The moment Liam stepped into the ruined chapel, he felt it.
A pressure.
Like air that had been held hostage for too long.
Junia had told him the truth — the Root was beneath them. And now, with Naomi and Artemis accompanying him, he planned to find it.
They came at night.
Maya stayed behind to cover their movement. Caleb fed false patrol schedules into the command grid.
Liam stood over the altar stone, now cracked and moss-eaten.
"This wasn't always a chapel," Naomi whispered.
Artemis nodded. "These walls are old. Older than the Sanctuary."
"How old?" Liam asked.
Artemis pressed a palm to the cold stone.
"There's metal underneath."
A quiet click echoed through the silence.
A hidden switch.
Stone ground against stone.
The altar slid open, revealing a stairway spiraling downward into complete black.
[System Warning – Unknown Zone Detected]
> Codename: The Hollow Below
Infection Density: 62%
Visibility: Null
Mental Influence Risk: High
Do not enter alone.
They descended together.
The stairs were narrow and damp, walls pulsing faintly as if alive.
Liam felt the system tighten around his nerves.
Each step brought a whisper.
A wordless pressure… and dreamlike pull.
Naomi gasped beside him. "I hear them…"
"Hear what?" Liam asked.
"The ones who didn't make it out."
They reached the bottom.
The stair opened into a vast, circular chamber of roots.
Not plant roots.
Veins.
They wrapped the chamber like a cage, each pulsing slowly, like a heartbeat.
In the center lay a massive cocoon — black, wet, and breathing.
[System Alert – Proximity to Bloom Node]
> Core Rot Lifeform Detected
State: Dormant
Energy Level: 23%
Estimated Wake Trigger: Emotional Trauma, Blood, or Harem Synchronization
"What is that?" Artemis asked, blades out.
Naomi whispered, "A Bloom Womb…"
"A what?"
"It's how they make new ones. New Bloomed. Not born. Bred."
Liam circled the cocoon slowly.
It wasn't just organic.
There were mechanical nodes embedded in the side—plugs, ports, and digital runes. Someone had engineered this thing.
And behind it—chained to the wall—was a corpse.
Or… almost a corpse.
Half-fused into the root system. Still breathing.
Eyes rolled back in its head.
Female.
Whispers echoed from her throat like a broken radio.
> "He comes… ten become one… love is rot, and rot is truth…"
Naomi stepped forward.
She knew her.
"Tess…" she breathed.
One of the Bloomed acolytes.
"She volunteered for the womb," Naomi explained, shaking. "She wanted to become the next vessel."
"She's still alive," Liam said.
Naomi nodded. "Barely. She's in pre-bloom stasis."
Liam turned to Artemis.
"Can you sever her connection?"
"Not without alerting every system host in Sanctuary."
[System Option Detected – Sever Bloom Node]
> Tools Required: Blood Rune Blade + Emotional Bond Anchor + Lust Control > 40%
Result: Bloom Node enters decay
Side Effect: Psychic backlash / Host-wide alert
Proceed?
> [Yes] | [No]
Liam hesitated.
Then selected Yes.
He drew the knife Maya had given him—etched in old-world silver, engraved with her blood.
Naomi stepped forward and touched his chest.
Her bond glowed.
Junia, above, felt it too. Her aura surged.
The system synchronized.
Liam raised the blade…
…And cut the root binding Tess's chest.
The scream that followed wasn't human.
It was a chorus.
Every woman's scream Liam had ever heard…
in one voice.
[Bloom Node Severed – Rot Core Shattered]
> Psychic Shock: 67%
Emotional Feedback: Harem Network destabilized
Sera Alerted
New Quest Unlocked: "The Root Bleeds"
Blood poured from the cocoon.
The veins around the room twitched and turned black.
The womb collapsed in on itself, shattering like glass.
Tess fell limp in Naomi's arms—alive, barely.
Liam pulled Naomi away just as the entire chamber began to shake.
Artemis shouted, "We have to go. Now."
They sprinted up the stairs as the ground cracked.
Rot fumes exploded upward, chasing them like smoke with claws.
They burst from the chapel just as the stone altar collapsed into a sinkhole.
The Root Below…
was bleeding.
And Sanctuary Nine would feel it.
[New Trait Gained – Liam: Bloom Slayer]
> Infection Resistance: +10%
Female Bond Link Range: +15%
Psychological Decay: -5% per successful ritual severance
That night, the camp was chaos.
Something had changed in the air.
People murmured of tremors. Hallucinations.
Some felt their systems twitch violently.
Sera called an emergency council meeting.
And Liam?
He went back to Junia and held her tight.
She didn't speak.
She just hummed again.
That melody of mourning.
And as she sang, Liam's system pinged once more.
[System Status Update]
> Bonded: 5
Engagements: 3
Remaining Days: 7
Psychological Stability: 77%
Cult Ritual Interruption: Success
You've wounded the Root. But it is not dead. And now, it knows your name.