The Invincible Young Master

Chapter 267 - 267 - World Tree

For a moment, none of them dared speak, as though they suspected they had misheard those words.

Their lord stood at the peak of Void Ascendency, only a single step away from the legendary realm of the primordial existences talked about across the cosmos.

Among the countless worlds scattered through the stars, only a handful of beings could even compare to him.

Defeat? The very idea felt absurd.

The tall subject slowly raised his head, unable to conceal the shock in his expression.

"My lord… could it have been one of the Immortals?"

The giant shook his head slightly.

"No." His dark eyes narrowed faintly. "It was a human."

The answer stunned them even further.

"A… human?" the tall subject repeated in disbelief. "How could that be possible?"

Mortals were among the weakest races in the cosmos. Though their adaptability allowed them to rise quickly, their lives were short, their origins fragile, and their limits painfully obvious compared to higher beings born close to the laws of existence itself.

For a human to defeat one of their lord's incarnations, it sounded impossible.

The giant remained calm.

"This human," he continued slowly, "used the power of Primordial Light."

The moment those words were spoken, the atmosphere within the hall changed completely.

Several subjects visibly trembled.

"Primordial Light…?" the tall subject muttered, his voice no longer steady. "Does my lord mean… those extinct beings?"

The giant gave a slow nod.

"Hm."

A heavy silence followed.

Across the vast history of the cosmos, there existed countless legends regarding the Primordials. Some believed they were the first lifeforms born before worlds themselves took shape. Others claimed they were fragments of creation given will.

But all records agreed on one thing, they had vanished long ago.

Yet now their lord claimed a human possessed one of their powers.

The giant leaned slightly against his throne, his dark gaze turning toward the frozen sky beyond the castle walls.

The taller subject lowered his head respectfully before speaking once more.

"My lord… should I prepare the armies for an expedition toward that world?"

The giant remained silent briefly, his dark eyes reflecting distant thought.

"No," he said at last. "That world is hidden."

A faint frost spread outward beneath the throne as he continued.

"Some mysterious power conceals its existence. My incarnation only entered that place by accident after encountering a void fracture."

The kneeling subjects exchanged uneasy glances.

A hidden world capable of concealing itself from a Void Ascendant was already terrifying enough. If that same world truly harbored the power of Primordial Light…

The implications were difficult to imagine.

"Then…" the taller subject hesitated, "what does my lord intend to do?"

The giant slowly rose from the throne.

The moment he stood, the vast castle trembled faintly beneath his immense presence. Frost rolled outward in waves across the floor while the frozen air itself seemed to sink under invisible pressure.

"I know its rough location," he said calmly. "I will go myself."

His pitch-black gaze lifted toward the distant heavens beyond the castle walls.

"I need to see with my own eyes… whether it truly is Primordial Light."

As those words left his mouth, his eyes grew distant, as though peering past the frozen world itself and into the endless cosmos beyond.

Far across the vast sea of stars, there existed a region where light no longer reached.

A massive expanse of absolute darkness stretched through the cosmos like a wound carved into existence itself. No stars shone within it. No worlds revolved around it. It simply remained there, silent and devouring, like a void waiting patiently at the edge of creation.

The giant stared toward that darkness for a long moment.

"The second coming of the Calamity is nearing…" he muttered quietly.

His voice carried an unfamiliar heaviness.

"None of the Primordials remain this time."

The giant's gaze darkened further.

"What will become of existence… when it finally arrives?"

The hall fell into silence.

Then suddenly, a faint emerald radiance began to shimmer across the surroundings.

At first it appeared only upon the walls of the castle, thin streaks of glowing green spreading like flowing veins through the ancient structure.

Then the light intensified. The floor beneath them began to glow. The frozen ceiling sparkled like crystal touched by dawn.

Even the bodies of the kneeling subjects began to emit a faint emerald sheen.

The giant's expression changed slightly.

Before anyone could react further, a vast image materialized within the hall.

It was an enormous tree.

It existed before them, yet not fully within reality, like a vision layered atop the world itself. Its trunk stretched endlessly upward, ancient beyond imagination, while countless luminous branches spread across unseen skies. Emerald leaves shimmered softly, each one carrying an aura of boundless life.

The entire hall grew quiet.

Every subject instinctively lowered themselves further in reverence, their eyes filled with awe as they gazed upon the immense apparition.

Even the giant remained still.

"The World Tree…" he murmured softly.

For the first time since awakening, genuine emotion surfaced within his ancient eyes.

"You still live."

The World Tree was one of the oldest Primordial Incarnations, a being said to have existed alongside the other Primordials during the earliest ages of existence.

Legends claimed entire worlds had once bloomed upon its branches, while civilizations worshipped its roots as the source of life itself.

Slowly, one of the tree's luminous vines descended toward them.

Its movement carried no pressure, no overwhelming force. Instead, it felt gentle, warm and calm, like the touch of a mother comforting a frightened child.

The vine reached toward the giant.

He did not resist.

The immense ruler who had terrified countless worlds simply stood there quietly, allowing the glowing branch to brush against him.

"Oh great World Tree," the giant said, his deep voice quieter than before, "where have you been all this time?"

His gaze lowered slightly.

"And where have the Primordials gone?"

The World Tree did not answer.

Its branches continued swaying gently despite the absence of wind, emerald light drifting through the hall like falling stars.

The giant frowned faintly.

"Why do you not answer me, oh great World Tree?"

Just then, a voice entered his consciousness. Gentle and ancient.

"King of Giants…"

The giant's entire body stiffened faintly.

"I know thou hast many questions…"

The voice echoed not through the hall, but directly within his mind, carrying an indescribable warmth and sorrow.

"But the time is not yet come."

The emerald light surrounding the hall deepened.

"Soon… thou shalt know all things."

The giant remained silent, listening.

Then the voice spoke once more.

"But for now…Thou must forget everything thou hast seen."

The moment those words entered their minds, the entire hall fell still.

Every subject beneath the throne froze in place.

The giant's dark pupils lost focus, while the kneeling figures below him became motionless statues, their expressions empty and distant as though their thoughts had been gently swept away.

At the instance of World tree's appearance, beyond the frozen world. Far above the starry skies, within the endless depths of the cosmos, the great region of darkness began to move.

The black expanse widened.

Slowly at first, then rapidly, the lightless void spread outward across the stars like spilled ink consuming a canvas.

Entire clusters of distant light vanished behind it as the darkness encroached toward the giant's world.

It was as though the darkness had sensed something. The appearance of the World Tree.

And it had responded.

Only the World tree noticed the rapidly encroaching darkness.

Within the throne hall, the emerald radiance surrounding the ancient tree flickered faintly.

Then the branches ignited.

A soft flame appeared at the edge of a single leaf before spreading through the entire tree in an instant.

The burning carried no heat, nor did it produce smoke. Emerald fire quietly consumed the immense trunk, the countless vines, the radiant leaves, everything.

The World Tree did not resist.

It remained there silently as the flames engulfed its existence.

The vines that had reached toward the giant blackened first, turning brittle before collapsing into glowing ash. One branch after another crumbled away until the entire primordial apparition became a pillar of silent green fire.

Only a moment passed. Then nothing remained.

The flames vanished.

The ashes scattered soundlessly into the air.

And the World Tree disappeared from the world completely, as though it had never existed there at all.