EU: Chapter 045 | Universal Fruit

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‘Warden?’ Amidst his screams, Zetaka was stunned to hear Mahnaka’s resigned voice. Slowly, he turned around to face a tall, human youth, ‘Impossible! He looks young! The Warden’s supposed to be in his late eighties.’

“Now indeed…” The youth was none other than the Warden. His voice chirpy as he stared at Zetaka from head to toe, “That’s a Dark Elf.”

His words stunned the duo before him. Slowly, the Warden extended his hand and patted Mahnaka on the head, “Good job, kid. Though you have despaired time and again, I commend your relentless efforts, especially in figuring out all the secrets of the Elven Race even without any external assistance.”

“Y-You…you knew?” Mahnaka gasped in shock. His face trembled, alternating between a smile and hallowed despair.

“I spend most of my time analysing the data documented by my soldiers, you see.” The Warden said, taking out a small, wooden case from his pocket. He opened its lid to reveal a World Tree Fruit inside. He dangled it before Mahnaka’s face, “Now, what do you think this is?”

The scent was intoxicating as Mahnaka felt saliva drool out of his mouth. However, his body failed to budge despite his desire to consume the World Tree Fruit.

Fear!

The translucent, pearly white eyes of the Warden terrified him. A glare from the warden was enough to turn him into ash in an instant. At Level 3, the eyes of a Human turned into Sun Stones. They turned into weapons of the highest order, possessing the highest destructive might among all Races.

Even if Mahnaka wanted to resist, he couldn’t. as he stared blankly, the Warden slightly cranked up the heat he churned into Zetaka’s body, causing the latter to scream aloud.

“Usually, an Elf takes anywhere between a decade or two since birth to reach Level 2.” He stared at Mahnaka, “You’re the race born with the greatest amount of boons.”

“It’s an absolute waste, but if you were to consume a World Tree Fruit, you’re guaranteed to enter Level 2, unless you’re an infamous idiot.” The Warden continued, “And upon reaching maturity, you have a small chance at reaching Level 3 if you were to consume the World Tree Fruit designated for you by the World Tree.”

“That is for the Elves.” The Warden’s eyes curled up as they switched from Mahnaka towards Zetaka, “But what do you think happens when a Dark Elf consumes one?”

“S-Stop!” Even though Mahnaka didn’t know what would happen, he had a foreboding. Of course, whether or not he shouted didn’t mean shit.

The Warden casually pushed the World Tree Fruit into Zetaka’s mouth, and down the latter’s throat, “Good.”

“Urgh…” The heat impeding his body vanished, returning his freedom. However, Zetaka couldn’t move as he clutched his stomach in pain, gurgling as if he had consumed poison. He stabbed his hand into his stomach, in an effort to yank out the World Tree Fruit.

Normally, it would have been easy, thanks to his authority over flesh. But this time, it didn’t work, as his nails only dug partway through his skin. “I…no!”

“You won’t be able to use your authority anymore.” The Warden said as he turned Mahnaka to lay witness to Zetaka’s fate with a full view, “The World Tree considers it taboo when an Elf tries to control flesh. So, it retracts the authority over wood that it had bestowed over them.”

“However, this is a dead authority.” The Warden chuckled, “You cannot reach Level 2 through it, since there is no Race Authority to represent it.”

“W-What is happening to him?” Mahnaka grabbed the Warden’s ankle, “Please, I beg you. Stop it!”

“Spare him!”

“Arghhh!” Zetaka suddenly screamed as his body bubbled and melted like wax. There was a vortex of heat, light, and sound from his stomach as the rest of his body melted into a puddle in a matter of seconds.

Now, left amidst it was a reddish-brown fruit, similar in shape to the World Tree Fruit. The Warden grabbed it and used a spare cloth to clean it.

He dangled it before Mahnaka, “Do you know what this is?”

“N-No…” Tears streamed down his face as Mahnaka mourned Zetaka’s death.

“A Dark Elf’s authority over flesh has basically refined the World Tree Fruit into something any fleshly being can consume and experience the same benefits an Elf obtains by consuming a World Tree Fruit.” The Warden grinned, “I term this the Universal Fruit.”

“There is one more benefit I gain by consuming this.” The Warden grinned, “Even though it cannot increase my lifespan, it elevates my body to that of its prime. Until I die from old age, my body and mind will be as when I was in my early twenties.”

“That’s the greatest advantage consuming a Universal Fruit has granted me.”

“Of course, the refinement process to make it kills the Dark Elf. So, it cannot be replicated easily.” Saying so, the Warden swallowed the Universal Fruit and closed his eyes, relishing the taste. His eyes then shot open and glinted with a minor flare, eyeing the terrified expression of Mahnaka to ask, “Do you wish to know how we figured this out?”

“I’ll tell it to you on one condition,” He extended his hand and patted Mahnaka on the head, “It’s the same proposition I gave you when you got caught by me during your first escape attempt.”

“Give up trying to escape, Mahnaka.” The Warden inched forward, “Serve me with all your might and I’ll make you the Elven Race’s librarian. You’ll also be granted the knowledge to reach Level 3 and given private quarters next to the World Tree to live.”

“Since you seemed to have figured out how to turn an Elf into a Dark Elf, I’ll also be asking you to make a few from time to time.” The Warden stopped his face a few metres before Mahnaka. He grabbed a bone knife from the wax puddle nearby and placed it in Mahnaka’s grip.

The Warden drew the knife close to his neck, making contact as he stated in seriousness, “I don’t think I can give you any more chances. So, you either accept my proposition, or…”

He made Mahnaka apply more pressure on the bone knife, causing a trickle of blood to drip from his neck, “You’ll have to kill me here.”

“Go on,” He increased the pressure a step further, stabbing the knife into his throat, “Kill me with your hands…”

“NO!” Mahnaka screamed as he pulled back his hand with force. He even dislocated his arm from the sudden exertion of force. Instinctively, he placed his finger on the Warden’s neck wound, trying to patch up the wound. A second later, he realised his actions and pulled back his hand, trembling soon after.

“Indeed, that explains everything.” The Warden muttered and made eye contact with Mahnaka, stating upon seeing the other party break contact, “Tell me,”

“My appearance makes you recall someone from your past on Earth, right? Who is it?” The Warden pressed further, “Seeing as how even when given the opportunity, you’re unable to bring yourself to harm me, that person must be precious to you.”

“So, who is it?”

“Heuk!” Mahnaka gritted his teeth and remained mum, refusing to speak.

“Well, I’ll get you to talk later.” The Warden got up and stretched his limbs. “I’m still in the middle of a battle, you see. Anyway,”

“Stay put, as you’re incapable of running away.” Followed by a streak of fire, the Warden flew away.

The Ogre Gate!

The Living Armour under the Warden’s control hovered in the air. Embedded in the centre of its chest was a Sun Stone in the shape of the Warden’s eyeball. Stretching out of it, like veins, were faint lines of lava.

These lava lines covered the entirety of the Living Armour and kept it under the Warden’s control. That was why the Living Armour obeyed him and continued to fight in his place.

“Have you gotten weaker?” Tron-Tak roared and swiped down with a stone hammer, “You’ve been on the evasive all along.”

The Sun Stone churned more heat through the armour and released a thrust, causing the Living Armour to evade the Ogre’s attacks. And then, a giant ball of fire enveloped it, expanding radially outward.

“Tch!” The heat was immense as Tron-Tak erected a series of walls between him and the growing ball of flames. Landing upon a Sky Boulder, he grunted in thirst, ‘My eyes hurt. And I think my hearing has gotten worse.’

Tron-Tank spent a few seconds to catch a breather. In the meantime, a streak of fire entered the burning ball of flames from the other side, avoiding detection from both Tron-Tak and Nual-Mak.

Clank!

The Warden entered the burning ball of fire and touched the Living Armour, which unfurled to latch onto his body. It quickly wrapped around him and stabilised, following which he emitted heat constantly into it. ‘Most of the fire within my Sun Stone has already been used up. Had I left the Living Armour to its own devices for any longer, it would have broken free from my control.’

The Living Armour wasn’t fully under his control yet. He was supplying heat to it until parts of its body, especially the joints, reached the melting point. He could control these joints.

Majority of his time, the Warden spent heat treating the Living Armour, tuning it more and more into a tool under his control. The Universal Fruit granted him ideas and inspirations to further improve upon this aspect.

A battle was the best time to consume a Universal Fruit, for he was employing all his strength to fight tough enemies. It would give him valuable insights, which would further boost his strength.

That was why the moment he received news of a Level 3 Ogre’s appearance, the Warden had commanded the Elf—in charge of cooking for the grain prison’s soldiers—to trigger Mahnaka and Zetaka into making an escape.

He was aware of Zetaka’s identity all along, for the latter behaved exactly like a Dark Elf would in this situation. The regular Human soldiers had no idea, since they didn’t know about the existence of Dark Elves.

However, the Warden knew. And hence, he could infer Zetaka’s identity through the documents submitted by the soldiers daily.

‘There’s a small jump in my Stats.’ Interesting thoughts formed in his mind as the Warden resumed fighting. His opponents had no idea about the small trip he had taken just now.

When the island crushed upon him, the Warden released enough heat and light to temporarily blind his opponents. Using the chance, he split away from his Living Armour, approached Zetaka to turn the latter into a Universal Fruit, and returned upon consumption.

And right before he arrived, his Living Armour similarly unleashed intense heat and light that forced the two Level 3 Ogres into a defensive. They had erected multiple barriers of stone between them and the burning ball of fire.

By the time they gathered their bearings, the Warden had merged back with his armour, “Gotten weaker?”

“I was holding back to give you a chance.” The Warden blasted forth a sea of flames that drowned the sky and targeted the floating island used by the Ogres to arrive at the Elven Prison. There was still a large reserve of Harpies inside, who were necessary to row the floating island.

A wall of stone blocked the sea of flames as Nual-Mak appeared before the floating island. She then turned around and commanded the Harpies inside, “Row it back.”

The Harpies took action immediately as the floating island left the bounds of the Elven Prison and moved into the T’Hara Forest.

“I’m afraid I cannot allow it to leave.” The Warden said as the glow within his visor intensified. The visor parted away to reveal the eyes that glowed deep yellow. And then, a laser beam blasted forth, suffusing with enough heat to spontaneously melt through steel.

“You won’t!” Nual-Mak erected a large stone boulder along the laser beam’s flight path, intending to consume most of its power. Once shot, it would take some time for the Warden to charge up his Sun Stones.

That would be the perfect time to close in on him and kill him. Hence, she planned to make the Warden consume all the power in his Sun Stones.

However, the laser beam didn’t hit the floating stone walls. Instead, using a zigzag pattern, it curved around the stone walls, travelled for three kilometres and struck the floating island, instantly vaporising every living creature hiding within.

“Why don’t you try dropping another island on me?” The Warden’s chortle echoed in the battlefield, “Maybe this time, you’ll actually manage to scratch me. But…”

He scratched his helmet as his eyes glowed brighter once again, “Since I have decided to use my lasers,”

“Do well to defend, alright?”

Authors Notes: Gangnea Daily Article 45: These lasers are basically Darkseid’s Omega Beams within range.

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