Chapter 42: Chaos Breach Within that same morning, the young Ossuarists were led to a total of three different chaotic soul mass outbreak sites, which they routinely purged without breaking a sweat. At every outbreak site, Althea made sure to call up a different member of the team, ensuring that everyone was tested equally. The result of which amazed Finn. His teammates were definitely strong, that was for sure. Sian had completed a purge within thirteen words, same as him. The oiled pervert — whose name Finn had come to know as Brock — completed his in eleven, which took Finn by surprise. One had to remember that Isis, who was a certified Grade 3 Initiate, could purge D-Grade Soul Masses with an 8-word Soul Edict. The fact that Brock was only three words shy of a Grade 3 Initiate rank Ossuarist genuinely stunned him. Finn had tried over the past month with Isis to shave more words off his Soul Edict, but thirteen was still his current limit. If he tried less, his words didn’t carry enough power to bring his mind and soul to the required level to successfully complete a D-Grade Soul Purge. So by all means, Brock was genuinely impressive. The third person was the scarred masochist — Jie. He completed his own purge within twelve words, which while not as impressive as eleven, was still very much impressive. There was only the freckled face girl left, and even she was set to reveal her strength at the next site. They had long left the town behind now, walking deeper into the forest with each new outbreak location they were shown. But the more they purged, even Finn, despite being a new Ossuarist with just one month of knowledge, felt something was off. The purges felt... too easy? Aside from needing an insanely quick initial charge to prevent the soul mass from escaping, this was nearly no different from purging inert soul masses held in special artifacts back at the school. Not to mention the fact that the outbreaks were so far out of the town, and in areas that had no logical rhyme or reason. Finn briefly glanced at Althea, whose face he couldn’t read. He was sure that if he could spot these inconsistencies then she surely would have already. "Hey, Mr.Guide," Sian suddenly broke the silence, calling the head guard’s attention. "I thought this place would be crawling with bandits, rogues, revenants and all kinds of delinquents, but so far it has been so peaceful, this is no different from any other town at all!" She huffed. "Well, you wouldn’t say that if you had been here a few months earlier," The head guard scoffed, "The reason you don’t see bandits and rogue Arcanists is because they’ve been so thoroughly hunted down like animals, that they don’t dare come close to the town!" "I did hear about that," Althea surprisingly added. "A few Grade 3 Initiate Ossuarists from the Northern Themis school were sent here to purge the chaotic outbreaks that ensued because of so many rogue Arcanist deaths during that time." "Yes," the head guard nodded, looking pointedly at Sian. "Be thankful this is just what you have to deal with, and not that..." She snorted at his words, affronted at the chastising tone in his voice, but didn’t say anything further. "If I remember correctly, the Themis school Ossuarists also helped stabilize a Chaos Breach?" Althea asked passingly. "...Yes. You will get to see that soon. In fact, we are closeby. Do you want to check it out?" the head guard asked smoothly, glancing at Althea, who held his gaze meaningfully. "We would love to see that," she replied with a small smile. What the hell is going on here...? Finn thought as he tried not to let anything show on his face. The air felt tense as Althea and the head guard exchanged words that seemed to carry meaning far deeper than their surface level. The head guard changed directions, leading them towards where this ’Chaos Breach’ was. And as they drew nearer, even before seeing it in person, they could already feel the wrongness in the air. Finn frowned at the feeling. It made him extremely uncomfortable, like the Chaos Breach was affecting him personally. He could feel a dissonance already, warning that the laws of nature they knew were being shredded nearby. And from the looks of things, it wasn’t only him who was uncomfortable. The other four members of his team and Althea, had frowns on their faces that showed their discomfort. The only exception to this was the head guard. He looked none the wiser to the glaring wrongness all the Ossuarists could sense so vividly like a blazing inferno in the dark. The guard simply walked forward, saying a few words that none of them seemed able to hear. "...should be seeing them now." Finn only heard the last words the guard said. But he didn’t need to ask for clarification. He naturally understood the man’s words right after, when the chatter of voices and sounds of people — Arcanists — moving through the forest, was heard. A wide trail that could fit four carriages side by side snaked its way from the distance, all the way to a prominent anomaly that drew all their attention immediately. That’s the Chaos Breach... Finn’s breath hitched and his eyes narrowed. It looked nothing like he had pictured it. His previous ideas had all been taken from portals and rifts he had seen in different movies and games from his alternate life on earth. But this... was nothing like those at all. It was a single black vertical slit that looked like it was barely even there, but from that tiny slit, he could feel so evidently, the alien essence pouring into their world from it. The more Finn observed, the more uncomfortable he became, and this growing feeling made Finn remember Isis’ words from back when they’d started his training. ...some people believe Ossuarists are the defense mechanism of the world to heal itself... Such beliefs taken to the extreme created cults like The Harvesters. Finn wasn’t going as far as thinking ridding the world of Arcanists was his grand purpose. But right now, at this moment, he couldn’t help but think there was merit, at least, to the idea of Ossuarists being the defense mechanisms of the world. While he, his teammates, and Althea felt an aching discomfort coming from the presence of the breach, every Arcanists, from the head guard, to the teams and parties heading to and from the chaos breach in carriages and on foot, looked so casual and free. They all could not feel that this was a wound on the world the same way Ossuarists could... Finn took a deep breath to calm himself, trying to steady the discomfort he felt. From what he had learned in his month with Isis, he knew the fact remained that no matter how badly the breach made him feel, it remained necessary to clear the exotic plane on the other side, before any attempt at closing the breach could then be possible. And for that clearing, on the grand scale of things, Arcanists were still necessary, mainly because of their ’plentiful’ numbers in comparison to Ossuarists who were incredibly scarce. "What kind of plane lies beyond? Can we enter?" Althea asked the head guard with an even tone. She seemed to have grounded herself and recovered more quickly than her juniors, which wasn’t particularly surprising. What was, though, was the abrupt change in the head guard’s demeanor at Althea’s question. A condescending sneer colored his face out of nowhere, and his voice took on a dangerous tilt. "You should really learn to know your place, kid. Just because I’ve been answering your questions all day doesn’t mean you get to poke your nose into business that doesn’t concern you," he glowered at Althea, with all of his previously stifled bias on open display for her to see. From his sudden switch up, it seemed he had reached the breaking point of his cordiality. Now, he no longer cared to maintain any friendliness whatsoever. Finn tensed immediately. He could see some passing Arcanists slow and begin to observe with more interest, and he couldn’t help but subconsciously ready himself for anything that might happen. "Mister. I think you are getting too excited, no? Let’s calm down for a bit." Brock raised a hand and patted the head guard’s shoulder with enough force that it looked nothing like he intended on de-escalating the situation at all. The man stared at the hand for a second, before looking straight at Brock’s face with eyes that had gone entirely flat and dead. Before anyone could move, his hand shot forward with blinding speed—