Rise of the Peerless God of War

Chapter 18

The ground didn't just tremble—it convulsed like a living thing in pain.

A massive sakura tree burst from the earth directly in front of them, its trunk wider than a house and its branches reaching toward the sky like grasping fingers. But this wasn't like the other trees in the valley. This one was ancient beyond measure, scarred by centuries of battle, and radiating power that made the air itself scream.

The apex predator. The guardian of guardians.

The thing that's been sleeping under the valley for three hundred years.

And we just woke it up.

The tree was the size of a building, its bark black as midnight and carved with symbols that hurt to look at directly. Its branches moved with obvious intelligence, and its blossoms fell like snow—except each petal was sharp as a razor and moving with deadly purpose.

This is what War God Tianlong left to guard his tomb.

This is what's been waiting for someone worthy to challenge it.

Or someone stupid enough to try.

"What the hell is that thing?" Jin gasped, his earth magic instinctively creating barriers as the massive tree turned its attention toward them.

That's death. That's what happens when you combine three centuries of accumulated magical power with a tree that was already ancient when the battle was fought.

That's our final exam.

The tree's first attack nearly killed them all. Branches descended from every direction while roots erupted from the ground, creating a cage of thorns and death. Only Jin's desperate earth magic kept them from being skewered instantly.

It's not just big. It's fast. And smart.

And it wants us dead.

"We can't fight this thing!" Sera called out, her shadow magic creating false images that confused the tree for precious seconds.

We can't run from it either. It's between us and the tomb.

Between us and everything we came here to find.

We go through it, or we don't go at all.

The tree's branches whipped through the air like massive tentacles, each one capable of crushing stone. Draven ducked under one that would have taken his head off, rolled away from another that punched a crater in the ground where he'd been standing.

This is insane. We're four academy students against a force of nature.

A force of nature that's been specifically designed to kill people.

But even as he thought it, Draven felt the memories of the academy heroes stirring. This tree had been fought before. During the great battle, heroes had faced it and won.

Not heroes. Hero. Singular.

War God Tianlong himself.

And he only won because he was willing to sacrifice everything.

A volley of razor petals forced them to take cover behind Jin's crumbling barriers. The petals cut through stone like it was paper, and there were thousands of them.

We need a plan. We need strategy.

We need Jin to create something big enough to hurt this thing.

"Jin!" Draven shouted over the sound of breaking stone. "Can you create a spear? Something massive?"

Something big enough to pierce that trunk. Big enough to reach the tree's heart.

"What kind of spear?" Jin asked, sweat pouring down his face as he struggled to maintain his defenses.

The kind that uses everything you have. The kind that might kill you to create.

The kind that heroes make when there's no other choice.

"The biggest one you can manage!" Draven said. "Aim for the center of the trunk!"

The heart. Where all the tree's power is concentrated.

Where it's vulnerable.

If we can reach it.

Jin's eyes widened with understanding. "That'll take everything I have. Everything."

I know. That's what sacrifice means.

That's what it costs to be a hero.

"I know," Draven said. "Do it anyway."

Because someone has to. Because there's no other way.

Because that's what heroes do when the world needs saving.

Jin closed his eyes and reached deep into his earth magic. The ground beneath them began to shake, then heave, then crack as he pulled stone and metal from deep underground.

He's doing it. He's actually doing it.

He's risking everything for the rest of us.

The spear that emerged from the earth was magnificent—fifty feet of compressed stone and metal, sharp as a razor and hard as diamond. It rose from the ground like a monument to Jin's determination, pointing directly at the tree's massive trunk.

Perfect. Beautiful. Deadly.

And it's going to cost Jin everything he has.

"Lyra!" Draven called out. "I need you to guide that spear when Jin launches it!"

Guide it to the heart. To the one spot where we might actually hurt this thing.

"Sera! Distraction! Everything you have!"

Confuse it. Make it focus on the wrong targets.

Give us the opening we need.

"And me?" Draven asked himself, watching the tree's branches converge on their position.

Me? I provide the opening.

I do something incredibly stupid and probably suicidal.

I get its attention.

Draven sprinted directly at the tree, using every technique he'd absorbed from the academy heroes. Sir Thomas Brightblade's defensive work to avoid the grasping branches. Captain Marcus Hale's aggressive style to press forward despite the danger.

This is insane. This is suicidal. This is exactly what needs to happen.

The tree sensed his approach and focused its attention on him. Every branch converged on his position, trying to crush him, impale him, tear him apart.

Good. Look at me. Ignore my friends.

Ignore the spear that's about to punch through your heart.

He danced between the attacks, his sword deflecting what he couldn't dodge, his footwork carrying him closer to the tree's trunk. The apex predator's rage was incredible, but it was also predictable.

It wants to kill me so badly that it's making mistakes.

Leaving itself open.

Giving us the chance we need.

That's when disaster struck.

A branch caught him across the chest, lifting him off his feet and sending him flying through the air. For a moment, time seemed to slow. He could see Jin's spear waiting, Lyra's wind magic building, Sera's shadows creating chaos around the tree.

This is it. This is the moment.

The moment when everything changes.

As he flipped through the air, upside down, watching the world spin around him, Draven felt something deep inside him finally break free. Not break—break free. Like a dam bursting, releasing something that had been held back his entire life.

Fire.

Not the simple flames that academy students conjured in their classes. This was something primal, fundamental, the essence of what it meant to burn with purpose and determination.

I'm not hollow. I never was.

I've just been waiting for the right moment to ignite.

A tear fell from his eye as he finally understood what he was, what he'd always been, what he was meant to become. And in that tear, in that moment of perfect clarity, he filled the entire space around him with fire.

Real fire. My fire.

The fire that burns in the heart of everyone who refuses to give up.

The flames erupted from his body like a miniature sun, wreathing him in heat and light that turned the air itself into a weapon. The tree's branches recoiled from the intense heat, its leaves curling and blackening.

This is what I am. This is what I've always been.

Fire.

The tree screamed—not the sound of wood burning, but the sound of a living thing in mortal agony. The flames weren't just hot—they were alive, purposeful, carrying the accumulated fury of every hero who had ever died in this valley.

"Now!" Draven shouted, his voice carrying across the battlefield with the authority of someone who had finally found his true power.

Jin's spear launched with the force of an earthquake, guided by Lyra's wind magic, wreathed in Draven's fire, and hidden by Sera's shadows. It struck the tree's trunk with a sound like thunder, piercing deep into the heart of the apex predator.

We did it. We actually did it.

The tree's death throes were terrible to witness. Its branches flailed wildly, its roots tore free from the earth, its remaining blossoms fell like black snow. But gradually, inevitably, it began to still.

It's over.

We won.

We're alive.

Draven hit the ground hard, his fire extinguished, his body screaming with pain. But he was alive. They were all alive.

And more importantly...

I'm not hollow anymore. I never was.

I was just waiting for the right moment to catch fire.

"Draven!" Jin rushed to his side, his face pale with exhaustion but bright with triumph. "That was incredible! Where did that fire come from?"

From the part of me that was never broken. From the part that carried the flame of every hero who came before me.

"I guess it was always there," Draven said, struggling to his feet. "Just needed the right moment to show itself."

The right moment. The right sacrifice. The right understanding of what it means to fight for something greater than yourself.

"Are you okay?" Lyra asked, her wind magic gentle now, healing rather than destructive.

I'm better than okay. I'm finally who I was meant to be.

"I'm perfect," Draven said, and meant it.

Not the hollow prince. Not the family disappointment.

Something else entirely.

Someone who carries fire in his heart and refuses to let it die.

The battlefield around them was quiet now, the apex predator's massive form still as death. But in that stillness, Draven could feel something changing.

The path to the tomb is open. The guardians have accepted us.

We've proven ourselves worthy.

Time to claim what we came for.

Time to become what we were always meant to be.

Jin collapsed to his knees, completely drained from creating the spear. But he was smiling.

Smiling because we won. Because we're alive.

Because we did something impossible.

Because we're heroes.

"That was the most incredible thing I've ever seen," he said weakly.

The most incredible thing. Right.

Wait until he sees what comes next.

Wait until he sees what we become when we claim War God Tianlong's legacy.

Wait until he sees what it really means to be a hero.

The tomb entrance was visible now, carved into the massive sakura tree at the valley's heart. Ancient runes glowed along the doorframe, and the air that emerged from the depths carried the scent of incense and old magic.

This is it. This is what we came for.

The resting place of War God Tianlong.

The repository of power that could save the world.

Or destroy it.

Time to find out which.

But as they approached the tomb, Draven felt a presence that made his blood run cold.

We're not alone. We're being watched.

The Shadow Moon Sect. They followed us here.

They've been waiting for us to clear the guardians.

Waiting for us to open the path.

So they can steal everything for themselves.

This isn't over.

This is just the beginning