The mental whisper faded, but the System exploded in front of him.
[CRITICAL ALERT: BIOLOGICAL INTRUSION DETECTED]
[TARGET: SPIRITUAL CORE]
[MANA SOURCE: IDENTICAL TO ENTITY "THE SHADOW" (ST. CELESTE CHAPEL)]
It wasn't a random infection nor a residue of generic black magic.
That thing in the Chapel, the one Arawn had tried to kill, had left him a parting gift.
He tried to summon the [Paragon's Light] to purge it, an instinctive survival reaction, but the System spat a blood-red error at him.
[FATAL ERROR: PARAGON BLOCKED BY CORRUPTION]
[CORE STATUS: 5% CONTAMINATED]
[ESTIMATED TIME UNTIL PERMANENT DEATH: 719 HOURS]
'Thirty days?'
An exact month before that thing ate his soul and turned him into an empty puppet.
BAM!
The infirmary door burst open.
Raziel jumped in the bed, heart racing, waiting for an Inquisitor or Death itself.
But it was Lucian.
The noble entered with his face red with fury and Lara came behind, pale but with clenched fists.
