[Congratulations! You have unlocked an objective.]

Objective: Purification of Terras

Unlock Condition: Destroy a Seed of Corruption within Terras.

Assignment: Destroy the remaining Seeds of Corruption. (0/3)

“So, what do you make of it?” Jack asked mentally since Raina had rejoined the mindlink. Before Jack had had the chance to show the group the corrupted eidos stone, they had all received a surprising notification. Once the initial surprise wore off, they gathered around the corrupted eidos stone which Jack placed atop the altar near the fragments of the yellow crystal.

“Aside from it being an objective, I’m not sure what to make of it,” Cordan responded nudging a yellow shard with the barrel of his sigil gun. Like all of the other pieces, it was dull and jagged in contrast with the crystal’s luster and smoothness before it shattered. “I’d bet that this crystal or the ball of light that came from it was the ‘Seed of Corruption’. Either way, I’d say completing the assignment shouldn’t be too difficult assuming they are all like this one. Then again, focusing on the assignment doesn’t give any information so we’d have to find the other seeds ourselves and since we’re in a Ruptured Gate, we can’t be sure if this objective is D or S-rank difficulty.”

“Well, it might help with our plan to restore this place. After all, purifying the corruption in Terras sounds pretty pivotal to its restoration," Alindal said. He slid the corrupted eidos stone over the top of the alter with his sigilcraft rod so the stone was in front of him. “Though, corrupted as it may be, I am interested in the stone. I doubt anything good would come of trying to absorb this for Eidos, but it might be possible to make sigils with it.”

“I wouldn’t do that either. I’ve never seen a corrupted eidos stone before but I highly doubt any good would come of it. Hell, the goddamn Logos registered it as an error. Its bad news. We should leave it and move on,” Cordan countered. While Jack understood Cordan’s apprehension, he disagreed. Like Alindal, he wanted to study the eidos stone, but his reason was different. The Blue Heart had quivered in fear in the presence of the creature that emerged from the crystal. Jack suspected the corruption present in the creature was linked to the World Core’s reaction. He wanted to find out why.

A shame you can’t just tell me, he mused to himself idly brushing his hand against the Blue Heart. Ever since he met the Twilight King, the Blue Heart had been communicating with him. Jack felt nothing resembling actual intelligence from it, more primitive surges of emotion akin to an animal. Or an infant.

“Well, I think we should take it with us,” Raina said, finally chiming in from her place to Jack’s left. Her words broke Jack out of his thoughts on the Blue Heart and returned him to the topic at hand. “The Twilight King and Kafkë might be able to tell us something about the corruption if we show it to them.”

“I agree,” Jack said grabbing the corrupted eidos stone. “Besides, we are going to be allying with the Twilight King so it shouldn't be an issue if he finds out about eidos stones.”

Cordan grimaced while Raina and Alindal shot Jack a confused look. It was understandable since both had little to no experience raiding Remnant Gates. Raina asked, “What do you mean?”

Cordan beat Jack to the answer. “In a conflict, information is key. What do you think would happen if an intelligent enemy in a Remnant Gate found out that a raid team could grow stronger from eidos stones?”

“Ah,” Alindal said as he and Raina realized Cordan’s point.

Cordan nodded then aimed a scowl at Jack. “I’ve seen your raid record, Jack. You might’ve been small-time but you should know better. Just because circumstances have forced us to work with the Twilight King doesn’t mean we can trust him. He may not be hostile, but he’s still a threat to us and anyone else who opens this Remnant Gate.”

“While I don’t disagree, Raina’s point still stands,” Jack persisted. He took note of Cordan’s expression and changed tact. “How about this? We keep it until we seal our deal with the Twilight King. After that, we can decide what to do with it but until then Raina will hold the stone.”

He reached out, grabbed Raina’s hand, and placed the corrupted eidos stone into her palm closing her fist around it. Raina favored him with a look of surprise as she watched him do so. Cordan sighed, clearly still unhappy, but he nodded waving his hand dismissively.

“Fine. We’ll keep it for now,” Cordan said. “Speaking of eidos stones, you all should collect the stones from those light hounds. I can’t use them but you all can.”

“Oh! I nearly forgot with all the excitement,” Alindal remarked snapping his fingers and turning on his heel to walk over to the nearest pile of ash that had once been a light hound. As with most native enemies in a Remnant Gate, their corpses had largely dissipated leaving only the smallest bit of remains. Jack joined his friend.

While they collected the eidos stones. Raina asked Cordan a question, “Why can’t you use the eidos stones? Is it because the monsters were too weak?”

“Pretty much. You can’t absorb Eidos from eidos stones more than one grade below your highest-ranked designation so I can only use C-grade and higher eidos stones. Those hounds were D-rank at most, so the best I could do is sell the eidos stones if we ever make it out of this Gate,” Cordan explained.

They collected the four eidos stones quickly and when it came to splitting the haul, Raina and Alindal insisted that Jack take two while they each took one. They were operating under the premise that he was still E-rank and he didn’t bother correcting them. He had no intention of revealing his advancement to Raina or Cordan unless it was necessary since doing so brought up questions he’d rather not answer. He absorbed the two eidos stones which gave him five hundred each after his Scion of the Logos bonus and allocated the Eidos to The Fool.

[1000 Eidos received.]

[Congratulation, The Fool has leveled up!]

Magician’s Manipulation has been upgraded due to level-up to Level 3 of D-rank…

[Open Status? Y/N]

He dismissed the prompt and said to the rest of the group, “Alright, are we ready to move on?”

Raina hesitated after absorbing her stone glancing back at the unconscious lightweavers. “Shouldn’t we do something with them? I mean, what if they wake up?”

She looked from Jack to Cordan for an answer. Jack shrugged. “Let’s just leave them for now. I doubt any of them will wake up any time soon after the beating they got. We should focus on clearing the temple and destroying the remaining lanterns anyway”

“He’s right. If we deal with the remaining threats quickly, it shouldn’t be a problem,” Cordan said.

Raina nodded and the group moved over to the engraved door left of the altar. The engraving depicted a shining sun raining rays of light down on a mass of prostrate supplicants. After confirming the door wasn’t trapped and listening to the space beyond it for a moment, Jack pushed it open taking the lead with Raina right behind him.

The door opened up into a deep stairwell that led down into the unknown. At the sight of the stairs, Alindal commented, “I would think a church that worships light would build up, not down.”

Jack grimaced at the thought though he stepped forward before paranoia could halt his advance. The group followed and they descended as silently as they could manage. At the bottom, a well-lit open chamber greeted them. The room was empty except for a collection of stone jars lining one wall and a few stone benches near the entrance to the stairwell. On the right side of the chamber, there was yet another door, but Jack heard the faintest sound of footsteps from behind it.

Repeating his routine, Jack checked the door then knelt beside it to listen. As he listened, he communicated the results to the group. “I’m counting six bipedal footsteps.”

“That’ll be the last of our targets,” Cordan said. “Let’s make this quick and clean. On three.”

Cordan counted down. On three, Jack pushed open the door as Cordan activated Psycho Boost. The group rushed into the room; weapons drawn. The inside about as large as the worship chamber above and similar in layout, but instead of an altar, a massive statue over twice Jack’s height stared down at them with eyes of condemnation. It depicted a man in priestly robes and a funny-looking hat holding a staff topped with a lantern similar to those the lightweavers carried.

Jack moved for the nearest lightweaver ready to knock the man out when a booming voice halted him in his tracks.

“Those who spurn the embrace of the Eternal Light will feel its burning purification!”

His eyes locked onto the statue as its eyes became wells of yellow light and it stepped forward, staff glowing.

“That can’t be good,” he heard Alindal remark as the Blue Heart sent out a signal of warning.

***

Ciel stepped into the elevator and pressed the button that would take him to the facilities below the building. He hummed a song he’d heard on the drive over while he waited for his floor. There wasn’t anyone else with him since very few people had clearance to use this specific elevator. Technically, he didn’t have clearance either but he had his ways. Without thinking, he reached a hand up to massage a crick in his neck. It had been a bit sore after his run-in with the World Boss that had kidnapped his prize. Thoughts of Jack made him smile. Once he got his hand on the man’s World Core, his plans would take off splendidly; not to mention, the things he would learn by studying a genuine Scion of the Logos.

Ciel thoroughly enjoyed a good mystery and Jack’s entire existence was an enigma. Scions were already extremely rare while a Scion bonded with a World Core was unheard of. By the time Ciel reached his floor, he practically skipped off the elevator, so excited was he about his prospects.

A few minutes of navigating the underground complex later, he stopped in front of a green door engraved with the image of a trinity knot. He knocked three times as a matter of courtesy then pushed the door open. Instead of a room beyond the door, there was a portal of rippling dimensional energy which he happily stepped through.

The portal deposited him in the foyer of a beautiful manor decorated with pots of sweet-smelling flowers and paintings of various creatures. A man stepped forward to greet him.

“Master Ciel,” he said bowing. Ciel favored the man with a wave.

“Hello, Maxwell. I assume you know why I’m here?” he said cheerfully.

Straightening himself, Maxwell nodded. “Yes, my lady has been expecting you.”

Ciel gave a flourish forward smiling. “Lead on, good sir.”

Maxwell led the way to the back of the manor through the first floor. When they arrived at an archway that opened up into a garden of green and blue flowers, Maxwell bowed to Ciel again.

“She is waiting for you at the fountain.”

Ciel didn’t hesitate to step into the garden leaving Maxwell behind. Although he could’ve blitzed his way to the fountain, he took his time to enjoy the scenery. The flowers were arranged in elaborate designs which depicted various abstract images in the contrasts of color. Statues of exotic creatures dotted the pathway through the garden; each as fantastical as it was unusual. Lastly, tiny sprites hovered lazily through the air emitting a soft song that evoked fond memories if he closed his eyes.

“I remember the first time I came here,” he said to the woman in front of him as he reached the fountain a short time later. Despite his words, she voiced no response and ignored his presence. She sat sideways on the ledge of the fountain facing an easel on which she painted a picture Ciel couldn’t see. The light of the sprites shone off of her long white hair which contrasted with her ebony skin and the midnight blue dress she wore. Ciel took a few steps forward sitting opposite her as she painted. He could have snuck the glance at her painting but he didn’t.

“I bought the girl you told me about from Azatiel,” He said. The woman remained focused on her painting which would have been a strange sight for many since her eyes were covered by a blindfold that was the same color as her dress. He continued, “When you told me she was special, did you know she’d end up leading me to a Scion of all things?”

She paused momentarily leaning back slightly as if to examine her work then she pressed her brush back to the canvas. Ciel chuckled. She was always like this; only speaking when she had something to say.

“Well, I wanted to thank you for the tip. There’s been a bit of a complication, a Rupture from D to S-rank if you can believe it, but I have it well in hand,” he said watching the sprites float overhead. “When I get back, I’ll owe you a favor.”

She still said nothing. He shook his head and got to his feet. “Anyway, I should be going. I just wanted to stop by before I departed to handle things.”

He started walking away but stopped when the woman finally spoke.

“Ciel,” he turned around, his smile broadening. “You shouldn’t go.”

He laughed. “Dear Auriel, could it be you’re worried about me?”

She made one final stroke on her painting and turned the easel so he could see the final result. Ciel’s smile wavered slightly. The painting was a chaotic mess of various shades of black. In the center, the silhouette of a man stood out. Despite the blindfold, he felt her eyes,on him.

After collecting his wits, his smile reasserted itself. “While I appreciate the concern, Auriel, it isn’t necessary. I assure you I’m not going unprepared.”

With that, he walked away waving at her as she stared silently at his departing form.