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That was an alternative form of “Death.” Laine suddenly realized that this being, nestled among the remnants of the Nine Realms, astonishingly resonated with him in terms of authority, only their paths were utterly different.

The birth and death of this ‘tree’ signified the fall of the spirit and the eternal life of flesh and blood.

With one step, Laine vanished from his original spot, but the vacuum’s power couldn’t affect the spread of that thought. It collided directly with Laine’s Spiritual Body, and those deceased beings told their stories in the call — they spoke of their insignificant past, their ‘great’ present, and revealed the principles at the core of life before ‘inviting’ Laine to become a part of them.

Then, as a matter of course, this spiritual assault was easily smoothed over, purified, and deciphered by the Sovereign of Spirits, who then learned the message it contained.

“What a hassle.”

His expression unchanged, Laine parried a couple of feeble moves with the massive tree and finally turned his gaze towards the direction of The Dark Overlord.

“You don’t seem to be faring too well, Erebus.”

The ‘tree’s’ attacks on him had been mere tests, while the other Outsider, who had entered before him, was Its real target.

Just as Laine had seen upon entering the realm of mist, boundless Darkness had claimed a third of Niflheim, devouring everything that approached like a colossal black hole. Yet, Laine noticed that this vast domain of Darkness was steadily retreating.

Four robust branches pierced through half the plane, thrusting directly into the black shroud from the center of the world, constantly stirring within. A red mist imbued with the breath of life poured ceaselessly into the domain of Darkness, allowing itself to be consumed. However, Laine noticed that, as time passed, a trace of vitality began to emerge within the Darkness.

If the stalemate continued, the victor would be self-evident.

“Either join me in dealing with It or I’ll simply leave this place. While this creature is terrifying, you don’t really think It can do anything to me, do you?”

From afar, Erebus’s voice came once more, still composed despite being at a disadvantage. Indeed, apart from the initial surprise by the Crimson Giant Tree when he was unfamiliar with the situation, he had not sustained any direct harm.

Yet in the Darkness, Erebus watched as his left hand, which seemed to have birthed its own will, and his expression was still somewhat grim.

This change appeared to be irreversible, at least for a being without the related authority. Of course, he could simply sever this hand and replace it with a new one, but that would have to wait until his return to the Chaos World, and besides, such actions themselves were repulsive to him.

For the first time, Erebus felt a direct disgust towards a being, unrelated to interests; he merely wanted to destroy It purely.

“Then leave, It indeed cannot do much to you, but I don’t think that we can do much to It either,”

“You must have already perceived Its nature; do you truly believe you can resolve It?”

Hovering in the air, Laine looked upon the twisted yet ‘beautiful’ Giant Tree with growing trepidation.

Based on past experiences and the fragmented information deciphered from the spiritual contamination, Laine had come to know the origin of the Giant Tree before him.

The Nine Realms were dead; that was the glaring result before him. What exactly led to the Twilight of the Gods, which was supposed to only slay Deities, evolving to such an extent, was still unknown. But just as the potent Deities die and often give birth to other gods or creatures on their corpses, so too, when a world dies, It would also foster some horrifying beings.

A small amount that escaped ended up on naturally wondrous objects like the Eye of Odin. Unsurprisingly, similar beings existed in other realms that Laine had not visited. However, the main remnant of the dead world adhered to the disintegrated trunk of the World Tree, ultimately landing here.

Yggdrasil, in the original myth, its collapse was merely the prelude to the Twilight of the Gods, but here, it met its destruction alongside the nine great realms. Therefore, its remains had a special symbolism and became the vessel for the afterthoughts of the Death of the Nine Realms; the Crimson Giant Tree before him was the product of their combination.

The innate desire of the world for continuity gave the World Tree new life, albeit in another form. At this moment, the Giant Tree seemed like a kind of alternative Primordial God; as for why It didn’t resemble normal deities, there was nothing odd about that — not because some extraterrestrial entity influenced them, but a world in itself is like that, embodying both Order and Chaos.

When the world is whole and healthy, the aspect of Order usually prevails — such is the case with the Chaos World; but when a world is on the brink of Destruction, Chaos becomes dominant, leading everything into disorder, and the Giant Tree before him is such an example.

It was born from the ‘Death’ of the Nine Realms and Yggdrasil, and from their twin desire for ‘Life,’ only Its methods of pursuing ‘Life’ were clearly not accepted by normal life forms.

It attempted to assimilate all things into itself, thereby eternally extending Its own existence. It inherited the ‘all-encompassing’ nature of the world so It wouldn’t annihilate any life but merge with them instead, just like Its current consciousness — which was composed of the instincts of the Nine Realms, the vague thoughts of the World Tree, and the collective life of Niflheim. That is precisely why Laine referred to It as ‘It.’