Aria stabbed the last Lightfang Crawler that was trying to crawl to safety. Drops of holy blood dripped from her trident, falling into the infinite void beneath. Breathing raggedly, she deactivated [Abyssal Palace].

“Ow… My back,” she winced, flopping to the floor. After the shadows had seeped away into the cracked stone, what was left hardly resembled a dungeon. Every stone wall had crumbled to the ground, leaving a giant black crater where Aria stood. The sun had pierced through riddled holes into the ruins below. Farem chuckled wearily; his [Darkflame Tempest] might have flung some Lightfang Crawlers to the ceiling, piercing some holes for sunlight to enter.

But before he could forget, Farem stood up to survey the corpses.

“[Loot Collect].”

Lightfang’s corpses floated over to him, obediently flying inside his [Inventory]. A list of looted items flashed before him.

Loot Collection:

[Glowing Insect Fangs] [x2248]

[Glowing Insect Sac] [x1124]

[Managem] [x1124]

[Lightfang Meat] [x1124]

“Ugh… That smell is horrible every time,” Aria complained, holding her nose.

“Agreed,” he smiled, scrolling through his [Inventory] and zooming in on the items’ pictures. “But ooh-la-la! This is a fantastic haul! We can trade a lot of this for coins and rise in ranking! Some can even be crafted into weapons.” Farem closed his eyes, trying his hardest to remember where the monster-part trading hall and butcher shop were.

“What are those purple gemstones?” Aria asked while yawning, eyes half-opened. Then she flinched. Purple… gemstones? Could it be…?

Farem took out a strange purple gemstone and pressed his eyes on its shimmering surface. “They are… [Managems], according to my [Detection]… But I’ve never seen or heard of it before…” He shook the stone. It trembled slightly on his fingers, humming with an abundance of magical energy.

“Wait, wait, wait.” Aria darted over to Farem. “Lemme see that.”

He handed one to her. She immediately gripped her fist and cracked it. Farem raised a brow, confused but intrigued. As the gem’s shards crumbled away, a mighty surge of mana burst from her palm, forming a ball-shaped mass of glowing energy. “Tch. Just as I thought,” she sighed.

Farem leaned in to scan the glimmering energy ball. “How interesting. It appears to be pure mana condensed perfectly into a fixed shape. And to fit it inside such a small stone… This is amazing!”

Aria let go of the mana energy, watching it float away and fade into the air. “Farem… Nothing is amazing about these stones.”

She turned to stare at the ground, clutching her shaking fists. “That damn Church,” she said, gritting her teeth. “These stones were engineered to obey a certain user. So they would stuff these stones inside monsters to strip them of their will. Control them. The monsters could only fight what the priests wanted them to fight. And my brethren… had suffered the same fate…”

His eyes widened in shock. “What?”

Her legs buckled under an invisible weight, slumping against a shattered piece of stone. Farem stayed silent and sat down next to her, placing a warm hand on her shivering fingers.

“I’ve seen them…” she mumbled, her mouth quivering. “My people, my family… reduced to mere puppets. And I… I… I killed them. I had to…” She pulled her knees up and buried her face into them, blinking rapidly. “If only we could… If only…”

Farem said nothing. The Church was… experimenting on Dark Beasts? How could he not know this piece of information? Judging from what he remembered of the Church and its people, they only fought Dark Beasts and healed human fighters in the war. If Aria spoke the truth, the Church was committing war crimes that even he, their trusted Hero of Light, didn’t know about. Something didn’t seem right. It was as if they had hidden this fact from him.

He gazed into her eyes, noting the emotions that ran through her mind. They had been together for years; he would know when Aria decided to lie, which often involved her eating the last treat from the cabinet or claiming she was out collecting firewood, when in reality, Aria was playing the piano in the forest. But this time, he only saw a painful truth in her snow-white irises.

“It’s alright,” Farem whispered. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“What if it was?” she muttered. “If I hadn’t gone to war, they wouldn’t have had to suffer.”

“Aria, there are people who… won’t always listen to reason. Even if you hadn’t fought back, even if you meant no harm…” He squeezed her hand. “They fear you. Enough to deem you a threat.”

Aria rubbed her eyes. She stretched languidly, reaching behind her head and tying her hair into a ponytail. When all was done, she stood up, pulling Farem to his feet. “But you’ll be by my side, won’t you?” she smiled sadly.

“Till death do us part,” he replied.

As Aria put on her purple cloak, the [Illusion] shifting her face to a human one, Farem studied the condensed mana crystals with an [Amethyst Magnifying Glass]. But he struggled to decipher any meaningful findings from the [Managem], besides their perfect shapes and quality craftsmanship.

Craftsmanship… The word reminded him. He sighed. Times like these made Farem wish his party members were here. One of them would know what to do. Farem scratched his head and grinned. He missed that genius inventor.

Nevertheless, Farem did figure out one thing. Usually, Lightfang Crawlers wouldn’t live inside dungeons. They would prefer open-sky forests or hills. So, these Lightfangs could have been experimented on and controlled via the condensed mana within their bodies. With the [Managems] found inside the Crawlers and Aria’s testament, Farem arrived at the most logical conclusion:

The priest might be behind this.

And perhaps, the Church at large, too.

“Even with [Detection], I can’t find that bastard anywhere,” Aria said, squinting her eyes at their surroundings.

“He might still be watching us,” Farem replied, unsheathing his Light Blade—there was no use hiding it anymore. If the priest had attacked Aria with Lightfang Crawlers, then he might have known exactly who she was under the disguise and her weakness to Light magic.

“Eyes sharp, Aria. Be caref—”

The floor suddenly collapsed beneath their feet.

They both fell. Instantly.