nonetheless, he turned and forced his body to move.

His legs buckled, but he refused to fall. He had to stand. He had to follow his captain.

Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth, but with a grunt of determination, Zuri pushed forward.

Every step, every reach forward was a struggle, but as he watched the back of his captain forcing herself forward, he just couldn’t stop.

Then, everything turned red.

At first, Zuri thought he’d burst a blood vessel. The world was dyed in a shade of crimson, but as he blinked and wiped at his eyes, the truth became clearer. This wasn’t something wrong with him. Something else was happening. Something worse.

His gaze shot upward, and there, latching onto the radiant pillar of light, was a mass of writhing red energy. It flickered violently, like a force that didn’t belong in this world—almost as if the world was rejecting it.

As he stared wide-eyed, the red energy coiled around the pillar, slithering effortlessly, dyeing the pillar of light in its own colors, almost like a snake climbing a tree.

The transcendental beings, the colossal eyes that had once ruled the sky, seemed frozen. Their gaze fixed on the red mass as it mockingly coiled around the untouchable pillar.

Then, in a move that defied all logic, the energy collapsed in on itself, forming something like a huge head—an indistinct, ever-shifting form of pure power that covered the sky. And before anyone could react, it struck.

With terrifying speed, the red energy lunged at the pillar of light and bit into it—swallowing it whole!

The world seemed to crack at that moment, the horizon seemed to shudder, and the fabric of reality wavered as if the universe had been wounded. But the red energy didn’t seem to care, as if it was simply having a meal.

Zuri’s mind couldn’t process what had just happened. The light, the very pillar that transcended all things, was devoured. The eyes above, once so powerful and commanding, wavered. The entire world seemed to stop, everything—except the red energy,

Then, the red energy, having finished its meal lifted its head, as if saying, ’What are you looking at?’, and when the eyes didn’t stop staring, it roared.

-ROOAAARRRRRR!!

There was no sound, no shockwave, instead a red energy wave phased through the world.

Not a single particle of the material world seemed to move as the energy wave passed, and yet, the eyes that had once watched the world from above—the dragon’s, the god’s, the holy and unholy—they recoiled.

The celestial entities that had once felt insurmountable retreated immediately, disappearing into the cosmic void from where they came, making one fact clear to Zuri—they were afraid, just like him, meaning, this was power something the divines couldn’t handle as well.

As for the one from whom they were afraid, the volatile red energy seemed pleased. Zuri didn’t know how he could understand that, but he just did.

Then, right before his eyes, the red energy dispersed.

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Repeatedly collapsing on itself as its huge size was quickly diminished, with the energy literally folded itself into something else, something compact as it retreated—into the very cavern that Rayne had disappeared into.