Space cracked apart as the mighty Sovereigns unleashed their full powers.
With a wave of her hand, Irene created a gravity field strong enough to crush a mountain into the size of a sand grain.
Facing that resistance, the branches lashing out at Irene not only didn't waver but went a step further and poured energy into its leaves.
The large branches had tens of thousands of leaves and in a split second, the yellow leaves shrank into pointy red needles.
Air seemed to be sieved as the red needles covered the sky and shot at Irene.
At that moment, be it a Human or an Abyssal, they all gasped at this marvelous yet dangerous spectacle.
Irene stood high in the air as hundreds of thousands of red needles rained down on her. Like a red tsunami about to drown her, they reached her without stopping.
When it seemed as if she'd be turned into a human sieve, a stunning change occurred.
The sea of red needle leaves let out sparks and started dropping. The invisible but deadly spherical gravity field directly clashed against these needles and reversed their 'gravity'.
This resulted in a strange scene where the red needle sea reached Irene but couldn't even touch her and collapsed to the ground.
Despite being unable to crack the barrier, the final batch of the needles caused ripples in the gravity barrier upon collision.
Few realized that the barrier had significantly weakened.
Most of the humans on the sight had never witnessed a Sovereign fight so close. So, after this initial exchange with Irene coming out unharmed without any difficulty, they felt a burst of joy in their hearts.
Irene seemed to be invincible in their minds and this mission seemed a foregone conclusion.
But the world blurred and following a cracking sound, the branches pushed through the barrier zone and reached Irene.
"Sov—!"
The panicked cries weren't even finished as the woman in question started glowing white.
The long branches that forcibly broke through the gravity field had already slowed down, yet their current momentum was enough to casually sink an island.
But facing the white glow surrounding Irene, even such powerful attacks slowed down.
"Relying on your artifact to save your sorry life, Bitch." Despair Queen's cold voice sounded in the air as her giant tree form shook with anger.
"Only a fool wouldn't make use of all advantages," Irene let out a smirk and clapped at the giant tree.
The air was compressed to a dangerous point before it exploded into a terrific shockwave.
The Despair Tree was blown away for several miles before it stopped. A couple of its branches were torn into shreds and its bark had several hollow wounds as green juice spilled out.
But the attack wasn't just directed at the Despair Queen.
The level 9s and level 8s were already fighting a dozen and a hundred miles away from these two.
But when they sensed this attack, they retreated further and ended up a few hundred miles away from the World Tree.
For a hundred miles surrounding Irene, every tree, every plant, even every flower was ripped to shreds under the shockwave.
The ever-continuous forest suddenly had a noticeable gap. The trees nearby had already begun to evacuate. Even though their movement speed wasn't fast, they were already at their highest speed.
Little by little, an empty area was created around the World Tree.
'This is it. Deciding Strength. Even the Despair Abyss' would have to evacuate to avoid danger.' Enigma took a deep breath as she continued her battle.
The two Abyssals fighting her were a little shaken by this show of power. But sensing the dark swords and similar gravity power from Enigma, they gnashed their teeth in hatred and attacked her with even more strength.
Despair Queen felt the aura coming from the World Tree behind her and sighed in relief. Thankfully, the World Tree turned to defense and protected itself and mainly the ones inside it from Irene's attacks.
Otherwise, the previous shockwave would've decimated the coffin and all the crystals.
"So it's in there?" Irene's gaze locked onto the World Tree and the killing intent in her eyes intensified.
"Don't even think about it," Despair Queen roared.
This was the most crucial time and she must stop Irene at any cost. But the problem was that even if she could fight evenly with Irene, she couldn't stop the aftermath of their fight from damaging the World Tree.
Sure, World Tree wasn't weak. But how many shockwaves could it withstand?
Moreover, Irene was a gravity awakener. So…
As expected, Irene pointed her finger at the World Tree and locked her gravity sense onto it.
The World Tree violently shook for a split second as its roots were forcibly pulled up.
But before the roots came out of the ground, Despair Queen attacked Irene and interrupted her.
'I need to suppress her at any cost.' Despair Queen gritted her teeth and connected with the Abyss Will.
The sky turned green and the next moment, countless vines shot at Irene.
Irene's eyes widened at the sight and she hurriedly set up the gravity barrier. The vines slapped down on her endlessly but thanks to her sturdy defense, they were able to bloc—
The barrier broke apart and Despair Queen's branches slapped Irene. This time, even if Irene activated her artifact, the branches broke down her defenses and sent her flying.
Irene crashed into the ground at like an asteroid and formed a huge crater. Dust filled the air and the world went still for a moment before a powerful wind swept away everything.
Wiping the blood from the corner of her lips, Irene looked at the countless vines in the sky and the giant Tree form of Despair Queen.
Even with the armor, she would still lose against these two.
But.
Irene Nial smiled.
Despair Queen felt an ominous premonition and waved her branches to attack. The Abyssal Will also followed and lashed out its vines at Irene.
Then, a beautiful orb appeared on Irene's arm and glowed brightly.
The sky rained down lightning. The plants caught fire. The air chilled. The land shot out earthen spikes.
The elements attacked came unexpectedly and even though it wasn't very strong, it blocked off most of the Abyss Will's attacks.
Despair Queen's attacks broke through Irene's gravity barrier but were blocked by her armor artifact.
On the other hand, Irene's attacks struck Despair Queen and caused the huge tree to shake badly as a tenth of its body cracked.
Even though the injury would quickly heal since she was a Plantae Awakener, it would still take a few minutes.
But Despair Queen's attention was something other than her injury.
"Y-You! Why did Micheal give you the Nature Seed?"
Nature Seed.
One of the six artifacts. But two were lost.
Now, it's one of the four available artifacts held by: Albert, Julius, Micheal, and Irene.
Now, Micheal gave his artifact to Irene!
An artifact just needed aura to show its powers.
Even though Irene wasn't an elemental awakener, she could use elemental attacks through it! And these attacks were all in the range of peak level 9 and higher!
Irene, who was supposed to be defeated under the joint efforts of Abyss Will and Despair Queen, successfully reversed the situation!
