The announcement could sound arrogant, but Marcella was one of the leaders in Heaven and Earth's army. It made sense for her world to be as boundless and unreasonable as she claimed.
A pattern started to form in the minds of the landmass' group. They had been busy with their battle, but that didn't prevent them from learning about their other opponents.
Decumia expressed pure chaos, the old man's world contained an aspect of perfection, the Rulers' Resolve had founded his power on the strongest being in the higher plane, and Divine Architect was the greatest inscription master in history.
An expert who could express the entire magical plants' field didn't sound too unreasonable compared to the other leaders. Actually, it added information to the general understanding that the landmass' forces had of those privileged cultivators.
All the enemy leaders wielded immense power polished through many eras, but that wasn't everything. The nature of their worlds was the most incredible aspect of their existence.
"We might need the dragons," Maribel suggested before glancing at Divine Demon.
Divine Demon didn't care about Maribel. He lifted his arm to point his fingers at Marcella, and a sea of blood-red energy shot out of them. The attack couldn't engulf the giant array of trees, roots, and branches, but it still covered more than half of it.
Marcella wore a smile when she saw the incoming energy. Some branches stretched in front of her figure right before the impact, but her figure became impossible to see afterward.
Divine Demon had targeted the entire technique with his offensive. Anything carrying Marcella's energy was an enemy that the blood-red power had to destroy.
Marcella didn't resort to any unique technique. She let her plants take the full power of the blood-red sea. Leaves and green shards flew everywhere due to the destruction inflicted on her creations, but no significant changes happened in the environment.
The cloud remained in its place. Actually, the smoke stretched even forward while the destruction continued. The roots, branches, and trees outside of the attack's range also kept growing, uncaring that many of their companions were turning into dust.
The destruction continued until the sea depleted its energy. No dispersion happened at that time since the entirety of Divine Demon's attack had expressed its effects. He had destroyed everything he could, but the scene that followed stated how even his might wasn't enough.
Marcella reappeared at the center of a lake of fuming and maimed plants. Every tree, root, branch, and flower touched by the blood-red energy had crumbled, burned, or directly vanished. Half of Marcella's technique had become useless, but she didn't suffer any injury.
"Is that it?" Marcella asked as she waved her hand.
The gesture waved away the grey smoke caused by Divine Demon's attack and pushed it out of the cloud. Soon, the poor state of Marcella's plants became completely visible, but she didn't seem worried about them.
<br/>"Do you know what a magical plant does when someone breaks it?" Marcella asked when she saw that Divine Demon didn't send another attack. "It blooms again."
The broken and burned plants around Marcella suddenly started to tremble. New branches and leaves came out of the damaged parts and grew until they turned into fully formed trunks that continued to enlarge.
The process clearly required a massive amount of energy since even the tiniest leaf carried peak rank 9 power, but Marcella didn't suffer at all. She appeared utterly relaxed while her world fueled that rapid growth.
It didn't take long before the vegetation returned and surpassed its previous state. The growth didn't stop at that point either, and the cloud imitated its behavior by continuing its expansion.
"The real roots are in your world," Maribel commented.
"You should stop speaking," Marcella replied. "Your understanding is too shallow to understand my power."
"She is right," Divine Demon declared before launching another massive attack.
A blood-red sea crashed on the vegetation, but nothing managed to reach Marcella. Countless plants shattered and died, but Divine Demon's attack remained unable to destroy all of them. That second exchange had actually left more survivors compared to the previous offensive.
Marcella repeated her waving gesture. The grey smoke left the environment while the various broken plants gave birth to new vegetation that refilled the damaged area before expanding past its previous limits.
Divine Demon interrupted his offensive. He appeared bored in front of such a resilient shield. Marcella's energy reserves were truly impressive, but he hated that type of battle.
"I understand what you feel," Marcella suddenly announced. "You don't want this battle to be a mere endurance test. Do not worry. Plants get unruly when mistreated."
A tremor ran through the vegetation, and countless flowers grew from every surface. Even the leaves gave birth to them. Their bright green petals gathered energy before summoning a series of whips that shot toward Divine Demon and his companions.
The whips were ethereal, which allowed them to be far faster than Maribel and Sepunia. Yet, Divine Demon covered them in his energy before activating an instantaneous teleport that brought everyone next to the two dragons.
The whips didn't disappear after the group left their range. They continued to wave left and right as more plants gave birth to them. The vegetation transformed into a defensive technique as more and more flowers released their energy.
Divine Demon couldn't help but smirk after reappearing next to the dragons. Marcella had decided to attack. Her immense creation resembled a monster worthy of his efforts, and he couldn't wait to test it out.
"You two can do whatever you want," Divine Demon ordered. "Still, trying not to get in the way. I will kill you if you aren't careful."
Sepunia and Maribel glanced at Divine Demon but remained silent. Trying to reason with him was pointless. Moreover, they understood that the imminent battle wouldn't allow distractions or similar hindrances.
"As for you two," Divine Demon said while turning toward the two dragons. "It seems that I have to improve Xavier's work. He really has a long way ahead of him."
Divine Demon waved his hand, and rivers of blood-red energy came out of his body to surround the two dragons. The fuel solidified to add layers of scales and enlarge the creatures' wings to make their size more imponent.
Divine Demon created proper armor that fused perfectly with the two dragons. Still, his technique wasn't a mere defensive measure. The two magical beasts felt a foreign power invading their minds and enhancing their instincts.
"A dragon should always be at the top of the food chain," Divine Demon declared. "I can't stand seeing you fail to recognize your prey."
The new understanding brought by Divine Demon's energy cleared the confusion caused by Marcella's odd world. The space dragon roared to express its anger, and its aura spread to establish a space-time array that opposed Marcella's vegetation.
The space dragon wanted to charge ahead right away, but Divine Demon prevented that reckless action with a mere glare. The creature looked at Divine Demon before pointing its head toward Marcella again. The blood-red armor made it understand that it had to wait for its companion to be ready.
"Now," Divine Demon spoke while turning toward Marcella.
"Are you done?" Marcella wondered as she left the sky and advanced while bringing all her vegetation with her. "Can I attack?"
"You are a few eras too young to attack me," Divine Demon stated. "Fear not. I am the best teacher in the entire universe. I'll make a demon out of you."
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