Chapter 220: Destructive Vitality

The massive trunk of the divine tree loomed like a pillar of creation itself.

Vines as thick as mountains coiled around Zane’s body, binding his arms, legs, torso—layer after layer of living restraint. Only his head remained visible, tilted slightly as if he were merely resting against a wall rather than imprisoned by a structure the size of a continent.

The seven gods hovered before him.

Thalira stood at the front now, no longer exhausted. The faint fatigue that had weighed on her moments ago was gone; her posture was steady, her divine aura full and calm again. The leaves of the colossal tree pulsed softly behind her, as if breathing with her.

Zane looked at her, then at the vines wrapped around him.

“…Oh,” he said quietly.

The gods watched.

Zane shifted his shoulders slightly, testing the restraint. The vines didn’t move.

He glanced at his own hands—what little he could see of them through the bindings—and then gave a small, understanding nod.

“Now I see,” he said.

His eyes lifted to Thalira.

“This tree of yours… it’s trapping me and restricting my dark mana. If I try to use it, the tree absorbs it. Purifies it. Converts it into vitality and pure divine mana.”

There was a brief pause.

Thalira inclined her head a fraction.

“If you understand that,” she said calmly, “then don’t try anything.”

Her voice sounded steady.

Inside, however, relief washed through her like a quiet tide.

So it works.

It’s working.

Her gaze stayed fixed on Zane while her thoughts moved faster beneath the surface.

It’s a relief he doesn’t have overwhelming physical strength.

If he did… this wouldn’t hold.

A memory flickered in the back of her mind—ancient, buried in divine history.

The previous Goddess of Nature.

The great war.

An Abyssal of similar level.

That monster hadn’t relied on mana. It had simply torn the divine world tree apart with raw physical force, ripping through its trunk and roots like they were nothing more than vines in a storm. The battlefield had become a graveyard of divine bark and shattered continents.

That had been the end of her predecessor.

But this one…

This one relies on that dark mana.

Her gaze sharpened slightly.

As long as the tree holds him, he can’t use it.

As long as he can’t use it… we can kill him.

Around her, the other gods watched Zane carefully—anger, caution, and a faint, cautious hope mixing in their expressions.

And at the center of it all, bound to the living trunk, Zane simply looked back at them with a faint, unreadable smile.

The bark around him pulsed once, faintly, like a heartbeat.

Zane tilted his head as much as the vines allowed and looked at Thalira.

“…Hmm. Your vitality increased,” he said, voice calm, almost conversational. “You’re connected to this tree. It’s feeding you the converted energy, isn’t it?”

A small smile touched his lips.

Thalira’s expression didn’t change, but her eyes narrowed just slightly.

Before she could answer—

“Shut up, Abyssal.”

Primordius stepped forward, heat surging off him in waves. The air around his arm shimmered as layers of red-gold divine flame wrapped around his fist. His golden eyes burned with fury.

“You’re going to tell us how you escaped the Abyss seal,” he said, voice low and dangerous. “That seal is weakening. That’s why the mortal world had to be destroyed. But an Abyssal of your level shouldn’t even be able to get out.”

Zane looked at him.

“I’m not an Abyssal at all.”

The temperature in the area spiked instantly.

Primordius’s jaw tightened, veins lighting under bronze skin.

“You…!!”

His arm ignited fully. Divine fire condensed around his fist until it glowed like a miniature sun.

He stepped in and drove a punch straight into Zane’s face.

The impact cracked through the air like thunder.

Zane’s head snapped to the side from the force.

For a moment, silence.

Then his neck slowly straightened. His face turned back toward them, expression unchanged, eyes settling on Primordius with quiet clarity.

“…Don’t even think about it,” Zane said.

Primordius scoffed and drew back for another strike—

Zane finished the sentence calmly.

“—or you’re going to regret it.”

“Stop, Primordius.”

Thalira’s voice cut through the heat before he could swing again. The God of Flames clicked his tongue but stepped back, fire still rolling off his arm.

“We will wait,” she continued, calm again. “The three great leaders have already been notified. When they arrive and learn what you’ve done—what you are—they will pass judgment. Proper judgment.”

The divine world tree pulsed behind her, branches stretching across the horizon like a living sky. Light flowed through its veins, into her, into the ground, into the very air.

Zane went still.

Then he sniffed lightly.

Once.

Twice.

“…No,” he said softly. “No, milady.”

He looked up at her with mild amusement.

“Your so-called great leaders won’t be delivering justice to me. The only thing they’ll be finding when they arrive… are your corpses. And the corpses of every soldier in this realm.”

He tilted his head slightly.

“And I’ll be eating my snacks while they look.”

Thalira’s eyes narrowed.

“You’re trapped. You cannot use that dark mana. You cannot move. This tree suppresses you completely. So stop bluffing.”

Zane exhaled slowly, almost like he was bored.

“My snacks are arriving,” he said. “So let me show you how I’m going to do all those things.”

The ground rumbled.

At first it was faint—just a tremor beneath the massive roots of the divine world tree. Then it grew. The vines binding him creaked. Leaves shivered.

Thalira’s expression shifted.

The tree responded.

Light surged through its trunk and branches, flowing rapidly into her body. Her form began to glow with fresh vitality, wounds long gone, power swelling even further as the tree fed her.

The shaking intensified.

Not from Zane’s body.

From the realm itself.

The thin film of dark mana spread over Zane’s body like ink in water.

At first it was faint—barely a sheen. The divine world tree responded instantly. Its roots glowed, its branches hummed, and every thread of that darkness touching the vines was dragged away, purified, converted.

And poured straight into Thalira.

Vitality surged through her veins. Divine light thickened around her like a second skin. The more dark mana Zane released, the brighter she shone.

The ground trembled harder.

The watching gods looked around, confused.

“What’s happening…?”

“Why is the realm shaking?”

Thalira, radiant and overflowing with power, looked down at Zane with cold certainty.

“It’s useless. Release as much of that dark mana as you want. This tree purifies it. All you are doing… is feeding me.”

Zane smiled.

“That’s what I want.”

The layer around him thickened.

Darkness spread across his shoulders, his arms, his chest. The tree drank it eagerly. Roots pulsed. Branches blazed. More and more vitality flooded into Thalira.

Her glow intensified.

Then intensified again.

And again.

Her expression changed.

“…No.”

The tree pulsed harder, faster, drawing in everything it could.

More dark mana poured from Zane.

Thicker. Denser. Heavier.

“No… that’s impossible,” Thalira whispered. “Nothing can overflow the divine world tree.”

Zane tilted his head slightly.

“You should know something about me.”

The darkness around him surged, compressing into a heavy aura that pressed against every vine binding him.

“When it comes to me… nothing is impossible.”

He released more.

The tree drank more.

White leaves across its vast canopy began to glow too brightly. Then they began to burn—not with fire, but with excess. Vitality so dense it smoldered. Branches trembled under the strain of too much life.

Thalira’s breathing faltered.

Power kept pouring into her. Too much. Far too much.

Her limbs shook. Light spilled from her skin in unstable waves.

Sweat formed across her brow—then evaporated instantly under the pressure of overflowing divine energy.

The other gods stared.

“…What is happening to her?”

“Release the summoning!” one of them shouted. “Dismiss the world tree!”

Thalira dropped to one knee. Then both.

“No… impossible… stop…!” she gasped, trying to cut the connection.

The tree kept feeding her.

Zane laughed softly.

“Ahh… there we go.”

The dark mana around him thickened further, pushing into the vines faster than they could purify it. Faster than the tree could convert it safely. Every drop became vitality. Every drop was forced into Thalira.

She started to swell.

Subtle at first.

Then visible.

Her arm expanded slightly. Then her shoulder. Her eye twitched, the white of it bulging unnaturally.

Primordius roared and lunged forward, flames bursting from his arm. A torrent of golden-red fire crashed into Zane’s bound body.

“Die! DIE—!”

Sylphara followed, unleashing razor winds that fed the flames, turning them into a storm of burning blades. Glacira summoned absolute frost, ice forming in massive spears meant to pierce and freeze everything at once.

All three attacks collided with Zane’s position.

The light cleared.

Nothing changed.

The tree kept glowing.

The flow kept feeding Thalira.

Zane was still there. Still pouring dark mana into the system.

Her body swelled further.

Her hand distorted, fingers stretching as if filled with too much air. One eye bulged grotesquely. Light leaked from her skin like cracks in a vessel.

“…Run,” she whispered.

The gods froze.

“Run.”

They understood.

Too late.

They turned to move—but their bodies wouldn’t respond.

“I… can’t move,” Glacira said, voice tight with panic.

Primordius tried to step back and found his limbs locked.

“It’s him… he’s—”

He didn’t finish.

Thalira’s body ballooned outward, veins of white-gold light tearing across her form.

Then she exploded.

A silent instant.

Then a blinding eruption.

Pure white light burst outward like a star going supernova, a dome of compressed vitality and divine energy expanding violently in every direction. The explosion swallowed the massive roots of the world tree, shattered branches into radiant dust, and engulfed the surrounding gods before they could escape.

Heat without flame.

Light without mercy.

Vitality turned destructive.

The shockwave tore across the realm, devouring everything in its radius.

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