Chapter 269: The Purple Mark

The strange symbol remained illuminated on the wall, the Endou symbol beside it, connected by a thin golden line, the mark belonging to the robed figures. Nobody spoke. Luna stood frozen in front of it.

Arthur looked between the two symbols. "So they were connected."

Athena nodded slowly. "At some point."

Vedas stepped closer. "That doesn’t necessarily mean the people we fought came from the Endou."

"No," Athena agreed. "But it means the connection predates Luna’s village by a very long time."

Sun looked around the chamber. "Which raises another question."

Arthur glanced at him. "What?"

"Why would a group that wanted to protect the Mirrors have anything to do with the people using that purple corruption?"

Nobody answered. Kong scratched his head, then pointed toward the floor, and Arthur followed his finger. Something glowed faintly beneath the dust, a thin purple light.

His expression changed. "That’s not good."

The glow spread, thin purple lines crawling across the floor, and Melo’s tails rose immediately. "I can feel something."

Vedas raised his spear. "Everyone, stay together."

The purple energy seeped from the cracks in the stone. Athena crouched, her expression turning serious. "I recognize this."

"The corruption?" Sun asked.

She nodded. "The same energy we’ve encountered before."

Another purple line crawled across the floor, then another, until the entire chamber was covered in faint purple veins. Luna took a step backward. "No..."

Arthur looked at her. "Luna?"

She was staring at the energy, her breathing uneven. "I’ve seen this." She touched her arm. "The people in my village..." Her voice trembled. "They had these marks."

The memory seemed to hit her all at once. People running through the village. Purple lines spreading across their skin. Eyes filled with fear. Beasts twisting beneath the corruption. Her hands began shaking. "They weren’t just killed."

Mithra moved beside her immediately. "Luna..."

"They were marked." Her voice cracked. "They were being controlled."

Arthur’s expression hardened. He remembered the hunters, the way they’d deliberately used the purple mist, the way they’d marked Beasts, the way corrupted creatures had been summoned, the way the robed figures had appeared, the way the people in Luna’s village had been transformed into something they weren’t.

Athena looked around the chamber. "The ancient records said the corruption was born after the massacre." She pointed toward the purple energy. "If this is the same substance..." She paused. "Then it may not simply be some form of poison or magical energy."

Vedas frowned. "Then what is it?"

She looked at the ancient writing. "Emotion."

"Emotion?" Sun stared at her.

"Negative emotion." Her eyes moved across the inscriptions. "Resentment. Hatred. Despair. Fear." She pointed toward the purple veins. "If the massacre generated enough of those emotions, it’s possible that they accumulated."

Arthur thought about it. "And became physical."

She nodded. "That’s my theory."

Melo’s ears lowered. "I can feel it." Everyone looked at her, and she closed her eyes. "It doesn’t feel like ordinary mana." Her tails curled around her body. "It feels like..." She struggled to find the words. "Pain."

Luna looked at her.

Melo nodded. "Anger." She swallowed. "Sadness."

Arthur stared at the purple energy. "So the massacre didn’t just kill people."

Athena shook her head. "It may have left something behind."

A purple vein suddenly pulsed. Everyone tensed. Arthur raised Dusk. The energy crawled toward Luna, and she immediately pulled out one of the Mirrors, its surface flashing.

A powerful wave of light erupted.

BOOM!

The purple mist was blasted backward. Sun covered his face. "That works!"

Luna didn’t stop, raising the Mirror again, golden light spreading across the chamber. The purple mist recoiled from it, gathering into dense clouds. "Back!" She pushed the Mirror forward, another wave sweeping across the chamber, driving the corruption away from the group and toward the far wall.

Arthur watched. She wasn’t simply blasting the corruption apart. She was forcing it away.

The purple mist slammed against the wall, trying to spread around the edges. She turned the Mirror. "Stay away!" It flashed again, and the mist recoiled. Then she slowly lowered it.

The purple energy began fading, not disappearing. Fading. The remaining mist thinned until only faint purple traces remained between the stones.

Luna took a shaky breath. "It’s gone."

Athena shook her head. "Not gone."

Luna looked at her.

"Suppressed." Athena pointed toward the floor. "There are still traces."

Arthur nodded. "Just like the inscription said." Everyone looked at him. "What inscription?" Sun asked. He pointed toward the wall, and Athena moved closer, brushing away a layer of dust to reveal ancient writing beneath it.

She began translating. "The corruption cannot be destroyed by force." A pause. Everyone leaned closer. "It can only be..." She frowned. "Contained." She continued reading. "Suppressed beneath the will of the living until its influence fades."

Vedas looked toward Luna. "So the Mirrors don’t destroy it."

Athena nodded. "They suppress it."

Luna looked down at the Mirror in her hands. "Then that’s why it worked."

Arthur looked at the fading purple traces. "Which means someone learned how to do the opposite."

"Weaponize it," Athena said.

He nodded. The hunters. Jaku. Rokkaku. The robed figures. They weren’t simply carrying corrupted energy. They were using it.

Luna’s expression grew increasingly troubled, and he looked at her. "Then Jaku, Rokkaku, Ronin, and those other robed figures may not be creating the corruption." Everyone looked at him. "He may be using something that already existed."

Vedas’s expression hardened. "Something that has been here since the massacre."

"Maybe." Athena nodded slowly. "That would explain several things."

Sun frowned. "Such as?"

"Why the corruption appears in different places." She looked toward Luna. "Why it can affect Beasts." Then toward the ancient writing. "And why it responds to the Mirrors."

Mithra’s eyes narrowed. "Then someone taught them how to use it."

Arthur nodded. "That’s the part I want to know."

Kong growled softly, pointing toward the symbol of the robed figures. "Who?"

Arthur looked at the symbol. "Exactly." Were these people descendants of an ancient faction? Were the robed figures connected directly to the Endou? Were they following knowledge passed down through generations? Or had someone from the ancient civilization survived?

Luna stared at the symbol. "I don’t know." Her voice was quiet. "But I know they destroyed my village."

Mithra placed a hand on her shoulder. "We’ll find them."

Luna looked at her, and Mithra smiled. "And when we do..." Her eyes narrowed. "We’ll make them answer."

"Yes," Luna nodded.

The purple energy had almost completely faded. Then—

THUMP.

Everyone froze. A purple pulse traveled through the floor, and Arthur raised Dusk immediately. "Again?"

Another pulse.

THUMP.

The ancient symbols began glowing. Athena stepped backward. "The energy is activating something."

Vedas moved in front of the others. "Get ready." Kong cracked his knuckles. Sun raised his staff. Mithra lowered her stance. Melo’s tails spread. Eden flew upward. Athy circled above the group.

Arthur stared at the wall. The purple energy suddenly surged toward one particular section, and Luna raised the Mirror. "I’ll push it back."

"Wait," Arthur said.

The purple mist reached the wall. Then—

It vanished.

A deep rumbling sound echoed through the chamber.

KRRRRRRAAAACK.

A section of the ancient wall split open, stone doors sliding apart. Everyone stared.

Sun slowly lowered his weapon. "...That wasn’t what I expected."

Athena stepped forward. Beyond the doorway was darkness. Then a golden light appeared, a road, an ancient golden path stretching into the distance, illuminated by faint glowing symbols along its edges, disappearing deep beneath the city.

Luna’s compass snapped toward it immediately, the needle no longer trembling, pointing straight down the golden road.

Arthur stared at the path, his King Mark warming, a faint golden pulse traveling across his palm. He smiled. "Looks like we found the way."

Vedas looked down the road. "To the Earth Mirror?"

Arthur stepped toward the doorway. "There’s only one way to find out."

Behind them, the ancient purple energy faded completely, but the symbol of the Endou and the symbol of the robed figures remained illuminated on the wall.

Two symbols. One forgotten connection. And now, a golden road leading deeper into the earth.