The appearance of the 2nd Order automatically confirmed the existence of a Corrupted. Galia was well versed with the arsenal of Puritas so she knew the name that was given to this entity.

The Punishing Bird.

Its true Corrupted name was not known. The Punishing Bird was a Corrupted used exclusively by the Knights of Pale to demonstrate their favor with the divine. No army in Grandis had ever survived the onslaught of the Punishing Bird. They would all be wiped clean from the face of the world, with only pieces of their ribs remaining.

Galia knew the dangers moving forward.

However, they had two Beholders.

No one was better for the job than Galia and Jury.

Countless eyes scoured the skies as the 2nd Branch, Time Reverberation, and the remaining forces hid themselves within Isolation Spheres. They were not searching for the moon, its phase, the stars, or the whimsical light far away.

Rather, they were looking for eyes. Big, moon-sized eyes of a beast of incomprehensible scale.

Galia partially knew its mechanism before it could even be revealed to Jury. It revolved in delivering punishments to wrongdoers, though that part was ambiguous at best. The Blessed could not see the stats of the Corrupted, let alone the Conditions outlining their demands.

Furthermore, Jury had not received any Conditions about the Corrupted.

Therefore, there was only one other way to check.

* * *

An army of 2,000 Repenters and 2,000 impaled Impuritas marched towards the walls of The First Bastion. One can imagine them as Scarlet Logic Fodders attacking for the sole purpose of understanding the Conditions of the Corrupted before they could be revealed.

The Repenters and the moving forest knew nothing of this. They only did as they were told, and they marched onwards. No attacks, traps or arrows came their way. After advancing several hundreds of meters forward, they eventually reached the walls of The First Bastion.

The walls were lined with multiple entrances. They were shaped like grand archways to allow entry from any direction. A total of 4,000 personnel walked through the archways. Atop the shoulders of the Repenters were the captured Impuritas.

Still, there was no response from the enemy side. One had to wonder if there was anyone stationed here. Was it a distraction? Could the 1st Branch’s preemptive attack have annihilated them without them noticing it?

No. Something strange was happening.

Unshattered windows, intact doors, and untouched statues drew sounds of awe from the army. Pearlescent brick pathways were wider than those found in the Nex Megalopolis. It was evidence of inspiration taken from the city of Paradise.

When they swung their weapons at the limbs of statues, windows, doors, functioning fountains and benched – their weapons would bounce away as though they had struck a solid block of iron.

Amongst these indestructible decorations were various chains that latched onto the sides of buildings. The Repenters knew nothing of them, believing them to only be anchors to keep the buildings secure. But if they applied a little more common sense, then they’d quickly realize that was a foolish conclusion.

It was not their task to think. Only their bodies were of any use here. A clear mind or sound judgement would not change the fact that they would die soon enough.

This was the mentality of all 2,000 Repenters. And it was because of this that they pushed on without fear.

However, the nailed Impuritas began to shout.

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“Help… us!”

“Save us… they captured us…”

“Do not come… We’re not with them!”

“There are more outside! They’re waiting! This is an expeditionary force! Heed us! Listen to us! Answer us!”

Horrible screams broke out all at once when they recognized they were back in friendly territory. The sound of tearing flesh accompanied their wails as they tried to pull their limbs from the nails, causing some to flop over like a falling banner.

The cacophony should have attracted some kind of attention. Something should have responded.

Either they were adamant in remaining hidden, or there was truly no one here at all.

* * *

Galia knew the 2nd Order was here. The archways allowed them to view the interior of the city to monitor them. Additionally, Galia remained stationed outside of the Isolation Sphere with Jury to directly see what was going on within.

“Galia. If you don’t mind.” Jury said in a hushed whisper.

“Speak your heart out. No need to be silent with me.”

“… As a Beholder, is it right to feel so powerless?”

“Don’t mistake the likes of powerlessness with caution. Corrupted defy the logos of Earth and this world. Patience. The bird is there. I’m waiting on assessing its Conditions. We are one step away from its Corrupted Zone. It’s escapable, but there must be a catch.”

Corrupted usually did not allow people to leave their Corrupted Zone. She didn’t know if they got lucky or if there was something more to it.

Galia then explained:

“My 1st Branch has experienced this phenomenon before. Simonia, my 1st Apostle, recalls detecting a Corrupted Zone moments before disaster struck. They did not see a Corrupted, but the Augurist did. The Arbiter’s Trumpet sounded. It’s hiding in plain sight, as it does above the Knights of the Pale.”

“It’s the book Frost saw that summons them, right?”

Galia nodded. “It does. The book calls forth the Punishing Bird. That book, as I remember, writes down the sins of the opposition. The Punishing Bird then carries out their punishment. But not always.”

“What was the outlier?”

Galia turned her sights to the skies.

And there, she witnessed a slit form in the clouds. An eyelid formed and she pointed up for Jury to see.

Jury’s heart immediately throbbed with an unnatural pain.

“Whether or not you were directly beneath those eyes. It’s only one criteria, but if we can prove this, then we will stand a fighting chance until your Conditions arrive. Do let Nav know to hurry. You’re the only one who can communicate freely within the smoke.”

“Nav’s doing her best. But if it’s taking this long…” Jury trailed off, already knowing what kind of Corrupted they were up against.

“Precisely why I refused to let my own personnel investigate. A Woe of the Fallen Star is manageable. But –”

Galia eyed the clock tower.

They were now 2 minutes away from midnight.

“– an apocalypse is something they can never face. Not without the Conditions.”

* * *

One of the falling Impuritas reached out towards the link of a great chain.

Its sheer size and tautness promised incredibly stability. It would take an immense amount of force to cause it to rattle the slightest.

And yet, their mere touch caused it to shudder.

It climbed to a low-frequency hum. The hum reverberated across all chains within the city. All chains leading to the clocktower swung like ropes in a storm. Not even the invincible pale walls of the city could withstand the thwacks of the chains.

Glowing cracks formed across the walls. A violet, radiant light bled through the cracks as the world quaked. The hands of the clocktower froze at precisely 2 minutes before midnight.

Caution pervaded the air as a screech came from the other side of the cracks. Terror filled the eyes of those who heard the sound. 500 Repenters collectively grasped at the bricks due to psychological attack. The rest were left utterly unsettled, their hairs standing on all ends, and their blood chilled colder than ice.

That screech did not come from an entity. It was the infernal howl of a cataclysmic storm. The dimensional tears grew larger as cracks of light ran across the chains. They buckled and groaned in agony as though they were alive.

Hours seemed to pass by, yet only minutes had elapsed.

Suddenly, a figure in a full suit of pale armor stood at the top of the clock tower. A thick, bleeding book was drawn from their hips. He turned to a random page and held it up to the desolate skies.

A tortured scream bellowed from the book as he then set it alight. The Repenters and the Impuritas equally wretched at the sound. Impuritas begged for the figure to rescue them, but he remained indifferent to their suffering.

To him, they did not even appear like his allies. The Black Moons had masterfully created the illusion of them appearing like their enemies, much to the despair of the Impuritas.

Immediately, the smoke began to whirl as the passages resonated within something above.

It parted and formed the eye of a cyclone, revealing a pale sky.

“Hear me, O’ Bird of Paradise. O’ righteous bird, O’ unprejudiced bird.”

“They have come bearing sins.”

The ethereal voice was amplified using the Major Luminescence above the city.

“Why is it so bright… when we’re nearly at midnight? Where’s the moon?” A Repenter uttered, their voice barely audible in the chaos.

Countless were fighting inner demons. It felt like they were being burned from the inside. The closer one was to the cracks in their reality, the more this sensation would eat at them. The inferno attacked their souls directly rather than their physical bodies.

Those who managed to fight it noticed that the skies were not as they seemed.

It moved.