Corrupted/Altered Energy/Mana (henceforth shortened to CE or AE) was created by The Dark Truth as a way to execute his plans.

Since Altered Energy appears to stem, at its source, from living beings, the majority of AE that exists, in reality, is living, as it has taken on the existence of living creatures. AE is thought to be a changing creative element with a will of its own (created by copying the wills of existing beings), although the degree of life varies greatly between different pieces. This process of copying is typically referred to as corruption. The point at which the AE becomes dominant over whatever it is interacting with is called succumbing. It is not uncommon for pre-existing pieces of AE to re-attach themselves to other beings.

When Corrupted Energy contacts a living creature, it copies its Body, Mind, and Soul, or pieces of the three. Using what it has copied, creates its identity.

Corrupted Energy itself is shaped under differing circumstances, and as such, has different "truths". Each truth is the way that corrupted energy wishes to observe reality, the eventual "dream" of the Corrupted energy user (as CE's dream would be reality). Unbreakable contracts can also be made through Corrupted Energy, as no deception or failure to comply is possible through CE, which is at its core, pure truth.

A Corrupted Aura is created by the conflict of will between the altered energy and its owner. The conflict that exists between the energy and its owner/master causes an incomplete merge between the two parts. However, naturally, the mortal parts of the being aren't immortalized in energy and thus, with time, die off, while simultaneously, the Corrupted Energy has devoured more time and thus, grown in strength. This allows for forceful assimilation of whatever the energy is contacting in the real world.

Corrupted Energy is unique to each individual and loyally tries to aide its master while constantly, in the case of Changed Hunters and Awakened Hunters, being abused by them to perform their superhuman abilities. When too much abuse is sustained it results in awakening, where the corrupted energy becomes dominant. In this process, the mind of the master is destroyed, assimilated into the now controlling mind of the foul energy.

Corruption and Corrupted Beings Properties

Anything corrupted emits a different aura. This aura can tell about the personality, abilities, and condition of the owner of the aura.

All Corrupted Beings fall under a unique subclass. A being may be aligned with multiple subclasses, but only the most dominant class becomes the class that the being's unique abilities fall under. However, these recessive alignments affect the form of a being and show up in a being's potential as skills and techniques that a being can learn. Beings can have different subclasses of skills and are not simply limited to skills of the same subclass as the being's abilities.

Corruption itself can be sensed by individuals in a variety of ways as a gut feeling, waves, textures, lights, scents, or sounds. Corrupted Energy has a distinct color to sensors that rely on sight. Beings with a sixth sense appear to be capable of sensing sources of corruption with feelings of revulsion, fear, or even unconscious changes in behavior. This unusual occurrence, possibly a result of trace amounts of corruption in their being, appears capable of sensing even an entity with no aura, suggesting that potentially, physical scrutiny and sharp senses may play a role in the sixth sense.

Corruption is inherently tied to the hearts of all Corrupted Energy-users. The heart of such a being contains its essence and is the only required part of its body. To give away or share a heart is to give/share one's entire being.

The corrupted energy is produced according to how many heartbeats a being has. More heartbeats equal more energy being used while the opposite holds with fewer heartbeats. This allows many corrupted and Changed Hunters to have hearts that beat very slowly. Synchronization occurs when two beings match their heartbeats together. An unconventional way to sense is to look not for an aura, but for a heartbeat, which allows beings with no aura to be seen.

Unlike most others (aside from some species like Celestials or special classes) those with Corrupted energy become stronger as they grow older. With growing age, corrupted energy grows stronger allowing to develop new abilities or simply cover up weaknesses. Seasoning (another term for the experience of the strengthening of corrupted energy) can be seen as growth rings, one being added each year the being in question has been corrupted. The strength of a corrupted energy user is measured by their seasoning or the time that the mana has had to create armor around its master's soul. The more seasoning, the more complex the armor and the stronger the user.

Corruption likely can only grow/form from things that have a sense of self/being, or more specifically, have a soul. All corruption, including corruption seen in inanimate, nonliving things, appears to derive from some sort of living being before it. Superficially, this may be explained by corruption requiring a Body, Mind, and Soul, to be stable, characteristics of living things, although an observational explanation offers greater insight.

If corrupted energy were to initially contact an inanimate item, it would assimilate a piece of the item and look to spread itself further. However, since the item has no sense of self, no soul, the corrupted energy assimilates its lack of existence, thus forcing itself to not exist as well, preventing corruption. However, a being with even the slightest fragment of a soul is capable of recognizing itself.

This allows corruption to spread to whatever the soul recognizes itself to be and thus exists. Corruption of inanimate objects may proceed from here, as these objects that solely physically exist can be corrupted by pieces of altered energy that have bonded to a soul of some sort. For this reason, Corrupted Energy is always referred to as living. This also suggests that it can't exist wholly without a soul, although it may be so minuscule it may not be detectable.

Corruption and the Body, Mind, and Soul

This peculiar energy and mana can infest and corrupt anything, living or non-living and take on its properties.

When combined with something living, the corrupted energy takes on the person's bodily, mental, and soul form, reflecting the soul and mental state onto the body. This form can be seen by the mana itself as its Mental World.

The mental world is a world that each fragment of corrupted energy observes, giving it a unique appearance. The size of the world represents a being's strength, or more specifically, the size/amount of what the energy can observe.

Within the world, corruption appears as it imagines itself in real life. Within the mental image resides the soul, the fundamental core of a being.

The order of influence on the corrupted energy's characteristics, from greatest to least, is the soul, mind, and finally, body. After bonding to an object, a change in "shape"/"path"/"truth" is difficult.

Changes in corruption can only occur:

When the corruption is first bonded to an object or person When a significant outside source of corruption or foreign objects are assimilated into a being, changing the being's composition when the outside and sources meld together into one being. Permanent melding-a more general case than the above case. May occur when two beings merge to become a single being and also when a child is made between two sources of corruption. Soul-links-an even more general case of the above cases. Can occur when parts of beings merge. Different parts have different "truths", so the resulting being created from the mixture is different. Having the soul ripped apart for any reason. Doing this is extremely painful, far more than a dissimilar merging

Awakening, soul-rips, resurrection, and abyssal ascension do not usually change the form of corruption as person-wise, the corrupted-energy user is still the same person they always were. Corruption can only change fundamentally if the soul is changed.

Corruption can act as any part of the trinity of life (Body/Mind/Soul) and fix/patch any piece that is missing to complete this trinity and become stable, eventually merging all three. However, corrupted energy, to maintain its existence in the real world, must constantly sacrifice something in the real world and take its place. Here is the order that corrupted energy replaces in: (This section may be subject to change)

Regular being or object: No Corruption at all Corrupted Beings: No longer uncorrupted. The entire body has been replaced with corrupted energy. The inhuman nature of the body is suppressed, which keeps their forms normal. Changed Hunters: No longer uncorrupted. The entire body has been replaced with corrupted energy upon surgeries, transfusions, and changing rituals among other steps. This corrupted energy begins to feed on the mind. The inhuman nature of the body is suppressed, which keeps their forms humanoid. Semi-Awakened Hunters: The humanoid and corrupted minds are in equilibrium. Exhibit awakened characteristics even while using little mana. Awakened Hunters: Corruption has replaced the entire body and overpowered the human mind, copying the instincts and thoughts of being inhuman directly to the mind. It begins to try to take the soul and mind (which together, are the entire mind and will of a being) by creating an armor around it, reflecting what it received while it was suppressed.

Naturally Born Hybrids are born already merged with corruption and thus, have only human forms in appearance. Regardless of the type, they are both similar to regular awakened in that their entire bodies are made of corrupted energy and they are unable to suppress themselves without knocking themselves out.

However, depending on the characteristics of the parents who birthed them, hybrids can take on characteristics of awakened or hybrids dominantly, although they have characteristics of both.

Naturally born hybrids or awakened are typically stronger than the equivalent hybrid or awakened due to possessing increased purity from birth. However, naturally born hybrids appear to possess a greater purity than naturally born awakened, and have authority over a single concept due to their exceptional purity. Naturally born awakened seem to be most similar to regular awakened.

Corruption and Corrupted Energy acts as a reflection of the true nature of its master. This is why awakened hunters have matching forms to their abilities because the corruption reflects their emotions and soul and upon combining with either their mind or soul, returns those true emotions and forms to its master.

Physical damages can be permanently etched into corruption if they aren't healed (if the user is unable to remember what their body was like) or if they occurred before corruption was bonded (and thus, the altered energy copied the physical damage and integrated it as part of its true self). Lacking memory of a human form can result in awakened hunters being stuck in awakened form permanently.

Corruption causes disturbances in the Mind, Body, and Soul not normally possible under normal conditions. Mental instability is common among strong users and through corruption, bodies, minds, and souls can be split apart or merged.

To be stable, Corruption needs to have a Body to corrupt, a Mind to control it, and a Soul to contour to/follow the will of (the trinity of life).

Stronger sources of corruption can overpower weaker sources.