Tower of Purification

"Hurry!" Felix shouted internally, watching the truck travel through the traffic as he continued to gaze at the time, "There's less than twenty minutes left."

Soon, they reached his villa as he parked the car in a hurry, watching the staff unload the items into his home. His family stared in shock at the sheer volume of goods, wondering if anyone amongst them was being married off.

Felix assured them, asking them to stay silent, constantly keeping an eye on the time as he gave a tip to the staff and sent them away, motioning for his family to enter the house immediately, looking at his mother, "All the windows have been closed, right?"

"What is happening, Felix?" His mother asked in concern.

"Are they closed?" He asked in a hurry, heaving a sigh in relief upon noticing that all the windows were indeed closed. He ran around the house once, double-checking everything.

All the goods had been kept in the living room as Felix heard the staff board their truck and start it.

'It's too late already.' Felix sighed, gazing at the time displayed on the watch.

[10:00 AM]

Suddenly, the morning sky darkened instantly, shocking all the pedestrians. Even the workers in the large MNCs stopped their work, gazing out the wall windows to see a pitch-black sky that shimmered with a crimson hue.

Plat!

A biker drove through the highway, speeding through the traffic like water, allowing his long hair to flutter like a flag behind him as he felt the wind. But suddenly, a droplet fell on his forehead, causing him to arrive at a stop soon after.

Had it just been a raindrop, he would have ignored it like usual. He did like to ride during the rain. But now, the droplet that fell on his forehead emanated a pungent stench, not to mention causing a burning sensation, as if it was a mild acid.

He hurriedly wiped it with his kerchief, gazing at it to see that it resembled blood, "What the…?"

Plat! Plot! Patatat!

A couple of drops fell on him soon after. And in a matter of seconds, it was pouring down like a torrent.

Blood Rain!

The people on the street were alarmed by such a phenomenon as they hurriedly took shelter. However, most of them were drenched by now.

Cough!

The biker began to cough all of a sudden as his throat felt a bit sore. He had taken shelter by entering a nearby café, standing amidst other people that had done the same.

Following him, a couple others too coughed in response as their coughing fits slowly increased in tempo, like a musical rhythm raising a chorus.

Cough! Cough!

Everyone drenched by the rain began to cough vehemently, with some of them even spitting out blood in response. Their coughs were dry, causing them to wheeze.

The biker coughed his lungs out, feeling exhausted all of a sudden, falling unconscious. The rest of the coughers too did the same before collapsing like a pile of dominos.

Those in the café were horrified, wondering if a plague was spreading around thanks to the Blood Rain, hurriedly distancing themselves from the unconscious people, using any fabric they could get their hands upon to cover their nose and mouth.

In his home, Felix moved the curtain a little, watching the Blood Rain with a solemn expression, "It has begun…"

"Felix, what is happening?" His sister, Raisha, asked in concern, noticing that he seemed aware of whatever the heck was happening, judging by the way he had behaved in the past hour.

"Have you seen that popular zombie movie recently?" Felix asked in response.

"Yeah." Raisha nodded.

"Pretty much the same thing would happen next. This Blood Rain would be the cause of that." Felix said.

Similar conversations happened in various houses, only that, they weren't as confident as Felix, and the people hearing them weren't as reassured as Raisha. Such statements were raised by the apocalypse enthusiasts who lived their entire lives preparing for the eventuality of an apocalypse.

As for whether or not they were believed was an entirely different matter.

Rhizen and Yulna stood in a hotel room on the topmost floor of a skyscraper, having a clear view of everything.

He looked at the pocket watch, seeing the rate of corruption slowly increase as a result of the Blood Rain, "Damn."

[World Corruption: 96.92%]

"It's getting progressively worse." He sighed.

"Saint," Yulna called out all of a sudden, watching the Blood Rain, "Shouldn't we be guarding Felix now? If he dies, the corruption would hit a hundred percent immediately."

"Of course, he was the sole living human previously. And we used him as the gateway to turn back time for this world." Rhizen nodded, "But, he's not dumb. So, he'll be fine for the time being. In the meantime, we'll work on creating a safe zone."

"Do you have any single-target abilities?" He asked next.

"I have the Burst Crossbow," Yulna replied.

"What about your recovery ability?" He asked.

"I have the Whale, Saint," Yulna said.

"Hoh," Rhizen raised an eyebrow, "If you were given that at Stage 5 itself, it means Straxia is expecting a lot from you."

"We'll be moving out in five minutes. Try to keep up with me." Rhizen said, donning on his Rhino armour. The function of this armour was to keep his body pure by filtering out any and all radiation present in the apocalypse worlds.

This was a must-have ability, a requirement to join the clean-up crew.

All the agents that Rhizen recruited for the Post-Apocalyptic Dispatch Society hailed from his home world, an apocalyptic hell that looped every twenty years.

The sentient races of their world had a space stored within them, intangible to the outside world. This space was called the 'Origin Space'. It was where they reared Mutated Beasts whose power they drew out in the form of a myriad of items and supernatural abilities.

And the energy fuelling their abilities was coined as 'Nacre' by Rhizen during their 49th loop.

'An apocalypse…' He thought, gazing at the Blood Rain and the effects it unleashed onto those it splashed onto. He clenched his hand into a fist, controlling himself from springing into action.

He was aware that the Blood Rain was the purest form of corruption the Grade 3 System, Apocalypse had unleashed onto this world. Facing it directly like this would be a fool's endeavour.

At least, his current self didn't have that capability.

Rhizen gazed at the sky, watching the dark clouds vanish as mysteriously as they had arrived, observing the uncomfortable silence ensuing the Blood Rain.

There were large puddles of the Blood Rain on the road, sparking an idea in him. His eyes shone subtly as he snapped his fingers.

Apocalyptic Arts—Dust Wave (IX)!

Invisible to the eyes of everyone but himself, a wave of dust flew out of him, turning the mirror into dust before heading towards the ground, crashing into one of the puddles.

Tsssch!

A sizzling sound reverberated through the surroundings as the Dust Wave was indeed effective on the puddle, but the efficacy was too low. It seemed like it would take him minutes just to eradicate the puddle, causing him a headache.

"I will only expend more of my Nacre in this manner. But dealing with the Aberrants is easier since they can serve as my fuel source." Muttering in response, he motioned with his hand, condensing a pair of wings on his back as he jumped out of the window, "Signal everyone, Yulna."

"Yes, Saint," Yulna replied, following him out as she condensed a whistle, blowing into it with all her might. A mysterious energy wave rippled out of the whistle and rapidly covered the entire city within a second, continuing to travel further.

Upon sensing her signal, those similar to her, stationed in the other cities followed suit, unleashing similar signals of their own, transmitting the information further beyond.

Apocalyptic Arts—All-Devouring Whale!

Rhizen snapped his finger, bringing out a gigantic Whale that followed him in the air, opening its mouth as it unleashed a terrifying suction force, beginning to suck in the nearby Blood Rain.

Though, the moment it drank some, the Whale screamed, stopping in its tracks as its body shuddered.

"As expected, the corruption is too concentrated within the Blood Rain." Rhizen muttered, stopping Yulna when she was about to do the same with her Whale too, "You won't be able to handle this level of corruption. Inform everyone of this too. Only those at Stage Seven and beyond are permitted to use their Whales."

As Yulna transmitted the message, Rhizen sensed a dense stream of Nacre flowing into his Origin Space from the Whale. After devouring a couple litres of the Blood Rain, the Whale processed and converted it into Nacre. This was its ability, to create fuel for their expedition.

Though, as the Blood Rain's level of corruption was too high, even his Whale was experiencing difficulties. It wouldn't be able to sustain this operation for long.

Rhizen stopped the Whale's actions, gazing at the people taking shelter in the nearby shops, noticing that they were already showing signs of mutation. 'Around forty percent have already been infected.'

But, he wasn't nervous, smiling even, "These numbers are significantly better than the sole survivor from before."

The wings on his back fluttered as immediately after, all the feathers flew out, with each targeting an infected human/animal.

The feathers formed beautiful trails in the air, acting with a mind of their own as they targeted a living being each, slamming into them without any impact.

"A-Amazing," Yulna exclaimed in a dazed gaze, observing the exceptional control Rhizen exhibited with his ability.

Apocalyptic Arts—Homing Feathers (IX)!

"Eh…? What are those?" The café owner stared in shock at the feathers that broke through the windows before piercing into the necks of the unconscious people.

Even though he didn't know what was up, he was afraid, trying his best to stay as far away as possible.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Rhizen clenched his hand into a fist as all the feathers pierced deeper into the necks of their targets before exploding one after another.

The mutating beings died instantly from the attack as their body parts splattered around. But, before they splashed upon the bystanders, a mysterious power contained within the feathers enveloped their body parts, turning them all into dust.

Rhizen observed the corruption coagulating within their bodies dispersing through the attack, clicking his tongue, "Only a small part of that corruption has been destroyed by my attack."

"This would take time." He sighed as the wings on his back were filled with feathers once again. They flapped, carrying him forward as Rhizen unleashed the feathers onto the infected people in the next region, killing them all.

Yulna followed him behind, barely able to keep up, even though she wasn't attacking a single infected person. She had already summoned her crossbow, intending to kill the infected. But, she never got the chance as Rhizen's feathers targeted everyone in their surroundings.

Immediately after, Rhizen continued to fly, not even checking the status of those he attacked, having complete confidence in his abilities.

He soon arrived at a park that was located within a busy part of the city, disposing the infected people as he looked around, nodding at Yulna once before condensing a mysterious tower that resembled a tree's stem. Followed by a grunt, he slammed it into the ground, creating a resounding boom.

External Item—Pearl Buck (IX)!

Otherwise called the Tower of Purification; the moment it was slammed into the ground, root-like projections sprouted out of it, burrowing into the ground. Soon after, branches formed.

"Gah!"

"Kiek!"

"Grahhh!"

Immediately after, the people in hiding near the park collapsed to the ground, squirming in pain.