"All the characteristics it spat out were relatively pure, with no lingering corruption from the True Creator. Even after extracting all the characteristics, the little man on the Inverse Cross didn't disappear. It merely lost the facial features that resembled Beckland..."
Piano notes tinkled as Sno multitasked, summarizing the results of his earlier experiments.
He shot a sidelong glance at the Inverse Cross resting on the piano's music stand. The little man hanging from it still looked handsome, but it was the kind of handsome with no distinguishing traits—the sort where you knew he was handsome, yet forgot what he looked like the moment you looked away.
But in truth, the Inverse Cross had already Shepherded all the characteristics originating from Beckland once again. Yet it no longer displayed any traits belonging to Beckland, as if those traits had been absorbed in the process as well.
Just as his attention drifted, a thought suddenly surfaced in Sno's mind, accusing him of not focusing on his playing.
"It can actually tell that I'm distracted while playing?" Sno frowned, but then inspiration flashed through his mind, and he seemed to understand the key to it all.
He had previously assumed that the Inverse Cross's so-called "growth" required absorbing Beyonder Characteristics, much like a certain Red Angel Evil Spirit absorbed characteristics from the same Pathway. But now it seemed that what it needed for growth was probably not characteristics, but—
"Corruption."
Sno took a deep breath. His hands did not slow on the keys, but an idea quietly formed in his heart.
From the current situation, the Inverse Cross's growth was likely a reverse application of The Degenerate Nature of all Living Things from The Hanged Man Pathway. Or perhaps it was simply an embodiment of "all things possess divinity"—growing by drawing "degradation