At the same time, in the Amazon Rainforest…
Anna was humming with a content smile while her Echo carried her. This place, however, wasn't as beautiful as it once was—the outer regions, at least.
Due to deforestation, this breathtaking paradise had been nearly reduced to ash. And, as if that weren't enough, humanity's greed continued to leave its mark.
Large-scale farming and ranching, infrastructure and urban development, unsustainable logging, mining, and climate change had all contributed to its ongoing destruction.
Then, during the Dark Ages, with resources dwindling, what remained of the forest was ravaged completely—even bombed at one point.
That was why Anna had been dumbfounded when she first saw this place. Not because of the destruction—no, quite the opposite. While the outer areas of the Amazon had turned to dust, its heart was brimming with life.
What should have been a tragic, desolate sight instead left Anna uneasy, because the supposedly ruined region had become a forest once again. Towering trees, thick vines, vibrant flowers, and exotic plants covered the land.
This wasn't what she had expected at all. And more disturbingly, Earth shouldn't even have plants this big. Some mushrooms were as tall as she was. As for the trees… some were over a hundred meters tall. Others, even larger.
She shook her head, gently patting her Echo—a five-meter-tall tiger with soft, luxurious fur and piercing blue eyes. It was beautiful, comfortable to ride… and also an Ascended Terror.
After Klaus became a Master, he didn't just lock himself away in his lab conducting experiments. He also hunted Abominations—and one of them was this poor creature, which ended up as an Echo and was eventually gifted to her.
Now that she thought about it, her boss had some seriously strange habits. He didn't rely much on Memories or Echoes. As far as she could remember, he only had that sinister spear, a beautiful white sword, a shovel… and that was it? Yeah. That was pretty much it.
How bizarre. Or maybe he just didn't find them useful.
…Which could definitely be blamed on his pride.
Seriously, why was that bastard so arrogant? Tsk, tsk.
She shook her head in disbelief, biting into her sandwich—though that too felt ironic.
After all, most of her Memories and Echoes came from him. The dimensional bag strapped to her back? Crafted by him. The waterskin she used? Also made by him. He paid her salary, provided food, housing, and knowledge.
And here she was, chewing her lunch while judging him.
Talk about ungrateful.
Still, Anna would never dare curse him to his face. That would no doubt result in… uh, another traumatic experience.
While Anna was daydreaming about beating up her boss, her Echo suddenly tensed, catching something in the forest.
It growled aggressively at trees. Echoes are a magical copy of a slain Nightmare Creature. They are capable of limited autonomy but do not possess a soul, and thus are not alive. Just like Memories, they are created from Soul Essence and assume physical form only when summoned. They can be destroyed permanently and take time to heal just like Memories.
Since echoes were mere replicas of the creatures that had left them behind. They were molded in their image and never changed, always remaining the same as the originals at the moment of their deaths.
And Anna's tiger had especially sharp senses, so when it suddenly lunged at a tree, she nearly choked on her sandwich.
"W-What… hey, kittie! What are you doing?!"
The massive feline roared, biting into vines and ripping through nearby trees with feral aggression.
Apparently… the plants were alive.
And they were trying to kill her.
Vines began slithering toward her like serpents, coiling up her legs, while trees that had previously stood silently now moved with purpose. Their wide trunks shifted like arms as they uprooted themselves, stepping forward with eerie intent.
"…Oh. Kittie… I'm, uhh, a little scared now…"
She shivered with a nervous smile, trying to stay calm, but then she clicked her tongue and scowled. Sparks of white essence burst in her palm, quickly forming into a menacing spiked mace.
With a sigh, she tied her navy-blue hair into a ponytail and huffed, her bright blue eyes darkening as she took a battle stance.
Then—
BOOM!
One of the trees exploded into a hail of wooden shrapnel.
A moment later, Anna emerged from the smoke, stretching with a casual, feline grace. She was dressed in nothing but shorts, sandals, a blue sports bra, and a shirt that was now soaked and clinging to her skin—smeared with thick, crimson sap.
She looked up at the groaning trees with a curious, playful smile.
"Huh… can trees bleed? I'm really curious if you feel pain, too."
Then, as if someone had flipped a switch, Anna's entire aura changed.
Her bright blue eyes lost all trace of humor and nervousness—now they were cold, unblinking, and unsettling. Gleaming with raw, murderous will.
In that moment, it felt as if the former ruler of the Underworld had returned.
Anna glanced down at the vines coiled around her legs. Her gaze narrowed, and without hesitation, she grabbed them. With one swift motion, she tore the writhing tendrils away, crimson sap splattering the ground as she flung them aside. Her mace rested on her shoulder with casual menace.
What followed was nothing short of a massacre.
With a grunt of effort, Anna launched herself high into the air—her silhouette cutting through the jungle light like a thunderbolt. She came crashing down, bringing the spiked mace with her.
The tree below didn't stand a chance.
From the impact alone, it splintered into thousands of pieces. Bark and sap exploded in all directions, staining the earth red.
It didn't take long for Anna to understand how these creatures worked. The trees were alive—fully conscious and frighteningly adaptive. But they had weaknesses.
Through brief, brutal experimentation, she found what she was looking for: nestled inside their chests, beneath a lattice of gnarled roots, were strange green orbs pulsing faintly like hearts.
So, she did what she knew best.
She ripped them apart.
Crushed their limbs.
Annihilated them with overwhelming, monstrous physical strength.
The jungle echoed with wet cracks and brutal impacts. Splinters flew, vines writhed in agony, and more of that crimson sap bled from the shattered bodies of the forest-born abominations.
Anna's expression remained calm throughout. Focused. Cold.
After all… this was her at her most natural.
These trees weren't like the others, though.
Each one towered at least fifteen meters tall—massive and twisted, unlike anything she'd seen before. And if these were just the smaller ones… she could only imagine what the hundred-meter giants would be like.
Hopefully, just overgrown flora. Hopefully.
Anna exhaled a cold breath, her body moving in perfect rhythm as she dodged a barrage of splinters. The wooden shards shot toward her like arrows, each one missing by mere inches.
But Anna wasn't worried.
Her Dormant Ability enhanced all her physical attributes—strength, speed, endurance, stamina, durability and so on by five times. Enough to turn her into a living weapon.
Her Awakened Ability was even more monstrous. It made her into an Undying Beast of Combat—able to heal from any injury, regenerate lost limbs, and even survive being split in half, so long as she had enough essence.
Then there was her Ascended Ability.
It was different—more subtle, more dangerous in the right hands. It allowed her to cancel the abilities of others so long as she could see them. But that was the catch. If her opponent was invisible, hidden, or out of her line of sight, that power was useless.
That combination of raw physicality, regeneration, and nullification made Anna one of the most formidable fighters in Ascendancy, if not most formidable.
The only reason Klaus had beaten her back then was because she'd been exhausted—completely spent. No essence left to heal, no strength left to cancel his monstrous power. That was why she lost.
And so, she acknowledged it.
Because Anna wasn't some petty weakling who would cry about defeat. A loss was a loss—even if Klaus cheated.
And since then, she had served him. Not out of weakness, but because she'd been beaten fair and square under the laws of survival and strength.
A beast bows to none—but it follows those it respects.
A few minutes later, the battlefield had fallen silent.
Every plant that dared to attack her was reduced to shreds—torn apart, crushed, or turned to mulch. Twisted roots and shattered trunks were scattered across the clearing like broken bones.
Anna sat calmly atop the severed head of one of the towering trees, her body drenched in crimson. Blood dripped from her arms and legs, but none of it seemed to bother her. Her mace rested lazily on her shoulder, still slick with gore, while she tilted her head slightly—observing the aftermath with a disturbing serenity.
Below, her tiger—"Kittie"—paced the ruined ground with slow, heavy steps. The beast was fine, its striped coat matted with sap and blood, fangs bared in satisfaction. It had fought with ferocity, and Anna was proud of her cute kittie. She even hummed a soft tune to herself, like a girl idly enjoying a walk through a garden.
But the situation was far from safe.
Her humming slowed… then stopped.
In front of her stood a flower. No, not a flower—not really.
It was gargantuan, easily the size of a house, and a sickly green. It vaguely resembled an orchid at first glance—broad petals, alluring curves, gentle sway in the wind. Beautiful… if you didn't look too closely.
Because at its heart, where there should have been nectar or pollen, there was a mouth.
A hideous, cavernous mouth, lined with rows of jagged, blackened fangs. Its inner throat pulsed, twitching, hungrily dripping thick saliva onto the ruined soil.
And on one of the enormous petals sat a woman.
Beautiful and middle-aged, she looked like a vision torn from a dream—or a corpse revived from a tomb. Her skin was pale ivory, so deathly pale it could be mistaken for marble. She had a serene, motherly presence, an almost sacred calm, but sorrow lingered in her emerald eyes. A single tear trailed down her cheek as she looked upon the massacre of plants below.
Her hair flowed gently in the wind, strands of soft green like living grass. A crown of wildflowers sat upon her head, delicate and vibrant. Her tunic was simple, woven of leaves and silk—natural and timeless.
"Oh, my poor, pitiful children..." she murmured with a broken smile. "May you rest in peace."
Then, her gaze shifted—softly, unblinking—to Anna, who stood silent among the ruins.
"Are you the one who destroyed my children?"
Her voice was calm... yet the entire forest trembled. Trees groaned and swayed violently. Vines slithered from the undergrowth. All around them, the illusion of normal flora shattered, revealing twisted, monstrous forms. The forest was alive—and angry.
Anna scratched her cheek, then licked her dry lips.
"I suppose so," she said. "You must be Gaia. Pleasure to meet you."
The woman—Gaia—nodded gently, still smiling with mournful grace.
"And what brings you here, child?"
Anna cracked her neck, standing tall amid the carnage. The juxtaposition was uncanny: a petite girl covered in blood, standing in the wreckage of a once-sacred grove—yet calm, casual, and entirely unshaken.
"I'm here on behalf of my lord, Joker," she said plainly. "I didn't come here to fight. But your... children didn't exactly give me a warm welcome. My mission's simple. My lord wants to know your thoughts on the coming war—the War of the Four Monarchs. It's set to begin in two years."
Gaia's smile didn't falter. She pursed her lips, tilting her head thoughtfully, and for a moment looked like a curious goddess sculpted from springtime itself.
"I see..." she whispered. "Then I forgive you for harming them."
She rose gracefully from the petal, floating as if weightless.
"Come. Let us walk deeper—into the heart of nature. Then, we shall speak."
Anna shrugged, motioning for her tiger to follow, though her hand still rested on the handle of her mace. She wasn't an idiot.
This Gaia might've looked like a kind mother, but every part of her screamed dangerous. Still, Anna was only a messenger. And harming a messenger was as good as declaring war.
Even Gaia, no matter how powerful, wouldn't make that mistake—not yet.
***
Well, Anna's a real monster—no doubt about it. We're seeing the Ascendancy in action. I think Anna proved today exactly why she's Klaus's assistant and personal guard. My girl's got some serious moves.
Also… four chapters in one day! Woah, even I'm a bit surprised. But hey, I was resting today, so I guess it makes sense. Still feels kinda weird to say, haha.
Anyway, thanks so much for your support, guys—and enjoy!
***