However, one method remained unknown to the citizens of Hanakawa: the human absorption of a corrupted core, fine-tuned to the mana frequency of that specific human.

***

[Ruins beneath Hanakawa]

Isshiki and Harumi quickly steadied themselves, standing amongst the rubble of their village.

"Where... are we?"

"Look up. The ground's caved in, and wherever we are, its much larger than Hanakawa"

Glancing upwards, Harumi saw the outline of a gaping hole that they were now standing in. Looking around, she could see broken apart remains of the houses and roads that once lined Hanakawa. Off in the distance beneath the lake, the outlines of an unknown stone ruin could be seen. Harumi began to gesture towards the ruins, prepared to tell Isshiki about them, yet she noticed his eyes were transfixed on something through the settling dust.

Isshiki's mana attribute allows him to wield a soul aura, making him more perceptive of other bodies' mana signatures and more masterful over his own internal mana.

Then, Harumi felt it. An overwhelming wave of dread and fear, emanating from where Isshiki had been staring at.

In an instant, Isshiki channeled all his strength into his aura at full force, swerving over to Harumi. 

"MOVE, NOW!!"

It was too late. 

The force of whatever was approaching blasted Isshiki backwards onto the ground. By the time he was able to look up again, both of Harumi's arms had been torn off. 

A sickening thud of flesh splattering against the floor rang out in the cavern.

Isshiki's mind began to race.

Then he saw it. The light in her eyes was already gone, replaced by a soulless, dull gaze. Her body fell forward onto the ground.

"First obstacle removed."

A voice spoke out, causing Isshiki to now be aware of the figure that stood a few paces behind where Harumi was moments ago. 

It was... Kaito...? The body and face was the same, yet there was a gaping hole in his chest, haphazardly filled by the core that emerged from the sky, which was suspended in the air by threads of flesh and crystallized corruption.

With foreign eyes, the figure glanced at Isshiki.

"Your time is later. That boy has discovered the key"

By the time Isshiki realized it was referring to Kouki, it had already vanished.

***

[Moments before the cave-in]

The speed of the orb in the sky was too fast for Kouki to track. By the time he turned his head, it had already snapped into place in Kaito's chest.

Kouki couldn't understand what was happening. A core? Forming a corrupted being within a human? He remembered reading of the rare phenomenon in which a human turns corrupted by corrupted injury, but this?

Before he could act, great rays of corrupted energy emitted from Kaito's body into the ground, shattering any structure the village once had, and plummeting everything around him into a massive cavern. Whatever the situation, Kouki knew staying still would no longer be safe. If anything, he had to seek out Isshiki and Harumi to find out what the next course of action would be.

Kouki softened his landing by coating his legs in a protective steel aura, allowing him to instantly dash off towards the South. Looking back as he ran, he glimpsed Kaito's body still suspended in the air by corrupted energy. The sight pained him, and he squeezed his eyes shut before continuing on.

< 'Corrupted Beings' | A special classification of creatures that emerge from the corruption. Unlike corrupted beasts, which primarily act on instinct without capability for higher thinking, corrupted beings are capable of intelligence that rivals or even surpasses humans. Identifiable by a more humanoid appearance and capacity for speech, corrupted beings also bear a much higher threshold of corrupted energy. >