By the time the Fire Spirit disappeared, Mark was a dozen meters away from the Guardian.
While the collision between both attacks was silent, the Fire Spirit's, in and of itself, wasn't.
Couple with Mark's, [D] Ranked Passive Skill "Weightless Steps" [D], the Spirit's noisy flames had managed to make the Guardian lose track of the former's movements.
Dozens of seconds earlier, Elisa stood next to the wall, while the Monster ran.
She watched it get further away.
Her body, shaking.
Her eyes, distant.
The hatred and horror of Dark Magic.
The disgust emanating from the Guardian's grotesque appearance.
Pity for the Harpy the Guardian once was.
The Monster was running towards the Boss monster.
Hope.
The Monster was running.
The Monster that could freely use Corruption Magic.
Worse than that.
The Monster that had made Corruption part of its body.
Worse than that.
A functional part of his body. A practical part. A useful one.
Fear.
Elisa brought a hand to her stomach.
'Not...'
A headache.
Dizziness.
She suddenly felt extremely lightheaded.
'Now...'
She brought her other hand to her forehead before lowering her gaze.
Gripping her head tightly, Elisa clenched her teeth.
'Now is... Not the time...!'
Hope and fear, together.
The Corruption that had laid low for a while now came back.
It had worked up quite the appetite.
Hope and fear, together as one.
A meal too alluring to ignore.
Hope and fear, mixed and joined into one being.
Once Monster, that aroused both.
The Fire Spirit shot its attack, and Elisa trembled at the sudden sound.
She raised her gaze.
From crying eyes, dark rays were projected.
Something was about to happen in front of her.
A terrible encounter.
A terrible fight.
A horrifying matchup.
Corruption Magic VS Dark Magic.
Related Magic types.
Two Magic Types that were feared. And for good reason.
Related Magic Types that had caused her an infinite amount of pain.
Two Magic Types, wielded by two Monsters.
Two Monsters.
Two Monsters...
The light in Elisa's eyes seemed to dim down.
'Dark... Corruption... Dreadful... Death...'
Her left hand slowly moved away from her stomach, and towards her back.
Lazily, her slender fingers wrapped themselves around the bow that rested around her shoulder.
'Unacceptable... Unholy... Filthy...'
Dazed.
Or rather, half asleep, she seemed.
Elisa brought her bow in front of her.
The hand that gripped her head struggled for a bit, but it ended up letting go.
'Two Monsters...'
One hand around the bowstring, the other around the bow's grip.
'Corrupted...'
The wind around her started moving violently.
Elisa smiled a terrible smile.
Wind Magic was, in no way, even remotely close to Dark Magic.
In fact, it was one of the more difficult Magic types to "Corrupt".
Perhaps that is why she found using it so hard.
Whenever she manipulated the Wind, the Corruption would react and intense pain would follow.
But now, it didn't hurt.
As she formed a powerful Wind Arrow, perhaps even more powerful than the previous one, it didn't hurt.
The only time she could truly utilize her Wind Magic, was when listening.
When obeying the Corruption that had infected her body.
'Two...'
At some point, Elisa's vision had changed.
What lay in front of her had been altered.
'Monsters...'
Indistinguishable from one another, two Monsters.
Their bodies were dark.
No.
The Monsters almost looked like... Shadows?
The half-awake Elisa found that this made sense.
The two were terrible and grotesque Monsters.
So monstrous, that the World itself had deemed them calamities unworthy of being seen by others.
The World itself, had covered their bodies in darkness.
'...!'
All over those Monsters' bodies, two dozen eyes emerged from the darkness.
Horizontally slit pupils.
Yellow iris.
The pupils wandered randomly, but it was enough to make Elisa's hand tremble.
'The Devil's-'
Suddenly, every one of those eyes was directed at her.
"AH...!" She hurriedly stepped back.
Her back hit the wall.
Despite her fear and agitation, Elisa clenched her teeth.
Despite the Monsters' nightmarish appearances, she tightened her grip around her bow.
Now wasn't the time to falter.
A great Evil was standing in front of her.
A great Evil that could not be ignored or forgiven.
An Evil that needed to be punished.
No.
An Evil that needed to be extinguished.
An Evil that needed to perish.
She had to kill it.
That, was the right thing to do.
After all, even the World itself had rejected that Evil.
Faltering now, would be the same as standing in the World's way.
Elisa closed an eye.
With great determination and courage, she rose her bow slightly.
She tilted her head.
And took aim.
Two Evils.
One was unmoving.
The other was relatively fast.
Which to execute first?
The end of Elisa's arrow did not move by a lot.
From one side to the other.
Less than one centimeter.
That was the distance the end of her arrowhead had to cross.
One centimeter was all it took for her arrowhead to change targets.
Elisa took a deep breath in.
She calmed her mind.
'Evil... That must be exterminated...'
Which to shoot?
The answer was obvious.
'The one... That I'm most convinced... I can hit...'
Elisa had decided on her target.
All she had to do now, was let go.
Let go-
Let go-
The Corruption inside her shouted.
'Kill it... Evil... Devils... Kill them... Monsters...'
And she listened.
'Kill them all!'
The arrow was released.
It flew towards the target.
Elisa smiled widely.
She was pleased.
Very pleased.
By arrow's speed, by its trajectory, by the Mana it held. Everything was perfect.
Pierce-
The Evil had been pierced through.
The Evil she was less likely to miss.
The Evil closest to her position.
Inside Elisa, Corruption dwelled.
Compared to the mysterious "entities" that are Titles, Corruption seems a much simpler matter.
Corruption: A substance that, once inside a being's body, Corrupts its organs.
A nice and simple circular definition. A useless definition.
How else could it be defined then?
Even Mark, who has been using Corruption Magic for a long time, would probably need to think a bit before explaining what it meant exactly.
What it meant to Corrupt.
In a way, it seemed an extraordinary and nonsensical ability.
Previously, Mark thought of Corruption as nothing more than a very powerful type of Poison.
A Poison that would, gradually, inhibit various bodily functions.
But after witnessing the effects Corruption Magic has had on the Corrupted Dark Elves, it couldn't be simply defined as Poison anymore.
Corruption almost seemed related to something Nia had briefly told Mark about.
A Magic Type she had mentioned in passing, only once.
Soul Magic.
He had no idea what it was, or what it could do.
Nevertheless, Mark thought that Corruption Magic had something to do with Soul Magic.
It was understandable.
The idea wasn't entirely false.
But not entirely true either.
The two Magic Types be linked, but linking them together wasn't necessary.
Corruption Magic corrupts various vital body parts and organs.
The lungs, the heart, the blood that flows throughout the body, and others.
And among those other body parts, is the brain. The numerous nerves inside the body too.
A Corrupted Lung won't allow breathing.
A Corrupted Heart won't beat the way it is supposed to.
A Corrupted Liver won't filter the blood inside the body.
Corrupted Blood won't flow through the veins and arteries the way it is supposed to flow through them.
One definition some on the Outside have given the ability to Corrupt is:
[The ability to forcefully and gradually inhibit the Corrupted from operating the way they are supposed to for an extended period of time. After some time, the Corrupted, whether a living being, an organ, or else, will surrender to the Corruption and stop fighting back. Once the Corruption is not resisted anymore, the Corrupted will start operating once more, except in the opposite way than the one they previously operated in.]
Given that definition, how would Corrupted Nerves operate?
Or, more importantly perhaps, how would a Corrupted Brain operate?
How can a Brain operate in the opposite direction it was intended to? How would it do so? What would that mean?
For that, a precise answer on how a given Brain operates is needed.
But don't different Brains operate differently?
Each Brain is unique, some argue.
And it is because they argue that, that they would not talk about a Corrupted Brain.
Those find such a denotation simplistic and, frankly, plain wrong.
No.
Those wouldn't refer to it as a Corrupted Brain. But rather, as a Corrupted Soul.
Then, how would a Soul operate in the opposite direction that it is supposed to?
An interesting question, for which the answer, unfortunately, remains a mystery for most.
Elisa could feel her body pleasantly tingle.
Were the Corruption inside her a Title, it definitely would have rejoiced at the events unfolding in front of her.
Elisa smiled, as her arrow passed through the Monster's stomach.
'With this...'
She smiled, as her arrow passed through Mark's stomach.
