An hour after the tournament, Holy city, ??? POV:

“Help!”

“Mercy!”

“Just leave my son! Please!”

Chaos and slaughter surrounded us as we were running to safety.

“Brother, it hurts.”

I looked at my little sister, whose arm I was holding the entire time.

She was only 5 years old, her brown hair cut short and had the same color as the stuffed rabbit she was holding onto.

“Just bear with it. We will soon be safe just keep up the pa-“

Boom!

The walls of a brick house a few meters away from us, exploded as something came crashing through it.

It was a dog-looking beast that seemingly didn’t possess any skin, showing its dark green flesh to the world, as its mouth filled with yellow teeth bit into the flesh of the poor bastard who got nabbed by him.

“This way!”

In desperation, I quickly picked my sister into my arms and started to run with even greater speed.

“I just have to get to the gates, just get to the gates.”

“Brother. Look! Flowers!”

I looked where my sister was pointing.

From the walls and roofs, white flowers seemed to grow out one by one, making it seem like the whole thing was a liquid flowing.

Not having the time to be amazed by this, I just kept on running, finally seeing the huge gates that led us to our freedom.

“Move it brat!”

From the side, a well-dressed group of people pushed us aside, making me fall.

“Brother!”

I managed to fall on my back, taking most of the blow, but by the pain I felt in my leg, I probably snapped my ankle, and could barely move.

“Help! Somebody help us!”

Nobody, not even those who were running away next to us, reacted, as everyone was busy running away.

Shit, I have no choice.

I grabbed the face of my sister and looked into her eyes, which were red from crying.

“Joline. Joline, listen to me. You have to go without me.”

“No, I won’t!”

“LISTEN! You have to run! This place isn’t safe! Just run past through the gate and everything will be oka- AAAAA!”

The flow of flowers managed to reach us, the plants moving up my leg, their roots, digging into my flesh and bones.

“DAMN IT, JOLINE! JUST RUN!”

This finally made her move, soon disappearing in the crowd, hopefully, taken to safety.

“…Mother… Father… I am sorry…. Couldn’t… Protect…”

As the plants slowly killed me, a calming feeling washed over me, calming my heart down, with the gentle voice of a woman ringing in my head.

‘Rest, my children. Rest and be reborn.’

*****

“Apostles? I can assure you; that I am not such a thing. I do not even know what this title means without a context.”

I took a seat at a round table, and that statue appeared from thin air.

On my right, a girl with hair and eyes as red as flames, matching her elegant dress, hinting at her noble birth. This woman said nothing when I arrived, but her stare made my skin crawl uncomfortably.

Need to keep my distance from this woman.

On my left was that black-cloaked guy, who still kept his body hidden. He wasn’t helpful either, the pressure this guy was releasing was tremendous.

Even after evolution, there are still heights I can reach. Not that I want to go through that again.

It’s true that this evolution didn’t hurt, but there is no guarantee that the next one won’t. I would prefer to become stronger, without going through that torture again.

The statue smiled; the movement made some particles of sand fall on the table.

“I can assure you; you are one of us. In the torrent of events, you may have forgotten to check your status, but there is no doubt that you are an apostle. Please check your status. It will tell you the truth of the matter.”

Not sure what to do, surrounded by so many strong people, I complied.

“Status.”

On command, the familiar status window shoved up, displaying my current state.

[

Name: Darwin Tim Right 'Plague Father'

Race: [ True Kayeri (Mechanically Augmented)] LV: 1/10 000 (1/10 000)

Main Class: [Dark Apostle of Putrefaction]

Sub Class: [Life Father]

MP: 6000/6000

Blessings: [Blessing of Nergal] [Blessing of Airmed]

Active Skills: [Basic Steady Hand] [[Hive control] [Hive Absorption] [Hive Repulsion] [Mold Field] [Basic Spirit Voice] [Aether Vision] [Steam Engineering] [Dagger Arts][Presence Concealment] [Lock Picking] [Mold Manipulation] [Fly manipulation] [Plant Manipulation] [ Decomposing touch] [Plague Berserker] [Inorganic conversion] [Plague Mist]

Passive Skills: [Body Knowledge] [ Plant Knowledge] [Medicine Knowledge] [Stamina Enhancement] [ Movement Enhancement] [ Reflex Enhancement.] [Basic Sponge Mind] [Perfect Stomach] [Hive Mind] [Music Instrument Knowledge[Healing Hands][Medical Senses] [Medical Mind] [Surgical Precision] [Mechanical Skeleton] [Toxic Air] [ High Regeneration] [Organic Clockwork] Demon’s Presence]

Affinities: [Basic Farming Affinity] [Basic War Affinity] [Basic Pestilence Affinity][ Basic Fire Affinity.] [Basic Life Affinity] [Basic Death Affinity]

Titles: [The One Who Saw a Thousand Worlds] [Knowledge Driven] [Chosen by Flies] [Medicine Pioneer] [Hive Master] [Giver of Life] [The Thirteenth Dark Apostle]

]

Ehhhh, there seem to be things written wrong. Where is my Hp? The number of tamed monsters I have? My rogue subclass? It seems like I didn’t lose the skills related to it, but it would have been nice if somebody asked me before it was taken from me.

“…You were right. I do have the Apostle class. Dark Apostle of Putrefaction in fact.”

“YES!”

Fuck! This chick almost gave me a heart attack with her sudden shout.

“Have you…expecting me?”

“Yes. We have been keeping an eye on you ever since you left the Holy City.”

“Then why did you just call for me? You could have summoned me any time, yet you decided to bring me here, the moment I was about to end some unfinished business.”

“You were immature back then, we decided to wait till you achieve the Apostle’s class before we make contact with you. As for the king… she is important for our future plans, we couldn’t allow you to kill here before we are done with it. Speaking of it, Destruction, could you please get our newest member to get rid of their seal?”

The bulky figure said nothing, he just put his hinge hand on my shoulder and a descriptive pain spread through me.

It was as if every cell in my body erupted and got rewritten by some sort of mysterious power.

[Slave Seal Removed]

When he let go of my shoulder, I breathed out sharply, massaging my aching shoulder.

“Thanks. Now I can finally kill those brats.”

“You may after we are done with them.”

I looked at the statue right in the eyes, as I put my hand on the table, spreading my mold around my palm.

“This plan you are mentioning, tell me about it. What is my part in it?”

The others in the room laughed, making me feel embarrassed.

“In time I will tell you, but for now you should family yourself with our lair. Is there anyone who wants to show us our hideout?”

“ME!”

The girl next to me raised her hand in a hurry as if we were in a school.

“Alright then. We shall stop for today… Oh, I almost forgot! I brought this for you, it may come in handy.”

Before me, a chunk of solid rock appeared on the table.

Surprised, I took the rock and started to study its surface.

The rock itself wasn’t important, it was limestone or whatever, but the thing on it, that, that was.

A red-like smidge, which seemed too slightly in the light and was releasing a noticeable amount of heat.

“My blaze mold. How did you-“

When I looked up, I was transported to a different place.

“Getting really sick of being beamed around.”

With the red-haired woman, I was in a lavish living room, which had expensive-looking furniture and golden framed oil paintings. My staff was planted in the ground next to me in such a way that it didn’t damage the ground, yet it stayed in place without any support.

“That was… interesting.”

As I was looking at the room, trying to figure out where the fuck I was, the girl grabbed my hand and squeezed it.

“It’s an honor to meet you! I was hoping that this day will finally come.”

“…Your hand.”

She was touching my skin, but I couldn’t see any mold spreading on her. Is she immune to me? Does she have a strong immune system? Ahh, I want to take some blood samples.

The girl must have sensed my intention, because she smiled brightly, showing me her unnaturally sharp-looking teeth.

“Don’t worry. Dark apostles are unable to harm each other using their special abilities, and since I have been studying your work for a while, I made sure to inject myself with the antidote regularly.”

“My work? Are you perhaps referring to the mold which the church dubbed ‘The God’s Hand’?”

“Yes! It’s such a fascinating organism! Capable of reforming a normal human’s body into a blood-thirsty monster! They do not feel pain, or despair and their bodies are even able to grow with each target they kill! They are the perfect weapons of war. Even with the experiments I have conducted on it, I just couldn’t crack the way you made it!”

The way she was talking about war made my skin crawl again. That glimmer in her eyes, which were supposed to make women look cute, gave me a chilling sensation.

“May I ask, which apostle you are?”

This seemed to make her get out of her rambling and focus on me.

“Excuse me, this was rude to me, I shall properly introduce myself.”

The woman gently grabbed the sides of her dress and raised them slightly as she elegantly bent her knee and bowed her head.

“I am the only daughter of the Van Hevensin duke family. My humble name is Sharon Van Hevensin, who also possesses the great class of Dark Apostle of War!”

War she says. It does make sense slightly for her to be interested in this stuff, but it still creeps me out.

“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, My young lady. My name is Darwin Tim Right, the Apostle of Putrefaction. I hope our cooperation will be fruitful.”

“As do I.”

Once the formalities were done, I grabbed my staff and pointed at the door with it.

“You mentioned experiments conducted on my mold. If it’s not an issue, may I see the laboratory? I may be able to shed some light on your questions and this little guy needs to be cultivated before he dies of hunger.”

“Yes! Right his way!”

She led me to the door, but before she opened it, she turned to me.

“I forgot to tell you, but this mansion is full of servants who don’t know about… this. Can you disguise yourself like me or should we go in the middle of the night?”

She is right, I have no idea what I actually look like. I know that I have humanoid hands and physics, but my face could be a mess, and she didn’t react because she usually hangs out with those creeps.

“Do not worry. I have some tricks on my sleeve that allow me to stay hidden. Just act as if you were alone and I shall follow you from behind.”

She nervously nodded and exited the room.

The second I did, I turned on my power together with my presence concealing skill, completely erasing my existence from the world.

The hallways of the mansion were decorated the same lavish way as the girl’s room, but there was this feeling to it that I couldn’t describe. As if I’ve been here before.

Probably paranoia. I’ve been transported to an unknown place, and I am trying to make sense of all this.

I followed the girl through several hallways, then through a side door, and we went down the basement.

Why do these places need to be underground? When I get to choose to build my own lab, I will have a glass ceiling, so that I can see the sunshine!

Once we reached the bottom of the states, all my complaints disappeared.

The basement was nothing short but amazing. Scientific equipment everywhere, both magic and normal, with various chemicals and ingredients.

In the corner I could see small cages, containing various animals, probably meant to be test subjects, making various noises.

Feeling happy, I put my rock on the table and looked around.

“May I?”

“Of course! Anything in this lab is at your disposal!”

Smiling, even more, I took one of the white lab coats hanging around and put it on with a grandiose movement.

“Ahhh, I missed this!”

I turned to the widely smiling lady and put my hand on my stone.

“Alright then, let’s see what we can work with!”

*

*

*

[

Name: Darwin Tim Right 'Plague Father'

Race: [ True Kayeri (Mechanically Augmented)] LV: 1/10 000 (1/10 000)

Main Class: [Dark Apostle of Putrefaction]

Sub Class: [Life Father]

MP: 6000/6000

Blessings: [Blessing of Nergal] [Blessing of Airmed]

Active Skills: [Basic Steady Hand] [[Hive control] [Hive Absorption] [Hive Repulsion] [Mold Field] [Basic Spirit Voice] [Aether Vision] [Steam Engineering] [Dagger Arts][Presence Concealment] [Lock Picking] [Mold Manipulation] [Fly manipulation] [Plant Manipulation] [ Decomposing touch] [Plague Berserker] [Inorganic conversion] [Plague Mist]

Passive Skills: [Body Knowledge] [ Plant Knowledge] [Medicine Knowledge] [Stamina Enhancement] [ Movement Enhancement] [ Reflex Enhancement.] [Basic Sponge Mind] [Perfect Stomach] [Hive Mind] [Music Instrument Knowledge[Healing Hands][Medical Senses] [Medical Mind] [Surgical Precision] [Mechanical Skeleton] [Toxic Air] [ High Regeneration] [Organic Clockwork] Demon’s Presence]

Affinities: [Basic Farming Affinity] [Basic War Affinity] [Basic Pestilence Affinity][ Basic Fire Affinity.] [Basic Life Affinity] [Basic Death Affinity]

Titles: [The One Who Saw a Thousand Worlds] [Knowledge Driven] [Chosen by Flies] [Medicine Pioneer] [Hive Master] [Giver of Life] [The 13th Dark Apostle]

]