Five whiplashes BOOMED as Devil Snare attacked, using the Power Whip Move.
Each of its tentacles landed squarely on an Ultramarine's Power Armor, sending him flying in that direction.
Then, slowly, it fully left the shadows, blooming to cover the entire forest.
The Magical Vine had no beginning or end.
It had neither a mouth nor eyes nor ears.
All it had were the vines, branching from each other endlessly.
However, being a vine, despite being magical in nature, it did have a central stem that remained connected to the earth by its roots. Also, like all vines, it could generate several roots from its branches, making it difficult to know which was the real root and which wasn't, giving it enough time to retaliate.
Despite that, it created a disastrous weakness.
If Kai had limited Devil Snare's growth to its general path, then the weakness would have remained as it was.
After feeding ceaselessly on Black's corrupt and poisonous blood, though, the vine had become so large that it was almost impossible to tell which was a mere branch and which was the central stem.
In turn, finding Devil Snare's roots and damaging them became not a strategy, but a risk.
One could even say that this was a path none of the Devil Snares caught as Magical Creatures in the history of the Primordial Tower had taken.
So, the information the Ultramarines had on the Devil Snare, including the one on its many variations, became almost useless.
Bouncing off the ground and flicking himself to an upright position, Sergeant Corvinus of Squad Invicta of Strike Force Invictus also came to the same conclusion.
The HUD screen glitched, all the numbers and lines on it scrambling.
He could feel a heat in his chest as well, its intensity rising with every passing moment.
This shouldn't have been a strength that a C or C+ Grade Devil Snare from the Mirror timeline should possess.
All Magical Creatures, as long as they weren't from the Pokemon Bubble, underwent a definite change once they were caught using Pokeballs while having the Pokemon Trainer Ability.
Not only did they gain a set of unique Abilities, but they also gained Pokemon-like Moves under the banner of Skills.
These Abilities and Skills, though sounding innate to the Magical Creatures, were so exaggerated that they felt outrageous upon close observation.
And the only reason it happened was because of the Pokemon Bubble's Concepts intermingling with the Magical Creature's Source through the Pokemon Trainer Ability.
In a way, the Pokemon Trainer Ability was one of the Multiverse's most natural Multiverse Interdependencies.
That's why almost all Contestants of the Primordial Tower tried at least once to have that Ability in their arsenal.
Corvinus knew all this very well, because Ultramarines were infamous for directly resurrecting in the Primordial Tower after their deaths.
It didn't happen often.
However, compared to most of the Bubbles, it happened enough to force Marines like him to start their Primordial Tower training before their resurrection so that they could serve the Empire even after death.
That's why the Warhammer 40000 Bubble, as known in the Multiverse, never shied away from maintaining contacts with different Bubbles.
It was during such contacts that Lieutenant Varro had come across Headmaster Dumbledore, the latter ending up helping the Strike Force Invictus in its endeavor.
By the decree of the Emperor, Dumbledore had been granted the right to summon the Strike Force to repay its debt.
And, looking at Devil Snare's hundreds of large, mighty tentacles, all lashing out like whips, Corvinus knew that the time had finally come.
Today, he needed to repay his debt.
Just like Brother Darius had already repaid his.
Switching his Bolter to his left hand, Corvinus reached to his back and pulled out a massive double-bitted axe, its curved blades glowing blue.
[Toward Entry Point,] the Sergeant commanded, his Brothers' locations pulsating on the HUD. If it were impossible to find Devil Snare's main root, then… [Burn everything.]
In return, the Magical Creature got its third command. [Use Instantaneous Bind.]
Before Devil Snare could act, though, Librarian Thane, stranded in the very opposite direction of Corvinus with the creature between them, narrowed his eyes, using Compel.
With an ethereal boom, a blast of psychic wave originated from him and landed on the Magical Creature.
Devil Snare had already raised several of its branches in five directions to go after the five Marines.
The moment Compel — the ability to make the target act against its will — hit it, the Echo within Devil Snare experienced a monstrous tremor before suddenly…
CRACK!
A fissure opened up in the Yellow Crystal, running down its entire length.
As the Echo was nothing but a sub-program of the Ad Infinitum, this crack was equivalent to it losing a great chunk of its code.
Suddenly, the hold the Echo had maintained on Devil Snare loosened.
Simultaneously, Librarian Thane, who was continuously firing his Bolter while using Mind Scan, paused, his eyes gaining a murderous glint.
[Going all in,] Thane reported. [Need backup.]
Then, without waiting for any Battle Brother to appear, he dropped his Bolter and faced both his palms toward Devil Snare.
Meanwhile, after experiencing a temporary halt, the Magical Creature finally moved.
However, instead of using its Move in five directions, it suddenly turned all its branches toward the Psyker.
Against the flashes of Bolters and the Heavy Flamer's fire, one could see black tentacles condensing to become a wooden drill, its tip pointed straight toward the Librarian.
A BOOM rang out as Devil Snare attacked, going for the kill.
The black, wooden drill reached Thane almost instantaneously.
Before it could actually reach him, though, four figures dropped from the sky, one after another.
Brother Valerian lost his left hand to Devil Snare, and Brother Aquila abandoned his right leg as he smashed it against the drill.
Brother Cato became flame itself, incinerating a massive chunk of the drill before it slammed into him.
Thane, gathering all his power for one last attack, saw the world becoming black in his eyes, the smell of burnt Devil Snare blasting his nostrils.
Then, just before it could blast right through his skull, a blue arc cut it off neatly, Corvinus using the flat of his axe to smash the cut, front part aside.
Thane let out a grunt.
The space in front of him twisted as his ears and eyes bled, the Compel breaking the Laws of the Mirror timeline…
… along with the Echo commanding Devil Snare!