The system's prompt in the status panel flashed before Gallo's eyes, but he had no time to examine it.
At that moment, within Kalieqin's consciousness, the instant Gorak's Subspace projection was banished by the platinum radiance of Gallo's Spirituality, Gallo's keen Inspiration caught sight of a rift—the primal link exposed as Gorak's Physical projection collapsed.
I've banished him twice in a row. He must hate me to the core!
Without hesitation, Gallo turned his Spirituality into a sharp probe and thrust it into the rift. The sudden, powerful strike was tantamount to directly wounding Gorak's true form in the Subspace.
A terrifying, savage aura erupted from the depths of Gallo's Spirituality as it reached through the rift. He could almost hear the roar of something yearning to tear its enemy apart.
After landing the blow, Gallo quickly withdrew and severed the rift to the Subspace, leaving Gorak's fury nowhere to go. For the moment, Kalieqin's consciousness contained nothing but the platinum radiance projected by Gallo's Spirituality. But when Gallo forcibly closed the rift that had exposed Gorak's true form, his Spirituality snatched a wisp of crimson Subspace essence that had yet to dissipate.
"Is this... a fragment of Gorak's Physical form in the Subspace?"
As Gallo's Spirituality enveloped the wisp, the primal fluctuations that had belonged to Gorak were cleansed. Yet the purified essence still contained a vast amount of information.
Gallo's gaze sharpened. The moment his Inspiration came into direct contact with the essence, a vast stream of information unfolded into countless images.
—Once-magnificent city-states built of massive stone had mostly become ruins. Thick layers of dark green moss, writhing and growing like living tissue, covered the broken walls. They pulsed, making a low, sticky sucking sound.
—Heavy clouds never cleared from the sky. They looked like crimson whirlpools woven from hatred and fury, their warped light staining everything the color of blood and rust.
—The city-state's streets were no longer recognizable. In their place lay muddy swamps paved with shredded corpses, rotting flesh, broken weapons, and the wreckage of abandoned war machines.
—A foul stench so thick it seemed impossible to disperse hung in the air, mingling with smoke, rotting flesh, sulfur, and the blasphemous odor of something inhuman burning.
—Amid the ruins and corpses, enormous, twisted altars rose from the ground. They had not been built from orderly blocks of stone. Instead, prisoners who were still alive, mountains of skulls, and the twitching limbs of strange creatures had been forcibly "fused" together in a blasphemous geometry.
—Dark red runes flowed across the altars' surfaces, written in boiling blood and liquefied souls: a hymn offered to the Lord of the Blood River.
—Countless figures lived in this hellish landscape. They had once been city-dwellers; now, nothing remained in their eyes but the flames of madness.
—They wore crude, patchwork armor covered in spikes and blasphemous symbols. Some had limbs twisted by malevolent energy, with extra appendages or burning horns growing from their bodies. They were not "fighting." They were taking part in an endless slaughter ritual offered to the Lord of the Blood River.
—In city-states that had not yet fallen, countless ordinary people fled through the streets. A blood-seeping fissure tore open the sky, and hexagonal crimson runes spread like a plague;
—Gorak's Physical projection was forcing its way through the fissure. It was a hundred times larger than the phantom Gallo had banished. Its sneer brimmed with savage cruelty. The scene ended on a figure wearing a silver mask, standing atop a building. At a lift of the figure's hand, Psionic arrows like starlight shot toward Gorak, only to shatter into useless sparks the instant they touched Gorak's manifestation in reality...
"This... this should be a scene from another world. It looks like Gorak is unleashing a calamity there."
Gallo sighed, his heart heavy. The people of that world were living through a hellish existence. Even though Psionic users were fighting Gorak's invasion, their weakness meant they could offer no effective resistance.
"The people of Domaniel beg for the Holy Messiah to come!"
"The people of Domaniel beg for the Holy Messiah's salvation!"
"Domaniel..."
At the end of his analysis, Gallo heard a faint plea. It must have been a prayer from the people of that world as they faced Gorak's brutal invasion. He had no idea what had become of them, but the prayer was like a weak signal broadcast through the Subspace. By way of the fragment of Gorak's Physical essence Gallo had seized, it had reached him.
When Gallo tried to focus and listen again, the faint prayer had already vanished completely.
"Domaniel... Is that the name of the world Gorak is invading?"
The name left Gallo uncertain. Perhaps the world itself was called Domaniel. Or perhaps it was the name of a city-state Gorak had destroyed, or even a dynasty.
"From what I can tell, my Inspiration is stronger than that of ordinary Psionic users, but it's still not enough to reach directly into the Subspace and track down that faint prayer.
"Besides, the prayer wasn't directed at me. I just happened to discover it in Gorak's essence.
"Perhaps if I raise my Inspiration by one more point, I'll be able to trace the source of that prayer through the Subspace, as well as find where the world Gorak is invading and destroying exists in reality."
Gallo committed some of the information to memory. Once his Inspiration grew stronger, he could look into it again.
Meanwhile, the red essence began to slowly dissipate in the platinum radiance, and Gallo's Spiritual projection absorbed most of it.
Then the status panel before Gallo's eyes lit up with another prompt: [Distributable Attribute Point +1]!
"Heh... Blood-Howl Gorak!" Gallo found it rather amusing. Since embarking on the Psionic path, he had gained three distributable attribute points through two banishments and one fragment of Physical essence.
At that moment, within Kalieqin's consciousness, the space was completely enveloped in radiance.
The demon had been dispelled, but the platinum figure did not disappear at once.
His gaze swept over Kalieqin's chaotic consciousness. Kalieqin's mind was already on the brink of collapse. He was curled up on the floor, both hands still instinctively covering his eyes, his lips murmuring words no one else could understand.
Several Ministry of Internal Affairs police officers and two Clovin agents were at a complete loss. All they could do was urgently report the extraordinary situation.
"If no one does anything, this guy will end up insane, even if he survives." Drawing on his knowledge of the Subspace, Gallo assessed Kalieqin's condition. Then, driven by Gallo's Spirituality, the small amount of essence he had not absorbed flowed into Kalieqin's soul.
The platinum radiance spread gently like a warm tide, carrying the essence's starlike glimmers. It swept through every wounded corner of Kalieqin's soul, soothing his trembling and healing his trauma.
Then the Spirituality originating from Gallo, represented by that radiance, passed through Kalieqin and spread into reality. It silently cleansed the charred study. The dark red traces of the Subspace, warped geometric marks, and frenzied muttering vanished as if purified, leaving behind only physical scorch marks.
Finally, the radiance brushed gently over the junior investigator as well, dispelling the pressure and corruption he had felt and calming his Spirituality, which had been churning and close to going out of control.
With everything done, the platinum projection within Kalieqin's consciousness seemed satisfied. It slowly faded away, as if it had never appeared.
Immediately afterward, the pair of Eyes of Spirituality suspended above Teaching Assistant Allen's head closed and vanished without a trace.
Before you continue