The blight didn't fade.
It burst.
Minami stumbled back as the spider blight collapsed inward, its swollen body rupturing with a wet, thunderous crack. Blackened ichor sprayed across the ground, hissing as it touched stone, while fragments of chitin disintegrated into ash midair. Life Essence erupted outward in a violent wave, unrefined and unstable, flooding the surroundings like a storm that had lost all direction.
Minami raised her arms on instinct, silver-blue eyes narrowing as she absorbed the shock.
"…I can't believe its this..... bad."
The release was wrong—too sudden, too explosive. She could feel it in the residue left behind, as if the blight had been forcibly severed from something else rather than destroyed naturally.
She turned to speak again—and stopped.
Valx lay several steps away, motionless, half-buried in rubble. His eyes were closed, his breathing shallow enough that it was easy to miss.
Minami stared for half a second, then walked over and kicked him hard in the side.
"Wake up."
Valx sucked in a sharp breath, body jolting as he rolled onto his back. "Gah—! I was dead, wasn't I?"
"Unconscious," Minami corrected. "And annoying."
He groaned but sat up anyway, rubbing his ribs. "That still counts as dying where I'm from."
She ignored him.
The city around them was still. Not peaceful—just empty. Rot clung to walls like scars that hadn't yet healed, and the air still carried the faint stench of decay.
Minami inhaled slowly.
Then she reached out.
Life Essence gathered around her hands, drawn in from the scattered remains of the blight and the lingering traces embedded in the city itself. Instead of letting it flow freely, she compressed it, forcing the raw energy inward until it grew dense and warm, vibrating under her control.
This wasn't destruction.
This was correction.
She released it in a controlled wave.
The ground shuddered gently as the energy washed over Haven. Cracks in stone sealed themselves with soft grinding sounds. Blackened growths shriveled and flaked away. Where rot had eaten through wood and flesh alike, warmth followed, knitting what could still be saved.
People cried out as feeling returned to numb limbs. Some collapsed in relief. Others simply stared, stunned, as breath came easier and pain loosened its grip.
Not everyone rose.
Minami didn't look away from the bodies that stayed still.
She knew better than to promise miracles.
When the last thread of corruption dissolved and the city finally fell silent, Haven remained standing—damaged, scarred, but clean.
The rot was gone.
They returned to the divine space shortly after.
White light stretched endlessly in all directions, responding to Minami's presence with subtle ripples that spread beneath her feet. Three small shapes slithered forward hesitantly, staying close to her like children unsure of their place.
Her gorgons.
They were still in their lesser forms—serpentine bodies, underdeveloped crests, power that existed more in potential than reality. They looked up at her, instinctively aware that something had changed.
Minami crouched in front of them.
"You did well," she said softly. "But you can't stay like this anymore."
She rose.
Using her disciple authority
The divine pressure settled over the space, heavy but precise. The gorgons' bodies reacted immediately—scales tightening, frames lengthening, bones reshaping with muted cracking sounds. Limbs formed. Posture straightened. Power stabilized instead of spilling outward.
They evolved from lesser gorgons to mid-ranked serpentman and serpentwomen, their existence stepping into a higher order of form and will.
When the light receded, three figures stood where the serpents had been.
Humanoid.
Two girls and one boy, their features sharp but young, eyes carrying a strange mix of innocence and ancient awareness. Faint traces of scales patterned their skin, and their presence was unmistakably divine-adjacent.
"You are my disciples," Minami said. "And no longer lesser beings."
She named them without hesitation.
"Kai. Fei. Nei."
The Gorgon Triplets.
Valx, who had been leaning lazily against a distant pillar, straightened immediately. A grin spread across his face as he strode over. "As your senior disciple and your uncle, I expect proper respe—"
Kai tilted her head. "Mama, is this the pervert that keeps staring?"
Nei nodded thoughtfully. "We should eliminate him.
Valx went pale. "…Minami?"
She waved a hand dismissively. "Not yet. He's still useful. For now."
The triplets stared at Valx in silence, clearly unconvinced.
Valx swallowed.
Minami closed her eyes.
Authority—The Overseer.
Her awareness expanded beyond the divine space, threading through the world below. She followed currents of corruption, traces of rot that moved unnaturally—directed rather than spread—until her perception locked onto a dense knot of control.
"There," she said.
The Night Kingdom. Home of the vampires
What she saw made her expression harden.
Vampires moved through their own streets with empty obedience, eyes dull, movements too synchronized to be natural. They weren't allies of the rot—they were enslaved by it.
At the center of the kingdom sat the source.
A blight.
Female. Humanoid. Her body was covered in dark, lustrous scales that curved smoothly along her figure. Small horns rose from her temples, decorative rather than crude, and a pair of wings rested folded against her back. She lounged on a stolen throne, one leg crossed over the other, a whip coiled loosely in her hand.
A puppeteer, succubus
"She's not just spreading corruption,"
Minami said quietly. "She's dominating them."
They warped in at the outskirts of the kingdom soon after.
The air was heavy—thick with blood, fear, and submission. Valx guided them through narrow streets and forgotten passages, clearly familiar with every turn.
"My father is in that castle," he said tightly. "If we strike fast—"
"No," Minami interrupted.
She didn't raise her voice, but it carried weight.
"If she's controlling them directly, killing her could cause a rebound. Minds snap when the source disappears too suddenly."
Valx clenched his fists. "…Understood."
They waited.
They observed patrols, noted fluctuations in the blight's control, tracked moments when her attention slipped. Minami analyzed everything—strengths, reach, habits, weaknesses. Weeks passed before she finally spoke again.
"It's time."
They didn't reach the castle gates.
Vampire soldiers surged from the shadows, surrounding them in a practiced formation. Their eyes glowed red, movements unnaturally precise.
Then the air rippled.
"I wondered when you'd come."
The succubus blight descended slowly, wings unfolding as she hovered above them. Her smile was lazy, confident.
Minami's eyes narrowed.
So they were linked.
"I felt it," the blight continued. "The moment my spider lost its thread."
She laughed softly. "Gaxe warned me. A girl with silver and blue eyes… and a vampire prince who escaped."
Her gaze slid to the triplets. "But these three? They weren't in his memories."
She shrugged. "No matter. You'll all serve eventually."
"Disciples," Minami said sharply. "Commence the operation."
Fei moved first.
Smoke erupted outward, thick and disorienting, scrambling the soldiers' formation instantly.
Valx followed, blood surging from his arms and hardening into chains that snapped around the blight midair, binding her limbs.
For a heartbeat—it worked.
Then she laughed.
Her body liquefied, reshaping mid-fall as wings tore free and scales thickened. She burst from the chains and vanished.
Reappearing behind Valx.
She leaned in and kissed him.
Minami reacted instantly—
But Valx turned.
His eyes were empty.
A blood spear formed in his hand and launched toward her.
Minami froze.
"…Mind control," she whispered.