"Here you have it. This is the seed you asked for, Blood Sigh."

  Coldness Divine removes from her storage ring a simple seed, but a detailed look would show it could be anything but simple.

  "Oh, the plants from the Divine Plane never cease to amaze me. It's just as the book mentions..."

  Sky Petal receives it and observes it cheerfully, but her joy does not last long. She turns to Coldness Divine and explains with a complex expression, "Are you sure? Once consumed, it cannot be removed, it will remain inside you for your entire life. That's not all, when it blooms the pain will be unimaginable, I do not wish for you to go through such a situation."

  Both understand the meaning of this seed, it was Coldness Divine herself who brought up this topic a few days ago.

  "If one day I cannot kill myself, make it bloom. I can only entrust this task to you, I know it's not the way, but if it helps... you will never remember doing it."

  Sky Petal looks noticeably sad. She slightly cuts her finger and a drop of blood falls on the seed, and though it seems strange, she moves her lips as if speaking to it, but no words come out.

  "Swallow it, once you do, only I can give the order for it to germinate."

  Coldness Divine takes the seed in her hands and does not hesitate to bring it to her mouth.

  +++

  "Hahaha... Damn, these women never cease to amaze me."

  Elder Cloud laughs, but none of that is reflected in his eyes. He and his companion have just survived the meticulous attack of two prodigious huntresses who not only exceeded their expectations but nearly took their lives.

  Sky Petal directs her gaze towards them, but her cheerful look has disappeared without a trace. Behind her, it is possible to witness the manifestation of her Way, something anyone in her place would be proud to achieve before reaching level 700, after all, it is an unprecedented event, those two arrogant huntresses would have fought them had they achieved it.

  But Sky Petal is not like that.

  "My Way holds no special meaning."

  Upon hearing the stream behind her hitting the ground, Sky Petal frowns, remembering her thousand years of acquiring wisdom.

  "My Way is the place where I was born."

  The illusion reflects a massive waterfall hitting the ground, behaving like a real liquid, but this is not what most complicates Sky Petal. Her gaze stops on the plants that unfortunately come into contact with the waterfall, withering and losing their life instantly.

  "Death Torrent."

  Both elders see the havoc caused by the manifestation of that woman's Way and do not dare to underestimate her at all, for all nature around her is visibly withering away! And she's not even doing it on purpose!

  "I tried to distance myself from it, but every time I compared it with my current Way, my understanding towards it progressed due to that single contrast. I refused to continue it, but every time I remembered it, I awoke having advanced once more."

  The elders manifest their Way in full, but the wounds on their bodies prevent them from performing their best. A look between them is enough to exchange thoughts, Elder Cloud nods.

  "You speak in the past tense, why is today different?"

  Time is what they need most. They don't understand why reinforcements have yet to arrive, how far could that portal be? Their only explanation is that the man's teleportation could temporarily block its signal, but he is dead, there is no reason why they shouldn't arrive.

  The outcome is already written, they just have to wait.

  At Elder Cloud's question, Sky Petal does not rush to respond.

  "...Because it's the strongest Way I have."

  Sky Petal can predict what those men are planning, but she knows their thoughts are completely wrong. There will be no reinforcements.

  "I discovered something more precious than myself, from the moment our eyes met, I decided to accept this Way that was imposed on me since birth."

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  For a moment, the image of Ryan appears in her mind, the next second hundreds of vines emerge from the ground and, unlike the nature around them, these are not affected by the dew from the waterfall filled with death.

  "Although only after witnessing you, did I discover that I am capable of doing the same."

  "That's why I hate prodigies! Even when I was considered one in the past, I will never be able to do something similar in my life!"

  Elder Cloud performs a sword cut dividing all the plants that emerge from the ground, but contrary to common belief, from the cut parts, roots emerge or join the nearby plants, recreating the versatility that only nature is capable of demonstrating.

  "Why did it have to end this way?" Elder Ash sighs, the bodies on the battlefield are clear evidence that the situation cannot go back, "At any other time, I would have recruited them, How many achievements would have been gained by discovering such talents? Hah…"

  Despite his repeated sighs, he draws intricate patterns in the air, the moonlight appears again in the environment performing various attacks on the approaching plants. Belatedly, they discover strange flowers under the vines.

  "Those flowers are sucking the mana! Elder Cloud!"

  "What the hell is wrong with these plants..."

  His King Way allows him to attack regardless of the distance as long as he is within his territory, all his sword cuts avoid the vines and head straight for those flowers, most of which fall, unable to regenerate like the others.

  "This should give us some--"

  It is then that they notice the falling petals from the sky... and that's not all.

  Sky Petal raises her hand and her Way manifests in full, the waterfall behind her turns into a tide that sweeps everything in its path. The elders immediately fly towards the sky, recognizing the lethality of those waters. What they failed to predict is that those falling petals, at some point, acquired the deadly water dew on their petals.

  Every place that comes into contact with those drops loses its vitality at a glance.

  "Aagh! Get out of here!"

  Elder Cloud contracts in pain when one of these petals absorbs the life from his body. His only arm withers like a plant and acquires wrinkles from aging. With hatred, he uses his King's will to push away all those petals that maintain the dew on themselves, preventing them from entering his territory.

  It is then that he realizes that not all the petals possess it, This is nothing but an illusion caused by that flower! What else might be an illusion before his eyes?

  "Elder Ash! Do something while I protect you!"

  If there's a weakness in his Way, it's that his will can only be exerted within the limits of his palace. Sky Petal is far from them and the plants only increase this distance, only Elder Ash can attack her without moving from his position.

  "Hah... twice in one day."

  With a noticeable deterioration of his strength, Elder Ash recreates that attack that claimed the life of Serene Will. Dozens of light rings appear around Sky Petal and widen to form an extensive light that destroys everything inside it.

  As Elder Cloud laughs cheerfully at the result, Elder Ash frowns. Why didn't she try to dodge his attack?

  "What the hell..."

  The answer is reflected next.

  "Her body... You! What are you?!"

  Just like Serene Will once, Sky Petal's body divided into fragments, but unlike her, the divided parts of her body began to join. Just like those plants that Elder Cloud divided.

  "..."

  No answer was needed, the elders realized the look of surprise on that woman's face. She herself looks at her body with a complex expression, she didn't even know she could do such a thing.

  "How did my body survive a thousand years living with those waters?"

  She narrated her thousand years of acquiring wisdom to Lawrence, in her words she told him how her roots burst into a rock at the top of a waterfall, penetrating the deepest part of it where...

  "Life still flourished."

  She said it without a special reason at the time, she didn't think those words would hide such a deep meaning, enough to develop her Way in these circumstances.

  "Are these deadly waters hiding life?"

  "Attack her! She's understanding her damn Way right now!"

  The elders began to worry as they saw that the waves on the ground acquire a different property, the nature that seemed to wither irreversibly now has halted its deterioration.

  If this woman continues her enlightenment, they will not necessarily be her rival!

  "Coldness Divine, wake up."

  Their surprise increases as they see that the dragon they had given up for dead by the deadly waters returns to Sky Petal, brought by the vines under her control. Was she protecting her? In such circumstances, did she dare to hide her from their sight? But such a thing is no longer important at this moment!

  "... Sky Petal? What--?"

  Coldness Divine keeps silent the moment she feels an attack in her direction. Her caution decreases as she sees how the plants under their feet interrupt the enemy's action, obstructing each of their attacks.

  "There's no time, I must convey their words to you."

  While various plants are eliminated and new ones replace them, the elders make their way through them towards those women. Sky Petal has already proven to be such a level of threat, if now Coldness Divine joins, their lives will be in grave danger!

  Coldness Divine attentively listens to her words, until at some point her eyes fall on a distant place. There she notices two corpses, one next to the other.

  When all the words are transmitted, Coldness Divine asks.

  "Why didn't you germinate the seed?"

  She doesn't lie when she says she's surprised to see Sky Petal's body regenerate like a plant or to see that waterfall behind her, but she is even more surprised after discovering how different the environment is after losing consciousness.

  She could have chosen the easy path and no one would have blamed her, why didn't she do it?

  Sky Petal smiles and then says: "Because I don't want you to go through such a situation, not unless there's no other alternative."

  Silently, Coldness Divine looks again towards that place in the distance and clenches her fists. There rest her man and that woman, Sky Petal not only rescued her from enemy hands but prevented their corpses from getting involved in her fight.

  Then, Coldness Divine says: "I promise this will not happen again."

  "Yes, I know you'll keep your word."

  In front of the incredulous gaze of the elders, Coldness Divine swings her fan towards her own neck, promising that a day like this will never happen again.

  Coldness Divine has died.