The war was composed of multiple zones of conflict.

At the forefront, where the defense of the whole continent stood, was the alliance of the three most powerful armies led by Florian Delur, Kamala Genathis, and Eric Layman.

The three ex-Apostles were assisted by a third party, May, who belonged to the newly created Agathion faction.

Amidst the chaos, other places showed signs of intense battle.

South of the plains, on the shores of Noctelagia, a squad of maids was defending the city from invaders under the orders of their master, Olivia Lakis.

Assisted by the kelpies, a faction that remained hidden for centuries until recently, they managed to push back the corrupted, smearing the sea a deep red and black color.

All the way north, where a giant humanoid and a massive dragon were seen moving toward the Talviera Mountain Range, two fighters were sent to block their path.

Amelia, a member of the Agathion, was tasked to deal with a supposed brown dragon who disappeared. To everyone's surprise, Miasma did manage to mutate it into something completely absurd.

The other one was Elliott, the lone knight who decided to act instead of remaining a bystander. Not part of any faction, he temporarily stayed inside the plane created by the leader of the Agathion, Orion Feales.

Acting as an independent force, Elliott decided to stop the giant humanoid, while having no idea as to why this being joined forces with his father.

Farther east, another battle began, only two hours after the beginning of the war.

A cloaked figure approached the city of Lahro, home of the lamia faction. Deveralna, Queen and ruler of the city, while also recently becoming the Remnant of her faction, stood in its way.

While the figure managed to hit her during a moment of inattention, she managed to strike back. Moments later, she discovered that her enemy was none other than Kiel Voran, the Apostle who managed Lahro before dying at the hands of Orion.

Seeing the man who tortured and abused the lamias back from the dead certainly made it difficult for her to control her emotions.

With all of these under control, a certain man was monitoring his friends from another plane.

...

'They seem to have everything under control.'

Having placed one-way portals on his friends, Orion was listening to their situations while waiting for any signs of invasion on his side.

'May is still doing fine, Olivia is leading her maids, Amelia just began her attack on the dragon, and Deveralna...'

Orion clenched his fists in anger.

'If I had known that guy would return, I would have obliterated his head instead.'

'Now, I've left Deveralna dealing with my mistake.'

Breathing a long sigh of exasperation, Orion focused on another background noise.

'I hope they are alright...'

~

"Hurry! Evacuate immediately!"

Logran, the beastman village where Dylan and his family lived until today, was under attack.

"Dylan, you can't fight alone!"

As villagers ran frantically in the other direction, Dylan and Eliza moved toward the front gate of the village.

A pair of white eyes moved in their shadows, as they stopped to look at the wooden walls getting trampled by a stampede of corrupted creatures.

The tree around the village were broken in half, as more and more beasts marched toward Logran.

"So, are you not going to flee?"

Said Eliza with a mocking smile on her face.

"What about you? You just recovered not so long ago. Don't you need to rest?"

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"How could I, when there's an excellent opportunity to test my strength after all these years."

She stretched her arms and neck, until a bestial glare replaced her usual smile. Reminded how scary his wife truly was, Dylan shivered slightly.

"I feel younger, too. It makes my blood pump even faster!"

Her hair, which looked long and smooth at first glance, changed into a mane similar to a lion.

"I can't believe a woman of all people would have a mane..."

Feeling disheartened, Dylan dropped his shoulders in defeat.

"Stop being dramatic, and get ready too. When was the last time you fought seriously, without caring about a thing?"

"Too far to remember."

Dylan cracked his knuckles, and shoulders, before his body began to exert an incredible pressure.

The whole forest began suddenly quieter for a split second, with all corrupted frozen in fear.

"Heh. I'm rusty if you're able to do that, while I can't."

"I would be sad if you weren't."

His muscles expanded, his canines protruded from his mouth, and his nails turned into claws. Their gazes turned into one of predators at the top of the food chain, prepared to hunt down their prey.

"I take the left, you take the right."

They nodded at each other, before they lunged into battle.

This fight was the best opportunity for the family to test their strength, especially for Eliza and Nylon.

Still, the situation remained chaotic. The beast attacking their village weren't the usual ones they were used to fending off.

Though lacking in numbers, only fifteen beasts were sighted. The problem was, those beasts were too strong for the common beastmen to deal with.

These fifteen corrupted, were all Corrupted Lords.

~

"Mmh~ Mmm~"

Miasma was humming playfully while watching his troops move forward.

Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks, and looked behind him.

"Third wave, move forward."

He gestured at the thousands of giant birds to attack with his index finger.

Thousands of wings began to flap at the same time, creating dust clouds in the process.

"This might be fun."

With a distorted smile, he looked at two of the beasts about to take flight.

"You two, stop."

Each bird-like corrupted began to take flight, while the two he ordered remained on the ground, motionless.

"Murder each other."

Without questioning the order, the two birds began to peck and rip off feathers and flesh of the other.

A moment later, the one on the left remained, its eyes gouged out and wings broken. The same could be said for the other bird, who had it been transformed into a disgusting paste of flesh and bones.

Miasma walked toward the dead bird, and plunged his hand into the corpse.

"Here."

He grabbed the core from the dead bird, and ripped it out, only to punch straight into the head of the surviving bird before releasing the dark crystal inside it.

"Not enough, huh?"

His eyes scanned the flying birds. With his innate ability to distinguish the corruption, he found the ones with the most corruption in their body, and pointed at them.

"This one... You..."

Five birds suddenly fell toward the ground, before exploding into dust the moment they touched it.

"This will make a fine addition."

In his other hand, an accumulation of the five cores he stole from the five victims he chose gleamed a purple light, waiting to be placed into its recipient.

Without giving it a second thought, Miasma looked at the core, and shoved it into the bird's head.

"Now, it feels like gambling. What is it going to become?"

The bird showed no reaction whatsoever.

"Tch! Useless piece of shit."

He kicked the bird, who tumbled away a few meters on the ground.

"Wasting my time, and my resources. Damn it all..."

But then, as he was about to turn away, he noticed a twitch coming from the body he kicked away.

"..."

Thinking that it was probably his imagination, he turned around.

In a sour mood, Miasma looked at the explosion happening in the far distance.

Then, he looked on his left, toward the place he had sent Kagalkan and the dragon, who had long since then disappeared in the horizon.

Without thinking too much about their potential failure, he searched for his underlings.

"Wait... where did he go?"

"Who?"

Around him, two of the three cloaked figures remained, alongside the soldier he recently managed to mutate.

"That bumbling and fumbling guy, with his head detached."

"Oh..."

The two figures looked at each other and shrugged.

"No idea."

Suddenly, the air grew heavier. They felt a pressure on their neck, until they were unable to breathe.

"Agh..."

"Gah!"

The two grabbed their throat in agony, as they kneeled on the grass.

"You fucking idiots. Keeping an eye on him, that's all you had to do."

Without a shred of pity in his eyes, Miasma glared at them with all the hatred of his being.

A ray of light broke through the barrier surrounding Eogis, illuminating the two figures. For a split instant, the light revealed two invisible hands emerging from the ground, wrapped around their necks.

"If I may."

The mutated soldier suddenly walked in between Miasma and the two figures, and looked at his master dead in the eyes.

"What?"

"If you wish to know where he went, I can answer it in their stead."

"..."

Miasma kept quiet, waiting for the man to continue.

"I saw him rid the brown dragon before it left off. From what I can recall, he was the one managing the lamia city, Lahro."

"Coincidentally, Lahro is in the same direction. Linking the direction and his past with that faction, I believe it makes sense to assume he went there."

In deep thoughts, Miasma nodded.

"It makes sense, indeed."

"Good."

He dismissed the soldier, and glared at the two on the ground, gasping for air.

"You are lucky, I will spare you this once. It would be a waste to throw you away when I plan to make the most out of my creations."

The invisible hands released their necks, and returned to Miasma.

"We are... grateful."

"Truly..."

Struggling to get up, they fumbled on their feet for a minute.

Miasma ignored them, and looked forward.

'Lahro. The lamias.'

'This is a good opportunity to get rid of this faction once and for all.'

His eyes unfocused for a moment.

'I'm close. Very close to transforming the land itself.'

'With a bit more time, I'll be able to-'

Then, suddenly, a large shadow was cast over him, stopping him in his thought.

"What now?"

When he turned around, his eyes opened wide.

"What the... fuck?"

With a distorted smile on his face, Miasma began to laugh maniacally.

A terrifying creature was about to be unleashed on the battlefield. A beast that May was about to fight off, alone.