There were a few ways to get food on a trash planet, the most common option was to scrounge around for whatever was laying around, praying to the architects that it was edible, the second most common option was to get it fresh from the source.
And by fresh from the source, Ester meant killing someone or something and eating their corpse.
In that manner, the animals currently bashing on the door with all their might were animals that opted for the second most common option, having chosen to escape the chaos stirred up by the Corrupted in favor of the fresh meal hidden behind some very sturdy doors.
Instinctive fear towards the Corrupted feasting on them to sate its endless hunger might be present, but a scavenger couldn't ignore the hunger gnawing at them constantly.
*BANG
Thank the Architects that the doors were more durable than expected.
*BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG
A whole lot more durable than expected..
Glancing at the blast doors that gained more than a few dents, although Ester was curious as to why the Slum rat had this place all to himself without any other gangs taking control of the place, he first had to deal with the soon to be corpse in front of him.
'Since I just made sure that he can't bleed out to death, I can now deal with the breathing problem.'
How to deal with the breathing problem?
Simple, just recall what the paranoid old man coequally known as the Gravesmith taught them.
Surgery.
If the words of the people exiled to this planet sized trash dump were to believed, Surgery wasn't exactly rare in the world outside.
Surgery was however, incredibly risky in a place where an open wound spelled free real estate for curses, diseases and other things that people generally didn't want in their bodies.
It was still treatable with the proper medicines, ward schemes, Astra spells and/ or elixirs, all of which were nearly impossible to find on this backwater trash planet hence the riskiness.
'Another reason to leave this place... but back to dealing with the soon to be corpse.'
The goal was to make this soon to be corpse just look like a corpse but isn't actually a corpse after all.
"Help me with his shirt!"
"Okay."
Taking off the shirt with Velux's help, Ester observed the soon to be corpse underneath the one remaining light.
It wasn't good.
"Shit."
Eyeing the chest, Ester couldn't help but curse, the multicolored veins signifying a high stage of air poisoning was the least of their worries right now, for underneath the colorful wires of life, a black tar like substance was currently gathering underneath his chest.
Velux's brother was turning into a Corrupted.
At this point, the no breathing problem was shoved to the back of his mind, because there was another problem blooming right in front of him.
'Setting aside that a Corrupted is having a party downstairs, now a Corrupted is being born right in front of me? This is fucked.'
Ester roughly rustled his head, it had the potential of exposing his identity but Ester really didn't care right now.
One Corrupted was rare enough in a world where people usually didn't survive long enough to become one on account of dying due to a variety of other factors, including but not limited to hunger.
But two of them? In the same place? The odds of escaping a trash planet guarded by the Maginum kingdom was ironically higher.
Basically the math lied.
It was hard to not think that a particularly sadistic Architect had found their eye on this place.
'Which is impossible because no architect would willingly lay eyes on this Polluted Aether trash bag of a-.'
Someone tapped Ester on his side, snapping him out of his complicated mental spiral.
"B-Bro, c-can you save my b-big bro?"
Turning to look at the stuttering mess, Velux stared teary eyed at him, it seemed that he also knew what this tar like substance meant.
Staring at the teary eyes that could be mistaken for the little rats, Ester instinctively bumped his head with the bottom of his fist.
Eyes shifting from teary to confused at the sudden head bump filled with good will, Ester pulled back his hand as if nothing had just happened.
"Of course I can but..." Ester made the universal sign for money.
Shifting from teary eyed confusion to teary eyed understanding, the slum rat's head bobbed up and down.
'...He really reminds me of little rat.'
"I can give you Celesteel."
'A star Alloy?'
Star alloys as a whole were a topic that Ester mostly forgot about, there were a few reasons but the major one is that it was way to valuable to throw away even by accident.
Bluntly speaking, Ester found it hard to believe that a slum rat like Velux to have some in his possession but...
'Since he reminds me of little rat I guess I could just cut him some slack.'
Ignoring the fact that the slack in question was several kilometers, Ester agreed "If you tell anyone what happens next, we're killing your big bro."
Several hurried nods in a singular moment later, Ester beckoned Eva away from the door.
If he was going to surgically remove the corruption, better do it properly instead of half assing it and regretting the decision later.
Popping the broken piece of arm from its socket, Eva popped down besides him.
[P-Plan?] She asked as he picked off the bits stuck to his arm socket.
"A simple cut and replace."
[Gotcha.]
"Mind taking out the blade?"
[G-gimme.]
Passing the arm over to Eva, Ester looked at the Little Rat lookalike.
"Remember what I just said?"
"Don't tell anyone what happened here."
"Good." Ester pulled down his hood, exposing the signature of all those adopted by the Gravesmith. "You better keep that promise."
Freezing in place at the sight of the grey hair, Ester ignored the kid in favor of saving his big bro.
Time was tight after all.
Taking in a deep breath to steady himself as monsters banged on the blast doors in the background, Ester turned off the respirator, unlocking the clasps holding his mask in place.
He already regretted it.
'But just because I regret doesn't mean I can back out now.'
Ignoring the urge to put the mask back on to escape the grimy air poking at his lungs with every breath since deep cleaning the respirator was more trouble than its worth, Ester let his finger hover over the Corrupted portion of the body.
Eye twitching as he felt an instinctive repulsion from the black tar shifting unsettlingly, Ester focused and let the Aether in his body flow.
'Better hurry before the Corruption gets to either the brain or the neurostem.'
Light bloomed over the body.
---
Annoying 'She' thought.
Taking in several deep breaths that tore up the surroundings, exposing metal and bone.
But 'Her' hunger wasn't sated just yet.
Sensing 'Her' surroundings, 'She' felt the color red as several pillars of light slammed into 'Her', distorting 'Her' body and making the hunger within 'Her' grow.
Locking onto the ones who made 'Her' annoyed, 'She' sucked them into 'Her' body.
Separating them from the rock that followed when 'She' took a breath, 'She' twisted 'Her' body and melted them down, reforming 'Her' body as 'She' rose back to the correct form.
The lights struck 'Her' again.
Angry
Melting down the metal ones as they let out vibrations from within 'Her', 'Her' hunger disappeared slightly.
'Her' body moved as light pierced the place where 'She' previously was.
Sensing the thousands of meals up above 'She' prepared to take in a deep breath.
But 'She' couldn't.
Bringing her senses back down, several metal meals surrounded 'Her' as more light distorted 'Her' body further and further away from correctness.
From afar 'She' could sense more of these metal meals appear.
Taking in a deep breath, several metal ones were sucked into 'Her' stomach, instantly consumed to sate 'Her' hunger whilst bringing 'Her' closer to 'Her' correct form.
But 'She' wasn't allowed to properly melt the metal meals down to sate 'Her' hunger as more and more light distorted 'Her' body further and further away from the correct form.
Irritated
'She' glared at 'Her' surroundings before lifting 'Her' arms embedded into the rock.
'Her' legs shifted shapes as 'She' slid backwards.
Faces pressed against 'Her' body, screaming as they sated 'Her' hunger.
Unsatisfying
But 'She' still felt hungry.
'Her' arms reformed to their correct appearance as light tried to distort them all.
Taking in a deep breath to fuel 'Her' reformation to the correct appearance, more and more light distorted her as anger bloomed within 'Her' senses.
Melting down everyone still in 'Her' stomach to reform 'Her' back to the correct appearance, 'She' looked up to the sky that had appeared at some point.
A small tidbit of knowledge appeared within 'Her' mind.
Pausing in 'Her' retreat as more and more light distorted 'Her' correct form, 'She' looked towards the meal box.
'She' stared at the light coming from 'Him.'
The hunger bloomed.
Then the 'Thing' at the top of the meal box rose.
---
25 DAYS SINCE PROJECT VOID BUFFER FIRST FIRED ITS FLAMES
13 DAYS SINCE PROJECT VOID BUFFER FIRED ITS FLAMES THE SECOND TIME
13 DAYS SINCE THE CORRUPTED OF C-POINT BEGAN 'HER' HUNT
+++
Had exams that kicked their ass and a birthday party this tree completely forgot about.
Also got soft locked out of Writing site due to being forced to log in over and over and over and over again.
Tree that is terribly sorry