Is this really a Game?!

Cyrus turned back to the now dissipated corruption, his presence calming the once-chaotic battlefield. Reign, Wolf, Shadow, and Greenie took a moment to compose themselves, the adrenaline slowly ebbing away. Reign stepped forward, determination in his eyes.

"What now?" Reign asked, looking at Cyrus. "I mean, is that it, the corruption is gone, we won?"

Cyrus shook his head. "The remnants of this corruption will still linger in places where the entity had influence, we must cleanse those areas to prevent any resurgence."

"I will guide you to those places, but the true task will be yours, the area needs time to heal itself, and you will be the ones removing the corruption as it is not at the same level as the entity you faced."

Reign exchanged glances with his team, each member nodding in agreement. "We're ready," Reign said firmly.

Mia, Beast, and the others all arrived as well. The mercenaries were with them, all three of them apprehensive and even scared of Cyrus, who, for them, was a stranger who suddenly arrived and destroyed such a powerful being with relative ease.

Nobody told them that he was the Will of the World as Cyrus himself didn't speak of it either. For most, they would only get in touch with the Will after reaching Tier VII, if they did not have the talent to do so, they would have to practice until managing to sense world energy, and only then would they have a chance to talk to the Will.

Cyrus would not be the Will when they spoke to it, in fact, he had placed a clone of himself that was a lot more like what a regular Will of the World would be like for most people to speak to, he would personally help only the most talented.

Cyrus led them through the cavernous space, his mere presence illuminating their path. As they walked, he explained the nature of the corruption and how to cleanse it. The best way to do so was to use light, but of course, they didn't need to only use that.

Mana itself was capable of destroying the corruption, as could other forms of energy. They only needed to channel their mana and allow it to mingle with the corruption before it started destroying it.

It was slow and arduous, but it was the best course of action.

Their first stop was a deep fissure in the cavern floor. Dark tendrils of corruption seeped from it, pulsating with a malevolent life of their own. Reign stepped forward, placing his hands over the fissure. He closed his eyes and concentrated, using his light in order to annihilate the corruption.

His transformation had already ended and he was weaker than usual, but his light was still strong enough to destroy the corruption present.

A soft, white light began to emanate from Reign's hands, spreading over the fissure. The corruption recoiled, hissing as it was driven back. Wolf, Tank, and Mia joined in, each contributing their own energy.

With their help, the light from Reign's hands became stronger, forcing the dark tendrils to retreat and eventually dissipate.

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"This is working," Wolf said, his voice calm and collected. "We can do this."

With each corrupted site they cleansed, their confidence grew. They moved from fissure to fissure, from one dark corner to another, always guided by Cyrus. The more they worked, the more they understood how to destroy the corruption and in what way to utilize mana to do so.

Hours turned into days as they traversed the vast underground network. They encountered remnants of the entity's influence—creatures twisted by corruption, landscapes marred by corruption.

They were remnants of what was left of the entity.

Because of how Reign and the others had appeared, the entity had been forced to hastily gather the corruption, and since most of it was present in the large chamber, it focused on gaining it back and becoming more powerful, the rest was allowed to continue existing as before, corrupting the entire underground network of the desert as the entity didn't need it to defeat Reign and the others.

Each challenge they came across was met with the full power of the group. Wolf's brute strength, Shadow's agility and precision, Greenie's boundless energy, Mia's frost and elegant swordsmanship, Beast's archery, and the powers of the others all made short work of the corrupted beings that were left, as well as the corruption that could still be found.

Cyrus watched over them, his presence a constant reminder of the stakes. He offered guidance and support, but always allowed them to take the lead. This was their task, as the Will, he couldn't meddle in such affairs without the system intervening.

Finally, they reached the heart of the corruption—a massive cavern, its walls pulsing with dark energy. In the center stood a twisted, gnarled tree, its roots extending deep into the earth, spreading corruption like a cancer.

Reign stepped forward, flanked by his team. "This is it," he said, his voice steady. "The final place where the corruption is present."

Cyrus nodded. "This tree is the anchor of the corruption that the entity had created, it probably wished to make it a second source of corruption that can function even when he leaves the planet, allowing himself the luxury of doing whatever he wished and coming back to collect power in the future."

"Destroy it, and everything will be fine once again."

Reign raised his sword, its blade gleaming with the power of light as the other sword was covered in lightning. He glanced at his teammates and the mercenaries who had stayed in the desert in order to help them remove the corruption.

In fact, they had stayed with the mercenaries the last couple of days. Shadow had gone back to Doncaster to inform the others that things were fine and that they were hunting, so they would not be in the town for a couple of days.

It was nothing out of the ordinary, and the top teams merely nodded before returning to doing what they usually did.

The tree sensed their intrusion, its body shaking slightly as the corruption present in the area started moving toward it.

Wolf clenched his sword and smirked as flames appeared around him, while Shadow darted to the sides, looking for weak points. Greenie summoned his hammer and clenched it with both hands, Tank grabbed his axe, Laura's demonic energy covered her arm, and the rest all got ready to battle.

Reign led the charge, his swords slicing through the corrupted air.

The tree fought back, its dark roots lashing out, trying to ensnare them. But they were relentless. Wolf's sword cleaved through the roots his flames doing their best to light the entire tree on fire, Shadow's daggers found their mark, his darkness mixing with the corruption, Tank's axe struck strong, cutting apart the roots while the rest all bombarded the tree with their attacks as well.

In all honesty, it was barely even a battle. The tree was only at the level of a Tier VI being, and even though it could tank a lot of attacks and take a lot more damage compared to a regular Tier VI combatant, that was all there was to it.

Reign struck the final blow, his swords piercing the heart of the tree, his light and lightning erupting inside and outside the tree.

A blinding light filled the cavern, the pure energy overwhelming the dark corruption. The tree shuddered, then exploded in pieces, pieces of wood flying around the cavern and hitting the walls. The cavern walls, once dark and foreboding, returned to their normal cold look.

It took them some time, but they managed to get rid of all traces of corruption present in the desert. Cyrus had even helped them out when it came to understanding the mechanisms that were present in the underground.

Unfortunately, it seemed that what was present underground was just a part of something much larger, and the rest was not transported over into the desert. That meant that as it stood, the mechanisms were mostly only useful for what they were being used before, to traverse the underground tunnels.

If they could find a way to get the other parts of the entire giant structure that the mechanisms were a part of, then perhaps it could be useful for them in the future, but they had no idea where to even look for that.

Cyrus did give them a clue, telling them that the entire structure was indeed on Earth, it was just divided into pieces.

What Reign and the others didn't know, however, was that after the entity that brought the corruption was gone, something had changed.

The moment Cyrus had destroyed its body and banished the entity, a meeting of sorts was held, with multiple beings of dark power appearing in one room.

They all used avatars, none arrived with a body, but their auras were powerful and dangerous.

"It seems Itir has been banished, what do you make of this?"