Chapter 327: Ronin’s Kingdom

The World Tree was alive, and Ronin could feel every part of it.

It wasn’t a distant presence, or something he was merely standing inside. He could feel its roots beneath the earth, the rivers moving through the soil, the Beasts running through the forests, and the mountains surrounding the Secret Realm.

He could even feel the places where ancient structures had collapsed beneath the roots. Everything was connected, everything was moving, and everything was within reach.

Ronin slowly opened his eyes. He was standing inside the World Tree, and there was nothing ordinary about the space around him. Golden roots filled it from floor to ceiling, some as thin as branches and others wider than buildings, with purple-black veins running between them and carrying Miasma deeper into the tree. Ever since the trunk had split open, a golden light had been burning somewhere far below him, where the heart lay.

At the center of the chamber floated the thing he had brought with him. The humans had called it a purple Mirror, but it had never been one. It was something the Endou had made themselves, a condensed mass of purple-black energy formed from the negative emotions of the Beasts that had lived in the Everglades. Fear, anger, despair, hatred, and loneliness, every emotion the Beasts had left behind over generations, had been gathered, refined, and forced into a single vessel.

Ronin had carried it into the World Tree, and now it floated before him like a second heart.

THUMP.

Purple energy spread from it, and the roots answered.

THUMP.

Another wave moved through the tree, and Ronin smiled. "Yes."

He raised a hand, and the roots moved, hundreds of them and then thousands, twisting around one another as they spread through the enormous interior of the tree. Ronin closed his eyes, and his awareness expanded until he could see through the roots. He saw a corrupted wolf running through the forest, a Beast drinking from a river, a massive serpent beneath the Water Region, a group of corrupted creatures gathering around an ancient ruin, and a Guardian Beast struggling against the Miasma. He could see all of them and feel all of them, and then they stopped being separate.

Ronin opened his eyes. "They’re mine."

Somewhere far away, a corrupted Beast lowered its head, another snarled, and a third turned in the direction Ronin wanted. Thousands of creatures moved, not perfectly, not yet, but they responded.

Ronin smiled. "This is what they were afraid of." He looked at the roots around him, and his voice echoed through the chamber. "The World Tree was never meant to be restrained. It was meant to connect everything." He spread his arms. "The land, the Beasts, the mana, and the rivers." The purple Miasma pulsed. "And me."

The roots surged, and for one beautiful moment, Ronin felt nothing standing between himself and the World Tree.

Then something went wrong. A root stopped moving, and Ronin frowned as he looked at it. "Move."

The root trembled, but it didn’t obey.

Ronin’s expression hardened. "Move."

The root slowly shifted, barely at all. The delay had lasted only a few seconds, but he had felt it. Resistance. He clenched his hand, and the root finally moved into position, and Ronin stared at it for a long time. Then he laughed. "So that’s how it is." He looked deeper into the World Tree. "You still remember them."

The chamber grew colder, and shadows appeared between the roots, one, then another, then another, until human silhouettes slowly took shape. They wore ancient robes, their bodies incomplete and their faces hidden in darkness, but Ronin recognized them. They were the Endou, his ancestors, the people who had once stood before the World Tree and sealed it away.

"Ronin," one of the shadows said.

Ronin didn’t turn. "You’ve come."

Another shadow stepped forward. "You’ve connected yourself too deeply."

Ronin smiled. "That’s the idea."

"You don’t understand what you’re doing."

Ronin finally turned toward them. "I understand perfectly."

The first shadow’s voice grew heavier. "The World Tree cannot be controlled."

Ronin’s smile disappeared. "That’s what you told yourselves." For a moment, no one spoke, and Ronin looked around at the shadows. "You saw its power. You felt what it could become, and you were afraid."

One of the shadows stepped forward. "We were protecting the Secret Realm."

"No," Ronin said, shaking his head. "You were protecting yourselves."

The shadow’s form flickered. "We knew its power would consume anyone who tried to command it."

Ronin looked at the enormous roots. "And yet I’m still standing."

"You’ve only just begun."

"I know." Ronin’s eyes hardened. "That’s why I’m going further."

"Ronin, listen to us," another shadow said.

"No."

"You cannot withstand the World Tree."

Ronin laughed. "Then why am I here?"

"Because the Miasma is suppressing its resistance."

Ronin glanced at the purple artifact. "Exactly."

"The artifact cannot control the World Tree."

Ronin’s expression turned colder. "It doesn’t need to." The shadows fell silent, and Ronin walked toward the artifact. "The Miasma gives me a connection. It gives me a way inside." He placed his hand against its surface, and the purple energy crawled up his arm, briefly turning his veins black, but he didn’t flinch. "And once I’m inside..." He looked at the roots. "I’ll keep going."

"You don’t have the strength!" one of the shadows shouted.

Ronin turned sharply. "If only you had been stronger."

The whole chamber shook, and the shadows went silent as Ronin’s eyes burned. "If only you’d had the strength to grasp its power, this beautiful thing would never have been locked away in this miserable prison." The roots around him trembled. "You saw something magnificent..." He spread his arms. "...and decided that because you couldn’t control it, nobody should." His voice grew almost furious. "If you truly wanted to protect it, you should have taken hold of its power."

One of the shadows stepped forward. "And what happens when it destroys you?"

Ronin stared at him. "It won’t."

"You don’t know that."

"I don’t need to," Ronin said, and he smiled. "I have something you didn’t."

The shadow stared at him.

"Will," Ronin said, turning back to the World Tree. "I will continue."

The shadows began arguing all at once, telling him he was making the same mistake, that the World Tree was resisting, that he couldn’t withstand it, and calling his name, but Ronin ignored them.

The purple artifact pulsed.

BOOM.

A wave of Miasma exploded through the roots and drove the shadows back, and Ronin stepped forward as the roots wrapped around him, one around his arm, another around his shoulder, and several across his back. Then they began to sink into his body.

Ronin gritted his teeth, and pain flashed across his face as, for the first time, his confidence slipped. The connection was going deeper, much deeper, and his body began to tremble. The World Tree was no longer simply letting him in. It was pushing back against him.

Ronin screamed. "Continue!"

The roots tightened, purple Miasma flooded through his veins, and the artifact began to crack as the shadows watched in horror. "Ronin!"

He raised his head. "Continue!"

The World Tree shook, and a golden pulse erupted from somewhere deep inside it, throwing Ronin backward into a root. Blood ran from the corner of his mouth, and for several seconds, he didn’t move. Then he laughed, and the shadows stared at him.

"You see?" Ronin slowly stood. "It can resist." He wiped the blood from his mouth. "But it hasn’t stopped me."

"Yet," one of the shadows whispered.

Ronin looked at him.

"You’re forcing yourself into something that doesn’t accept you," the shadow went on.

Ronin’s eyes narrowed. "Then I’ll force it further."

He raised his hand, and the purple artifact answered. All across the Secret Realm, corrupted Beasts raised their heads, the wolf, the serpent, the corrupted Guardian Beasts, thousands of creatures all connected and all reacting. Ronin could feel their anger, fear, and pain, the same emotions that had created the Miasma in the first place, and he pulled on them. The artifact grew brighter, and the roots moved faster this time as the World Tree groaned.

Ronin smiled. "That’s better."

"You’re destroying yourself," the shadows said helplessly.

Ronin didn’t even look at them. "If that’s the price..." He stepped deeper into the roots. "...then I’ll pay it."

The Endou shadows slowly began to fade, their voices growing distant. "You cannot control the World Tree."

Ronin stopped and looked back at them for a moment, and then he smiled. "I don’t need you to believe in me." The shadows disappeared, and he turned toward the heart of the tree. "I only need to prove you wrong."

He kept going, and the deeper he went, the harder the World Tree fought him. Roots tightened around his body, golden light pushed against the purple Miasma, and the artifact cracked further, but Ronin kept walking.

Then the Mirrors pulsed again. He had felt their resonance before, but now, this deep inside the tree, he felt something new in it, and he stopped, his expression changing. Fire, water, earth, darkness, and light, five ancient authorities and five points of stabilization, and all five were feeding into the World Tree.

Ronin smiled. "So that’s why." The resistance he had been feeling wasn’t only the World Tree. The Mirrors were reinforcing it, stabilizing the tree and keeping its original will intact.

He slowly clenched his fist as he finally understood. "If I take control of the Mirrors..." The purple artifact pulsed. "...the World Tree will have nowhere left to hide." His smile returned. "I won’t need to overpower you." He looked toward the enormous golden light burning deep within the roots. "I’ll remove everything standing between us."

The World Tree suddenly shook, and Ronin froze as a golden pulse slammed into him.

BOOM!

He was thrown back again, this time crashing through several roots, and the purple artifact flickered violently. Ronin slowly lifted his head, and he wasn’t amused anymore. He could feel the difference.

The resistance had grown stronger, much stronger. The World Tree wasn’t rejecting him, not yet, but it was fighting him, and the deeper he went, the harder it became to move.

He slowly stood, blood dripping from his nose, and looked at the golden roots around him, then at the five distant pulses, and his eyes hardened. "So you want to fight." He wiped the blood away. "Fine."

The roots tightened around his body, and Ronin stepped forward anyway. "I’ll win."

Deep inside the World Tree, something answered.