Joshua Riker’s (The apostle of Light) POV:

‘The little boy could not sleep.’

I woke up after hearing these words.

After the party, my friend and I were given separate rooms with the girls sleeping together.

The people here were friendly to us, especially that girl, who has been asking about our adventures together.

Maybe when all of this is over, I will bring her with me. She might be fun…

Smiling, I tried to roll over to my side so that-

‘The little boy could not sleep.’

This time I heard it clearly. There was something in the room, moving around.

Slowly I reached under my pillow, where I kept a throwing knife. Since I was a kid, my parents weren’t quite good people, and I couldn’t sleep without doing this.

When I was sure where the target was, I sat up and threw the knife in its direction.

Immediately I used my power and created a small ball of light, seeing the thing I just hit.

“What in the name of-“

The thing on the wall facing me was nothing more than a monster born from nightmares.

It was a bald, disfigured, green head, with six arms connected to its neck, which is used to move around.

The monster screamed in a high-pitched voice as it tried to get the knife out of its hand.

“I have no idea what you are, but I am sure of one thing. You do not belong here!”

As I practiced, I slammed my hands together over the ball of light and recited the holy prayer of the gods.

“-May your bones burn to ash. Cleansing Light!”

When I parted my hands, the small ball of light transformed into a ray of light that flew right at the creature.

The beast screamed as its body burned, turning into a pile of ash before my eyes.

“I need to look for the others.”

“Don’t move.”

From the shadows of the room more of those creatures have crawled out, reminding me of a swarm of spiders.

As I was looking around one of them fell into my lap, making me scream in fright.

“Don’t be scared. Father's message. No harm.”

The thing’s speech was broken and slurred, as blood dripped out of its mouth with each word.

“M-Message? What message?”

The eyes of the thing suddenly erupted into green flames, as the voice of a man could be heard from each one of them.

“Evening, champion of Light. I am the one who you are looking for, The apostle of Putrefaction. I am sorry for not meeting you in person, but I have plans that couldn’t be put to a later date. As an apology, I have designed you a game. It’s called ‘Extreme Hide and Seek Tag.’ The rules are simple. I have drugged your companions and that young beauty of the noble girl. I hid two in the mansion while I am currently taking the other two away with me to the city. You, the hero, only have to find the ones hidden away in this big place and follow us as fast as you can. I have to warn you, that there is a time limit of two hours after that everyone dies. Please enjoy the game and I hope we won't meet.

The flames extinguished themselves and the head laid limp in my lap, as the other monsters returned into the shadow.

I was sitting in the dark, not knowing how to react to what was happening, while trying to maintain my shaking.

“Putrefaction… What a scary thing… We shouldn’t have come here.

*****

“Message has been sent.”

I looked up to the night sky as the sound of the carriage was echoing around me.

War, Dark, and I were currently on the way towards The Holy City, with a carriage we stole.

Since neither of us could drive, I had to turn the horses into monsters so that they could give us a ride.

While the two of them were in the carriage I was sitting on the coach's seat.

I told them that I need space to maintain connection, but I just needed to be alone.

“… This is getting out of hand.”

I know that this whole thing was my idea, but now that we are doing this, it seemed… wrong.

We are currently moving away from the enemy and going to an unknown territory which could be even more dangerous for us.

“What the hell am I doing? I am not a fighter. I was-I am a scientist. I shouldn’t be here. I... I need to leave. Yes, after this whole situation is dealt with, I will go away. I still haven’t seen the kayeri settlement with my own eyes. That sounds like a pleasant journey. Going there, without being teleported around.”

I took out a metal box from my suit's inner pocket and took out a cigarette from it.

“Lord, nourish these flames born from my fingertips so that they may become a roaring fire. Fire Spark.”

I lit the cigarette and breathed in the smoke.

Even if the nicotine didn’t do much for me considering my anatomy, it was calming to go through the motion.

“No matter how much I change, I hope this much will stay with me. …Change. Damn it why I am thinking about this now. Existential crisis can wait till I have an existence that isn’t in danger.”

I threw the still-burning cigarette away and passed through the wooden wall behind me.

Like when I left, the two of them were sitting on the seats facing me, Dark looking out of the window, while War was throwing a nice up in the air before catching it.

“Message sent. They should be on our tail in an hour, with all the traps I laid down for them.

“Purrrrfect~! Been waiting for a good reason to fight!”

“…This is going to be troublesome. We should have sent that message WHEN we arrived. What if they catch up to us now?”

“Then we are going to kill them here! Three apostles against one! How could we lose?”

“He is strong.”

“What? You saw him fight someone?”

I took another cigarette and lit it.

Since she was interested, I gave one to War as Well and lit it.

She inhaled the smoke, but she dropped it, as she was coughing from it.

Not wanting to waste it, I picked it up from the floor and put it in the other corner of my mouth.

Addicted people. Makes your lungs rot.

Dark looked at us and sighed.

“No, but since he is my counterpart, he must be as strong as me.”

“What? Cough! Are you strong? You have been running away from him!”

“I wasn’t. I was just waiting for a perfect chance to-“

As the two of them argued between the two of them, I looked outside, seeing the darkness surrounding us.

Guess he isn’t wrong, buying more time couldn’t hurt, especially with an apostle.

I closed my eyes and connected to the mold minions which I left in my lab, destroying any evidence of my existence.

‘Commence operation. Make sure that they are ready for combat.’

Once I gave the order through the eyes of my creations, I saw them move to my operation tables, where two unconscious bodies were laying.

I have to admit, when we were preparing to leave, the assassin girl and her comrade in the wheelchair approached me, demanding that I fix them.

Not knowing what to do, I put them to sleep and took them to my lab, leaving them behind.

Well, this is fortunate enough for me.

By my commands, the servants took all the mold metal, mold crystal, and those cursed-looking things and brought them to them.

‘Parameters set. Subject one: Basic muscular enhancement and skeletal reinforcement. Integrate armament: none. External armaments: mold bomb launcher (prototype), organic sword, organic dagger. Subject two: Basic muscular enhancement and skeletal reinforcement. Spine damage detected. Replacing a damaged part. Integrated armament: Blades in legs. External armaments: mold bombs, organic daggers, organic swords. Commencing operation.’

It was strange, operating on someone remotely, especially working on two people at once, but I somehow could do that.

As I worked, I started humming my song, which I could hear coming from the servants I was working with.

“

I’m the first to do it, the first to build it.

I have the blueprint.

My children, new humans.

It’s time to hear the music.

You will see the world slowly changing.

All the people are raging.

Hear the cheers of your brothers.

Hear the laughter of the sisters.

As the sky darkens and breaks

As the ground drowns in blood

Don’t be afraid, our soldiers,

Hear the words of the Father.

“

When I couldn’t make up more lines I switched to HandClap from Fitz and Tantrums.

As I was working, I went a little further and decided to experiment a little. I added the mana crystals into the chests of the girls and connected them to their still-existing mana hearts.

This was the first time I saw the magical organ by the way.

You know the lung on your left side is smaller and has a notch to give space for the heart, right? Well to them, both of their lungs were the same with their mana heart being on their right side.

Not knowing where to place them, I put the thing between their two beating hearts and fixed the thing with the mold roots.

Once I was finished with their insides, I moved to their exterior.

These weren’t completely finished and as good as the armor I used back at the monster kingdom, but they were better than nothing.

I disassembled them and put the bits of living armor on their bodies, connecting them to the mold muscles located in their bodies.

I prioritized their legs and abdomen since I wanted them to move fast, and their vital organs needed to be protected.

As for the finishing touch, with the leftover materials, I made those tiara-looking things the heroes usually have on their heads instead of a helmet and fixed them on their heads.

This served me to see what they were doing.

‘Alright. It's time to wake them up. Destroy everything in that lab while you are at it. I won’t be returning there. ‘

I already had samples from the different molds there and I had the blueprints of my inventions with me.

Still, I didn’t want a repeat of the elven village.

The mold was mine and I will be damned before anyone learns how to use it.

As the servant went to work, I connected my mind with the girls and whispered.

‘Wake up.’

Immediately, their eyes opened, and they sat up, their expressions blank, devoid of emotions.

Is this a side effect? Not important.

‘Grab weapons. You have a job to do.’

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[

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] [Rot Embodiment] [Inorganic conversion] [Plague Mist] [Face Switch]

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] [Father of New Race]

]