It had been a few hours since the Pitcher Plant King summoned all the birds and shelled creatures to the Pitcher Plant Forest. The pitchers whose lids had closed—after being filled to the brim with either the birds or the shelled creatures—now opened, revealing empty insides, save for a single entity within each.
In one of the pitchers was a humanoid entity, spanning a height of four metres, embedded into the inner walls of the pitcher, somewhat similar in appearance to the Pitcher Plant King's humanoid entity.
There was a third eye on its forehead, the eyeball of which resembled a kite, half covered with Nacre and the other half with corruption. The entity's eyes shot open as its body trembled, slowly taking a step forward as veins along the inner walls of the pitcher wriggled.
They gradually extracted themselves from the humanoid entity that was now free, slowly moving its body as it climbed to the top of the pitcher, taking a seat on its lid, similar to the humanoid entity in the Pitcher Plant King.
Hovering in the sky afar, away from all the commotion were the West Guardian group that had arrived to save Yihan and Xuna, staring at the scene in shock.
"Wasn't that pitcher the one filled with birds? They all brimmed with Nacre." Chief Yubak expressed his confusion, "How did a humanoid entity end up there?"
The head of the humanoid entity swerved to the side, staring straight at Chief Yubak as a pair of leaves appeared on its back, the same as the ones on the Pitcher Plants.
These leaves flapped like wings, causing it to take flight as the humanoid made a beeline straight towards the West Guardians, expressing a desire to devour the other party.
"Let me," Chief Yubak frowned in response, covering his head with armour now as he flapped his wings and rushed at the humanoid entity, condensing a pair of scythes that slashed at the leaves that attacked him.
The leaves were no different from the Pitcher Plant's, parting in the middle to reveal vicious mouths that clamped upon the scythes, shocking Chief Yubak because the sharpness of both was evenly matched.
The humanoid entity condensed a pitcher in its hands that it directed at Chief Yubak, causing its lid to open before spilling out corrosive juice at him, akin to a geyser.
Tsssch!
The shield Chief Yubak created emitted sizzling sounds as it was slowly melted through by the corrosive juice.
"As expected, the West Guardians are strong." The humanoid entity spoke all of a sudden, shocking everyone.
"Who…are you?" Chief Yubak frowned in response.
"The Central Guardian…" The humanoid entity revealed a smile, "Lord Rhizen has displayed his support to our existence."
The humanoid entity disengaged, forming some distance between the two as it spoke, "Anyway, I just wished to greet you. More of us are being created as we speak."
"The Central Guardians wouldn't ever cross this desert of ours and would never tolerate the presence of any third party in our soil or air space." The Central Guardian said before flying away, "Spread the word unless you wish to cause needless casualties."
"The Central Guardian…" Chief Yubak muttered, sighing as he stared at Xuna, "Was this in your plans?"
"No," Xuna shook her head, "Until now, I cannot understand how the Central Guardian Beast had been birthed. But, the fact that it addressed itself as the Central Guardian and mentioned receiving support from master means that it is indeed a Guardian Beast."
"There was both Nacre and corruption in its body," Yihan said, now healed enough to fly on his own.
"Its leaves were full of corruption while its pitcher was full of Nacre. It's a strange entity indeed." Chief Yubak stared at a location on his armour where a bit of the corrosive juice had spilled, the section was still melting gradually as he thought, 'Such frightening power even though it was just birthed.'
The lids of the pitchers opened one after another, revealing humanoid entities inside. Though, the majority of them seemed deformed, lacking any signs of life.
In the pitchers where the humanoid entities were deformed, an acidic solution poured into them, gradually melting the deformed humanoid entities. Soon after, the pitchers were filled with nectar which caused the birds and shelled creatures to rush into them.
And once filled to the brim, the lids closed, repeating the initial process. In the pitchers where the humanoid entities had formed successfully, they exited the pitchers to sit atop them for some time before returning to their pitchers.
The humanoid entity—Central Guardian—that had fought against Chief Yubak returned to its pitcher as it leaned on the inner walls of the pitcher, watching the nerves of it connect to its back. Immediately after, both corruption and Nacre were pumped through its bloodstream, mysteriously filtered into their respective forms that accumulated on their foreheads.
Surprisingly, unlike the Horned Humans or the Blight Humans, the Central Guardians had their Origin Space on their foreheads. It was the kite-shaped crystal that was present on their forehead, acting as a third eye.
The entire time, the Central Guardian on the Pitcher Plant King observed calmly, sensing its powers being distributed to all the Pitcher Plants that reared their respective Central Guardians.
This was where the powers of each varied.
The West Guardians and Southern Guardians both invoked the powers of their Guardians, transforming into that, even though it was similar to donning a set of armour at the moment.
ραпdα nᴏνɐ| сom But from Stage 5 onwards, they could entirely take on their respective Guardian Beast forms. At that Stage, the West Guardian wouldn't just be a human donning a set of armour but truly a humanoid monster capable of bulldozing through everything.
They would also be able to assume a beastly form as the West Guardian—the Hoil Bee. The Southern Guardian was the same. In both cases, the Guardian Beasts were in spirit forms, housed within an inanimate object.
The West Guardian Beast was housed within the statue that Xuna had created while the Southern Guardian Beast resided within the hill on the island where the South Guardian tribe lived.
But strangely, the Central Guardian Beast was in a physical form. It was the humanoid entity seated on the Pitcher Plant King.
And here, the humanoid entities weren't separate from their respective Pitcher Plants. Just as how the West Guardian Beast was Yihan's power, the Central Guardian was the power of the Pitcher Plants.
So, it went against the norm, confusing Xuna.
In the end, she could only smile wryly, "It seems there's truly a lot to know about Guardian Beasts."
"We pretty much butted our heads into the unbeaten path after all." Yihan shared the same sentiment, "It seems we have to know more. I don't want a Guardian Beast to appear among the Blight Humans next."
Bang!
Felor stared in shock as his sunlight beam was casually tanked by a Central Guardian that didn't bat an eye in his direction beyond that, only spitting out a warning before retreating into its pitcher, "Dare attack again, and you'll be declaring war against the Central Guardian Tribe."
"Stop, Felor." Feleokruna held him back in a hurry, staring pale-faced as she said in defeat, "Let's return. There's nothing we can do here anymore."
With that, their group sounded their retreat, flying in the direction of the Fornol Empire. Similarly, the West Guardians too made their way towards their village.
Both parties were now aware that a third power had made its appearance. In the future, whether it was the Horned Humans or the Blight Humans, none could be overbearing.
After all, in terms of sheer power, the Central Guardians were stronger. After all, they wielded the powers of both Nacre and corruption.
Even the newly birthed Central Guardian was able to face Chief Yubak, a Stage 2 Horned Human. And, in comparison to regular Horned Humans, a West Guardian was stronger.
On the other side, the Central Guardian was able to tank Felor's attack, an attack from the strongest Stage 3 Blight Human.
This was sheer proof of the strength a Central Guardian possessed, capable of surpassing Stages to battle.
And if every Pitcher Plant had a Central Guardian, considering the sheer size of the Pitcher Plant Forest, their overall strength was terrifying.
This was not to mention the Pitcher Plant King was in a league of its own. Even before becoming a Central Guardian, the Pitcher Plant King was able to overwhelm the combined power of Yihan and Xuna.
Leaving aside Yihan, Xuna had the power of Coincidental Luck on her side, not to mention her being at Stage 5.
So, it could be said that the Pitcher Plant King was pretty much the third strongest existence in this world now. And if Rhizen and Yulna were to disappear, it would become the strongest.
Xuna couldn't see any guarantee of her being able to defeat the Pitcher Plant King. After all, it too would continue to grow.
Sighing, Xuna and Yihan stopped at the closest town while the West Guardians made their way towards their village.
Xuna and Yihan still had work to do after all.
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