I paced back and forth. "Now, how does one defeat a primordial eldritch creature powerful enough to kill a god?" I looked at my fellow otherworlders, and sword saint Lyra, sitting around the table in the otherworlders guild. "Any suggestion?"

  "Give up," Mike said.

  I threw a pencil at him, making him recline back into his chair. "Not happening. Anyone else?"

  Norma raised his hand. "If this creature has the power to destroy planets, why was it struggling to hunt down the Wandering God? It also did not seem to destroy every planet on sight. It must have a power tied to using planets maybe?"

  I nodded. "Exactly. And every one like me that witnessed its destruction remember giant craters appearing. Na'al over there even remember seeing the entire world crumble."

  Na'al looked down and didn't say anything.

  "And several of us are even first time otherworlders seeing their homeworld … disappear, and other second summoned like me experiencing different Systems. I think this is our clue: the System."

  "The System?" Lyra repeated. "Like my … this homeworlds World-Runes?"

  I pointed at her. "Precisely! You're a smart gal."

  Lyra blushed.

  "If that creature also killed the planet with their gods, it means they were able to circumvent the System of that world. I remember hearing in school once that the universe is so vast, that different galaxy clusters could have their very own laws of physics. I doubt our foe is strong enough to have created the universe or something, so it must still be beholden to the different Systems it encounters. This must be why it takes its time; our foe is a System Manipulator."

  Lutherion — or Luther he preferred — snorted. "And how are we supposed to fight this System Manipulator?"

  I smiled. "We confuse the hell out of them."

  - Rachel, the second summoned

  Sierra jumped in between trees. She threw daggers at the beast, embodied with her most valuable middle grade spirits, but the damage was negligible. Every single error beast that made up its body functioned as a separate entity; dead error beast would just fall of the swarm replaced by others.

  After eating the cultist and the small demonic slime, Morpheus turned berserk. Instead of horrifying but logical bouts up and down like a worm, it grew tentacles destroying everything in its wake. Whatever the cultist had done to Morpheus had been incredibly effective at maddening the beast.

  Sierra embodied herself into the shadow covering a tree trunk, and swiftly jumped out of the shadow on the ground, barely managing to avoid the tentacle smashing through. Another tentacle slid through the ground beneath her with the jaw of a shark reaching for her.

  "[Wind cutter]!"

  A slash of wind cut the tentacles off, separating it from Morpheus. The moment it was cut, pairs of creatures, error beast, parted from the tentacle.

  Matheus sent a new slash towards another tentacle trying to reach for her. "[Wind cutter]! Huh, saying the skill out loud really is more fun."

  Hiro lunged towards one of the nearby error beasts that had separated from the tentacle, and swiftly cutting it with a lightning infused aura blade.

  She turned to look at the rows of soldier heading towards them, preparing their skills and artillery.

  "We need for someone to keep its focus," the Vice-Commander said.

  Hiro took of his hood, revealing his beastkin ears. "On it." His aura sword stared dimming in intensity. Hair grew from all over his body ripping his shirt of, as he increased in size. Massive claws grew from his hand with the same static that his sword gave off. He howled. "Let me show you how a jaguar fights!" Then he lunged at one of Morpheus closest tentacles. With his massive claws he cut it in bits with an electric shock frying it off.

  "Doesn't he look more like a wearwolf?" Someone said.

  ***

  Gods knight Kyle kicked the door open and stared in silence at the mess. "Why is everything so wet? And are those crystals? Why is the chair on fire?"

  Tom nervously smiled, still in the confines of his cage. "Just some dumb stuff my aura sword does."

  "Sure," Kyle commented.

  Tom straightened himself up. "Why are you here? Finally decided to listen to my warning? The great error beast Morpheus is—."

  "Stop the nonsense," Kyle interrupted. "I am well aware of your habit of lying yourself out of every situation, Tomassio Rossi. I am not here to accept or offer you help, only to tell you your sentence." He opened up a parchment in front of him. "Tomassio Rossi, in the name of head priest Nelic, is herby sentenced to death."

  Tom gulped. "Death? I am the son of the Duke!"

  Kyle shrugged. "Orders are orders." He started pulling out his greatsword. "Now, lets make this painfull."

  "Wait!" Ilona ran into the room, followed by Arianna.

  Kyle put the sword back in his scabbard. "My saintess. What did I do to earn the honor?"

  "Trying to kill my only friend," she flatly responded. "By the authority that is wested in me, I void that sentence."

  "Are you sure? This fool attempted to betray the kingdom, siding with lunatics."

  She nodded. "I am sure. Do I need to repeat myself?"

  Kyle stared blankly at Ilona.

  Arianna sigh. "Come on Kyle. We literally renounced our loyalty to the king to support the church. She literally is the church."

  "My apologies," Kyle said.

  Ilona glared at him, then walked towards Tom. "I am sorry you have to find out this way."

  Tom tilted his head. "Find out what?"

  "That ... That I am the saintess."

  "I already knew that."

  Her eyes widened. "You did! How?"

  He pointed at himself. "Observer, remember? Kinda my thing."

  She smiled. "Of course, how foolish of me. But," she hesitated. "You stil decided to interact with me, after knowing my real identity?"

  "Yup. Why wouldn't I? You were literally chosen by an archangel, that's awesome."

  "Oh." She smiled. "It is, isn't it?"

  "Although, I don't understand why you chose to live here. Being a soldier isn't exactly easy work, and most of the people avoid you since you are too overly kind."

  Her eyes widened. "Is that the reason? Now, I—." She shook her head. "I decided to enlist as a soldier in the camp, despite the high priest protests."

  "Why?"

  She blushed. "I am not of high birth such as you are. I was born in the slums. Then one day I was chosen as the new saintess and my whole world turned upside down. I thought I would be happier being out of the slums, but my life as a saintess hasn't been so … I just wanted to experience my past for once, and live as a common woman."

  "So you were bored and wanted to cosplay as a commoner?"

  She nodded, awkwardly. "I guess that sums it up."

  Tom held his throat. "Sorry, but could I get some water. This guy hasn't given me anything."

  Ilona gave Kyle another ugly stare. She exiting the room, leaving Tom to awkwardly stare at the knights in silence. Eventually she returned with a cup of water.

  Tom took the cup. "Thanks."

  "Wait," Ilona said. "Let me bless it for you."

  "You really don't—."

  She held both her hands foreward. "[Ultimate blessing]."

  The entire room lit up with a radient white light, momentarily blinding everyone. When it was done, Tom blinked his eyes to readjust them to the dark lighting.

  "Marvelous," Kyle said.

  Arianna folded her hands together, giving a prayer.

  It really wasn't necessary, but he appreciated her worry. Looking down on the cup, he noticed a strange blue dot swimming in the water. Moving the cup closer he saw something like a small fish swimming around, whispering barely intelligible word. "Good water! Good water!"

  Tom gaped. "I think you blessed it so much that I can even see a lesser spirit."

  "What?" Kyle ran towards him to take a look, then grimaced. "I do not see anything." He met Tom's eyes. "You really are a liar."

  Tom really wanted to punch this guy, but held himself back.

  "If Tom says he can see a spirit, then it is the truth." Ilona matter of factly said.

  Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

  Kyle shook his head. "My saintess, such a naive heart you have."

  Tom took another admiring look at the lesser spirit. Was this the fruition for creating the first two aura rings. He focused on the lesser spirit, but slowly saw it fad away. Using his aura sight he could sense a water spirit inside. The color the water gave off was much stronger than it usually would.

  In one sitting he doused down the entire cup, licking his lips. How could water taste so delicious? He shook his head. Now wasn't the time. He put the cup down. "Did you talk with Sierra and Hiro?"

  She nodded. "Hiro told me about the situation and managed to rally the other soldiers behind him. He sent me here to make sure you get out."

  Tom looked down. "It would have been much more effective if you stayed with the others to heal them."

  "The Commander is with them. Her enchantments will be enough to buy us time, but these gods knight won't listen to anyone else." She turned towards the two knights. "Set him free."

  They both looked at each other.

  "And if you accept this one humble request of mine, I promise I will go back to the capital."

  That caught their attention.

  "This still sounds risky," Kyle said. "He is a traitor. Even if his majesty for some reason does not see it that way. Must be due to his ill age."

  Arianna shrugged. "I don't care. Our mission was to bring the saintess back to the grand temple. Tomassio Rossi was only a secondary concern."

  Kyle sighed. Rummaging through his pocket he pulled out a key and opened the cage door. "This better be worth it."

  ***

  Tom could barely controll his excitement, grinning from ear to ear. "Why didn't you tell me you could fly?" He still made sure to hold onto her staff tightly.

  Ilona shrugged. "What use would it have? Levitation is a common skill learned by paladins."

  The two gods knight flew up right besides him. "You sure are odd," Arianna commented. "This skill is no secret. Doesn't house Rossi have it own army? Where did you even take them to last year? We haven't heard of them since."

  "Erm. Secret duke stuff."

  Kyle scoffed. "No need to pester the fool, darling."

  Her face turned red. "I told you not to call me that in public."

  "I don't see what — ouch, okay I understand, you are going to break my greater shield!"

  Morpheus wasn't difficult to notice. In the middle of the forest Tom saw giant tentacles of countless error beast merged together, flinging around like it was tilling fields. He couldn't even begin to imagine what a disgusting mess its aura had to be up close.

  They landed a safe distance away from the beast, looking over the ensuing battle. Soldiers were moving around in formation led by Zev, cutting of its limb and consequently dealing with the freed error beast. Closer to the main body he saw Sierra, Hiro, Alice, and another soldier, attempting to distract the frenzied beast.

  Tom swallowed and closed his eyes to sense the beast aura. Just like he guessed, it was disgusting. It was a mess of unnaturally shaped auras sown together in an uncanny shape, an illogical existence. What made even less sense was that the merged together auras did not interfere with each other. Searching around the massive aura he eventually came across the cause of its frenzy. Near the center was a red void encroaching upon the surrounding auras and turning it the same color. That was the same shade of red he had seen the feral infected by.

  "It is infected like a feral," Tom concluded.

  "Really?" Kyle said. "That's an ingenious way to anger it. It must have been fed a feral, damned otherworlders cursed for their sins." He reached for his sword. "Looks like this was much more serious than I thought."

  Adrenaline had brought him this far, but Tom had no clue how they were supposed to defeat this beast. If only there was someone who could help them. A powerful being. A higher being. Tom closed his eyes. He wasn't the most religious person, but this was the time for a miracle.

  "Look!" Someone exclaimed.

  Tom opened his eyes to see that the fighting had stopped. Every soldier looked at it, even Morpheus had stopped to take a look. A magnificent titanic husk rose from the ground. It was covered with moss and trees. Its eyes glimmering green. Just from looking at it a comforting feeling entered his conscious. He felt like he could just quit everything and live out in nature. Dedicate his existence to nurture and protect this forest.

  "It's the Ent King," someone shouted. "He is here to protect the forest."

  Everyone stared in anticipation as the glorious creature lunged towards Morpheus. In an instant the entire swarm-like body of Morpheus vibrated, shifting around error beast, and several new tentacles shot towards the Ent King. The tentacles immobilized the Ent King's body, stopping it in its tracks. Moving closer Morpheus shot down one last tentacle, but this one entered the Ent King's jaw. The entire tentacle went inside, followed by the rest of Morpheus body.

  The Ent King squirmed around and began to bloat in size, until it looked like a giant balloon.

  Then it popped. The strong desire to protect the forest disappeared, and the giant Ent's body exploded.

  Ilona quickly moved her staff in front of them both. "[Maximum shield]."

  Soldier desperately ran for cover as giant bits of bark and error beasts catapulted out. Tom could hear screams, and then silence.

  "Well he died quickly."

  Raising his head he saw that both of them were doing alright. "Thank god we're safe."

  Besides him he heard a muffling cry. He saw Kyle hunched over a bit of the Ent King's bark. An arm was sticking out under it, the grass dyed blod red all around. A disoriented error beast rose from the wreckage, but with a swift thrust of his sword Kyle turned the error beast to dust.

  "Please, saintess, I beg of you." He pleaded on his knees, his eyes not moving from her corpse.

  Ilona bit her lip. "I am sorry. Being damaged by a part of a higher beings body and an error beast ... the archangels authority only works on her subjects by powers beneath her. Since another higher being caused this — not even I can do anything to help." She looked down. "Sorry."

  Tom was expecting a burst of anger thrown her way, but the knight did not seem to blame her at all. He did in fact shift his focus onto Tom. "YOU! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"

  How the space was this his fault? What was he even supposed to say in this sitation. Ilona said she couldn't heal her. Arianna was an ok background character, but he didn't really feel responsible at all.

  Tom scratch his head. "My bad, sorry."

  Kyle eyes practically looked like they would fall out off his sockets.

  "Uhm, my condolences. I need to defeat the great error beast now. I'll deal with you later." He nudged Ilona. "Hurry up and get us closer before he tries to kill me," he whispered to her.

  Ilona obliged, holding onto Tom, and levitating with him down besides Alice.

  Everyone was giving it their all in this fight. Hiro was in the front rows, cutting of any tentacles he came across so the rest could kill the individual error beast. Tom really wanted to point out that he obviously looked like a werewolf and nothing close to a jaguar, but this wasn't the time.

  "Are you alright?" Tom asked Alice, concerned.

  "As much as we can be," Alice said. "I gave every soldier an enchantment before fighting, it should have helped them against that kind of damage."

  Tom looked at her, still not convinced. "Are you sure? Even Ilona can't heal that kind of damage."

  Alice smiled. "I specialize in dealing with error corruption and stronger concentration of aura. This is why I am the general." She shifted her attention at Morpheus. "Of course I won't be able to protect everyone, but we need to focus on the battle. Any idea how to defeat it?"

  "None. But I think I have some ideas. From what I can sense all the auras are merged together, and in the middle is a corruption similar to what ferals suffer from."

  Alice nodded. "The Madness. Now it makes sense. If we don't deal with it soner or later, it will be going on an even more unstable frenzy, merging with everything it touches until all auras it comes in contact to falls to The Madness."

  Tom wasn't sure of it: this was one of the epic achievements he was waiting for. He needed to remember back at everything he knew about auras and spirits in order to defeat the undefinable.

  Tom took a step back. "I need you guys to distract it for a while. I need to think."

  ***

  Hiro cut a tentacle and jumped to avoid another one of the beast attacks. Being in his second form after such a long time felt freeing. He did not focus on anything besides tearing this beast to shreds. After his sister had contacted him, he felt the rage surface back up, and he endorsed every bit of it.

  He glanced at Tom, standing still, with his eyes closed. Hiro wasn't a brave person. Frankly he had no aspiration to do anything. But Tom had something. He cut down another error beast. "Let's put our faith in Tom."

  ***

  Letis really, really, hated Tom. He had been annoying from day one, and she frankly didn't understand why people were putting their faith in him. The guy tripped on the simplest obstacle course and blamed it on someone else. He was constantly acting superior to the rest of the soldiers, even though his rank was mediocre at best. Not to mention suddenly deciding to become a trash collector and almost getting Misha killed.

  But Sierra of all people, even if she occasionally made dumb decision, always took her job seriously. Letis had faith in Sierra, and if Tom managed to earn her faith, then so be it.

  ***

  Alice had no idea everything would escalate this way. She had first decided to do her best to avoid this needless war because of the high priest Nelic. She never understood why the Hero looked away from his transgressions, but after going to the error cultist meeting, she understood why: he was the human representative of the Constellation.

  She used be apprehended by the thought, but after seeing the mess the high priest had caused, she had no more qualms about the challenging him for his position. It was after all because of his actions that the error cult found a window of opportunity to act. They always knew when to lay low, and when to act. If sending Morpheus on a rampage was what they were doing in this border, she couldn't even fathom what they were doing at the other borders.

  A white light exploded to her side as wounded soldiers got back on their feet. Alice cast another enchantment on the soldiers to lessen their fatigue. She ignored the bodies that wouldn't get up from the ground. There was no way to save everyone, but she could try.

  "Don't loose morale," Zev said besides her, before cutting a row of error beast with his flying aura swords.

  Tom was still standing eyes closed. No doubt sensing their foes aura. Even though Zev was the one commanding the troops, all decisions were ultimately her own responsibility as the Commander. A few weeks ago, she would never have taken such a rash decision, but since day one Tom had proved to be the glimmer of hope she always needed. He was an otherworlder after all.

  ***

  Why were they putting all their faith in a person that has just been here for a few weeks again? Bert didn't really know how to feel about Tom. The first time they met he called Bert mister Info Dump, then proceeded to ignore him because 'he already knew too many side characters'. That's not even mentioning the time he refused to help them clean the hallways, a responsibility neighbouring rooms were supposed to switch between themselves, because 'he didn't have time for a sidequest' that day.

  As long as he remember, Bert had always loved making theories. There was something about listening to gossip and building a picture of the truth. And he was sure of it: there was something more to Tom that made the Commander put her trust in him.

  Jumping to the side he barely managed to dodge the error beast with the help of Mark blocking its path. Using his skill fireball, he lit the beast on fire.

  "Darn it, Bert. Now isn't the time for theories." If he liked it or not, he had to put his faith in Tom.

  ***

  Sierra killed another error beast before it could get close to Ilona. Why was she of all people left to protect her? Regardless of how annoying Sierra found Ilona, she was being remarkably useful. Truly a formidable healer.

  Since the first day Sierra stepped into the human kingdom and started her mission, she thought she would wholeheartedly support the demons. Never would she have guessed that she would herself help the humans defend their nation. Something within her told her to leave. To take Bolera's offer and return to the demon lands, but she had come too far to waver on her convictions.

  She looked at Tom, still standing there. What was taking him so long?

  ***

  "Reality. Purpose. Ideal." Tom murmured. Those were the rules. He was pretty sure he had a grasp on the reality part. The sensations he had felt from the sonatas and even the red stuff had to have something to do with purpose or ideal.

  Since the first time he saw a error beast, he had wondered how their auras had merged together. Morpheus had first appeared as a unsightly combinations of several creatures, but during their fight he noticed that entire trees were uprooted and merged together with the beast. Strangely enough, once the tentacle was separated, so were the merged together error beasts. From that, he concluded that it could merge any foreign aura to its body, but once individual auras left the main body, they were separated. He could sense individual auras sometimes being separated from its body, but the majority stayed merged together with other auras in a grotesque way, turning into error beasts.

  He could still remember the pain from a higher grade rejecting his will, but also how Sierra's Sonata had acted. That black color, and the red one, they seemed different somehow.

  This was a risky move, but there was no other choice. He focused on Morhpeus aura, on the red parts in the middle and then on the auras close to it. "[stabilize]."

  To his glee, the red parts slightly moved behind, before continuing to consume the aura. Its nature was somehow different from the other auras, so instead of averaging out it was being pushed back.He was only able to momentarily stop the aura, but the confirmation was all he needed. The reason error beasts existed were because they were misconstruing the laws of the world, exacting a rule, or in other words a purpose that wasn't compatible with reality. There was no way there was any kind of ideal connecting to randomly merging with other real life creatures, so there had to be a purpose here. A middle grade spirit.

  His best guess about the red stuff was it being some kind of ideal. An ideal that was incompatible with spirits but had a desire to consume them. There was no way he could defeat Morpheus contaminated by a higher grade, but the most realistic choice was to focus on the middle grade, the purpose, and interrupting it. But he had no idea why this purpose was created to begin with, so how could he find a loophole?

  Morpheus hunched down, opening its arm to try and swallow him whole. It jaw was an empty hole in the best, surrounded by sharks, bears, and other creatures with fangs that would surely rip him to shreds.

  Hiro was prepared to kick its mouth away, but Tom gestured him to stop. "Trust me."

  Making sure to avoid any teeth, Tom jumped straight into its jaws.