Corrupt Creations

The Elf Queen rushed towards the Secret Garden area, since she felt that there was something suspicious going out there, leaving Seth behind to acquire the dungeon formation control orb. 

She arrived before the formation covering the whole area that constituted the Secret Garden and instantly realized that something was off, since it was totally broken. 

She was able to feel her connection with the World Tree Replica weakening at a fast pace, and very soon, she wouldn't be able to feel anything. 

Arwen used her Evergreen Essence, trying to analyze the environment, but she felt a blockade. She moved forward, but a single step inside the garden, was what it took for her to realize something terrible was happening here. 

The lush green plants and colorful flowers that existed inside the garden had all died. She could only see their withered forms laying on the floor. It seemed that all the life they had, had been sucked out. 

Her vision inevitably entered in contact with an area, where a red energy was covering everything. It was where the World Tree Replica stood. 

Arwen quickly used her powerful Mana to dispel that layer of red energy, revealing the withered World Tree right there, in the middle. It was shining in a threatening red aura, nothing like the vivid and natural green aura it had before. 

She felt absolutely no connection with that tree, only a sense that she was actually looking at something unholy. 

Arwen approached it with slow steps, until she was close to what was previously the ancestor tree, when suddenly the red light covering it expanded, expelling her from nearby. The Corrupted World Tree started to send waves of red energy towards her, tying to infect the Evergreen Essence inside her body with the Corruption. 

Arwen resisted those waves while retreating some meters away. She looked towards the infected tree and didn't even know how to react. 

The energy she has been studying all this time, the energy they called "The Plague", was able to infect the symbol of their whole race. And now, it was trying to pass her that corruption, since she had inherited the previous Evergreen Essence. 

"Ahahaha! How do you like it?" A woman voice entered the Elf Queen's ears; However, it was not like the voice she was accustomed to hear. It was something more devilish and coarser. 

Allannia stepped out from behind the Corrupted World Tree, devilishly smiling towards the Elf Queen. 

Arwen looked at her and couldn't believe that she was her previous closest friend Allannia. Her voice was different, her aura was different and even her body was different. 

Allannia's skin was very pale, verging the grey color, but there were many crimson crystal shards sticking out of some parts of her skin. They seemed to be pulsing with energy, giving her the power to reach the Mana Sovereign Realm, just like the Elf Queen. 

"What did you do?" 

"I just gave that old tree, something it needed." 

Arwen had prepared herself to meet Allannia once again, but everything she saw and heard until now, was completely outside of her expectations. 

"... Why did you do it?" 

"Hah! Even though you lived through many situations and saw many different things, you're still naïve. Do you remember the family that tried to steal the throne from your hands before? I am a descendant from them." 

"Does it mean that you're killing thousands of elves inside that dungeon and putting the citizens life in danger, for your revenge against me?" 

"Ahahaha, of course not. I don't give a fuck about what happened back then. Actually, I do agree with your methods and would certainly do the same with anyone that betrayed me." 

"Then... Why?" 

"I can't stand to see people hailing you and giving you respect. That is something that should have been mine. I want power, I want respect, I want to be the highest authority and for that I will have to make you a stepping stone." 

Allannia's eyes were shinning with corruption as she spoke. 

"Sigh... Then I will have to kill you not only for the people you have wronged, but for me, since you've put my daughter in danger." 

"Heh... I'm the one that is going to trample over you." 

The Elf Queen released her aura, making the whole area shake from the huge quantity of Mana released. A bright green light started to envelop her whole body, making a heavy pressure attack Allannia. 

However, Allannia released a very oppressive aura, directly clashing with Arwen's Evergreen Essence. A red light tried to penetrate the green area, trying to infect it and gain control over it. 

The Elf Queen furrowed her eyebrows and increased the strength of her aura. 

"Hehehe. Do you like that? I call it Crimson Essence, a very oppressive version of your Evergreen Essence. Let's see which one of them is stronger..." 

Boom! 

Allannia increased the strength of her red aura, pushing the green area of Evergreen Essence backwards. 

The Elf Queen raised her strength once again and the entire Secret Garden started to fiercely shake, since two Mana Sovereign cultivator were measuring their strength right there. 

Crack! 

Bang! 

The ground covering the whole area cracked and exploded towards the air, what was left from the secret garden was uprooted, but the particles started dispersing even before touching the ground, since the power resulting from their clash destroyed it all. The energy fluctuations from their fight started to spread, covering the whole castle and going further, reaching the people that were trying to approach the castle. 

The practitioners going on the front row felt a huge impact in the middle of their chests and were thrown into the air just from that powerful aura. 

Thellor was already between the group of people advancing together with the leader of the Beihorn Family, Ivasir Beihorn. While Thellor was a Mana Control Realm cultivator, Ivasir was a Profound Mana Realm cultivator, but he treated Thellor as an equal, since they were both leaders of a "Nature Root" family. 

"Stop!" 

"Retreat!" 

"Quickly!" 

"Do you recognize this red aura Ivasir?" Thellor turned towards him and asked with a grave countenance. Both of them already knew the Elf Queen Evergreen aura, but the other one was something they have never felt. 

"I don't know. However, this is an overbearing aura, at least a realm higher than mine." 

"So, there is a person fighting with the Elf Queen right now... Let's head back and announce it to the citizens. Make sure to gather them at the tall Sentinel Trees around the city borders. We can't let them come into contact with the impacts caused by their aura, or else many of them might lose their lives." 

"You're right. I will make sure to command that the strongest practitioners of my family, spread this information." 

"Good. There is one other thing we must do Ivasir... Gather the citizens in many different groups and create a formation to protect them." 

"Wait... We won't have enough resources to build so many formations..." 

"You can let that with us. The Allakiir family will provide the resources." 

Ivasir looked at Thellor flabbergasted. One thing was to spend resources protecting their family members, but right now, he was spending his family fortune to protect random citizens, and that was a noble act. 

"Alright." 

"Let's make haste!" 

While those family leaders were informing the citizens and organizing everything. 

Seth had finally found Arwen's room. However, even though he was a Mana Control middle-stage cultivator, he was having a hard time withstanding their aura. 

He released his Mana and made a protective barrier around him while searching for the item he needed to find. 

Suddenly, the aura of both Arwen and Allannia seemed to lessen. Their pressures lessened on him, since they started to distance a bit from that place. 

. 

. 

. 

Arwen felt the intensity of the powerful energy shockwaves their aura clashes were creating, and decided to fly towards the sky. She recollected her aura and started to rise quickly, leaving the Secret Garden area very quickly. 

"Heh! I won't let you escape so easily." 

Allannia started to chase after her, bring their battlefield towards the sky. 

After traveling for almost three thousand meters, the Elf Queen stopped. She looked at Allannia's figure approaching and prepared to fight. 

Allannia ascended like a red meteor, bring her oppressive energy behind her. However, this time, she initiated a melee combat. 

Her body went directly towards Arwen and her fists inflated with a thick red layer of power. The fluctuations around her fist increased in size and power and it directly collided against Arwen's aura. 

The Elf Queen saw that Allannia was coming for real now and extended both of her hands. A high concentration of Evergreen Essence gathered in front of her colliding against her opponent's fist. 

Boom! 

The clouds atop the whole Ereinrith city cleared up, since they were pushed aside by a shockwave of Mana. 

A loud explosion occurred, startling the people below. They all looked up just to see the sky being divided by two different overbearing energies. Half of it was green while the other half was red. 

"Hehehe." 

Allannia started to laugh and Arwen didn't know why. 

"Do you think I didn't notice you were trying to bring our fight away from the city. That is going to be your weak spot..." 

Allannia's started to release her Mana and concentrated it in a huge orb of energy. She made a closing motion with her hand and it imploded into thousands of smaller red orbs. She pointed down and everyone one of them fell towards the ground.