Wain approached the barrier and looked at the pearls. They hovered in the sphere's center like small stars, the purest energy constantly emanating from them. The roots absorbed the energy and transmitted it, to selected beings throughout the zone.

"The core looks like it's alive..." Wain muttered.

"It is. Look at the roots." Keith said, "They look more like tentacles, looking for energy to get even stronger and bigger."

,m "Okay, enough talk. It's time to get those pearls and go home finally. Break it up." Osvald uttered and walked over to the barrier.

"Wait. I want to clarify something. Two will go to us out of the five pearls, right?"

"Yes, as agreed. Wain, this will be my gift to you."

"What? You'll give me three pearls?" Wain was surprised.

"Of course, why not? Do you really think such pearls would be of any use to me."

"Wouldn't they?"

"Huh, the concentration of energy in them would have to be several times greater than it is now for me to be interested."

'Damn, isn't that enough for him? These pearls are ten times bigger than the ones I absorbed before, but they're nothing to Osvald? What the hell is going on here anyway?'

"Mr. Osvald, please begin." Keith said quietly.

Osvald nodded, and a stream of energy burst out of him. The silhouette of an angry dragon appeared above him, and Osvald struck with all his might. The barrier around the sphere rippled, and several cracks appeared.

The shockwave was so powerful that Wain and Keith had trouble staying on their feet.

Bam.

Osvald struck again. One blow wasn't enough, he hit as fast and hard as possible to break the shell. The barrier recovered quickly, the core fought back, it understood why they had come here.

Whooooooooooosh.

Suddenly roots burst out of the walls and headed toward Osvald. Despite that, he didn't stop and continued to strike.

A dagger appeared in Keith's hand and disappeared. Keith found himself next to Osvald and chopped all the roots into small pieces.

Bam.

Osvald delivered the final blow, and the barrier shattered into tiny shards.

"Great." Osvald smiled. He was going to take the pearls and destroy the core.

Tremble.

Suddenly the ground trembled, and the pearls glowed brightly. A powerful stream of energy erupted from them, as it tossed Osvald and the others aside.

Some of the barrier's shards headed toward the pearls and protected them again. The remaining shards merged with the energy and roots. They gradually transformed into a huge creature with four paws, long horns, and dark eyes. White energy emanated from the beast, and it was covered in roots as if wooden armor.

"Well... that was to be expected." Osvald rose to his feet and prepared for battle.

"Mr. Osvald, we've got your back, don't worry, you can hit at full force." Keith said and commanded his men.

"All right, let's go!" Wain pronounced and attacked. The Undeads followed him. Keith ran behind him, and the others were to his left and right.

The Ring of Damned glowed as a sword appeared in Wain's hand. He braced himself for battle.

'Stop...' Suddenly, someone's voice sounded in his head. It was the Code of Light and Darkness.

'What is it?

'This beast doesn't need to be killed.'

'What? What are you talking about?' Wain didn't understand, it seemed like some nonsense to him.

'It needs to be absorbed, it will be much better. They don't realize it, but the barrier was made of the purest energy, which means this beast too. Think of it as one huge pearl, albeit one with a low concentration of energy.'

'Can you help me with that?'

'Yeah, it's easy because pure energy is nothing but the true face of light.'

Streams of energy burst from beneath Wain, and black and white armor appeared on him.

'Put the sword away. There's no need for that now.'

'Sure.' Wain nodded as he ran forward.

Roooooooaaaaaaarrrrr!

The beast roared, and the ground trembled.

"Shut up."

Energy surged out of Osvald, and he attacked sharply. His fist raced toward the beast like a comet, but the beast would not retreat. Beast brought his paw to the ground, and the shockwave tossed everyone aside.

"Keith!" Osvald shouted.

"I'm here."

He appeared behind Osvald and kicked him forward against the stream. Osvald approached the beast, and suddenly several thick roots appeared before him.

Whooooooosh.

Keith's partners threw daggers at the roots and destroyed them, as leaving the beast unprotected.

"Get it!"

Osvald struck at full force in the beast's face. It roared in a fury and attacked, but suddenly Osvald struck again, bottom-up.

The blow threw the huge beast upward, then a magic circle appeared above it, and white flames rained down on the beast.historical

'Great, that should be enough!' Keith inwardly exclaimed.

"What?"

Suddenly roots burst out of the beast's armor and engulfed the flames. The beast roared menacingly and glared angrily at Osvald.

"He didn't take any damage? Is that possible?!" Keith was shocked. The power of Osvald's blows was immense, but it was nowhere near enough.

Whoooooooosh.

Roots collapsed on Osvald, and he stepped aside.

"Something's not right. My physical attacks didn't damage it, it's not normal. What's more, the beast just absorbed the flames and turned energy into energy." Osvald muttered.

"We need a different approach." Wain said, "We have to absorb it. I'm on it. You have to help me get to the beast."

"What? Boy, you think you can do what Mr. Osvald failed to do?" Keith asked incredulously.

"Boy, you ought to step aside and let us do all the work." Keith's partners said. Wain was pretty weak to them, with rather faint ripples of energy coming from him.

Wain answered nothing. He only looked seriously at the beast and his aura intensified.

"Quiet. You don't decide anything here." Osvald said stiffly, "If Wain says he can do it, then so be it. Our task is simple. We will distract the beast and immobilize it. Let's go!"