Glenn stretched with a groan, a headache taking hold of his skull and his stomach rumbling awkwardly. The soft light of dawn enveloped him, hurting his tired eyes. He juggled a jade-colored pebble, the size of a fingernail, in his right hand, bouncing up and down. The young man's hair was disheveled and he was wearing clothes that weren't his own, taken from someone at the party the night before. Probably with their consent, probably not. The fact was, Glenn, couldn't remember much except blurred faces, music, songs, and lots of booze.

And the truth was he liked it this way. Glenn slipped the pebble into one of his pockets and leaned on the railing of his room's balcony, watching as the sun rose lazily. He could get rid of his headache with C.P.R., but that implied lots of pain he'd rather not experience right now. And the numbing did feel good.

'...Your mind seems completely fixed from all the latent effects of the Corruption, just so you know,' Diamanes informed him, his voice unusually neutral. Nelg was silent, probably to let his host finally rest his mind a little, now that he was in perfect control of it.

The previous day had been quite hectic. First, he executed a prior colleague of his, Josh. That...hadn't been pleasant, but still, he was kind of glad he was the one who put him down. Then, he was almost Corrupted due to an instability of his mind or the weird shadow that crept into his shoulder (probably more the second option). He was put into some kind of illusion that tried to kill his will to live, or something along those lines. What mattered was that it didn't work.

Glenn had his past experiences to thank for this, even if it was a strange form of gratitude. So far, he hypothesized that the many contacts with death he'd had, whether when he'd encountered the Heart of Darkness, the Mother, Onnea, etc., had somehow tempered his mind to resist illusions and eliminate them more easily than he should.

Which was a good thing to know. Perhaps he would even be able to resist Milena's illusion attacks at some point. He'll have to see about that later... The young man suddenly frowned and looked back at his room, glancing at his bed. Thankfully, it was empty. The whole thing was still a little blurry, hence the need for confirmation. He had probably flirted with a few girls the previous nights, but nothing he would regret seemed to have happened.

Another good thing to know.

"...Can I at least be sure of that, guys?" Glenn asked aloud, speaking to the entity in his left hand and his sword. Diamanes chuckled but didn't reply, while Nelg sighed.

"Don't worry, there's nothing to worry about," Nelg paused for a second and then cackled, "You've probably earned quite a reputation for your heavy drinking skills, though, heh."

Glenn rubbed his chin and shrugged. If it was only that, then that would probably be fine. He was also starting to accept his overall reputation. Being the Crazy Hero, the Devil's Hand, and there was a new one he accidentally created last night. That was one thing he did remember perfectly well since it was at the beginning of the night. He was slightly drunk and gloated about his Astral Sorcery. The other customers all laughed at his words, saying they believed him but did not mean it.

Hence why he shot a few...dozen Shooting Stars in the sky. That garnered a few awed gasps and cheers, which was exactly what he wanted. Then the other customers proceeded to all offer him one drink after the other...and one thing led to another, and he mostly forgot about the rest of the night.

Anyway. It was fun, and exactly what he needed.

He had a few things he wanted to do. First, check on Milena, since he remembered that she came with him to his mad round of partying. Secondly, find his dimensional pouch. He completely forgot about it back when he woke up completely naked in the Church of Onnea, but if they destroyed it as they did with his Soulbound suit, he might have a few reclamations to make to the Church. Most of his stuff was contained in that tiny pouch, after all.

Surely they wouldn't destroy it, right?

...They did destroy his suit, though. Shit, that thing had been expensive! It took a Seed of Darkness for the bargain, which - if he understood well back then - was one of the most dangerous items in the world, which shouldn't even exist. Perhaps he could ask Rusty for another? Ah, but then, Rusty hadn't been there the last time he visited the Armory. Neither was the Smith, too. He could only hope that they were back because he was going to need a replacement. Maybe a few of them, just in case. Yeah, getting a few copies wouldn't do him any harm, besides emptying the money of his pockets.

Glenn could just send the facture to the Maron Company, anyway, since Maron promised his full support to him. Perhaps he could use the occasion to get different colors and styles? For now, though, he'll have to be satisfied with...he looked down at his clothes and rubbed the back of his neck, confused.

"...Is that a kilt? Oh, and no underwear of course..." Glenn smacked his lips and pulled at his beige shirt, finding a few colorful traces of vomit on it. Glenn shook his head in disgust and hurriedly muttered a quick Mundare, getting rid of all the filth with his Cleaning Touch.

The best spell he ever learned.

What else did he need to do? Oh, yeah, get back to farming souls, as ominous as it sounded. The faster he got his thousand and...how many else did he need already?

"Nelg?" He asked aloud. The sword grunted and took a few seconds to check it out.

"Well, hum, you'll be happy to know that you went down under the thousand souls mark!" Nelg exclaimed, pleasantly surprised. Glenn raised his eyebrows and smiled, similarly happy at the unexpected boon. That would shorten the time he needed to get Nelg's First Circle by quite a bit. What gave such a huge boost to Nelg, though..? Oh.

Oh.

The smile on Glenn's face melted away and he coldly looked away at the rising sun covering the tiled roofs in morning light. Yeah, that was a question he would rather have left unanswered.

"On another note," Nelg suddenly spoke out, attempting to distract his host from these dark thoughts, "...You should probably take some time out to study Pebble further, and create more spells. Your defense would be a great thing to improve too, considering how many weaknesses your Gravitational Shield possesses. A good piercing attack can destroy it, after all."

Glenn nodded slowly. That was a good idea, indeed. But where could he even begin? He could probably create some physical walls using Gravity Manipulation to pull some ground out to use as a shield, but those wouldn't do much against powerful attacks. Perhaps increase the gravitational pull of the Gravitational Shield, somehow? That was something he should look further into. New attacks would probably be good too. Shooting Star was performing admirably well but was too reliant on material usage. Thankfully, he had Pebble to use as the core of the spell, making it much more effective than it should be, as it showed back then against Laurance.

He also had his swordsmanship to improve as well, but he had already planned on that when he chose to farm monsters. He was just going in a circle at this point. Glenn moistened his lips and closed his eyes, trying to soothe the headache naturally, before giving up and gritting his teeth. He needed to clear his head out, and the hangover wasn't helping much toward that goal. He drew a deep breath and used a C.P.R., his whole body tensing up under the pain of using the sadistic healing spell. A second later, the pain of both the spell and headache were gone, leaving him free to do what he wanted.

...Which currently, was to go find Milena, pay the damned bill, and get the fuck out of here. And go back to work, so he might have something else to think about than a dead colleague. That'd be great.

And now, he was kind of missing the numbing of the hangover or the mind Corruption. Both worked well enough to make him forget that.

Glenn rubbed his face and turned away from the balcony, going back to the inn's room. He gave a glance over, but he had nothing when he came in, so he couldn't forget anything. He left the room, trying to ignore how airy his crotch was. Why couldn't he find something else than a damned kilt? The young man skipped over the amused and admirative glances of a few customers who were probably part of last night's business and went for the counter. The barman, a man with long blond hair and blue eyes, the same look as almost everyone else in this damned city, grinned widely as he saw him.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Sir Glenn, I'm happy to see that you survived last night!" He exclaimed, a few customers laughing loudly as they heard him. Glenn smiled back while hiding a tinge of worry. "Survive"? He probably was exaggerating, right?

"How much do I owe you?" He asked as he leaned on the counter. The barman frowned and pointed at a dagger piercing a nearby wall.

"I already served myself, don't worry," said the barman before laughing as he picked a glass to clean, "...I think I never saw someone like you! Just throwing your Fixer's dagger around like it's worth nothing! Or maybe you're just too trusting? Anyway, everyone enjoyed the drinks you offered, I can tell you that!"

Glenn's eyes widened slightly and he pressed his lips together. Oh, he did that then? That explained the admiration and the—

"Hell yeah!"

"Thanks, Glenn! Last night was great!"

Glenn looked back at the customers who shouted, waving back at them awkwardly. He couldn't recognize any of them. Nor remember them. Well, they were happy and didn't seem like they wanted to kill him, so he should be happy too. Maybe? He had no idea. The young man looked at his dagger planted in the wall and willed it to go back into his soul. The dagger disappeared in a myriad of blue and white particles, finding back its way into Glenn's soul. The barman quietly watched, before suddenly slamming the glass he was cleaning in front of him.

"Ah, I almost forgot to tell you! The pretty miss you came with already went back to the Cleaner's Workshop, and she wanted me to tell you."

The young man looked at the barman for a few seconds, before nodding. Alright, that was one thing crossed off the list. Next was checking Pebble out and finally finding out what was up with the stone. He had ignored the issue way too long, even though Pebble already saved his life a few times.

"Last night's party was great, and..." He glanced at the other customers and smiled, "...I'll probably come back for more, haha!"

A torrent of "hell yeah!" and "Way to go, chief!" resonated in the inn, as the barman laughed widely. Glenn left the inn, glancing back at the name, so he could remember it. "BEER AND ALE!". The sign was written with an aggressive look to it, and it made remembering it much easier. Glenn laughed slightly and summoned the Magi Brotherhood's table to guide him to the nearest entry point. A gust of wind made his kilt flap up and threw a shiver through his whole body. The young man winced and dismissed the tablet.

"...Let's get some clothes, first."

"Yes, good fucking idea!" Nelg sighed in relief, while Diamanes laughed.

'What, you don't like your jewels out there? Scared someone might want to steal them?'

Glenn shook his head and proceeded to ignore Diamanes' laughter as he went for the closest clothing shop. He didn't care much about what he took, so he just took the most comfortable stuff; white linen pants and shirt, alongside a brown leather vest with many pockets. He wanted to use his dimensional pouch to put the kilt and the beige shirt away, but he was then reminded that he still did not get it back. Glenn thanked the lady who was blushing red from watching him, probably due to the impossible kilt flapping around when he entered the room as if it had a will of its own.

The young man paid with his Dark-Gold dagger once more, thanked the lady shopkeeper, and left in the direction of the Church of Onnea. With each passing second he could feel how horrible to not have a portable inventory. Imagine carrying things in a bag.

Who was he, some kind of normal person? No way!

Glenn didn't take long to reach the Church and headed straight for the nearest priest, who was busy reading some kind of sacred bible. Was it a bible? Was it even called a bible? What did he care, anyway?

"Excuse me, can you help me?" He asked gently. The priest looked up from his book/bible and smiled softly.

"Of course. What can I do for you, Sir Glenn?"

Glenn internally cringed. Now, even people he never met were recognizing him. This reputation thing, as rewarding as it felt, certainly was getting out of hand.

"I was here yesterday for a Corruption problem, and I wanted to see if my dimensional pouch had been destroyed or if I could get it back."

The priest's smile disappeared and he glanced around him. He frowned and grabbed Glenn's hand before pulling him to a nearby confessional.

'Oh, so they also have those in Onnea's religion?' Glenn realized, pleasantly surprised. He hadn't been much of a believer back on Earth, but he knew of a few people going to church specifically to confess. It did wonders sometimes to make them feel better about things.

"Well, speaking to someone about your problems and mistakes is great, you should try it you know?" Nelg commented sarcastically. Glenn ignored his sword ostentatiously and entered the confessional, followed by the worried priest. The wooden door closed and a small grid opened in front of Glenn, letting him see the priest.

"Are you out of your fucking mind, Sir Glenn?" The priest blurted out, startling the young man. He almost laughed but didn't. Was it okay to swear in the Church of Onnea? The priest seemed to realize what he just said and rubbed his face for a few seconds.

"I apologize, Sir Glenn, I shouldn't curse in Her house, but what you've just said..." The priest took a deep breath, "...You don't know how Corruption works, do you?"

Glenn pinched his lips and shook his head. The priest sighed and scratched the back of his head.

"Alright, so...first, you can call me Brother Nolan. The information I'm going to give you is generally kept away from the general public, for reasons you'll soon understand. I'll have to ask you to not disclose anything I'm telling you to mundane civilians, alright?" Brother Nolan asked very seriously. Glenn had no issue with his demand, and so, he nodded in agreement.

"No worries, I'll keep my mouth shut," He assured with a smile. Brother Nolan nodded tensely and joined his hands together.

"Corruption is often described as the Corruption of the mind by the power of Mana or Aura, or even Divinity," He said, before noticing the spark of confusion in Glenn's eyes.

"It's not known widely, but the healing powers of a Priest or the strengthening spells of a Paladin do come from our God directly, the Dame of Harmony. This power is called Divinity," Nolan explained, before shaking his head.

"If it's okay with you, I'll skip the rest of the explanations on how Divinity works, for its bare existence contradicts the logic of Aura and Mana, and isn't explained simply."

Glenn wasn't okay with that, but he still accepted the subject to be glossed over. He could just ask someone he knew in the Church later on. Perhaps it was worth leaning into that question too. How cool would it be if he could use Divine powers alongside his spells, Nelg and Diamanes? Wouldn't it become invincible?

That's a nice option to explore, but he was going to need more information, that was for sure. Brother Nolan cleared his throat and continued.

"As I was saying earlier, Corruption is often attributed to the mind not supporting the mental charge of possessing power. Humans are not conceived with the idea of receiving the strength to level down mountains or raise armies of the dead."

"But Corruption can also happen when someone tries to push beyond their limits and reach for powers they're not deserving of; I believe the recent situation with the Pale Son Josh was of that case. My condolences, for I believe you were close to him?" Brother Nolan spoke softly, looking at Glenn worriedly. The young man turned his head to the side and grunted.

"Let's not speak of that, Brother Nolan. I wasn't that close to him, but having to kill down someone I knew and with whom I shared blood and fights wasn't easy." Glenn rubbed both of his hands together, "...I hope I won't ever have to do this again."

Brother Nolan pressed his lips together before coughing lightly.

"Right. To change the subject, there's one last situation where Corruption might happen."

Glenn turned back to the priest, listening intently.

"There are...traces of the Dead God, the Nameless One, who can be found in this world or some others. A God who lost all his followers for even they forgot who they believed into. The Forgotten and the Forlorn..." Brother Nolan shivered and Glenn sat at the edge of his seat. Wasn't this Dead God the one Onnea wanted him to track through the Seeds and Hearts of Darkness he could find with the "radar" in his arm, which, by the way, was never used since the Blessed Grove incident.

"And, as you might have guessed, generally, when encountering these divine traces, Corruption of the mind can also happen. Add to that any traumatic incidents, and the transformation into a Corrupted can happen out of nowhere. And..." Brother Nolan looked at his hands hesitantly, before looking back up.

"And we believe your case to be this one."

Glenn nodded slowly. The shadow trying to dig into his shoulder did seem like it could be some remnants of the Dead God, with all the darkness-themed things that god seemed to play with. The Seed of "Darkness", the Heart of "Darkness", shadows, and Corruption. So far, it kind of made sense. It still felt like a lot of information was out of Glenn's hands, but holes were starting to fill, and he liked that. Brother Nolan crossed his arms and stared intently into Glenn's eyes.

"The sole strange thing about your case is that no one, be it in legends or records, has ever survived a Corruption. But you did. And our hypothesis for what allowed this was..." His eyes slid over to Glenn's left, purple arm, "...Your arm, Sir Glenn. There's something wrong with it, something strong enough to push back Corruption. Something that might be even worse than Corruption, which is supposed to be the worst fate a human can meet."

Glenn smacked his lips, unsurprised. He knew Diamanes was special, and also that the entity played some kind of part in his survival, seeing his "bad compatibility" reaction the previous day.

'YES! This was just bad compatibility, alright? Nothing weird, nothing strange, it was all YOU who defeated the Corruption, Glenn? Alright? So leave me out of this!' Diamanes hurriedly shouted in Glenn's mind, making him grimace.

Yeah, sure, whatever. He'll eventually find the truth about the nature of the entity living in his left hand one day, and "The Ones Who Shall End This World", like Doyle. But in the meanwhile, he'll just have to be satisfied with knowing that Diamanes was some strange, cosmic being that came from another, larger cosmic being. Brother Nolan then leaned closer to him and whispered.

"There are many Fixers, Priests, Paladins, or other powerful individuals who saw their close ones fall to Corruption. So, if they might hear that you've been Corrupted and you survived..." The priest trailed off, but Glenn didn't need him to finish his sentence.

He understood perfectly well.

"So, please, try avoiding saying it out loud like it doesn't matter, Sir Glenn," Brother Nolan asked fearfully.

Sigh...

And here was another target on his back. He'll just have to shut up about being Corrupted, then.

Was it his fault he was just that special, surviving the unsurvivable? Was that even a word? Nelg and Diamanes sneered at his shamelessness.

He could probably create a word for his situation, right?

Unsurvivable.

Heh.