Defiance of the Fall Chapter 1392: Taint

The moment of impact arrived too quickly. The protective shield shattered, sending Idiche flying like a discarded toy and nearly rendering Zac unconscious. However, the physical agony paled in comparison to the nightmare unfolding before him. A grotesque entity, boasting four limbs and a secondary head sprouting from its shoulder, held Esmeralda in a crushing grip. Her dehydrated flesh was a map of scars, and the fluid containers on her back were depleted.

Holding their foe at bay for this duration had drained Esmeralda far more than Zac had realized. Had she masked her fatigue out of sheer stubbornness? That momentary lapse in her strength allowed the intruder to seize control, and he clearly intended to finish her before Zac could intervene. Esmeralda locked eyes with Zac in a final, meaningful gaze as chaotic energies and corrosive rot surged into her small frame.

“I—” Esmeralda’s parting words were silenced by a violent explosion of gore.

Zac’s mind went numb, his psyche rejecting the reality of the scene. It couldn't be real. He clung to the hope that it was merely an illusion, so much so that he initially missed the terrifying anomaly emerging from the shattered seals within Esmeralda’s remains. A shimmering silver spiral was tearing through a casing of perfected space and necrotic runes; the very fabric of the world seemed to buckle under its presence.

Denial became impossible as the first fissure opened, venting ripples of temporal power far more potent than anything Zac had encountered in the Mercurial Courts. It felt nearly identical to the crushing weight he had sensed from the Fifth Pillar while tumbling through the gaps in existence.

The island itself groaned in protest as reality warped under the temporal gale. Zac felt as though he were moving through thick syrup, even as his thoughts raced at a frantic pace. He was forced to watch the unraveling of the world in agonizing detail, knowing his friend's sacrifice had triggered this catastrophe.

“What!” the tainted Monarch shouted, his voice a guttural blend of triumph and shock.

The killer hadn't realized the toad he had slain possessed a [Timescape Loop], a Supreme treasure of Time. Its power was sufficient to puncture a hole in the firmament. With the corrupted timeline already pressing against their plane and the strange phenomena of Lodge Island, the final defenses collapsed instantly.

The dry, grit-laden winds that followed offered no warmth against the chilling shadow of the approaching desert fortress. Zac recognized that the end had come. The island was isolated, and the remnants of Esmeralda’s Heavenly Territory had partitioned the zone into a localized dimension. Even if a teleportation treasure remained functional, the immense consciousness stirring within the fortress would likely block any escape.

Desperation curdled into a white-hot rage as Zac glared at the murderer. If his Draugr form was destined for oblivion, he would spend his final heartbeats avenging Esmeralda. The ancient Killing Intent within him resonated with his fury, eager for one last slaughter. It shifted within him, and Zac realized he could now merge this intent directly with his soul.

Such a fusion would be dangerously volatile, but he no longer cared. He only desired enough power to drag another Monarch into the grave with him. Zac gripped his axe so tightly his palms began to bleed. A ravenous hunger for blood drowned out all logic, even as a strange sensation radiated from his weapon.

Wait—why did the grip feel so wrong? Did it even matter?

A thunderous roar erupted from the core of Zac’s soul, halting him just as he prepared to strike. Something was fundamentally flawed. Esmeralda’s demise, the perfected Dao of Continuum, the Killing Intent whispering in his ear—it was all a malicious fabrication. The Killing Intent tried to smother his realization, but that only fueled Zac’s defiance.

“GET OUT OF MY HEAD!” Zac screamed, and the illusion shattered.

Zac collapsed to his knees, his energy spent. His mind was a jumble of disconnected thoughts. He reached for his axe, only to realize he was clutching a different object. The reason for the blood on his hands became clear: he wasn't holding a hilt, but the razor edge of a prehistoric knife.

The dagger’s faint light pierced Zac’s dark eyes, and his true memories returned. He had plunged into the tainted waters to retrieve the key, but the concentration of corruption was far more intense than he had braced for. He had lost his bearings entirely. The blade had served as his lighthouse, but the mental whispers had breached his mind just as he reached it, eventually overwriting his reality.

Zac had no memory of returning to the air. Looking around, he felt immense relief to see the scarred valley instead of a desert wasteland. More importantly, the barrier containing the Monarch remained intact. Idiche was still channeling the seal, though her complexion was deathly pale. Zac winced, realizing the source of her distress wasn't just the effort of the spell.

“Are… you okay?” Idiche asked, her voice trembling with barely hidden terror.

“I will be once we leave this cursed place,” Zac replied with a heavy breath, piecing together what she must have seen.

Idiche was standing exactly where the escaped Monarch had been in his vision. His corruption-fueled wrath had been aimed directly at her. He knew it wasn't a random hallucination; something had steered those voices to turn him against his comrade. Was the imprisoned Monarch pulling the strings, or had the corruption itself developed a consciousness?

“You looked ready to slaughter everything in sight,” Idiche admitted with a sigh of relief. “I’m glad you’re back; we can’t keep him caged much longer.”

“What’s our move?” Zac asked, struggling to push back the dark fog clouding his Soul Aperture. Even with his mind clear, his body was still saturated with rot, and [Purity of the Void] was at its limit.

“The toad promised to get us out, and I’ve placed some lures to mask our path,” Idiche explained, gesturing toward shimmering lines in the air that Zac had previously missed.

Zac didn't have the time to investigate. A dark shape blurred out from the barrier. Esmeralda appeared battered, but she was alive. Zac’s heart hammered against his ribs, terrified that this, too, might be a trick of the mind.

“Are you—” Zac started, his voice cracking.

“No time for chatter,” Esmeralda barked, snatching both Zac and Idiche and stuffing them into her spatial pouch in a single motion.

Esmeralda’s speed was legendary for her rank, and the lack of Natural Formations allowed her to move unimpeded. She blurred down the mountain, racing away from their entry point. Through the opening of the pouch, Zac watched as they sped through a canyon leading toward the island's interior.

The shimmering wall that had blocked their path earlier had thinned into a light haze. While the lodge was still obscured, Zac could see the chaos unfolding across the island. The sky was pierced by two massive gaps in the clouds, each housing a brilliantly glowing array of magic circles.

A third, incomplete circle flickered with a much weaker Imperial Faith. Zac wondered if the ritual had failed or was simply delayed. Given the unstable aura and missing segments, he hoped for the former. For now, at least, it wasn't generating the sandstorms seen elsewhere.

That sand was the true threat to the island’s defenses. The dust clouds felt like they were drinking the moisture from the air, and even looking at them made the corruption in Zac's body react. The sand was clearly a carrier for the rot, serving to undermine Sevona’s authority over the land.

Zac was already on edge from his brush with insanity, and the view didn't improve his mood. He had expected the circles after seeing the fortresses on the horizon earlier, but their presence confirmed that the traitors within the Adventurer Guild were just one part of the problem. At least two other factions, equal in power to the Hastor Society, were involved.

Surviving the Hastor Society had nearly cost them everything, and that was after fleeing from one of their leaders. One Monarch was still active while their group was completely exhausted. There could be over five hostile Monarchs converging on the lodge, with no help in sight. While some friendly Monarchs might remain on the island, they were likely as blind to the truth as Zac had been.

The ancient dagger hummed in Zac’s hand, pulling him back to the present. His vision split, showing a spectral reality overlaid on their own. In this second view, a well-maintained stone road stretched along the valley floor.

“Turn left! The blade is showing a hidden path,” Zac shouted.

Before he could even finish, the dagger vibrated again, enveloping Esmeralda in a faint, ethereal glow.

“I see the way!” Esmeralda yelled, pivoting onto the invisible road.

They soon hit a bottleneck that forced Esmeralda to slow her pace. The road led directly into a zone of volatile, clashing energies—a focal point of the valley’s Natural Formations. Entering it was a massive gamble, but they had no choice. Idiche winced, signaling that the Monarch behind them had finally broken his chains.

“Don't stop!” Zac growled through clenched teeth.

Esmeralda surged forward, but the expected disaster never came. They glided through the danger zone without disturbing a single leaf, as if they were ghosts. Every obstacle they encountered seemed to turn into a dream as they passed.

Even solid stone couldn't stop them. The path led straight into the side of a mountain rather than around it. Just as Esmeralda reached the rocky slope, the world around them became translucent.

Zac watched with furrowed brows as they moved through the mountain, but he didn't question the blade's power. Eventually, the stone vanished, replaced by hills covered in a thin layer of damp sand. They had breached the inner perimeter, but Zac had reached his breaking point.

“Ugh,” Zac groaned, the dagger slipping from his fingers.

Esmeralda skidded to a halt, and Zac tumbled onto the ground. It wasn't just mental fatigue; the dagger had been greedily drinking his Vigor throughout the journey, especially during the phase-shift through the mountain. Luckily, the drain stopped when he wasn't touching the blade's edge.

The weapon's unique aura had vanished, and it remained dormant when he picked it up by the hilt. All that remained was a fading sense of direction toward the island's center, which grew weaker as the Ichor on the blade dried up.

“My turn,” Idiche said, reaching for the weapon.

Esmeralda slapped her hand away. “Don't be a fool. Look at the state of us. My student was drained in minutes, and you look like you’re ready to faint. If I have to carry both of you while powering that thing, I’ll be dead before we see the lodge. What happens if we run into an enemy we actually have to fight?”

“That man…” Idiche trailed off, looking back at the mountain.

“We were already on the hidden path when he got out. He won't be able to track us through that, though he's welcome to try his luck with whatever is inside that mountain,” Esmeralda said, scanning their surroundings. “We’ll rest here until we have enough strength to move again.”

“She’s right,” Zac agreed weakly. “Use whatever recovery items you have.”

“Fine,” Idiche muttered, and silence fell over the group.

Zac spent the next thirty minutes aggressively purging the corruption. Normally, he would have tried to refine such high-level energy for his Cultivation, but his [Purity of the Void] was already overflowing. He used Void Energy to pulverize the active rot and expelled the rest from his pores.

His Soul Aperture was his first priority, with his Human side assisting in the cleansing process. Through their mental link, Zac learned that his human half was still paralyzed by the enhanced Crushing Death, and the conflict between the Eternal Avengers and Dharmic Guardians was still raging. Fortunately, Tavza was still moving at high speeds, and they were far from the front lines. They would reach the exit in another day.

As he cleared the rot, Zac forced himself to eat large quantities of refined Beast King meat. His iron constitution allowed him to process the nourishment into Vigor almost instantly.

Zorm’s lingering presence had been erased by the corruption, denying Zac one last chance at refinement. With time running out, Zac used a significant portion of his Creation Energy to force his left arm to regrow and mended the fractures in his right. His pills and natural vitality would take care of the minor injuries.

He noted with some annoyance that the Dao of the Lost Era didn't help his [Thousand Axes Avatar]. The corruption and the ancient intent seemed to exist on different planes, neither acknowledging the other. It hadn't helped him against the rot, but he realized he was being greedy by expecting the intent to be a universal solution.

Nearby, Idiche was absorbing Qi from script-covered Cosmic Crystals. She wasn't physically maimed, but the mental toll of the battle was evident. Still, she seemed more grounded than before. Her first true brush with death hadn't broken her spirit; if anything, she seemed more prepared for the trials ahead.

Esmeralda was in the best shape, having avoided the worst of the battle. Aside from her empty vats, she looked much like she did before the mission. She was currently snacking on a spirit-restoring treasure, a look of satisfaction on her face as she likely tallied the loot from her successful theft.

The contrast between her current state and the mangled corpse in his vision sent a shiver down Zac’s spine. He had seen many die, but he felt fortunate that his inner circle had remained mostly intact. By now, the toad definitely belonged in that category.

Esmeralda noticed his stare and began eating faster. “Find your own snacks.”

“I’m just glad you’re still in one piece,” Zac said.

“Of course I am. One mistake doesn't mean every amateur can catch me. I could have toyed with that idiot all day if he hadn't focused on getting back,” Esmeralda huffed, then looked at him curiously. “What’s gotten into you?”

“Nothing. The corruption just showed me some things I didn't like,” Zac muttered, looking away. Then, his eyes narrowed. “Wait.”

"Do you sense that?" Zac sent a mental message.

"Sense what?" Esmeralda replied, continuing to eat as if unbothered.

"Life. Nearby," Zac said, though he wasn't certain. His Draugr senses were sharp, but the island was deceptive.

They shared a brief nod and vanished. A moment later, they returned, dragging a blood-soaked woman from the sand. Zac was stunned to see Guild Master Marai in such a wrecked condition. He felt the unmistakable taint of corruption leaking from her fractured Inner World. Perhaps there were others fighting the traitors after all.

If she was faking her condition, it was a masterclass in acting. She was clinging to life by a thread and didn't even flinch when Zac applied cultivation-sealing talismans and restraints. She only groaned when Idiche forced a potent healing pill down her throat. Marai’s eyes flickered open, passing over Zac before finding Idiche.

“Little Che… you found me,” Marai whispered with a faint, bloody smile. “Fate is a strange thing.”

“Don't act like we're friends,” Idiche snapped, her eyes flashing with fury. “What have you done with the real Marai?”

“It is me. I didn't betray the Guild,” Marai coughed, blood flecking her lips. “I’m the one who caught you spying on—”

“Liar,” Idiche hissed. “Marai might be a snake, but she wouldn't sell us out to the enemy.”

Zac watched the exchange. Despite Idiche’s constant complaints about the woman, there was clearly a deep history between them. Unfortunately, he had no way to verify her identity without probing her Inner World.