IBHJ 1043

"You brats!" Pluto roared, furious at the sight of the pierced maiden. She gestured sharply, and the power of the underworld coalesced into a scythe, slashing towards them.

Space tore open, creating a massive black tear. Shirou narrowed his eyes, studying the tear. He scooped up some mud and flung it at the opening. The moment it touched the edge of the tear, the void's smooth shape distorted. Its borders flickered and warped. Then, a surge of malice erupted from its center, shredding the tear until it collapsed in on itself with a thunderous implosion.

Pluto's lips tightened as she watched Shirou effortlessly neutralize her attack.

"Stand down," Shirou said, looking at her.

"What?"

"Don't you remember? I defeated you already."

"That was a fluke!" Pluto retorted. Her face flushed with anger. The memory of her defeat was still fresh; the mighty Pluto, brought down by a simple slime attack. How humiliating!

Crack crack crack——

A series of cracking sounds filled the air. The maiden, her heart pierced by Mordred, rose to her feet. Her movements were jerky and unnatural, her bones grinding against each other with sickening crunches. Blood streamed from her closed eyes as she faced them.

Then, a third eye opened on her forehead. But where there should have been an iris, there was only a raw, bleeding socket. The wound pulsed once, twice, before tree roots burst from the cavity. They writhed like pale worms, spreading outward with a sound like scraping bark.

"Something's wrong, old man! Be careful!" Mordred frowned.

"I know. You too."

"Mm."

The wooden tendrils continued to spread, pulling the maiden's body upright like a puppet on strings. Her skin began to bubble and split. Thousands of tiny holes opened across her flesh and oozed a thick black mist.

The mist curled around her, forming howling ghost faces and screaming faces, grotesque and terrifying. Within the coiling black mist, she seemed to regain some awareness, softly murmuring, "A-Altera..."

Shirou snapped his head up at the name, his eyes locking onto the maiden.

Without warning, the black mist pulled inward, condensing into a tight mass - then exploded outward with devastating force.

The ground ripped apart with a sound like thunder. Massive chunks of earth broke loose, launching into the sky like missiles. The very fabric of space cracked and splintered, reality itself breaking apart like shattered glass.

Mordred's Grail flared to life, throwing up a barrier around her and Shirou. The protective field made them phase through the splintering space as the world broke apart around them.

The maiden's wooden tendrils continued growing, eventually wrapping around her to form a wooden cocoon. Then, countless more tendrils erupted from the cracks in the earth, grabbing at both adventurers and monsters indiscriminately.

The branches struck without mercy, snatching up anything that moved. Both adventurers and monsters tried to flee, their screams blending together as they ran. But the tendrils were faster. Each victim caught in their grip went rigid as the branches began their feast, sucking away blood and muscle until nothing remained but empty husks of skin stretched over bone.

"What, what's happening?" Enkidu's voice shook as she watched the corpses fall, their bodies dried and withered like ancient mummies.

The wave of death spread everywhere like a plague. Those who weren't caught by the branches had to dodge the rain of drained corpses falling from above. More tendrils erupted with each passing second, turning the battlefield into a forest of hungry wood.

"Old man!" Mordred shouted urgently.

"I know!" Shirou drew Rhongomyniad, transforming it into a Tower of Light, and directed it to bombard the wooden cocoon. But just as the tower was about to strike, the black mist hovering around the cocoon began spinning, forming a reverse black vortex that absorbed the tower's light, reducing it to nothing.

Shirou's eyes widened in surprise. "Lord of Salvation? No! It's different!"

He gritted his teeth, bringing his hands together in a sharp clap. The ground beneath the wooden cocoon erupted as waves of black mud burst out. The mud rose and twisted, shaping itself into massive petals that unfurled like a blooming flower of darkness. The flower grew larger and larger, its petals reaching out to swallow the cocoon whole.

But the cocoon reacted. Its smooth surface split open as branches shot out in all directions, each one as sharp as a spear. They plunged deep into the mud flower, spreading like hungry roots. The moment they made contact, the mud began to change. The wet, flowing darkness dried up in seconds, starting where the branches touched and spreading outward like a plague. The once-liquid mud cracked and fell away in chunks, turning to dust as if it had been baking under a merciless sun for centuries.

Shirou clicked his tongue and drew Laevateinn, transforming it into a giant flaming sword, and slashed at the cocoon's midsection.

The cocoon's surface exploded with movement, wooden shields sprouting and layering over each other like scales. They spread across its surface in waves, trying to form a wall against the attack.

But Laevateinn's flames tore through them like paper. Each shield splintered and burned away the moment the blazing sword touched it, leaving nothing but ash in its wake. The fiery blade cut deeper and deeper, burning through layer after layer as it drove toward the cocoon's main body. The sound of breaking wood filled the air as shields continued to sprout and shatter.

Laevateinn was a weapon crafted in ancient times to suppress Yggdrasil and, by extension, Uranus. It was the natural enemy of both.

Pluto burst forward in panic, her body moving to intercept Laevateinn's strike. But before she could reach them, the wooden tendrils spread throughout the battlefield began to pulse. All the life force they had stolen from their victims surged through them at once, flowing into the cocoon like rivers of power, delivering their grim harvest into its core.

The cocoon shuddered. Red light blazed from within as bloody energy rippled across its surface. Wet, raw flesh began to spread over its wooden skeleton, growing and multiplying at a terrifying rate. Muscle and sinew wove themselves together, wrapping around the branches until they had formed a massive, scaled body. The transformation completed with a wet, tearing sound as a dragon emerged, its massive form curled protectively around the cocoon.

The dragon threw its head back, jaws spreading wide.

"Grrrooooaaarrrr!!"

The black mist above them churned and split apart, transforming into a swarm of evil faces. They dove toward the ground like striking hawks, their mouths stretched wide in silent screams. Each face found a victim—the dried husks and empty bodies scattered across the battlefield, leftovers from the roots' feast.

The corpses jerked and twisted as the faces plunged into them. Limbs snapped straight, bodies lurched upright. Their flesh warped and changed, transforming into grotesque new shapes.

Ghostly cries and wolf howls filled the air as demons danced wildly across the ground.

Everyone stared in shock. "W-What is happening?"

On the altar, the Archbishop opened his eyes, his expression grave.

In the lower land, Enos, the High Priest of the Ancient Wisdom God, sighed. "Evil spirits have returned!"

Green trees withered, flowers wilted, and dead leaves blanketed the ground. The once vibrant land transformed into a desolate wasteland.

Hateful black mist shrouded the sky, plunging everything into darkness. The earth cracked like a spiderweb, and withered roots sprouted from the ground, entangling countless skeletal corpses, creating a desolate burial ground.

Shrill cries of resentment echoed through the black mist that covered the sky. Ghostly faces within the mist dove down, possessing the skeletal corpses one after another.

Cracking sounds filled the air as bones reanimated, breaking free from the vines that entangled them and forming wooden armor. They turned towards the brightly lit Sanctuary, their jaws opening and closing with strange, guttural sounds, like the laughter of evil spirits.

"What are those? Skeleton monsters?" people exclaimed in shock.

"Probably not..." someone said with a worried frown.

"The system, the system isn't showing any information or names for these monsters!" someone shouted in panic.

"Is it another bug?" someone else asked anxiously.