Chapter 34: | Liora Sadness
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Bioluminescent light glowed faintly, casting a gentle shimmer over the jade grass swaying with the steady pull of the currents.
Peace lingered in this quiet stretch of land.
Vines hung like silk threads from the cavern walls, drifting slowly, painting a scene both mystifying and serene.
Then came the sound of ragged gasping.
A woman with golden hair stumbled into view, her steps uneven, her form battered. Her spine was clearly fractured, her body marred with wounds, patches of flesh missing, blood dried on her pale skin.
She looked fragile, desperate.
Yet her eyes locked firmly onto a massive tree in the distance.
"Just a little more…"
But her legs gave out, sending her tumbling to the ground.
"Damnit…"
Liora was exhausted.
She had traveled thousands of meters with a broken body, unable to hunt, unable to heal.
Hunger gnawed at her.
Her only sustenance had been the moss and cavern flora she forced down, bitter and gritty with dirt, just enough to keep her moving.
Now, so close to her destination, her body finally betrayed her.
"This sucks…"
she muttered, forcing herself up.
She yanked another handful of jade grass and chewed it slowly.
The taste was awful, but she didn't flinch.
"Truly… I've fallen too far."
Still, her expression remained firm, almost proud.
She was Liora.
The first of her race to ascend to divinity.
The master of mana itself.
How could she let a little pain stop her?
No, she saw this as a kind of blessing.
A moment of weakness, of failure.
Something she'd never truly experienced before.
All her life, her calculations had been flawless, her predictions always true.
And yet here she was, brought low, crawling, chewing moss like a starving beast.
She didn't regret it.
If anything, she welcomed it.
For once, she could fail.
And in that failure, she would evolve beyond what she had imagined.
At last, after what felt like forever, she stood before the tree.
A massive entity rooted deep into the cavern, pulsing faintly with ancient mana.
She raised her arms, wobbling on her feet.
"I know you're sentient. So do it, devour me while my descendant isn't here."
Her voice trembled as she laughed bitterly.
"Come on, parasite me already. Isn't this your only chance to get a humanoid body?"
Silence.
Then, a rumble.
The ground trembled beneath her feet.
Liora's smile widened.
This was the moment she had been waiting for.
Then pain struck suddenly, sharp and deep.
Roots burst from the earth and pierced her back, threading into her spine and wrapping around her organs.
She hissed, part agony, part ecstasy, as mana flooded her veins.
Then a voice echoed, old and distant, both curious and cautious.
"How did you know I had gained sentience?"
Liora chuckled even as her body spasmed.
"Dumbass. I've been waiting for this… waiting for the perfect moment to usurp your essence."
The voice scoffed.
"Even if you've waited, it's useless. You can't break free."
The roots surged, spreading faster.
The voice grew louder, more commanding.
"I've already planted my seeds inside you so breaking free from my grasp is useless."
But Liora only laughed.
And in the next second, those very seeds were ejected from her body like black thorns.
"Impossible! How did you... how can you remove them?!"
Liora stood straighter now, her body visibly healing.
Her broken essence stitched itself back together as she siphoned the tree's power, draining its core nutrients and mana.
"Nothing is impossible, dear~"
She said with a smirk.
"And how could I possibly lose… to a piece of wood?"
The voice quaked with fury, its last words filled with disbelief.
"Damned! This is utterly impossible!"
Liora couldn't help but chuckle.
She had known from the moment they arrived that this tree was sentient.
It was the very same entity she had sensed in that foreboding vision months ago, part of the future she had dreaded.
And just as she anticipated, the fool took the bait.
It had latched onto her, attempted to parasite her weakened form, believing her ripe for the taking.
And in doing so, it handed her exactly what she needed, its mana and essence.
She laughed softly, bitterly.
A mere tree, daring to covet her body.
It had truly believed that the skills granted by the dimensional record were absolute.
But they weren't.
Not in her eyes.
For Liora, the only absolute was control.
Your control, over your body, your mana, your bloodline, and your skills.
That was what mattered.
That was what defined strength.
And no matter how far she had fallen, weakened or broken, it was still impossible to truly take advantage of her.
Her gaze flicked toward the now-withered trunk.
A glint of emerald light caught her eye as the dead husk split open, revealing a glowing core nestled at its heart.
Her lips curved with hunger.
"Claiming this core should be easy now that I've taken in its essence…"
Just as she said it, the core trembled, then rose into the air, drawn to her like a moth to flame.
It hovered, pulsing gently, then fused into her chest in a flash of brilliant green.
The surge of energy was immediate.
Liora's body shivered as her dormant mana pathways, have finally reignited.
Power flowed freely again, with more vibrancy than ever before.
"How wonderful… truly…"
Her essence had fully recovered, restored to its prime.
Then, a shift.
Strands of her golden hair darkened into a rich jade hue.
Her once-pure golden pupils now bore streaks of verdant green.
She glanced down at her arms, her malleable gold skin had gained a woody texture, hardening into a protective shell.
"A nature affinity…?"
She murmured, surprised.
It wasn't what she'd expected from this merger, but she accepted it.
Her body had begun adapting on its own, wooden plating growing over her exposed flesh, a natural armor blooming from within.
She closed her eyes, sensing the deeper changes.
Her bones twisted into alignment, her skin smoothed to flawless form, and her mana channels flowed with pristine precision.
"Golden Maiden."
She whispered.
Her transformation reached its apex, elegant, beautiful, and terrifying.
Her body radiated with vitality and perfection.
She let out a slow, relieved moan, her breath catching as the sensation overwhelmed her.
"Mmm… I truly prefer this kind of pleasure over mere masturbation."
Then, with a sly smile, she added with a teasing moan.
"Though speaking of that… it seems that little guy was a bit traumatized, wasn't he?"
Her fingers traced down her folds, and a heat bloomed beneath her skin.
"Haaa… I wonder… will there ever be a man who will make me feel this way?"
Her desire surged uncontrollably, her libido heightened by the influx of mana.
Alone, surrounded by the quiet glow of nature, she gave in to the primal craving, her body trembling, her voice echoing through the cavern in a chorus of breathless moans and wet sounds.
Time passed.
The moans finally ceased.
A long sigh escaped her lips as she lay sprawled in the moss, hair cascading around her like a golden-green halo.
"Why the hell am I this horny…?"
She muttered, staring at the cavern ceiling in vague irritation.
She studied her body for a moment, sensing the lingering urges still simmering beneath her skin.
Realization dawned.
"…Maybe I should just remove the source of this madness."
But then she shook her head.
No, she wasn't going to suppress it.
Not yet.
Instead, she sank into the ground, resting atop the soft grass, letting the fatigue of battle and indulgence wash over her.
Her golden hair, now streaked with green, spread around her like a celestial veil.
Her limbs relaxed.
Her eyes drifted closed.
"Truly… sleeping is one of the best hobbies I've ever had~"
Liora slept in the vast expanse, her body nestled beside the husk of a once-sentient tree at the heart of the trench.
For the first time in what felt like an eternity, there was peace.
The currents drifted softly, the moss pulsing faintly with bioluminescent light.
Silence embraced her like a long-lost friend, and Liora, so often battered, calculating, relentless, finally found stillness in the cradle of the earth.
It was a rare peace.
One she had almost forgotten how to feel.
In all of her life, there had been no shortage of power or ambition, but peace?
That was scarce.
Once, she had been an empress.
Then, a fallen one.
Cast down by the very people who once bowed before her, branded impure for something she could not control.
Her bloodline had been too diluted.
Too weak.
An insult to the proud name of the Whark.
And she knew it.
Even as a teenager, Liora had wept and raged at her own existence.
She had hated that she could use mana, for it only reminded her of what she wasn't, of what she could never be.
They called her a disgrace.
Stripped her of her throne.
Exiled her as a stain on the lineage.
And so, she wandered, abandoned by her kin, consumed by shame, and hunted by those who feared what her impurity might become.
She had never forgotten.
Not the hatred.
Not the tears.
Not the dreams twisted into nightmares.
Every time she closed her eyes, the darkness had reminded her of her place, beneath the world, beneath her bloodline, beneath everyone.
But this time, something had changed.
She dreamed.
Not of fire.
Not of chains.
But of green fields and clear skies.
Of freedom.
Perhaps… it was because she had finally begun to climb out of the depths.
But that didn't mean the burden she carried was any lighter.
Even now, even as her strength returned and her body mended, the truth remained.
The weight on her shoulders was immense.
And for someone like her, born weak, cast away, it was almost unbearable.
But she endured it all.
Because she had no other choice.
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