Root of corruption(2)

"W-who.... are..... you?"

I asked feeling something strange.

I looked around silently. I was no longer in a forest.

This space. It was pure white, almost blinding.

And in front of me was a small moon that seemed a little out of place.

-That doesn't necessarily matter anymore.

The voice that came out of the moon was that of a woman.

"Why?"

-Because I'm nothing but a record. I'm neither alive nor dead.

I was curious, captivated even.

Who was she, what did she do and do I know her?

"W-what's your name?"

-My name, you already know that.

I flinched slightly.

A record. Something that is neither dead nor alive.

'Wait a second.'

"Are you my avatar? Uh, Sira Katsumi? Is that your name?"

The voice paused for a moment before answering.

-Yes, that was my name.

"I'm sorry, Was?"

I said almost instinctively without thinking.

I wanted to take back those words but was too slow.

-Yes, now I'm closer to what you people call a constellation. Although you.

The voice seemed confused about my presence, before supposedly coming to a realization.

-Those people. I guess you entered that weird device right?

'Is she talking about the capsule thing?'

I nodded.

"I entered via a capsule."

-Alright, we've talked for long enough. Now it's time to go back.

I flinched and started feeling panicked.

"Hey! What about the corruption!? Why did you only talk to me now!? Wh-."

-I'll lend you some of my power. Don't worry.

She sounded relaxed. Like a mother that was comforting a child.

I immediately stopped talking.

Like a child confronted with their angry parent.

'Huh? Why am I making these weird analogies?'

-Ah, I have to make a contract. It's a part of the rules.

A piece of floating paper appeared. And, it was shining.

'Ouch, my eyes.'

Extremely brightly.

*******

The situation was bad.

At this point there was no time to be holding back.

'What in the world is going on?!'

Just a few moments ago they were talking about where to find the source of the propaganda.

[Activating skill: Parry(C+)]

*Boom!*

Alius blocked another attack by its whip like arms.

"Krgh!"

'It's just getting stronger and stronger! It even looks to be preparing something!'

The forest was ruined. Half of the trees disappeared.

'Not to mention I've never heard of a person getting possessed while in a capsule!'

That was the main problem.

Would they be ejected from the capsule? Would they continue to stay inside?

What would happen to their accumulated power?

What would happen if they left in a possessed state?

Alius quickly closed the distance and threw a punch.

*Boom!*

*Splosh!*

A big chunk of the monster's arm was blown off, but it was quickly replaced.

'Do I have to use that?!'

The monster barely resembled a human. Its legs have grown massive and its arms where the size of cannons.

Not to mention Samira who was constantly running towards him like an insane person.

'Here goes nothing.'

[Activating skill: Broken divine heavenly martial arts(A+)]

Something swirled in Alius's body. A small yet concentrated point of energy.

In an instant that small point grew rapidly and transferred to his arm.

"Get away from him already, you monster."

As he was about to punch he hesitated.

"Please don't attack me…. I'm just trying to help…"

Samira jumped in front of Alius.

"Shit."

Samira was practically just a bystander. She wasn't even a powerful adventurer. So she was helpless in front of corruption.

The energy was quickly dispersed and Alius backed away.

'It won't attack Samira but.'

Its whip like arm was quickly brought up.

'Crap, I'm too slow.'

Then it was swung down.

*Fwoosh!*

[Activating skill: Parry(C+)]

*Boom!*

Within the forest of wish another crater was created.

Alius coughed up some blood and prepared himself again.

'At least it's getting more manageable.'

The monster had used that attack multiple times and now Alius was used to the timing of when to activate parry.

'Now th-.'

The ground around Alius quickly became dark.

It used its other arm to attack consecutively.

*Swoosh!*

'It's t-.'

*Boom!*

The monster that didn't resemble a human anymore except for a little bit of white hair on its disgusting head.

The monster grinned widely.

But its expression was quickly calmed after the dust settled.

Now the one enemy had become two.

"Hey are you okay? What the heck is that?"

A person was standing in front of Alius.

"Ugh, who are you?"

'Qi sword?'

He had pure red hair with shining red eyes. He was holding a standard sword that was radiating heat.

"Raijin, now tell me. What in the world is going on?"

Raijin quickly surveyed his surroundings, and his expression quickly became grave.

*Grah!* 

The monster charged towards Raijin but it slowed down a little before hitting nothing.

It felt like something was slowing it down.

"That's a spirit isn't it? Anyway, my friend got possessed by this weird thing. This one girl tried to help but she fainted. But, are you the regressor of this world?"

Alius asked almost recovered.

Raijin looked surprised but didn't ask any questions.

'The advertisement wasn't fake…'

"Huh, friend. Alright, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. This has happened before."

*Tst! Tst!*

Raijin's sword sparked and a soft wind covered both of them.

"What do you mean?"

Alius asked while glaring at the monster.

"Hmm, I was taken over by something we called corruption. It enhanced my power by forcefully taking control of my body. Although...."

Raijin looked around and stopped for a bit after seeing someone on the ground.

"I don't have a countermeasure. The only thing we can do is stall."

Alius nodded with a grim expression, yet with understanding eyes.

"It seems like a wind spirit."

He decided to change the subject.

"Yeah another friend made a contract recently, and who's that?"

Raijin asked looking towards Samira who was muttering incomprehensible words.

"Don't hurt her, she hasn't done anything."

The monster after seemingly examining the two yelled loudly and attacked Raijin, the more dangerous one.

*Grah!*

Raijin nodded while swinging his sword.

*Swish!*

The sword cleanly cut off an "arm" that was approaching, leaving a faint streak of light that sparked lightly in the air before fading away.

"Alright, if you can make me get a clean hit off then this will be easier."

Alius said while focusing on gathering energy.

*Grah!*

The monster let out a lame scream and started running at Raijin while Samira followed closely behind.

'They're working together now....'

Alius focused and Raijin quickly ran towards the monster and got ready to stab.

"Huh? Why are you-"

The monster backed away and Samira appeared in front of it.

"Ha, this is annoying. But, I guess you overlooked something."

A simple distraction.

Raijin smiled slightly and retracted his sword.

"Hello, my name is Raijin. I don't believe we've met before? What's your name?"

When you meet another person don't you at least wanna know their name?

*Boom!*

Meanwhile Alius attacked the monster while Samira was distracted.

"Shit, I missed!"

"Got it!"

Raijin quickly ran towards the monster avoiding Samira.

The monster tried to stop him by extending its arm.

He swung his sword calmly.

*Swish!*

The sword cleanly cut through its flesh and he continued running.

But before he closed the distance something changed.

*Boom!*

A large shockwave. Everyone was quickly knocked back and looked at the monster who had once again changed.

"What the hell is that? Cough!"

Raijin coughed loudly and looked at his blood.

"It's... moving."

His blood was moving like a symbiote trying to reach him.

Suddenly he started losing his sight.

He remembered this feeling.

It was the same as when he started attacking Kazumi.

"Shit, fire move by my will and strength!"

The kyrillos's were a family full of magic swordsmen, so learning magic was needed to even be considered worth anything.

Quickly his body temperature rose and fire started to be emitted from his body and his boiling his blood.

"Ahhh!!"

He had to burn it.

Alius wasn't in a good situation either. He was able to resist the unknown power and eject it from his body, but now he had to fight the monster on its own.

"Now it has about.... twenty eyes. Shit."

Samira was silently looking at Alius ominously.

"Cough!"

Alius looked at his status window.

"Is that what caused it?"

[You are being affected by ^*%#^+%}+]

"My mind feels heavier but my body feels lighter."

Alius chuckled to himself in resignation.

"It really feels horrible."

*Rumble!*

Rocks fell over and someone stood up from the rubble.

"Corruption, that's what it's called nowadays."

The person sighed and swung their arm lightly to the right.

*Gragh!*

The monster grew new and stronger arms and swung towards them.

"What a vile creature."

********

I felt the mana as if it was a part of me.

I felt like I could move the mana simply by thinking of it.

This was a free power.

A power no one owned but.

I could use it. I could control it.

[Activating world skill: Mana manipulation(none)!]

*Gragh!*

"What a vile creature."

I wasn't talking. I couldn't move my body either. Someone was using my body.....

'Wait, this is originally her body right?'

I briefly thought about it and wanted to sigh.

The monster's arms stopped moving, suspended in mid air.

"A low rank parasite? How did you allow it to grow so big?"

I looked towards Alius.

"Don't..... ask... me."

He looked like he was about to fall asleep.

'Crap! He has absorbed too much corruption! I-'

"Huh, I guess I'll need your help stranger."

I took all of the mana surrounding me and created a sword.

'What are you planning?!'

I asked internally.

"You have an authority to destr- purify corruption."

'Oh, I asked a stupid question.'

I took the sword and swung it.

*Swish!*

[Activating authority: Slash that purifies(none)!]

'Why did she already swing it? It's not a ranged attack.'

I was momentarily puzzled but quickly got my answer.

*Sshhh!*

The simple slash was released as a flying slash and eventually became a ball of energy containing a little bit of "purifying energy."

'It could be used like this?'

"Oh, it worked."

Huh? 

'So you had no idea it would work....'

All of a sudden I felt like a soul trapped in a body with no choice but to look at what was happening.

I couldn't control my body and I had to see her trial and error.

"You're really something. Now, let's finish this quickly."

'I give up.'

Swiftly I made the ball spin and it flew at Alius.

'Don't kill him.'

"Of course, I won't."

I felt slightly nervous but knew internally that she wouldn't kill him.

'Please let the contract be true.'

The ball popped like a balloon and surrounded Alius.

"Another slash please."

'Ugh, sure.'

We r-

*Gragh!*

The monster attacked us but was quickly subdued.

"Let us have room to work."

'I can't believe I struggled so much with that monster.'

I looked with apathetic eyes and an excited expression.

"It's been quite a while since I've played with mana. Hihihi~."

The dramatic situation was solved quickly and as if it was just another day.

'Maybe if she continued acting all cool that would've helped.'

*Grgh!*

The monster was in a pathetic state not able to move.

'Should I feel bad?'

I moved my arm slowly.

'Huh?'

I was gathering mana. Quite an excessive amount.

"And you."

*Squish!*

I stepped on the monster looking down on it.

"Die."

*Splitch!*

First I put a lot of force on it.

*G-!*

And before it could even begin to squirm I cut it.

I made mana blades, and cut it.

'Uh, that's.'

*Swish!*

Hundreds of times.

*Swishswishswish!*

I almost created a storm with the amount of mana blades.

"Kazumi."

I said coldly.

'Yeah, got it.'

[Activating authority: Slash that purifies(none)!]

And one last cut.

I felt a little uncomfortable but I understood.

It was corruption. An entity of thing that ruins entire worlds.

[You have killed a parasite of corruption(?~S+)!]

'It's a parasite? No, that's just what it's called. I don't know enough.'

I felt a bit pathetic about my lack of knowledge but dismissed it.

[Your level, stats, titles and skills will be measured!]

[Measuring...]

"Stay, dead."

I looked at the blood and ruined forest.

'At least it's over.'

What would happen to this place?

"We should solve this problem from its roots."

After all, there was still the question as to how this happened.

"There is still more."