Chapter 973 Life "What did you do to him?!!" The sound of someone dear to him echoed in Emery's mind as his vision gradually blurred and he slowly lost his grasp on reality. He felt so heavy and worn out that he just wanted to set aside everything and close his eyes to rest. It was apparent that Emery had forced himself too much, way past the limit he and his body could handle. Enhancing and maintaining a spell that could distort the fabric of space to such an extent was not something anyone could do, not even those amongst the magus of the Magus Alliance. "N-no..! …no… one more time… just a little bit more!!" Emery inwardly screamed out his feelings as he willed the spell to cast once more. Unfortunately for Emery, in this situation he had gotten himself in, a strong and determined will alone wasn't going to cut it. Instead of getting the burst of energy he had hoped for, Emery was instead bestowed with a devastating repercussion that drained all of the remaining spirit energy in his body. He instantly felt as if his body was an empty husk, while a deluge of excruciating pain washed over as both his dark core and nature core were revolving chaotically. "Arrghh.. One… more…" Emery was at the end of his consciousness. A little bit more of push, and he would fall into the eternal abyss. Darkness began to creep and engulf everything around, when suddenly a small light - a spark appeared in the midst of the dark - came into him. [You cannot do it] In an instant, a slight sobriety came to Emery as he recognized what it was. The voice of the offspring of the Primordial Wisp - the spirit being. He tried hard to muster all his focus, and finally was able to reply to the other party. "Help me.. help.. your people." [human… human, not my people… they, you... same] A slight confusion and question appeared in Emery's mind when he heard that. He was trying to understand why the spirit being was saying such words, when it suddenly gave him another vision. Once again, Emery found his vision turned dark before he found himself in a familiar place. In front of him stood the great tree he had seen before. [look closely] Previously, Emery had only seen hundreds of people prostrating themselves in front of the white tree. But this time, as he observed carefully, he noticed that there were also a thousand or so little creatures crawling on the tree. Myriad of bugs. He even recognized one of them, in particular. It was crawling on one of the white tree's branches. A dark centipede. Other than the bugs, Emery could also understand what the spirit being meant was the entire living being on the planet; the other animals, the trees, and even the shrubs. All, except one. [they are the real native of the planet, humans came much later] As if trying to explain what its words mean, the vision changed again and Emery saw many bits of dozens of visions regarding how humans started to build their homes, populated many areas on the planet, and destroyed countless numbers of lives. Their own, and others around them. What the spirit being showed was such a surprising revelation that Emery couldn't help but be speechless. He finally understood why the spirit being seemed to dislike humans so much, even though they were natives of the planet. Even so, Emery still bravely opened his mouth, for the sake of the survivors that his platoon had gathered. "So you would just let them all die?" Moments passed, but there was still no answer. Instead, the spirit being asked a question that caught Emery off guard. [you, why do you care? they are not you] Emery fully understood what the being meant. Those natives had absolutely no relationship to him at all, besides the fact that one of the objectives the test given was to rescue them. As such, Emery was silent as he thought deeply about what to answer. [tell me your answer, why?] ꜰʀᴇᴇ ᴡᴇʙ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ. ᴄᴏᴍ Emery was in deep thought when suddenly, his mind thought of Twik, and of the Chizpur brothers, about how life could grow and evolve. Organizing his thoughts, Emery reveals his answer. "Because… because all life matters" Emery didn't really know what the 3 million survivors had done to their planet, Andora; but whatever it was, none deserved a massacre such as this. They should be given a chance to understand their mistakes, for them to grow and evolve. "Please help us…" After his thought was delivered to the spirit being, Emery could feel a sudden reaction and saw the tiny light - the spark - brighten up; and at the same time, he felt warm energy entering his body and slowly his consciousness returned to reality. He was awakened by a shock as the wooden plant on his arm had quickly grown, and roots had started to appear and covered his entire arm. It didn't stop and continued to his shoulder until half of his chest was covered by it. Then suddenly, Emery screamed in pain, startling everyone around him. It turned out that the plant roots penetrated inside his body, making their way into his organs. "EMERY!!" Klea tried to grab Emery's body, only to be pushed away by an invisible force. Seeing the situation, the others tried as well but their fate was the same. No one could reach Emery, as they were stopped by an invisible barrier. All of them, especially Klea, looked at Emery in worry, when suddenly, the golden gem taht was previously seen on Twik emerged on his chest and a powerful energy surge burst from it. [You are flooded by unknown primordial energy] [Spirit force boosted exponentially] [1401 (2000)] At this moment, Emery's eyes were glowing bright and his two spirit cores were both supercharged. A seemingly unlimited amount of spirit energy flowed through his body, and knowing that such a thing would not last long he quickly channeled it by casting his spell [Spatial Gate]. "Aaargghh!! Just one spell!" A light tremor struck the ground, followed by a massive circle of dazzling runes appearing on the ground where they were standing. Something that seemed to be a teleportation gate manifested to such a wide extent, covering all the living things standing on it. From the range it covered and how it appeared, it didn't seem like it was a [Spatial Gate] spell anymore. It was a powerful combination between his dark core and nature core. One gives the power to open a vast fabric of space, while another helps him sense a distant part of the planet, a place 1000 miles away. One new surprising improvement was the ability to grasp any living being within the range of spell. Emery burst out all the energy that flooded inside his two cores and it exploded violently. Instantly, resplendent lights enveloped all and they started to disappear en masse.𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚 All 3 million Andora natives and Magus Academy's acolytes, including Emery, safely arrived in the clearing right outside the Platoon 1 base. Everyone without exception was shocked by what had just happened, and they immediately turned their heads towards the person who made this possible. However, despite facing countless pairs of eyes, Emery simply stood still, unmoving. Klea who was standing closest to him suddenly screamed hysterically, startling the others. "No!!.. Emery!" Everyone quickly discovered the reason and their facial expressions changed drastically. Emery stood lifeless, like a corpse as they were unable to sense any spirit energy or life force from his body. There was nothing at all. In a situation like this, Emery's body should have been teleported out, instead, the golden gem on Emery's chest burst out white thin threads just like the ones that come from the stage 5 Abyss creature Chrysalis. Under everyone's shocked eyes, the threads swiftly covered Emery's entire body and formed into a cocoon.