"Eras ago, in the time of the ancients, when gods still walked the earth, there was a divine descendant of the Celestial Titan lineage. His name was Delus, younger brother to the founders of the Lemur and Lamar League. But before he became the fifth Rex Sacrorum of the Lemurian League, he had been a young god who lived in solitude, seeking not wealth, but enlightenment.
"He sought to achieve true enlightenment, to connect with the divine essence that exists in every living being, for even as a god, he could not transcend his own condition without effort.
"Therefore, he meditated and worshipped the Three Divine Immortals, hoping to one day achieve enlightenment. He became an ascetic; he did not drink nor did he touch a woman for six millennia.
"Six millennia of silence and meditation, but nothing happened. He did not reach the state he sought; this drove him to despair.
"He tried again, this time traveling through the Mortal Realm of those times. He traveled for ten millennia, experienced a million emotions, but restrained himself and followed ascetic teachings. And time continued to pass, and nothing happened.
"He didn't even manage to touch the edge of transcendence.
"Furious and filled with impotence, he cursed the Immortals and considered abandoning everything to seclude himself once more, this time ignoring time entirely to achieve that state he desired so much.
"But then a vision appeared to him. It was one of the Three Immortals in an austere and sacred form, and she spoke two phrases to him before disappearing:
'Avoid anguish and seek the absence of pain.'
"Those words left Delus stupefied. He had lost thousands of years for those words. But even so, he reflected and finally decided to live a full life—but he didn't know how to live it, so he descended to the mortal world. A world not very different from the one we live in now.
"And then, for the first time, he entered a brothel. At first, he watched in horror as men and women succumbed to their instincts. He reprimanded the owner of the establishment for stooping to such an impious practice and deviant behavior: men and women in an orgiastic scene as they drank wine and enjoyed endless pleasures.
"That could not bring enlightenment. If this was how mortals lived, why had the goddess said that transcendence was in this world of mundane temptations?
"Then the matriarch revealed herself to be none other than the Goddess and, with an expression of wisdom, answered the stupefied Delus:
'Oh, benefactor, there is no joy in following the straight path. Those with weak spirits, fearful of themselves, choose isolation and the absurd reflection of the world. Conversely, there is no evil or goodness; the liberation of heroic spirits like yours lies in immediate pleasures. The brightest existences walk this path—not enslaving themselves to these sensations, but embracing them to free themselves from their pain and ego.'
"And from there we know the Delus that everyone was born under; the dominant Delus who conquered half the world and let himself be carried away by his innate mundane desires, achieving maximum glory and transcendence."
..... .....
Blood flowed from his mouth, but he still stood up. Ducanor Kal Arreus had returned, and the Blood Wolf had disappeared back into the depths of his mind.
Ducanor didn't know it, but he had overcome a tribulation that normally only Mortal Lords were capable of overcoming: the Heart Devil. And although that had no palpable benefits at this point...
Except, of course, for one.
"Brat, even if you're still alive, you haven't escaped death," roared an unknown voice, startling him as he threw himself to the side.
Suddenly he was surrounded by dozens, if not hundreds, of vines that, like whips and spears, seemed determined to kill him.
"Damn it, what the hell have I gotten myself into?" The memories of the last few days, or weeks, seemed as fuzzy as a dream.
But even so, he moved with agility. His body had undergone a physical improvement that stunned him, as he felt himself moving with immeasurably greater flexibility and speed than in the past.
But despite this, the speed of the branches and vines was far greater. One of the spikes pierced straight into his shoulder, almost going right through him.
"I refuse to die after coming back!" Ducanor roared with rage.
Suddenly, a flame burned in his chest. But this flame was not metaphysical or emotional; a real flame erupted from his chest and spread to his shoulder, injecting itself into the branch as a glacial cold flooded it, shattering its roots.
"You... how is it you possess a Spiritual Flame?" the Tree roared with anger, as its roots retreated to begin a new, even fiercer offensive than before.
Ducanor was ignorant of the nature of the power he had awakened within himself, but he wasn't complaining. By destroying his Heart Devil, he had also destroyed his ability to transform into a Lycan, even though in a corner of his mind, the sinister voice of his alter ego begged to use that power.
But he knew that if the Blood Wolf came to the surface again, Ducanor would not be able to resurface as he had now.
"Eat my tree-destroying fist!" Ducanor roared as he jumped back and dodged the attacks coming from all directions, covering his body in blue flames while his Dharmic Rune glowed considerably.
At that moment, the image of the Griffon on his chest disappeared, to be replaced by the image of a completely different creature.
"You damn imbecile!" the Tree shouted in frustration at Ducanor's words.
Its fleshy trunk expelled more branches, blood, and meat, while dozens of skulls and heads surfaced on the trunk of the tree itself.
Meanwhile, for Ducanor, the situation was different.
The Second Dharmic Rune had formed on Ducanor's back. Legends said that Dharmic Runes took the shapes of beasts or treasures because, in ancient times, the ancestors of the Aesir race had sealed the spirits of ancient demons into their own flesh to strengthen their innate strength, which was waning through the dilution of their bloodline.
And now it had awakened.
"Second Dharmic Rune: Arctic Kirin."
Suddenly, a pair of illusory deer antlers sprouted from Ducanor's forehead. The arctic flames covered his body at the same time everything within a hundred-meter radius of him froze solid.
"Impossible..." the Tree grunted in shock upon feeling a non-negligible pressure emanating from Ducanor.
Suddenly, flesh began to sprout from the tree itself. But this flesh was golden; the entire fleshy body of the tree turned golden and its branches warped—not into twigs and vines, but into swords and arrows.
"Die," the Tree sentenced with absolute coldness.
The golden weapons rained down on him like projectiles, leaving him stupefied. He quickly retreated as far out of the tree's reach as possible.
His physical strength had increased thanks to the power of the Second Dharmic Rune, and in less than a breath he had covered a distance of a hundred meters without even touching the ground. His feet stepped on the air as if it were solid, and he was capable of slight levitation. Unfortunately, he wasn't in a position to admire the dexterity he had gained through his transformation.
"Damn it, where did I come in?" His senses had extended beyond his vision; he could easily perceive everything within a fifty-meter radius, but he couldn't find anything resembling an exit or an entrance.
"You're trapped with me, boy. All exits are sealed and all hope is lost. Surrender and perhaps I'll be as merciful as I was with Julia, though that bitch fled at the first opportunity," the Demonic Tree growled with anger and menace.
"What? You plan on sucking me off too?" Ducanor replied with disdain, noting that the tree's attacks were becoming less powerful by the second, as if its strength was waning.
This made Ducanor feel somewhat confident.
It can't escape and it's losing strength. I have to kill it, but... Approaching it was dangerous.
A golden spear pierced the void and buried itself deep into the ground just inches from Ducanor.
"Thanks for the weapon," Ducanor grunted.
Suddenly, upon touching it with his right hand, he was horrified to see that the golden color covering the spear had now reached his fingertips.
"Shit! You..." Horrified, he backed away from the spear, but at that exact moment, hundreds of projectiles rained down on him.
I'm going to die, he thought with fury. The arctic flames were useless against the mysterious power that imbued everything in gold.
But even so...
"Look out!"
He heard it and watched, stupefied, as the air in front of him distorted. A fierce stream of water covered dozens of meters of distance, dispersing the waves of attacks, while three figures took shape before him.
"Quick! Destroy its roots, that's its main body!" shouted what appeared to be a young man with blue hair.
Suddenly, from his voice emerged a deep chant, a hymn in an incomprehensible tongue and an unknown language.
"Guardian of the Earth."
At those words, the ground split open, forming a humanoid giant of rock and gravel that began to charge toward the Demonic Tree. The tree resisted with difficulty, firing everything from spears to much larger weapons, like chains, to restrict the giant's advance.
"You... how did you get here? That bastard Intermezzo couldn't have run away from you. Who was it? Did you kill him, or did that damn..."
The tree's insults were cut short when a third, female figure fired a beam of energy that shattered the ground directly beneath the tree, revealing its horrific roots.
"What is that horror?" Ducanor groaned, dazed.
Blood and corpses—dozens, if not hundreds of corpses—bathed the interior, fusing with the roots to form a purulent, deformed heart of flesh and wood. And then he cried out in surprise.
"Son of a..."
Stunned, he watched as a beauty with curly green hair looked at him with a smile. And he watched as four of his fingers fell to the ground in one clean downward slice of a dagger.
"Ahhh!" The pain was absurd, but the greater surprise was seeing how his fingers, his blood, and flesh, turned into gold. Four pieces of gold bathed in his own blue blood.
"Relax, I saved your hand, boy. Though I suppose that's not very good comfort for you, especially at such a young age."
"No! I refuse to die! I cannot die! I am Abasi Al Amin, I am the ancestor of the Amin Clan, I am the future Blood Dragon, I am..."
But at that moment, the beautiful woman with blue hair thrust a long sword through the void, forming a massive blade of water that pierced directly through the heart, making the last vestige of life in the Demonic Tree explode.
And the end arrived like a blinding beam of light, filling Ducanor with bewilderment. A bewilderment that was shattered...
When suddenly, from the remains of the withered tree, something emerged. A small golden light cut through the air like lightning. And even to the surprise of the woman beside him, who couldn't even block the sudden projectile, it lodged itself directly into Ducanor's forehead, melting into it.
The golden light being Ducanor's last conscious memory before falling unconscious to the ground.