Chapter 380: This Version Doesn’t Fit You

It was quite that the letdown that the plan which Godsfall had worked on for so long was called “Marionette”. The name was so lackluster, its previous enigma had long since left the stage.

However, a few moments after the Wise Mad King approved the commencement of Operation: Marionette, the Eternal Tree Ocean began to tremble because of the sudden appearance of terrifying magical undulations; it was akin to those woods being ravaged by an EF5 ¹ tornado. Electrifying magical undulations swirled around like tsunamis, which were tall enough to pierce the sky, threatening to bury the whole world underneath it.

This whirlpool of magical pulses was much stronger than the pulses emitted by the Book of Servitude when it was re-awakened. Baiyi realized he had grossly underestimated his enemies. The whirlpool of magical pulses was so strong, it was no wonder the stars above had been affected.

Moments after the main formation was activated, the small formations, which Baiyi had deemed unimportant, were activated, as well, one after the other. At that point, the Eternal Tree Ocean was filled with a miasmic atmosphere of dread and discomfort, causing the animals that lived there to flee, as fast as they could. If one was watching from up high, they would see wild beasts of varying species fleeing the woods in a wild stampede, resembling a colony of ants fleeing their flooded anthill.

Mr. Bear, who had been closely observing the situation, suddenly turned crestfallen. It looked up at Baiyi, with an expression of anguish, and asked, “Has it begun?”

“Yes. It has begun,” Baiyi replied. “This is insane. A power like this, I doubt any man can stop it.”

However, he did detect a silver lining in the storm. There was a bit of disharmony within the swirling energy. It was like listening to a symphony being played by male sopranos, which seemed perfect on the surface but had some notes out of tune. This was probably the result of his earlier attacks. This meant that the cult had chosen to activate an incomplete formation.

Thus, there might a chance to turn the tides.

“They scared the beasts away. Why?” Mr. Bear asked when it noticed the forest animals fleeing in panic.

Baiyi shook his head sideways; he still had no idea why Godsfall chose to chase the forest animals away.

Suddenly, a soft whimper reached the bear’s ears. It looked down and saw the sapling, the weakened Grandfather Tree, trembling feebly. “Th-they… They are…draining…the wood’s lifeforce…completely. H-hel—”

Alarmed, Mr. Bear hurriedly grabbed the sapling and used its enigmatic powers to encase the sapling’s last bit of consciousness. After that, the bear activated Nature’s Eye.

Suddenly, it howled in pain and began to roll on the ground as though it had been stung by a hive of bees.

“The Tree Ocean! The Tree Ocean’s life…” Mr. Bear screamed. It struggled to get ahold of itself, and when it momentarily could, it whispered, “They are sacrificing the Tree Ocean’s life; all of it!”

Baiyi froze. He quickly spread out his psychic energy, and just like before, he instantly entered into a special state in which he could sense nature much better than usual. Tons of information and stimuli momentarily overwhelmed him. All he could hear were bloodcurdling screams, which soon faded into silence; akin to the screams humans made moments before death. These cries were from the trees in the Eternal Tree Ocean, which were dying in droves. Baiyi’s special vision was no longer filled with multiple colors; all he could see was a dull shade of grey.

Unfortunately, none of the Voidwalkers knew what to do about the current situation.

Baiyi did not know what to do about the catastrophic event, as well. At that moment, the Wise Mad King left his study and walked to the balcony of his palace. The Royal Principal Advisor did not follow him. When the Wise Mad King reached the balcony, he found a fairy in human armor waiting for him. This fairy’s face greatly resembled a human, without the beauty fairies are known for.

“Has it begun, your majesty?” The human-like fairy seemed to have been waiting a long time for this moment. However, he did not address the Wise Mad King as “High Reverend”, which meant that he was not part of Godsfall.

“Yes, it has begun,” the Wise Mad King replied, with a complicated expression on his face. Traces of sadness and pity flickered in his eyes, but they were quickly drowned by relief, determination, and surprisingly, optimism.

“I told you before that when our beloved kingdom reaches its zenith, I will create a legend like no other,” the Wise Mad King said. “You chose to believe me — a leader of the cult you deemed heretical.”

The human-like fell into deep thought.

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“This question has been brought up so many times between us, hasn’t it, Gru? Why is the Kingdom facing a bottleneck in development? Why did our progress slow to a complete halt?” the Mad King asked. ” In the last debate we had, we were unable to convince each other. I told you that I’ll show you the consequence of my choice, and the change it would herald. Here’s me keeping my promise. This is the beginning of everything.

“I do pity the Tree Ocean, though. After all, not only did it beget our civilization, it has been a cradle for us fairies,” Gru replied. He was in the control of the Fairy Kingdom’s military, and he was a steadfast follower of the Wise Mad King. He fully supported the Wise Mad King’s decisions, and he was a core secular fairy. Without his help, many of the Wise Mad King’s plans would not have come to fruition.

“Yes, the Tree Ocean did incubate the first of our kind, but we have to grow up someday and discard the cot we were raised in. Now, this is us, taking to the skies for the first time,” the Wise Mad King replied with pride.

At that same moment, while the Wise Mad King was beaming with pride, his two Demigod warriors, Morningstar Sage, and Green Sword Saint, were brimming with anger. Their hate was directed at the Wise Mad King, whose betrayal came as a shock to them. As soon as Operation: Marrionette commenced, they were drained of all their power — which they had spent countless years accumulating — by the Faustian Tattoos on their bodies. All they could do was watch the altars they had risked their lives to protect absorb their power rapidly.

Unfortunately for them, they realized too late that they were sacrifices, used to supplement the energy which the formation lacked.

Worse, they could not fight the power draining process. Not only were the Faustian Tattoos on the two Demigods rapidly sucking their powers, but they also set the Demigods ablaze, whilst denying them the ability to move.

The agony of being burnt alive made Morningstar Sage muster the last bit of power in his body to cast his final forbidden spell at the Wise Mad King’s Palace, but the spell was completely mitigated by multiple barriers overlayed on each other, which had long since been set up to protect the palace.

The human-like fairy, Gru, noticed a slight change in the air and asked, “The Morningstar Sage?”

The Mad King nodded. “The plan required his power. He needed to be sacrificed.”

“That’s a very heavy price to pay, no?” Gru looked a little regretful.

“It doesn’t matter. When the plan is completed, Demigods will lose their meaning. This is the only way they can prove their worth,” the Wise Mad King replied steely.

Unlike the fairy Demigods, the demons were calm when they realized their fates were sealed. Xeron, the leader of the four demons, only smiled coldly and muttered, “Hee hee hee! Everything is working perfectly according to plan…”

Underneath its feet was a river of blood. Multiple corpses could be seen drifting on the red liquid. The demon had murdered every one guarding the altar!

“Now, allow me to pay my respects to you one last time, my most eminent High Reverend.” The bald demon laughed cruelly. It plunged its finger into its chest and pulled out an organ. It was not its heart; it was an eyeball, which had arteries still attached to it. Its pupil was still darting about. A nauseating sight.

Xeron chucked the eyeball at the altar close to it, and sinister green flames burst out from where the eyeball had landed. The flames quickly spread around the area surrounding the altar.

The demon, who now had a gaping hole in its chest, was not yet dead. It burst into green flames and moved the join the other swirling flame it had started.

The Wise Mad King had no idea this had happened. He was still watching the green sea of trees wither, leaving behind only grey stumps, his heart filled with determination.

While he watched, the first rays of sunlight pierced through the clouds; dawn had arrived. It illuminated the Eternal Tree Ocean, revealing a blackened land reeking of death.

Standing at the center of the Tree Ocean-wide formation, where most of the defense barriers had been set up, was a gigantic monster; it was sixty-five feet in height. It had a humanoid shape, but its body looked like it was made from the boughs of trees. It stood tall within the blackened land, like a king admiring his territory.

It was the result of Godsfall’s plans — a being they called Marionette.

“Okay, so lemme get this straight. They did all that just to create a gigantic wooden mecha?! Seriously, isn’t this just plagiarizing Gundam?” Baiyi, who had long since taken to the air, had easily spotted the monster the moment it emerged.

He had been unable to stop what had transpired the night before, but he had not lost much. The displaced fairies of Eom Village had been rudely awakened when their treehouses withered into nothing. When these fairies noticed that the Eternal Tree Ocean had suffered the same fate, they had burst into tears, wailing throughout the night. This had almost driven Baiyi nuts.

“Don’t tell me my foe is that thingy!” Baiyi mumbled in contempt. “Urgh, fine. Time to give Godsfall some bad news; this type of mecha went out of date a long time ago!”