Javi and a few Blackhands were hiding inside an empty and abandoned building. They watched Rullein’s black smoke invade a few Blackhands that had been exposed to the rain. They watched how Rullein extracted the black substance from the bodies that got infested by it. They already heard about what would happen if someone got exposed to corrupted energy.

"You said that this thing also comes out from the ground?" Javi asked Rullein, who was still extracting the Womb of the Mother from some of the Blackhands.

"Yes, and I don’t know if you’ll ever be safe even if you’re inside a house. This thing can go as small as a speck of dust that will eventually grow bigger the more it enters your body. Sooner or later you’ll lose control over your body," Rullein answered and showed the black slimy substance on her fingertip. "This much is enough to make a human lose control. This much is enough to turn you into an undead once you died," she added and then let the slimy substance enter her body.

"And you’re fine when exposed to that? It won’t affect you at all?" Javi asked out of curiosity.

"Yes, it resonates with my origin. I’m powerful enough to devour them, but if I’m exposed to a much much more quantity of this, I might be the one who get devoured by it," Rullein answered as she pulled the black smoke out of the Blackhands bodies. "Where are the remaining of the Blackhands? I need to find them as soon as possible before it’s too late," she turned to look at Javi and offered her hand for Javi to hold.

Javi removed his glove and held Rullein’s cold hand that felt like ice when suddenly he relived the moments in the past week because Rullein wanted to know all of their locations. Things moved in a flash for others who saw them, but for Javi and Rullein, it felt like hours. It was the first time Javi felt disoriented and disturbed by Rullein’s power.

"You have quite a sad childhood," Rullein smirked after she took a peek more than she should have. "Well then, stay indoors until the rain stops. I don’t recommend leaving when the ground is still wet," she added before she burst into black smoke and disappeared into thin air.

At the same time in the Commander battleship, Arka received a message from Yur. Yur appearance was a shock to the soldiers when a small child suddenly appeared out of nowhere asking for Arka.

"You want me to go to West Neva? But our current location is quite far away from that continent. I’m afraid that it would take at least two months," Arka explained to Yur, a small child that was sitting on a chair. "Also, Count Blackheart requires me to bring my whole fleet. That might takes a while," he added.

"That’s not a problem at all! I can manipulate the sea and create a powerful current for your ship to move at least ten times faster. Not only that, I can manipulate the wind to push the ship even faster too!" Yur answered, swaying its small legs. "We don’t have much time because Rasmus wants you to be there in three days!" Yur added.

Arka stood there, still couldn’t grasp the reality that a small child in front of him was a Great Spirit. He then cleared his throat as he looked at the letter that Rasmus had written. He knew what was going on in West Neva and what kind of threat they were having.

"I understand. You can bring us there now," Arka nodded with understanding.

Yur grinned and jumped down from the chair, a body of a 5 year old baby walking out of the cabin. Yur walked to the deck and began to manipulate the water current and the wind while Arka informed his crews that they were going to West Neva.

It was as Yur said, the battleship made of steel that sailed at least twenty times faster. The other ships sailed faster since they were lighter and Yur managed to maintain everything so easily. The estimated time of arrival would be three or even two and a half days.

Arka managed to grasp the details from Yur while they were sailing. Rasmus wanted Arka and his fleet to check every island of West Neva, collaborating with the naval commanders of West Neva. He wanted to locate the source of the corrupted energy that was slowly taking over the whole continent.

Three days had passed, and the rain was still pouring down the whole continent. Floods and landslides hit a few villages that made them unable to survive. More and more casualties that turned into undead with more casualties compared to the swarm of the demonic beasts.

West Neva had thirty-two nations in total scattered across the continent. Four of the nations took huge damage from the swarm of demonic beasts. However, ever since the storm happened, eight more nations were on the brink of collapse. News about the undead had spread and all nations suffered from it. A day more of the rain would cause more nations to fall and there was no way for them to recover.

It was the first time that Rasmus didn’t have to do anything to create chaos. It was more unnerving and disturbing for him because he knew nothing about what was going on.

"It has been three days! Why the rain hasn’t stopped!" Queen Anastasia slammed her desk and looked at Marina. Of course, she wasn’t furious by Marina’s incapability to stop the storm after she found out that Mana got corrupted when she tried to manipulate the weather.

"I guess we were wrong..." Marina responded, her arms crossed as she looked out the window at the rain. "Hmm?" She furrowed her brows when she saw floating black smoke entering the divine barrier.

Marina left Queen Anastasia’s office to see what Rullein had brought back with her. When she went to the east wing of the palace where Rasmus and the others stayed, she saw Daryus, Erlina, and Carrion in the hallway ahead of her, going to Rasmus’ chamber. She then joined them because they all had the same reason when they saw Rullein’s arrival.

The four of them entered Rasmus’ chamber and they already saw Aris, Videl, Serena, and Rullein, standing in circle. Marina tilted her head to look at what they were circling on, and that was when her eyes widened.

"What is that thing..." Daryus asked the question that the others had in mind.

Rasmus stared at Videl and gestured to Videl to move aside with his hand. The moment Videl took a few steps to the right, Marina and the others finally saw what it was. A naked humanoid creature with ashen skin and sharp bones that came out of its chest and back while its jawless mouth was wide open with sharp teeth. The humanoid creature had long fingers and nails that looked like dense bones instead of keratin. The eyes were all black while the eye sockets were three times the size of its eyes, enhancing the terrorizing appearance.

"That’s definitely not the Corrupted. I have fought those things countless times and they all looked like undead with decayed flesh but still human, not like this that doesn’t look like human at all," Aris answered with her arms crossed, looking at the grotesque corpse lying on the floor.

"That’s the process of Demonification," Serena revealed, her expression cold and had a hint of distastefulness in it. "This is the third stage where the second stage does look like an undead, then the corruption begins to reshape its host, turning them into what demons look like," she explained, her eyes never leaving the eyes of the abomination.

Everyone looked at Serena as they listened to her explanation, and realized what kind of threat they were facing.

"How did you know about this, Saint Serena?" Marina asked, both surprised and disturbed that Serena knew about this.

"I had died for decades before I was resurrected and came back to life. I have been in a place that no humans should be able to leave," Serena answered with her eyes staring into Marina’s soul.

Marina forgot that Serena was at least three generations older than anyone in the room and the fact that Serena was miraculously coming back to life. There was no more reason for Marina to question Serena’s knowledge of this matter.

"You said that this is the second stage. How many stages are there? And why it only happens to humans but it was normal for demonic beasts?" Rasmus glanced at Serena with his brows furrowed.

"There are five stages, the first is the beginning of corruption where they lose their minds. The second stage is the resurrection after the host finally loses their lives and becomes undead. The third stage is the modification process where the body begins to reshape into something like this. The fourth stage is the perfection process where the body has completely become demon-like with wings. The fifth stage or the final stage is the rebirth where the soul has been completely corrupted that it becomes a demon," Serena explained, remembering all that process when she gave birth to demons. "I didn’t realize it until Rullein brought this body. If I have to assume, beasts are too powerful for the corruption to take over them fully, so the process stuck on the first stage," she answered.

Rasmus glanced at Videl, wondering if what Serena said matched with what Videl thought about this situation.

"(Yes, this is why I have said many times that the Womb of the Mother isn’t supposed to exist in the world of the living)" Videl telepathically spoke to Rasmus.

"I want you to remember, Rasmus," Serena stared at Rasmus with a serious expression. "We have been fighting demons, yes, but they’re here through possession because they can’t enter the world of the living directly. But now we have demons here, true demons. They’re powerful compared to the ones through possessions," she warned.

Rasmus hummed and nodded with understanding.

"How long it takes for them to rebirth into demons?" Erlina asked as she raised her hand.

"Hours, days, weeks. There’s no certain answer to that," Serena answered.

"And if the storm doesn’t stop, the process might become faster?" Daryus raised his brows as he fixed his glasses.

"Definitely," Serena nodded.

"Then we should leave and find the source," Rasmus crossed his arms and stared out the window. "I gave Arka three days to arrive, and he should be here by now," he pointed out.

"Let’s move then," Aris said and looked at Rasmus, Videl, Rullein, and Serena. "We will leave this case to you, Marina, Erlina, Daryus, and Carrion. Tell the world about this," she looked at Marina and the others as she pointed at the humanoid creature.

Everyone nodded with understanding.