The horrible voices returned, but they lacked the ferocious intensity from before. The beautiful attack Aria created inflicted dire wounds; but were still unable to deliver a decisive blow. A tenacious beast, durability befitting a demigod. Argo wasn't sure how the repulsive being had lived for so long beneath the earth. Was this the resilience granted to those on the threshold of divinity? He wished the disgusting thing had disintegrated with the flowing sands of time.
The repulsive halves of flesh squirmed viscerally, attempting to reconnect themselves together. It was a gruesome sight; like multiple maggots were squirming within black flesh in an attempt to heal itself. Its actions seemed to go against nature, exuding an eerie air.
"Watch out!" Argo yelled, raising the blade of silver in his hand. He realized the entity wasn't trying to heal itself. It was trying to self-destruct!
He could only feebly raise his arms to create a meager defense. Argo's mana had hit rock bottom with using the enchantments of the austere sword. Without the aid of mana, he was a sitting duck.
A swell of mana materialized into a thin black circle, a split second before the mutilated corpse exploded. It was formed of inky shadows, crudely constructed in a last ditch effort.
BOOM!
An explosion rocked the room, pieces of flesh and inky blood splattering around in a macabre series of fireworks. They painted the walls black with various liquids. Corrupted flesh rained down and splattered on the pews. They also slammed against the circle of mana comprised of black particles, its denseness thinning considerably.
Faye had heeded his warning. Weaving a barrier out of the slivers of mana she had left in her core. Argo could tell from a glance the barrier was not the result of a skill, but a creation of her mana manipulation. Unfortunately mana constructs without the assistance of a skill were significantly less potent.
The shield shattered, the trio diving behind debris in an effort to gain cover from the vestiges of the explosion. As the smoke cleared, the pungent smell of rot hung in the air. He nearly keeled over and puked, but managed to restrain himself.
Argo bolted to his feet, scanning the room for any traces of the enigmatic entity. After the stunt it had pulled, it must've either been dead or on the brink of death. If it was the latter, there was no way in hell it would let it walk free after everything it had done.
Corrupting and influencing somewhat on the brink of losing themself. brainwashing adventurers and luring them to their deaths, Argo was sick of the Outer Deities doing what they pleased.
Out of the corner of his eye, Argo watched a disgusting piece of flesh in the form of a tentacle slithering away. It left a trail of inky black in its wake, writhing toward the prone body of the spear-wielding lady from earlier. The serene moon had long disappeared- but the adventurer remained unresponsive.
Despite the tentacle's terrible and pathetic state, it still exuded a pressure befitting a demigod. Albeit a one on the brink of death. Argo watched with horror as it latched itself to her body. It sunk into her body through any open orifice eliciting waves of disgust. Within seconds, her pale skin and veins blackened. The women's eyes turned a crimson shade of red, and the terrible aura swept through their surroundings.
The damn beast had managed to parasitize another host. Argo quickly deduced there had to be drawbacks to a drastic change in host. There was no way he could quickly change between people without encountering side effects.
Despite his hopes, mana suffused with corruption swirled around the lady. Argo was familiar with her actions- any Exalted or adventurer worth anything would know. It was mana reinforcement. Under the manipulation of a demigod, the lady instantly took off toward the exit where the grand hall loomed. With the air of mana she moved swiftly leaving a breeze in her wake.
He cursed, wondering how he was able to manipulate a new vessel to such a degree. Was it because she was basically a hollowed out husk? Before Argo could chase her down, a majestic voice tunneled into his eardrums. "You can waste your time chasing me. But upon your return, the City of Selene will be reduced to ashes."
Argo froze, his thoughts firing as he digested the being's words. He shouted after the disappearing women, "What the hell do you mean by that?"
"Do you think the only army I had at my disposal was the one in the grand hall? Naïve," the majestic voice responded. Argo could sense uneasiness in it's tone. It must've been in a precarious situation, without a doubt this would be an ideal time to strike it down.
His mind was blinded by rage. Blood trinkled from his hand that tightened around the silver blade. He wasn't sure what to do. Chase after the women? He would manage to get rid of the root of the danger.
'To prevent another tragedy,' Mrs. Amber's voice echoed in his mind. But he didn't have the strength to stop what was already done.
"Argo! There's an exit!" Aria called out to him, her contorted in frustration. She must've had similarly conflicting feelings about their current dilemma. They had managed to achieve freedom. But at the cost of unleashing catastrophe on the city.
Argo was sure the demigod had a plan, related to the corpses of humans in the grand hall. He wasn't entirely clear about the intricacies of it's plan. Maybe it could derive some sort of power from all of those dead individuals? Argo would waste valuable time trying to catch up as the city was under attack.
'A bluff?'
He quickly shook away the thought; the amount of adventurers that were in the hall didn't add up over time. If Dianne had been waiting for years down here, and the corruption of the catacombs had been present for years; there should've been significantly more corrupted humans.
'They were blending into the city?' Argo deliberated, his findings shaking him to his core. His earlier conjecture could've been incorrect. He originally thought there were no adventurers exceeded the levels of C because they were resilient enough to resist Dianne's corruption. But with the backing of a weakened demigod, no Rank 0 would remain unscathed.
That meant the strongest beings were most likely scattered among the city. Lurking until they would be unleashed as a part of some grand scheme. If so, things would be much more disastrous then he thought.
"God dammit!" He yelled in an uncharacteristic show of frustration, abandoning all thoughts of pursuing the Outer Deity's bestowed. His companions wore similar dark expressions, they must've heard the being's declaration.
He quickly tried to calm himself down, turning to the more experienced individuals. "What should we do?"
"It's obvious," Aria stated earnestly. As she sheathed her sword, Argo watched her knuckles whiten. "We'll return to the city."
Argo said, "I didn't think a demigod, much less one beholden to an Outer Deity would be responsible for all of this."
They had fallen for the malevolent being's trap. They weren't cruel enough to abandon the city and it's inhabitants. The more time they spent idling, the more innocent people that would suffer. Argo knew the defenses of the City of Selene were formidable. But if the attackers were among adventurers then the tables were flipped.
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"Agreed," Faye followed bluntly. "I didn't think things would turn out like this in the slightest."
While she tried to keep a calm façade, her expression was deadly pale. He quickly noticed crimson blood seeping through her fingers as she clutched her right side.
"Aria, heal her," Argo said rather urgently. The familiar emerald energy dyed the space in a vibrant hue. Faye's complexion became healthier and her breathing eased. He had been so caught up in his own thoughts he didn't notice her injuries.
With the multitude of abilities humans possessed, the casualties would be high. And if the populace focused on internal threats, the monsters lurking in the dark would capitalize on a golden opportunity. They had to do something.
Faye thanked her, before turning to the exit. Behind the altar lay a spiral staircase made of stone bricks. The walls bore cracks from the vicissitudes of time, dust caking the floors and ceiling. Dianne had always had an exit behind her, but her loyalty remained steadfast.
Despite her perverse actions, Argo couldn't help but acknowledge her willingness to continue carrying on her duty for decades. He wasn't entirely convinced he was the one she had been waiting for, but he found solace in bringing her death.
He was still conflicted about everything; who was the one to blame for all of the humans that had died at her hands? Her feverish loyalty to Selene? Or the spawn of an Outer Deity that inhabited her body?
He shoved the questions to the back of his mind, trying to think about the calamity before him. The Catacombs of Yore weren't that far from the city, about a ten or fifteen minute walk. Adding the time it would take to climb to the surface, he surmised it would take about half an hour to return to the city.
He silently cursed himself, was it more worth it to simply slay the being responsible for all of this?
"Should we have chased after it?" He asked forlornly, still caught up in the moral dilemma. It felt pathetic when he said it aloud.
Aria cocked her eyebrow, "Are you stupid? No chance we would've caught up with the way we are now."
She was right, but Argo still couldn't get over it. If the strongest member of their party said such, they she was right.
Argo firmed his resolve, using the time climbing the never-ending steps to fill his empty core. He wasn't sure if Aria or Faye had noticed the oddity with the mana in the atmosphere from earlier. Argo hoped they were still knocked out when he pulled that stunt.
He hoped he would recover enough strength and energy to make a difference in the chaos ensuing the City of Selene. A small part of him also hoped that the being was bluffing; even if they let it go, at least it meant no innocent people would die.
***
Ceaseless slaughter, roiling flames, bloodcurdling screams. Such incongruous sounds pierced the tranquil night air in unceasing discordance.
The grand City of Selene crafted of volcanic rock, imbued with a gothic beauty was bathed in crimson flames. Corpses filled the streets in piles, their eyes frozen in abject terror at the moment life has slipped from their grasp. Blood simmered under the smoldering flames, an incessant barrage of magic and sword clashes echoing through the turbid streets.
A young girl with silver eyes and short onyx hair crept through the dark alleyways. She blended into the shadows, maneuvering with familiarity through the twisting corridors and junctions. Her shabby clothes were stained with soot, billowing with the air. Despite her deft movements, trembling shoulders accentuated the fear coursing through the air.
The smell of blood and ash filled her nostrils, intermittent screams of despair causing her to freeze. She had been hardened over years of loneliness. Living a peasant's life as she lived on the streets of the city. The girl thought she had seen all the terrible things that needed to be seen. Abhorrents disemboweling adventurers, humans murdering humans, or children dying from starvation. But they didn't compare to what was happening at all.
One moment she was attempting to pick-pocket an unsuspecting adventurer. He was lagging behind his group, interested in a particular dagger sold by a vendor. Before the girl could attempt to slip her hand into his pockets he had made a move against the merchant. The man had chopped a head off with stunning ease.
It was so sudden the whole street was frozen. What followed could only be described as a bloody massacre as all sorts of adventurers took up arms against fellow humans. Spells rained down on unsuspecting civilians. Sharp weapons disemboweled any survivors with malice.
She had barely managed to slip into a side alley without being noticed. The screams of horror and pain were etched into her ears. And following that, she would cling to the shadows using her experiences as a thief to evade the notice of any adventurer.
The scene splayed out before her was something ripped out of legends; a depiction of a demonic hell. Something she never could've even imagined. It was like a cruel deity had decided the city had committed a form of blasphemy. And what followed was their wrath. She was in no ways a religious person, but if someone told her all of this was a result of a deity she might just become a believer.
While the City of Selene was full of prosperity, like any society there were still those at the bottom. Like many others, she had been born from a pair of adventurers who went off and died. It was a more common sight then it should've been. Orphaned from an early age, and unable to fend for herself, she was left as a street urchin. Scouring the streets for scraps or stealing from others to feed herself.
Her Inherent allowed her to be a capable support, but she was far too young to join adventurer groups. But no matter how much she tried, no capable group would take her. Who would want to trust a random peasant child with their life? It was an endless cycle she couldn't hope to break out of.
The young girl stumbled out of a nearby collapsing building, taking note of her surroundings. She felt the safest place might've been city walls. She believed the guards stationed there would protect the citizens. She abruptly noticed a humanoid figure outlined against a swirl of ash.
She called out to the figure, relieved. "Do you know what's happening? I'm trying to get to the city walls!"
The figure stepped out of the billowing smoke. It was a man donned in iron armor, a broadsword clasped in his hands. His gray hair was tied in a man bun. An ugly scar traced the left side of his face. He exuded vibes of an old, battle-hardened wolf.
Years of surviving in the slums had honed the young girl's sensitivity towards danger. And for some inexplicable reason, she felt something was off about the man before her. He was proceeding toward her with an indifferent look; his grey eyes hollow, devoid of any essence of life. It was like he was a zombie, or possessed by a ghost.
Trusting her instincts, she rolled to her right in time to hear the air be torn asunder.
BOOM!
In a gust of wind, the man's great sword pulverized the place where she had been a few seconds ago, sending rocks into the air. With an undead disposition, he stiffly removed the sword from the ground and dashed toward her.
The young girl's instincts were screaming at her as she tried to run toward the city walls in the distance. She ducked beneath another strike that would've beheaded her, before tripping on a loose brick. She had neglected to pay attention to her surroundings.
She slammed into a pile of debris, stars spinning in her vision. The bitter taste of blood trickled across her tongue, and her body groaned in pain. Her Inherent was strictly limited to support; and she was incapable of fighting back. She had never been a fighter.
And yet, as she could only weakly gaze the man charging towards her; she didn't have any regrets. She loathed the parents who had left her behind, prioritizing their lust for adventure over their own child. She found the adventurers seeking to complete the quest equally repulsive; all of them infatuated with glory and wealth.
Her harsh upbringing had caused her to rapidly mature, but it still couldn't hide the childish naivete that lay beneath. All this time she had been secretly looking for a way out, but a tiny part of her wished to continue living. She wanted nothing more then to disappear from the world that had done nothing but turn its back on her. But as the great sword descended from above like a guillotine, she felt her true feelings flow with the tears from her eyes.
'I...I...want to live...'
BOOM!
A blast of radiant light eclipsed her vision in white, like a hero had descended upon the battlefield. The stark sound of metal clashing reverberated through the air, followed with the sound of flesh splitting. It was a gruesome sound, and the young girl trembled.
'Am I dead?'
The light slowly dimmed, giving way to a slender youth standing beside her.
Red, x-shaped pupils overlayed black irises reminiscent of a black void. Medium-length black hair that slightly covered his eyes, dark-plated plates sparsely covering his body. His youthful features were grimaced in a frown, his demeanor exuding a palpable frustration.
He glowered at the corpse of the man he had killed ignoring the young girl. After a couple of tense seconds passed, he glanced at the girl. His expression softened while he sheathed his sword. She felt relieved he wasn't one of those people who had turned evil.
It was a strange feeling.
The relief that came from being saved at the last moment, and her true thoughts rising to the surface for the first time. Strangely, those two strong feelings were overpowered by a much more distinct sensation. She had never met this individual in her life; but she felt a tenuous connection form between them.
She couldn't properly formulate the words to describe it, but she felt an almost tangible connection they shared. Like two similar energies resonating with each other. The young girl wasn't able to tell if it was simply her imagination or not.
"A hero?"