Hey there, everyone! Sorry about how long it's been. Got busy due to a number of things – another essay for a class, FGO (LB 6 is a freaking rollercoaster!), several birthdays and events to attend and such and such. As a result, it really kept me nice and occupied until recently.

And on an aside… I recently got into Chainsaw Man!

Not going to lie, when I'd first heard of it, I actually thought to be kind of stupid even by my low standards for manga premises. But then in this past month alone, I got massively spoiled about the whole plot and a coworker of mine sang its praises, so I decided to give it a shot. Now here I am, already caught up with all 133 chapters as of the time of this writing. It really is a ridiculous series, but one that is fast paced and with a very colorful and likable cast. Yes, even Makima, despite the several reveals about her around the chapter 75 mark onwards. And Denji, despite being quite the dumbass, nonetheless has a VERY justifiable reason for why he is this way and it actually made him one of my favorite manga characters now.

As is usual of whenever I get into something new, I immediately tried to brainstorm even the flimsiest of crossover ideas for it, but so far nothing just yet… but I'm sure in good time that I'll think of a few potential fic ideas for this whacky but shockingly poignant series.

Anyways, enough rambling. Onto the chapter!

P.S. As usual, please consider purchasing my books! Links to them can be found on my profile page, just remove the spaces! Also, they can be found online, on Barnes & Noble, the Apple store, Amazon Kindle and more! Just look up Fading Darkness, Rising Light and the Infinite Genesis trilogy!

P.P.S. This chapter will primarily be focused on the Tarnished, Ranni, and Hero with her friends - a very character driven chapter, this time around. Just thought you guys should know this in advance!

Chapter 21

"-And that's how things have gone for us!"

Following a moment spent reuniting after their brief parting, Ranni and her consort had sat down for a while with Hero, Sage, and Sword Saint. After getting nice and comfortable, which had also included a brief few seconds being spent casting a few large scale fire spells to burn away at the surrounding environment, the Lunar Princess had beckoned the latter three to speak of their experiences up until now.

The young Hero, having been the primary speaker save for when her older friends interjected to clarify certain things, eagerly stared at her and awaited a response.

Ranni, on her part, could only mull over the facts given to her. The young trio had her sympathies for how they had to handle the people afflicted with madness and their efforts in tackling this new challenge. All things considered, they had acquitted themselves fairly well.

Alas, their exposure to all this combined with their own thoughts and feelings on the matter meant that she and the Tarnished couldn't simply play off their concerns like they would with others.

It would seem that the duo would have no choice but to share a substantial portion of the truth behind all this if the trio was to tag along with them, something that the Hero and especially Sage seemed to be taking for granted right now. Not that such an assumption irked Ranni; if anything, having more people by their side would be to their advantage.

Nonetheless, Ranni obviously wasn't going to give them the whole truth – merely enough to make them understand the situation they were in.

"Ye three have done well to combat the Scarlet Rot," she began. "Much better than most, in fact."

"The… Scarlet Rot?" Sage blinked. "…You know what this is?"

"Indeed," Ranni replied as she folded all four hands together. "After all, this blight and the madness ye have spoken of both originate from my homeland."

Her words understandably got the trio of young women to look quite startled.

"S-Seriously?! But aren't you, like, from somewhere very far away?!" the Hero asked, her shock the most evident out of the three.

"Mm, quite. My beloved and I have no idea of how these things came to be over here-," Now that was definitely a lie. They knew exactly why the Scarlet Rot and the madness infected the land, obviously. But this fact as well as more about their homeland's location were things that would obviously be hidden as much as possible. "-But we know the signs all too well. Now we traverse these lands to rid them of these blights. Fortunately, the damage caused so far has been quite… minimal."

At that, Hero jumped to her feet. "Minimal?! Minimal?! Even after all we've told you?!" She sounded beyond shocked by Ranni's words, offended even.

"She meant no offense," the Tarnished now spoke up from beside Ranni. He held out a single hand in a placating manner. "We both know all too well how much damage the Scarlet Rot and the frenzy can cause and in comparison to what we've seen in our pasts, the damage done to these lands really has been minimal so far. As detached and cruel as it may seem, you lot really have been getting lucky so far."

Hero looked at the Tarnished now in amazement. Then, slowly, she began to take a seat once more but only after being gently prodded by Sword Saint.

Meanwhile, Sage was taking in all this information so far quietly and now voiced some thoughts. "Just what exactly is the Scarlet Rot? As well as this frenzy you speak of? Please, what can you tell us about them so that we can figure out how to counter them?"

Ranni could feel the Tarnished's gaze flicker to her for a scant few seconds. Her beloved clearly sought to follow her lead here since she was the one to open up about it. The Lunar Princess gave the most imperceptible of nods to him and formulated a response.

"Both blights are due to gods from distant planes, ones not native to our homeland and most certainly not to thy own either. The gods I speak of… whatever names they may have, I do not know… we simply know them as the Scarlet Rot and the Frenzied Flame respectively. The former is responsible for the impact upon this desert while the latter is to blame for the all-consuming madness that had infected those poor souls ye have met."

Ranni then shifted about before continuing. "In any case, some of the gods familiar to us have come here to spread their influence further. I'd taken notice of their presence and had been able to cast a spell that has curbed their efforts considerably… but the three of ye have seen already how much devastation they have wrought. The chaos that has been unleashed upon the kingdom and beyond is undoubtedly due to them."

"Both are especially dangerous in their own ways," began the Tarnished, who now leaned forward as he chipped in. "The Scarlet Rot typically takes the form of pollen and spores – akin to a flower in some respect but obviously far more deadly than any typical pollen. Back in our homeland, there is a region known as Caelid. It was once a beautiful place to trek through, a desert teaming with life in spite or perhaps because of the dangers native to such a region. However, the Scarlet Rot happened and utterly laid the entirety of Caelid low. The mutations and other effects you've observed here so far? Try to envision that but on an even wider and grander scale. For decades and even centuries, Caelid had been infected with the Scarlet Rot and even to this day shows no sign of recovery on its own. The best that could be done was to contain it through burning walls, diligently maintained by soldiers of a great general even long after his passing. But even then, those that remain to fight the rot all eventually succumb to it, either in the form of death or…. Something worse."

His description got Hero to shudder. Sage's grip on her staff, which she kept resting in her lap, tightened considerably while Sword Saint rubbed the side of her arm while looking decidedly green over some clearly disliked recent memory.

"As for the Frenzied Flame," the Tarnished continued after giving them a moment to recover. "It's something more aimed at sentient life rather than at the environment itself. It targets the mind, overwhelms people with its 'truth.' In so doing, it ends up turning them into its thralls and… well, you've already seen what's happened afterwards. Thankfully, it doesn't seem that any coherent followers of the Frenzied Flame have emerged – if that had happened, a proper cult would have formed and been able to better organize the thralls' aggression to spread the 'word' of their god."

"…Are… Are there no ways to combat these effects?" asked Sage.

"Those with especially hardy constitutions can resist the Scarlet Rot to an extent," spoke Ranni. "And people with strong minds can fight off the influence of the Frenzied Flame as well. However, these resistances only go so far. My beloved here does carry some consumables on him that can bolster one's defenses against such things and cure the afflictions. But do keep in mind these consumables are hardly some absolute defense – they increase thy resistance to the blights but not make ye immune… and the effects cannot help save those that are too far gone. My sole recommendation beyond taking these boluses is to harden thyself in both body and mind and remain cautious."

A deep silence descended upon them. Ranni opted to just let it run it course; it was clear that her words had shaken the trio deeply. The Tarnished likewise held his tongue and remained alert of anything that could possibly approach, which wasn't very likely since Ranni's fire spells from earlier made sure to burn away the rot for tens of meters, with the remaining flames forming a wall to keep out any mutated wildlife that would have otherwise made to charge at them.

Finally, after a long moment, the three young women seemed to regain their wits. "What can we do then?" asked the young Hero. Though the youngest and most immature of the group, it was clear that she indeed lived up to her title, for as she raised her gaze to meet Ranni's, a quiet but fiery spirit nonetheless burned within.

Earlier she may have been bogged down heavily by uncertainty over everything but now that she was more informed, it was obvious that she intended to see this fight through to the end.

It was enough to bring a smile to Ranni's face, to be perfectly honest.

"While I can't comment about this Caelid you've spoken of," Sage began, the magic user now seeming to think much more clearly than before. "Would it be possible for this warped desert to have a source we can target? Or do we simply need to rely on scorched earth tactics?"

"What about this Frenzied Flame?" asked Sword Saint, her lithe yet curvy figure tensing, readying for battle. "Is there anything that can be done to disable its thralls rather than to strike them down fully? You did just say that it was possible for some afflicted by it to still be coherent in mind."

This time, it was Ranni who looked to the Tarnished and shared a good long look with him more openly. The two of them had truly lucked out after all in coming across these three.

With the trio's spirits now lifted, if only because they now knew what they were dealing with, it now came time to plan some things out.

When the Tarnished had first laid eyes upon Hero, Sage, and Sword Saint, he'd immediately taken stock of their power and skill… and found himself approving of them quite swiftly. While he would hesitate to say they would make it far in the Lands Between, he did at the very least hold the belief that the three were by far among the strongest people he's encountered in the Four Cornered World so far, outstripped only by Sword Maiden and only in terms of raw power itself. He'd even go so far as to say they'd be able to take on that dragon that had attacked the water town with only a fair amount of trouble to be had.

And despite how young they still are, they proved to be strong in spirit as well following what details he and Ranni had shared with them so far. After all, to hear of what damage the Scarlet Rot and the Frenzied Flame can cause and how much worse it can get, yet still look towards the future with the intent of ending these blights wasn't something just anyone can think of.

These three would go far in life so long as they remained diligent and with just a bit of random good fortune on their part too.

"If we assume this desert is truly much like Caelid, if only on a smaller scale, then there may be a literal well of rot itself in the heart of it," he spoke.

It's been some odd minutes since the trio had asked what should be done now. In that short period of time, the five of them had all gotten up and proceeded to trek further into the center of the desert. Thanks to Ranni's usage of fire spells earlier, they've yet to come across anything that would attack them, allowing them ample time to continue discussing the matter.

"There was something known as the Swamp of Aeonia, which lied in the very center of Caelid. It was where the Scarlet Rot had been unleashed and thus the source of the land's downfall. As you can tell by the name, it is literally a swamp consisting entirely of rot itself that has been spreading ever since its formation. Given how similar this desert now is to Caelid, something similar may possibly exist in some form or another. We simply need to locate the particular area where the rot is most concentrated in."

"So then we locate this possible swamp, destroy it, and that should do the trick?" asked Sword Saint who walked alongside him while Hero hung at the back of the group, with Ranni and Sage in between.

"Destroying such a source won't undo the entirety of what's happened here," he responded. "But it would make for a massive improvement, of that I can assure you. We destroy the biggest concentration of rot and then focus on burning away what's left of it as we venture through the desert. Do that, and in due time, the desert will eventually be whole again. But I really must stress that said recovery will hardly be quick nor is it something us five can accomplish entirely on our own… but it will be a very good start."

"…For you to sound so hopeful… was Caelid truly that badly affected? That even now, you and Ranni seem to just write it off?" asked the swordswoman, hand idly kept near the hilt of her blade in case of sudden danger.

As for the Tarnished, he currently had the Uchigatana out and at his side, but unlike his fellow warrior, he kept his hands completely free. He's long since become skilled enough to draw the blade out faster than most back in the Lands Between could even notice, even from a perfectly relaxed posture.

"To say that is not entirely accurate," he admitted. "While I truly cannot put into words – at least, not in a short amount of time – how horribly afflicted the land had become with Scarlet Rot, we do believe it possible to eventually heal the land, but it would take far more time than was available back then since the god's hold was quite strong. Now, however, that may no longer be the case. And with some other matters taken care of, perhaps the swamp can finally be dealt with."

"Sounds like something to look forward to then, isn't it?" It was the young Hero who asked this, now chipping into the conversation. "Is that what you were up to before whatever weird accident sent Ranni all the way here?"

"Something along those lines," the Tarnished admitted. He and Ranni had long since come up with a very simplistic and vague cover story behind their origins, barring what details they deemed pertinent to those who would help them, such as this trio here. Thus, the warrior felt secured in the knowledge that no question could possibly be asked that he wasn't ready for. "Our homeland had been mired with much strife for ages, but after herculean efforts, we've finally reached a point where we could help our land heal."

"Mm, sounds like you two had one heck of an adventure back then! Would've been nice to see what you two got up to!" Hero's mood was doing better now that the subject matter was a bit lighter.

The Tarnished made a sound of wry amusement. "Our time journeying across the lands had certainly been memorable, with challenges and surprises both great and esoteric aplenty." Under his helm, his smirk at these memories dimmed somewhat. "But there was also much tragedy as well…"

A vast majority of the denizens of the Lands Between had been poor and innocent souls, caught up in the Shattering itself long ago or its gruesome aftermath. Irina, Roderika, Hewg, Rennala, Malekith, Malenia and more… so, so many more had been worn down from events that they had little to no control or knowledge of. That wasn't to say that some of these individuals were completely blameless in the events leading up to the present, but the Tarnished would vouch for any one of them that in the end, they'd simply tried to do what they felt was best.

Alas, so many were now gone for good. The Round Table Hold and just about most of the demigods, to name but a handful. The Lands Between may now have a chance to heal and move beyond the once tight grasp the Greater Will had had on it, but the cost had been terribly great.

"…Sorry," murmured Hero. "I, uh, didn't mean anything by it."

"Ah, no need for that," the Tarnished responded, waving off her now gloomy expression. He hadn't realized his thoughts had somehow been showing through. "To live is to struggle, to struggle is to experience loss in one form or another. But in order to truly pull ahead in life, one must be ready to accept what has happened and grow from it. Ranni and I have lost many that were dear to us, but we cannot let their deaths go in vain. We will build a better future, not simply because we wish it, but in order to honor those who were lost along the way."

He now fully craned his head to look back at Hero through the corners of his eyes, hidden as they were by the Crucible Axe Helm. "That said, we would very much like to avoid your lands going through what ours had," he finished with a rather light tone.

"…You got that right!" Hero exclaimed, agreeing with his words fully.

He smiled, but it vanished but an instant later as he detected movement up ahead. His finely honed senses warned him of danger ahead. "And it would seem that already, the world sees fit to test our resolve. Ready yourselves."

Sword Saint came to a stop as she drew her blade and readied it. Hero did the same while Ranni and Sage alike held their staffs at the ready, the latter more so than the former. "I shall burn the land once ye are done here," spoke the Lunar Princess, as if their victory in the coming battle was already decided. Which it was, to be perfectly honest.

"Excellent. Should you do this enough, perhaps the Scarlet Rot's influence will weaken plenty by the time we even find its highest concentration," the Tarnished called back, a light smirk on his face.

As he finished speaking, the ground rumbled as a giant scorpion, almost the size of one of the many Death Rite Birds he'd fought, emerged from the sandy ground some odd meters up ahead. Its movements stirred some equally mutated buzzards that walked the land further in into action as well, the now rot afflicted creatures cawing in the process.

For a brief moment, the Tarnished considered drawing out the Blasphemous Blade or at least one of the Godskin weapons he had on hand, if only for the flames they used, but decided against it. He wouldn't wish to possibly unsettle his new allies or give them any cause to ask unwanted questions later on, especially since Rykard's signature weapon was clearly an affront to most people on principle.

But he decided against it. Even if he'd gone weaponless, he'd be more than a match for these poor things. To even use his backup blood-drawing weapon – a modified Knight's Greatsword – would perhaps be overkill due to being able to put much more force behind it. So, he chose to stick with the Uchigatana.

However, he wasn't without any ranged options.

"Allow me to make the first move," he said to Sword Saint, who was clearly the trio's primary vanguard. With the Godslayer's Seal in his left hand, he called upon the power of an Incantation, the Blackflame Fireball.

He lobbed it with impressive speed towards the hissing scorpion that was skittering towards them, the fireball soaring over its massive body and attacking the base of its tail. The mutated creature screeched, which only served to alert other nearby wildlife, but the Tarnished thought nothing of this; it was a given that any battle they took part in would make enough noise to draw attention.

In any case, the fireball had exploded with enough power to blow the tail off and coat the scorpion's backside in the black flames that now burned through its very lifeforce.

But he wasn't about to let the creature simply flail about in what was to be its final moments.

Or rather, Sword Saint wasn't about to let go of this opportunity.

With admirable speed, the young woman shot forth and smoothly ducked under a claw that the burning scorpion attacked with before then slashing upwards with her blade. The Tarnished watched as his fellow vanguard cut through the thinnest portion of the creature's shell and nearly severed its whole face in just this one attack. Then she spun her blade around and stabbed into the wound she'd inflicted and with just a light grunt, swung downwards. This time, it fully severed the scorpion's 'head' off and it fell like a puppet with its strings cut.

As far as opening moves went, it was certainly a swift and fluid one, with an enemy dead in just under a second total.

But this had merely been a prelude.

Off in the distance, heavily mutated buzzards and spiders, with rot-like pus practically oozing out of some openings on their bodies, rapidly approached. The air was filled with shrill cries and shrieks, a mixture of raw aggression and pain from the painful growths the Rot had forced upon them.

"Let's begin in earnest now," the Tarnished proclaimed.

And with that, the battle started for real.

From the backlines, Sage watched as the battle played out. With how much work she'd put into ending every previous battle in this warped desert, her relative inactivity was certainly a surreal change. However, her support was frankly unneeded.

Sword Saint and the still unknown warrior – Ranni's beloved – were doing pretty much all the work with the most minimal of support.

The former moved as swiftly as she usually did, her spirit invigorated by all they've learned so very recently. However, Sage couldn't help but actually gape at the warrior that had come along with Ranni. Despite his height and evidently muscular build – she assumed the strange armor he wore wasn't simply for show – he moved with just as much speed as the much lither Sword Saint, if not even more so somehow. And he clearly had the strength that matched his build or even exceeded it, made all the more evident as he slide under a lunging buzzard and then lifted it up with a single free arm before throwing it back by at least several meters. Said buzzard ended up smashing headfirst against another buzzard's head with a strong enough impact to audibly facture their skulls. It may not have been an instant kill, but they were surely to be debilitated long enough to be picked off later.

Then the man made use of that strange fireball from before, lobbing it at another scorpion that threatened to creep up on him from behind. Once more, he managed to somehow aim with perfect accuracy at the base of its stinger tail. Once it began to thrash about, he closed the distance and stomped on top of the mutated scorpion, easily cracking open its shell before driving his deceptively tough blade into the opening.

"W-Whoa…" mumbled Hero, who was effectively on the sidelines as well. She'd be silently voted to serve as the protector for both Sage and Ranni in case of any enemies that slipped past their two vanguards. It was a position that was proving to be quite pointless so far since the warped wildlife were all coming more or less from the front and both Sword Saint and the warrior were taking care of them with almost disturbing efficiency, the latter more so than the former.

"Your lover is really something, isn't he?" spoke Hero again to Ranni.

Sage couldn't help but immediately notice the affection laced into Ranni's calm voice as she replied. "After all that he's been through, this measure of strength and skill ye are witnessing is hardly even a true exertion on his part."

…Was that her boasting about her man? Sage couldn't help but boggle at such a thought. Ranni, in the short time the trio had known her, hadn't struck Sage as the type to brag like that. Guess she really did learn something new every day.

"Think he could teach me a few moves once this is all over?" Hero asked.

"I'm sure he'll be more than happy to do so. Very little would please him more than to see someone hone their skills further," replied Ranni.

"Um," Sage interrupted before whatever conversation was underway could progress much further. "Not to sound pessimistic about our odds here or anything, but shouldn't we get a bit more involved?"

Ranni shook her head. "Our lack of involvement is no issue here. My beloved and our dear swordswoman are more than enough to handle the current threat. And it is better to for us all to see better what exactly we are dealing with and better coordinate our moves for later on rather than have to devise an effective strategy later on when we need it most."

Sage hummed as she watched Sword Saint and the warrior both dash towards one buzzard and stab through its sides at the exact same time. Then with the sort of synchronicity that only those on the battlefield could pull off, the two sword wielders cleaved through the buzzard, their actions causing it to fall apart into four perfectly cut pieces, rot-infected blood spilling into the sand.

"Well… you've a point." Sage could admit that much. "…I guess I just got a bit too used to dealing with things so far."

"Mm. As the sole magic user in thy party, it was only natural to utilize flames frequently to venture this deep into the desert. However, ye three are no longer alone," Ranni said. With her sole open eye, she shot Sage a firm but not unkind look. "Simply take this time to analyze the situation and recover thy stamina further. That way, once it is time to eliminate the rot, we both shall be more than ready to do so in a single moment."

Sage took in a deep breath and let out a sigh. But then she smiled ever so lightly. "I… yes, that's a perfectly fair point. I suppose… it's just all this new knowledge that is still getting to me despite making our resolve just moments ago."

"Doubt, anxiety, fear… such emotions are rarely so easily banished from one's mind. Tis nothing to be ashamed of," Ranni explained. "What truly matters is that ye learn to eventually overcome them and reach a new plateau. Once ye do that, things shall go much better."

Ranni spoke with a great deal of certainty, the kind that could only be found in those who've learned from personal experience. In response to such a statement, Sage could only remain silent as Sword Saint and the warrior continued to cut through or even outright cut down every creature that came their way.

It must have been moments after that Sage was finally able to speak, if only to utter a rather lame comment. "You and your beloved… you two are a lot alike in your views."

As the battle – more like a slaughter, such was its one-sided nature – came to an end as swiftly and unceremoniously as it had started, Ranni merely chuckled. "Opposites may attract, young sage, but the like-minded are attracted to one another more often in my experience. Keep that in mind for thy own future pursuits."

It was a day like any other, the sole front worker of the little tavern thought. Even with all the Chaos afoot, this little but lively village continued to trudge on as if it were any other day.

And in her case, that meant another hour of boredom, if not a little longer.

The villagers tended to stick to a tight routine, meaning that at this time of day, the only people the tavern could expect to have would be random travelers passing through for a quick bite or drink to have, usually the latter since the spirits they offered were pretty high quality in her not so humble opinion.

But that was besides the point.

What mattered is that for the umpteenth time, she was bored with little else to do. She and the few other workers here did their best to keep the place clean, the cooks took care of keeping track of stock whenever they had a little break between cooking meals and the sole other worker they had that was effectively an impromptu waiter took care of bringing the few stragglers their orders as needed.

Not for the first time, she idly wondered what it'd be like to have a little actual fun around here, something new and so very fresh. Maybe not become an adventurer or anything – just wasn't quite her calling despite how much a lot of other people gushed over it – but it would be nice to travel and explore the world, see what the Four Cornered World truly had to offer out there.

Alas, she couldn't help but feel she's long since missed her chance to do so, which was a shame considering she was still fairly young, in her late teens.

The young woman suddenly perked up and banished her thoughts, however, when the rickety door to the tavern opened up. Immediately, she stood up straight and prepared to greet the newcomer-.

-Only to pause as something struck her.

Not in a literal sense or anything, but in that way that some of the older folks tended to speak of 'something,' a sixth sense type of thing.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up straight, so much so that she could literally feel the light breeze tickle her in all the wrong ways possible as the stranger, whose appearance was covered with some kind of cloak and other loose bits of clothing, approached.

What little chatter there had been from the tavern's few occupants died down as the stranger trekked inwards.

"…May I help you?" the young woman said after several long seconds.

"Perhaps," spoke the stranger, the voice polite but so very hoarse and somehow… crusty, if that made any sense. A slight cracking sound could be heard if she listened just hard enough. "In any case, good day to you, young miss."

"Right, likewise," she mumbled out. "So, what do you mean by that? You hungry? Thirsty?"

"Oh, I suppose that depends on how you wish to define those words." The man then chuckled as he continued to approach at a steady gait. The way the cloak moved made it clear that he was looking around a bit, an action that was making the occupants visibly nervous for some reason.

Just what were they seeing when they looked at him?

The stranger then chuckled and the young woman couldn't help but shudder. Gods above, it felt like he was somehow laughing without actually opening his mouth, the sound drilling its way directly into her mind rather than being made aloud.

"On second thought, perhaps the more accurate question would be what I desire rather than if I'm hungry or thirsty," the stranger continued as he was now all but fully upon her, with only the bar counter separating the two of them.

His head had been lowered slightly, the hood that the cloak provided him just long enough to obscure his face. But then he raised his head up…

…And she recoiled as if struck for real this time.

His face, oh merciful gods, what had happened to his face?!

The skin… it was all burned and charred and peeling off. The eyes looked sunken in and burned out, flickers of sickening yellow spewing from them instead. What little flesh he had, burned as it was, peeled off and fell lightly, the dim lighting by the bar counter allowing her to see the long dead flesh falling off.

Only vaguely was the young woman aware of the other occupants all getting up from their seats now, her visceral reaction having been plenty indication that this man – no, this thing, this wretched creature – was bad damn news. All that she was truly aware of was how the man's own horrible, terrifying eyes peered into her own widening ones.

He then laughed, the flesh peeling faster now from how the muscles stretched themselves near to the tearing point. The sound was awful and horrid, both physical and not in nature and rattling her and everyone else down to their very souls.

"Ah, I see now," he murmured in delight. He reached out a hand to caress the side of her face and for some reason she couldn't move at all despite wanting to run away more than anything else. "You've a desire to see more of the world, to learn its truths… in a way, perhaps you could be considered a kindred spirit."

The stranger smiled as his grip on her tightened. "Then by all means, allow me to help you achieve just that…"

The yellow flickers in his eyes brew brighter, stronger… and before the young woman could do anything, her mind broke along with the minds of everyone else in the tavern, all of whom were exposed in that very instant to the stranger's terrible, brilliant light.

As they all screamed and fell as their eyes burned out before the fearsome and terrible glory of the Frenzied Flame, Shabriri smirked wickedly.

Looks like he was already off to a great start here.

Sword Saint watched as Ranni and Sage cast wide spread flame spells, scorching the land all around them.

This was something that the two magic users had begun doing ever since the first battle together. And wow, have they had quite a few battles since the blue-skinned woman and her beloved had joined them.

It's been perhaps an hour since she, Sage, and Hero had been told the truth of what plagued this desert and what had afflicted those poor people with madness. And since then, they've made a rather astounding level of progress. Right after that first battle, Ranni had burned the land around them, destroying what traces of the sickening rot had remained and ensuring the creatures they'd felled were well and truly gone. From the second battle onwards, Sage, having regained enough stamina, took to backing Ranni up with this task and the results have been showing quickly.

All in all, the young but seasoned swordswoman was made very aware of just how effectively they all had been working together. Alongside Ranni's companion, she would serve as the vanguard meant to vanquish the mutated buzzards and – ugh! – spiders and scorpions as needed while Hero took care of any that got past them or otherwise attacked from a different direction entirely. Meanwhile, Ranni and Sage served as the clean up crew, only really assisting in the battles themselves if it seemed like they were about to be attacked or if they otherwise saw a need to interfere. A ridiculously simple but effective party lineup, to say the least.

Before, the trio's trek through this desert had been little more than a crawl even with Sage's liberal usage of fire spells but now they were covering ground so quickly that it felt like if she blinked a few times too many, she would soon find them all about to exit the desert entirely. A novel experience, even for her.

And she could honestly say it was due to the warrior that currently walked beside her, the tall man as calm and collected as could be. Even at first glance, she'd been able to tell that he was unbelievably strong and skilled but it hadn't been until now that she could fully appreciate his ridiculous might.

Seriously, just how often can she claim to see anyone throw around creatures thrice their size as if they were little more than eggs?! She doubted even the strongest of lizardmen and other such races blessed with great brute strength could accomplish a feat like that so easily yet this man did so as if it were just a matter of fact, like the sun being warm or whatnot.

Her inner warrior wished desperately to clash blades with him, to see how well she would fare against his borderline superlative skills and abilities, of which he seemed to have many. For such a big man, not only did he possess immense strength, but he'd proven to be even faster than her and wielded that thin blade of his with such dexterity that it felt like watching art in motion. And that wasn't even getting into how he seemed to know something akin to miracles as well!

But despite said desire to test her mettle, Sword Saint quashed such feelings down. Though not usually in her nature to do so, she could just tell that this was just the smallest hints of the man's true abilities and yet he was clearly already her better in multiple fields. In fewer words, he was a far better warrior than her and such a thought was enough to make her heart quicken even though she currently wasn't in battle.

The only downside to all this was that the man was clearly beholden to Ranni, given that the woman had referred to him as her beloved.

Seriously, the one time she finds a man that's actually stronger than her as per her dating criteria and he's already taken. Fate and Chance can be cruel in the oddest of ways…

"Something the matter?" asked the man in question.

"A-Ah, no, it's nothing," she responded awkwardly, having not realized until now that she'd been staring a bit too intensely perhaps. "Merely lost in my own thoughts."

"I see." He sounded somewhat amused, which only made her blush as the whole party resumed walking. That the surrounding land was set aflame and would remain that way for a short while somehow didn't register to her at this very moment. "Well, so long as it's nothing serious then. On that note, I do hope what Ranni and I had told you three isn't weighing you down in some manner."

She shook her head. "It did definitely take us aback at first, but now… well, it somehow seems to us that it's just business as usual."

"Is that so? The three of you must have gone through quite some interesting experiences for you to say that," he commented.

"That's one way to put it," she muttered, her embarrassment being replaced with pure mirth as she recalled but a few of the things she and her friends had accomplished already.

A battle in the astral plane against a god-like being, a battle against a portion of the demon lord himself, a brief stint in a hell-like dimension filled with demonic thralls, and an arrogant but powerful necromancer… these were just a few of the more notable times they'd gone through.

But even so…

"Our experiences aside," she began, her expression now turning grim. "This is the first time anyone or anything we've had to face ever caused such… such carnage in any form."

The threats they've fought so far… intellectually, they knew that each and every one of them had done harm to others or even to the world itself, but it was all suffering that had gone unseen by them, with only scant few hints of the aftermath being known or with stories of devastation being told to them.

It hadn't been until being exposed to the handiwork of this Frenzied Flame and Scarlet Rot that Sword Saint, Sage, and Hero finally got a close look at how much damage and how many lives were ended by these two foreign gods.

And they'd had no choice but to just cut those people down…

"Easy there," the warrior beside her said gently. "Tighten your grip any more and you'll only damage your hands needlessly."

Sword Saint blinked and snapped back to her sense. Only then did she realize her mind had strayed down the recent and horrid memories. Unclenching her hands, she took a deep breath and let it out.

"…I take it you've gone through something similar back in your homeland?" she asked.

"Much more often than I'd have liked," he answered.

"So, in other words, you've had to cut down so many that were once just… just living? Going about their lives until that happened?"

"Mm. So much so that it was something I got accustomed to doing, though it still hurt on some level nonetheless," he replied. He turned that strange helm of his in her direction. "But even so, I cut them down whenever I saw the chance to do so. Because to leave them be would be to leave them to suffer longer and to put the world itself at greater risk. Hardly the most comforting thought, I know, but I did so with a strong heart, knowing that I was doing some measure of good in combatting them the way I had. So take heart, young one, you've helped those people more than you know and stopped a terrible force from spread further."

Sword Saint took those words in slowly. It was only a minute later that she finally found it in her to talk again. "You're certainly strong," she said rather suddenly. "Not just in body but in spirit… it's quite admirable."

The man chuckled quietly. "Thank you. You're quite strong as well. And I know you will become stronger still. You simply need to keep moving forward. And for whatever it's worth…" He clasped her shoulder briefly. "At least you can say in the end that you've overcome plenty of unique challenges out there."

She snorted. "Well… I guess that's one way to put things. Was that line of thought always something you had or did someone teach it to you?"

Her words evidently tickled him pink in some way because when he let out a little laugh, it was significantly lighter than any other sound he's made so far. "Once we've put the Scarlet Rot in this desert to rest for good, we should take some time for me to tell you of the man I once followed – lord Godfrey himself."

Stories of a mighty warrior from another mighty warrior? Now that did sound much more interesting to her than most other things she's had to sit through.

"I'd like that," she said with a smile of her own.

"Hm hm, tis always good to see allies get along," Ranni suddenly commented from the rear of their party. "Especially since the end of the path is soon to be upon us – look, one and all. Look ahead and see what awaits us soon."

The warrior, whose name she still didn't know, simply nodded. He didn't seem all that surprised by whatever was going on.

As for Sword Saint herself, however, she had to squint hard in order to make out whatever Ranni was pointing out in the distance. However, some kind of odd sand storm not too far ahead was making it hard to see…

…Until she realized seconds later that it wasn't exactly a sandstorm.

"Oh…" she let out a sound of amazement and disgust. From behind her, Hero could be heard going 'ugh!' while Sage also audibly recoiled.

Just as the warrior had spoken of earlier, something akin to a swamp had seemingly formed within the heart of this very desert along with numerous growths that seemed to be a strange and disgusting cross between bones and coral and flower-like stems. Said growths were jutting out from a bubbling crimson red liquid – the aforementioned swamp – and spiraled upwards and outwards like some kind of flower on the verge of blooming. They seemed alive somehow, swaying despite there being no breeze strong enough to budge things of that size. If anything, it was these growths themselves that were causing the breeze, hence the pseudo-sand storm that had initially obscured it until now, with only the movements dying down that she was able to see it better.

"For such a thing to manifest so quickly… it would appear the Scarlet Rot had been very eager to establish a foothold here," murmured the warrior. "Not even the Swamp of Aeonia had manifested this quickly and that had been with Malenia herself as the cause."

"Indeed," spoke Ranni as she now broke formation to approach her beloved's side. "A good thing then that we chose to confront this so soon. Still, in terms of scale, it hardly approaches the grotesque majesty of Aeonia."

The warrior made a sound of agreement. Then he craned his head lightly over his shoulder and addressed the rest of them. "Judging by this distance, we're still about a half hour away from reaching it, perhaps even a bit longer. This swamp is surely to be teaming with other threats once we close in more, so be ready."

The trio all acknowledged his words with a level of exuberance they rarely exhibited. With the sights they've bore witness to up close, they were feeling perhaps much more invested in ending this threat than they did with others.

And end this threat, they will. This, Sword Saint vowed.

"Let's get going then!" Hero exclaimed as she proceeded to practically lead the charge forward.

No one complained at all as the youngest of them all took the lead, all of them eager to see this over and done with.

And so, they all moved forward. Only ever forward.

Whew. With all the other writing I've had to do since the last chapter – that is, essay writing and what not – it feels like I've somehow lost my edge in the time I've been gone. Sorry about that, if it seems like the quality had somehow dropped. Hope you'll be patient with me as I get back into the groove.

Anyways, it may seem odd that the Swamp of Aeonia equivalent here would form so quickly as opposed to the one from Elden Ring… then again, I don't think a time frame was ever given for how quickly the Swamp of Aeonia itself had formed back then… anyways, long story short, the Scarlet Rot deliberately concentrated a high amount of its influence in the desert and made such a thing manifest. As stated within the chapter itself, it's still a far cry from Malenia's unintentional handiwork, but obviously if left alone long enough, it would only get worse.

So… yeah. Up next will be the Tarnished and them dealing with the Four Cornered World's newfound rot swamp, not that doing so will be that easy nor that quickly. Still, don't expect this to be some knock-down-drag-out affair – I'd learned my lesson to not stretch things out too much from my Slave of Light fic, ha ha.

And yep, that's right, Shabriri is finally getting the ball rolling on his end. Expect a lot of chaos taking the world pretty soon in one form or another… along with those willing to do what they can to resist said chaos, including everyone's favorite goblin slaying adventurer! The next chapter will be much more action packed, so also look forward to that!

Until next time, everyone. Take care!