The Eclipsed Order

Chapter 130: Chapter 130: The Source of Corruption

A few days later, I received an invitation from the main headquarters.

Apparently, I was required to appear there personally, which meant I had to leave Draven and Cedric at Starlight for the time being. It wasn’t exactly something I was worried about, since the two of them were perfectly capable of taking care of themselves, although there was one thing I was slightly concerned about.

As long as Draven doesn’t cause any trouble, they’ll be fine.

Knowing him, that’s probably asking for too much.

Still, I decided to leave them there and took Astra with me instead. There was another reason for that as well.

Astra’s growth had become rather extraordinary.

I had been keeping an eye on her development through True Sight, and the results were far beyond what I initially expected. Her control over the power of the Fifteen-Tailed Celestial Fox had improved at an absurd rate, and she was already beginning to draw upon the authorities contained within those fifteen tails without needing me to guide her through every step.

At this point, I could no longer regard her as simply a creature that happened to possess immense potential.

She was beginning to understand her own power.

And yesterday, we finally confirmed something else about her.

Astra was a girl.

Well, technically, we already knew that she was female after examining her human form more closely, but her appearance had changed considerably since the night I found her, so it took some time before I could properly understand what she was supposed to look like.

Her long white hair reached well past her waist, with strands of black and colors resembling a faint rainbow appearing toward the ends. The colors weren’t bright enough to make her look unnatural; instead, they seemed to shift subtly whenever light passed through them, almost as though the remnants of several different kinds of energy had settled within her hair.

A small celestial insignia rested on her forehead, shaped like a delicate mark rather than an ordinary ornament. It was part of her existence as a Celestial Fox, and unlike her tails, it remained visible even when she took human form.

Her eyes were perhaps the most unusual part.

They were red, but not the ordinary shade of red one would expect from a person’s eyes. Tiny points of light could be seen within them, resembling distant stars scattered across a dark sky. It wasn’t an exaggerated glow, nor did they constantly shine like some magical gemstone. They simply carried an unnatural depth that made it clear she wasn’t an ordinary human.

As for her tails, she could conceal them completely while in human form.

That was convenient.

If she had to walk through the capital with fifteen enormous tails following behind her, explaining her existence would have been considerably more troublesome.

Which was why I decided to bring her with me.

I wanted to see how far her abilities had developed, and more importantly, I wanted to see how she would react when confronted with a genuine threat rather than something I had created for training.

At the moment, the two of us were walking along the road outside the capital, heading toward the eastern forest.

Herrera was waiting for us somewhere ahead.

"Master."

Astra’s voice reached me from beside me.

Her voice had become noticeably clearer as she grew accustomed to her human form. It was gentle and youthful, with a naturally soft tone that suited her appearance, but there was nothing forced or overly sweet about it. She simply spoke that way.

"What is it, Astra?"

She looked toward the mountains in the distance.

"There’s something strange."

Her expression became slightly more serious.

"I’m sensing a very strong corrupted presence coming from that mountain."

I looked in the same direction.

"So you’ve noticed it."

"Yes."

She nodded.

"It’s much stronger than the corrupted creatures we’ve encountered before. The energy is spreading through the area, too. It’s almost as if something is continuously producing it."

"Don’t worry."

I continued walking.

"We already know what’s causing it."

The girls had already investigated the matter.

The appearances of the corrupted creatures across several regions weren’t isolated incidents. There was a common source behind them, and after tracing the flow of corrupted energy, we finally found something that didn’t belong to any known category of demon or monster.

A being that had once possessed a completely different existence.

A Unmade.

A creature whose body, identity, and very existence had been fundamentally rewritten by corruption.

From a distance, it could still resemble a human being.

That was what made it particularly disturbing.

But beneath that appearance was something entirely different.

Its body was saturated with corrupted energy, while its existence itself had become unstable, as though whatever it once was had been stripped away and replaced with something else.

I had no idea how powerful it truly was.

True Sight could reveal the nature and structure of its power, but there were still limits to what could be understood without directly witnessing its abilities.

And there was only one way to solve that problem.

See it for myself.

The location we’d identified was an eastern mountain range near the Great Lake, and judging from the concentration of corrupted energy surrounding it, the creature had been there for quite some time.

"By the way Astra, I’m wondering since the day i pick you. Do you know where you came from?"

I glanced at her.

"I’ve wondered about that myself."

Astra lowered her gaze.

"I’m still trying to remember."

Her fingers lightly tightened around the edge of her clothing.

"But there’s one thing I do remember."

"What is it?"

"The reason I exist."

I stopped walking.

Astra turned toward me.

Her expression was different from before, almost as if she had been carrying those memories for a long time without knowing how to explain them.

"I don’t think I was born in the usual sense."

She looked toward the sky.

"I remember the night I appeared in this world."

Her voice became quieter.

"There was something happening at the same time."

I listened without interrupting.

"Fifteen great beings died."

My eyes narrowed slightly.

Astra continued.

"They were beings whose existences were connected to the fundamental powers of this world. The Phoenix. The Leviathan. The Behemoth. The Thunder Roc. The World Serpent. The Frost Wyrm. The Void Mantis. The World Tree Stag. The Abyssal Kraken. The Sun Lion. The Dream Eater. The Ironback Titan. The Star Serpent. The Death Raven."

She paused.

"And the Primordial Dragon."

I already knew those names.

They were among the most powerful legendary beings to have ever existed.

Their authorities were different from one another, but each represented a fundamental aspect of power.

Astra lowered her eyes.

"That night, is the death of a Pheonix."

"And you appeared."

She nodded.

"I don’t know whether it was their deaths that created me, or whether something else happened because of them, but I can feel their authorities inside me."

She placed a hand over her chest.

"Each one became part of me."

Her voice remained calm, but there was uncertainty beneath it.

"I think that is why I have fifteen tails. Each tail carries the authority of one of those beings."

I remained silent for a moment.

So that’s what it was.

The timing wasn’t a coincidence.

The night Astra appeared in this world was also the night the phoenix died.

Rather than inheriting their powers through blood or some ordinary form of succession, Astra seemed to have been born from the vacancy they left behind.

Their deaths created a gap.

And somehow, that gap became her.

"Is that really the reason?"

"I don’t know."

Astra shook her head.

"But it’s the only explanation I have."

I looked at her again.

"To think the deaths of fifteen legendary creatures were connected to your existence."

I couldn’t help but find it fascinating.

"No wonder each of your tails carries a different authority."

Astra smiled faintly.

"Master."

"Hm?"

"What is a god like you doing in the human world?"

That question came rather naturally from her.

I sighed.

"That’s a long story."

I resumed walking.

"And considering how complicated your own existence is, I suppose we’re not so different in that regard."

Astra followed beside me.

"But you’re still following my orders despite knowing what I am."

She looked at me as though the answer should have been obvious.

"Don’t say something like that, Master."

Her expression softened.

"It’s because of you that I’m alive."

I didn’t respond immediately.

"That night when you found me, I was already close to death. You knew I was dangerous, yet you still took me with you."

She lowered her gaze.

"If you hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t be standing here now."

Her voice remained gentle, but there was genuine gratitude in it.

"So whatever I am, whatever power I possess, and whatever happens to me in the future..."

She looked directly at me.

"I will never forget what you did for me."

I smiled slightly.

"Don’t worry about it."

She seemed about to speak again, but I continued before she could.

"As I told you before, you’re not just someone under my command."

I glanced at her.

"You’re family too."

Astra froze.

For a moment, she said nothing.

Then her expression changed, and a faint smile appeared on her face.

"T-Thank you, Master."

She looked away, apparently trying to hide how happy that single sentence had made her.

"I promise I’ll never leave your side."

"Well..."

I scratched the back of my head.

"Thanks for the dedication."

We continued along the mountain road.

After some time, the forest finally came into view.

We had reached the meeting point.

I stopped.

A presence emerged from the shadow of a nearby tree.

Herrera stepped forward.

Her violet hair moved slightly with the breeze as she approached, before lowering her head respectfully.

"Master."

"How were the preparations?"

"Everything has been arranged."

She straightened.

"The location has been secured, and I’ve already confirmed the path toward the source of the corruption."

"Good."

I looked toward the mountains.

"Then let’s go."

Herrera nodded.

The three of us disappeared from the road.

There was no need for horses, roads, or any other ordinary means of transportation.

Teleportation was simply more convenient.

The scenery around us warped for an instant before returning to normal.

When my feet touched the ground again, the atmosphere had already changed.

The closer we moved toward the eastern mountain, the heavier the corrupted energy became.

Even the air felt different.

Astra’s expression tightened.

"This is much stronger than before."

"Yeah."

We continued forward.

Then something moved between the trees.

And another.

Then another.

Within moments, countless corrupted creatures emerged from the surrounding forest, their distorted bodies crawling out from behind trees, climbing over rocks, and spreading across the ground ahead of us.

They had already noticed our presence.

Herrera stepped forward.

"Excuse me."

She raised one hand.

Her fingers moved almost imperceptibly.

Nothing appeared to happen.

There was no flash of light.

Only the faintest sound of something passing through the air.

Then—

SHRIIK!

The creatures stopped.

Thin, invisible threads had already wrapped around their bodies.

For an instant, everything remained still.

Then Herrera gently moved her fingers.

SHING!

The entire group was sliced apart at once.

Bodies collapsed across the ground as the threads withdrew into the darkness between her fingers.

Astra stared ahead.

Herrera simply lowered her hand.

I looked beyond the fallen creatures.

The corrupted energy became even denser farther ahead.

"Looks like something powerful is waiting for us."

Herrera nodded.

"That is most likely the reason the corrupted creatures have been appearing in different regions."

"Then we can’t allow something like that to continue roaming freely."

We proceeded deeper into the mountain.

Eventually, the forest opened into a vast clearing.

The ground itself had been corrupted.

Dark energy spread across the earth like veins, while twisted trees surrounded the open space.

And at the center stood the source.

A figure resembling a man stood motionless amid the corruption.

His body looked almost human, but only at first glance. Dark cracks ran across his skin, glowing faintly with corrupted energy, while parts of his body appeared slightly distorted, as though his physical form had been rewritten repeatedly and never completely settled.

His face was human enough to recognize, yet there was something fundamentally wrong about it.

Beside him stood five other beings.

The Fallen Ascendants.

Each had once been a powerful existence that had attempted to transcend its natural limits, only to be transformed by the very power it sought.

Their bodies were no longer completely human.

One possessed elongated limbs covered in blackened armor-like growths.

Another had a distorted body wrapped in layers of corrupted flesh.

A third carried enormous wings that appeared to have been torn apart and reconstructed.

The fourth had several unnatural eyes scattered across its face and neck.

The fifth stood silently with a massive weapon fused into one arm.

None of them moved.

Their presence alone was enough to tell me that these weren’t ordinary corrupted creatures.

I activated True Sight.

The information immediately began unfolding before my eyes.

The corruption surrounding them wasn’t merely coating their bodies.

It had become part of their existence.

Interesting.

Before I could examine them further, the central figure finally moved.

His lips curved into a wide, unpleasant smile.

"Well, well."

His voice carried easily across the clearing.

"Who do we have here?"

He looked between the three of us.

"To think you’d make it this far without losing a single person."

His smile widened.

"I’ll admit, I’m impressed."

He laughed softly before looking toward me.

"Did the king send you?"

His expression twisted into open amusement.

"That foolish old man still thinks he can interfere with things beyond his understanding?"

He laughed again, the sound echoing through the corrupted forest.

Astra remained silent.

Herrera’s eyes narrowed.

"Master, just give me the word."

Her fingers moved slightly.

"And I’ll tear him apart."

"Not yet."

I kept my eyes on the man.

"Understood."

The man’s eyebrow rose.

"Hm?"

He seemed to have noticed the exchange.

"What are you whispering about?"

He tilted his head.

"Don’t tell me you can’t speak."

His smile became even wider.

"That would be unfortunate."

He lifted one hand and casually pointed toward one of the Fallen Ascendants.

"Go."

The creature immediately moved.

The ground cracked beneath its first step as it launched itself toward us.

But it didn’t get far.

Thin strands suddenly appeared around its body.

They wrapped around its arms, legs, torso, and neck before tightening all at once.

The Fallen Ascendant struggled violently.

GRRRRKH!

Its claws dug into the ground as it attempted to break free.

The threads didn’t move.

The man stopped smiling.

"Hm?"

Herrera stood several meters away, her hand slightly raised.

The Fallen Ascendant pulled harder.

CRACK!

The ground beneath its feet fractured.

Still, the threads held.

The man’s expression changed.

"Interesting."

He slowly turned toward Herrera.

"You managed to restrain one of my Fallen."

His smile returned.

"Just who are you?"

Herrera answered with nothing more than a cold smile.

I stepped forward.

True Sight remained active.

"What is your purpose for doing this?"

The man looked at me.

For a moment, surprise crossed his face.

Then he laughed.

"Oh."

He pointed toward me.

"So you can speak after all."

His smile returned.

"You ask my purpose?"

He spread his arms.

"Isn’t it obvious?"

His eyes gleamed with corrupted energy.

"We’re going to slaughter every human in this kingdom."

Astra’s expression hardened.

I remained calm.

"For what reason?"

"Reason?"

The man’s smile faded slightly.

"Why should I explain myself to you?"

He tilted his head.

"Who exactly do you think you are?"

I studied him for another moment.

"You’re certainly stronger than I expected."

The man’s grin returned.

"But unfortunately for you, your plan ends here."

He stared at me.

Then he laughed.

"Heh..."

His laughter gradually grew louder.

"Is that so?"

He spread his arms.

"What should I do now?"

His smile became almost grotesquely wide.

"Should I be afraid or should i cry?"

I smiled.

"Of course you should."

The man stopped laughing.

I turned toward Herrera and Astra.

"Herrera, Astra."

Both looked toward me.

"Those five are yours."

I glanced at the five Fallen Ascendants.

"I’ll handle their leader."

Herrera’s smile returned.

"Understood, Master."

Astra nodded.

"Understood."

The corrupted man stared at us for several seconds before his expression slowly changed.

For the first time, the amusement in his eyes had disappeared.

The next moment would decide exactly how dangerous this creature truly was.

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