Chapter 604: Even a Wildfire Starts From a Tiny Spark - 2
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 604: Even a Wildfire Starts From a Tiny Spark - 2
The inhabitants of the World Tree's shade live in the shade of the World Tree. Above their heads, the Tree of Genesis stands tall, blocking the sun through all four seasons. The residents spend their entire lives seeing only the fragments of sunlight that filter through the leaves.
Some say the Tree of Genesis is not the World Tree. They say no tree bears different fruit on every branch. Furthermore, they claim that fruit bearing beasts is a departure from all reason.
But to the residents of the World Tree, none of that mattered. Rice and wheat grew instead of leaves—what a blessed tree was this? It even bore meat?
What is good for me is a miracle, a grace. Reason was not a particularly important matter of contemplation for the people of the World Tree's shade.
But just as suddenly as it had come, the grace vanished.
“The leaves are falling!”
“The crops haven’t been growing well these past few days…!”
It had never happened before, which only deepened the confusion. The World Tree had grown anew on the land where the old one had burned and fallen. The earth that received its grace was supposed to be eternally bountiful. But now, leaves were suddenly falling, and the crops were beginning to fail.
The people living upon it were the first to sense that something was wrong. Anxiety fueled chaos, and they began to act as a group to grasp the situation.
“Anubis, our guardian! There is a great problem with the World Tree! It is withering!”
The members of the Anub tribe, who had just arrived, were the perfect audience for their pleas. The Anub tribe, composed entirely of dog beastkin, were the guardians of Manguo and the loyal hounds of Muhu. After losing the World Tree, they had taken it upon themselves to guard its surroundings. The Anub tribesmen perked up their ears and listened to the people’s voices.
“A-woof? The World Tree is withering?”
“Yes! The crown is drying up and the leaves are falling! Look!”
“You’re right…! It’s not the season for it, yet the leaves are falling! What a strange omen!”
The Anub tribe sensed instinctively that something was wrong. And the King of Humans had just appeared. It was impossible that this strange event and the King of Humans were unrelated.
“The new World Tree should be under the care of the Great Witch. Has she said anything?”
“There’s been no word from above yet!”
“Grrr. I’ll have to go up and see.”
The chief of the Anub tribe, Jackal Anub, growled as he looked at the trunk of the World Tree, which rose like a mountain. It was still a magnificent and vibrant sight, but the countless falling leaves tinged even that grandeur with a sorrowful air.
Jackal Anub steeled his resolve.
“We cannot repeat the sin our ancestors committed in the distant past!”
The Anub tribe had failed to protect the World Tree and Muhu. It wasn't because they were lazy or lacked loyalty. On the contrary, it was because they were too diligent and too loyal.
What Muhu Agartha had intended to create were hundreds of thousands of ‘cloned’ beastkin, which could have posed a moral and existential question to the beastkin tribes loyal to Agartha.
For that reason, Muhu Agartha had deliberately kept the beastkin tribes far from the World Tree. And because of that, they had been unable to stop the rebellion.
But that taboo had burned with the World Tree and been buried in its ashes, leaving only the memory of searching for people in the blackened remains. With hearts charred black, the Anub tribe became the Great Witch’s hounds, and after the hunt was over, they stood guard, awaiting the day Muhu would return.
“And if the King of Humans has truly returned! Then at last, we too will have a new master!”
The Great Witch had not shouldered Muhu’s duties. Instead, she had received the Progenitor’s blood. So the Anub tribe treated the Great Witch as a respected witch, but they did not serve her as their master.
But the King of Humans might rule this land in Muhu’s stead. If there was a World Tree and a king, Manguo would rise again.
The Anub tribe prepared to ascend.
If something hadn't fallen from above their heads.
It fell from such a height that the black shadow descended in an instant, with no time to even notice it. A brief impact shook the roots of the World Tree. But only for a moment; the black shadow rose as if nothing had happened.
To be unharmed after falling from this height. A shocked Anub tribesman shouted.
“A leopard!”
“Woof. A dog.”
Blanca Baskerville’s reply was short as she stood before the Anub tribe, not a single hair out of place. Recognizing her, the Anub tribesmen relaxed the tension in their perked-up ears and tails.
“A black dog. One of our own.”
“That’s right. Woof. Kin who wander in search of a master to put a leash on our necks. A pleasure. But…”
Blanca looked over the Anub tribesmen with a hint of pity.
“Don’t come up. The situation up there is quite complicated. We don’t have the luxury of dealing with you, too.”
Pity is the emotion of feeling sorry for another’s circumstances. It is not shared between equals. Blanca was looking upon the Anub tribe with pity.
Sensing this, the Anub tribesmen bristled.
“What did you say!”
“Awoooo! Who do you think you are!”
Jackal Anub raised a hand to silence his pack. He asked calmly.
“What is going on? Why is the World Tree shedding its leaves?”
“These leaves? Awoof, if you think about it, the World Tree is currently under attack.”
“Attack? By whom?”
“It’s hard to say exactly, but… the entire world?”
“Grrr. What does that mean?”
“It’ll be hard for you to understand. Woof. But it’s a thing. A feeling like the world is rejecting you. A conviction that nothing will ever go the way you want.”
To be abandoned by the order of the Sky God was just that.
A watchdog family was a line of loyal dog beastkin who had served a single noble family for generations. The Baskervilles were a famous watchdog family that had even served the emperor. From a young age, every Baskerville had their ears and tails cut and underwent strict training with whips and leashes to be reborn as perfect butlers or maids.
But then opinions arose that the existence of watchdog families was a bit barbaric, no different from slavery, and that they should be liberated. A few sympathetic nobles made a performance of granting them freedom. The watchdog families, effectively cast out, would cause trouble, and that trouble would worsen public opinion against them.
Gradually losing their place, the watchdog families would seek another family to serve. Naturally, it would be a villain who cared nothing for public opinion that took them in.
And so they would do dirty work, only to be framed for a crime and ultimately fall to ruin. That was the end that awaited them.
Blanca felt a sense of suffocation, hoping this feeling would be conveyed.
“Just like now, woof.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but you’re trying to push us away again.”
But the Anub tribe was not to be trifled with. The Baskervilles originated from the Anub. They might lack the Baskervilles’ techniques and knowledge, but their Qi was second to none.
“Awoooo! We cannot lose the World Tree again. You tell us to wait while the leaves fall and the branches wither! Is that what you have to say to us, who have protected this land!”
Jackal Anub ignored Blanca and shouted to his tribe.
“Out of respect for you and the Great Druid, I will not take everyone up. But I and the other warriors will go!”
“Awoof, that’s a variable I’d rather not accept.”
There was no way to fathom how the Sky God’s attack would manifest. A dozen strong beastkin reaching the Human Regime’s floor could not be allowed.
Not only that, but with the King of Humans’s fate uncertain, letting in outsiders was out of the question. No matter how close to being allies the Anub tribe was, they were a burden.
Blanca made her decision.
“No.”
Muttering, Blanca approached one of the Anub tribesmen, grabbed his clothes, and threw him down toward the roots. The tribesman, sent flying without knowing why, yelped and tumbled across the ground.
Fast and powerful. But what stood out more was the fluid, natural grace of Blanca’s technique. Having mastered hand-to-hand combat as a member of a watchdog family, Blanca’s grappling and kicking arts had reached a sublime level.
Jackal Anub glared at Blanca and growled.
“Grrr. You intend to stop us by force?”
“Just as you have your duty, I have mine, woof. I can’t let you pass.”
Jackal Anub’s fur stood on end. At the same time, the other tribesmen contorted their faces, bared their teeth, and slowly began to encircle Blanca. A hundred black dog beastkin surrounded the lone Blanca, radiating intense hostility.
“As if we’d be stopped by a single one of you! We will break through! We will go and see for ourselves!”
“Awoof. It always comes to this. I’m used to it, though.”
Blanca grumbled and pulled a pair of fighting gloves from her pocket. They were high-quality black gloves that matched her black fur and suit. As she put them on, Blanca Baskerville became a single beast, dyed black from head to toe.
Her opponents were a hundred black dogs. Killing them wouldn't matter, but the Great Witch would hate it. She had to leave them alive if possible. Having finished her preparations, Blanca lowered her stance and complained one last time.
“Awoof. The Great Witch should be here to see this. Where in the world did she go?”
“Nenyaphh!! Stop right there!!”
At that moment, the Great Witch had spotted Nenyaphh in a crowd and was in hot pursuit. Nenyaphh, who had fled upon seeing her, seemed on the verge of being caught but never was. This was true even though the Great Witch was riding on the back of a black panther, the swiftest creature in the jungle.
After a long chase, the Great Witch realized that Nenyaphh was luring her.
“You’re luring me…? You’ve lured me far enough…! Show your face!”
The Great Witch bit her finger. The Elder’s blood stretched out like a thread. Using her blood as a medium, the Great Witch activated her black magic.
“Spur of the earth. Quickening of the hoof. I bless thee, may a storm inhabit thy flesh.”
The drawn blood seeped into her familiar, the black panther. From its eyes to its heart, the blood energy scattered in an instant, spreading throughout the panther’s body in time with its heartbeat.
The black panther’s eyes turned red with blood energy. At the same time, its steps grew faster and its strides longer. Dashing without hesitation even in the dense jungle, the black panther instantly closed the distance and was upon Nenyaphh’s back.
“I told you to stop.”
With that cold voice, the black panther lunged at Nenyaphh’s back. Its massive claws were about to press down on Nenyaphh’s shoulders.
“Draw, Holy Sword.”
A small miracle was invoked, and a branch of light sprouted from Nenyaphh’s back. Pure power shot out like lightning and tore through the panther’s entire body.
For a moment, the black panther writhed in agony. It let out a harsh scream and rolled on the ground, and the Great Witch was thrown from its back as it lost control.
Just before she hit the ground, two parrots flew in from nowhere and caught her by the shoulders. Landing slowly, supported by the desperately flapping parrots, the Great Witch looked at the black panther, still in pain.
“The blood energy…?”
It hadn't been a physical blow. The light had only dispelled the blood energy and the black magic. The link had been severed and her dominion scattered, causing the black panther to suffer.
Feeling her control over the panther’s body dissipating, the Great Witch muttered.
“You’ve learned some strange new tricks…!”
“It is the faith I hold given form, Your Highness.”
Nenyaphh dismissed the branch-like Holy Sword and slowly approached. The Great Witch gathered her power, preparing for battle, but Nenyaphh had no intention of fighting her.
“And that faith is not mine alone. The light I wielded is the power of faith felt by all of humanity.”
“Faith…?”
“Birth must be blessed, growth must be encouraged, and death must be solemn. It is a faith that rejects the trivial birth from within a fruit, denies the power gained by sacrificing life, and refuses a death that is spent like a worn-out shoe. That very faith has become my sword.”
When one’s personal faith touches a universal consciousness, a Holy Sword manifests. The Holy Sword was the power of faith, and also the qualification that proved she was truly a servant of the Sky God.
And faith is something to be shared. Nenyaphh did not use her newly acquired weapon merely for swinging.
“Just as the pure, innocent, and talented princess… could not bring herself to accept the sight of the humans within the fruit being raped. There are lines in this world that must never be crossed and values that must be protected. I have simply followed them, as the princess did.”
Nenyaphh’s Holy Sword pierced precisely into the Great Witch’s still-confused heart and took root within it.