Marlena Skala placed her hand on a red oak.
The full-fledged "Harvest Priest" channeled spiritual energy, conveying a query.
She saw branches drooping to her right front. Following them, she saw a black-armored, golden-winged figure flash through the air.
The "Biologist," leading a group of pale constructs and various hybrid creatures, followed the indicated direction. Deep within a white oak forest, she found a Harvest Giant settlement.
She stared at the settlement, then ordered the constructs to attack.
After several experiments, she had made some modifications to the Slaugth constructs.
The most significant change was replacing the tendrils with Catachan vipers. The pale, stalk-like bodies were now wrapped in Catachan vines.
Their three articulated metal legs, tipped with spikes, skimmed the ground. Before the Harvest Giants could react, they lunged.
She watched her creations. The green, cyan, yellow, and red vipers rose.
Compared to the original tendrils, the vipers were more aggressive and proactive.
A green viper hissed, twisting, dodging a giant's swinging scythe-arm, and coiled around the cracked limb.
Amidst a series of crackles, the arm's downward swing slowed.
A dozen vipers followed, wrapping around the Harvest Giant's arm, their fangs tearing.
Amidst a piercing crunch, dark cracks appeared on the cracked arm.
Her tea-brown eyes flickered. Bio-lightning spread, silently seeping into the Harvest Giant's body, flowing with the spreading venom.
'Their bodies are similar to the constructs, between organic and inorganic.'
'A substance like a combination of fibrous tissue and capillaries forms their bodies.'
'...'
She walked forward, moving among the constructs. She raised her hand. Catachan vines grew and spread at her command.
Green covered the cracked Harvest Giant bodies, pulling at them.
The Giants rooted their feet in the brown earth, resisting the vines' pull.
Several vipers leaped, biting into their sunken eyes, burrowing into their cracked mouths.
With heavy thuds, Harvest Giant after Harvest Giant fell.
Her eyes flickered. She saw a figure 'swimming' through the earth, surrounded by white oak leaves.
The Tree-Blessed's white spine suddenly blazed with light.
White oak leaves flew everywhere, falling on the Giants.
With a series of cracks, the vines wrapping the Giants were torn. The vipers' fangs shattered.
The Giants swelled, lunging, their scythes striking the constructs.
Seeing this, she raised her hand. The runes on her Huntress armor and her two cogitator servitors blazed.
As two vines burst, a bolt of emerald lightning struck from the sky.
Since becoming a "Biologist," she had experimented, extracting energy from the vines to unleash Bio-Lightning.
Its power increased, and its color turned emerald.
With a thunderous crash, the lightning struck the Tree-Blessed's head.
The thunder boomed. Its cracked body blackened.
White light dimmed, then brightened again. The blackening rapidly faded.
A flicker of surprise crossed her eyes. Her serpentine hair swayed.
A hundred accumulated toxins released, spreading on the wind.
Some Giants convulsed, vomiting green leaves and white foam.
Some, in terror, cut themselves with their scythes, leaving bloody gashes.
Some split their wide mouths with creaking sounds.
Some, their eyes bulging, collapsed in dizziness.
Two Giants stopped, looked at each other, then embraced, kissing each other with creaking sounds.
The Tree-Blessed felt his head grow heavy. Green fuzz grew on his white spine.
His back itched terribly, as if countless insects were crawling.
He fell backward, his spine burying itself in the oak leaves.
His spine's light flickered. As patches of white oak leaves turned green, fuzz fell away.
Blue blisters grew on his body. The oak leaves turned blue.
Blue-green spread rapidly, soon overwhelming the white.
The bloated Tree-Blessed, expelled from the earth, had lost the Oak God's gift.
As Marlena dealt with the Harvest Giant tribe, Nareth stood in the air, looking into the brown mountain range.
The leaves of the ancient tree were white and red, pulsing like a heart.
Amber fruits, like dewdrops, emitted a honeyed scent.
He stared at the thick life aura. He initially thought it was the legendary Tree of Life.
'It shouldn't be.'
'After the Heresy, Leman Russ entered the Warp searching for the Tree of Life, to heal the Emperor's soul.'
'If Russ didn't go the wrong way, it should be in the Warp.'
His wings beat. He dove.
Though not the Tree of Life, it radiated brilliant spiritual luster.
Its dome-sized canopy shook. The air rippled. The white grew whiter, the red redder.
As light flashed, six red and six white branches rose like pythons.
Twelve Harvest Giants, their bodies merged with the branches, wearing flower crowns.
They raised their hands. White and red leaves swirled upward.
The leaves, spinning like wheels, flew at Nareth.
The "Mentor of Disorder's" spiritual energy surged. A colorful light appeared around him.
The white-red wheels struck the "Multiprism," scattering, flying apart like arrows.
A dozen leaves, tangled together, struck a red oak, splitting it like an axe. Thick white sap burst out.
Hundreds of leaves, twisted like spears, pierced the brown rock.
He glanced with surprise at the Harvest Giants merged with the branches. Light flickered in his eyes. He raised his arms.
He struck his gauntlets together. A loud crack sounded.
The sound waves refracted through the countless, variously angled, variously sized, shimmering facets of the "Multiprism."
The clapping grew louder, like thunder.
As his spiritual energy released, the "Shockwave" struck.
His "Multiprism," qualitatively different from when he was a "Baron of Corruption," could now be used for offense as well as defense.
CRACK, CRACK, CRACK...
With a series of cracks, the flying leaves were ground to dust.
Cracks appeared on the twelve branches. The Harvest Giants fell.
As the great tree trembled, a telekinetic hand, amplified through the converging prism facets, grew until he could barely control it, then released like a storm, sweeping down.
Telekinesis enveloped the massive tree. He pulled.
With a rumble, he felt the heavy weight resist his telekinesis.
With a crack, a root, like a giant python, tore from the earth.
Twelve branches rose. The Giants' eyes blazed.
As white and red leaves filled the air, he struck his gauntlets again.
The shockwave echoed through the blazing "Multiprism," sweeping down.
BOOM...
With a thunderous crash, the branches burst. The twelve Harvest Giants spun and fell.
The great tree's light dimmed. A second root was pulled from the earth. Then a third...
Dense roots tore from the ground amidst earthquake-like rumbles.
A storm of grey sand swept. White and red oak leaves crackled.
The twelve Harvest Giant priests watched in terror as their Tree God was pulled from the earth, flying towards the black-armored, golden-winged figure in the air.
Cracking, they spoke, their voices a mix of shock and anxiety.
"Who is he?"
"Is he a dark god? Is he taking our Tree God?"
The great tree trembled. Its ascent slowed.
Countless branches grew, extending, lunging at him.
He turned his hand, tossing a string of green teardrop talismans.
As his spiritual energy surged, he shouted in Dunnish: "Silence!"
Green light blazed. The creaking, the branch tremors, the earthquake, all ceased. The entire mountain range fell silent.
As he dove, he noticed the twelve Harvest Giants, though separated from the great tree, still radiated spiritual luster.
'Are they potion ingredients too?'
Black mist churned. The dome-sized great tree, the twelve Harvest Giants, the branches, and leaves vanished.
He looked down at the collapsed ground. Brown rock and earth, as the Silence Talismans faded, tumbled like rain, striking the revealed white structure.
His wings spread. He shot to the ground like lightning.
Light flickered in his eyes. Telekinesis rose, refracted, and amplified through the "Multiprism."
The landslide of mud and rock slammed into the 'Telekinetic Dome.'
He examined himself. Most of his spiritual energy was spent. He thought to himself.
'The qualitatively changed "Multiprism" uses a hundred times less telekinesis.'
'But it consumes more spiritual energy.'
.....
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