Bloodline Backlash and a Shocking Turn

The air inside the miniature secret realm seemed to have solidified, so oppressive it was hard to breathe.

Within the enormous Blood Cocoon, a war raged on a microscopic scale, silent but savage.

One ancient, evil will brimmed with the destructive urges and violent instincts of an Ancient Old One. Like a churning undercurrent in the Deep Sea, it battered every inch of the Mental Space.

The other will was clear and calm, like a stream flowing quietly through a forest on a winter afternoon. It carried a human's reason and tenacity, yet seemed on the verge of collapse beneath that primordial force.

Under the crushing pressure of the first, the second rapidly weakened and faded. It was like a drop of ink falling into the sea, swallowed, dissolved, and finally assimilated without mercy.

Every crimson tube on the surface of the entwined Blood Cocoon trembled violently, as though carrying more energy than it could bear.

Countless intricate, mysterious lines of runes appeared along the tube walls, flickering in and out. Each spasm stirred the power of laws.

Whenever the runes lit up, they forcibly extracted a sliver of that ancient, evil presence, making it swiftly recede.

But the God-Prison Blood Tree, serving as both vessel and converter, was deteriorating rapidly.

The mysterious glow that had shrouded its trunk dimmed like a candle guttering in the wind.

The entire tree visibly wilted. Its bark cracked and lost its fleshlike sheen. Countless scarlet leaves fell with a rustle, turning to pale powder and scattering through the air before they touched the ground.

This was more than a drain on energy. It was an overdraft of its very life essence.

A single intense bout of bloodline extraction and suppression had nearly exhausted all the strength the young, still-weak God-Prison Blood Tree had