The first body fell from the sky.
It hit the cobblestones with a wet crack.
Not dropped.
Thrown.
Elias looked up just in time to see the second one fall.
This one landed wrong.
Limbs bent backward.
Spine exposed where flesh had split on impact.
Blood spread across the street in slow, dark rivers.
For half a second—
No one moved.
Then the screaming started.
The bodies were not random civilians.
They were guards.
Unbound sentries.
And their faces—
Their faces were peeled back, as if something had gripped their jaws and pulled until skin tore from muscle.
Their mouths were stretched wide.
Far wider than humanly possible.
As if they had tried to scream—
And something inside them forced it open further.
Nyx swallowed hard.
"That wasn't a blade."
No.
It wasn't.
Elias' Abyssal Perception flared instinctively.
Mana signatures flickered above them.
Rooftops.
Alleyways.
Inside the walls.
The infection had surfaced.
Territory Alert
Corruption Manifestation: Surface Level
Spread Rate: Accelerating
Civilian Panic: Severe
A woman stumbled from a side street.
Crying.
Covered in blood that was not hers.
"They're inside people—"
She didn't finish.
Her body jerked violently.
Her spine arched.
Her mouth snapped open with an audible pop as her jaw dislocated.
Black fluid spilled from her throat.
She collapsed—
And then rose.
Her limbs bent at wrong angles.
Bones cracking under the skin as if rearranging themselves.
Her abdomen tore open—
Not outward.
Inward.
Like something inside was clawing toward her ribs.
Grath moved instantly.
He crushed her skull with a single blow.
The body dropped.
But black smoke poured from the shattered remains—
And flowed toward a nearby alley.
Where it disappeared.
Serathis whispered in horror.
"It's using them."
Talyra's voice trembled.
"The dungeon residue… it's attaching to living hosts."
Another scream.
Across the square.
They turned—
And saw three more civilians convulsing.
Skin splitting at the joints.
Eyes bleeding.
Teeth cracking as jaws stretched unnaturally wide.
One of them fell to their knees—
Then their torso split from sternum to pelvis.
Not cleanly.
Jagged.
Ragged flesh tearing open as something long and slick forced its way out.
It wasn't fully formed.
Limbs too thin.
Skin translucent.
Veins pulsing visibly beneath it.
It looked at them.
And smiled.
With the face it had just torn free from.
Nyx gagged.
Kaelith didn't.
She charged.
Her blade carved through the creature's midsection.
Black blood sprayed across her armor.
Hot.
Sticky.
The creature screamed—
Not in pain.
In imitation.
It sounded like the civilian it had emerged from.
Grath tore another one apart with his bare hands.
Flesh ripped.
Spine snapping with a sickening crunch.
But the black smoke poured free again—
Seeking new hosts.
Elias' heart pounded.
They weren't killing the infection.
They were releasing it.
A young boy stood frozen in the center of the street.
Too shocked to move.
Black smoke drifted toward him.
Elias moved.
Rift Step.
He intercepted the cloud—
And activated Devour.
Target: Corrupted Residue Cloud
High Instability
Rolling…
Outcome: +2 All Stats
Negative Buff Triggered
→ -3 Constitution (Temporary)
Corruption Trace +4%
The smoke tore into him like needles.
Cold.
Wet.
Violent.
It forced its way down his throat, into his lungs.
He felt it clawing at his fragment.
Trying to nest.
Trying to root.
Black veins exploded across his neck and face.
His vision blurred red.
The whispers surged louder.
Consume.
Dominate.
Overpower.
Elias dropped to one knee.
The boy ran.
Kaelith reached him.
"Elias!"
He coughed violently.
Thick black fluid splattered across the cobblestones.
It writhed for a moment—
Then dissolved.
Corruption Trace: 14%
Warning: Threshold Approaching
More bodies fell.
Not from above this time.
From windows.
From rooftops.
Some were already dead.
Others were mid-transformation when they hit the ground.
Bones breaking outward through skin.
Arms splitting into double-jointed limbs.
Faces tearing open at the cheeks.
Blood painted the street in widening arcs.
The smell was overwhelming.
Copper and rot.
Grath roared in fury.
"We can't let this spread!"
Talyra was shaking.
"There are too many!"
The infection was not random.
It was targeting densely populated areas.
Feeding on panic.
Growing stronger with each death.
Elias forced himself upright.
His breathing ragged.
He felt heavier.
Slower.
But sharper.
The fragment inside him pulsed differently now.
Not hunger.
Calculation.
The infection wasn't acting blindly.
It was forming nodes.
Clusters.
Hubs of corruption.
He could see them faintly through Abyssal Perception—
Dark pulsing concentrations beneath certain buildings.
"It's anchoring itself," he said hoarsely.
"Where?"
He pointed.
"Market district."
Another scream erupted from that direction.
They ran.
What they found—
Was worse.
The central fountain had become a nest.
Bodies hung from the surrounding archways.
Not by rope.
By their own stretched ligaments.
Arms elongated unnaturally.
Skin fused to stone.
Their mouths hung open permanently.
Black fluid dripping steadily into the fountain basin.
The water inside had turned thick and red.
Something moved beneath its surface.
Slow.
Large.
The hung bodies twitched as they sensed the party's arrival.
And began screaming in unison.
The sound was not human anymore.
It vibrated.
Like glass about to shatter.
The fountain exploded.
Blood and corrupted water surged outward.
A massive shape rose from the basin.
Made of fused flesh.
Limbs protruding at random angles.
Faces embedded along its torso.
All screaming.
All alive.
Corruption Node Identified
Classification: Flesh Anchor
Tier: Escalating
Kaelith went pale.
"That was the market."
Yes.
It had chosen the most crowded place.
The most emotional.
The most memory-filled.
The Flesh Anchor dragged itself forward.
Each step left chunks of meat tearing off its body—
Only to regrow seconds later.
One embedded face turned toward Elias.
It was the blacksmith's apprentice.
Eyes aware.
Tears mixing with blood.
"Help—"
The creature's mass tightened.
The voice cut off.
Elias felt something crack inside him.
The fragment surged violently.
Devour screamed to be used.
Consume it all.
End it in one overwhelming act.
He stepped forward.
Black veins spread fully across half his face now.
Serathis grabbed his arm.
"If you overextend—"
"I know."
The Flesh Anchor lunged.
Grath met it head-on.
He buried both arms into its mass—
And screamed as flesh closed around him, trying to absorb him whole.
Kaelith carved desperately at its limbs.
Nyx darted between writhing appendages, slicing exposed sinew.
Talyra unleashed containment sigils that burned like brands against its surface.
It did not slow.
It adapted.
Elias activated Devour again.
Target: Flesh Anchor Core
Extreme Variance
Rolling…
Outcome 1: Skill Steal
New Skill: Corruption Sever
Corruption Sever:
• Permanently destroy one corruption anchor
• Massive mana cost
• Severe backlash
Outcome 2: Hidden Stat +1
→ Dominion
Outcome 3: Corruption Surge
Trace: 18%
Pain exploded through him.
His left eye went fully black for a moment.
He moved.
Through the writhing mass.
Through screaming faces.
Through tearing flesh.
He reached the core—
A pulsing knot of black sigil-ridden tissue buried at its center.
He plunged his hand into it.
It was hot.
Wet.
Beating.
He activated Corruption Sever.
Light and darkness collided violently.
The Flesh Anchor convulsed.
Screamed.
Exploded.
Blood and shredded flesh rained across the square.
Grath was thrown clear, covered in gore.
Kaelith staggered back, armor dripping.
Nyx fell hard but rolled upright.
Silence.
Then—
The hung bodies collapsed.
Dead.
Truly dead.
The square was a slaughterhouse.
Blood pooled ankle-deep.
Chunks of meat clung to shattered stone.
The apprentice's body lay still.
Finally empty.
Elias stood at the center.
Black veins prominent.
Breathing heavy.
Corruption Trace: 18%
Warning: Behavioral Drift Possible
Kaelith approached him slowly.
"You're changing."
He didn't deny it.
He looked around the square.
At what had once been the heart of his territory.
Now soaked in blood.
This was not a skirmish.
This was not political war.
This was horror.
And it had just begun feeding properly.
In the distance—
Beneath the city—
The Crucible Below pulsed.
Satisfied.
And somewhere deep within its fractures—
Something new shifted.
Learning from the blood.
Growing from the gore.
Preparing.