Time was short, so Sorin immediately called his companions back to the Governor's Manor to formulate a plan. As he waited for them to arrive, he reflected on his actions of late: his increasing recklessness with his patients and his erosion of the concept of consent. I really am becoming excessively prideful. Elder Calvin warned me, but I refused to listen.

While Sorin wasn't an altruistic person, he did have the heart of a physician. Politics and family squabbles aside, physicians were generally good people who wanted the best outcome for patients.

If it were me five years ago, I would have cut the outpost's losses much earlier. Given the mortality rate, letting the population of the afflicted grow to this point is too risky. Given how potent this illness is, a purge would be the logical way forward for anything over 1,000 patients.

Madness, Violence, and Strife. They're egging me on despite the risks and spurring my competitive spirit. What's worse, I keep landing myself in situations that require further assimilation to keep winning.

The rational thing to do would be to cut Mildred's losses and admit defeat. He couldn't just care about the ill. Those who hadn't yet caught this illness were worthy of consideration.

That said, he couldn't give up until the last second.

"The situation is dire," said Sorin once Astley, Fenrig, Gareth, Lawrence, and Lorimer arrived in a small war room containing a large map. Colored pins had been updated on the map just an hour ago and would be updated again twelve hours later once the latest data was in.

"Governor Loveless has decided that enough is enough," said Sorin. "A purge is required for the good of the outpost. If a cure is not found for the illness in the next six hours, the purge will commence. All afflicted will be killed and their remains purified with wish-fire."

"That's a bit sudden, isn't it?" said Gareth.

"And isn't the governor's daughter one of the afflicted?" chimed in Lawrence. "I know his last name is Loveless, but isn't that a bit cold?"

"That would normally be the case," agreed Sorin. "Unfortunately, the governor has taken matters into his own hands by infusing his daughter with divinity. By artificially sanctifying her flesh, he was able to bolster her immune system enough to resist the virus. With her no longer being a target, he no longer has a reason to hesitate."

"That's a clear double standard," said Astley. "But nothing out of the ordinary. Power inevitably corrupts."

"The coward's way out is all too common," agreed Fenrig. "But are we really going to let them perform such an awful act?"

"What's so awful about it?" said Gareth. "We purge corrupted individuals all the time to protect outposts and cities."

" I would have no issue if they chose to end their lives honorably as we do in barbarian tribes," countered Fenrig. "We barbarians never execute the innocent. Only those beyond redemption are slain."

"This isn't the time for speculation or judgment," interrupted Sorin. "Governor Loveless has made his decision, so we need to collate everything we know and see what we can crack this case. Gareth, care to update the map?" A wind blew across it and updated it with current casualty numbers and case counts.

"Through careful examination of the cases thus far, we've determined that the illness originated at the intersections of Fleet Street and Downing Avenue. Aeris was merely one of roughly ten people originally infected. While we were distracted with Aeris, the disease spread without interruption for an entire week.

"The disease appears to have two proliferation mechanisms: natural proliferation and semi-random proliferation from a distance. The former is manaborne, while the latter occurs from a distance. The exact mechanism is unknown.

"Agents of Disease have been ruled out by Gareth and city officials due to the way their abilities work. Spells or rituals cast by agents of Disease for proliferation and enhancement purposes tend to corrupt their location. Abnormal levels of corruption have yet to be detected.

"The disease has been identified as a combination of five lesser diseases which, for some reason, are able to pierce through the natural defenses of even a Bone-Forging cultivator. Flesh-sanctification cultivators show no symptoms but can serve as carriers.

"To find a cure, we can approach the situation from two angles: first, we can formulate a cure for each cultivation stage; second, we can identify what I call the catalyst. What element is responsible for amplifying this disease? How does the disease proliferate remotely? If we can answer these questions, curing the disease will be simple."

He looked about the room and saw that everyone was out of their depths. "We're not exactly doctors, Sorin," said Lawrence. "I really don't know how we can help you."

"None of the physicians in the city can help me, Lawrence," said Sorin helplessly. "Trust me, I've asked. I've consulted with both Delphi and Olympia, and the ones who can help would need to be physically present. By then, the city might only have half of its original population."

"Then…"

"Tell me what you saw during the last outbreak," Sorin said to Lawrence. "You were closest to the spreading event. I think it's fair to assume that while the infection proliferated remotely, it is likely connected to the nearest infection cluster."

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Lawrence shrugged. "I mean, I was up to my usual antics. While carefully monitoring everyone for complications. Nothing else. Definitely not peeping.

"And complications did happen. Some old granny died around the same time the spreading event happened."

"I recorded the time of death but not when the spreading event occurred," said Sorin.

"I mean, it's difficult to say if you're not a medical professional," said Lawrence. "Ten minutes before they died. Ten minutes after?"

"Did you observe any other strange matters?" asked Sorin. "Rituals? Someone traveling where they shouldn't or sending a physical letter? Individuals vanishing?"

"None of that," said Lawrence. "Everyone was taking the quarantine very seriously."

Sorin paced back and forth for a few minutes before turning to Gareth. "What about on your end? Did anyone die in the infection cluster you were monitoring?"

"One death occurred two hours earlier," answered Gareth. "Another occurred four hours later."

"What about you, Fenrig?"

"It is the same as with Gareth," said Fenrig. "I'm not the best person to keep track of details like this, but I can safely say that no one had passed away in the half day preceding this so-called 'spreading event.'"

"The patient I was observing is alive and well," said Sorin.

"Wait, patient?" said Gareth. "You weren't observing the whole area?"

"Using certain abilities, I was able to narrow down the scope to a single individual," answered Sorin. "I was hoping to continue observing this one case until the next spreading event, but the governor's impatience has made that impossible. Astley, what have you discovered? Anything that might be of use?"

"Two things," said Astley. "First off, I've reproduced three of the items that were broken." She swept her sleeve across the table to reveal three clay replicas. Though their shapes were dreadful, the runes on display were very detailed. What's more, Sorin could feel a faint karmic connection with one of them.

Sorin pointed to the black pyramid in the center. "What does this one say?"

"Rest in peace, my belove," translated Astley. "May eternal rest purify your blackened heart. It seems to be a funerary item bearing a small amount of divinity. There are also many sealing runes on the item."

While Sorin wasn't able to glean anything from these words, they bore no small amount of karma. Simply hearing the words shifted Sorin's awareness and further fleshed out the karmic web connecting the entire case.

I can now narrow down plague nodes to a single city block. In addition, I can also identify the likelihood of proliferation in the next twenty-four hours.

Should I go further?

Should I go deeper?

"We'll investigate the cluster in the northwest," said Sorin, tapping the map. "We weren't able to find anything by spreading out, so we'll all investigate the same location."

As members of the emergency response team, they had no issues securing city transport to take them to the location Sorin had identified.

"I don't detect any corruption," said Gareth as they landed.

"Nothing weird here," said Lawrence.

"Ree ree ree," said Lorimer, informing Sorin that the first traces his rats had found of the disease here was 3 days ago.

"Shall I perform a divination?" asked Astley.

"No need," said Sorin. "Follow me." Using the karmic web as a guide, he identified a small villa as the next outbreak location.

"What can I help you with, sirs?" greeted a butler at the door.

"I need to talk to the afflicted individual in this household," said Sorin. "Don't worry, I just want to see if I can treat him. I'm a physician."

The villa was roughly 10,000 square feet in size and housed eight individuals, including the villa owner, a rich merchant, his wife, two children, and four servants. All four family members were cultivators, and it was the merchant, a Bone-Forging cultivator, who'd fallen ill.

"Three days ago, the master was struck by a sudden weak spell," explained the butler as he led them up the stairs. "Around 3 in the morning., if I'm not mistaken. He's a severe insomniac, so we didn't think to report the illness.

"Yesterday, it became clear that his situation was dire. We informed local law enforcement and a medical response team was sent. The master has been under quarantine ever since."

"Can he walk?" asked Sorin.

"He is currently unable to carry his own weight," said the butler. "It was difficult before, but now…" He pushed open a set of wooden doors to reveal an opulently decorated bedroom. "Apologies, but I have been ordered by the city guard not to enter his room. Only medical practitioners are allowed to enter after taking appropriate precautions. I—what are you doing?"

Thanks to his aura, neither Sorin nor his companions could be infected by the disease.

"Nothing on my end," said Lawrence after a few minutes.

"The corruption here is normal," said Gareth.

"My dousing pendant indicates that there is a link between this individual and the pyramid," said Astley. "How odd."

The corpulent merchant was sleeping and unable to awaken, so Sorin performed a detailed physical examination using his poisons. There's something there. I just can't see it.

You know what you need to do. You know what needs to be done.

I don't think I do. I don't owe anything to this person.

And you call yourself a physician? You owe this to your patients, Sorin, and you also owe it to yourself.

"Watch me," Sorin said to Gareth. The archer took his hint and positioned himself behind Sorin.

They should be able to stop me if I go crazy, thought Sorin. He reached out to Azrakul and pulled out yet another thread of corruption from his divine prison.

Sorin's assimilation with Strife deepened. The karmic web expanded until Sorin detected a contradiction—not on the man's body or even in his spirit. Instead, it was in the karmic threads representing intent.

The man doesn't wish to harm anyone, Sorin concluded. Both Strife and his soul-bound treasure, Nemesis, confirmed this. At the same time, he is the bearer of a huge amount of malice and resentment.

I still can't find it. The answer lies within this man.

Kill him!

No, don't kill him; why would you even think that?

If you kill him, you can perform an autopsy.

If you leave him alive, you can perform a vivisection.

Ah, good point. When do we begin?

Sorin put a hand to his head as these thoughts and a thousand others suddenly erupted in his mind. It was difficult to think. It was difficult to breathe.

Why am I still trying? Why haven't I given up? What… what is happening to me?

It made no sense. But he wanted to win. Was he even cut out to be a doctor? His parents were wrong. Wait, was Aeris's situation not like this one? Did she really have a few decades left to live? Was she really cured? He wasn't so sure, and if he was wrong, the governor was going to kill him.

"Sorin?"

I can't look at this normally. There's conflict here, and where there's conflict, there's a cause.

"Sorin?!"

I need to go deeper. I need to go deeper. I need to go deeper!

"Sorin!" A hand clamped down on his shoulder, and reflexively, Sorin lashed out with his aura. The sudden outburst of power shattered something within him, and Strife poured into his body without reservation.