Atticus’s Odyssey: Reincarnated Into A Playground

Anastasia gave a small nod, trying to gather herself. But just as she opened her mouth to respond, a cataclysmic boom tore through the skies. It was followed by a surge of dominance that made the ground tremble.

Cracks spiderwebbed across the dome that protected them.

Even the paragons fighting outside froze as they noticed the fractures forming in their will-made barrier.

Through those cracks, an overwhelming wave of dominance poured in, slamming into the people like a physical force.

All around, citizens dropped to their knees, hands pressed against their heads, some screaming as the pressure clawed into their minds. It felt like their very consciousness was being torn in half.

Just then, beneath the Ravensteins, a crimson glow ignited.

Another dome erupted from the ground, enveloping only them. The pressure relented immediately within the new barrier.

Anastasia stumbled to her feet, her breathing fast as she tried to steady herself. “What… what just happened?”

Even the brief exposure through the cracked dome had nearly torn their minds apart.

And then the screams reached her ears.

She turned.

All around them, the other citizens were on the ground, writhing, screaming, bleeding from their orifices. Some clawed at their faces, others tore their hair. The strain of the pressure was driving them mad.

The realization hit her.

‘The dome is only for us.’

Atticus had placed another failsafe. A second dome, one meant solely for the Ravensteins, his family.

Anastasia’s eyes trembled.

More cracks snaked across the original dome, spreading like veins across glass. It was obvious. If that shield broke… they were all going to die.

But this was only the beginning.

The Gardener’s cold voice echoed across the domain.

“None of you will survive.”

The Ravensteins’ eyes immediately shifted, focusing on the massive tree in the distance.

The same one that had birthed Elderish.

It still stood untouched amidst the devastation, still towering. But now… it was glowing.

Its radiance intensified with each passing second, casting its golden light across the entire domain.

Everything froze for a moment before… it exploded.

But no shockwave followed. No wave of destruction slammed into the earth. Instead, as the fragments of the tree burst outward, they suddenly reversed course, snapping back in and converging into a single massive stump.

The shape twisted and warped, bark reshaping, roots shifting, branches curling and intertwining, forming into a towering humanoid figure.

Its body was a twisted mass of bark and vines, its limbs thick and knotted like roots, and on its head was a single bloomed golden flower that glowed like a sun.

It landed on the domain with devastating force.

The impact sent a tremor roaring across the land, a wave of force slamming into everything and everyone.

Then, it screeched.

A sound that echoed through the skies, shaking the domain.

Its aura exploded outward, pressing down on all beneath it.

The expressions of the paragons darkened instantly as the giant’s abyssal black eyes locked onto them. Its power dwarfed their own!

Even through the splitting headaches and the sensation of their minds tearing under the crushing pressure from above, they didn’t hesitate.

In an instant, they blipped, vanishing from their positions and reappearing close to the humans still enclosed within the dome. Their auras surged outward, trying to form a barrier, a shield, anything.

Jenera’s gaze swept across Avalon, Magnus, Youn, and the other paragons. Their expressions were all the same, filled with dread.

This was bad. But neither of them got even a moment of respite.

The tree-like being… smiled.

Its jagged, bark-lined mouth curved into a wide, unsettling grin, and without warning, it slammed one foot onto the ground.

A resounding boom followed, and a sickly green pulse erupted from its figure, racing outward and flooding the entire domain like a wave.

Then, from every inch of the domain, vines erupted.

They were uncountable in number, bursting from the ground, the walls, before twisting and writhing, surging from every direction across the battlefield and converging toward the paragons and the humans alike.

The expressions of the paragons changed violently.

…

‘Hmm?’

Atticus’s katana severed Elderish’s right arm in a single slash, but just as quickly, another grew in its place, twisting out and lashing toward Atticus with blinding speed.

But Atticus had already moved.

His katana cleaved through Elderish’s right leg next.

Then his head.

Then his torso.

Then his heart.

Each time, Elderish regenerated, his body rebuilding itself in an endless loop. No matter what Atticus destroyed, it returned just as fast.

At this point, Elderish’s expression had shifted into disbelief. Even he hadn’t expected Atticus to have grown this powerful. Still, deep inside… he was happy. At the very least, their world would be safe.

But unfortunately for Elderish… Atticus’s mind was no longer fully on the battle.

One of the precautions he had taken had just been triggered. A rune, one he had placed on Anastasia and his loved ones, had been triggered.

They were in danger.

‘Ozeroth!’ Atticus called out sharply.

‘Are you sure?’ came Ozeroth’s voice, unusually serious. Grave. It was rare for him to sound like that.

‘I am. I’ll try to hold on by myself.’

There was silence for a second before Ozeroth spoke again in a low tone. ‘Bond, he’s stronger than you. You won’t last.’

‘Then you just have to hurry up… and come back.’

Ozeroth went silent and Atticus didn’t say anything, but he could feel Ozeroth’s hesitation… his worry.

Then finally, he spoke:

‘Don’t die, bond.’

A faint smirk appeared on Atticus’s lips. “I won’t.”

His expression hardened as Elderish’s barrage resumed. Limbs swung, claws extended, attacks came faster, more brutal.

But Atticus responded with matching savagery, severing every limb again in rapid succession.

But this time, he didn’t follow up.

Instead, he shot backward, creating a large distance between them.

“Now!”

Instantly, his chest lit up with a blinding surge of purple light.

Ozeroth shot out, turning into a comet of violet, streaking through the sky toward the human domain at staggering speed.

“What have you done?” Elderish asked coldly, his gaze darkening as his limbs reformed once again.

But Atticus didn’t answer.

His body had reverted. He was now back to the form of his elemental fusion. Now, he appeared visibly weaker than Elderish.

But his eyes were still sharp. Still cold. Still unyielding.

He couldn’t return to the human domain himself, if he did, Elderish would follow. And he couldn’t protect anyone while fending him off.

Which meant…

‘I have to survive until Ozeroth comes back.’

His grip on the katana tightened.