[Chapter Size: 2100 Words.]
Third Person POV
Northern kingdoms.
...
...
"Follow me... I will take you to the place you desire..." Eithné said with a frustrated tone as she entered the Arena, observing all the destruction caused by Madara after the flames began to subside.
"..." Madara nodded, still standing there on the battlefield.
"Madara!" Cirilla approached him at that moment after descending from the arena.
"Are you alright?" He examined her to see if she was fine, but everything seemed calm as the girl nodded.
"Ciri will come with me." Madara turned his attention to Eithné and expressed his desire with an indifferent tone, it wasn't a question.
The leader of the dryads thought for a moment while all the conscious members watched them talk, though unaware of what they were truly discussing.
"Alright... as long as you release Morenn." Eithné spoke, realizing it was pointless to restrict Cirilla as well.
Madara simply began forming hand seals before quickly releasing the woman from his genjutsu; she was now free. "Your dryad is free now," he said.
"Fine... keep following me..." She requested, then turned and began walking out of the arena.
Everyone around could only watch as they walked away, beginning to clean up the burnt flesh. Along the way, Cirilla glanced at Madara, intending to ask numerous questions, but she remained silent, knowing he wouldn't answer anything now.
"I will take you to the meeting place," Eithné said as they continued following the leader of the dryads, with a few others joining her, though keeping their eyes on Madara the entire time.
They walked to a corner of the village where there was a sort of temple naturally built with stones surrounding the area, a dozen guards guarding the place. It would have been easy for Madara to enter, but he opted to take on Brokilon's challenge for his own amusement.
Eithné led them to the entrance, approaching the door and stepping aside, pointing at Madara with a less-than-pleased expression, having witnessed her warriors fall one by one.
"You can pass through this door with the girl, but I swear, if you damage this place, I will unleash all of Duén Canell against you, understand? And you'll have to deal with hundreds of dryads at once instead of eight." Eithné said harshly.
"Let's go." Madara didn't care and proceeded through the door, passing the guards and Eithné, easily pushing the door open and entering the place, with Ciri accompanying him the entire time.
It was a space with a Stonehenge in the middle, while a stone wall surrounded it. In the center stood a distinct stone, smaller than the others, glowing in a circle near its tip. Its glow was green, symbolizing Axii, the mind control sign for Witchers... but he didn't know what it meant for mages and other beings in this world.
"How beautiful..." Cirilla murmured, slightly enchanted by the glowing stone.
"This is the first time I've seen one of these stones... they're quite rare..." Madara commented while looking at the spring beneath the stone.
'This must be the source of the magic water the dryads use... the Axii power site is very comprehensive when this sacred water erases all memories, and women forget who they are, becoming dryads, gaining powers beyond human capability and turning green.' Madara couldn't help but think as he watched the water flow slowly.
"Don't drink that water, Ciri." Madara warned as the girl, still gazing at the stone, nodded.
Madara took the initiative after receiving the girl's confirmation and approached the site, extending his hand to touch the stone. After all, he hadn't received any notifications from his system upon entering, so he tried another approach, touching the stone at that moment.
[!!!]
[You Have Discovered a Power Site. You Have Gained 1% of Uchiha Madara's Total System Power!]
[Your Current Level: 22% of the System!]
The sensation of increasing power surged as his chakra once again went out of control with the sudden boost of energy, and then an explosion began to envelop his body.
"What?!" Ciri was once again startled by the blue energy exploding from Madara as she tried to shield herself with her arms, while her body began to emit its own energy to protect itself from his chakra.
"Hm?!!" Eithné, outside, immediately noticed the explosion as she looked up, seeing a pillar of blue energy shooting up several dozen meters.
"What is happening, this again?!" Eithné opened the door, witnessing the boy struggling to control his body while sitting in a lotus position in front of the stone, with Ciri near him, her body enveloped in her own green energy.
Eithné could sense the disturbance in the girl's body caused by the chaos, but the boy was entirely different, as the chaos didn't seem to affect him at all. "Is this the same as the other day...?" She recalled how she had felt the two energies before, but now, seeing them, it was astonishing.
Her eyes focused on Madara as if he were an aberration in this world, someone who shouldn't exist there, but for Cirilla, her gaze shifted into one of greed, thinking of how the dryads could thrive with Ciri becoming one of them.
Madara had to sit down once more, starting to meditate again, entering his chakra control mode while attempting to manage all the chakra his body had received, which caused another explosion. His system had never been linear or logical; it started weak but increased his powers exponentially with every 1% of the system. An example was that from 1% to 2%, his chakra increased by 50 points, but now, from 21% to 22%, his growth was in the tens of thousands of points, making it much harder to control.
So, he remained there, with Cirilla watching cautiously as his chakra began to stabilize, and she turned to see the dryads starting to move. She opened her eyes, sensing something bad, and quickly moved toward Madara to stay by his side as Eithné became determined about something.
Some time later, in another part of the forest, the dryads were still keeping guard, unaware of the confusion happening in Duén Canell. They were waiting to find those their leader had requested.
However, not far from them was a group of people also searching the forest for Madara and Ciri—witchers.
"There are many vigilant dryads ahead... what should we do?" said a witcher from the School of the Cat, his eyes altered after taking a potion to enhance his vision, allowing him to see at a distance, knowing they had entered territory that wasn't theirs.
"We shouldn't waste time... we'll go through them. After all, our target went in that direction, so we can't miss the chance to stay on their trail," said another witcher.
"It's worth it... we might lose some fighting against several dryads..." another suggested.
"Yes... some of us may die... but remember the reward we'll get from the Emperor?" the witcher suggested, and no one in the group disagreed.
"Then let's enter this forest and go through any dryads that try to stop us," the leader said in the end, and they all began drawing their swords.
Back in Duén Canell, darkness had taken over Madara's vision for the past few hours.
"I refuse!" Ciri's voice was heard.
"Drink from the spring, and I will spare you and your companion, I promise you," Eithné insisted, speaking to Ciri.
"No!!" Ciri insisted.
"I will kill you and your friend if you don't... You'll have to pass the test you took over six years ago, but now I want you to drink ten times what you did in the past!" Eithné said.
It had been six hours since Madara began meditating. Now, he finally opened his eyes, finding himself surrounded by dryads. There were at least 120 of them, all pointing their bows at him and Ciri, who remained by his side, holding up a kunai toward them.
"You held up well," Madara spoke with a calm tone, his gaze serene. He was fully aware of everything happening around him, but he saw no danger regarding Ciri, and he continued controlling his chakra to gain better mastery.
"Madara..." Ciri murmured, looking at him with a certain joy that he was finally back. She was sure he would resolve everything, making the hours she endured while Eithné tried to force her to drink the water worth it.
Madara shifted his gaze from Cirilla to Eithné, standing before all her warriors. "You certainly like to attack people's weak spots. I expected more from you... Eithné," Madara said with a tone revealing his disdain.
"Shut up, you don't understand the opportunity this girl can bring us! If we can bring her to us and control her power, we'll never have to worry about invaders in this forest again!" Eithné said firmly.
"You don't seem to understand your situation. She may bring you hope, but I can certainly bring your destruction," Madara spoke with a dark tone, causing everyone, even Eithné, to raise an eyebrow at him.
"You may have some strange abilities, boy, an aberration, but we have 600 dryads living here... do you really think you can deal with all of them? Don't be naive, no matter how strong you are," Eithné said, not believing that Madara could handle so many, despite his strength.
"..." Madara remained silent for a moment before his lips began to twitch, and then he burst out laughing. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"What's so funny?!" Eithné exclaimed, displeased with his behavior.
"HAHAHAHAHA." Madara's blood boiled every time someone tried to place him beneath them or underestimate him. He laughed at the ignorance of this place, knowing he could annihilate them all.
"Madara..." Even Ciri looked at Madara, seeing him laugh like that for the first time.
"You're certainly a comedian, Eithné, but tell me, do you really want to continue with this?" Madara asked in a more dangerous tone.
"I want the girl, boy, and I've given my warning for the past few hours. If she doesn't drink the liquid, we'll shoot arrows from all sides, and you'll both die here," Eithné was making a high-stakes bet. She didn't want to get close to Madara and the girl due to the former being extremely dangerous, so she resolved to threaten them from a distance, using Madara's life to make the girl comply with her demand.
Cirilla looked at Madara, hoping he would find a way out of this mess, though she couldn't help but worry a little about their situation.
"I refuse..." Madara said firmly. "I know you won't let me live either, since I've discovered the way to reach this place." He spoke as if it were the most obvious thing, even a bit surprised that Eithné had actually allowed him to enter this place.
"I can't let you live after reaching here without blindfolds... so I'll focus on the boy and take the girl. You heard me, aim at the boy!" Eithné exclaimed as all the dryads there prepared to shoot their arrows, now making Madara their only target. However, Ciri quickly stepped in front of him, shielding him from the front with her arms raised, though other angles still left him unprotected from the arrows.
"Madara... please... tell me you can handle this... otherwise, I'll do what she says myself." Cirilla murmured with sadness and concern.
"Tsk. You should have more faith in me, Ciri. Let me handle this." Madara spoke to her with a hint of disappointment. After all, she doubted the situation, though Madara couldn't really blame her. He began walking past Ciri, moving a few meters closer to Eithné.
Eithné simply raised an eyebrow as Madara made it easier for them to kill him without harming Ciri.
"Let's end this another way, Eithné." Madara began, looking at her with a certain disdain and anger. "It's time to show you what will happen when your first arrow is fired, a path with no return..." Madara closed his eyes as Eithné didn't quite understand his words, even taking them as a joke. "Because once I start killing, I won't stop until I burn all of Brokilon Forest! So see your future." Madara opened his eyes, revealing the Sharingan, and despite her mental defenses, Eithné couldn't resist a Sharingan enhanced by 22% of Madara's system power.
For Eithné, everything went dark before she began to see again, witnessing the start of the destruction not only of Duén Canell but of the entire Brokilon Forest.