Chapter 10:

Xander had encountered little resistance throughout the process. Even when he delved into the spirit beast's mind, there was hardly any reaction. After entering the mental space of the spirit beast, which was held open by Xander's Sephiroth Grail and mental energy, he found himself in a vast expanse of darkness, reminiscent of his own mind.

Amidst this boundless darkness, Xander discovered a weak light in the form of a barely visible tree. Its soot-grey bark extended upward, leading to leafless branches. However, this tree was far smaller than its real-world counterpart, standing at only 1 meter tall. Its form was ghostly, shimmering with fragility, as if a gentle breeze could blow it away.

Tentatively approaching the accumulation of mental energy, Xander made sure the tree wouldn't resist and then enveloped the feeble ghostly image with his own mental energy. As he did so, he felt a rapid drain on his mental energy reserves. Quickly completing the preparation, he began to return to his own mind space, guided by the Sephiroth Grail.

As the space shifted and a considerable portion of his mental energy was consumed, Xander's real body started trembling with weakness. Despite his fatigue, he pressed on, bringing his martial soul, the Sephiroth Grail, closer to the Demon Eye Tree's mental energy form.

Compelled by the larger, stronger mental energy, the Demon Eye Tree offered little resistance. Driven by its innate will to survive, it clung to this space, feeling the loss of connection to its own body and showing reverence toward the glowing object before it.

For the first time, Xander felt emotions other than his own. As the process neared completion and the condensed mental energy transformed into a pale spirit ring, he sensed the tree's fear, pain, and longing for survival. In response, his martial soul instinctively released a calming aura, depleting Xander's spirit energy reserves. The haunting emotions surrounding the tree began to dissipate, and Xander, in turn, felt a sense of happiness.

These foreign emotions still felt unfamiliar to him. Nevertheless, as the process concluded and the spirit ring entered Xander's martial soul, he felt a sense of completion.

With exhaustion, Xander opened his eyes, drenched in sweat. However, before he could inform the Elder that everything had gone smoothly, a torrent of thick spirit energy slammed into his body.

The foreign spirit energy continued to pour into Xander's tired body, causing him to shift from alertness to fear. It began tearing at him from the inside, but just before irreparable damage could occur, Xander's martial soul appeared, and a glowing yellow spirit ring of 100 years floated gently above him.

The foreign spirit energy responded to the spirit ring and began to slow down, no longer attempting to ravage Xander. Instead, under the spirit ring's control, it orderly fused into his body.

Xander realized that this spirit energy had come from the Demon Eye Tree's body. However, unlike regular spirit ring fusion, he had taken all of the spirit beast's mental and spirit energy, not just a part of it. His possession of the Demon Eye Tree's spirit soul seemed to be instinctively calming the foreign spirit energy, allowing it to merge harmoniously with his body.

Feeling that his martial soul and first spirit soul were handling the situation on their own, Xander relaxed. However, he was hit by another wave of weariness, even more potent than before. Despite this, a message suddenly assaulted his mental space.

The message seemed to transmit directly into his brain as if it had been placed there already. It instructed him to enter a new world, hunt the reincarnators, complete a mission, and submit to its commands.

The incessant 'noise' continued to emanate from Xander's mental space, growing louder and louder. Overwhelmed and seeking relief, Xander's mental energy reluctantly followed the message and entered the gate that had appeared, leading him to a vast expanse of endless bliss where he could finally find rest.

From Xai Ji's perspective, everything seemed to be going well until Xander suddenly collapsed after completing his ritual. Xai Ji attempted to assist, inspecting the boy's body, but found that the issue wasn't with the spirit energy. Instead, it seemed that Xander had become exhausted from the process.

Not being an expert in healing or understanding this strange predicament, Xai Ji decided to wait for Xander to wake up and make camp for the night. He planned to speak with the boy the following day and also reprimand him for his strange martial soul.

However, little did Xai Ji know that Xander wouldn't wake up the next day, or the day after that. In fact, Xander would be gone for quite a while, leaving the Dean with many more headaches to deal with.

(A.N - Hey guys :). GiVe Me Ya StOnE's. Me HuNgRy.

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