Erisgrirlum rushed towards Yggdrasil, it was hard enough to deal with the Dark Forces that seemed to have even the Dark Mages in their army but to have a large number of Dark Elves as well was a worst-case scenario.

A lot of his soldiers had ended up getting infected by the dead mana and were gravely injured. Currently he could only command and dispatch around half of the full strength of his army. He could only hope the Dragon was already on his way, because the scene before him made him believe that Edrisyl might fall before the daybreak.

"Your Majesty!" One of the generals who was managing to keep up with him shouted, "The soldiers-"

Erisgrirlum turned his head as the said general started coughing and he couldn’t see anyone else behind them.

They were just entering the dark miasma that was surrounding the base of Yggdrasil now. Dead mana was poisonous for Dwarves so, it was obvious that his soldiers couldn’t keep up because they would have already collapsed along with their horses.

The general who had managed to keep up was also coughing up blood.

"Return, at once!" The Dwarf King ordered.

"But-" he coughed, "how could I let Your Ma-"

"It’s an order, return now!" Erisgrirlum shouted.

The general covered his mouth and nose before he turned his horse around and then hurried back.

Erisgrirlum kept pressing on until his horse started jumping and staggering. He tried to get his horse to obey him but it was harder because the horse was also foaming at his mouth and blood flowed from its nostrils.

Erisgrirlum gritted his teeth as he himself felt the pressure over his chest, he reached over and pressed his palm over his cold breastplate.

Just then he felt the cool rush of energy flowing through his body, his eyes widened as he realised that it was Pure Mana. But it was different than the Yggdrasil’s mana and the answer struck him immediately.

All he had to do was pull his breastplate back and look at the blue stone brooch that he had pinned over his undershirt. It was glowing softly underneath and Erisgrirlum felt the effects of the dead mana being washed away. He felt refreshed.

Erisgrirlum got down from his horse and placed his hand over his horse’s head.

"I’m sorry," he whispered before he looked ahead at Yggdrasil and then continued on foot.

On the eastern side, the young Dark Elves had also been shocked out of their wits to see the massive amount of dead mana rolling towards Yggdrasil like a tide.

"What the hell?!" One of the youngsters gasped.

"This much dead mana will kill everything." Another spoke, aghast.

"It is killing everything." The third pointed out as he touched the blackened tree only for its bark to crumbled under his touch and the particles to disintegrate.

The youngsters were horrified as they watched the dark miasma hanging all over the base of Yggdrasil. They had only seen the beautiful lush greens of the island but to see it marred in black it was a sickening feeling.

Fior stepped ahead accidentally stepping over the chunk of a large root which instantly crumbled under his foot.

He lifted his foot and his eyes went wide as he realised that this root wasn’t connected to any tree in the vicinity and with how huge it was, he could only surmise one thing.

Yggdrasil was under attack.

"Let’s hurry, we can’t let our enemy make any more damage to our island!" He shouted.

The young men gulped before they all agreed to his command and they all pushed forward along with the elders who were equally horrified.

"At this rate Yggdrasil will-" one of the middle-aged looking Elf muttered.

"Shut up! Don’t jinx it!" The female Elf beside him snapped.

Yttriva gritted her teeth, it was an unprecedented thing, even during the past war, Yggdrasil had never been damaged this much.

Aelfric was hurled backward from the impact of a blow but he managed to control his body mid-flight, landing on his feet. As soon as he stopped, he felt the intense pain in his abdomen and he coughed, throwing up blood onto the roots of Yggdrasil.

"Your Majesty!" One of the Elders shouted rushing towards him while Xeveris and Vaelorion along with the few brave knights attacked the Dominus.

Xeveris swung his blade but he was met by an invisible barrier which deflected his blade sending him flying back while Vaelorion used his Pure Mana spells using both the earth and the flora elements to break the Dominus’s stride. However, as soon as the thick thorny vines or the boulders came anywhere close to the Dominus they would blacken and then disintegrate.

Vaelorion felt the corruption creeping steadily closer but he refused to give up. It was partly his fault that he never knew that these vermin were still living on Edrisyl. He had only focused on the Dark Elves and thus the enemy had gotten so stronger that they had strolled right up to Yggdrasil today.

"Fire arrows!"

The archers all shot their arrows and watched the shower of arrows met the same fate as Vaelorion’s attack.

Some of the young Elves who were fighting started coughing up blood and falling to their knees clutching at their chests and groaning and grunting in pain.

Aelfric looked at them and it wasn’t hard to notice that the thick and large amount of dead mana was corrupting their bodies which were accustomed to Pure Mana of Yggdrasil.

"Hurry and take the young ones away from here! The dead mana is corrupting their-"

Just as Aelfric was shouting his command, he felt the strong itch at the back of his throat and a violent fit of coughing made him double over.

But just as suddenly as it started, he felt the cool and refreshing surge of mana rush through his body. The burning pain in his chest slowly subsided and he managed to straighten up again. He was confused as to how he had healed on his own before he lifted his head and glanced at Yggdrasil’s large branches.

The gust of wind blew through carrying the black motes of dead mana miasma and he saw the leaves of Yggdrasil drifting down, all blackened and crumbling to ashes before his very eyes.

Aelfric was snapped back to his reality and he quickly turned his attention on the Dominus who had stopped but it didn’t seem like he was being intercepted. It was more like he was now surrounded by the Dark Elves.

Among the Dark Elves he spotted one familiar face, the same boy who had injured him.

Aelfric was healed from the attack without a scar because of the Dragon’s healing mana-

Aelfric paused in his thoughts, the recollection of Dragon’s healing mana reminded him of how it had felt back then to be healed. It was a cool and refreshing feeling that made him feel as if his body had been drifting in the cool stream. The same feeling that he just experienced a moment ago.

He touched his chest wondering how it was possible but then he realised that the Dragon’s mana stone brooch was presently in his robe’s sleeve.

Had the brooch saved his life?

Aelfric didn’t have time to ponder as he watched Vaelorion and others already fighting. Feeling energized again he also rushed ahead to provide aid.

Fior and the rest of the Dark Elves didn’t think twice before they met the the lone Dark Mage head-on, they had no idea that it wasn’t a mere Dark Mage but a Dominus, regardless, they were determined to defeat him.

The youngsters were swift and carried out synchronised attacks which made the Dominus stop in his tracks.

"He’s stopped! All attack!" Vaelorion shouted.

The remaining Elders and knights descended on him at once.

The disparity between the fighting techniques of the Dark Elves and the Pure Mana Elves was clear and the Dominus who stood in once place with the dark miasma hovering around him only looked like he was watching them all.

Aelfric leapt off from the higher root and pressed his hands on the ground and started casting a large scale Pure Mana Obliteration spell which would blow away the dead mana.

"Everyone get back!" Aelfric shouted loudly.

The attackers who sensed the spell hurriedly put some distance between themselves and the Dominus before Aelfric cast the spell.

A large pillar of brilliant green light towered from the ground till the heavens. For a couple of moments, everything was bathed in the light making it seem as if it had broken through the darkness.

The pillar of light disappeared and the dark miasma seemed to have been dispersed from the roots of the Yggdrasil’s vicinity.

Aelfric slowly rose to his feet but instantly felt lightheaded and the Elder closest to him grabbed his shoulders to keep him from falling. A large scale Pure Mana Obliteration spell had taken a toll on his body.

He looked down hoping to see the area where the Dominus was standing to be completely barren but the sight of what was there made his heart sink.

A ball of pitch black miasma stood in the place of the Dominus and Aelfric couldn’t help but still feel the presence of the abominable man still being there.

His spell had been useless.

The ball of miasma slowly twitched and it blasted large amounts of dead mana into the air and once again the whole place was surrounded by the black miasma.

The Dominus smiled watching the Elf King before he was once again under the barrage of attacks, but the shield deflected all attacks.

He found these Elves to be so pathetic that waiting for so long felt like a waste of time. He could have destroyed Yggdrasil ages ago if he had any idea of how weak the Elves of this generation were.

Just then he felt the ripple in the air around him and he turned his head to see Lilith- the Domina from Sestia landed beside him. His robe was dripping and wherever the droplets fell the darkened land regained its color.

The Dominus frowned watching that before he looked at Lilith, the sudden appearance of another Dark Mage made the attackers pause.

"What’s this?" The Dominus asked, "Why are you in this state?"

"The damn Dragon! He made it rain all over Sestia." The Domina sighed deeply, wringing her sleeves making the water to fall over the root of Yggdrasil which instantly seemed to heal it.

The Dominus’s eyebrows twitched.

"Stop that!" He snapped.

Lilith went still and the Dominus watched as the root regained its color and life. His eyebrows furrowed a little as he recalled the storm from a few weeks ago. It had indeed been a work of a Dragon and he had seen firsthand of how this Dragon’s rain could reverse all the hardwork he had put in destroying Yggdrasil’s roots. He couldn’t have it repeating.

"Domina," The Dominus spoke, "Dry yourself, don’t let the water fall on the roots."

Lilith nodded and was about to step back when an arrow sailed through her shoulder and her black blood flew out splattering onto the ground. She grunted, staggering back and the Dominus clicked his tongue in annoyance.

He watched the elder Dark Elf who shot another arrow, aiming at Lilith since she lacked the barrier protecting the Dominus.

The Dominus waved his hand and a wave of dead mana covered Lilith but instead of protecting her it was dispersed and the arrow hit Lilith right in her abdomen.

The Dominus cursed under his breath, the pure mana infused water that was drenching her wouldn’t let the dead mana affect her at all.

"Target the woman! Hurry!"

The commands rang out and instantly arrows and attackers rushed towards Lilith.

The Dominus sighed, "Enough now."

He brought his hand up and snapped his fingers.

Fior who had been spearheading the attack suddenly froze in his spot.

The ones who noticed stopped while the Dominus turned and shot the black arrows made of dead mana at the attackers. Those who got hit instantly fell to the ground, coughing and convulsing.

Fior, however, stood rooted in his spot. Yttriva quickly rushed towards him.

"Fior! Fior, what happened? Fior!" She shouted grabbing his shoulders but he didn’t respond.

He stood there with his silver eyes glazed over.

The Dominus smirked before he tilted his head, staring right at Fior.

"Fio-"

Yttriva called but the name was cut off as she felt something plunge into her side.

She looked down, finding a blade halfway embedded into her side and the arm that was wielding the blade was of her own grandson’s.

Yttriva stared at his face which had no expression as he pressed the blade further into her body.

"Fior!" Xeveris rushed ahead kicking Fior away and grabbed Yttriva before she could fall.

"What the hell did you-" Xeveris shouted but before he could finish Fior was charging at him with a dagger in hand.

Some of the Dark Elves who saw Fior attacking Yttriva and now Xeveris quickly rushed in and grabbed his arms before he could kill them.

"What’s... What’s going on?" One of the young Dark Elves gasped.

"Fi-Fior, just what-"

A soft chuckle passed through the surrounding and a Dark Mage came staggering over to the Dominus’s side.

"It seems like the puppet I brought is of use to you, Dominus."

The young Dark Elves recognised Zevran instantly.

Fior thrashed against the Dark Elves and roared like a beast before he slashed and bit at them. He grabbed one of the strong Elves and threw him off before he growled and kicked and smashed his head against those who restrained him.

"He is... so far." The Dominus spoke before he felt another Pure Mana attack behind him.

He turned his head to see Vaelorion and Aelfric, a small smirk curled over his lips and he spoke.

"Kill the Pure Mana Elf King."

Fior, who had managed to throw off the ones restraining him instantly went still and turned his head looking straight at Aelfric before he disappeared from his spot charging straight towards the Elf King at a blinding speed.