As the materialized rope spiraled above, it lifted Lumi and Siegren out of the chasm. The darkness slowly began to fade, but a different scene unfurled altogether.
The moment Lumi set foot outside the castle; she was welcomed with a purple haze progressively bordering the entirety of Aclarian territory. The dark-purple fog surrounded the country as it condensed to clouds, akin to a mantle that covers the skies.
But it wasn't just that.
Monsters from the Depths have risen aboveground. Thousands of wraiths flew from the violet sky. Infernopests slithered to the cities, making their way into unsuspecting prey. The gravesnares rose from the soil, dragging their rotten body to the terrain. Mutants walked slowly, with their multiple feet stomping the ground.
Unbeknownst to the two, it wasn't just Aclaria that was plagued with these monsters.
**
"Your Majesty. The Estelan High Priest along with his clerics have arrived at the castle."
"Let them enter."
A large door opened, revealing an old man whose brows were furrowed into a scowl.
"What's happening, High Priest?" The king raised his brow. "The catalyst escaping, and now, monsters surging in the whole north?"
"We cannot say for sure that they are connected with each other, Your Majesty," the High Priest exclaimed.
"Then what do you call this—coincidence?!" The king then slammed his clenched fist into the arms of his throne.
More than half of the priests and priestesses in Estela had been annihilated by the terrorist attack, thus they were lacking manpower in terms of divinity, which is a vital force in combating monsters such as the undead.
The king sighed. "See to it that this country is defended well."
With a loud slam of the large castle door shutting to the back of the head priest, he and his clerics walked into the hallway. He clenched his fist as he saw the wraiths flying in the sky on his periphery.
Ever since Lumi escaped the temple, unforeseen events kept on happening.
"We have to get her back, no matter what."
**
Siegren eyed the horizon. There was no end to the purple mantle that covered the skies.
He was now on top of the fortress, eyeing the entire empire with his grey eyes. He then started to walk forward, meeting wraiths that proceeded to attack him with their bony fingers.
Siegren's pace sped up, as he was now running atop the fortress while his sword slashes the ghost-like specters who kept on coming onto him. Unlike the underground dungeon of the Aclarian Castle, the malevolence aboveground wasn't that thick.
He scanned the place once more. The concentration of malevolence wasn't here.
Where is it?
The area where the intensity of malice grows stronger should pinpoint where the numen is. And that should be where the saintess is, also.
Then, another upheaval occurred.
The entire empire shook, and then suddenly debris fell from the sky as a portion of the Aclarian palace exploded into smithers, with the concrete flying off to the fortress.
Siegren glanced upwards into the castle roof which was now broken. There, he found a large black hole emitting a purple hue.
However, before Siegren could've even thought to approach it, the black hole spread even more fumes of purple, radiating malevolence as the mantle covering the skies grew thicker. The black hole then grew larger—and suddenly, what came out of it were even more monsters.
Wraiths, gravesnares, infernopests, and morphed mutants.
Then, he saw the corpse ascending on top of the purple sky, then disappeared.
Siegren's brow twitched as he felt a strange energy coming from the far distance.
He then turned around, eyeing the celestial tower that was many miles away from the castle.
He narrowed his eyes.
--
'He's sharp,' a cloaked man smiled before disappearing into thin air.
--
Siegren snapped from his thoughts as he felt the presence of a monster behind him overshadowing the strange energy—
—However, golden light gleamed from the back of the monster, making it tumble sideways, falling from the fortress, then down to the ground.
He then saw a girl who slowly lowered her hand, with divine power dimming.
"You know, you don't simply jump to a fortress and expect me to follow you as quickly as you want."
"I don't use my power to simply make ladder—"
Before Lumi could even continue her sentence, she noticed that he wasn't paying any attention to her. He was looking at something. Above.
She turned around and then saw it.
A black hole with a purple hue emanating from it.
"What's… that?" Lumi frowned. "Did we cause that too?"
Siegren blinked. The black hole then diminished quickly, then—white noise followed.
He then felt a sudden ring on his ear, and as he turned around to check where it was coming from, he was able to sense malevolence growing stronger.
Siegren then jumped away from the fortress, then landed on the castle ground unscathed as he ran to get out of the castle.
"Siegren, wait!"
But he was already gone.
**
Siegren has passed through the city of Aclaria, slaying monsters along the way. As he dragged his greatsword to kill the undead, he has seen bloodshed. Unexperienced knights and civilians being food for the undead, with their mana slowly being drained out of their bodies.
Even without going to the Border, where he could transcend material barriers, he knew that Aclaria would be saturated with death and lifeforce being drained.
This was an ambush nobody had anticipated.
As Siegren ran inside the town, the malevolent force grew even stronger.
The more he ran, the more the purple light grew even brighter. As he approached the statue of the saint, the malevolence grew even stronger. The undead continued to swarm the statue, being attracted to the malevolence that was around…
No.
The malevolence that was above it.
Siegren's eyes darted to the source of that light.
A corpse slowly descended from the sky; its hands tied with heavy chains that were enveloped with dark mana.
The chains extended beyond sight, carrying the saint who floated into the place.
From there, a giant black hole above the saintess then began to open slowly.
"No… this can't be."
Siegren turned around, seeing the newly arrived Lumi looking above with eyes filled with dread.
"This can't be happening," she said. "The Depths… it's unsealing!"