Nighttime. Beneath the moonlight, in a remote desert of Busalet, the scene was one of utter devastation. Where once soft, drifting sand had stretched over a wide expanse, now countless shattered crystalline fragments reflected the starlight overhead. Upon closer inspection, one would see that these were the splintered remains of glassy sand dunes—originally fused by intense heat and now shattered by the shockwaves of heavy bombardment—scattered and mixed with the desert sands, forming a strangely majestic and surreal landscape. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢 At the heart of this crystalline desert lay a massive crater nearly a kilometer in diameter and three to four hundred meters deep. Streams of sand mixed with crystalline shards were slowly cascading into it. Along the walls and floor of the crater were glowing red traces—molten stone, still yet to fully cool, created by the immense heat of the bombardment. Even now, hot air and thermal haze continued to rise from within the pit. Several kilometers above this vast crater hovered the Holy Steel Vessel Annihilation Nun, her guns now silent. Wisps of white smoke still drifted from the many downward-angled barrels, as if silently declaring that the devastation below had been wrought by her. “To cause this level of destruction using only secondary weapons in such a short span... So this is the Church’s cutting-edge war machine? Truly terrifying firepower...” Observing the scene through her corpse marionettes, Dorothy couldn’t help but inwardly marvel. She had witnessed the destructive might of a Heavenly Flame Saint, a typical standard for direct combat among Crimson-rank Beyonders. But compared to Ivy’s performance just now, even a Heavenly Flame Saint fell far short. In terms of pure destructive power, Ivy was several times stronger than an average Crimson-rank. The combat capabilities of a Holy Steel Vessel were simply beyond the realm of conventional Crimson-rank Beyonders. Though Amuyaba was already quite extraordinary for a Crimson-rank, she stood no chance against a Holy Steel Vessel. A direct confrontation was impossible. Were it not for the tenacious survivability and evasiveness granted by the Plague Path, and the mission constraint to capture or eliminate, Ivy wouldn’t have even needed Dorothy’s assistance. “As expected of the world’s most powerful organization—beyond regular Beyonder forces, they even possess war machines like this. I wonder how many of these Holy Steel Vessels the Church has… For Amanda to dispatch one just to oversee Vania’s advancement—she must really care.” “They say these vessels are built jointly by the Church and the White Craftsmen’s Guild, with the Church paying an astronomical cost for the guild to handle most of the forging… I wonder, if I ever got rich enough, could I have one made too…?” Dorothy mused with a tinge of envy. But the idea was pure fantasy at present, so she didn’t dwell on it. Instead, she focused on the task at hand. Her current task was to capture the now-desperate and weakened Amuyaba. At the moment, several of Dorothy’s cloaked corpse marionettes had descended to the ground. Through them, she extended her manifested spiritual threads downward, using a few surviving bugs hidden in crevices as anchors. The threads burrowed over 500 meters underground and successfully ensnared Amuyaba’s final escape worm. With the vast majority of her swarm destroyed, Amuyaba was in an utterly depleted state—completely unable to resist. Dorothy quickly subdued her. Just as Dorothy was finalizing the capture, Ivy’s projected hologram appeared in the desert, materializing beside Dorothy’s marionettes. Glancing at these mysterious figures—who had aided her earlier—Ivy spoke directly. “What’s the situation?” “We’ve subdued her. She’s now digging herself out under our control. Just a moment...” One of Dorothy’s marionettes answered. Ivy, hearing this, said nothing further and silently allowed her projection to stand by and observe. A few minutes later, a bulge rose from the crystalline sands. With a soft pop, a large worm emerged. It was over half a meter long, covered in a segmented carapace, with no clear distinction between head and body. It had scorpion-like limbs and a pair of drill-like claws—clearly an expert digger. “She’s surfaced.” One of Dorothy’s marionettes stated calmly. Ivy began to study the creature more closely. Aside from occasional trembles, it seemed completely docile and non-hostile. “Spiritual threads capable of directly controlling a living organism’s spirituality? Fascinating… You even managed to drag a worm this deep out from underground. Revelation’s control abilities resemble Silence’s soul-binding to some degree...” Ivy commented thoughtfully. Then, noticing the worm’s occasional tremors, she asked curiously. “She’s still trembling—still resisting your control? Can’t you suppress it completely?” “Correct. She hasn’t fully surrendered yet—still struggling against us. If we loosen our grip even a little, she’ll break free immediately,” one of the marionettes replied. After that, another added. “It’s not that we lack the power to suppress her in this weakened state. The issue is—there’s an external force assisting her. Spirituality that doesn’t originate from her keeps appearing inside her body, helping her recover and resist our control.” “External spirituality…?” Ivy’s brows furrowed. This would explain why Amuyaba had exhibited abnormal strength earlier in the battle. “If she’s receiving a constant supply of external spirituality, doesn’t that mean she’ll soon recover beyond your ability to restrain her?” Realizing the implication, Ivy voiced the concern. The marionette nodded in response. “That’s right. She’s recovering fast—we’ll lose control soon… but it’s alright. We have a way to deal with it.” So said Dorothy’s marionette. Then, under her command, Amuyaba’s worm began to move. Using its powerful claws, it tore off all of its secondary limbs and ripped large chunks of flesh from its own body. The worm writhed and screeched in agony as it completed this self-mutilation—then rolled over in pain, twitching violently. Afterward, Dorothy commanded her corpse marionettes to retreat to a safe distance, then had them toss a Church grenade at the severed limbs and tissue lying on the ground. The grenade exploded with intense flames and light, burning all the writhing flesh to ash in one go. After doing this, Dorothy sensed that Amuyaba's resistance weakened significantly. “Just like that—as long as we keep stripping away and destroying this thing’s body, any externally supplied spirituality will be consumed just to heal the newest damage.” One of Dorothy’s marionettes said. Then, turning to Ivy beside her, she added. “We don’t have many direct damage tools on our side, so I’ll leave the task of stopping its recovery to you. You still have enough spirituality and ammo stockpiled, right?” Hearing this, Ivy’s projection took another interested look at the struggling, fast-regenerating Amuyaba and responded. “Understood… I’ll hang it beneath my ship and roast it continuously. We do need some way to get it to talk anyway—this can count as a form of torture. And with regeneration that strong, I can afford to be brutal without worrying about killing it too quickly…” Indeed, Ivy had more than enough weapons and spiritual reserves to outlast Amuyaba. Their goal was to extract information about the Withering Plague from her. If her vitality was high, that just made her a better interrogation subject—no need to worry about accidentally killing her too soon. Dorothy also planned to take part in the interrogation. She wanted to test whether forced "communication" via torture could be used to accumulate profiling progress. If it worked, then as long as the interrogation lasted long enough, she’d eventually complete a full profile and extract everything they needed. As Dorothy and Ivy discussed how to handle Amuyaba, the creature itself began to struggle even more violently after hearing their conversation. It flailed its severed limbs and let out a piercing shriek. Although Amuyaba’s vocalizations were nothing like human speech, there was an undeniable air of pain and desperation in her wails—something between a howl and a cry for help. And these cries carried—farther than they should have. In the Bastis oasis, within the refugee camp that had just endured tremors and chaos, countless survivors stood in the darkness, gazing toward the distant explosions and praying. Atop a nearby hill, a figure in a black nun's habit stood as well, also facing the same direction. It was the self-proclaimed nun known as Faeth. “A sanctuary-grade Holy Steel Vessel, is it…? You’re really putting effort into protecting that little nun, Olivia…” she murmured, gazing into the night. Her words were ethereal, neither solid nor fleeting. After a moment of thought, she continued. “Vania Chafferon... Let me see just how much the Church and that ancient legacy have prepared for you. Since you truly wish to end this plague, I’ll let you confront it directly…” With that, Faith closed her eyes. When she opened them again, a ghostly light—green tinged with red—shone from within. “Now then... I entrust the entire HU3 Sacred Plague chain conduit to you—along with my blessing. Amuyaba, consume the lives of three million people… and bring a trial unto the saints of this New Epoch Radiance.” She whispered these words with a smile, then fell silent. And within that silence, a great change began to unfold. “—!!!!” Far away in the desert, the once-weak Amuyaba suddenly let out a high-pitched, piercing shriek, sharp enough to rupture eardrums. The sound echoed across the night sky, putting both Ivy and Dorothy on immediate alert. “What happened?” “Be careful! That worm is suddenly exhibiting an intense spiritual reaction!” cried Vania from the sanctuary aboard the Holy Steel Vessel. Still kneeling in prayer, her eyes flew open in alarm as her life-sense radar lit up. At the same moment, Dorothy felt a tremendous surge of resistance welling up inside Amuyaba—overpowering her control. “What…?” Dorothy’s eyes widened. Just a moment ago, she had felt the amount of external spirituality flowing into Amuyaba explode to dozens of times its prior level. It was as if the flow went from a narrow pipe to a full-blown firehose. The sheer force of it immediately reinvigorated Amuyaba, and Dorothy began to lose control. Under this flood of spiritual energy, Amuyaba’s body began to mutate drastically. Its entire worm-like form rapidly swelled; its tough carapace shattered, revealing grotesque, rapidly growing, milky-white flesh. In the blink of an eye, Amuyaba ballooned to a size larger than several grown humans combined. Dorothy sensed that the influx of spirituality was still rising—soon reaching catastrophic levels. With such massive input, Amuyaba's resistance spiked dramatically, and the cost for Dorothy to maintain control became exponentially higher. Forced to choose, she severed the connection and withdrew her spiritual threads. “The external spiritual input just spiked! I can't control it anymore!” her marionette shouted. Immediately, the others hurled Church grenades at the swelling Amuyaba. The explosions engulfed her in searing flames. Yet Amuyaba didn’t stop. Wreathed in fire, she continued to grow. Her ballooning flesh rapidly outpaced the damage. Burnt sections were instantly replaced by fresh tissue. The flames were snuffed out by her sheer regenerative speed. “What the hell—this regeneration is insane!” Dorothy thought, stunned. At that moment, Ivy’s cold voice cut through the chaos. “Fall back.” Dorothy obeyed without hesitation, pulling her marionettes into the air. Ivy’s main body, hovering in the sky, reoriented several secondary turrets toward the swelling Amuyaba and opened fire. BOOM!! The giant meatball that was Amuyaba was struck dead-on. A massive explosion engulfed the area, raising clouds of dust and sand. Ivy had judged the risk and opted for immediate bombardment—even if it meant annihilating Amuyaba outright, the situation could no longer be allowed to escalate. “Life signs still detected! They're huge! It’s still alive—and regenerating as it grows!” Back in the ship, Vania’s life-sensor called out again. Her voice carried urgency—and even Ivy’s expression faltered slightly. “What…?” For a creature to survive not just one but two of Ivy’s direct hits—was simply beyond belief. But Ivy didn’t hesitate. She immediately redirected more turrets toward the target. Just as the next volley of shells was being primed— A blur shot out from the smoke at high speed, darting through the night and evading the incoming blasts entirely. It was a giant insect—nearly ten meters long, with countless limbs tipped in sharp barbs running along both sides of its milky-white body. At its front was a grotesque human-faced head, the visage unmistakably that of Amuyaba. While wildly flailing its limbs and darting across the desert with shocking speed, the creature shouted and laughed hysterically. “Thank you, Mother of Chalice! Thank you, my Supreme Lord! Thank you! Thank you for the power You have bestowed! For the new life! I will not disappoint You! Watch closely—I shall turn the followers of this foul Radiance into offerings! A sacrifice to You and the Exalted Ones!” Crazed and frenzied, Amuyaba tore across the sand while shrieking her praises. In the skies, Ivy did not hesitate. She redirected a storm of cannon muzzles toward the swiftly moving monstrosity and unleashed an unrelenting bombardment. Countless shells struck the ground, creating one massive explosion after another, shaking the desert and blasting chunks off Amuyaba’s fleeing body. Each strike from Ivy’s artillery inflicted tremendous damage. Even when she blew away over half of Amuyaba’s body at once, the creature rapidly regenerated—each time growing even larger. From an initial length of just over ten meters, Amuyaba swelled to thirty meters in the blink of an eye. For a moment, Ivy’s firepower couldn’t keep up with her regeneration. The body parts blown off by the explosions didn’t simply disappear either—they twitched, twisted, and reassembled into smaller bugs. These bugs would devour each other to form larger ones, sprout wings, and fly back to Amuyaba’s main body, fusing with it to restore her mass. “I’m not afraid of you anymore, iron bitch!” Amuyaba shouted as she fled. When her body reached over forty meters long, pustules began to swell from her back. One by one they burst, releasing vast clouds of green bacterial fog, covering the desert floor in a sea of spores. In one massive discharge, she released several times more of the rust bacteria fog than she had previously—turning the entire ground into a roiling sea of green mist. Ivy’s many physical projectiles fell into the haze and immediately malfunctioned, neutralized midair into harmless duds. With her physical rounds rendered useless, Ivy switched to using energy shells, launching volley after volley toward Amuyaba's last known location. But the switch in ammunition significantly reduced firepower, giving Amuyaba a much-needed breather. Now more than fifty meters long, she not only kept dodging through the green fog but even launched a counterattack. From within her body, she birthed countless bloated flying insects infused with rust bacteria, which surged upward toward Ivy’s airborne warship. At the same time, circular launch ports opened on Amuyaba’s back, shooting out hardened spiked projectiles at the ship. Though Ivy's close-in defense systems easily shredded the approaching bugs and spike bolts, her holographic projection’s face had turned grim. “She’s evolving... Using the external spiritual supply and some kind of augmentation, she’s accelerating her growth. It’s getting harder to end this quickly... Just where is she getting all this spirituality from?” Floating in the night sky, Ivy's virtual projection frowned deeply. At that moment, one of Dorothy’s corpse marionettes responded. “I think... it’s coming from here in Busalet. From the vitality of the millions infected with the Withering Plague.” Dorothy said this to Ivy, and her words were not without evidence. At that very moment, her marionette stationed in Bastis was witnessing something horrific. Everywhere in Bastis—both city residents and refugee camp dwellers alike—people had collapsed to the ground, groaning and writhing in pain. All those afflicted with various stages of the Withering Plague experienced a simultaneous worsening of symptoms at the exact moment Amuyaba began her rampage. The connection was unmistakable. Dorothy strongly suspected that the entire region—Bastis, all of Busalet, and possibly all of North Ufiga’s plague victims—were being spiritually drained at this very moment. And all of that stolen spirituality... was being sent straight to Amuyaba. With the backing of millions of people’s spirituality, killing her had become nothing short of a nightmare.