Eradicate

It was strange, what was happening sort of reminded Kai of a lucid dream. His body floated forward towards Aldred and the two full moon abominations by itself. Well, not by itself, Failure was the one controlling it, but it was still strange.

Kai was now the one watching the scene unfold. Even though he was still looking through his own eyes, it was also like watching a movie. Everything around him continued to happen normally even though he wasn't really present.

There was a few oddities though. Noelle sobbing while on her knees beside a bloody corpse with a blade stuck in its neck. Sofia tenderly placing a hand on the crying girls shoulder, which to Kai's surpirse, she didn't swipe away.

Also, there was a large amount of moon beasts gathering around a moon wolf whos body was slowly turning white. It seemed that Kai was right with what he thought when he read the description of the tunic he was gifted, when a moon wolf dies their fur does indeed turn white.

But there was also a cloud of shadows hovering over the dead wolf, casting themselves over it. Thinking there was something familiar about the dead wolf, Kai tried to get a closer look, but the speed he was floating at suddenly picked up.

Then, the notications went off.

And there was a lot of them.

Special mode activated

Constance of Regret mode activated

+300-

Due to limitations, stats gained will only be added to the section of your soul that is being inhabitated by another being

You have obtained a large amount of stats

Skill: High level sword mastery obtained

Skill: High level wood Mana mastery obtained

Skill: Tree sense obtained

Skill: Decaying root obtained

Skill: Garden of...

The skills just didn't stop coming. One after the other, notifications about new skills rang in Kai's ears. The sheer amount of them was incredible, and so was the names of some of them too. The rarities of all the skills were higher than basically all of Kai's skills, there was even one that had question marks as its rarity. Kai thought he was going crazy when he read their descriptions.

Sadly, when Kai tried to look at his stats, he was unable to read them. They were just a flurry of ever changing numbers, constantly reading different digits every millisecond. Maybe it was only Failure who could see the stats.

There was also the fact that the name the system had given Failure was Constance of Regret, which was a fitting title, but seemed a little on the nose.

"Failure-"

Just as Kai attempted to speak, he was promptly cut off by Failure, who was sounding much more serious than Kai expected.

"My dear Kai, I am going to be completely honest with you. While I have technically recovered to my full strength for these next moments, it has been a long time since I have actually fought. It will be like I am fighting with an arm behind my back for the first while, so I am unsure how effective I will actually be."

Kai remained silent as Failure went on and on. Honestly, he just wanted to know that the man possessing his body was getting at.

As if reading his mind, Failure grinned with Kai's own mouth and said.

"I just simply wish for you to wish me luck."

In the next moment, Kai disappeared from where he was floating. A split second later, a whoosh of wind spread out as a long red haired boy flew forward towards the Demon.

Without warning, Failure, using Kai's body, swung his wooden sword down at the Demon's atrocious looking head.

Noticing the attack a split second before the full moon abomination, Aldred jumped up and howled into the Demon's horrid face, hoping to disorient it for even half a second.

The Demon let out small dazed growl in response to Aldred's attempt at keeping it still while Failure's plain blade continued to plummet down towards it.

A quarter of a second later, the Demon lifted up the double headed axe it was wielding and managed to barely block the attack with the hilt of the full moon abomination weapon. Even with how strong a full moon abomination was, Failure's blade still managed to chip away some of the flesh clinging to the axe.

Enraged at the fact Failure had managed to deal some damage to the weapon, the Demon roared and used one of its free arms to launch a punch at Failure's stomach.

The ground trembled as a wooden root shot out of the burst open earth at breakneck speed and managed to swipe away the fist just enough for it to miss the wooden armour that was guarding Kai's body.

The Demon let out a low growl as it hopped backwards defensively, holding the full moon abomination in an attempt to be ready for anything.

Glancing at Kai, The Demon couldn't help but be confused at the sight of someone it had never seen before yet could still compete with it in strength. The air around its hideous body shimmered as it attempted to inflict the same mind attack it had inflicted on everyone earlier onto the red haired figure before it.

Failure just simply grinned at winked nonchalantly at the Demon. Even if he wasn't sure of their odds of success, that didn't mean he wasn't going to take the oppurtunity to taunt his near lifelong enemy.

"Who are you?"

The Demon's hoarse voice was just as terrible as it was earlier, yet Failure couldn't help but feel indescribable glee when he heard it.

After all, it could be the last time he ever heard it.

"Why do you oppose upon our duel? What gives you the right to-"

The Demon fell silent as it glared coldly at Failure, as if recognising who it actually was.

"It's you, that damned disgusting aura is coming from you, I can smell it." The Demon the laughed, but the laugh didn't really sound like a laugh, it sounded more like the cries of someone who was being eternally tortured in hell.

"Pathethic. Couldn't face me yourself so you had to take over the body of one of the weakling humans who you tricked. I'm sure you're just going to discard the body in the same place as all the other ones."

Failure chuckled softly as he slowly floated closer to Aldred.

"Miss me? And no, this boy is much too precious to go with all the other trash I've accumulated. He's the future after all."

Failure's eyes glowered darkly as he hatefully spat:

"He's also the one who's allowing me to finally get my revenge. And for that, I will never be able to thank him enough."

The Demon laughed once more as it gripped onto the hilt of the full moon axe with two of its hands, preparing for battle.

"Revenge? You couldn't even damage me in the past, what makes you think you have a chance now?"

A depraved smirk appeared on Failure's currently slightly less attractive face, considering he was borrowing Kai's.

"As you said, that was in the past. But now, it's the future, and time is a motherfucker."

Both Failure and Aldred prepared for what could potentially be the final fight in the history of the forest they called home.

On one side, a four armed demon that was hand crafted from materials that were taken from the dark side of the moon by a perverted and warped God that only wished to inflict more suffering on those who had managed to endure this far.

The weapon in its hands shone with a malignant shine as its edge trembled with anticipation. Well, either it was anticipation or the Demon was gripping the hilt too hard.

And on the other side, a powerful gray wolf that had abilities beyond comprehension yet couldn't bring out the full extent of them due to the current scenario. But that didn't mean Aldred was weak, he was just unable to showcase the true extent of his strength.

And luckily, unlike last time where it was a two on one, now there was another being to help Aldred out.

A red haired boy wearing a suit of brown armour and a crown of thorns upon his head. A plain looking sword in his right hand that while it looked plain had incredible strength hidden away in its hardwood body.

The fate of the forest laid in the hands of the four beings present. Failure had long sent a telepathic message to everyone present telling them to get the hell away, otherwise it was their own fault if they died. Now was not the time to play safe, now was the time to go all out with no restrictions.

Both Failure and Aldred gazed at the Demon coldly, meanwhile the Demon stared back, all of them wondering who would make the first move.

It ended up being the Demon. It threw itself forward with incredible speed as it slashed its double headed axe at Failure.

The ground burst open once more beneath the Demon's feet, but it didn't bother dodging the attack, expecting it to just be another on of Failure's futile attempts to slow it down using tree roots.

Which was technically correct, but the roots Failure used for this attack were a different colour.

As Failure blocked the Demon's attack with the edge of his wooden sword, black tree roots wrapped themselves around the full moon abominations ankle.

That was step one of Failure's plan, to use his skill Decaying Roots to slowly weaken the Demon over time, making the fight even easier.

Of course, there was the problem of that he was unsure how much time the Miracle Bead would give him in Kai's body, but if he was able to weaken the Demon enough then Aldred should be able to handle the rest.

The black roots slowly started absorbing both the Demon's large HP and Mana pools. Even though it couldn't absorb that much that fast, if Failure would be able to completely tie down the abomination then he would be able to stack the effects of multiple of the roots.

As the Demon was slowed for a split second, Aldred's aura spiked as he finally went all out. His yellow eyes gradually started to dilute to a dark red as his mind swelled with anger. Aldred's thoughts were clouded by wanting to see the Demon bleed, and even better, dead. Still, even in the face of a berserk skill, Aldred managed to preserve a sliver of sanity.

Once Failure blocked the Demon's initial blow, Aldred swiped his sharp claws at the Demon's chest. The Demon growled and managed to narrowly adjusted the double headed axe to block the blows, but now it was in a vulnerable position.

More and more of Failure's Decaying Roots started to wrap themselves around the Demon's ankles, slowing and weaking it even more. The Demon swung downwards with its axe, managing to cleave off all the roots attached to it in a single blow.

All three parties then remained still. They had just exchanged their opening blows, now they had to analyse to see where they stood in the food chain.

And after the first round, Aldred and Failure were the clear victors.

"I grow tired of this charade."

The Demon's voice sounded colder than the Arctic when it spoke, but neither Failure nor Aldred flinched. Kai did slightly as he spectated the fight though.

By now, the Demon was well aware that majority of Failure's skills and abilities relied on trees, and since they were in a forest, that only helped to empower the charismatic man even more.

So why not just get rid of the forest.

"Eradicate."

The axe in the Demon's hand started to glow a vicious red as Failure's gut screamed at him to get out of the way. Quickly, Failure used one of the many seeds he had set up earlier while the war was still in its early stages as a beacon to teleport to.

A split second lated, Aldred joined him by pushing himself on the air just as the Demon swung its full moon abomination weapon.

Failure couldn't help but shiver at the sight.

The head of one side of the axe shot out a potent wave of red as the entire forest cried out in pain, its cries reaching Failure's ears.

The entire world shook at the attack as a sound that didn't even seem possible rang out through the vast forest.

Space itself was disintegrated as the wave of red stopped for nothing as it continued its journey, undisturbed through the forest.

Five seconds later, an quarter of the forest was no more. Trees, earth, lifeforms, nothing could withstand the power of the full moon abomination weapon.