The Vial in his hand contained several corrupted elemental particles of Distortion, carefully combined with the small radioactive elements gathered straight from the "Ancient Chasm", a forbidden excavation zone.
"Since this was given directly to me by Lord Ganesha of the [Almighty High Overseers], I will not fail him with a lack of results this time."
Upon saying that, the winged figure dispersed into countless feathers. They vacated a place further away and watched the test subjects' anguished shrieks echo into the skies.
And, around this time, Harlock, Redrich, and Hara finally emerged from the cavern. By now, Hara noticed that it was midday, and the sight of the remarkable mountains right by them made all of them, even Redrich, breathe a sigh of relief.
However, this sign was short-lived, as he noticed the foul beast lurking around immediately.
"…What the… a Corrupted Beast?" Harlock asked.
The powerful shrieks of the strange, bird-resembling creature, which seemed to have multiple beings fused into its body, grew louder as Redrich replied.
"From the little wisps and traces around it that were generated just now, that creature seems to be in some sort of overdrive state. We do need to get rid of it, though, because of its potential danger."
"…Hm. This seems like a job more fit for Hasuja City's Grand Defence Force instead, but if there's a chance to get a big reward from this, I don't mind the extra work."
Harlock stepped forward first, leading the three of them to the creature, which still hadn't noticed them due to the aberrations covering its body that made it shriek uncontrollably. And, it looked like the creature was still mutating.
Its body pulsated erratically, and moments later, two arms sprouted from its body, furthering the transformation.
Hara winched. He decided he couldn't stand another moment looking at the scene in front of his eyes, so he summoned all the strength he could muster to put it out of its misery. However…
"…Hm…"
As Hara struck the creature, Harlock noticed that although its flesh was torn to bits by the mystic energy surrounding his fist, its body slowly hardened in response, and large, black wings covered with many staring eyes immediately budded from its mutated body.
"This isn't normal… a normal Corrupted Beast shouldn't have such a high [Corruption Value] to begin with… it shouldn't be mutating to this degree… its Corruption Value must be off the charts!"
Redrich shook his head, preparing himself.
"It's as if someone planted this beast here in front of us. But, if that's truly the case, attacking it may induce a variety of unwanted results, yet we can't exactly leave it alone either."
Hara's heart pounded as he looked at the Corrupted Beast's changing form. It was slowly but surely becoming a complete being, which even the combined efforts of all three of them wouldn't be able to take care of.
"We need to get out of here! We can't risk our lives for this!"
Redrich and Harlock agreed, since they knew that the higher a creature's Corruption Value was, the more that they'd mutate and the higher the chances it had of corrupting the environment.
And they were about to make a swift escape before something strange happened.
From the skies above, Hara noticed a large spinning metal sword coming from above like a meteor, and it was aimed directly at the Corrupted Beast that was still in the process of mutating.
Moments later, the force of the spinning sword collided with the creature, causing a small shockwave. And then, as Hara opened his eyes again, he saw a mechanical humanoid in an Agent's attire appear before him, tearing the metal sword from the body of the Corrupted Beast.
"…As I thought. Even from afar, anyone can tell that this Corrupted Beast isn't truly a Corrupted Beast, but one of those [Experiments]. I need to tell Kans and Grace to put more effort into their investigations…"
"Hey… Who are you?" Redrich asked.
The mechanical humanoid stared at him, before placing one leg on the dead "Experiment", and lifting his metal sword before pointing it at the three of them.
"That's what I should be asking you three, as a member of Hasuja City's Grand Defence Force. What are any of you doing around here? Do you have some connection to this mutating beast?"
"Nope."
"Well, this Experiment didn't exactly appear out of nowhere, then, right?"
"…Yes, but we also have absolutely no idea where that thing came from," Harlock replied.
"…Hm…"
The humanoid robot inspected their facial expressions, and he slowly determined that these three were not lying.
"…Well, I can't be too cautious, right? Since you three stood close by to the creature and weren't affected, you all must have a high Unique Resistance, so, from that, I'm guessing there could still be some value I could pull out of you three. So, in other words, you're all coming with me."
"…To Hasuja City?"
"Of course! We need to inspect you, and, more importantly, find out the origins of this creature, which I already suspect is from that cult…"
Hara noticed something about the mechanical humanoid. Something familiar.
"…Hey, wait… I think I recognise you."
"…Recognise me? What are you on about, kid?"
Hara stared at him more closely but couldn't confirm the familiarity.
"…Nevermind. I just thought you looked familiar."
"Hey! That's an insult!" The mechanical humanoid replied.
"All mechanical constructs pride themselves on looking distinct!"
"…But, on second thought, I think I recognise you as well. But, let's save that for later, since I have to take you all with me. Don't try and run away either, or this little ole' blade of mine will tear right through your chest, got that?"
The trio nodded.
"Alright then." The mechanical humanoid said, picking up the corpse.
"And, by the way, you three can call me, "Blue."
Hara felt his eyebrow raise, as he also found that name to be familiar, but he continued to shake it off.
This jump-started the journey from the Sauti Mountains to Hasuja City, which the mechanical humanoid, who introduced himself as Blue, explained was more advanced than towns due to near-unlimited access to [Purified Technology] through Machinery Magic.
Without that, humans would likely never have been able to survive against the onslaught of attacks from the Distortion.
After being purified, [Corrupted Machinery & Technology] from the Old World could become effective in negating some of the effects of Distortion, as well as even being able to channel some sort of [Purified Energy], measured by its [Purification Value]. This special energy is also how mechanical humanoids came to be, as it's considered their life force, and it is also the root of many Old World theories.
However, despite all this advancement in the last hundred years, pushing the Corrupted Lands further and further away, there has been further pushback, like with how more and more human enemies have begun to surface, like the [Lotus Garden]. An organisation that worships the ideas of "eternity" and "rebirth", which is also linked to a deity they call the [Enlightened One].
They are even led by the still uncaptured and highly dangerous criminal named the [Mother of Eternity].
'The Mother of Eternity… I'm sure that's one of the important figures that [she] mentioned as well.' Redrich thought.
'It seems that the Lotus Garden cult is important to his fate, and he will have to face their leader eventually. I may need to make some preparations early…'
Meanwhile, Hara listened to the words of Blue with Harlock, unknowing of what his future awaits.
From there, they took a 30-minute walk to finally arrive at Hasuja City. But, as they did, a mysterious figure watched them from close behind, undetected through the use of spells.
"Unfortunately, I can't do anything to them in the city, not without gathering unwanted attention… "Horn", "Needle" and "Deceiver" are around, so perhaps I can ask them for help…"
The winged figure stared at the group of four that walked further and further away. But their eyes were only focused on one person. Hara.
"…His scent… It's so pure it makes me nauseous. I can tell that he will be a great flaw for us. Taking care of him here will do us all some good. So, let me follow them for a while longer…" The winged figure said.
They took off their mask and undressed themselves, revealing purple, snake eyes, long, dark hair, a sly smile and a long dark coat underneath, imbued with feathery bird motifs.
She was planning on obtaining the attention of the cult's higher-ups, one way or another!