Arielle approached, brushing ash from her cloak. "Yes. It wasn't just a beast. It was tainted."
Damien's eyes narrowed. In all his time in the Forest of Twin Disasters, he had never seen a beast tainted in such a way.
He had fought creatures that devoured demons, even Cerbe, his own three-headed hound, who consumed demonic cores as though they were candy. But none of them bore this corruption. None of them were twisted by it.
That left only one explanation.
"This wasn't natural," Damien said quietly. His hand pressed against the corpse, feeling the lingering traces of its corrupted aura. "It was forced. Someone—or something—infused this beast with demonic essence."
His gaze hardened, a flicker of unease buried deep beneath his calm exterior.
Experiments. Someone was running experiments.
And this was only the first they had encountered.
