The destruction of the Fallen God’s Shard, accomplished by Crhono and Sereda in the Pit of Dusk, was an act that resonated beyond what they themselves could anticipate. The impact of that action spread like an invisible ripple through the fabric of the world, reaching forgotten and hidden places where other remnants of the fallen god were sealed.
Though these shards possessed no consciousness, their connection to the primordial essence they shared allowed them to sense the change. It was a whisper in the void, an echo of something that no longer existed.
A sealed shard rested in a crystal temple in a vast tundra, buried beneath miles of perpetual ice. Its normally dormant energy began to vibrate faintly as if answering a distant call. The magical symbols covering the temple’s walls glowed for an instant before fading again, reinforced by the barrier that kept them intact.
On a forgotten volcanic island in the southern seas, another fragment hidden deep within a cavern of molten lava reacted with a faint pulse of heat. The rock around it momentarily cracked, but the ancient runic seals remained firm, containing its energy.
In an endless desert, where an eternal sandstorm hid the vestiges of a lost civilization, a third sealed fragment released a dark flash that was quickly lost in the swirling sand. The glyphs inscribed on the columns of the buried temple absorbed the pulse, returning the place to its eternal silence.
Although these fragments felt the loss of one of their own, the seals that held them, prisoner, ensured that their reactions were limited, like a cry muffled by an unbreakable wall. However, the fragments in the hands of Purgatory’s leaders had no such restrictions.
These fragments, free of seals and barriers, had been dormant, slowly feeding off the energies of their bearers, corrupting them subtly but steadily. The destruction of one of the fragments awakened something within them, something no force in the world was prepared to confront.
In a hidden room of an underground fortress, the red-cloaked leader, surrounded by maps and strategies, felt a sharp pain in his chest. The fragment he was carrying hidden beneath his clothing began to glow with a dark red glow as if it were alive.
He tried to push it away, but the stone clung to his skin, sinking into his flesh. "What’s going on?" he muttered, his voice laden with fear and frustration. His body twisted, convulsing as a corrupt energy consumed him from within.
His skin began to darken, and his eyes took on a crimson glow. His mind, which until then had been a bastion of discipline and control, began to fragment, filling with chaotic thoughts and inhuman impulses.
In another region, the blue-cloak leader, known for his cunning and calculating precision, underwent a similar transformation. He was in his study, analyzing the movements of his agents when the fragment he kept in a reliquary began to resonate.
The vibration was so strong that it caused the crystals on the table to shatter. Before he could react, an invisible force grabbed him. The fragment glowed a dark blue, and a wave of energy passed through him, breaking his human body and rebuilding it in impossible shapes.
His thoughts mixed with the essence of the fragment, losing the logic that had defined him. The green-cloak leader, further removed from the rest and known for his silent, methodical approach, was not immune to the chaos.
In his personal sanctuary, the fragment he had kept hidden for years began to release spirals of blackish-green energy. His body filled with dark roots and thorns, as his consciousness sank into an abyss of corruption.
The three leaders of Purgatory, each now transformed into a unique aberration, became more than human. Their bodies were physical manifestations of the shards’ energy, filled with power, but also destruction and chaos.
The red-cloaked leader, now a figure wreathed in dark flames, stood in his war room, shattering the table with a swipe of his transformed hand. His voice echoed like a roar, filled with anger and confusion.
"This… is not what I planned," he said, though his voice seemed less and less human. The blue-cloaked leader, with a body that looked like an amalgam of broken glass and dark ice, stared at his reflection in a fractured mirror.
Though he was still aware of who he was, he felt the energy of the fragment pushing him towards a purpose he did not understand. "This power… is it a curse or a tool?" he wondered, as the crystals on his body emitted a pulsating light.
The green-cloaked leader, covered in twisted vines and thorns dripping black sap, simply stared at his transformed hands. His mind was filled with visions of growth and decay, of an endless cycle of corrupted creation.
"We have been changed… and now the continent will change with us," he murmured, his words echoing in the emptiness of his sanctuary. The transformation of Purgatory’s leaders was not silent.
Though it was not immediately perceived, the fragments’ energies began seeping into the outside world. Entire regions near their hideouts began to experience anomalous phenomena.
Crops that grew and died within hours, storms that appeared without warning, and a general sense of imbalance that affected both humans and animals. The shards, though lacking consciousness in the traditional sense, now seemed to act through their bearers.
Purgatory’s leaders, consumed by the corrupting energies, began to manifest erratic behavior. Their once calculated and precise plans became chaotic, guided by impulses they themselves did not fully understand. In nearby regions, rumors began to arise.
Some spoke of sightings of figures cloaked in fire, ice, or shadows appearing in the fields, leaving destruction in their wake. Others whispered that Purgatory’s leaders were using a dark power to change the course of the war they had started.
In a tavern in Cannaris, a group of merchants discussed the strange events. "Did you hear about the eastern lands?" one asked, lowering his voice as he continued, "They say the crops rotted within days, and the air feels heavy like something was breathing on you."
"I heard that the storms in the north are not natural," another replied, adding, "My cousin said he saw lightning strike from the sky and open a crater in the ground. And it wasn’t normal lightning. It was black."
In Galicia, the nobles also began to notice the changes. In a golden hall, a silver-haired man argued with others while pointing at a map. "Something strange is happening in these regions. These anomalies are no coincidence."
A woman nodded, frowning, "Do you think they have something to do with their plans? If what the rumors say is true, they could have unleashed something that even they themselves cannot control."
As the corrupted energies of the fragments transformed Purgatory’s leaders and upset the balance of the continent, Crhono and Sereda stood on the sidelines, reeling from the destruction of the first fragment. Despite their success, they both knew their task was far from over.
Sereda, with her heightened arcane senses, was the first to notice the changes. In a remote location, as she studied the magical fluctuations, she looked up, sensing a disturbance that seemed to spread like a tide.
"Something is wrong," she said quietly, her words laden with concern. Crhono, who stood beside her, simply nodded. Though he did not have the same connection to the magical energies, he could sense that the world had changed.
"We did not just destroy one fragment. We awakened the others," she said bitterly. Her words hung in the air, a foreshadowing of the struggle yet to come.
Although they had achieved a triumph by destroying the fragment left by Carcom, they now faced an even greater threat: the leaders of Purgatory, transformed by the corrupt power of the fragments, had become more than just human. They had become the new face of chaos.
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Unlike when Carcom had assimilated the fragment of the fallen god, this time, the leaders of Purgatory had not lost their entire being and fallen into madness. They had only been slightly corrupted, so they could still think rationally.
Still, their impulses were growing stronger, as if urging them to move. It would not be long before they lost the battle, but for the moment they could control themselves, so their first move was to gather together and find a solution.
These changes were not only noticed by Crhono, Sereda, and those close to the regions that experienced the changes but also by Andrew. As a god candidate, he is very sensitive to divine energies. Actively detecting them may have been difficult for him, making it impossible for him to locate demigods and the like, but the maddening fragments of the fallen god were different. Experience more content on freewebnovel
It was the abrupt eruption of energy that enveloped everything nearby with the intention of corrupting it. That was a very unusual phenomenon and it did not escape Andrew’s radar. In fact, he was not the only one, Candice suddenly activated her special ability and had a vision that left her pale with fright.
