Runa's body trembled as she stared at the glowing purple bottle in the one-eyed leader's hand.
"Stop…" she whispered, genuine fear clear in her voice for the first time.
The one-eyed leader grinned weakly despite the sword pinning his shoulder against the invisible barrier.
"You recognize it, don't you?" he laughed hoarsely. "Concentrated Nightmare Poison…"
The purple liquid pulsed violently inside the bottle, faint black mist leaking from the glass like something alive.
"If this breaks…" he muttered through ragged breathing, "…everyone inside this barrier will be corrupted by Nightmare energy…"
His grin widened unnaturally.
"…and become Nightmare beings."
Kael immediately recognized the danger from Runa's reaction alone, without hesitation, he moved.
But—
CRACK!
The sound of shattering glass echoed through the sealed bar.
The bottle had already broken inside the one-eyed leader's hand.
Glowing purple liquid spilled across his fingers and arm as black mist erupted outward like smoke escaping from a corpse.
Runa's face went pale.
"No…" she whispered.
The one-eyed leader slowly lifted his head toward Kael.
Then he grinned.
His remaining eye began turning purple, veins darkening rapidly across his face as violent corruption spread through his body.
The atmosphere inside the sealed bar twisted instantly.
Purple mist erupted violently from the one-eyed leader's body, spreading across the sealed bar in an instant.
The room was swallowed by the corruption.
Tables, walls, the floor—even the air itself seemed to darken as the Nightmare poison expanded outward like living fog.
Runa immediately covered her mouth, eyes filled with panic.
"Shit…!"
But then—
The mist struck the invisible barrier surrounding the bar, and stopped.
The corruption couldn't escape, the sealed barrier trapped everything inside the room.
Runa immediately rushed toward her auntie through the spreading purple mist.
"Auntie—!"
But after only a few steps, her body staggered, her breathing became unstable.
Slowly—
Her eyes began turning purple.
The corruption crawled through her vision from both sides, staining the world in dark violet.
"Ngh…"
She tried to keep moving, forcing herself toward her auntie despite the growing dizziness.
But her sight blurred more and more, and the last thing she saw clearly—
Was Kael standing motionless in the middle of the spreading Nightmare mist.
Outside the sealed bar, two figures stood hidden on the branches of a nearby tree overlooking the street.
Both wore black suits that blended into the darkness.
One sat casually on a branch, a mask covering his face.
"To think they got wiped out before the mission even properly started," he said calmly. "And that idiot even used Nightmare Poison."
Beside him, a long-haired man stood silently, arms crossed as he watched the sealed bar from above.
"…Hm. This actually makes things easier for us," he said coldly. "Once the Nightmare spreads, eliminating the Lord of Fortress Genesis will become simple."
Below them, the sealed building remained covered in faint purple mist leaking against the invisible barrier.
Both men froze.
"…What!?" the seated man blurted out, his calm voice breaking for the first time. "He's walking out of the Nightmare Mist—?!"
The long-haired man's eyes narrowed sharply.
Inside the sealed bar, the purple mist still raged violently.
Yet—
Kael stepped forward without hesitation.
Runa was unconscious in his arms but he was struggling with nightmare poison inside her, her auntie was carried as well, both of them limp and unresponsive.
But Kael himself showed no sign of corruption.
The invisible barrier didn't stop him.
Instead, it warped like water being disturbed—rippling, bending, parting around his presence as if it recognized something beyond its authority.
He walked through the barrier effortlessly.
Outside, the two men in black suits stared in stunned silence as Kael emerged from the corrupted building like it was nothing more than a passing doorway.
Kael gently set Runa and her auntie down on the ground outside the barrier.
The purple mist remained sealed behind him, churning inside the bar like a trapped storm.
Then—
His eyes slowly shifted upward, toward the trees.
"Hmm..." he murmured.
Two men in black suits were hiding above the branches, for a brief second, their confidence cracked.
"Shit! He saw us!" one of them hissed.
Both immediately tried to jump away, retreating through the branches at high speed.
But—
They never got the chance.
A cold pressure formed in the air.
SHHK! SHHK!
Two spikes of ice manifested instantly, piercing through the air with impossible precision.
THUD. THUD.
Both men froze mid-motion.
Their eyes widened in shock as they look down, Ice spikes had already embedded themselves in their chests.
"…Wha—" one of them choked.
Their bodies lost strength instantly, dangling for a moment before going still among the branches.
Kael slowly knelt beside Runa.
Her body trembled in pain as faint purple patterns spread beneath her skin, the corruption slowly consuming her from within.
Beside her, her auntie showed the same symptoms, the Nightmare poison was already taking root.
Kael's eyes narrowed slightly.
He understood enough now to recognize the process, corruption required purification to remove it completely from an infected being.
But—He didn't know how to use purification.
Truth.
Then his eyes began glowing softly, his vision pierced through Runa's body.
Inside her—
Three masses of energy were gathering together like dark spheres, slowly forming into unstable cores.
Kael stayed silent as he observed the forming cores inside Runa's body.
The corruption was progressing fast.
Much faster than the earlier Nightmare host he encountered in the streets.
"…Because the poison was concentrated," he murmured quietly.
The three dark spheres pulsed violently inside her, feeding on her life force and emotions as they slowly stabilized.
Beside her, her auntie's condition was even worse.
Purple mist leaked faintly from her breathing.
"I need to take the risk… But why am I even doing this? They're already—" Kael whispered to himself.
Then he looked at Runa struggling in pain.
And suddenly, he remembered the forest, the moment she stepped in front of him against the bandits, risking her own life for someone she didn't even know.
Kael went silent for a moment, then he sighed softly.
"…Troublesome."
Slowly, he placed his palm against Runa's stomach as faint frost-like energy began gathering around his hand.
Kael focused quietly, faint frost spreading across Runa's body from his palm.
The corruption was too concentrated, ice alone couldn't fully remove it.
"…Then I'll take it directly," he murmured.
Slowly, the purple corruption began flowing toward his hand like smoke being pulled by force.
The Nightmare poison gathered into his palm little by little as Kael absorbed it into himself.
He didn't know what would happen afterward.
But strangely—
He felt no fear, after all, he had already been exposed to Nightmare corruption before… and nothing had happened to him then.
The purple corruption continued flowing out of Runa's body and into Kael's hand.
Runa's trembling slowly weakened.
The dark purple veins spreading beneath her skin gradually faded little by little.
But at the same time—
The corruption inside Kael grew heavier.
Black-purple mist began gathering faintly around his arm, cold and unstable, as if trying to invade his body.
Kael stared at his hand as the Nightmare poison condensed inside it.
The energy twisted violently, trying to resist being contained.
"…Unstable." he muttered quietly.
Without hesitation, he tightened his grip on the corruption, forcing it to compress further instead of spreading.
The black-purple mist struggled—but could not escape his control.
Runa's breathing slowly stabilized as the last traces of corruption left her body.
Her expression softened slightly, the pain easing away.
Kael kept his palm steady as all the Nightmare poison he had absorbed gathered tightly under his control.
The corrupted energy swirled violently inside his hand, fighting against containment.
Slowly, his arm began to change—purple veins creeping across his skin, his hand taking on a faint corrupted glow.
"…So this is what it feels like." he murmured.
Without hesitation, Kael lifted his arm.
Then—
SPAT!
He forcefully expelled the Nightmare poison onto the ground.
The corrupted energy splashed out like dark mist and liquid shadow, sizzling as it hit the earth and dissipated outward in unstable waves.
Kael immediately ignited a small flame in his hand.
The fire burned quietly—controlled, steady, precise, without hesitation, he flicked it forward.
The flame struck the expelled Nightmare poison on the ground.
WHOOSH—!
In an instant, the corrupted energy ignited violently, burning away under the fire's pressure as black-purple mist twisted and vanished into nothingness.
Kael watched silently, ensuring none of it spread further toward Runa or her auntie.
Kael turned his attention to Runa's auntie.
Her body was still trembling weakly, faint purple corruption lingering deeper inside than Runa's had been.
The Nightmare poison had already taken stronger root.
Kael knelt beside her in silence.
"…Still alive," he muttered softly.
His gaze sharpened slightly as he assessed the remaining corruption, preparing for the next extraction.
After a moment, Kael finished extracting the Nightmare poison from Runa's auntie and dragged both of them away from the bar's entrance.
He gently placed them at a safer distance outside, away from the sealed barrier still trembling with residual corruption.
Then he turned back toward the building.
The purple mist inside had already fully transformed the space.
Kael stared at it quietly.
"…Hmm. I'm too late." he said softly. "The transformation is already complete."
The sealed bar no longer felt like a place, it felt like something else entirely had been born inside it.
A sharp sound echoed from inside the sealed bar.
CRACK—!
Like glass breaking under immense pressure, the invisible barrier trembled violently.
Then—
BOOOOOOM!
The entire roof of the bar exploded outward.
Wood, stone, and fragments of corrupted energy scattered into the sky as a massive purple figure erupted from within.
Its body was unstable, twisted, and far larger than any human form—formed from condensed Nightmare poison and raw corruption.
It let out a distorted roar that shook the surrounding streets.
The sealed barrier cracked under its presence, straining to contain the monster that had just fully manifested.
The newly formed Nightmare let out a massive roar.
ROOOOOOAR—!
The sound rippled across Fortress Genesis, echoing far beyond the district, making nearby windows tremble and birds scatter into the sky.
Inside the shattered bar, the remaining purple mist began to swirl violently.
Instead of spreading—
It was being absorbed.
The massive Nightmare drew everything back into itself, feeding on the lingering corruption within the sealed space.
Kael stood still amid the collapsing interior.
As the mist thinned, the true shape inside began to reveal itself.
Countless purple eyes, slowly opening, one after another.
Staring from within the fading fog as the Nightmare fully awakened its presence.