The skies above Springtown had changed.

  That much was certain by the rampaging winds and the violent colours that swirled above their heads. Clouds, lightning, ash, shadows and snowflakes fluttered downwards from the surging firmament, some unfathomably green, others transforming between states of matter.

  While some merely just-.

  “Lordslayer is certainly quite the achievement for someone within the System Introduction but to earn Knight-Lord Transcendence as well? How peculiar… But that is not all is it. There is something more lurking within…”

  “Isn’t there?”

  Thedore felt a shiver creep down the length of his spine, expanding the reach of his Throne Of Dark-Knowledge and Bellona Pallas World. His figure glitching with a haze of knowledge natured spiritual energy as his form disappeared before reappearing more than a dozen metres away.

  The Voracious Swarm Mother, standing completely inert; eyes glazed over as though experiencing a daydream.

  Fragment Of Mindless-Erasure and Fragment Of World working in tandem, expanding the limitations of his natural sub-dimensional territory hoping to find the source of the voice.

  “Who said that!?” Theodore shouted, glancing towards his left and right.

  No-one around him, other than Jon, Miyoung, Avahni or their summoned companions.

  No-one capable of speaking directly with his Throne Of Dark-Knowledge, at least, no-one given the information that Shamael, Regulus, and Raflea had supplied him with. Although Avahni and her newly ascended collection of Knight-level summoned companions were a slight wildcard that he did not foresee, she was still expending spiritual energy at a rate faster than what she was capable of regenerating.

  In a battle of attrition, he would come out on top, even with Jon or Miyoung present.

  “How did you-. No, the how doesn’t matter.” Theodore muttered, letting out a small tsk as he pulled back his threads of Lacrimosa.

  The Mindless Thread Control reeling back in shock and disgust, as a corruptive wave of degenerative desire flowed back through the Voracious Swarm Mother and into his imaginary mental construct. His eyes flashing a horrible pink-violet colour for but a single moment before lie natured spiritual energy erased it.

  Courtesy of his Fragment Of Faceless-Lies.

  [Thou Art The Monarch Of Faceless Lies].

  Faceless-Spirit Of Hermes obscuring the hot flashes of lust natured spiritual energy. A faceless veil of anonymity protecting his core spirit and will, preventing it from being contaminated by the foreign influence.

  Eyes searching around frantically as Theodore narrowed his gaze upon Avahni and Miyoung.

  “I see. So I wasn’t imagining it.”

  “So that is the play that the two of you are going with… I don’t know how you managed to get inside of my head, but I promise you, it won’t work again-.”

  “Oh dear boy, if you think that you’re incapable of ‘desire’… then I promise you-.”

  The Voracious Swarm Mother twitching, pink-violet-coloured veins surging up and down the length of her seventy-metre-long abdomen. Lustful pustules and wrathful tumours expanding relentlessly, corrupting the Life, Insect and Flesh Mana Cores that laid within.

  Jibril, Xuanyuan, Rhidian and Jibril protectively surrounding Jon, Avahni and Miyoung, extending their spiritual energy and enveloping the three in a structureless, four-fold barrier of spiritual energy. Each response rapidly draining the spiritual energy contained within Avahni’s Knight-Ranked Mana Cores.

  The corners of the Voracious Swarm Mother’s mouths curved upwards, as her form shifted, the humanoid upper-body of the Grandmaster Of Wind And Flesh turned… significantly more appealing to the mortal countenance.

  Abdomen and stomach taut and defined, lithe but neither masculine nor feminine. The chest and clavicle growing turning slim, ever-so-slightly more pronounced than the average man, giving the Voracious Swarm Mother an almost androgynous appearance.

  Theodore’s eyes widening in both curiosity and annoyance as his eyes darted towards the space behind the High Priestess Of The Swarm. The single entrance to the innermost chamber of the Hive-Womb Capital served as the lone exit as well.

  One that had been conveniently blocked by the Matriarch Of Gluttonous Insects.

  At his behest.

  “What the hell did the three of you do!?” Theodore shouted, glaring at Jon and Miyoung. A feeling of frustration distorting his expression into one of clear irritation.

  “You’re the one controlling the Voracious Swarm Mother! What the hell kind of ability did you even use on it!?” Jon shouted back, glancing at Jibril, Xuanyuan, Ortlinde and Rhidian around them.

  Each one of the Knight-level summoned companions not daring to show even so much as a hint of emotion on their faces. Despite Avahni trying to communicate with her Memento Source wielding companions, not a single one of them dared respond to her, save Ortlinde who possessed a Dumah-Monarch Spirit.

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  “Jonathan. Miyoung. We need to ask the two of you for a favour.” The lightning-spirit fey muttered.

  Avahni tried to open her mouth to speak but was halted under the combined efforts of Thrud and Bryn. The two other members of the Three Monarchs Of Spirit And Destruction restraining her, releasing an almost imperceptible haze of lightning natured spiritual energy.

  Xuanyuan, Jibril and Rhidian sharing a glance but keeping their emotions in check all the while. Both Jon and Miyoung opening their mouths to ask about the details of this ‘favour,’ but were interrupted by the lightning spirit fey.

  “Don’t respond verbally. She will hear the lingering ‘desire’ within your voice and act accordingly. Don’t bother assisting the Murder Of Temperence And Humility, he will serve as a distraction while I continue to explain everything to the two of you.”

  “You see… the Voracious Swarm Mother has been taken over…”

  “By an existence beyond Thronehood. Something that has stepped beyond the gates of divinity. An existence called…”

  “Angel.”

  The horrifyingly loud sound of bones crackling and flesh warping echoed throughout the chamber. Chitinous exoskeleton shifting and churning, imbued with concepts relating to ‘desire,’ ‘ardour,’ ‘passion,’ and ‘excess.’

  The ‘Voracious Swarm Mother’ slamming its head against the hardened biomass of the Hive-Womb Capital as a pervasive and corruptive force flowed through its mindless-flesh. Scales of lustful-pink and tempting-violet sprouted along the length of its abdomen and productive organs, releasing a sweet-scented pheromone which caused Theodore to hiss, enveloping himself in the effects of his Fragment Of Devour.

  [Malignant Knowledge Art; Swallowed Memory Maw].

  Slowly but surely, the Voracious Swarm Mother was… mutated into something different. Something other than what the System-generated concepts of her have rise to during this System Introduction.

  Regardless of whether it was the Fragment Of Mindless-Hunger, the Fragment Of Symphonia-Swarm Spirit, or the Fragment Of Blood-Womb Creation that she was once so proud of…

  All of them bowed… before the Tenth Sin Of Desire.

  Mandiles dripping onto the floor into a puddle of hedonistic flesh and debased bone. Creamy, pale-skin adorned with a harmonious scattering of freckles and pink blush concealed behind them. The ‘Voracious Swarm Mother’ revealing a humanoid smile, one that caused the hearts of everyone present to start pounding within their chests.

  Everyone… but Miyoung.

  The Voracious Swarm Mother-, or rather, the existence that had taken over her flesh, smirked at Theodore while her eyes continued to roll around in their sockets before fixating in Jon, Miyoung and Avahni’s direction.

  “That I will make you long for the touch of ‘Desire’.”

  [Bountiful Ashmedai Art; Paradise Of Wrathful Hedonism-.

  [Lie A Little Lie].

  The moment Theodore felt his Eris-Thieving Grin steal away the Fragment Of Bountiful Wrath-Asmodeus, did he feel several of the veins along the length of his neck and temple burst, something crack within his Fragment Of Mindless-Erasure.

  Blood dripping out of his right-ear as his Fragment Of Mutation gleamed within his Lie Mana Core, overloaded beyond its maximum capacity.

  “Theodore!”

  The Quiet Death Of Light And Virtue manifesting behind him, devoid of any debilitating debuffs or damaging afflictions as he cradled Theodore in his arms, crushing a nearby Knight-level armoured-flesh beetle with a single swipe of his tail. The blood-night acerodon manifesting the Lightless Mirror Reversal in front of it, trying to better conceal itself from the senses of any living being around it.

  The eyes of the ‘Voracious Swarm Mother’ observing the movements of Itsumade and Theodore, flashing a sinister-looking smile as she felt lie natured spiritual energy brush up against her Lust Mana Core.

  “Ah! So that is what I was feeling.”

  “Conceptual Theft is a Title not many Lords manage to obtain for themselves. Let alone a child that has yet to scratch the surface of their abilities. You are quite the desirable specimen, are you not little Murder?”

  The ‘Voracious Swarm Mother’ paused, extending two human-esque limbs towards the skies above the Hive-Womb Capital. That single moment gave Itsumade all the opportunity the blood-night acerodon could have wanted.

  “Theodore! Let go of the fragment! It contains concepts greater than what an ordinary Lord would be capable of!”

  “We are dealing with an existence whose original body has transcended Thronehood and stepped beyond the gates of divinity! Even with the System limitations placed on her, she is not someone that we are capable of resisting alone!”

  Itsumade shouted, glancing between his master and the ‘desires’ that had taken over the Voracious Swarm Mother. The Quiet Death Of Light And Virtue turning his head towards Jon and Avahni, making no outward changes in expression or demeanour.

  His eyeless-face glancing in the direction of Xuanyuan and Jibril, taking note of their equally displeased expressions.

  All the while his summoner continued to bleed from multiple orifices, even as he released the grasp his Eris-Thieving Grin had on the Fragment Of Bountiful Wrath-Asmodeus. Hands trembling uncontrollably as his Throne Of Dark-Knowledge was exposed to a fragment of the infinite.

  The ‘Voracious Swarm Mother’ curled the corners of her mouth upwards, almost as though sneering at the Quiet Death Of Light And Virtue.

  “Your master is Titled the Murder Of Temperence And Humility? Something that has slain the virtuous and given rise to arrogance and pride?”

  “How can you hope to avoid desire…”

  “When you have already accepted it into your Source?”

  The mouth of the ‘Voracious Swarm Mother’ twisted into a sneering leer, before lifting its head towards the skies above the Hive-Womb Capital. Surging green and violent transformations encroaching upon the Memento Source Item, lurking within the lust-twisted halls of Anessa Casia, exposing the Memento Source Item to their own versions of dangerous corruption.

  “Those two also managed to enter the System Introduction too, huh?”

  The Voracious Swarm Mother letting out a not-so-subtle tsk.

  “I guess… I’ll just have to claim my prize before ‘Green’ and ‘Transformation’ get here.”

  Eyes shifting in the direction three humanoid figures in the distance. Wisps of concepts far too grand and far beyond the comprehension of mere Knights flashing through the eyes of the ‘Voracious Swarm Mother.’ Although limited to Lordship, echoes of five-fragment pathways and even seven-fragment pathways lingered within the mind of the Tenth Sin Of Desire.

  Dozens of compound eyes brushed over Jibril, Xuanyuan, Ortlinde and Rhidian, ignoring them all completely as the Angel focused solely on the three living creatures standing behind them.

  Jon, Miyoung, and Avahni all wincing as each one of them felt something not-so-softly poke their greater Source. Concepts that exceeded the understandings of even Lords and Barons prodding the natural concepts contained within the three of them.

  “Well, well, well. What do we have here?”

  The corners of a mouth curling upwards in interest and overabundant desire.

  “Isn’t this my lucky day?”