Light and Candy

When the Venomtree first sensed Seraphina's mana gathering into her khakkhara, it had not thought too much of it.

With her feeble mana pool, what could she possibly cast that might threaten it?

But as more time passed, and as her spell grew more powerful, the tree started to become uneasy. 

Such a sudden and enormous increase in magical power without the use of any mana defied all laws of magic!

Only when the spell's power finally reached its peak, did it realised the true threat it posed.

Knowing that it was impossible for it to survive if that attack landed, it decisively chose to try to interrupt Seraphina's spell before she could finish it.

Its roots flew as quickly as they could towards the silver-haired girl, desperately hoping they would make it in time.

However, this action ended up being irrelevant, as shortly after Seraphina managed to fully complete her spell.

Fortunately for her, the Venomtree had not tried to pointlessly shield itself using its roots. If it had, she would have to face a much more severe backlash.

Now, it could only helplessly watch as Seraphina's lips parted one last time—finishing what she had not been able to the first time.

"Light Execution x64!"

Upon the spell's activation, the forest darkened and all lights in the forest disappeared for a fleeting moment.

And in the next moment—

*SHHHINK!*

A sharp scintillating sound sliced through the darkness as all the missing light converged into one point above-head.

When the light finished gathering, the forest returned to its normal state.

However, there were now two suns in the sky!

No—one was the sun that everyone knew but the other one, upon closer inspection was not even round...

It was not a star but a colossal blade of light, suspended high in the air. The blade shone just as brilliantly as the sun, it did not cast any shadow truly demonstrating its worth.

The sword dwarfed the Venomtree in size, and surprisingly its light did not carry any heat.

Seraphina raised her khakkhara and pointed it toward the Venomtree's trunk. 

The radiant blade reacted instantly. It sliced through the air at an astonishing speed, leaving a trail of light in its path, and in the blink of an eye—the sword had already hit its target.

*BOOM!*

A pillar of light shot down from the sky, the ground trembled as a blinding flash spread through the forest. A shockwave erupted outward, throwing debris and poisonous spores into the air.

When the light faded, all that remained were plum-colored roots. The Venomtree was gone, with only some leaves and branches left behind. 

"Sigh..." Seraphina exhaled tiredly and rubbed her tired eyes a few times, before casting a weak cleaning spell over herself.

She was truly out of mana now.

The blue light of her gauntlets flickered a few times before fading away. She fell to her knees with a groan, her silver-white eyelashes fluttering softly.

"Ugh...the quest can wait. Just five minutes won't kill me..." she muttered dazedly.

Her eyelashes fluttered one last time before shutting completely, she slumped forward against a Poisonous Venomroot and fell asleep.

...

The sun had already set giving way to the night and its moonlit forest, when Seraphina finally woke up—only to find a rabbit casually munching on her silver-white hair.

The sensation felt was very irritating like constantly having her hair tugged, she was really annoyed at this uninvited disturber.

But since it had offered itself so generously... She would have roasted rabbit tonight!

She blinked her big round eyes slowly, its golden color reflecting the silver moonlight.

In the next moment, she furiously grabbed the rabbit by its long brown ears and slammed it to the ground.

*CRACK!*

It instantly shattered all of its bones, killing it before it could even register what had happened.

She then lit up a fire using magic, and next thing you know the brown-furred rabbit had already turned into a fine meal and ended in Seraphina's mouth.

As she chewed on it, Seraphina realised how soft and tender the meat in her mouth was. With each bite she took, more juices spread through her mouth like a burst of something.

But something seemed off.

The texture of the meat was great but its taste, however was awfully strange... The fragrant flavor brought back to life some old memories, particularly that one memory from two years ago. 

Back then, she was just ten years old and had went from the church to the closest alchemy shop on some small errands.

Sitting on the counter of the alchemy shop was a jar filled with blue glowing strips. 

At that time, she had thought it was just some free candy and ate not one–but three strips. No one needed to explain her what this was because the moment she finished her third one, her skin went purple and she threw up everything she had in her.

And this rabbit tasted too similar–almost as if it was also poisonous.

"Cough...cough..." Seraphina coughed several times as her face contorted, and her skin began to turn purple.

'Damn tree... still trying to kill me even after it's dead!?'