Chapter 352: The Five-Minute Battle

Ronin was the first to move.

The roots surrounding his body surged forward, tearing through the air as the artificial purple core embedded in his chest pulsed. Golden light traveled through the roots, but the purple veins spreading across them twisted that radiance into something darker.

The World Tree was resisting him, yet Ronin continued forcing its power through his body.

Arthur watched the incoming roots through [Reality Dominion], his perception expanding across the heart chamber. He could distinguish the genuine movements of the World Tree from the corrupted energy Ronin controlled, but the distinction was far from perfect.

Every root carried traces of both, and a careless attack could damage the very thing they were trying to save.

"Vedas, take the right side!" Arthur called. "Don’t attack the roots themselves. Force him to move away from the heart!"

The manifested Goblin King answered by lowering his spear and charging. His golden armor reflected the light of the enormous heart, while the rings of light around his sword spun faster. Ronin swung an arm, sending a wall of roots across their path, but Vedas drove his spear forward and released a concentrated burst of golden-white mana. The roots bent away from the impact, opening a narrow passage without being destroyed.

Arthur followed through that gap. His newly awakened Gold Rank strength carried him forward with a force he had never possessed before, and his body reacted to the movement almost instinctively. When a root emerged beneath his feet, [The Adaptive Sovereignty] adjusted his response before the attack could catch him off guard. He twisted in midair, landed on the root’s side, and used the momentum to launch himself toward Ronin.

For the first time since the battle began, Ronin had to defend himself against two opponents who could genuinely threaten him.

"You’ve grown stronger," Ronin remarked, catching Arthur’s strike with a blade of condensed mana. His eyes moved briefly toward Vedas, who was already approaching from the opposite side. "But this power isn’t yours to keep."

"I don’t remember asking your permission to use it."

Arthur pushed against Ronin’s weapon, then abruptly changed the angle of his attack. [Sovereign Piercing Light] condensed golden mana around his strike, allowing it to slip through the gap between Ronin’s guard and his shoulder. Ronin twisted aside, but the attack still tore through the outer layer of corrupted energy covering his body.

The wound closed almost immediately.

Arthur clicked his tongue. "Of course it does."

"Then stop trying to hurt him!" Sun shouted from the rear of the chamber. "We’ve already established that hitting the terrifying tree man really hard doesn’t solve our problems!"

"Your contribution is to keep the streams stable!" Mithra called back, moving past him with Dawn Sovereign in hand. "You can complain while doing that."

"I’m doing two jobs at once!"

"Then try doing the important one better."

Sun grumbled, but he raised Long and struck the ground with its base. A controlled shockwave spread across the platform, disrupting the smaller corrupted roots creeping toward the southern stream. Kong immediately followed, his enormous frame moving to intercept a thick root that had broken through the ground. His fiery arms locked around it, and the Fiery Stone Ape roared as he forced it away from the stream.

The strain made the platform crack beneath his feet, but Kong refused to release his grip.

"Little help here!" he called.

"Coming!" Athy answered.

She moved with Athena toward the eastern stream, where a cluster of roots had begun pressing against its golden flow. Athena raised her hands and directed her magic into the space between the roots, creating a barrier that prevented them from reaching the stream. Athy watched the surrounding energy, identifying the points where the barrier was beginning to weaken and directing Athena’s attention before a breach could form.

"Two roots on your left!" Athy warned. "The larger one is a distraction. The smaller one is going for the stream!"

Athena adjusted her spell just in time. The smaller root struck the barrier and recoiled, leaving the golden stream untouched.

Meanwhile, Mithra and Melo guarded the western side. Melo spread dream mist across the ground, creating misleading images of the platform’s surface that caused the approaching roots to strike empty space. Mithra used those brief moments of confusion to cut through the corrupted tendrils reaching for Eden.

"Arthur!" Mithra called. "Whatever you’re planning, make it quick. These things are getting more aggressive!"

"They’re reacting to us getting closer to the connections!" Arthur replied.

"Wonderful. The tree has noticed we’re trying to save it!"

"Technically, Ronin has noticed."

"That distinction is not making me feel better!"

Despite her words, Mithra kept moving. She had already begun adjusting her footwork to the roots’ changing patterns, drawing attacks away from Eden and toward the empty spaces between the streams. Melo remained close enough to protect her when the roots changed direction, their coordinated movements keeping the western side from collapsing.

At the center of the chamber, Eden was having a much harder time.

The manifested Vedas continued fighting with overwhelming precision, but every movement demanded that Eden maintain the connection between his present existence and the future possibility she had brought into the world. The golden light surrounding her Chrono Fairy form flickered whenever Vedas unleashed a particularly powerful attack. Tiny fragments of light drifted from her wings, dissolving before they reached the ground.

Luna noticed first. She hurried toward Eden and placed a hand against her shoulder.

"Eden, how long can you keep this up?"

Eden’s eyes remained fixed on Vedas, who had just deflected another wave of roots. "The manifestation is stable for now, but maintaining it is harder than I expected. He’s not simply stronger in that future. His entire body is operating at a level my current control can barely support."

"Can you end it safely if you need to?"

"Yes. But I can’t promise I’ll be able to bring him back again immediately."

Luna’s expression tightened. "Then we won’t let Ronin reach you."

Eden managed a small smile. "You say that as though you can order the entire room to behave."

"I can certainly try."

A violent impact shook the platform before Eden could answer. Ronin had realized that the supporting group was keeping the five streams stable, and he changed his approach. Instead of focusing on Arthur and Vedas, he thrust both hands toward the chamber’s ceiling. The roots above them twisted together, forming a massive canopy of corrupted energy that spread toward every side of the heart.

Arthur saw the danger immediately.

"He’s attacking all five streams at once! Everyone, protect your assigned side!"

The canopy crashed down.

Golden barriers flared across the chamber as Athena and the others responded, but the sheer weight of the attack forced them to their knees. Kong braced himself beneath a descending root, Sun reinforced the southern barrier with another shockwave, and Mithra raced between two collapsing sections to keep the western stream from being struck. Melo’s illusions drew several roots away from their true targets, buying the group precious seconds.

Even so, the five streams began to tremble.

Arthur’s gaze returned to Ronin. The corrupted connections around his body were visible for only brief moments, appearing as dark channels that carried purple energy from the artificial core into the surrounding root network. They were not ordinary roots. They were conduits, forcing the World Tree’s power through Ronin while allowing his corruption to spread in return.

There.

Arthur raised his hand, and [Pillars of Dominion] erupted around Ronin. The golden pillars did not strike the heart or attempt to destroy the roots. Instead, they rose between the corrupted conduits, forcing them apart and restricting Ronin’s movement. For a fraction of a second, the connections became clearly visible.

"Vedas! The channels on his left!"

The manifested Goblin King understood immediately. He drove forward, spear and sword moving in a coordinated assault. His spear pinned a corrupted conduit against one of Arthur’s pillars, while the rings of light surrounding his sword spun into a concentrated cutting edge.

Arthur joined him, his [Sovereign Light Aura] spreading across the exposed channels. The golden radiance pressed against the purple corruption, preventing it from immediately closing the gaps. For the first time, the artificial core’s network began to separate from the surrounding roots.

Ronin’s expression changed.

"So you’ve finally understood what you’re looking at."

Arthur gritted his teeth as the pressure against his aura increased. "We understand enough."

"Then you should understand what happens when you interfere with it."

Ronin clenched his fist.

The purple core in his chest flashed, and the corrupted channels abruptly reversed their flow. Instead of drawing power from the World Tree, they erupted with concentrated force, shattering two of Arthur’s pillars and sending Vedas sliding backward across the platform. Arthur’s aura buckled beneath the backlash, and the exposed conduits snapped back toward Ronin before he could sever them.

Vedas recovered first. He planted his spear into the ground, halted his retreat, and immediately moved between Arthur and the next wave of roots. His sword swept upward, deflecting the attack just before it could strike Arthur’s chest.

"Arthur!" Vedas called. "The opening is closing!"

"I can see that!"

Arthur tried to restore the pillars, but Ronin was already adapting. The roots around the corrupted channels rearranged themselves, hiding the conduits behind layers of overlapping energy. Every time Arthur found a possible path, another root moved to cover it. The network had become a constantly shifting defense, and Ronin was using the World Tree itself to protect the mechanism keeping him connected.

Then Arthur noticed the light around Vedas flicker.

It was brief, but unmistakable. The manifested Goblin King’s movements had slowed by the smallest fraction, and a thin crack of light crossed one of the rings surrounding his sword.

"Eden!" Arthur shouted. "How much time do we have?"

Eden struggled to keep her wings spread. "I don’t know exactly! The manifestation is becoming unstable faster than I predicted!"

Luna caught her arm when she swayed. "Then end it. Now!"

"Not yet!" Arthur answered, his eyes still on Ronin. "If we withdraw without learning anything else, we’ll have wasted the opportunity!"

"We already learned something!" Luna snapped. "We can expose the connections, but we can’t sever them while Ronin is free to change their arrangement!"

Her words struck Arthur harder than the roots had. She was right. They had proven that their combined power could reveal the corrupted network, and they had forced Ronin to defend himself rather than simply overwhelm them. But their advantage had not solved the fundamental problem. The moment they tried to cut the connections, Ronin could redirect the corruption and turn the surrounding roots into another defense.

And Eden was running out of time.

Ronin raised his arm again, gathering the corrupted canopy into a single spear of purple energy. This time, he aimed directly at Eden.

Arthur’s stomach dropped.

"Vedas, intercept!"

The manifested Goblin King crossed the chamber in a flash of golden light. He raised his sword and met the attack head-on, but the impact shook the entire platform. Golden energy scattered around him, and the manifestation’s armor flickered as the purple spear forced him backward.

Arthur rushed to support him, but Ronin twisted his free hand. Roots burst from the ground around Arthur’s legs, forcing him to abandon his approach and use his new strength to break free.

By the time he reached Vedas, the manifested Goblin King had already driven the spear aside, though the golden rings around his sword were spinning unevenly.

Eden gasped.

The light around her wings fractured, and she dropped several feet before Luna caught her. The manifestation shuddered, Vedas’s armor becoming translucent at the edges. Arthur could feel the power sustaining him beginning to fade, and for the first time since the battle began, he could no longer pretend they had the situation under control.

"End it, Eden!" he ordered.

"But Arthur—"

"Now!"

Eden released the connection.

The golden light around Vedas burst outward, filling the chamber with a brief radiance before collapsing into drifting sparks. The future possibility vanished, leaving only Arthur’s ordinary Goblin King standing beside him. Vedas staggered as his original strength returned, and Arthur caught his shoulder before he could fall.

For several seconds, nobody spoke. The five streams continued flowing, though their light had dimmed under the pressure of Ronin’s attack. The golden heart remained intact, but the corrupted roots had withdrawn around Ronin once more, hiding the channels they had nearly exposed.

Ronin watched them from the center of the chamber. His breathing was heavier than before, and the purple core in his chest pulsed unevenly, but he remained connected to the Tree.

"You had your chance," he said. "Next time, I won’t let you come this close."

Arthur ignored him. His attention was on Eden, who lay against Luna’s arm, breathing hard as the last traces of light faded from her wings.

"Can you use Future Manifestation again?" he asked quietly.

Eden took a moment to answer. "Not like that. I could probably manifest a weaker possibility after recovering, but forcing the full power out again would be dangerous. I might lose control before the manifestation even stabilizes."

"How long would you need to recover?"

"I don’t know." She looked toward the heart, her expression troubled. "And even if I recover, we can’t simply repeat what we just did. Ronin knows how we exposed the connections now."

Arthur looked at Vedas, then at the five streams surrounding the golden heart. Their first attempt had proved that Future Manifestation could give them the strength to challenge Ronin, but it had also exposed the weakness in their approach.

They could create an opening, yet they had no reliable way to keep it open long enough to sever the connections.

They would have to prepare everything beforehand: the positions of the five streams, the order in which the connections needed to be cut, and the exact moment when Eden should unleash her full power.

There could be no wasted movements, no last-second adjustments, and no attempt to improvise after the manifestation began.

Because next time, they might not get a second chance.

Arthur tightened his grip on Vedas’s shoulder and turned toward the others. "We need a different plan. We get one realistic opportunity to use Future Manifestation at its full potential, and we can’t afford to waste it."

Across the chamber, the World Tree’s golden heart continued to beat beneath its web of corruption, waiting for them to try again.