As Orion''s vision stabilized after being forcefully warped to a different place, he noticed five hazy figures in front of him.


    "Noah, I brought him along, just like you''ve asked."


    Tetra''s cheery tone could be easily noticed.


    "Thank you, Tia."


    "No problem!"


    Orion felt a little dizzy still, but after just a second, he felt better.


    Observing his surroundings, he carefully placed his location on the map, thanks to the mountains and the tree.


    ''If Tiohr-nam is in the north, then...''


    From a glance, he couldn''t see the similarities with the present time.


    ''Are we in a marsh? Nothing like this exists in our time.''


    The area was a humid and damp place, where boots sank in the mud. Large pools of muddy water, submerged trees, and unusual fauna were revealing themselves to Orion.


    After looking at the Tree of Life a second time to be certain, Orion understood.


    He was standing on the western side of the continent, where the land was to meet with Eogis thousands of years later.


    Focusing his eyesight on the western horizon, he could discern the faint line of blue that was the Carmel Sea.


    ''This area underwent a complete turnover once the lands merged.''


    Confirming his inquiry, Tetra sounded like she was nodding.


    As quickly as he began to look around, he noticed the half-destroyed village of humans, still fuming from the distance.


    ''So Noah was still unable to protect everyone.''


    Hearing Orion''s neutral tone, Tetra gave her opinion on the matter.


    ''That''s how it was. It appears that, even with my prescience, there is no way to change the actual events.''


    ''I noticed that my visions were slightly delayed this time, probably to counter the fact that Noah can appear on the spot instantly.''


    It made sense to Orion. Like Henrietta said, ''Fate'' corrected history, as only one straight path existed for it.


    ''Then... What does that make me, exactly?''


    Keeping that thought to himself, he pondered.


    Orion was the only one to have fought against ''Fate'', and won. His life was on a path no one, not even the world, knew about.


    His story was being written as he walked through the land.


    "Noah, those children..."


    Keeping a neutral expression, Orion turned his face away from the village and looked at the four children by his side.


    Three boys and a girl.


    "They are the orphans of this catastrophe."


    With a stiff frown, Noah looked at them.


    One of the children was a baby, wrapped in a thick cloth. The oldest of the boys, who appeared to be in his teens, held the baby girl in his arms.


    They weren''t blood related but had suffered the same fate, which was the loss of their families.


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    The other two boys were sobbing inconsolably. They were gripping their pants in sadness while being utterly silent.


    ''I don''t like... this scene.''


    Orion''s heart ached. This reminded him too vividly of his daughter''s expression after she was rescued by Florian.


    ''Me neither, but that is how it is for the people of this era.''


    Tetra''s voice was betraying her words, as empathetic feelings took over.


    Seeing the children''s expressions made Orion want to kneel and hug them.


    But he resisted, knowing that they would be wary of his impulse to approach them.


    All the time, the teenage boy kept his dark eyes on Orion, observing quietly.


    "No one in the village has the willpower to support these children, so I''m taking them somewhere safe."


    "To Eogis."


    Noah stretched his hands to the side and gently dropped them on the teenage boy''s head and one of the crying young boys.


    "Before that, I have a question for you."


    With a neutral expression, Noah asked him a question, something Orion had noticed quite a while ago.


    Giving a nod as confirmation, he waited for his question.


    "Do you feel corruption from these children? For what it''s worth, they are humans."


    Knowing that Orion was holding a curse that made corrupt humans focus on his presence, Noah couldn''t help but ask.


    "It was never the case."


    Shaking his head lightly, Orion explained a topic he had discussed with Tetra in the ''Corridors of Time'' while keeping her name out of the conversation.


    —


    ''You''re right. I never realized. I think Enri never realized either.''


    Orion and Tetra were discussing one of the weirdest discoveries concerning corruption.


    ''It might be because they are pure until one point?''


    They were talking about children and how corruption relatively spared them from suffering a state worse than death.


    "This might be a line Miasma can''t cross, or it is maybe a part of the human Blanc stopping this."


    The manifestation of a corrupted state usually happens to people over the age of fifteen.


    It happened a few times for those below, but those were extreme cases.


    "Miasma has full control over the corruption. He is the one making the rules, and we''ve been made painfully aware of it during our last fight."


    Recalling the various times Miasma used his energy to change states or affect others, Orion couldn''t help but think that Blanc was maybe still existing inside the monstrosity he had turned into.


    Somewhere deep inside, a desire to avoid hurting children still existed.


    ''Orion... I don''t want to be the one to say it, but Miasma is a monster. There is very little reason to believe this to be the case.''


    "I know."


    He nodded.


    "It doesn''t matter. There is no redemption for those who torture and play with the lives of others."


    But his face crumpled.


    "This is disingenuous, Tetra."


    ''Why?''


    The soul inside him asked, genuinely confused by his comment.


    "We''ve forgiven Elliott, even though his hands killed many people."


    "Layla was the same. I''ve brought her back from the dead, but that doesn''t change the fact that she killed many people under the influence of corruption."


    She could understand where he was going.


    "I''m not saying that I will forgive him. He is the source of this chaos plaguing the continent for countless millennia."


    "But is it because he is a Remnant? Because he is the cause of your torment and many others? Or because he is the reason for the factions being what they are today?"


    His tone was neutral, but there was still a feeling of anger behind his words. Miasma was an entity he could never forgive.


    ''I get what you''re saying. The problem is, we don''t know how a Remnant turns out like him, the opposite of what their aspects were supposed to be.''


    ''There is no way to know if Blanc is still somewhere within Miasma, or if Miasma is Blanc himself. Everything leads to the latter, though.''


    ''Which means that children not being affected by corruption is most likely a coincidence or work from Nature to impair the corruption, like she did for the cores.''


    —


    "I will believe you. If you think children are free of corruption, then it must be it."


    Orion nodded.


    "I''ve never seen, or even heard of, a child turning into a mindless beast."


    Even the beastmen children, whose mother he had saved at the beginning of his journey, showed no signs of corruption while she was dying.


    "Hmm~"


    Next to Orion, Tetra pondered before her eyes looked up at the spying magic.


    Then, she looked toward the human village.


    Tetra heard a little voice in her head, one she knew very well, nagging at her for having such a stupid idea.


    ''Don''t you dare!''


    But before she could acknowledge the voice of her friend, who most likely reacted the same all the way inside their hideout, she placed a hand on Orion''s shoulder and warped him inside the village.


    "Tetra?!"


    Shocked, Noah exclaimed.


    "Don''t scream. I''m simply checking if the corruption is inside humans. He is necessary for that."


    Recovering his composure, he knew Tia-Norun wasn''t one to sacrifice others irrationally.


    "I''m going with him. Wait for me."


    "It won''t take long."


    But, just as she said that, a loud chorus of screams echoed through the marsh.


    The children looked with shock toward their village as shivers ran down their spines. Even the baby reacted to it, as her cries were unable to leave her mouth.


    "This was the dumbest thing to do."


    "..."


    With her mouth wide open, Tetra observed the village.


    "How many orphans am I going to bring back with me...?"


    "None."


    While he asked that of Tetra, who looked lost, Orion''s voice caught their attention.


    "If I get far away, they seem to return to normal."


    He walked behind Tetra and slapped the back of her head as if she were the same Tetra he knew.


    "That was dangerous. Don''t do that again."


    Orion looked toward the village with the ''Eagle Eye'' ability, seeing the confusion on the faces of the villagers near the entrance who followed him.


    "This corruption isn''t as bad as the one in the future. They aren''t completely corrupt, just like Henrietta surmised."


    With an apologetic expression, Tetra turned around and apologized.


    "Sorry, Orion. I was going to teleport to you and pick you up. The plan was simply to see if they were going to react to you."


    With a faint smile, Orion nodded.


    "And they reacted all right."


    —


    ''What the fuck have I done?!''


    Hearing Tetra''s voice in his head, Orion rapidly focused on recovering his eyesight.


    "Wait..."


    Suddenly, he looked around and found himself in the middle of a badly damaged village.


    Humans were all around him.


    But, as their heads slowly turned to him, utter silence took over each villager.


    The children were shocked to see their parents not react. Even worse, they weren''t moving at all.


    "Shit."


    Orion understood. Tetra had warped him to the human village, which made the future Tetra perplexed.


    "She did that to test if the curse was true... but she could''ve gone at it differently."


    ''Don''t hate me for that. Please.''


    Ignoring her plea, Orion immediately activated the ''Second Gear''.


    "I might need to use the ''Third Gear'' to distance myself rapidly."


    The villagers'' eyes turned a red hue, a color Orion recognized.


    "Right... At least I know I am cursed."


    With a defeated smile, he ran out of the village as fast as he could, while terrifying howls broke out from the entire village.


    Luckily, as Orion left the village without hurting anyone, nothing major happened for those humans.


    They rapidly recovered their minds and, completely confused, returned to paying respect for the dead they had lost during the attack.


    —


    "Well, let''s not dwell on what happened. Someone else will be on your case for a while anyway."


    "Oh... no..."


    Ignoring the little voice of reason in her head had a price, and she wasn''t going to get out of it easily.


    Chuckling lightly, Noah looked at Tetra.


    "Let''s get done with it. Tia, get us to Eogis before another outbreak of corrupt humans happens."


    "Sure..."


    Disheartened, Tetra placed her hands in front of her and warped her and the six others to the massive island on the western side of Triazils.