Durandal's Punch Knocked the Light Pillar Crooked, Kiana's Flamescion Made the Tree Branches Wail

"So that was why Otto said she was fire." Lie Yan suddenly spoke, her voice soft yet deep. "Fire does not only burn wood. It burns everything that can be defined. Flamescion—the kindling is the firewood of the human world, while the flame is the will that refuses to go out. Kiana's flames carry Himeko, her companions, and every name she refuses to let go of. All those names together become a will that says, 'Who are you to decide?' Even the Tree cannot suppress that will."

"But he accounted for both of them." Tang Wulin said gravely. "He knew Durandal could shatter things a Herrscher could not touch, and he knew Kiana could burn through paths the Tree refused to yield. So he was not afraid of them. He was waiting for them. Waiting for one to split open the prison door and the other to burn through the chains. He wanted them to bring him down from the Tree. They were his two swords. But their blades pointed at him, and their hilts pointed at him too. No one could tell who was wielding whom."

"That was Otto's deepest calculation." Huo Yuhao said. "He made them stronger, strong enough to kill him. Because he knew only power at that level could reach the edge of the Imaginary Tree. His own Divine Power shared the Tree's origin, so it could not cut the Tree down. But they could. Every bit of their growth was sharpening his swords for him. The stronger they became, the more certain he was that he could escape the Tree's grasp. He had been playing this move ever since the day he first held them in his arms."

"What would happen if those two swords really could cut through the Tree Chain?" Xiao Xiao asked