Chapter 1268 (2/2)

“Eh…. I can overpower them in quick succession if I only need to worry about protecting myself… but if I’m defending you, probably only two.”

“That’s better. Seed of Arbor. Seed of Arbor. Calm Before the Mana Storm… excuse me?” What Derek had been about to try and say to Tim was interrupted as the teenage girl poked him in the back. She smiled shyly at Derek and then looked at Tim. She held out her hand toward Tim and in her palm was a tiny ruby that glittered as though it was alive. “I hate to ask, but I really hope you will take this and hide it somewhere safe. It’s really important… that they don’t find out that this is here. Can you protect it?”

Tim’s eyes glazed over and he nodded confidently as he took the tiny ruby. Derek could only shake his head, but then cast a gratitude-filled look at the teenage girl. She smiled at him again. And then, as Derek watched aghast, she hopped up onto the back of his seat and then leapt forward out onto the football field.

The group from the Red Revival and the Nemesai accompaniment immediately noticed her movement. Derek couldn’t understand what she was trying to do. “She-”

“Is starting things,” the man said coolly. He cracked his knuckles. “Better not let the other side set the tempo of the engagement, especially when we are already surrounded by bloodbeasts. And still, we need to figure out what trick they have to survive the blowback.”

“Trick?” Derek asked. But almost immediately, he understood. Even if the Red Revival group was powerful and had bloodbeasts squirreled away within the stadium, the government of Zone 1 had known that this might be coming. The immediate area around the stadium was clear, but they had troops waiting for the slightest sign of trouble just a little way beyond that. Whole swarms of drones were kept in warehouses, ready to blow to pieces any bloodbeast with enough gall to show themselves.

Either this group had a way of escaping that threat or whatever they were about to do would take no time at all. They would act and be smacked down otherwise.

“But she’s just-” Derek said unwillingly. The Red Revival group had ascended the stage and stood before the podium. The leader in a crimson robe reached for the microphone while looking over toward the teenage girl. She swung her arm as she traveled midair and a ray of red light shot forward into the ground in front of her. The turf in the area surrounding the impact point began to tremble.

“She’s the Priestess of Arbor.” Tykes grunted.

The man who called himself Straud spoke into the microphone. “I’ll keep this brief; all of you here will die, so-”

The ground where the teenage girl had thrown the object exploded. In a split second, a tree with burning leaves erupted from the ground with its branches twisting and writhing as it rapidly grew to a height of five meters. The teenage girl landed on top of the tree and jabbed her finger forward toward Straud. “Divine Branch of Arbor.”

Straud’s mouth twisted upward. “-so you might as well struggle.”

One of the branches swelled to double its original size and slithered forward like a snake. The man next to Straud produced a dagger and leapt forward in the air to meet the sudden attack. A terrible aura of blood and killing started to swirl around the man as he rushed to intercept the powerful branch. Yet right as the two attacks met, an oppressive phantom of a vast flaming tree appeared in the sky above the stadium.

Rather than a true tree, the phantom was a treant; on its trunk was a face. The eyes of that face were twisted with malice as it stared down at the group who had taken the stage.

Cursing, the man with the dagger was smashed to the side and the attack rushed forward to Straud. But rather than being intimidated, Straud’s smile slowly widened. “Heh. Your enthusiasm is admirable… but thanks for flushing yourself out so early. You were one of the ones we were worried about hiding and making trouble later.”

The branch continued to shoot forward. Straud raised his fist and smashed it directly into the attack. Again, the huge treant with the baleful expression appeared over the field, but this time it was joined by a vast monster of blood and pain that stared at the treant with empty eyes.

BOOOOOOOM!

The wood of the podium was smashed to splinters by the intensity of the clash. The stage beneath Straud cracked and groaned. The Nemesai leapt backward off of the stage, avoiding the reverberations from the attack. But Derek knew that although the conflict looked like a draw, the girl had been on the losing end.

With a sharp palm, Straud deflected the branch as it twisted around to strike for a second time. With his robe billowing around him, he raised both of his hands. “Worry not, ye sinful masses. This place will be the altar where God may descend… and then he can lead us to paradise.”