During the frigid desert night, with biting winds and howling sand, deep within the oasis of the ancient desert city Bastis, in a secluded grove, the corpse marionettes Ed and Nephthys were stationed in a hidden corner. Through her manifested spiritual threads, Dorothy was conducting meticulous treatment on a member of the Savior's Advent Sect, whom Nephthys had rescued. That afternoon, when Vania confronted the locals of Bastis and members of the Longevity Church, Dorothy had already sensed—through her powerful life perception—that one of the Savior's followers nailed to the city gate was still alive, albeit barely. Once Vania returned from the confrontation, she passed this information on to Dorothy. In order to gain deeper insight into recent events in Bastis—especially those related to the Savior's Advent Sect, the Longevity Church, and the plague they had unleashed—Dorothy instructed Nephthys to call upon Soulwhisker and save the dying woman, hoping she might yield useful intelligence. “How badly is she hurt? Can she be saved?” Nephthys asked curiously as she watched Ed perform the healing. Dorothy had Ed respond in a low voice. “She has numerous parasites. Her insides have been gnawed away badly. Cleansing them is troublesome, but it's not beyond repair.” Hearing that the woman she had just carried back was crawling with flesh-eating parasites gave Nephthys goosebumps. She shuddered involuntarily and started scratching herself. “Eugh... Parasites? That’s disgusting... Are any of them on me?” Nephthys began patting herself down to check for parasites. Dorothy, speaking through Ed, answered casually. “Nothing inside you. As for your clothes—who knows.” “My clothes?! Urgh—okay, you handle this. I’m going to clean up and take a bath!” With that, Nephthys darted off, and Dorothy continued treating the woman undisturbed. While deparasitizing the woman, Dorothy discovered signs of extreme nutrient depletion. Nearly all her internal organs had signs of erosion. Most notably, there were remnants of food in her stomach—judging by its digestion state, it had been ingested not long ago. That meant this woman had been fed while still hanging from the city gate. And in Bastis, the only ones who would openly feed her were members of the Longevity Church. This detail helped Dorothy piece things together. The Longevity Church hadn't killed the Savior’s Advent members outright—they had chosen to prolong their suffering. “Given the habits of the Aftebirth Cult, captured Beyonders are usually consumed directly in blood-feasting rituals—turned into raw offerings. The reason these ones were preserved relatively intact is likely because the Longevity Church has a more efficient way of harvesting spirituality—letting parasites do it for them. “They use the human body as a breeding ground for parasites. These parasites rapidly reproduce by draining their host’s vitality. Then, the cult collects the parasites and extracts the spirituality they’ve absorbed... “Although this method doesn’t yield as much in the short term as blood-feasting, in the long run, it may be far more lucrative. After all, the host doesn’t die immediately. As long as they’re kept barely alive, they can remain a fertile breeding ground for parasites—like this woman, a Beyonder on the Holy Mother Path, whose vitality exceeds the average. It wouldn’t be hard to keep her barely alive. Every extra day she survives means more parasites for the cult to harvest…” While treating the woman, Dorothy analyzed the situation internally. If her deductions were right, then had she not intervened, this woman would have continued to suffer under the parasites for a long time—until her body finally collapsed and could no longer serve as a host. Only then would she be allowed to die. “These cults just keep getting more inventive with their ways of extracting spirituality…” Dorothy remarked inwardly. As she continued her healing work, the spiritual threads under her control moved swiftly and skillfully, cleansing the parasites and eggs within the woman’s body. Once the parasites were completely purged, Dorothy began using wound-transfer techniques to heal the internal injuries caused by the parasites. After a while, the woman began to stir, her body trembling slightly. Dorothy knew this meant the patient was waking up. She immediately had Ed step back and controlled another corpse marionette to step forward—this one had been dressed in a desert-adapted priest's robe and turban, the standard uniform of the Savior's Advent Sect clergy. This corpse had originally been one of the followers nailed to the gate. “Cough… cough…” After a few harsh fits of coughing, the woman slowly opened her eyes. Her gaze fell on the corpse marionette dressed as a fellow follower. “Adil… is that you… You’re alive?” “Don’t move. You’ve just been treated. Avoid any sudden actions,” said the marionette addressed as Adil, as instructed by Dorothy. Hearing “Adil’s” voice, the woman slowly turned her head to observe her surroundings. “Where… are we? What about those disgusting cultists?” “We were rescued. The Radiance Church sent help. We’ve escaped from their clutches,” Adil explained while glancing toward another direction. The woman followed his gaze weakly and saw a robed, veiled Ed smiling at her. “Well then, shall we have a proper talk now?” said Ed gently. In that very instant, a sense of calm and trust welled up in the woman’s heart. … Having just regained consciousness from a prolonged coma, and after enduring several days of torment by the Longevity Church, the woman was in a dazed and muddled state. In this condition, Dorothy activated her affinity aura and, combined with her manipulation of a corpse marionette that mimicked one of the woman’s former teammates, quickly earned the woman’s complete trust. In her confused state, the woman no longer questioned the circumstances of her rescue. Once that initial trust was established, Dorothy began feeding the woman to restore her strength, while Ed and “Adil” engaged her in conversation. Thanks to the affinity aura, the woman offered no resistance to the interaction. As the exchange continued over an extended period, Dorothy gradually completed her mental profiling of the woman—firmly gaining control over her mind. Only after that did Dorothy broach the real subject, asking for intelligence—especially regarding recent events in Bastis and the Withering Plague. From their discussion, Dorothy learned that the woman’s name was Arima. She was one of the missionaries sent by the Savior’s Advent Sect to the Busalet region, a Black Earth-rank Beyonder on the Redemption Path. Arima, along with other missionaries, had been dispatched to Bastis several years ago to replace their predecessors and take charge of religious affairs for the sect. By the time she arrived, the faith in Bastis—like much of Busalet—was already firmly under the control of the Savior's Advent Sect. That remained the case—until the plague broke out. “So you’re saying… you all were able to handle the plague at first, but over time it got stronger and you couldn’t keep up?” Ed asked from a hidden grove, watching Arima nibble intently at her bread. Arima responded between bites. “Yes. In the beginning, the plague was weak. It could be cured quickly using mystical abilities. I alone could treat four to five hundred patients a day. Between me, Abiya, and Jemalhai, the three of us not only kept Bastis under control but were also able to provide medical aid to surrounding tribes and villages. During that time, many tribes sought refuge in Bastis, and we did our best to heal them in the name of the Lord.” Arima explained that Abiya and Jemalhai were fellow Redemption Path Beyonders stationed in Bastis. Abiya, like her, was a Black Earth-rank, and had fallen in battle during the direct confrontation with the Longevity Church. Jemal was a White Ash-rank; “hai” was an honorific for noble women in the North Ufigan culture. After being defeated, Jemal had been captured and sent to one of the Longevity Church’s more critical southern strongholds, where she was made into a higher-grade breeding bed. “In the early stages, we had the plague almost wiped out in Bastis. But gradually it grew stronger—treatment started taking longer and consuming more spirituality and effort. At first, I could cure a person in ten seconds. Then it became a minute, ten minutes, even an hour… The spiritual cost kept rising. From treating hundreds a day, I ended up only able to save three or four.” “As the plague evolved, we shifted strategy from treatment to prevention—quarantining the sick and isolating transmission, just like ordinary people would. But we didn’t anticipate that the contagion itself would evolve. Initially, it spread only through contaminated water—people got sick from drinking it. But later, even the air carried it. This made isolation much harder.” “In the end, Jemalhai discovered that the true initial carrier of the plague was a type of mosquito—one that seemed to have its own will and was nearly impossible to guard against. With these mosquitoes infiltrating everywhere, all our containment efforts became meaningless. Despite our best efforts, the plague overwhelmed us. Bastis, like much of Busalet, descended into a living hell—until those barbaric cultists came with their heretical god.” As she chewed her bread, Arima recounted the fall of Bastis with a tone of sorrow and decline. Ed hesitated briefly, then asked. “Did you ever figure out why the plague kept getting stronger?” “As for why… I don’t know the full picture,” Arima admitted. “But Jemalhai had some thoughts. During the height of the plague, she was constantly researching it—trying to correspond with other healers in the Holy Church.” (T/N: SAC considers themself Holy Church) “I remember her saying that the plague was... evolving. The more we healed it, the stronger it got. The more patients we treated, the more virulent the strain became—until we could no longer cope.” “She once said during the chaos: ‘It’s our healing that is fueling its evolution. One day, it will become something none of us can resist…’” As Arima spoke, Dorothy’s heart jolted. She suddenly grasped the nature of the phenomenon. Mutation. The virus responsible for the Withering Plague was mutating at an extraordinary rate! The Redemption Path’s healing principle worked by empowering the patient’s immune system to specifically target infectious pathogens. But this plague virus kept evolving to counter the enhanced immune responses. Its base form was already too much for an ordinary immune system to handle. Only with Redemption Path reinforcement could the virus be purged. But the virus adapted quickly. Once faced with a fortified immune system, it evolved to resist it—forcing Redemption Path Beyonders to pour more spirituality into strengthening the patient again. And once that new immunity emerged, the virus mutated again to overcome it. It was a back-and-forth arms race: the Redemption Path escalating immunity, and the plague virus responding with stronger mutations. The harder the healers worked, the more potent the virus became. In essence… the Redemption Path Beyonders were training the virus. “No wonder… no wonder the plague patients Vania treated in Addus had such tenacious strains inside them…” Dorothy thought. “This virus has already battled countless Redemption Path Beyonders across Busalet and evolved to a terrifying degree in their hands…” As this thought settled in Dorothy’s mind, another suspicion emerged. “Now that I think about it… the Longevity Church deliberately chose a remote region like Busalet to unleash this plague. Could it be they were training the virus on purpose? “Busalet is a stronghold of the Savior’s Advent Sect. Outside of the Church itself, they’re the largest faction to carry on the Redemption Path. By seeding the plague here, the Longevity Church could have used the sect’s own Beyonders to field-train a new type of plague virus. “From the Longevity Church’s perspective, the Savior’s Advent Sect is easier to handle than the Church. Plus, Busalet lies far from the Church’s primary sphere of influence—no one’s paying close attention. Once the virus is trained to its peak here… they could release it on the Church’s densely populated core cities. By then, the Church’s ability to fight the virus might be crippled…”