'What the hell?' Ashe asked and turned to face the monster.

The creature was charging at him like a wild animal. It had lost its composure in an unexpected moment and was no longer in its right mind. The boy didn't know what the trigger could be.

A step back from him with his feet and a swing of his sword forward. The dodge was successful; the attack was less so.

The horror, which leapt at him, changed direction right in the air after failing to catch the boy.

'Hmmm.' Ashe's momentum was disrupted by the aimless swing of the sword. But he didn't lose it; the sword struck from top to bottom, slashing the creature on the ground from left to right.

The monster's Mark was still glowing. An invisible force, as if coming from another dimension, appeared in front of the boy, which knocked the monster back.

Ashe expected such a situation and added footwork to his swinging sword, which was responsible for reducing the distance to the opponent.

His speed fell short of the monster's, but he was the first one to take the initiative. In just a second, he reduced the distance, entered the radius of protection, and created a barrier behind the monster's back.

The blood-spattered creature crashed into Ashe's barrier. It broke the unity of the fragments that shattered into shards, but along with its speed, it also lost stability.

The creature fell to the ground, and Ashe stood on top of it.

'As I thought. The barrier isn't strong enough, and it would be unwise to put all of my trust in it.' The boy conducted.

In one of his trials, he easily cut through the barrier with a sword and was also interested in its resistance to outward influences.

The good thing was that the barrier's weakness was his fault and not in the ability itself. Ashe couldn't convert the fragments into Shards fast enough. Therefore, he wasn't putting a lot of energy into the barrier, which wasn't surprising.

The monster, defeated on the ground, was about to get up. Ashe anticipated its trajectory and slashed at its legs.

Or rather, he tried to slash, but the sword got stuck in its bone.

The creature didn't scream, couldn't feel the pain, as if such a sensation was far from it.

It tried to leave the place using Binder powers, but Ashe kicked it back to the ground.

Blood was pouring from the beast's mouth. One could see it had quickened breath, bare teeth, and a fixed gaze.

Then it opened its mouth and tried to say something. It looked like a puffed-up bubble, which was slowly becoming aggressive.

The monster started twitching. It moved its hands near the boy, but Ashe didn't want to touch it so much that he pulled back.

Then the creature attempted to get up again. All this time, it didn't stop talking.

Blood was pouring from its entire body, but Ashe had only inflicted a wound on its limbs. The aberration's half-broken leg didn't allow it to stand and fall again.

At the same time, its aggression switched and turned into a plea. In a sad scream, the exact meaning of which no one could comprehend.

The creature's Mark didn't perish. Its power was always active and wouldn't give up.

The invisible force was summoned again. The creature lifted itself into the air and, despite endless pleas, led itself straight to the boy.

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This time it was even faster, more restless, and hastier.

Ashe had to summon a barrier along with the flawless coordination of his body and weapon. He first plunged his sword into the approaching monster's stomach, then stepped aside and placed the barrier under its head, trying to neutralise the monster's attack by knocking it down.

And so he did it. Ashe pinned the terror to the ground again.

[1.58% - 0.99%]

He got what he wanted and used more fragments.

The result was obvious; he crashed the creature face down. This time with extra wounds and a completely severed leg, which he gave to the monster as soon as it fell.

Yet, his spending also increased significantly, and he depleted more fragments than before.

The creature didn't fall silently. It roared again. Its voice echoed from the small room into the large hall, resounding repeatedly.

Ashe stood at its head. He aimed his silver sword at its neck and, with one swing, intended to swiftly take its life.

The power in Ashe's hands wasn't enough. It took three blows instead of one. The monster didn't even show any pain during the pitiful attempts to cut off its head.

It simply lay there until the last moment, moaning endlessly.

Ashe did use the barrier to keep himself clean, although he felt an unpleasant sensation when he saw the filth on his fragments.

"I need to change." He said regretfully. Despite being physically clean, he still felt like he was stained.

He approached the monster with severed legs and neck and studied the now-extinguished Mark on its remaining shoulder.

The smell was so unbearable that he preferred to leave with squinting eyes.

'It was human.' Observation made it clear, and he suspected it earlier. 'Before, but not now.'

Ashe narrowed his eyes. A strange feeling took over him. Seeing a human mutation and then understanding its murder wasn't easy.

Nonetheless, it was a burden that he carried without protest.

The presence of the Mark indicated that the one he killed was once a Binder. But there was another circumstance.

That human lost control, but he retained the Covenant and could still use the power he got from God.

This allowed Ashe to assume that the monster had once been Unbound.

Instead of one Mark, he had two. One of them caused him to lose control, losing himself and the entire temple.

'The sugar god doesn't have many followers; otherwise, more citizens would have been hurt. And why did the gods make a covenant with him in the first place?'

Questions arose. The answers were tricky to find without context and required more understanding.

The most concerning inquiry was why the guild or the government knew nothing about what was happening here.

The mission stated that the Seeers were hindered by a monster of the Exarchs or Sinarchs' rank.

Then how did the guild know about the monster's existence if everything happened so recently, and it wasn't just a simple monster but an Unbound that had lost control?

'Smells fishy.' Something was happening. 'There is no way they didn't know what was happening here.' There was more to the mystery than a simple accident.

The creature had finally drained of blood. It had only just passed away. The phrases he uttered were so incomprehensible that they sounded more like roars.

What he said would be lost forever.

After his death, his chaotic fragments were found in Ashe. The process of shards falling into fragments in his body accelerated instantly.

[1.58% - 1.21%]

It was tough to increase the prophecy. When he came to Zalindar, he didn't seem to make any significant progress.

However, managing and understanding fragments has seen transformative results.

It took time to collect fragments from the slain.

The creature disappeared, encompassing the body, leaving only blood. For some reason, the carriers of the prophecy who were killed by Ashe, or killed in front of him, would completely disintegrate into fragments.

The corpses were quickly extracted, and if he needed anything from the body, Ashe had to be there immediately.

After completing the process, he stepped out into the hall and looked at the wooden room, similar to the one he had seen in Dreadvale.

It was in that small wooden chamber that he drank water and met the gods.

He was going to repeat the same thing, as he went inside and saw a familiar scene.

A small spring that came from who knows where. Beneath it, an equally small lake and a small glass that needed to be filled.

Ashe repeated the ritual on his own. He knelt, filled the glass, and emptied it. After a few seconds, he replayed the same thing and drank again. He waited a little and filled the glass again.

Finally, after drinking the fourth glass, he felt a change. This time it didn't take that long, as he excluded the occasion when he met the thunder god.

The glass at that time was filled with fragments, not with plain water.

The simplicity of the spring water was tested when his eyelashes became noticeably heavier. Then came the separation from the body and the lightness for which he had longed for some time.

His virtually vanished senses merged with the darkness. This feeling was addictive; it was like basking in the sunlight or swimming in a river made of fragments.

It became a part of him and passed into an infinite domain. He heard a voice he had never heard before.

"The Chosen One himself. What a rare sight." Said the voice, which was like a whisper, as if lips were brought to his ears.