We left the peaceful diners to their meals and returned to where we previously left Mya, Vamp and the large cat creature, Pandera, only to find that they had moved off the streets and into a nearby building to take refuge as the creature hadn’t fully healed yet, due to struggling with the poison.

Mya and Vyo flat out refused to leave the large creature behind, so in the interest of hastiness, I suggested I could slipfold them and Pandera back to their ‘hideout’ and then return to continue our skirmish, but she declined and instead they opted for Grave to use his [Hunker Down] skill that shockingly melted the apparently ”not-so-indestructible” floor and created a new hideout basement, equipped even with a basic hinged trap door that concealed the entrance.

What a convenient and seriously powerful Majik skill.

As we all helped carefully carry the large unconscious beast down, I was given a short briefing of where they met Pandera and why it was considered a friend.

..

.

There had been a large cave system that they used to camp whilst their army cleared out the corrupted and monsters from the citadel, and Mya would sometimes go explore the deeper cavities, using her phasing ability to pass through into places that normally were not accessible. The thought of which made me feel extremely uncomfortable and claustrophobic..but one day she heard a crying out noise like a kitten and when she located it she found Pandera, a tiny little thing that was starving, alone and frightened. According to Mya, the creature didn’t even put up a fight or show any instinctive fear toward her, so she brought it back with her to the camp where Vyo and Mya immediately fell in love with it and started taking care of it. It was extremely well fed by the sounds of it, and, within a mere few weeks it rapidly grew in size and strangely in MAGN level, a mystery until they found out it had been sneaking off at night to hunt monsters in the forest around the entrance of the cave.

After a couple of months they moved into the citadel and Pandera helped guard the walls, taking care of anything that tried to creep or crawl inside, but when the colossal descendent and the higher tiers suddenly attacked..Pandera was one of the first to perish, defending others as they tried to escape.

..

.

So Mya stayed behind with Vyo as myself, Vamp and Grave pressed on through the alleyways and over the buildings. We made a beeline for the impressively tall cathedral building which stood proudly and majestically over all the other dwellings, of which all were eerily Victorian and gothic, and, equally as eerily minimally damaged, bar windows and doors. They seemed to be susceptible to damage, as evident from the shattered and obliterated remnants, but, the roof and walls were all sparkly fresh and pristine except for blood, lots of blood, guts and the odd patch of soot or dirt.

I say odd but there’s fucking blood and guts everywhere, fresh and dried, so who knows how scorched this place is…

The simulated sunlight reflecting off the simply beautiful structure was mesmerising, it had almost an elven grace to it, with cascading geometry spiralling around, the main central spire had two smaller siblings that reached halfway before connecting to the top of a thick block tower filled with complex stained glass windows.

Wow beautiful...wonder how that light source is made, something to ask Mana..Although it would be even more spectacular if the spires didn’t have corpses impaled on them-Woah what the shit is going on here?!

The entrance of the cathedral was a large open space that appeared to be some kind market area, littered with physically abused stalls and Majik borne carts, but the truly weird thing was the out of place crowd of corrupted humanoids that were silently shuffling into through the enormous doors of the cathedral. This is giving me the willies. We all looked at each other in confusion but kept quiet as we observed the strange cult-like moment. They were all passive aggressively squeezing past each other, all trying to get inside the cathedral at the same time, but there were no fights or even growls. That is a piss poor queue by british standards, but at least they are trying-

Label: Corrupted (Tier I)

MAGN: 101

HP: 11,111/11,111

Notes: With a new tier comes new information. Entities that have been inflicted with a highly ‘entropic’ virus. Their skin appears to have an aggressive Majik ‘film coating’ that provides them extreme defense and offense capabilities, but this comes at the cost of higher brain function as a side effect of the immense, forced, computational processing required. Weak to decay based material owing to its highly reactive nature that negatively resonates with the film.

I can analyse them now.

It was disturbing to realise all this time we had been fighting Tier I’s.

And now I’m at that monstrous level..

An unknown jolt surged through my body, abruptly flipping a switch. It felt like my emotions and memories were closing their blinds to an absolute, violent desire that was rapidly taking control.

#Grave# Holy cakes. That’s a lot of dozers..Let’s scale up the spire and scout inside first.

My mind was mesmerised at the sight, intoxicated, obsessed. I started to salivate.

Am I..past that level now?

In front of me were dozens of corrupted, numbers of such force that could decimate entire buildings and cities, yet I could think of nothing else other than testing myself against them and obliterating them. My teeth creaked as my jaw muscles clenched, my entire body was shaking from a longing anticipation, my muscles ablaze with energy.

Could I brazenly walk through breeze block walls-no..can I brazenly walk through THEM??

#Grave# Godu? Where are you-

I will find out.

#Grave# GODU!!?

#Vamp# Oh no!-

Landing down with a meaty thud, my instincts and desires gripped the controls and parked the new, unfamiliar, costly and lavish abilities that my latest armour could afford and instead went back to basics.

[Config:Prime] deployed.

A docile corrupted that happened to be shambling closest to me, turned its head, brimming with explosive and violent strength and spotted, immediately dashing forward. It reached me with shocking speed as it gleefully, and unhesitantly chomped down on this apparently stupid entity that wandered up to it like a chicken pottering up to a wolf..Except its teeth didn’t sink in to this meatbag, in fact, it's tungsten strength teeth were forcibly removed along with its lower jaw, an even it wasn’t expecting so it just stood there in dumbfound confusion, contemplating what it should do with its life now it couldn’t eat, but that thought was fleeting as its whole world briefly spun before turning to nothingness and it’s final thoughts would eternally be it pondering ‘what was that black object that glowed viciously..I want one..’

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

After my shields moved with obscene speed and severed the skull clean off with a moist, slick sound, it spun messily in the air before sploshing down on the ground; an explosive smell of sickly EXP and Majik-infused-tissue plumed out into the crowd, snapping the entire congregations attention to their fallen brethren, and then to me, as I reached out and delightfully absorbed the viscous, black, tar-like EXP.

You have gained [202 EXP] from [Corrupted].

More.

[Blood Wrath] Activated.

I can fight more.

“SCREEEEEEEEEE!”

An air pressure wave pulsed out and sparks of combustion erupted from the ground as dozens of corrupted blasted forward, screeching, roaring, mindlessly charging towards me even when their instincts should have told them “be cautious, this isn’t an easy meal” they couldn’t help but still reached out with their grubby, charred, hungry fingers, tripping over each other in their frenzy. I responded to their eagerness for violence by shifting to the side and surge dashing through them, using my elbow and shields pointing forward as the focal point of the attack and the effect was catastrophic, splashing their grabby limbs apart like they were scarecrows made of rotting watermelon, following up by dashing back and dragging my surge infused shields through any torsos that didn’t consequentially move out of the way.

You have gained [202 EXP] from [Corrupted].

You have gained [202 EXP] from [Corrupted].

You have gained [202 EXP] from [Corrupted].

You have gained [202 EXP] from [Corrupted].

You have gained [202 EXP] from [Corrupted].

My thoughts didn’t ponder on the numbers, if anything it fueled my lust and euphoric drive to gain EXP. I fanned out my shields and dared to infuse null surge with graven image, intending to use the rapid movement component without causing a fission explosion..and it worked. I flashed forward through some of the more persistent, preliminary survivors, slicing into their rib cages and spines, splitting unknown organs and other internal biological growths. My mind started to feel disconnected and detached from my body, reminding me faintly of a similar experience-

You have gained [202 EXP] from [Corrupted].

You have gained [202 EXP] from [Corrupted].

You have gained [202 EXP] from [Corrupted].

Blood, guts and fluid leapt, sprayed and arced into the air as I exploited the crowds eagerness, controlling them, pulling them back and forth or leading them side to side like waves in a swimming pool, my speed and reflexes were now beyond expectations and more than capable to compete with theirs.

#Vamp# Godu’s gone beserk! What do we do? Grave? We should help him right?

#Grave# Don’t look at me man! Look at what he’s doing to the stiffos! You would be a hecking lot safer in there than I would be!

#Mya# What’s bello doing??? Is he fighting with the inflicted?? How did they get in!?

#Grave# He’s not fighting with them, he’s SWIMMING IN THEM!

#Vyolyn# Sounds like the crazy fuckers in his natural habitat..LISTEN CLOSELY IDIOT MAN! YOU DARE DIE AND LEAVE US AT THIS CRITICAL JUNCTURE, I SWEAR I WILL PISS ON YOUR CORP-

The irritating voices were muted to prioritise on the more important sounds around me. Each footstep, grunt, growl or rustle of fabric was a hint as to what movement I needed to do next . I was in a whole new zone of combat focus, and quite rightly so, as I could sense there were hundreds more corrupted if not thousands all squashed inside the cathedral.

COME OUT! I WILL KILL YOU AL-

Abruptly, something parted the crowd, moved impossibly fast and drop-kicked me hurtling away. I caught a glimpse of the charred, warped, sleek face of something far stronger than the others, and, as I caught myself with a slipfold a single moment before becoming a fleshy paste against the wall, I locked eyes onto something that was corrupted, but was also something dangerously different.

It was intelligent.

Label: Corrupted Erudite

MAGN: ???

HP: ???

Notes: Corrupted, but with a functioning brain. It won’t be winning any chess games, but don’t say that to its face, it will understand.

My drunken violent state didn’t care much as my hindbrain took an educated guess that slaying it would prove extremely bountiful.

So. Much. EXP. Kill it.

“STOP!!” It spoke with primal power. All the other corrupted froze on the spot and became silent, obeying it. “WHat. DOes. THe OLd BLood. WAnt FRom. MY FLOCK.” It drew a simple looking broadsword and pointed it at me, words resonated from its smooth, charred plated neck; the lipless mouth stayed clamped shut showing its clenching teeth bared angrily.

Stopping dead in my tracks, I started to sober up pretty quickly.

What.

I winced as my mind flushed itself free from whatever blinding, blood-rage mode it had just fallen into.

Ugh my head..That was fucking weird.

I did a quick glance, mentally tagging the heavy breathing but unmoving corrupted. Their mag levels, their distance from me, their HP, probabilities of which ones I could reach the fastest, a ton of information somehow stuck inside my brain like overcooked pasta slapped against the wall, and yet in all this data there was nothing that could explain the talking calamity.

This is very fucking weird. Some kind of leader? A new evolution of the corrupted?..Yay...I love living in interesting times..

Sobering up fully and regaining clarity, I stayed primed, ready to react as I responded.

“Old blood? Flock? I’ve not met one of you that can talk.” I waited for a response but the erudite just stood there, more focused on being on guard, protective even, a stark contrast to every single other corrupted that probably wished for nothing more than to crack me open like a coconut.

It doesn’t actually seem like it wants to fight..Is it because it’s unsure it could win?..or perhaps..

“I uhh, don’t want anything from you, except I need this building clear.” I felt a bit awkward, like a dodgy random bloke trying to evict a group of completely mutated humanoids just trying to find a nice place to live. “Could you perhaps, leave please?”

The erudite looked at its own kind, seemingly contemplating something…a display that shockingly suggested my plea might work.

The others said they cleared out all the corrupted..so perhaps this lot were hiding somewhere?..until the colossal appeared I bet.

On a whim, I decided to go for broke.

“I’m trying to get my friends back but I need this place clear to do so. I’ve taken care of the colossal thing so-”

My whim was spot on, the erudite showed immediate interest in those words.

“OLd BLood. HAs KIlled. THe BEhemoth. SPawn?” Its mouth really wasn’t moving, instead, the strong tones that made up the words came from vibrating plates I noticed on its neck.

A potential weak point.

I nodded.

“Yup. It’s gone.”

It glanced over to where Vamp and Grave were, their positions were highlighted in my thoughtspace and I noticed that Mya and Vyolyn were also on the move towards us.

The erudite nodded with a grunt.

“OKay. WE SHall. GO.” A deep series of low and high frequency pulses and clicks emanated form its neck and the corrupted horde synchronously twisted on their heels and took off towards the city edge, leaping up and over buildings and heading in the direction of the forest; monstrous screams and cries erupted in their path as they flooded out like a herd of stampeding bison.

The erudite stayed until the last stragglers leapt away, all while not taking its eyes off me.

“THere IS. NO NEed. TO KIll EaCh. OTher. OLd BLood.” It abruptly leapt up onto the roof, with a thoroughly supernatural speed that made me flinch, and looked back at me. “WE CAn. BE DIfferent. I REmember. OLd LIfe. HUmanity. We BOth. STill HAve IT…PErhaps.” A sonic boom cracked the sky as it shot off with such force it looked like it was simply flying through the air like a jet fighter and I couldn’t be sure that it wasn’t flying.

Can’t believe that just happened…

Talking corrupted…Gah..Honestly not the craziest thing that I’ve seen today..

..

Not the craziest thing in the slightest…

…

..

.