Buzz! A buzz rang in my mind, and the harvest of the Raxth had begun. It had taken the runes one and half a minute to spread inside it, half a minute outside, nearly five minutes inside. The runes had never taken more than a minute inside to spread the runes against a single Grimm; this time, it had taken nearly five, and the harvest wasn't going to be easy either. The bloodline phantom of Grimm came out and roared before even a single drop of essence came inside. It shook my core with such power that I wanted to ask Nero to power up the formation, but I stopped the moment the first drop of bloodline essence came out of the Raxth. It is something I have not experienced before, it bears similarity with the Tyrants bloodline, but it has something the Tyrants bloodline does not. This something is extremely powerful and does belong to the Tyrant class, nor does it belong to Primary-II; it has a sort of incompleteness in it, but it is, without a doubt, extremely powerful. As the first drop appeared, it immediately divided various shareholders. Half of my share has gone to the mysterious tree that had made it grow, and more essence went to it the more it grew. The resistance from the Grimm's bloodlines is so huge that only drops are coming, but these drops are enough to spurt the growth of the mysterious tree. I looked at the harvesting in worry; while the bloodline is powerful, there is also a great struggle from it, and it might take more than I afford to give. I need its essence energy and need it before the mist disappears; while it will not make me powerful enough to fight against Grimm's head-on without burning my essence, I still need this power. I hope the ten minutes would be enough, which is half an hour inside; no Grimms had taken even half of that time to get fully harvested, but it is no average Grimm either. All I could be hope that the runes would finish harvesting before the mist disappeared. I am already seeing the positive signs; the speed of the harness is increasing. It won't be long before the drops turn into streams. Though, I would have very much preferred it if it was a flood. I sighed and focused on the Grimms; three Grimms; I increased one more after seeing my clone was perfectly capable of handling two streams of strings, so I let it do that while I focused on the third. It had stretched my strings so much that I needed to use some from my armor itself, which immediately decreased my defensive abilities. I could not even summon a single shield right now, wholly dependent on Ashlyn for my safety. If they were so busy, I would have asked one of them to protect me while have sent Ashlyn inside my core. Nero is consuming the purified bloodline essence as it comes, growing stronger by the second; Ashlyn would have been done it too if not for protecting me. Chew Chew She seemed to understand what I was thinking as she chirped loudly, "I know you don't mind protecting me, and I am grateful for that," I said as I gently petted her before, once again, closing my eyes in focus. I need to be very focused, as I am not only wrapping the strings outside but also inside. I wanted to be done with these Grimms in a single moment, without any Grimm knowing how, especially the four, which I am not targeting. While the Grimms are chasing the mist phantoms, the humans attacking them, unlike most of their attacks, are quite powerful. Doing quite damage, but not as much as I liked it to be. The only one who is doing some serious damage is Rai, who is still merging with an immense amount of mutation every second, which is constantly increasing his strength. The mutation is too powerful, he had not even merged with even half of the mutation, and it is already given him power; if he merged with the whole, he would easily be able to defeat these Grimms. It is the only power of two seals; the third seal contains the powerful mutation, which is also most dangerous. If it had been released without him being ready, then he would have turned into the abomination. It will not only warp his body but also his soul, which is the third seal that cannot be opened forcefully. Rai can't open, even I can't open it, without days of time; I had intentionally designed it in such a way. "Michael, five minutes," said mom, informing me the time she could hold on with every passing minute. Seven minutes have already passed since I took the Raxth inside my core and began on three. I am making progress, but I am not sure whether I will be able to finish with them before the mist disappears in five minutes. Though, there is one good news; the runes are rapidly increasing the speed of harvest. After five minutes and starting from drops, it is now a river of bloodlines essence coming toward me. It is moving toward the flood, making me believe that the Raxth might turn into dust before the mist disappears. I truly hope so. "Four minutes, Michael," said mom slowly, and I pushed myself more, taking more risks. It is the only option I have; if I do not take risks, I might not be able to take them in my core before it is time. Second passed, and with it, the Grimms went crazy. They have come to believe that killing us will be easy as squishing an ant under their feet, but in the first second, they found out it will not be easy, as we burned our essence, not caring for the consequences. Still, the burning of essence did not faze them; it excited them that they would hunt instead of butchering with sheer power. When my mother arrived, things changed; the mighty ones began to fumble in the search for the enemy. Their senses have been jumbled; everything they attacked turned to mist, and instead, getting attacked every second that it begins to frustrate them. Their lab-grown minds did not seem to handle the frustration well, given how they were lashing in every direction. Some of those powerful lashings came in my direction, and Ashlyn had to defend against them, with the cost of injuring herself. "One minute, Michael," informed Mom. It made me lose all inhibition; I had finished most of the work, and seeing I might not be finished with the rest, I let go of everything and began to work as fast as I could. I have reached the stage where the Grimms could do nothing if they discovered my interference other than lash out, and it only happens if they discover, which I am giving all to avoid. "Half a minute," said mom, and this time, I did not even nod and focused on finishing the job. Dhub! "Ten seconds," she said, and I was nearly finished when I heard the sound, which I had not thought, I would, before the mist disappeared.