The Rebellious Martin

Annan frowned at the figure making a fool of himself because of the Blue Dragon.

"Who are you?"

He was not Levis.

Annan had played Levis in his correspondence with the family, and the picture he had built was of a cheerful boy with a strong sense of justice. Even if hatred had turned him into an avenger, a Blue Dragon would not have scared him into wetting his pants.

The scarlet glow around the boy suddenly contracted, giving way to a rotten gray light. Before Annan realized what was happening, a dazzling bolt of blue lightning shot through the Spatial Rift and crackled around the boy. He turned to a charred husk before he could even scream.

Annan stood behind the rift. The Blue Dragon's lightning breath had only left his skin faintly tingling.

"What happened to him?"

The blood-red glow had been ominous, but that gray decay was terrifying in a way that left him shaken.

"Human, Corruption was consuming him."

Corruption...

Some words were reserved for particular beings. Pollution, for instance, described the encroachment of Evil Gods.

Corruption represented Chaos alone.

As Annan understood it, Chaos was inherently opposed to all gods and all living creatures. Even the chaotic Demons of the Bottomless Abyss disliked it...

Unlike Demons, who slaughtered at whim to amuse themselves, Chaos only sought to corrupt and destroy the living, making it far more terrifying—and far more hopeless.

At least when someone died, their deeds and faith determined whether they ascended to a Divine Kingdom or fell into the abyss. But if Chaos and an Evil God tainted them even slightly, both body and soul would belong entirely to them.

There would not even be a soul to summon back and question.

Even back in Pinglin Town, Annan had known this world was