Running away from the roots, which did not even think of stopping, Zertera jumped off the wall to make it harder for the roots to chase him in the middle of the buildings and their wards, but the Elven wizards were more clever and divided those giant roots into two parts, letting them come from below and above.

It was as if the hands of the forest itself were trying to grab Zertera, who sped up at the sight, but the roots were already hanging over his head and began to close in on his face, tearing out a large chunk of wall and ground.

At that moment, Vinter's heart sank at the sight, as did his chest, which began to tighten at the thought of his master's death, but an arrow passed like a blade across his cheek, bringing him back to the fight.

- Stop worrying about Zertera! 

Although Hil'tse was worried about his commander, it was more important to survive, so he and Vinter retreated and at the same time defended themselves against the spear attacks, but Hil'tse  shield, which he passed to Vinter, saved them from the arrows, because the latter was not only able to fight against spears, but Hil'tse was ten times better at it.

After a while of this retreat, they crossed paths with Ludwig and Helm, who were not very happy about the situation, especially because they were virtually surrounded.

– Hil'tse! What the hell are you doing here?

- I have a question for you too!?

But even so, they continued to defend themselves and attack whenever possible, while Vinter barely participated in the attack, as he mostly caught arrows with his shield and passed the arrows that survived to Helm.

However, this fight didn't last long, as the shield broke, the arrows finally ran out, and there were more damn Elves, even though the number of those killed earlier was still high.

- Haha, that was a lot of fun! 

- Shut up, Ludvik! 

- Well, Ludvik is a bit right, and look how many Elves they took with them.

- Shut up too, Winter! We're here because of you!

At that moment, pressing their backs to each other, they shouted at each other with smiles on their faces, and did not pay attention to the Elven shouts that were constantly coming in their direction, and none of them knew Elven.

But after a few moments, the elven screams died down and then started again, but not like before, but screams of fear, as if they were frightened of something. When the four of them looked up, they noticed that a piece of the giant arm was falling right on top of them, and their commander was falling with it.

Immediately, they ran screaming away from the fall, hoping to survive, but as they fell, they were thrown back by the wave and covered in dust, which began to be scattered by the pieces of wall that began to fall behind the arm.

Luckily, the four of them were thrown back so that the pieces did not reach them, but even so, they were still not safe, as the Elven mages did not even think to stop and continued the battle with Zertera, who was almost exhausted, but the mages had not even spent half their strength.

- Hahaha. If you can hear me, take Vinter and run! And this time it's an order, not a request! 

With a heavy exhale, he finished shouting and clenched his blade with the last of his strength, which already showed jagged edges and several small cracks that had appeared after the last blow to his arm, which was woven from many roots.

Without even giving him a chance to catch his breath, the magicians began to attack him from numerous sides and continued to try to catch him with his surviving arm, which had become larger due to the fact that it had been joined with other roots.

Due to his fatigue, he was slower to avoid the attacks and some of them even hit him, but Zertera's armour blocked the damage. At the same time, the four found each other through the dust and without any words, Ludvik, Helm and Hil'tse looked at each other and abruptly threw their hands out in front of them, showing the two stones and scissors that Ludvik had thrown away.

- He-he, good luck! 

- Unlike this fool, I feel sorry for you Ludwig! 

When they were done, Hil'tse and Helm put their hands on Ludvik's shoulders and started running towards Zertera without any worries, but a second later Helm turned and snatched the Elven sword from Vinter's hands with a smile on his face.

- Hil'tse, you bitch, wait for me!

Vinter looked at Ludwig and opened his mouth to say something, but Ludwig put his finger to Vinter's lips and ran his hand over his face, then looked at him and said.

- Damned luck! Oh, and sorry, Winter.

Then he hit Vinter sharply on the back of the head, knocking him out and with a slight grunt he threw him over his shoulder and ran to the exit of Eining, while he barely held back the emotions and tears that were trying to flow from the sadness of knowing that this was the last time they would see each other.     

****

Meanwhile, Hil'tse and Helm joined Zertera in the battle, whose armour was already falling apart and whose sword had already fallen apart from so many blocked blows.

- God, you always take on too much Zertera! 

- I agree with what this jerk said!

Standing in front of him, they prepared for battle and looked with smiles at the one who was more than a friend or a commander, as they had been together for so many years that they had become a family that never left their own.

Then Zertera's armour fell apart completely and for the first time in so long the world saw a blonde woman whose hair barely touched her shoulders and whose beautiful face had once been cut by her own father, and whose equally fantastic body was covered in muscles and dozens of scars.

- Ahem! Fools... I told you to run, so what the hell are you doing here! 

- Well, we're fools, so we don't listen to orders! 

- Besides, none of us wanted to babysit your Vinter!

- Hahaha! We're definitely stupid.

Trying to get up Zertera, she immediately fell to the ground, and just as they wanted to help, they were attacked again from all sides, and although they tried to defend themselves, in a few minutes their defence collapsed, and Helm's short but cheerful life followed, and after a few seconds of screaming and trying to cut off a piece of root, Hil'tse's life ended.

He and his brother were hanging over Zertera, who was trying to do something with her last strength, but all she could do was curse the day her life became like this and this last moment in her life. 

Succumbing to emotions and tears, she tried to stand up one last time, but this time her legs failed, and she started to fall, but just before she fell, she was caught by a silver hand that sent her here.

- Ha, this is the second time I've seen you on the ground, Zertera, and you know it's quite a pleasant sight.

Having finished his sentence, he let go of Zertera, causing her to fall to the floor screaming in pain.

- And you probably have a lot of questions, but here's the thing: no one cares.

Stepping over the weak woman, he approached the magical roots that had tried to kill Zertera a moment ago, but with an almost imperceptible movement of his hand, he drew his sword and effortlessly cut all the surrounding roots into small pieces.

Then he raised his blade to the mountain, which made it glisten in the sunlight, which in a moment hid behind hundreds of arrows fired by the Elves of the prince who was watching with pleasure the collapse of his enemies and the pitifulness of Zertera, who was once feared by both Elves and other creatures.

- But you know, because of this beautiful sight, I will tell you a little secret. 

- All you have done here and all your suffering was to sow one small seed that ‘He’ gave you in the hope that it would grow and swallow up this entire forest and all its power.

- Ha! And for this you sacrificed your own people.

He walked over to her and disrespectfully turned her over with his foot on her back, then took off his helmet and with a calm smile on his face, kicked her in the chest, causing it to crunch and break in several places, making Zertera scream in agonising pain.

- Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't think it would break so easily.

He put his hand to his face and hummed thoughtfully and then hit the same place, but weaker than the first.

- Hmm, I guess I did know, but who cares, right?

Even though the blow was weaker, the pain was worse because the broken bones were digging into her organs and lungs, making Zertera's scream louder and almost wild, which in turn made the prince smile even more.

- Ha ha! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to show myself like that.

At that moment, Zertera no longer paid attention to his words, or to the world around her, or even to her comrades who had fallen to the ground like some kind of rubbish a few seconds ago, as the wild and unrestrained pain of her own bones slowly digging into her organs interrupted everything.

- I know, I know, you're thinking I'm a sick bastard, or crazy... 

He looked down and noticed Zertera's face contorted in pain and his leg still pressing against his chest.

- Ha! I'm sorry, I didn't realise my foot was still on you.

He abruptly removed his foot and stepped back to enjoy the sight of his army taking over Eining and everyone else, then turned to Zertera and shouted for the Seed. 

- For such suffering and my pleasure, I give you the opportunity to see what you have fought and suffered for.

No sooner had he finished than a small glass box containing a silver seed was brought to him, sparkling like his armour, giving him a beautiful look and a feeling reminiscent of impending death.

After enjoying this for a while, he grabbed Zertera by the scruff of the neck and effortlessly lifted her up so that she could see what he was seeing, and after a few more seconds of contemplation, he jumped down with her to the floor where the Elves and those they had captured along with the mages who had tried to kill Zertera were waiting for him.

- You and your bloody father are mad to let this one live! 

The prince, who had been enjoying himself a moment ago, glared at the mage who had shouted at him, and began to walk towards him, while throwing Zertera to the ground, causing her even more pain.

- You! You filthy creature dare to open your mouth at me!

He grabbed him by the head and lifted him up and began to squeeze his hand slowly and with pleasure, inflicting pain and mortal damage on the mage.

- Y-Your Highness, I-I-I'm sorry, but we need him alive.

- Ha-ha, Yulme, it's not for nothing that I've been dragging you along all this time! 

- Always happy to be useful.

The prince let go of the wizard and slowly walked over to Yulme, the elf who was both the prince's assistant and right-hand man. The elf patted him on the head and smiled.

- Someone get that bloody Zertera up, because I want to show her what she's been suffering for.

In a moment, Zertera was being held by several Elven soldiers who also kept her from losing consciousness due to her wounds.

- My dear subjects, the moment for which we are all here has finally arrived and “He” will finally begin to sprout in this world.

The prince held his hands out to the side and gestured that it was time for applause, and after a moment or two the army began to applaud, bringing a successful smile to the prince's face. When he had finished his speech, he approached the magicians again and grabbed one of them, then shoved a seed into his mouth, which immediately began to glow silver and gold.

Still holding the magician with his hand, the prince again indicated that it was time for applause, and then threw the magician and the other prisoners. The magician's body began to shake, and a second later several hundred silver roots came out of his mouth and began to reach out to the prisoners, including the magicians.

Although they tried to escape, the prince's soldiers did not give them a chance. When the roots grabbed them all, they began to suck out their lives, and the seed became a small silver shoot surrounded by elven skeletons.

A moment later, a voice was heard that with a single word caused the air to shake, a painful ringing in the ears and sounded so strong that weak elves fell to the ground, while the prince fell to his knee and smiled joyfully.

- MORE! GIVE ME MORE!

- Oh, my lord! I have prepared this whole forest and all the corpses scattered on the territory for you.

Bowing to the silver shoot, the prince stood up and with a loud shout ordered all the dead to be dragged to the shoot, which at the same time began to grow its roots towards the forest.

- And dear Zertera, what do you think of this sight?

- As soon as it gets higher, she's dead...

At the same moment, the elf head that had just reported Zertera's death rolled away.