Myriad Phenomena continued drifting south.
It did not know what had happened behind it. It merely carried out the orders its main body had given it and could not think for itself.
Its main body had told it to absorb as much as it could, so it absorbed as much as it could, caring about nothing else.
It absorbed the plague, then left.
The next town, then the next, then another.
In the wilderness, a group of refugees was making their way along.
There were more than a dozen of them, men and women, young and old.
They had fled the village destroyed by the plague and kept heading south. They had heard there was a Freedom City there.
There was no plague there, nor were there any temples. They believed in no gods.
The man at the front suddenly stopped. He pointed at the distant sky, his finger trembling.
"Look... what is that?"
Everyone looked up.
The distant sky was obscured by a mass of dark purple mist.
The mist surged over from beyond the mountains like a wall, slowly advancing toward them.
An old man crouched down and clutched his head in both hands. "The plague... divine punishment... we can't escape..."
A young woman holding a child took several steps back. Her legs gave out, and she fell to her knees.
The child burst into loud sobs in her arms.
The mist drew closer and closer.
They finally saw it clearly. There was a humanoid silhouette in the middle of the mist!
The figure floated in midair, dark purple mist pouring from its body and blanketing the entire sky.
It drifted over the refugees' heads without stopping, not even lowering its head to glance at them.
Yet as it passed, all the plague mist floating in the air