It was midday in an alley within the Dock District of Twilight City.
“Sister Lia, we should be safe for the time being.” Helen let out a breath, his voice kept extremely low. He still maintained a forced composure, but the exhaustion in his eyes was impossible to hide.
Aurelia gave a soft hum of acknowledgment, but her gaze did not relax. She continued to scan their surroundings with a wary eye.
Suddenly, her body stiffened. Her perception became incredibly sharp in an instant, and in less than a single breath, her gaze locked onto a pile of foul-smelling, discarded sacks.
There, she saw a glimpse of tattered linen that seemed out of place in the filthy environment. Based on the color, she could vaguely identify it as the pale beige worn by low-ranking members of the Church.
What made Aurelia’s pupils contract even more was the sight of several wisps of gray mist writhing and dissipating around the edges of the fabric. The aura contained a sliver of power that she found utterly repulsive, yet it felt almost identical to her own.
“Helen.” Her voice was tense as she signaled for the boy to look over.
Helen followed her gaze, and his expression darkened significantly. “A priest? Or…” He wanted to say it was a trap, but seeing how lifeless the figure was, it didn’t seem likely.
The two exchanged a look and reached a silent consensus after a moment. Aurelia signaled for Helen to keep watch at the entrance while she cautiously approached the corner.
The closer she got, the more obvious the gray, stinging Calamity Aura became. It was mixed with the heavy scent of blood, herbs, and the faint, distinctive fragrance of lilies that followed members of the clergy.
She gently pushed aside the covering sacks, revealing a young woman curled up there, unconscious.
The trainee priestess’s robes were torn in several places, covered in filth and dark, crusted blood. The skin of her exposed arms and neck was covered in wounds of various sizes, with thin trails of gray-white smoke constantly seeping from the edges.
Her cheeks were an unnatural, sickly pale, her lips were parched, and her breathing was shallow and rapid. Her brow was furrowed tight, as if she were enduring immense agony.
The most striking thing was her right hand. She was clutching a simple, cracked wooden Holy Emblem. A faint, milky-white glow—so weak it was nearly extinguished—remained on the emblem, futilely resisting the Power of Calamity within her body.
“A corrupted member of the clergy?” Helen leaned in closer, sucking in a cold breath.
“These aren’t ordinary injuries; it’s deep erosion caused by a Corrupted God’s Artifact. Why would the Church let a priestess eroded to this degree end up here? And…” He looked at the cracked Holy Emblem. “It seems she’s still trying to save herself…”
Aurelia didn’t answer immediately. She crouched down, her fingertips hovering over the girl’s forehead without making direct contact.
‘Container, absorb the remaining power of the Fallen God within her. Devour her life force, and then—’
‘Get lost.’ Aurelia cursed at the voice before it could finish. She had already made up her mind.
“She hasn’t been completely consumed yet,” Aurelia whispered to Helen. “The erosion is heavy, but her consciousness… or rather, some part of her conviction is still struggling.”
She pointed to the girl’s hand gripping the Holy Emblem. Because she was squeezing so hard, her knuckles and skin had turned white. “Even in a coma, she’s instinctively trying to hold onto her faith.”
“But meeting someone from the Church here, isn’t it a bit too…” Helen’s voice trailed off as his eyes fell on the shoulder of the priestess’s robes. The Church embroidery had been torn away, and the Holy Emblem in her hand was cracked into several pieces. If she let go, it would shatter.
Just then, the unconscious priestess began to tremble violently. A few unintelligible gasps escaped her throat, and the speed at which the gray smoke seeped from her wounds seemed to increase.
“…Helen, I’ll have to trouble you to carry her later.”
“Huh? Sister Lia, you…” Before Helen could ask further, Aurelia suddenly raised her right hand. To Helen’s shock, he witnessed exactly how the Power of Calamity in his own body had been absorbed by Aurelia before.
“Sister Lia! Your own condition isn’t good. The Power of Calamity in this person is far greater than what I had. You—”
“If I had thought that way back then, do you think you’d still be alive?”
Aurelia’s single sentence silenced Helen’s objections. He could only nod obediently and keep a sharp eye on the corners of the alley.
Then, the gray-white aura on the priestess began to tremble and swirl, transforming into several visible threads that flew toward Aurelia’s palm.
***
‘To make my future life easier, and for the sake of my future team! Here goes!’ The moment those gray threads touched Aurelia’s palm—
A torrent of power, far larger, colder, and more malicious than when she had absorbed the erosion from Helen’s body, began to pour into her arm.
This power didn’t just carry filth and chaos; it was deeply imprinted with the despair of being forsaken by faith, the resentment of being cast out by one’s own kind, and a profound doubt regarding one’s own existence.
These negative emotions, which did not belong to Aurelia, were like poisonous needles piercing deep into her mind.
“Ugh…!”
Aurelia’s body jolted. Her other hand pressed hard against the cold brick wall, her fingertips nearly digging into the stone crevices. Deep in her heart, that cold voice let out a sigh of near-pleasure.
‘Yes… that’s the feeling… Hate, fear, doubt… This is the taste of reality. This is the source of power…’
What shocked her even more was that the power meant to repair her physical body naturally flowed toward the wound that had refused to heal.
That hideous, bone-deep scar carved by Laurence’s blade.
She could clearly feel the skin and flesh around the wound beginning to writhe under the surge of the Power of Calamity. It was a sign of healing.
“Argh—!” A short groan of pain escaped Aurelia’s throat. The effort to forcibly suppress the healing caused her face to turn as pale as paper, looking no better than the unconscious priestess on the ground.
Due to the conflict of energy, a few fresh trickles of blood seeped from the wound on her neck. They slid down her pale skin, staining the sackcloth cloak she had recently put on.
“Sister Lia!” It was only then that Helen realized that Aurelia’s state when she absorbed his Power of Calamity had been no easier than this. Yet… she had still chosen to save him?
The absorption process continued. The gray smoke on the priestess grew thinner and thinner, and the gray decay around her wounds stopped completely. Though her face remained pale, the agony in her brow seemed to vanish, and her breathing steadied.
Aurelia, meanwhile, was trapped between ice and fire.
Her body was emitting a faint heat of rejuvenation, but her eyes grew colder. A strange, heavy pressure radiated from her, giving her an unfamiliar, dangerous aura.
She used her will and the remnants of her strength to lock the wound on her neck in an unhealed state. The constant, sharp pain dragged a portion of her consciousness away from the rising tide of negative emotions.
Pain. A crystal-clear pain. The pain left by that man’s sword.
This pain had become her only weapon against the rapidly growing resentment, fear, and self-doubt within her.
She used this pain to remind herself who she was, why she had fallen to this state, and that she… must never be consumed by this power from the Disaster Source, nor by the amplified dark side of her own soul.
Finally, the last wisp of gray aura was stripped from the priestess and vanished into Aurelia’s palm. The unsettling sensation of Calamity erosion in the alley vanished entirely, replaced by silence.
Aurelia yanked her hand back and slumped against the wall, sliding to the ground. She covered her bleeding neck with one hand, her shoulders trembling slightly as she gasped for air.
“Sister Lia!” Helen rushed over immediately. He wanted to help her but didn’t dare touch her, his voice frantic. “How are you? Your neck…”
“I’m fine… It was much worse… when I saved you…” Aurelia gritted her teeth, touching the bleeding wound on her neck before glancing at the priestess, who now had a trace of color back in her face.
“Helen, I’ll have to ask you… to take her. We need to find a place to stay… before it gets dark…”
Aurelia’s voice was noticeably weak and trembling, but her decisiveness remained.
Looking at her pale face, the cold sweat on her forehead, and the hideous wound on her neck that was still seeping blood due to her suppression of the healing, Helen felt his throat tighten and his nose sting.
He nodded vigorously without another word and quickly hoisted the unconscious priestess onto his back.
The girl was surprisingly light. Even with his own injuries still healing, Helen was able to carry her easily.
“Let’s go, Sister Lia. There are plenty of abandoned warehouses in the Dock District. If we’re lucky, we might even be able to make a temporary bed out of wooden crates.”
“Mhm…” Aurelia grunted in response, using the damp, rough brick wall to pull herself to her feet.
The floaty sense of strength granted by the Power of Calamity made her steps a bit unsteady.
‘Hiss… my head hurts. Why was the Power of Calamity in this little priestess even greater than what was in the kid? Isn’t she a member of the clergy?’
She shook her head, trying to dispel the resentment and doubt that weren’t hers. Her gaze became clear and sharp again as she did a quick sweep of the alley’s exit.
Carrying the lightweight priestess and leading Aurelia, Helen headed toward the forgotten corners deep within the Dock District.
The two moved through the fading light, avoiding scattered pedestrians and drunken sailors, eventually slipping into a warehouse filled with discarded wooden crates and torn canvas.
The place had clearly been visited by scavengers and vagrants many times. Anything of value had long since been looted, leaving only damp, rotting wood and tattered ship sails.
Fortunately, there were a few relatively dry spots near a broken wall in the corner. Through a hole in the roof, they could see a small patch of the darkening sky.
“This should do. We should be safe for now.” Helen carefully placed Rena in a corner lined with dry wood shavings, leaning her against the wall.
The girl was still unconscious, but her breathing was steady. However, her brow remained tightly furrowed, as if even in her dreams, she found no peace.
Seeing Helen drenched in sweat and breathing heavily, Aurelia sighed softly and turned to head out of the warehouse.
“Sister Lia! Where are you going?”
“To find some useful things. Water, food, and if possible… some clean cloth and herbs.” Aurelia stopped, her voice sounding low in the hollow warehouse.
“Your injuries aren’t fully healed, and she…” She glanced at the faintly breathing priestess. “Also needs hydration, and her wounds need treatment. In her current state, she can’t use Divine Arts to save herself.”
She had to leave for a while. Not just for supplies, but more importantly, she needed space to be alone and deal with the restless emotions that followed the absorption of the Power of Calamity.
‘Tch… that old bastard’s power… every time I use it, the side effects are this strong… but it’s fine. I… can handle it!’
The despair, resentment, and self-doubt forced into her by another continued to whisper at the edges of her consciousness. Mixing with her own amplified negative emotions, they tried to pollute her thoughts.
The constant pain from her neck wound kept her awake, but she needed time to suppress all this without Helen’s worried gaze on her.
Furthermore, she might be able to hear some news outside—news about the current movements within Twilight City.
“But Sister Lia, your neck…” Helen said urgently, struggling to stand up. He aggravated his own unhealed wounds, causing his face to turn a shade paler.
“And you just… just absorbed so much of that… dangerous stuff! It’s almost dark, and the docks are full of all sorts of people! Even if you are a dragonkin, two fists are no match for four hands, especially when you’re hurt!”
“That’s why you have to stay here and protect her. Just as I saved you before, now it’s your turn to save someone else.” Aurelia turned back, giving Helen a light smile.
She hesitated for a few seconds before reaching out to pat Helen’s uninjured shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon.”
‘Simply revolting… human emotions are truly laughable… and meaningless.’
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.