A Foul Stench

Iota wrote words on the scroll in English, based on the way he interpreted the old lady's pronunciation. He wrote its meaning to the side and continued in this manner, using the emoji chart to get a gist of things.

An hour later, he was able to get a simple, rudimentary conversation going with her. A pleasant surprise was that whenever he injected the blood in the syringe into the old lady's body, she became compliant with him for a few minutes.

And those few minutes were the best period to ask about sensitive information. After some rounds of experimentation, Iota was able to understand a couple of points.

Garobu City was where they were at currently, ruled by the City Lord, Merku Garobu. He followed the Faith Path.

There existed two paths of power in this world: Faith and Fear.

When one trod on the path of Faith, they became Deities, and conversely, treading the path of Fear made them Devils.

Garobu City was ruled by the Garobu family. Their faith translated to a Sickle, and boasted powers regarding agriculture, soil vitality, pest control, etc. And protected by the Garobu Faith, the farmers had bountiful harvests and formed the largest chunk of their revenue.

Garobu City exported food to other settlements and made lots of money to fuel their economy. They also had a competent military, which led to a stable society. And a stable society resulted in a strengthened faith, which caused the Garobu Faith to grow over time.

When people pray, they emit an intangible energy called Faith. The recipient of this Faith gains supernatural powers according to the contents of the prayers directed to them. And over time, they evolve to become a Deity.

Of course, it was a volatile concept and was inherently tied to the stability of society. If the people feel safe, their faith remains strong. So, every City Lord worked on keeping their region prosperous.

Conversely, Devils were born out of Fear. On a large scale, an unstable society with rampant corruption, lack of public safety, poverty, etc. resulted in large streams of Fear that proved a delicacy for the Devils.

So, a Deity worked to keep society stable while a Devil worked to plunge it into disorder. This was the inherent principle followed by the world.

Of course, both sides had followers with varying levels of power. Iota came to learn that the one that summoned him, Dullip Garobu, was a Spirit of the Garobu Faith. A Spirit contained one percent of their Deity's strength flowing through them and was very powerful.

'Thankfully, I escaped quickly back then.' Iota then got to know that the old lady went by the name of Yohra, a word that meant 'dried leaves.'

She was what one called a Shaman, a servant of the Devil. Shamans usually laid out the groundwork before summoning a Devil's representative to the place. They were created to be absolutely loyal and weren't actually human. They just had the appearance of one until they activated their innate powers.

As for Yohra, after the Devil she served was killed by the Garobu City Lord, she lived in hiding in the city, leading a lonely life. Shamans didn't have the ability to bear children, and hence, she couldn't even have a family of her own.

"What happened when you tried to attack me?" Iota asked next, injecting the blood in a syringe into her body.

Yohra now gained enough strength to free herself from the bindings as long as she activated her power. But unfortunately for her, that wasn't possible, "The Garobu Faith is ever-present in the city. So, when I activate my powers, I have to actively resist the Faith from extinguishing me. I don't know what you did to me, but I lost all strength, which made it easy for the Faith to infiltrate my body and wound me."

"That was why my powers failed me in the end."

Even though she had regained some of her strength, Yohra would first have to deal with the Faith in her body before she could activate her powers, causing her to be helpless before Iota.

'So, this pungent stench I'm smelling constantly is Faith, huh.' Iota nodded and glanced at Spring, wondering the extent of the stench she was sensing.

After all, according to Yohra, the greater one's affiliation to the Fear Path, the stronger the stench one felt in a region of Faith. And Spring was afflicted with a Devil's Stigma through her bloodline.

"You know what this is?" Iota asked as he manifested a syringe.

"I don't. It's the first time I'm seeing something that belongs to neither Path. But," Yohra spoke truthfully, "That's only in terms of the item itself."

She stared at him, "I can feel a faint aura of the Fear Path on you."

She then stared at Spring, "And I'm drawn towards her. Honestly, I'm unsure of the cause, but I can't resist the allure."

"I see," Iota then pointed outside the window, "That moon…does it have a story?"

"You…don't know about the moon?" Yohra stared at him with an incredulous gaze, "Even a child knows about it. You…are you…"

Iota injected the blood in another syringe in her, observing her pupils dilate in response as she turned a tad lethargic, her senses no longer sharp as she spoke, "The moon represents the pinnacle crystallisation of the Fear Path. The closer a Devil resembles the moon, the stronger they are."

"Similarly, the sun represents the pinnacle crystallisation of the Faith Path…" Yohra's body began to tremble all of a sudden. Drool leaked out of her mouth while her iris trembled. Her expression was strange, mildly intoxicated, but majorly addicted to something.

"More…give me more!" She began to shout when Iota punched her in the head until she lost consciousness.

"Ouch, she has a hard head." He winced upon staring at how reddish his fists turned from the impacts. Upon confirming the ropes binding her were taut enough, Iota retired for the day, feeling tired after the eventful activity.

He stared at the excess syringes filled with Yorha's blood. There were four of them left on the bed, 'Hmm, where can I store them safely…?'

The moment this thought occurred in his mind, the four syringes vanished. Immediately, Iota felt an itchy sensation on all four limbs, observing the tattoo of a syringe form in each location respectively. Just as he wished to experiment with them, an intense sense of exhaustion wafted over him, prompting him to slither into his bed.

He soon fell asleep, deep in slumber. Beside him was Spring, her eyes shooting wide open, feeling a prickling sensation as the moonlight fell on her. She could feel power gradually churning in her body. Her face though was scrunched, for she felt nauseous.

After all, the air in the room was getting increasingly pungent with the passage of every minute, knocking her awake. 'It feels like swimming through a sewer.'