At Mirror's gesture, an invisible force of law crossed space and struck the rotten giant tree's core with precision.
It was not a destructive force, but one of severance.
It worked like a master surgeon cutting through the healthy tissue surrounding a tumor, layer by layer.
Crack!
A sharp snap came from within the giant tree, as though a hard shell had broken.
In Mirror's sight, the tangled mass of chaotic energy was forced apart, revealing a tiny Soul Fire burning with hatred and pain at its deepest point.
It worked!
Mirror poured in more Divine Might, preparing to sever the Soul Fire completely from the giant tree's energy cycle.
But at that moment, the once-feeble Soul Fire did not go out. Instead, it swelled violently, as if someone had poured boiling oil over it.
"Haha... hahahaha..."
Shrill, crazed laughter rang out not from any single place, but from every corner of the Black Forest, every rotting leaf, and every wisp of mist.
It brimmed with the vicious delight of a trap sprung.
"No!" Mirror's heart lurched.
Something was wrong.
Night Cherry Tangle frowned at once. His Sin Punishment Guards had cleared the area around the giant tree and were about to storm its core, but they met resistance unlike anything before.
At that moment, the rotten giant tree stopped fighting back.
It began to "melt."
Not in a physical sense. It was coming apart at the level of law.
Its enormous trunk and tangled roots dissolved into billions of gray-green motes that streamed upward into the sky.
Each mote represented a soul that had been consumed and corrupted.
Every creature that had died in the Black Forest, every European player who had wandered in—the giant tree had captured their souls and stored them here.
The Twin Gods did not