I immediately backed off, my legs thrashing on the ground as I hit the wall with very deep breaths. Before me was a man in tattered red armor, some corruption already flaking off his being, but the part that terrified me the most was what the system had said.

He was… the Hero of Arlas⁠— the keeper of order⁠— the man that had sent me to this place.

I stared daggers at him as I prepared [Frost, Stasis, Eternity and a Prophecy], but before that I couldn’t help but ask.

“Why did you help me⁠— why did you help me after bringing me to this place?!”

There was a pause in the man before he shook his head. “I’ve been in this place for centuries, what are you even talking about?”

“Centuries?” I asked, frowning on the edge of losing my mind. “What kind of bullshit are you spouting⁠—”

“Heroine of Frost, let’s treat you first and then, we’ll talk.”

My frown deepened but I chose to drop the topic, the man was clearly corrupted to some extent, his voice constantly distorting. His response was— well, it meant he either lost his memories or he was telling the truth⁠— from what I could tell at least.

“How do you suggest I treat⁠—” I groaned feeling a sudden spike of pain. “The corruption?”

“There is only one way to treat it.” He let out a breath. “And that is to remove the corrupted parts.”

My eyes widened. “Self… mutilation?”

“No, more like removing the rotten part of a fruit by cutting it out. But unfortunately, this is only a temporary measure.” He met my gaze. “So you should get started on that."

I blinked. I wanted to argue with him but the small sizzling pain I felt was hard to ignore. Even then, I still didn’t know if I should trust him. In fact, there were a bunch of reasons to not trust him, from his identity to him being corrupted, to being someone I met in the Forgotten Places. But in the end…

I gritted my teeth from the pain.

“I know you don’t want to trust me, but do it for your own good.” He sighed. “Lest you’ll end up like me, but in a much worse state due to your Tier.”

I wanted to once more⁠… argue. But I decided against it and instead tried to do something different from what he suggested. I took a very deep breath.

“[Frost, Stasis, Eternity, and a Prophecy].”

Our surroundings became blue in a single moment. The Hero of Arlas blinked, staring down at me. And then, I commanded the corruption⁠— the injuries to stop in place. A moment later all the pain stopped, even the flickers of darkness froze in place as a long breath left me.

“Impressive skill,” he said. “But that is only a temporary solution, though the corruption seems to be much slower to act on you⁠—” And he paused. “Oh, you have the blood of the dragons in you. How interesting.”

“Now we can talk.” My eyes narrowed as I sat upright. “It is clear to me that you can kill me at any moment if you so desire. So, what is your goal?”

“My goal?” Surprise was evident in his weird voice. “With you? None. Visitors are rare here, and someone as strong as you especially so⁠. So I figured I should help you.”

I frowned, not getting a satisfactory answer⁠— not for me anyway.

“So you’re SSS Tier, but also corrupted.”

“That is correct, yes.” He nodded. “Any other question?”

I didn’t understand anything; what was happening, if to trust the person, if he and the keeper of order were two different people somehow⁠— nothing. Finally, a sigh left me as I figured that getting angry about things was meaningless.

“What are you doing down here?”

“Fighting the corruption, or failing at it.” A sigh left him. “It’s not a force that can really be stopped. One day, Arlas will be consumed whole.”

“So, SSS Tier isn’t enough?”

A broken laugh left him. “This thing transcends SSS Tier. Of course not.”

I stared for what felt like forever before finally I shook my head and decided to relax. The door hadn’t even been so much as attacked once it was closed. I closed my eyes as minutes ticked by, the Hero of Arlas patiently waited for me to say something, but eventually he decided to make his own question.

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“So any other questions or have you decided you’re going to die?”

“I’m not going to die if I can help it.” I shook my head.

“Well, then you should really purge that corruption now.” He waved his hand. “It really isn’t as easily dealt with as you think.”

“What do you mean⁠— ugh.” And I groaned from an unnerving pain on my leg and various parts of my body. The sensation of being eaten away had returned, even though my skill had a very long time to go.

“I told you.” He shook his head. “Well, if you decide you want to live and heed my advice you can come find me.”

With those words he walked down the hall, letting me be as the excruciating pain became worse than ever. The wounds weren’t being⁠ corrupted any faster, but the main was worse⁠— it was as if the thing was incessant on breaking my skill so it could just destroy my body.

A groan left me.

“I don’t think I ever lost a limb in training.”

Then after a few moments of knowing what to do I relented. Deciding to trust the man that had saved me.

“From eating raw meat to self surgery⁠— how fucking insane is this world.” I gritted my teeth and made an ice knife. “I really can’t believe I’m gonna do this.”

A deep breath left me and I stabbed into my own flesh, suppressing a scream as I used my active SS Tier skill to minimize the pain. And after a moment I began to carve my own flesh, getting rid of the corruption all over my body.

◇ ◇ ◇

By the time I finished I was a panting mess, pieces of red and black surrounded me as blood pooled on the ground. My flesh was slowly regenerating, but I knew I certainly wasn’t getting my leg back.

A sigh left me as I poked all the chunks of corrupted flesh into a corner, the whole process had been bloody and borderline nightmarish⁠— but somehow I pushed through it. My emotions were a mess, part of me felt like being angry, the other felt like screaming out of frustration and a very small part of me honestly felt like crying from helplessness.

This entire place was fucked and it was only a matter of time before I died⁠— no.

I took a breath. I wasn’t going to die. I really wasn’t going to fucking die in such a backwards place. Even if my entire body got corrupted, and I lost sense of myself, I’d still make it my main mission to kill the keeper of order.

“This is so stupid.”

I grunted and stood up, an ice foot in replacement forming as it quickly was enveloped by new fabric. Restoring my appearance as if nothing had happened. Though, now I lost sensation on one leg.

A sigh left me, I looked practically uninjured save a small slit of red on my cheek, but in spite of my appearance I was in deep pain. I took my sweet ass time to walk down the hall, taking in the different piping running along the wall, the electricity like light, and the rather laboratory-like appearance the entire place had.

White walls, high ceilings, and random closed doors with broken keypads on them. Being honest, if I was told this place was a post-apocalyptic earth I would’ve believed it in a heartbeat. In the end, I decided to not ponder about things and make my way forward.

Finally, after a minute or so of walking I stepped down the stairs and found myself in a large room. At the center a table with a map spread on it, and to the sides some couches; and on one of them the Hero of Arlas sat.

He stood up.

“So you decided to live and are all patched up⁠—” He paused looking at my leg. “Almost.”

I snorted and sat down on one of the couches.

“Enough of that, do you know why I’m here?”

“Here as in; the world below?” he asked.

“Yeah, the world below; where the corruption resides; the Forgotten Places; however you want to call it.” I sighed.

“Hm.” He pondered, hand on his chin. “I do not know, you’re the first person I actually get to speak to since coming here, most are long gone by the time I see them.”

“Well, given what I experienced I guess it’s not surprising.” I shrugged. “I’ll keep it short, a guy named the keeper of order sent me here.”

“Okay, and⁠—?”

“And, he wears a new version of your armor and he’s also known as the Hero of Arlas. Does that ring a bell?”

And at that moment the world turned gray. I couldn’t see the man’s expression but at that moment I felt an underwhelming amount of bloodlust emanating from him. It wasn’t even directed at me and yet I started to sweat; and it vanished as soon as it came.

Then, he nodded.

“I see. So things are like that on the surface.”

I raised my brow. “Are you not gonna do something about it?”

“No.”

“Are you the real Hero of Arlas or an impostor?” I asked, my eyes narrowing.

And in a blink a gigantic sword was pressed against my neck, its blade clear of corruption showing an unbroken edge.

“Do you want to find out?”

“No,” I said simply, moving the blade from my neck with my hand. “I was just asking.”

He shook his head, the sword was nowhere to be seen as he turned around, beginning to walk towards the map in the middle of the room.

“Anyway, do you have any idea of how I can escape this place?”

“Leaving?” he asked, before shaking his head, not bothering to look back at me. “You can forget about that, you don’t have the strength to do so. There are stronger beings than the Twisted Things out there, a good example was the tentacle monster that took your leg.”

I frowned. “What if you escorted me?”

“You wouldn’t be able to leave still,” he said coldly.

“Why?”

This time he finally turned to me, and removed his helmet. I saw a middle aged man, he looked normal except for a line of corruption running through his cheek.

The atmosphere turned weird, there was only silence as he met my gaze. I stared back for what felt like an eternity, anticipating his response until finally, he spoke shaking his head.

“Because in order for you to leave this place a part of you has to be corrupted.”

My heart skipped.

“There is no coming out ‘alive’ for you.”