Chapter 182: Trees and the Body Thieves

Year 198

Lumoof was back on the Threeworlds to continue making connections, and also travelled to find a good place to plant my seed. The little incident with Cometworld really made me feel the vastness of the world, that time and some space energies can tear a world apart so easily. 

But, what was important, occurred back home.

We saw the rifts open. One of the pathways had lit up, and that meant the demons had arrived. I was sure I didn’t see any of it on the central continent, so that was a good thing. 

“It’s in the South.” Stella said as she observed the skies from the highest peaks. 

My tree on the moon was growing well, and was growing faster. At Stella’s advice, I agreed to encase my tree in a sphere of roots, essentially I created the first wooden biome on the moon. I didn’t get any accomplishment for that. Still, it wasn’t ready for habitation yet.

I thought of converting the moon into a safe space for the Canari folk. They still struggled to adapt to their new life, though most of those struggles were mental and structural, rather than physical. They had to rebuild their institutions from scratch, and come to terms to live in entirely foreign lands. 

It’s not easy to forget one’s entire life in another world, and even worse when they remembered that they can never, ever, go back. It’s a horrible feeling. 

I would deal with them later. For now, I focused on looking for the demons.

-

Snek and Prabu met up frequently, and Prabu could feel the demons. Snek too. Snek was sensitive to the starways, as a creature that managed to travel into the space between worlds, and he came from a world infested by demons, so it knew what it was like. 

“As it always has.” Prabu sighed. “And it will come for me. Chung’s already making preparations for the demons.” 

Colette had returned to the Central continent to be with Prabu, and she slapped Ken the moment she saw him. She called him a ‘reckless-piece-of-shit-that-abandoned-his-friends’. Ken took it like a man, and admitted his faults. 

“So, this snek is an otherworldly creature that the gods may not approve of.” Colette said frankly, but somehow Snek didn’t seem afraid. Not this time. 

Prabu displayed his work over the past few months and years to Colette. Here, in the Central continent, and also in the special Tree Of the Heroic Journal, Prabu made heroic items for the next generation, and for himself. Weapons of war.

Ken acknowledged it was a good idea. “The strength of a civilisation is its collective memory and collective capacity. I wonder why it took so long for heroes to come up with an idea like this.”

Prabu answered. “Because it leads to nukes and mutually assured destruction.”

“You two are walking nukes.”

“And that’s why it’s not a good idea.”

“Have you ever wondered whether it’s possible to mitigate the effects of a nuclear apocalypse with some global power. Something that Aeon has?” Ken wondered. 

“What are you implying?” Prabu stared at Ken uncomfortably. 

“I mean, like, could we just nuke Snek’s world to death, and then send Aeon to fix it back after the world was effectively glassed.”

Snek glared at Ken. “Human, that is not an idea to be entertained.”

Ken continued, ignoring the Snake. “Think about it. Remember how the Protoss glassed the Zerg-infested worlds to control their spread? What’s stopping us to do exactly that! Especially if we could theoretically fix it back up.”

“You’re killing a bunch of innocents too?” Prabu said. “I’m amazed that such an idea even came from you. Here you are, accusing this continent of being the literal Empire, and now you come up with this shit? What did you think this is? The death star?”

Snek agreed. “Don’t burn the bridge if you think of crossing it later.”

“It’s just a thought experiment. In the long run there really is no loss. Especially if we could find ways to evacuate the innocents and then bomb them to hell. It’s the only way to be sure.”

“It’s not. There are millions of demon worlds out there. You can’t bomb all of them.”

“If not, is there a way to just... I don’t know, break all these interworld travelling altogether? Interrupt how the demons travel here.” Ken said, and of course, he had a similar idea as us. Stella’s goal was to interrupt the paths. 

Snek paused. “You’re suggesting to destroy the void space, rather than to close the paths.”

“Yeah.” It was the xianxia equivalent of severing the pathways to immortality. Destroying the world tree that linked the nine worlds.

“That’s absolutely a nuclear option.” Prabu said. 

“But it will end the problem.” 

“I don’t think it does.” Prabu said as he looked at Snek. “It just stops the many worlds from getting help, either from the gods, or from each other.” 

That was something worth thinking about. 

-

We finally received reports of the demonic sighting, and it’s not good. It was honestly the hardest kind of opponent for my Valthorns.

“The entire village was infested with corrupted men and women. These demons are all parasites, and they converted the humans into these demon knights!”

“What.” Edna said. “Corrupted?”

“Yeah. Some of them seemed still human, but they had demonic parts on them. They would still behave humanly but then would then attack.”

Many of my Valthorns are powerful, and they have slain many demons. But corrupted men and people were a lot harder. How did they know who was still human? Not just that, it’s possible they faked it. 

“We did not engage.”

“Can they talk?”

“Yes! That’s what makes them so unnerving. We were not sure whether they were humans or elves or demons anymore!” Our spies were really disturbed by it. 

Around the same time, the Churchs of Gaya and Hawa both announced an immediate lockdown of the Southern Continent. They declared that they will handle the demonic infestation on their own. 

“Fuck?” That wasn’t helping. If anything, we needed everyone on the field to figure out how to deal with these corrupted humans. 

“Can you capture some of these infested demons? Knock them out? Send them to our nearest allied state.” 

“Will try, commander Edna. The men are quite disturbed by this. Some of them don’t have any visible demonic-infestation marks.”

“Shit.” Edna nodded. This was really the worst kind of demon. We could use some psychic abilities to suppress the demons, or perhaps, in the old-priestly way, exorcise the demons from these infested folks.

But Lumoof was still in the Threeworlds. I had to make do with the rest. I called the rest of my Patreearchs and Matreearches for counsel.

“Yes we have some exorcist skills, mainly to remove foul spirits and curses. We could try them out.” Matreearch Arcila advised. “We will await the test subjects.”

-

Our forces in the Southern were quite strange. Level 60s or so, but even then they were surprised by how suddenly these demons attacked. Perfectly normal looking towns could hide a demonic infestation, and they would spawn randomly. 

In actual combat, my Valthorns could easily defeat the demons. The problem was the morale took a real hit. It was really something emotional to see a demon pop out of a perfectly regular looking commoner, and a lot of the spies were emotionally affected by it.

It made them paranoid. Every single living being could be a demon. A cow could have a demon hiding in it. A playful cat. A friendly innkeeper. 

My former heroes were all stunned by it. “How?” 

“It’s safe to say that any place where the demons appeared are likely to have been completed corrupted, even if they appear outwardly normal.” Our lords reported, and the counsel was sombre. It was a difficult thing. 

At least, if they died, it was a clean, clear death. This group of demons took the Alien route. They manipulated the hosts. 

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“Is there a puppet master?” Kei asked. “Most possession stories have a puppet master at the back, someone that holds the strings. Can we use our magic to find it?”

We were still struggling to get samples. 

“Also, what if it’s like a virus. t corrupts people by touching the demonic flesh?” Kei added. 

At that moment, I wondered whether my guys could be corrupted too! The senior Valthorns frowned as she heard the briefing. Roon, Edna and Johann all shared an uncomfortable look. They would face hard choices in the future.

“How do we know who is safe?” Matriarch Hoyia, one of the decarches, asked. “We need a group to smuggle ourselves there, and see for ourselves. This corruption is not suited for spies. We should go and see.”

“I assume that you are volunteering?” A lord said, and Matriarch Hoyia nodded, albeit a little reluctantly.

I mentally pinged Edna. “Domain holders have some resistance to corruption. I think you should go and see for yourselves.”

Edna then nodded. “I will go with you.” Matriarch Hoyia looked relieved at Edna’s offer. If Edna couldn’t protect her, very few could. The meeting ended soon after, and the two met up for a chat along the hallways of the Valtrian Keep.

“Thank you for offering your protection, Lady Edna.” Hoyia said. She was, like Lumoof, far older than Edna in appearance. But, in reality, she was not much older. Edna achieved her high levels and domain, so her aging has ceased. Hoyia, on the other hand, was a priest of Hawa before she switched over. Some of her skills carried over, though she did suffer a small penalty for her conversion out of her faith. 

“It’s nothing.” Edna said. “It is a matter of national interest, and as one of the [domain] holders, I should see it for myself. Aeon said us domainholders have increased resistance to corruption.”

“I see.” Hoyia frowned. “I hope it is corruption or possession we can remove, and not body-consumption and assumption.”

“You mean body snatchers.”

“Yes. Because that’s the most horrible outcome. We have individuals that look like us, but cannot be saved. It’s a real hit to morale.”

Kei and Stella were in the hallway too. “If it’s body snatchers, then we are truly fucked.”

Hoyia shook her head. “Not quite. Us as Aeonic Priests have access to Aeon’s familiars, and we have access to a lesser version of Aeon’s [spirit vision]. One of my theories is if these are body snatchers, there should be no souls left, and we should be able to pick out who the demons are.”

“Oh.” Stella nodded. “Infra-red goggles, essentially?”

Kei tapped Stella lightly. “They won’t get that.”

Edna and Hoyia both nodded a little. “Greetings Lady Stella and Lady Kei.” 

“My concern is, if the demons are in the process of ‘consuming’ the souls, and we need to decide who can be saved, and who can’t under battle conditions.” Hoyia continued her conversation, and both the former earthlings squirmed uncomfortably. “I’d imagine being eaten inside out may not be the most pleasant sensation, and for us, we’d have to wield the scythe of judgement on people who look very much like us.”

Edna nodded. “It’s a task meant for the most heartless of us.”

I thought back to Ken’s earlier idea of glassing the entire world. Would I have to order the glassing of entire villages with this? 

“I’d rather hope we not get there, so I’d first like to gather some samples and observe these demons in action.” Hoyia said. “I would prefer if Alka goes with us. His remote labs would be very useful.”

Edna smiled and shrugged. “Alka’s staying put. But we’ll have an army of mages and his other assistants with us.” 

-

There was a huge clampdown on trade and movement of people in the Southern Continent as the temples combated the demons. They began huge inquisitions, where entire villages were captured and interrogated. 

The temples took different approaches, and what happened reminded Stella of our own world’s history with witchhunts. 

Entire villages were torched. In cases where the temples employed judgement, it led to a whole lot of false accusations, especially in larger cities. Those who were strange, had different hobbies, or were of an entirely different species were outed and accused as demons. 

“I sometimes forget that I’m in a medieval fantasy world.” Stella said. “Sometimes. I thought here, in the central continent, I saw something that resembled an early-modern society. But then, this just really reminded me that outside of this place, it’s all fucked. That even with magic, the nature of people is just... ugh.”

“Those who use such a thing to accuse those they don’t like as demons should be punished too!”

It was hard to tell who was a demon, and who was not. Partly because, well, the demon possessors bled like normal. At least, at a first glance. 

So, Edna, Hoyia and a delegation of my Valthorns snuck into the Southern Continent. It was easy to do so with Stella’s portal ability, and I also used Stella’s portal ability to temporarily extend my trees to the south. A repeat of what I did in the northern Islands.

-

Edna’s report came a week later. 

“We located the demons. Hoyia’s suspicion is correct. Spiritual vision is able to fully discern those that have been fully corrupted by the demons. Our problem is really with those in the process of corruption. Exorcism works to a limited degree, but is more likely to cause the demons to trigger some kind of self destructive behavior. Hoyia was injured from one interrogation incident. We may require Aeon’s dedicated interrogation chambers. The biolabs would be very useful here. We may need to request Lumoof to return.” 

An assessment I agreed with, but it still annoyed me that I needed Lumoof everywhere. If I could spread my roots everywhere in this world then I wouldn’t have to deal with this restriction. 

But oh well, what’s done is done. I’d have to improvise. Stella could only maintain the portals for a few days before she needed to rest, and she rotated with her other void mages. Her other void mages were gaining levels, but somehow they still lagged behind her. 

With some coordination, Edna and the priests honed in on one village that had been confirmed to have demons, and Stella opened the portal. I placed my roots through it, and then my trees. We had to work fast, I spawned my biolabs, and Edna moved swiftly to capture a few of those where we saw had ‘vanishing’ spiritual presences. 

In those where there were no more ‘spirits’, the entire inner organs had been converted into a demonic hatchery. There was a demonic creature that controlled the flesh, and it crawled and swam through its host. 

They made these small, circular baby-larva, and they attempted to infest my biolab. But my mana was too overwhelming so they were swiftly crushed. They were like little leeches or maggots. 

With my trees, I also managed to observe it in action. It attached itself to a person’s leg, and often the person did not notice it at all. It’s bites had a numbing effect, such that the person did not feel pain for the first few minutes. 

Demonic parasitic leeches that possessed people. 

With those that had been fully converted, I was able to have a conversation. 

“You’re a demon.”

The infested woman denied it. “No. I’m Larri, a housewife.” The demon often left the brain untouched, instead, the demon had functionally attached itself to the brain such that the brain supplied the knowledge and the information.

“Don’t lie to me.” My vines wrapped around it’s leg. “I can see you wriggling in this person’s body.” 

I wish I had Patreeck’s offensive psychic abilities here in the south. I could use it on the demon. Hoyia came and used [Exorcise]. It hurt, but the demon was so firmly embedded in the body and flesh that it was pointless. The woman screamed. “KILL!!!!!!!!!!!!!” It’s arms exploded and transformed into a whip, It attempted to attack Hoyia. 

My wooden shield parried the strike, and my vines wrestled the demon’s appendages. 

“She’s no longer a half-elf.” Hoyia took out a staff and then manifested a root. The root pierced through the body. The body wriggled, but the demon was not dead. We had to hit the parasite exactly. 

“I see why the temples and the spies are having problems. We need to hit this thing.” My turn, my vines pierced through the lady’s body and my vines entered. Then I dug out, through it’s severed neck, a hairy worm. “This is the demon.” 

It struggled and wrestled, the female body collapsed like a puppet. Hoyia frowned. “It can move in the body?”

“Yes. And it’s not easily visible, even in spiritual vision.”

Spirit vision told us that it’s a demon or demon possessed, simply by the extinguished soul. But it did not tell us where it was located within the body. I needed something that was the magical equivalent of battlefield X-Ray and MRI. 

Else, it’s possible that this larva could even infect someone directly. I cut the body of the lady up, and more larva appeared. They were in small blobs. I took some for studies. 

Even in their small size, they could leap and hit someone. 

Edna frowned at this. “The temples are just burning entire villages to the ground. I’m afraid I see merit in their approach.”

Me too. 

There had to be a better way than glassing a continent. 

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