The ground shook and the blizzard which initially raged endlessly was momentarily stopped by a large explosion which made all the snow in their area melt and the steam disappeared into the air revealing the Overseer who was standing gripping Veil's neck who was seriously injured but was quickly healed by the white mana.
"Ugh.." Veil tried to release Overseer's grip from his neck but failed, because his grip was strengthened by mana.
"You're this strong huh, I don't even think you can survive this far. It's time to show what mana is that." Overseer stretched his other hand towards Veil's head to see his memories.
"Heh... you're dead." Veil grinned.
Just before the Overseer managed to see Veil's memories, his eyes widened as he saw a mana point being compressed very tightly right in front of his face.
"YOU CRAZY-" Overseer shouted with a panicked face before releasing his grip.
The mana point glowed and exploded so powerfully that all the soil and rocks shattered into dust in the air, Overseer frantically jumped back and stretched his arms forward.
"ENCRYP- UGH?!" Overseer saw the explosion shooting light in all directions and piercing his right stomach and left shoulder.
Overseer quickly focused all his mana forward to create a multi-layered shield, but the light grew brighter and devoured all the surrounding trees creating a white pillar of light that dazzled the entire area through the snowstorm.
*******************************
The light penetrated the storm that hit Arcane Village and was seen by all the residents of the village.
"What is that light?!" One of the residents said while pointing towards the light.
"The light is getting brighter!" An adventurer who was getting ready closed his eyes from the light.
The light continued to devour the blizzard around it and penetrated the Arcane tree, making the mana flowing in the tree flow out and making all the plants around it absorb the mana, but because there was too much mana, the plants couldn't hold more mana and withered. The Arcane Tree slowly fell towards the Arcane Village as the mana flowed out.
"RUN!" The villagers in Arcane Village screamed in panic while running away from the Arcane Tree.
...
"NANO! WHERE ARE YOU?!" Greia ran towards his house which had now been crushed by one of the large branches from the Arcane Tree.
"NANO!" Greia looks for Nano in the ruins of his house but cannot find her.
"NANO! PLEASE ANSWER ME!" Greia shouted around the village and looked for Nano but didn't find her.
"GREIA! RUN QUICKLY!" Nano flew away from the Arcane Tree and got closer to Greia.
"?! NANO! HURRY UP HERE" Greia then hugged Nano tightly and ran towards the blizzard.
All the villagers ran in panic away from the Arcane Tree which was slowly collapsing and falling towards them, but because the tree was very large and their running speed was only average, they couldn't get out of range where the Arcane Tree would fall.
Overseer slowly healed himself while walking towards Arcane Village.
"Tch, this is different from what I planned. Damn Veil, I have to take matters into my own hands to complete my plan." Overseer created a mana sword before then jumping towards the Arcane Tree which was slowly falling.
Overseer reached the tree trunk of the Arcane Tree where he was now at an altitude of 10km.
"Hmm... The Arcane Tree is tall, but I have to find that two." Overseer looked around and saw many villagers running in fear and he just ignored it, until he grinned seeing at Greia and Nano.
"Found you two." Overseer strengthened his mana sword and walked on the trunk of the Arcane Tree.
********************
On the other hand, Veil, who was blown hard and hit the trees, regained consciousness and saw that one of his arms had been severed due to the mana explosion, he also realized that he had been stabbed by a tree branch right in the heart.
"Ugh.." Veil vomited a lot of blood that dyed the snow around him red.
"Ugh.. Overseer is still there.. hurry up.. wake up dammit..!" Veil grabbed the tree branch and broke it.
He forced himself to stand up and free himself from the branch that was piercing his heart, he walked over to his severed arm and took it before attaching it again. The white mana quickly healed him and made all his wounds heal.
"..." Veil wiped away the remaining blood in his mouth before then running and jump towards Arcane Village.
....
Overseer then gripped his mana sword tightly and slashed it at the trunk of the Arcane Tree he was standing on, making his falling speed even faster towards Greia and Nano.
"GREIA! BE CAREFUL!" Nano shouted seeing the Arcane Tree that fell quickly.
Overseer raised his sword and wanted to slash once again but, he quickly slashed his sword to the right seeing Veil who parried the slash.
"Tch..! Veil stop bothering me!" Overseer exceeds Veil's strength and makes him on his knee.
"UGH! There's no way I'm letting you..!" Veil tried to resist the Overseer's power, but he kept getting pushed and bowed downwards.
Overseer smashed his sword repeatedly against Veil's sword, causing the Arcane Tree to fall little by little faster.
"Ugh..!" Veil jumped back and released his sword and focused his mana in his palm.
"?!" Overseer quickly jumped away from him realizing what he wanted to do, but it was too late.
Veil threw the ball of mana at high speed towards the Overseer before it exploded into a dimensional crack sucking him in. Veil quickly ran towards the Arcane Tree and created a mana blade to blast it but his feet were caught by the mana chains created by the Overseer before being pulled in.
"?! N-NO!" Veil shouted and threw his mana sword out of the dimensional crack to blast the Arcane Tree, but the explosion only pushed it back a little. He tried to reach the dimensional crack to go back, but the dimensional crack quickly closed due to Overseer's enormous mana.
Overseer and Veil filled the dimension with their enormous mana and made the dimension overload and shattered into pieces, a huge crack appeared in the middle of nowhere forcibly pushing out Veil.
"Ugh.." Veil woke up and saw that he had fallen on one of the floating buildings.
"This..?" Veil looked around and saw a floating city, but what confused him was that the ground and sky had swapped positions, the sky was beneath him and the ground was above him.
"Huh..? What is this place..?" Veil looked around for the Overseer, but didn't find him.
...
"Ggh!" Overseer was forcibly pushed out from the dimension and hit the ground hard.
Overseer stood up and saw that he was in an empty land where the Zealuterra kingdom was once there.
"..." Overseer frowned because his plan failed.
************************
The Arcane Tree powerfully hit the ground making the area shake strongly. The villagers who saw the light caused by the mana explosion still continued to devour the storm around them and frantically ran into the gap that the explosion had created. All the villagers ran out of the huge storm and onto the snow plains that were not affected by the storm.
"W-we're out! Run quickly!" The villagers ran to save themselves.
...
"W-we're safe Greia-" Nano's voice said to Greia with hope slowly fading seeing Greia half his body crushed by the Arcane Tree.
"N-nano.." Greia vomited blood and tried to reach Nano.
"GREIA!" Nano frantically flew towards Greia and tried to pull him but it was in vain because half of his body had been crushed by the Arcane Tree.
"What's wrong.. Nano..? why do you sound so panicked..? and why is my lower body.. I can't feel it...?" Greia, who was still unaware of his condition, laughed a little in a weak voice, trying to calm Nano.
"Greia..! don't talk yet! I'll get you out!" Nano tried to slam her body into the Arcane Tree but her efforts were in vain.
[Artificial Emotion Resonates]
[New Artificial Emotion: Fear]
"Why.. Nano..? I can see the light of the sun.. we can get out of here.." Greia said weakly but full of hope before then seeing Nano who was silent looking at him, he looked back and saw that half of his body had been destroyed.
"Oh..." Greia's hopes disappeared seeing the condition of her body but he still smiled at Nano.
"How can you keep smiling in this situation?!" Nano shouted angrily at Greia who was still smiling despite the current situation.
[Artificial Emotion Resonates]
[New Artificial Emotion: Anger]
"Sorry Nano... even though I promised that we would go out together, I couldn't keep it..." Greia vomited more blood and then patted Nano's head gently.
"..You're my first friend Nano.. I don't have anyone in this cold place.. so you have made me happy.. in fact.. I already think of you like my own little sister." Greia smiled at Nano.
"N-no! Greia I want us to go out together-" Nano screamed in panic but then fell silent when Greia put his hand on her head and pat her like an older brother comforting his younger sister.
"Sorry Nano... at least... you have to survive here... Please.. Stay alive out there, Nano..." Greia pushed Nano out of the blizzard.
[Artificial Emotion Resonates]
[New Artificial Negative Emotion: Surprise]
Nano, who was shocked because she was pushed by him saw Greia, who was still smiling even though the light in his eyes had now faded, his body didn't move anymore. Nano couldn't float because the heavy blizzard was holding her back, she rolled down the mountain and fell out of the blizzard.
Nano was blown away by an avalanche and saw the explosion of light continue to devour the entire snowstorm around, including the Arcane Tree and mountains. Nano crashed into one of the trees under the mountain causing her frame to crack and malfunction, she tried to fly but was only a few centimeters high.
"Greia... Greia... what should I do..?" Nano said as if she wanted to cry but couldn't because she was just an artifact.
[Artificial Emotion Resonates]
[New Artificial Emotion: Sadness]
[All of Basic Artificial Emotions Completed]
[Evolution Requirement: Human Emotion]
Nano flew forward slowly due to her body malfunctioning as if she could fall at any time.
"Greia... I don't know what to do... please.. help me Greia..." Nano said in a tone that sounded like she was going to cry.
The snow avalanche devoured all the trees around her and hit Nano once more, sending her crashing heavily to the lowest ground of the mountain. Nano was hit hard and completely malfunctioned.
"Function... e-e-error... rebooting... f-failed..." Nano repeated the same words over and over before being hit by an avalanche, burying her.
...
"What is the value of an artifact like me to be saved by him..?" A voice which is a small conscious simulation created by a function within Nano which is still functional said.
...
"@*)#.."
"..? What sound is that..?" Nano said in his conscious simulation.
"...This is an unfamiliar object, and it seems badly damaged..." A teenage boy said as he lifted her from the snow.
"...Greia..?" Nano said in her conscious simulation.
Nano saw a teenage boy with long black hair with red eyes like beautiful ruby crystals looking at him, making Nano feel the same warmth like Greia.
...
********************
"?!" Nano wakes up and sees Naku has a nosebleed.
"N-Naku..? what happened..?" Nano flies towards Naku slowly.
Naku looked at Nano then said.
"Huh..? Your voice is a girl..?" Naku turned to Nano in surprise.
"Your memories, flow into my head..." Naku caught his breath slowly.
"My data can flow to humans...?" Nano said confusedly.
"You're not an artifact anymore... you're probably half Ark." Naku stood up and wiped the blood from his nose.
"Half Ark..? Is it because I absorbed your emotions..?" Nano said.
"Yes... thank you Nano... if that emotion had blinded me with anger, I might have died there along with the others." Naku smiled gently at Nano and patted her head gently.
The familiar feeling made her think of Greia and made her feel at ease.
Naku walked and saw that the previous yellow crystal was now cracked and transparent like glass.
"Huh..? I felt like a hot light when I held this crystal just then.. why is it gone now?" Naku took it and showed it to Nano.
Nano then does a scan but finds things have changed in Naku's body.
"Huh..? Your body's affinity for light and fire has increased..? I think it's because of the crystal you're holding. That crystal is in my body in the middle of the AUC in my memory. I also saw in my database that many adventurers use rare crystals like this to increase their affinity for certain elements..." Nano explained it to Naku slowly.
"Hmm.." Naku channeled his mana into his palm and created a light sword.
"Woah... it worked..." Naku held the sword and looked at it.
"...Naku.." Nano said to Naku.
"Hm?" Naku released his mana and looked at Nano.
"You... asked what I want to do next, right...?" Nano said a little nervously but then braved herself.
"Can...I follow you? I don't have anyone else..." Nano said.
"..." Naku saw Nano who lowered her head making Naku smile.
Naku then patted Nano's head gently and smiled warmly at her.
"Of course! Even though you are from that organization, you are no longer part of them, right? And you are also tormented by them. Besides, I also can't leave you alone after seeing your memories." Naku said to Nano while chuckling.
Nano raised his head and smiled happily before flying towards Naku.
"Thank You..!" Nano was caught by Naku and hugged by him, making her feel the same warmth just like how Greia treat her.
"Then Let's go, we will start a new journey together, just like he wants, right? and like how Uncle Carlon wants.." Naku walked with Nano out of the forest.
Naku and Nano walked together on the vast plains and began their new journey together.