"Humans, you humans... how dare you treat me like this! I'll make you pay!"
An enraged roar came from the smoke. The World Tree seemed completely unharmed. Had Gate English and BanchoLeomon sacrificed themselves for nothing?
White crystals suddenly appeared in the air. Before anyone could make sense of them, the crystals shot off in every direction, attacking human population centers like guided missiles. No bloody or horrific remains were left in the cities they struck, but everything within those cities was converted entirely into data.
In this time of crisis, the united Human World kept all its information networked and updated in real time. Soon after the World Tree attacked, reports arrived that contact had been lost with those cities. Given the battle unfolding before them, the cities that had gone silent were presumed completely annihilated.
"Damn you, World Tree! What the hell are you trying to do?" Marcus Damon shouted, pointing at the World Tree.
"Can't you see? I'm purifying this world! Do you see what I look like now? I ended up like this because you humans blasphemed against a god. I'll make you pay!" the World Tree roared, forming six more crystals that shot toward Marcus Damon like javelins with a series of sharp cracks.
"Phantom Star-Moon Slash!" At the critical moment, Thomas and the others rushed forward, each unleashing an attack to block the World Tree's assault for Marcus Damon. Yet resisting just one attack nearly brought them down, while even more crystals had already appeared around the World Tree.
"So it was you. So it was you. So it was you." Zheng Fan suddenly stood up, repeated the same words three times, and strode forward. He was still far from the World Tree and had used no abilities, yet he walked right up to