The crash was loud, and since Anyael was lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice when the battle actually started.
—¡Any, move! —Kael shouted in total desperation, while Any remained in a deep state of shock and mental analysis.
Quickly, a giant root fell toward them. Luckily, both Any and Kael managed to dodge it.
At that moment, Anyael realized: surviving here wasn't gonna be easy.
Kael drew Marea, remembering how Anyael combined two of its properties to create a new ability. She replicated it: using her Ego, she turned Marea's blade into liquid and, with its pressure field, sent it flying as a ranged attack. She decided to call it Azote.
Azote hit the strange tree directly, managing to destroy a modest part of its bark, but it regenerated almost instantly.
—Kael, that thing regenerates. Doesn't it have a weakness or something? —Anyael asked.
—Doesn't look like it, Any —her words were interrupted by a rain of sharp leaves flying toward them.
Kael quickly dodged them and approached the beast, while Anyael had a much harder time. Some even hit him directly, causing bleeding. Then, he remembered the words of that "God of Nothing."
—¡Plaga! —Anyael said, unable to finish the phrase thanks to another flying leaf.
A powerful red energy began emanating from his body; his eyes turned blood red with slitted pupils like a beast. A celestial-tinged crown formed on his forehead, and his canine teeth grew slightly, resembling real fangs.
—So this is the controlled form —Anyael thought—. Well, at least it'll help me fight.
Any suddenly felt a sort of animal instinct, taking a strange stance: crossing her arms with her nails like claws and lowering her body close to the ground, like an animal.
With a burst of speed, he got close to what looked like the strange tree's "face" in no more than a few seconds, although the distance wasn't huge.
A powerful headache started affecting Anyael, making it impossible to attack the strange tree.
Noticing this, the tree quickly extended one of its "claw/branches" to strike him but was thwarted by Kael, who used Azote to make a deep cut into the tree.
By the time it recovered, Anyael had already adapted to the headache and the beast had awakened.
—So you regenerate, huh? —Anyael said, smiling—. Then I just have to destroy you until you stop regenerating —and after saying that, he charged at the strange tree at full speed.
During the few seconds it took him to close the distance, he noticed something: Kael was suffering from something that looked like a headache, at least that's what he saw in her eyes. What Anyael didn't know was that it was going to be much worse than a simple headache.
Suddenly, Kael collapses, unconscious, and Anyael's neurons connect. He looks up at the sky and thinks: "That sun about to disappear is suspicious. First damn thing, Rhys never talked about a day/night cycle in Niviro. Always said it was night all the time. What if it's a living creature!?"
Just thinking about a creature pretending to be the sun to "hunt its prey" almost gave him a heart attack. The more he thought about it, the more sense it made and the more fake that sun looked.
—Doesn't matter, anyway. That won't affect me. I just have to kill both pieces of shit before Kael dies —Anyael said, his face more serious than he'd like to admit.
So the fight went on for a good while between Anyael and the strange tree; neither could kill the other. Anyael had no idea how to neutralize its regeneration, and every time the tree hurt him, he'd run to regenerate and adapt.
In this chaos that lasted about 14 minutes, Anyael managed to return Kael to the cave and protect its entrance. Yep, only 14 minutes, because someone appeared who would change the whole game in his favor.
—Need a hand, kid?