Chapter 421: _Thinking Too Small

’You’re seeing those seedlings sprouting too, right?’

[Yep... hold on.]

Ambrose snapped his neck, stretching out his right hand. Grave Keeper emerged in a flash of silver and black, its blade glistening with the light of every soul it had cleaved through.

The entity made a gurgling noise that sounded oddly close to a laugh.

[Its influence still runs deep, especially in the Amazon.] Aura warned. [It can still spread that out through the continent and beyond again.]

’Then I’ll just destroy his damn roots again.’

[For how long? Until one of you runs out of juice?]

’I was being sarcastic.’ Ambrose’s grip on Grave Keeper tightened. ’We’ve got two more options. If Hunter Javier is still in there somehow... Maybe we can find a way to reach him. To make him stop this.’

[And if not?]

The chains of Delirium manifested, attaching themselves to the scythe’s staff.

’Then I’ll have to add them to my kill list.’

He knew killing one of humanity’s only SS-Ranks would automatically place a target on his back.

Perhaps he’d find a way to restrain him instead. Hopefully it doesn’t come to him having to kill.

"Alright, listen up!" He yelled out, voice carrying through the vicinity. "If you’re below SS-Rank, please leave. Now. Head into the armoured vehicles if you must. This battle is way above your pay grade."

The Hunters paused.

Most of them wondered how a man who only recently reawakened could seem so experienced and thought he had a death wish.

Alas, the will to live, especially after seeing several of them slaughtered brutally, was enough to send them running in the most organised way they could.

His eyes moved to Gabriel and Valentine.

Both SS-Ranks came to his left and right.

Across the forest, the three SS-Ranks who’d been knocked out were already back on their feet, readying their abilities with stiff looks.

Australia’s only SS-Rank pulled a nail out of her pocket, copying its properties until her entire body transformed into pure metal.

Another from Japan levitated off the ground, trees uprooting and twisting with a single thought, forming spears aimed at Javier.

The last one was an Egyptian SS-Rank whose body sizzled with white-hot lightning, his eyes glowing with the same intensity.

Seven SS-Ranks against one entity.

And still Ambrose felt like anything at all could go wrong.

’We need to try containing it first,’ Ambrose said, reaching out to Valentine and Gabriel. ’Gabe, have you tried a Spatial lock?’

’I increased the gravity around it. And well... you know.’

’Yeah, we’ve got to think outside the box.’ His eyes narrowed as an idea bloomed in his head.

Not the most conventional way of utilising space manipulation. But it should work just fine.

’Gabe, stick with me. The others will attack and wear him—’

Seeds shot into the air without warning.

They levitated around Javier for only a second before hurtling at every single one of them.

Ji-Hoon’s instincts flared.

She raised both hands and formed an ’x’, manipulating probability.

[WARNING: Lethal toxins detected in seeds.]

Ambrose teleported out of there in a blink.

Everyone else evaded to the best of their abilities as well.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

Like dynamite, the seeds blew up, dark green gas spreading out like a fog.

Javier stood there, unaffected—but for everything else?

Trees squeezed up like dried-up raisins. Grasses blackened. Death touched every life unfortunate enough to be caught in the fog for about a hundred meters.

’Oh, it’s not playing around.’ Valentine thought from the top of the tree he’d escaped to. ’How exactly are we going to touch him when he controls every God damn thing in this forest?’

Gabriel, who was still on the ground, clenched his fists. The Spatial force bubble he created around himself expanded, dispersing the green fog.

In another beat, it all got siphoned into a vortex of his creation.

Once again, the SS-Ranks moved.

The Australian Esper sent a punch straight at Javier’s jaw. She leapt away in time for her Japanese comrade to place a telekinetic pressure around the entity.

Shadow hands emerged from his shadows, grabbing his ankles, wrists and shoulders. Thick frost covered his feet.

With a menacing roar, the Egyptian Esper descended from the skies, wielding a huge mace that channelled his lightning to the max.

BOOOMMMMMM!

The resulting explosion sent an omnidirectional shockwave that was felt and heard miles away. The fleeing Hunters either ducked or braced themselves. The sky got covered in overwhelming white for tens of miles—

—Only for silence to slip back into the battlefield several seconds later.

The blinding light gradually receded.

Slowly, the battlefield revealed itself once more.

The Australian Hunter lowered her metal fists, molten grooves running across their surface from the force of the impact. The Egyptian Esper landed in a crouch, white lightning still crackling around his shoulders, while the immense telekinetic pressure surrounding Javier dispersed into invisible ripples.

Smoke drifted through the shattered forest.

Then... footsteps.

A vine slowly pushed aside the curtain of dust before Javier emerged, his body blackened in places where Ambrose’s flames had reached him. Charred bark peeled away from his shoulders in brittle flakes, exposing fresh emerald vines already weaving themselves together beneath the damage.

The entity glanced down at itself almost curiously.

"Remarkable." Its gaze swept across the seven SS-Ranks. "You truly are far stronger than the inhabitants of Xalora ever were."

Fresh seedlings quietly pushed through the scorched earth around its feet.

Ambrose watched them in silence.

"They’re spreading again," Gabriel muttered.

"I know."

"They’ll just reclaim everything."

"I know."

Valentine landed beside them. "Then what’s the plan?"

Ambrose’s eyes never left the tiny sprouts forcing themselves through the ash.

[They don’t need Javier anymore.] Aura quietly observed. [The root network has already spread beyond the battlefield.]

Understanding slowly dawned across Gabriel’s face.

Ambrose finally looked at him. "We’re thinking too small."

The space god stared for another heartbeat before his eyes widened almost imperceptibly.

"...You can’t seriously be considering that."

"I am."

"Ambrose, we aren’t even sure if it’ll be able to break out or not."

"And we won’t ever be sure unless we try." He slowly rested Grave Keeper across his shoulder before looking back toward the entity. "Forget killing it."

Every SS-Rank instinctively turned toward him.

"If it wants the Amazon so badly..." A faint spatial distortion rippled beneath his feet. "...We’ll give it the Amazon."

★★★★★

Somewhere Else

The television quietly reported the catastrophe unfolding across South America while helicopters captured endless forests swallowing entire cities from above.

Ramona watched the broadcast in comfortable silence, one leg crossed over the other as a satisfied smile played across her lips.

Her fingers lightly tapped the armrest.

Then... The smile disappeared.

Her blue eyes narrowed. "Impossible."

She closed her eyes, extending her perception across the planet.

"The child’s presence..." For the first time in a very long while, genuine confusion surfaced across her face. "Where did he go?"