In a panic, Ira is woken up by screaming.
'What is going on!?'
The silver-haired girl looked all around her, Astheneia's cohort surrounding something—or someone.
Ira sprints over, pushing herself through the crowd, only for a loud thud to he heard, and Adonis to be looming over Astheneia.
"Why the hell would you put yourself in danger like that! Do you know what would have happened if you got injured like Ansil!? You would be dead, Astheneia!"
Ira did not know what had happened—but she had assumed Astheneia had done something reckless.
Staring more intently at Astheneia's body, she noticed the subtle bruises etched across her entire body.
Finally, she began to look around the golden desert, but nothing caught her eye. Soon, she noticed the corpse of an abomination, and then another, then some more..
All around her, a myriad of corpses stretched on, who could have done this?
It was obvious. It was Astheneia—she had slain the myriad of Strayed abominations of all kinds of classes; the most notable being a Strayed Leviathan, a behemoth mass of rough golden skin that blended with the desert, twice the size of the worm abomination.
Ira audibly gasped, her mouth agape. "What the-!"
The sight was one of astonishment and a whiff of fear. No mundane Awakened person could accomplish such a feat—then again, Astheneia was not your typical Awakened.
The most likely situation is that her original Curse of Profanity, Divine Restriction, had relinquished its hold on her powers due to even a single scratch being lethal, allowing the giant brunette to use her full capabilities.
Astheneia had slain a Strayed Tyrant while hindered, so the feat of killing a myriad of Strayed abominations was not too outlandish if it was Astheneia behind it.
Soon, a question arose in Ira's mind:
'How was I not infected by the parasites of the Man-Eaters? Could it be because they lacked a fleshy exterior—protected by their exoskeletons they were made immune to the parasites?'
Most definitely that was the case; or else she would already be dead by now.
Glancing down at her bag that held the worm abomination's flesh, she considered secretly tossing it out.
'No.. maybe I will need it in the future..'
Glancing up, she pried beyond the flesh and body of Adonis as she occasionally did to see the Will of the Awakened cohort.
This time however, something was wrong. His will, which had previously been pristine and controlled, was now violent; embers of red and black tainted the white will.
'How can this be!? When did he become corrupted!?'
The Trial of the Mind, The Reverberant had won the mental battle inside Adonis's head and took control of his body. In doing so, he was corrupted..
The consequence for failing the trial of Body and Mind, was corruption. Not only that, but if the being successfully managed to best you, they would descend deeper onto the path of Profanity.
If Adonis had successfully managed to overcome the Reverberant, he would have become a Crested—but now, the abomination that had usurped his mind had claimed the reward—becoming a Fallen Beast.
No one noticed—no one knew—except for Ira. She could tell Astheneia, but the burden of killing her own comrade could possibly send Astheneia over the edge, causing her to also become a Corrupted herself, truly dooming Ira and the rest.
She knew that the Reverberant inside Astheneia's head would constantly taunt her about the death of her soldier, chipping away at her sanity; she did not need more to deal with.
'But then how.. must I kill the Fallen Beast by my lonesome?! Is that even possible!? A Dormant Beast, killing a Fallen Beast; impossible—impossible it is!'
Could she poison him with the flesh of the worm abomination? Could she possibly strike him down while he was weak and injured from fighting? Neither seemed plausible.
What could she do? A mere Fallen Demon had destroyed an entire fort a decade ago, so what reasonable damage could a mundane girl with supernatural powers do!?
The answer was simple really; she would poison his rations with the worm meat over the next few nights, and slit his throat while he slept.
Suddenly, Astheneia's voice ruined her plans.
"We will not rest at night, we will march on until we encounter the Dune Lord and slay it—only then will we rest."
The giant brunette had no idea that a Fallen Beast was before her at that very moment, and how her words had ruined Ira's plans to kill it.
Astheneia ordered her cohort to begin traveling the golden desert; obeying her orders, Astheneia reached her hand out for Ira to take.
Climbing onto the mighty steed, Ira whispered something into Astheneia's ear.
"Adonis.. He.. He failed in becoming a Crested; he is a Corrupted now. I do not know how to kill him, so I am requesting your help.. strike him down while he is distracted by the beasts before he can strike you down, Astheneia.."
Astheneia did not question Ira on whether her claims were true, only reluctantly nodding her head, grimacing.
"I do not know if I can kill a Fallen Beast without help, Ira. Do you have a plan to weaken.. It."
Ira nodded her head, whispering back to Astheneia. "I know I should not have.. but at least it is coming to use now. I hid a chunk of the Worm Abomination's flesh in my bag, poison him—it, with the meat."
◇
The sun began to set, and Astheneia had ordered her cohort to rest and eat for a moment.
Quickly, Ira handed Astheneia the worm meat.
Rather than tainting Adonis's rations, she poisoned his drink. Instead of allowing her men to pick up their rations separately, she called on them individually under the false reason that "some of you have been eating more than is allowed".
She called Adonis forward, handing him his rations and pouch of tainted water, Astheneia and Ira themselves pretending to remain calm, which was no easy feat, they were standing in the presence of a Fallen Beast, a creature of unfathomable power, after all.
Neither Astheneia nor Ira stared at Adonis, avoiding drawing suspicion—rather, Astheneia began to converse with her cohort.
"Alright, men! Prepare for combat! We shall slay these abominations and make it through the night; there will be losses, but we must push forward in the name of our fallen comrades!"
The sun finally began to fall beyond the horizon, Astheneia and Ira tense—not due to the beasts that lurked beneath the sand during the day, but because of their plan to kill Adonis.
Snarling beasts began to appear one by one, each hungry for Awakened flesh, and maybe a side of Dormant flesh.
They held the desire of destruction in their milky white eyes. Fangs as sharp as swords showed themselves to Ira and the rest, saliva dripping out of their mouths and onto the golden sand underneath them—occasionally they swung back and forth as they awakened from their slumber.
Ira had already picked out her target—a Strayed Fiend, a foe of immense power, something Ira had never even attempted to fight before.
But this time, she was not completely inexperienced and did not possess only a whiff of mist. Commanding her mist to appear, the mass completely covered her body, before seeping into it once again—but not back into a dormant state as previously, rather to enhance the silver-haired girl's body.
Lunging forward past all the other Strayed creatures alike, Astheneia commenced the battle by demonstrating her immense power—a single swing from her rapier separated head from body.
Ira too, lunged forward towards her targeted beast.
Her knife reflected no light from the starless twilight night, already eluding her half blind opponent.
It had no idea she possessed a weapon, and she would use that to her advantage.
She swung as quickly and strongly as she could, cutting the beast's thick hide—the abomination bellowed in pain, lashing out in a crazed frenzy.
No attacks managed to graze Ira, but the ferocious speed at which it moved left her stunned.
'How am I supposed to kill this thing!?'
It swung again; this time, however, the silver-haired girl was unable to move out of the way in time.