"I saw blood, a tower of blood. I saw horns, skeletons, a pair of glowing eyes..." Captain Silas's voice emanated as if he were in a daze.

  The rest of the Pollinators who had joined him on the expedition were gathered around his bed, listening intently.

  "And whatever you saw was so terrifying you used a cleansing relic recklessly to deter this threat?" One of the Pollinators questioned.

  Before Captain Silas could answer the question, the door behind them suddenly opened. Padre stepped in, before moving aside to let Catherine into the room. Upon seeing the sheer look of breathlessness on the woman's face, countless Pollinators immediately rushed over to assess her condition.

  Some of them began inspecting her body for wounds, while others immediately began prompting her with questions.

  "What happened down there?"

  "Are you hurt?"

  The questions came in a hurricane, a hurricane that Catherine struggled to comprehend. Her chest stung, and her breath came in short gasps.

  "There are hundreds of them in those ruins... they ate Humphrey!"

  "What the hell are you saying?"

  Catherine found her away to a stiff wooden chair in the corner, sinking into it as she leaned back. "Under the ruins... there's hundreds of tremebrus, like the ones you encountered. They worship something, and they all ate Humphrey alive!"

  Upon hearing her frantic words, everyone in the room fell silent. The silence remained in the air for a few moments before Captain Silas spoke up, his voice slightly shaky.

  "They worship... Him."

  "Him? Isn't that how one addresses Angels or Gods?" Catherine looked at Captain Silas, her body tensing up.

  "In the ruins... when I was with my team... I saw Him with my own two eyes. He was so tall I swore He could shatter the heavens, and He carried a weapon that could pierce a whole city. He had wings on His back, and I swear He spoke to me at that moment..."

  "What did this existence say?" Catherine asked, a pit forming in her stomach.

  Captain Silas's lips closed shut, a straight line forming on his face as he leaned back in his bed. The veins on his forehead and cheek began to bulge and twitch; Catherine could immediately tell it was extremely painful and uncomfortable to suppress those words. At that moment, Catherine felt her heart stop for a second.

  This was a thought she hadn't considered until now—what if the information that this figure had told him in the ruins corresponded to corruption, and Captain Silas's current state—trying with all his might to keep those words in—was actively suppressing corruption in his body.

  Catheirne stood up, slowly backing away to the door. The entire time, her gaze remained steady on Captain Silas.

  "Find anything we can use to purify him... Now!"

  She reached into her pocket, taking out a small object—the Mother Nature Amulet. The vibrant glow of the necklace resounded across the entire room as it lit up, illusory green energy seeping through her veins. As she put on the necklace, she felt her breath hitch in her chest as a surge of warmth engulfed her being.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  Catherine observed as Captain Silas's face continued to writhe and contort, slowly twisting and malforming. Blood-colored bubbles of puss sprouted from his skin, secreting a slightly inky substance that ran down his face, arms, and torso. At the same time, his eyes widened as he suppressed a scream of pain, a sizzling sound ringing out in the air as his usually pale skin began to grow redder and redder.

  The woman winced, looking away and suppressing the urge to vomit. Upon sensing the latent corruption in the area, Mother Nature's Amulet glowed even brighter, illusory tendrils of green energy almost resembling vines shot out at a breakneck speed. These 'vines' of energy coiled around Captain Silas, and from the 'vines' sprouted pink and purple flowers.

  Before the flowers could completely bloom, a surge of crimson energy shot forth from Captain Silas's body, crashing through the countless 'vines' coiling around his body like snakes. The 'vines' slowly turned a pitch-black color, shriveling up and dying on the spot. The resplendent flowers—in a state of mid-bloom—shriveleved up and turned to ashes.

  In an instant, Catherine removed the necklace from her body and tossed it aside, darting back as she conjured two daggers out of thin air. Every trace of potent healing energy dissipated from the room, seeping over with a darkness and a sense of rot and decay that not even she could fully handle.

  Captain Silas's body expanded like a tree, his fingers growing outwards like roots, coiling around the frames of the medical bed. His head, previously engulfed in the crimson bubbles of blood, now expanded, his eyes rolling back, only empty sockets in their place. The blood-bubbles on his body suddenly burst one by one, the dark-red liquid spreading forth and engulfing his being.

  This new 'tide' of crimson liquid surged forth, extending upwards like a trunk. This massive trunk of dark-colored blood burst through the ceiling of the underground cathedral, erecting up into the sky and spreading out even more. Soon, branches and leaves began to sprout from the trunk, the leaves an ashen-gray color, continually burning with violent, scorching flames that didn't destroy them.

  Captain Silas had lost control, his body turning into a blood-colored tree. By the time the rest of the Pollinators returned with artifacts that subdued corruption, it was far too late. Catherine stood silently, her hands taut at her sides. She couldn't witness the event unfolding, but she surely could gaze at the aftermath.

  The tree wasn't too tall, only stretching into the main hall of the surface-level cathedral. Only a handful of night-owl citizens—who had been praying within the pews—all yelped and scurried back to make way for this anomaly.

  "What the hell is that?" One of the Pollinators asked.

  "I need two teams on site. Close the cathedral and head down with another platoon to those ruins. Due to the unique nature of the underground structure, the best we can do is seal it off until we know how to deal with the issue," one of the Pollinators announced.

  ...

  By the time Aizawa, Olivia, and Shinso arrived back at the apartment, it was well over the middle of the night—creeping towards the early hours of the morning.

  "Have you eaten anything recently?" Aizawa asked Shinso.

  "Yes, they gave me food... which I had to eat like a dog," Shinso huffed, his face heating a little.

  Aizawa clenched his fists at his sides. At that moment, Shinso spoke up again.

  "Why do you want to work with them when you know what they did to me?"

  "They're our closest bridge to Isaac, they'll bring him back to us."

  "But what if your decision ends up being the wrong one in the end? If they betray us, I'd be the one to say I saw it coming a million miles away."

  "If they do, I'll tie them up and have them bring Isaac right to our doorstep. After that, they'll be dealt with under the premise of the law and justice system."

  Shinso fell silent, sighing in a deprecating manner. "Earlier—before you rescued me—one of their members announced they proposed something to the higher-ups within this kingdom, some sort of act or proposal that guaranteed the entire economic and agricultural situation would be dealt with. I myself couldn't help but feel a little suspicious about all this."

  "I'd be suspicious too. When we enter their little meeting tomorrow, I'll have this member who visited the higher echelons explain it in detail, and bring proper documents."

  "Do you know... anything about that kind of thing? Papers and documents and governments?"

  Aizawa huffed. "It's not just legal stuff, but also logic—governments, agencies, and industries are built on logic. They know what the people want, what they need to grow bigger. While my knowledge on this kingdom is brief and quite a handful at most, simple deductions and asking a few questions should be enough to grasp a good answer."

  Olivia—who had watched this interaction in silence—suddenly yawned. "It's about time we get some rest."

  Everyone tacitly nodded in agreement.

  Five minutes later, Shinso sat inside his apartment room, his feet hanging off the bed as he began to change into something a little lighter. When he got a proper look at his outfit, he noticed how dusty and grimy it had gotten from what had happened that night. He internally cringed, setting it aside into the wash basin.

  In the corner of the room, Damien's eyes remained closed as the boy slept within the confines of what appeared to be a fort composed of blankets and pillows. Shinso felt his lips habitually switch into a smile upon seeing the familiar figure of Mr. Ryujin tucked beside Damien, also in a deep slumber. Shinso felt a small inclination to wake up Mr. Ryujin, but he shrugged off the idea.

  Paff

  A small sound rang out behind him. Shinso turned around, only to see the small black cat poised on the bed, its stomach exposed as it rolled over to face Shinso. It let out a low 'meow' sound, a silent invitation.

  "Are you... the cosmic guy, or just the cat?" Shinso asked.

  He waited a short few seconds for a response, but upon nothing coming out, he sighed and climbed into bed, now in nothing but a light shirt and pants. The ink-black cat curled up beside him, now purring contently as they both fell asleep.

  Or, at least, Shinso almost fell asleep before he felt abnormally cold. His eyes shot open, and he watched as the black cat walked onto Shinso's lap, its eyes flashing with crimson.

  "Everything's happened so quickly I forgot about the promise we agreed on," the enigmatic figure spoke in their illusory voice.