The Emperor saw the damage from his vantage point, he pulled the fire back and watched as Ying Ho's arm began to heal. There was a sword flying toward his head, thrown from the Nature Spirit.
The wooden sword was keeping up with the best that the Darkflame blade could muster. The Whitefire that burned at the Nature Spirit had disappeared and it was furious. Spears, hundreds of them began to descend on the battle group. Ho and Wu Hai were able to dodge but the rest of the group was not so lucky. Several of the Empire's finest were run through, though they did not die immediately. The nature spirit started to sap at their energy reserves, weakening them and strengthening itself at the same time.
It was the third one that was able to tear himself away. His aura, his bloodline.. his body was not able to dodge but he had survived. Somehow his blood was harmful, perhaps toxic. There was a negative effect on the Nature Spirit through their contact, it reeled back and reclaimed its appendage.
"I am not yours to command!" It roared in hate and fine grooves appeared across its body, sharp, poisonous ribs covered its carapace.
The Treat leapt into the air with several of its roots supporting its weight from below. The blades from its ribs were like a grinder to anything beneath its roll.
Ho pushed several of the Truthers free from their doom but was hit in that next instant. His aura surged and the darkflame blade became lodged in the ribs. It circled the body once and he caught it with his hand, holding it still while gritting his teeth. "*^@&" Ying Ho struggled, tears flowed from his face. He held onto the blade with every ounce of strength he could muster.
'I'm sorry, Qingchi.. ' Thoughts of doom ran through his head, several thousand years of life cut short on a simple quest for medicine. He wanted to shed one more tear, he was ready to die for his wife. The strike was sure to at least stop the Wandering Demon Tree. "Qing.."
His words were cut short, a White blade came between the Ying Family head and the sharp edges of the Demon Tree. "Get up you fucking fool!" The blades were sparking, grinding against the trunk of the Demon Tree. Wu Hai's serious face gave Ho a shock, his brother had never come to his rescue before, he, in that moment, didn't expect such action.
"Why?!" Ho seemed upset having been saved.
"Why?! Your wife is about to have a baby you goddamn fool, so don't give up. Stand the fuck up and FIGHT!" Swinging his blades down, the roots of the Demon Tree were chopped at once again, several of them were cleaved off, leaving only a few.
Ho jumped into action, the Darkflame blade was doing little to harm the Demon Tree but it wasn't his only weapon. A crystalline hatchet appeared in his hands, chopping down.
The Truthers with psychic ability were doing their best to restrain the Demon Tree but its actions were wildly unpredictable. Ten, perhaps Eleven truthers had already died during the fight. The whole thing seemed like a waste of life, Wu Hai roared in anger when another had died beside him.
Black Miasma started to pour from the Emperor's back.
"HO! WHAT PART DO YOU NEED!" He swung his fist, jabbing it into the trunk of the Demon Tree.
"HEART!" Ho yelled while dodging another of the spear like roots from below. His footwork was great but the roots were able to turn on a dime.
Several of them pierced Ying Ho's leg.
"Got it." Wu Hai pulled, the Demon Tree was just a vessel for the Nature Spirit. As he tore it from the body, its roots went limp.
Wails and earthquakes began. The whole area was quaking and trees began to topple.
"MOVE!" A captain among the Truthers gave an order and the majority of them began to move.
Ho and Wu Hai flashed away quickly, dirt began to shift like there was an explosion underneath. A mount of dirt began to rise and slowly, hooked fingers began to spring out from the ground. They were sharp and made from some sort of enchanted material. Spellwork was written across their surface and every clump of bark held another rune.
"This is bad." Wu Hai could feel the aura, it was somewhat terrifying. He stored away the heart that was still beating in his hands. "RUN!"
Giving the Order, the Emperor began channeling while he was running. When he turned, he threw a darkflame disc in the direction of the Nature spirit.
Once it was released, he kept running.
When he was a child, the Emperor had played with such things. They were terrifying then, now, they were downright biblical in proportion. The Entire area was swallowed in a mushroom cloud. Dirt and wood were atomized, a crater, larger than Zao City opened up in the Earth, consuming everything in its path.
"... Wu." Ho saw the devastation through his own eyes. "What was that?!"
"Something Master Jiang told me not to use. You can see why." The fireball was rolling into the air, the blast wave had cut down every tree within its radius. Wu Hai was breathing hard, he hadn't been in a battle for some time. "Is it dead?"
Ho stretched his senses out but there was a lot going on, the force from the blast had moved the magic and radiation in such a way that tracking any single thing within was somewhat comical to enact. "I don't see anything.. we might have to wait and find out."
Waiting was not conducive to a battle, it gave the enemy time to prepare. Wu Hai sent his senses out and tried to feel for the Nature Spirit. "I can't feel anything." He looked dry but he was sweating profusely. "You only needed the Heart, right?"
Ho nodded.
"Good.. I think if we wanted more we'd have to pay a much heavier price." There were at least a dozen dead truthers laying around. They had willingly given their lives to help the mission succeed. Wu Hai stored their bodies away and collected their gear.
He passed the ring over to Ying Ho.
֍ꟷꟷꟷꟷ֍
In the Tower City Pagoda №2, Wu Hai was sitting in front of a furnace, priceless materials were evaporating into a mystical process of sudo-science. It was two days later, twenty seven truthers of the Ying Family had died looking for the Herbs to save the Matriarch.
Ying Ho was furious at his losses, no matter if he had ordered it personally, none of them would have returned. Their deaths were not on his head but they weighed on him heavily. He was out to save the love of his life but the cost of more than half of the Truthers Elite was a price he would never have considered.
Grandmaster Harris had done his best to make the medicine, he practiced one before hand, projecting the image in his mind and preparing him fully. The process to combine and condense the medicine took nearly five hours and when it was finished, the Grandmaster collapsed into an unconscious state. His eyes were moving quickly and no one dared wake him from his rem.
Ho grabbed it from the still blazing furnace and placed it in a crystal box. There would be no loss in energy, Qingchi was across the plaza and the medicine needed to be at its most potent. The Demon Tree was a frightening enemy but its heart was an essential ingredient, Ying Ho could live with the consequences if it meant saving her and his Child. There were no second chances or even the chance to make the medicine again in the future.
His hand burned with the Whitefire support of the Emperor, it was quickly retracted when he pulled his hand from the furnace but it was catastrophic damage. He required healing but he didn't care, with a wave of his hand he was beside Qingchi with the box in hand.
"I have it my love." Kneeling beside her bed, he cleared the hair from her face, it was matted and wet from the cloth used to clean her sweat away. There was a strange feeling inside of him, dread was something he rarely felt and to feel it then left him in even more worry. He gulped, tilted her head back, kissed her and placed the medicine in her mouth.
She was unable to swallow, her body was rigid like she was having a seizure.
He began to panic but several hands on his shoulder told him to stop.
"Give it time." Wu Hai and Ooran were equally worried, Qingchi was an important member of the Family.
"Just how much time should I have to wait for such a heavenly medicine?" Ying Ho's anxiety was driven up by the second. He waited on pins and needles.
Qingchi began to stir about a minute after the medicine entered her body, the tightness in her grip relaxed and the sheet fell from her hands. She was breathing better and her body was no longer tense but she had not awoken.
Ho stayed by her side and held her hand. "Beloved, so many have sacrificed. Please wake up, make their efforts worth every drop of blood they shed." He kissed her hand and placed his chin upon it.
Wu Hai grabbed his father's shoulder and turned him back to give Ho some space.
֍ꟷꟷꟷꟷ֍
Kuzunoha, Vira, Tero, Ooran and Calistown were sitting at a table in the corner of the room, they had been waiting for half an hour. The treatment had no time specified on the results or resolving the affliction.
The Scroll in Harris' possession called it the Keenanne Reaction, her body was rejecting the energies that surround her, clogging her meridians and every energy channel in her body. The most typical of reactions was death, Qingchi's prolonged state was a result of her own strength failing to give in and keeping her alive.
That half an hour was enough to drive a streak of white into Ho's hair, he was losing his mind and his posture during the wait, for him, she was everything. When her eyes began to move, he began to cry. It should be said that Demon, even Demonkin tears are black, as they came out and dripped across her chest she lifted her other hand to his and clasped.
'hhhhh' She opened her mouth and tried to speak but her throat was dry, tender and hurting in many places.
"Don't speak." Ho brought some water to her lips and helped her sit up. Some of the Truthers were busy shuffling pillows behind her and the Zao Family stood behind him, watching.
"How.." Qingchi was confused, when he was losing her sight and mobility, about to pass out, she figured it was the end. Waking up to her loved ones surrounding her, she wanted to smile but it exhausted her just to speak the one word. Her throat felt like it was on fire, there was an energy inside of her and it was creeping toward the child in her womb.
Her eyes lit up, they burned with different colors and the bedding caught fire.
Qingchi screamed.
Ying Ho's hands were scorched by the Fire, 'Seven colored fire?' He waved it off but it burned for a while, peeling his skin away. "Beloved." Ho watched as Qingchi burned with a strange light, the bed was gone, turned to ash.
She rolled around, her belly had been exposed and kicking could be seen.
"I think she's going into labor." Vira saw what was happening, it reminded her of her own childbirth. There were complications then as well but supplementing her energy was somewhat easier as a Demon.
"She's not due." Ho knew it was a possibility but not how to handle it.
Qingchi was on fire.
"Brother, you're the only one that can get close, maybe Kuzunoha. Blackfire isn't protecting me." Ho held up his burned forearms and hands, "Please."