Chapter 160: Corruption’s Edge

Grace stepped back and put some space between her and Cinder.

The Bloom was watching her and Cinder with a horrified expression.

[Corruption aside, it’s clear her intentions aren’t to hurt anything. Not like the other Pillars. But… How do I help you?]

Cinder didn’t seem like she was going to give Grace the time to think about that. She dashed forward, grey wings spread out and wide, aiming her sword at Grace’s neck. Given that she obviously knew she couldn’t kill Grace, she must have just been aiming to impair her. Stop her for a bit, while the Bloom’s corruption progressed.

So, Grace couldn’t let that happen.

As Cinder went to impale her, Grace used her armguard.

「Stardust Veil」

A lightweight, shimmering silver arm guard that extends from wrist to elbow. When activated, it hardens and is able to deflect or absorb a single strike before needing to recharge.

Cinder’s blow was completely absorbed by that small piece of equipment, and Grace tried to use the moment of surprise to land her own impairing blow. She didn’t want to kill Cinder, but she needed her to be well out of the way before she could go and help the Bloom.

Cinder, however, to her credit, managed to dodge, seeing that Grace was about to counter-attack.

“You’re not bad at all, for an amateur.” Cinder smirked, though Grace could see it in her eyes. She was beginning to comprehend that maybe this wouldn’t be as easy as she thought it would.

“Amateur?” Grace spun her rapier. “I’ve killed Primal Demons.”

“And I’ve been fighting since before you were born.” Cinder’s wings flared. “Let me show you the difference.”

She moved faster than before. Grace barely got her blade up as Cinder struck from three angles in rapid succession. Sparks flew as golden light met corrupted steel.

[She’s not playing around anymore.]

Behind them, the Bloom writhed on the ground. Black veins spread across her flower-covered skin. Each pulse of corruption made the clearing shift. Grass became glass, trees turned to meat, the air itself started solidifying.

“Bloom!” Grace tried to call out while parrying another strike. “Fight it!”

“Can’t… stop…” The Bloom’s voice came out distorted. “Creating… corrupting… changing…”

Cinder pressed her advantage. Her blade whistled past Grace’s ear as she ducked.

“She’s ours now.” Cinder kicked at Grace’s knee. “The perfect weapon to remake this world.”

Grace jumped back. Her gauntlets glowed as she caught Cinder’s follow-up strike between her palms.

“The Bloom isn’t a weapon!”

“Everything’s a weapon if you use it right.” Cinder yanked her sword free and spun into a wing strike.

Grace rolled under the attack. She came up swinging, her rapier aimed at Cinder’s legs.

The Veil angel jumped, using her wings to hover.

“Predictable.”

She dove down, sword first.

Grace sidestepped at the last second. Cinder’s blade sank into the ground where it immediately became a tree. The tree screamed.

[The Bloom’s power is going haywire.]

“Look what you’re doing to her!” Grace gestured at the writhing Pillar.

Cinder pulled her sword free from the screaming tree.

“I’m giving her purpose. Real purpose. Not Eternia’s abandoned whim.”

They clashed again. This time, Grace noticed something different. Cinder’s movements were getting sharper. More aggressive. The blue-purple corruption around her was deepening.

[Wait. Is she…]

“You’re absorbing more Sin energy.” Grace blocked a particularly vicious strike. “From the Bloom!”

“Perceptive.” Cinder’s eyes now had flecks of black in them. “The Bloom’s corruption feeds into the Veil’s power. We grow stronger while she spreads chaos.”

“That’s insane!”

“That’s evolution.” Cinder’s next attack came with inhuman speed.

Grace barely deflected it. The impact sent her sliding backward, boots digging grooves in the constantly changing ground.

[She’s getting stronger by the second.]

Behind Cinder, the Bloom’s transformation accelerated. Her body began to elongate, limbs stretching unnaturally. The flowers covering her turned black and grew thorns. Her face split into multiple expressions – joy, sorrow, rage, all at once.

“No no no…” The Bloom’s voices overlapped. “This isn’t creation… This is wrong…”

“Bloom!” Grace tried to get past Cinder. “Hold on!”

Cinder intercepted her. Their blades locked again.

“You still don’t understand.” Cinder’s face was inches from Grace’s. “This was always the plan. Let the Pillars corrupt. Use that corruption to fuel our revolution.”

“The Pillars are victims!”

“The Pillars are tools.” Cinder headbutted Grace.

Stars exploded across Grace’s vision. She stumbled back, tasting blood.

[Okay. That hurt.]

Cinder advanced, corruption crackling around her blade.

“Just like you’re a tool. Just like Eternia was a tool. Everything serves a purpose.”

“SHUT UP!”

Grace’s gauntlets blazed with golden light. She caught Cinder’s next strike and twisted. The Veil angel’s sword went flying.

But Cinder just smiled.

“Finally getting serious?”

She spread her wings wide. Corruption poured off them in waves, Each feather now dripped with blue-purple energy.

[Oh shit.]

“Let me show you what real power looks like.” Cinder’s form began to shift.

Her wings grew larger. Spikes erupted from her shoulders. Her fingers elongated into claws. The corruption wasn’t just empowering her – it was changing her.

[She’s turning into a Primal Demon.]

Grace backed up, rapier raised. “Cinder, stop! You don’t know what you’re doing!”

“I know exactly what I’m doing.” Cinder’s voice came out layered, like multiple people speaking. “Becoming what Eternia feared most. What the Dominion fears most.”

She lunged. Not with a weapon, but with claws that could shred divine armor.

Grace dove aside. The ground where she’d been standing exploded into fragments.

[She’s stronger than before. Much stronger.]

The Bloom’s screams intensified. Her body was now a writhing mass of corrupted creation, sprouting and destroying things without pattern. Trees grew eyes. Rocks became flesh. The very air started breeding monsters.

“See?” Cinder stalked forward, each step leaving corrupted footprints. “This is true freedom. No limits. No rules. Just power.”

“This is madness!”

Grace channeled everything into her rapier. The blade hummed with divine energy, glowing bright enough to hurt.

She charged.

Cinder met her halfway.

The collision shook the entire clearing. Golden light warred with corruption as they traded blows faster than mortal eyes could follow.

Grace’s rapier scored a hit across Cinder’s arm. Black blood sprayed out, immediately becoming tiny demons when it hit the ground.

Cinder’s claws raked across Grace’s armor, leaving deep gouges. Where they touched, frost spread.

They separated, both breathing hard.

“Not bad.” Cinder licked black blood from her lips. “But you’re still holding back.”

“I don’t want to kill you!”

“Your mistake.” Cinder raised both hands. Corruption gathered between them, forming a sphere of pure Sin energy. “Here’s mine.”

She fired.

The blast of corruption hit Grace dead center. It burned through her armor, through her skin, straight into her core.

[FUCK!]

Grace screamed. The corruption spread through her veins like liquid fire. Her vision went dark at the edges.

[No. Not like this.]

She fell to one knee. The corruption whispered promises. Power. Freedom. No more doubt.

“There we go.” Cinder approached slowly. “Feel it? That’s what true strength tastes like.”

Grace’s body shook. The corruption wanted in. Wanted to change her like it changed Cinder.

[Wait. I have a skill for this.]

「Aura Release」

Ability to pull corruption inside you and then release it back in a massive blast

Grace stopped fighting the corruption. Instead, she pulled it deeper. Let it fill her up.

“Yes!” Cinder laughed. “Accept it! Become what you were meant to—”

Grace’s eyes snapped open. They blazed with golden light mixed with purple.

“Thanks for the power boost.”

She stood up. Corruption and divine energy swirled around her in perfect balance.

“What are you—”

Grace raised both hands. All the corruption Cinder had blasted into her compressed into a single point.

“AURA RELEASE!”

The beam that erupted from Grace’s hands was massive. Golden light wrapped in purple corruption, aimed directly at Cinder.

Cinder’s eyes widened. She tried to dodge.

Too slow.

The blast hit her full force. For a moment, Cinder’s form was visible within the beam – wings spread, mouth open in a silent scream.

Then she dissolved. Not into golden light like angels. Not into shadow like demons.

She simply ceased to exist.

Grace fell to her knees, gasping. The corruption still burned in her veins, but weaker now. Manageable.

No time to process. Behind her, the Bloom’s transformation had reached critical mass.

Grace turned around. The Bloom no longer looked like Eternia. She’d become a thing of pure corrupted creation – a writhing mass of possibilities made flesh. Arms sprouted and withered. Faces formed and melted. Colors that shouldn’t exist painted themselves across reality.

“HELP… ME…” The Bloom’s voice came from everywhere and nowhere.

[I have to stop this.]

Grace stood up. Her rapier felt heavy in her hand. The corruption in her veins whispered solutions.

[Kill her. End her suffering. It’s the only way.]

She approached the writhing mass that used to be the Bloom. Somewhere in there was the excited, innocent Pillar who just wanted to create.

[But she’s too far gone.]

The corruption agreed. It pushed Grace forward. Guided her hand.

Her rapier rose. The tip aimed at where the Bloom’s heart should be.

[One thrust. Quick and clean. She won’t suffer.]

For just a moment, the Bloom’s real face appeared in the chaos. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

[Please what? Please save you? Or please end this?]

The corruption made the choice for her. Grace’s arm moved without her permission.

The rapier thrust forward, aimed at the Bloom’s exposed heart.

Time seemed to slow.

The blade descended.

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