The K-Virus is a parasitic, semi-sentient infection that targets both the physical body and the soul simultaneously. When a being encounters a Krepsuna, there is roughly a fifty percent chance of transmission depending on the duration of contact and the resilience of their soul structure. Once it takes hold, it begins rewriting the host from the inside out, altering their biological and soul composition until they eventually transform into a full Infected Krepsuna.
There is a cure but it's rare to the point of near myth. Only Dynasty Fedres has the knowledge and resources to produce it and even then, the cost is astronomical. Body Reconstruction cannot remove the infection because the K-Virus integrates itself into the soul as well as the flesh. It's not like a wound or a foreign object that can simply be purged.
It is more like permanent ink soaking into paper. Once it spreads, the original surface is forever stained. Doing so would just destroy the paper.
"They're all infected."
The plaza went silent.
"How long?"
"About five hours before they start turning into Sunderer Rank Krepsunas."
The leader of the group lifted his head slightly.
"I… I don't understand," he stammered. "We feel fine—"
"It's over for them," Veneri added flatly, cutting through the man's words before he could finish.
I winced internally. He wasn't being cruel. He was being honest. Nari closed her eyes for a brief second and let out a slow, tired sigh.
"Then it's best to end their lives now."
None of the Xypelians even had time to react to her decision. Before a single one of them could open their mouths to plead or scream, a small, shimmering sphere of Spatial Energy appeared in the air beside Nari's hand. It flew forward in a blur, passing between their heads.
From a mortal perspective, nothing seemed to happen at first. All twenty of them collapsed at once. Their bodies hit the frozen ground in near-perfect unison before their minds had even processed what had occurred. To anyone without advanced perception, it would have looked like they had simply fallen asleep mid-kneel.
But Veneri and I saw what she had done. The sphere severed their life functions instantly.
Veneri stepped forward and slowly knelt beside the nearest body. He placed a hand over the corpse's chest and activated his Soul Energy, drawing the soul out from the now lifeless shell. A faint, translucent figure—an echo of the man's true self—rose from the body, hovering weakly in front of him.
That was when Veneri's eyes narrowed slightly in surprise.
"The K-Virus isn't affecting their souls anymore."
The moment the body had died, the dark, corrosive threads that had been entangled around the soul had simply vanished. It made sense in a horrifying way. The virus needed a living host to maintain its grip on the soul. Without the biological anchor, it could no longer sustain itself in the soul.
One by one, the freed souls flickered and then vanished, pulled toward the natural afterlife pathway of this realm. Nari watched the process in silence before finally asking.
"Is there an afterlife in the Hidden Citadel?"
Veneri stood up, brushing frost off his knee.
"There is. It's called the Sinking Void. I showed it to you, remember?"
"That place you were trapped in?"
"Yeah."
"Oh."
For a few seconds, neither of them spoke. The plaza was filled with the unsettling stillness of freshly dead bodies and the distant sound of people whispering in shock at the edges of the square.
Then Veneri yawned. It was so sudden and casual that it almost broke the tension entirely.
"I can use my Soul Vision across the city. I can also mark all the infected using Divine Energy."
"You can—"
Before she could even finish her question, he had already closed his eyes and begun.
His Soul Vision expanded in a massive wave, sweeping across the frost city in all directions. I felt the surge of Divine Energy leave his body in thick streams as he pushed the scan further and further.
In just ten seconds, he had examined every Xypelian within the city's boundaries. It was an absurd display of perception and processing speed, something only possible because of his advanced soul structure. When he finally opened his eyes again, his breathing had grown slightly heavier. Nearly a quarter of the Divine Energy he had just absorbed was already gone.
"There are thirteen thousand, six hundred and thirty-six infected. I've marked their souls. Any Divine Rank being will be able to see the markers now."
Nari stared at him for a second before letting out a low whistle.
"That's efficient. Thank you."
"It's better to eradicate them before they infect more people."
As harsh as it sounded, he wasn't wrong. Once someone is infected by the K-Virus, their fate is almost always sealed. If left alive, they will eventually undergo a transformation that is far worse than death like losing their mind, their identity, and their sense of self as their body warps into a monstrous Krepsuna form. Ending their lives early is often seen as a mercy, even if it feels like a massacre from the outside.
The Xypelians watching from the edges of the plaza were pale and trembling but none of them dared to protest. This was their reality and understanding of the virus. They knew what happened to those who were left to turn.
Nari turned away from the bodies.
"Come. We need to report this to the current Starisnova headquarters."
He gave a tired nod and fell into step beside her. As we left the plaza, whispers began to ripple through the crowd again.
"That man… he found them all in seconds."
"He marked the infected. I can see it glowing faintly…"
"Who is he?"
°°°°°
The Starisnova headquarters was massive.
Even from a distance, the castle dominated everything around it. Its walls were embedded Spatial Energy and above it all stretched a massive hemispherical barrier.
Spatial Energy wasn't meant to be visible in such a stable form yet here it was, condensed into a protective shell that distorted the air around it. The space within the barrier looked slightly warped.
We approached along a wide, frost-coated pathway. The Divine Rank guards stationed outside immediately stood upright. The moment Nari stepped into clear view, all of them bowed deeply in perfect unison.
"Great Celestial, welcome back."
With a synchronized motion, they extended their hands toward the barrier. Their Spatial Divinity activated at once. The surface of the barrier rippled and then parted, opening a clean, oval-shaped passage just large enough for us to walk through.
"They all have the same Divinity. Wait, did your Dynasty perform the Unification already?"
She nodded casually as we stepped through the barrier.
"Of course. We gave them Telekinesis. Unification restores their Pinnacle Tethers. If they already possess a Spatial Pinnacle Tether, giving them Telekinesis strengthens their overall control and synergy. It improves their efficiency when manipulating space."
We moved deeper into the castle. The scale of the interior only made things more absurd. Massive halls stretched in every direction, supported by tall pillars.
This wasn't their original headquarters in Xypelia yet it felt anything but temporary. Every surface was immaculate. The space inside the castle felt larger than it should have been. Veneri let out a low whistle under his breath.
"For a temporary base, this is ridiculous."
We passed through a wide training courtyard enclosed by towering walls. That was where I truly understood just how terrifying the Divine Rank Xypelians were.
Dozens of them were training despite the cold. They stood in evenly spaced lines across the frost-covered ground. Their skin was pale to the point of almost glowing against the white landscape, their hair—mostly shades of silver, white, or pale blond—whipping around in the wind.
Yet none of them shivered.
Their winter clothing was normal but surprisingly light. It gave their outfits a faint, shimmering outline. One of them raised his hand, and several massive stone blocks—each easily weighing several tons—lifted off the ground in perfect synchronization. They hovered in the air, rotating slowly as the Divine manipulated them with pure telekinetic force.
Another group was practicing fine control, guiding dozens of razor-thin ice shards through complex aerial patterns without letting them collide. The shards flew through the air in spirals and intersecting arcs. They moved so fast that they left faint white trails behind them.
"They've adapted quickly," Nari said, watching them with a small hint of pride in her voice. "Telekinesis integrates well with their existing spatial perception."
One of the Divines noticed her and immediately dropped to one knee. The others followed suit.
"Continue. Good job," she told them with a small wave of her hand.
They resumed training without hesitation. Divine Rank beings were already terrifying in any Dynasty but these Xypelians felt… disciplined. Their control over Spatial Energy was less wasteful. Every motion had been optimized over generations of living in harsh, unforgiving environments.
"When a Xypelian reaches Divine Rank," Nari continued as we walked past the courtyard, "they're automatically brought under Starisnova's jurisdiction. It's been that way since the Destras Cataclysm."
"So they don't stay with their original families or regions?"
She shook her head.
"Not once they ascend. Their development becomes too important to leave to chance. Before, when they were ready to advance to the next Enlightenment Stage, we would send them to the Islands of Inexpelcae. It was the safest place for breakthroughs."
Her expression dimmed at the mention of the islands. They were gone now, thanks to that son of Stephos whose name I can't remember. Why did he even kill the Aquatic Goddesses anyway?
"Now, it's up to the Dynasty Monarch and Monarchess to oversee their advancement directly."
"Wait. That's not how I remember the Unification rules working."
She stopped walking and turned to him slowly.
"You did read the Unification regulations before coming here, right?"
He hesitated for half a second.
"Yes?"
Nari stared at him. Then she groaned, dragging a hand down her face in open exasperation.
"You're a Dynasty Monarch and you didn't read the Unification rules?"
"I skimmed the summary. Also, I'm sure the Protection version of me already knows the rules and initiated it."
"That explains so much."
She let out a long sigh and started walking again.
"I'll explain it later, preferably when we meet my half-brother. He'll want to hear this conversation anyway."
Veneri winced slightly. "That bad, huh?"
"You have no idea."
As we continued to walk deeper into the castle, I couldn't help but look around with a growing sense of awe. Even when displaced from their homeland and operating from a temporary fortress in a hostile realm, Dynasty Starisnova still felt like a true Dynasty.