Silverleaf

The Ironwood farmstead was spread out below them as they topped the little slope. Moonlight in the grass was swallowed by the soil like tar, and the fields were submerged in blackened water. The farmhouse was half-sunk, with windows dimly lit by lantern fire.

“3 hours before the sun will set. We have plenty of time.”

Maren wobbled closer to Anna, her floating form jittering like a leaf in wind.

“Let me use my cool accessories now.” She said as she put the full mask on, it was a white mask with a sun streak symbol. She nodded, “I don’t know how I look like, but I really hope it looks cool. Now where are we?”

“Uh… Anna?” Maren squeaked, tone tight, “I’m fine, really… but maybe… keep a little distance. You never know what’s lurking here…”

Anna tilted her head, mask covering her smile. “What, Maren? Afraid of a little mud and water? You’re a holy sword, you’ll be fine.”

Maren’s edge trembled as she zipped slightly behind Anna, hissing a whisper.

“No! No, it’s not that I’m scared of ghosts… or, uh… things that go bump in the night… It’s just… you… walking straight toward… whatever that is… My mana sensing will get disrupted in corrupted places…” She swallowed, the floating sword shivering slightly.

Anna’s lips quirked. “We’ll be fine. I’m just curious. That’s all. The Kingdom news said that corruption is bad, yet that catgirl said it is for equality. I just want to make sure.”

Maren hovered beside her, blade faintly shimmering. “The whole place reeks of dark energy. Even I… feel the pull. I know you’re a vampire but…”

Anna tilted her head, eyes scanning the corrupted rows of wheat and corn. “…I’m sure. I want to see it for myself.” Her voice was soft, “Maps, reports and rumors never tell the full story. I want the truth. This place is the closest to the city, yet it stops here.”

Maren floated closer, light pulsing gently along her edge. “Truth is fine, but… the last humans here… they didn’t survive, did they? I… I don’t like the idea of seeing corpses. It's different if i were to do it but seeing other's death is too much...”

Anna looked at Maren, "Don't worry, Pietta said it will transform humans.” She let her gaze sweep across the field. “The reports only said four Silverleafs gone, eaten by the corruption…” Her fangs caught the moonlight in a subtle glint. “…I’ll know soon enough.”

Maren shivered slightly, floating tighter to Anna’s side. “You really have no fear huh?”

Anna shrugged, stepping between two blackened stalks. “…I know I should fear the unknown but… Yet, I don’t sense any dangers from this place.”

Anna’s eyes caught movement at the edges, shapes lurking in the shadows, silent and still.

“Even these four figures,” she murmured softly, “…Who’s clearly watching me.”

Maren’s glow pulsed, subtle tension in the air. “Anna… should we… retreat?”

Anna shook her head. “…No. Always observation first. This is my first order from Bella.” She lifted her chin, scanning the darkened farmland. “…And if I’m careful, I can see everything without them attacking me.”

Anna stepped lightly over the ruined earth, boots silent, eyes scanning. Nothing here fazed her. “I mean, Maren, do you sense anything weird? I don’t really know how corruption magic work but from what I can see, nothing is out of the ordinary.”

Maren hovers around the place, looking at many rubbles, “Maybe… it’s not maintained well? Or… maybe the saint did something?”

From the shadows, four figures emerged, veins crawling like ink, eyes glowing white.

“…Should we strike now?” one hissed.

“She came alone, Runa,” muttered another. “Easy prey.”

Runa’s fangs glinted. “Do not underestimate her. She’s different, that mask… I once saw lady Serenya used it…”

“Se-Serenya?! That blonde lady? But I thought Serenya is tall…”

“Yeah… That’s why I think she isn’t Serenya, and that blue sword beside her, is haunted with so many dark souls.”

“Is she here to burn the corruption away like the knights?! She may be here to kill us also! We should run, Runa.”

“No. We have to stay here. We can’t let her near Inwa. She will burn it.”

“T-Then, what do you want to do?”

“I’ll attack this human, even the knights barely has 200k mana. This girl, I definitely can kill her in one slice.” Her hand twitched, forming a corrupted blade. She stepped forward ready for the strike. “Get ready, human!”

Anna exhaled softly. “Stop.”

Runa froze. Anna tilted her head, smirking. “…Really? Planning this in front of me?”

“…W-what?” Runa whispered. “Change of plan! This human found me!”

“Human this, human that. I can hear you, you know.”

The family’s whispers stilled. “…She understands us?” one muttered.

“Yes,” Anna said, calm as ever. “It’s all crystal clear. Killing me won’t change anything.”

Maren hovered silently, still glowing faintly. “Anna… be cautious,” she buzzed softly, “This girl is like Pietta, she’s corrupted human.”

“Runa! What now?” The other asked.

Anna looked at her eyes, “Runa, huh? Don’t worry.” She said, holding up both hands in air, showing no weapons, “I just want to see. Not further destroy your farmland.”

Runa looked shocked before muttering to her family, “Tch. Retreat!” She commands, and all the figures disappeared along with her.

Anna sighed, a faint, amused smile curling her lips. “…See, Maren? Nothing to worry about. This mask is clearly handy.”

“I don’t think it’s the mask tho...”

Not long after, the ground shakes violently, sending mud and blackened water splashing around their boots. Maren squeaked, wobbling like a leaf in a storm.

A massive figure emerged from the ruin of the farmhouse, groaning and creaking. Massive runes glowed in golden-white holy light, ironwood limbs joined with stone, and eyes that grow brightly like a twin sun.

“Inwa had awakened.” The machine said.

Maren froze, floating tight against Anna’s side. “KYAAA!!! Anna… th-that… that’s… that’s a magical construct! Holy energy… it’s alive! And it’s huge!”

Anna tilted her head, fangs catching the moonlight. “…Is he the reason? That explains the ground tremors. Big wood guy… fancy meeting you here. So you’re the one making sure the corruption stopped here? I definitely had to check you out.”

Inwa’s massive eyes locked on Anna. A deep, resonant voice rumbled.

“Holy… mana… vampire… Ars… corruption… anomaly detected…”

Anna blinked. “…Uh-huh… So you’ve been absorbing the corruption by yourself, huh? Quite heroic, I gotta say.”

The golem’s arms twitched, one hand almost swatting Anna. Then it froze. Its head tilted like a confused owl.

Inwa’s magical systems… could not compute. Its giant wooden jaw twitched. Error. Contradiction. Logic failure.

Maren squeaked, backing up. “Inwa...? Anna… Big… angry guardian tree that my sister made… thinks you’re… both sacred and corrupt at the same time!”

Anna chuckled, crossing her arms. “…At least we know that it won’t attack me, I suppose, and what? Your sister?”

The golem tilted its head again, creaking loudly. Then it stepped forward… slowly… and promptly tripped over a chunk of broken fence, crashing down that sent mud flying onto Maren.

Maren shrieked, floating backward. “…Anna!! Quick! Clean me!”

Anna stifled a laugh while wiping Maren with her coat. “Guess all that corruption it’s been fighting has fried its circuits. So you wants to destroy this, huh?” She held up the corruption seed.

Inwa groaned, trying to stand, one massive hand pressed against its glowing chest. It vibrated like it was recalibrating. Then its eyes darted back and forth between Anna, the corruption seed, and Maren.

“Holy… sword… corruption… vampire… Ars… impossible… Yet Morvanium… Must be destroyed! Inwa will protect!”

Anna grinned. “…I see. Since you want to destroy this. How dangerous is this stone, exactly? I got this from a dark cat.”

“Dark… Cat…?”

“Exactly. So do you mind telling me? Or are you too weak?”

Maren floated close, whispering frantically. “Anna… don’t provoke it! It’s huge! And it’s supposed to protect this place! Terran made him so as far as we know, it can shoot magical stuff from its eyes!”

Anna tilted her head innocently. “…Terran? Is that your sister’s name?”

“YES!”

Inwa froze mid-step, one massive wooden hand hovering over the corruption seed. Its head tilted again. Compute… compute… compute… ERROR.

Then Inwa fell again, tripping on nothing this time. Its eyes glowed faintly as it muttered:

“…humans… vampires… holy… Ars… why… why… why… Attempting to call Ars Terran… Connecting… Connecting… Failed…. Turning off in 2 minutes.”

“…Anna! You… you just destroyed Inwa!! Terran is going to be so mad!”

Anna raised an eyebrow, “You said that again… But it tripped! I think your sister will understand.”

Maren gulped audibly. “…You have to fix it! … Ars Terran is big… scary… war axe… scary. You should fix it please!! You don’t want big war axe to crush you right?”

“…I don’t want to even think about that. Well… maybe we should do something.” She stepped closer to the fallen golem. “…But how exactly do I fix this tho? Bella said to just check on him…”

Maren wailed, floating so close she almost collided with Anna’s shoulder.

“…If it’s filled with holy radiance magic… it could refill! Like… like all other magical beings! You have holy energy cause I’m compatible with you. That means you can refill him too, just touch the core and then say ‘Refill!’ I’m sure it will be fixed!”

Anna shoot a shot at Maren, “Is everything in this world that easy?!”

Maren is flying around mumbling random noises, “KYAAAA!! I’m going to get punished also!! Do it Anna!”

Anna sighed and looked at the golem, “Alright, alright… If it’s really that easy, I guess I can do it.” She get closer to Inwa, eyes scanning the runes and cracks.

The four corrupted figures from before—Runa and her companions—suddenly skittered from the shadows, huddling around Inwa like tiny, panicked children.

“That girl… killed Inwa!”

“You inhuman bastard!”

“He did nothing wrong!”

“DON’T TOUCH HIM! YOU SAID YOU JUST WANT TO SEE! YOU DESTROYED OUR PROTECTOR!!”

Maren… am I not supposed to touch the robot?

Maren flinched. “They probably think that you want to destroy the construct, Anna please make them understand!”

Fine…

“Step aside, I am trying to fix it.”

The corrupted four froze, eyes wide. One whispered:

“Fix it..?”

Another faintly stammered, asking each other:

“…If she touches it wrong, Inwa… dies, right? I won’t let it! She could literally obliterate centuries of holy work…! Even the saint’s magic is not compatible! She will destroy Inwa!”

Anna sighs, “Like I said, I can understand each one of you. Stop acting like I can’t hear.”

All of them flinched, “T-Then… What do you think, Runa?”

The girl, Runa, stand up, “If she does want to destroy us, she would’ve done it many times already, and I don’t see her being dangerous.”

“That’s the way…” Without furthermore instructing, Anna walked slowly towards the center of the robot, placing her hand gently on the side of the glowing chest rune.

“Inwa knows the truth… Inwa being treated by vampire?” He asked hesitantly with telepathy. Anna is a little bit shocked at first, but she smiled after, “Yes. Someone told me to check on you afterall. So you can trust me.”

“Nice vampire?”

Anna’s eyes glinted. “…Yes. Don’t worry, Inwa… I will help you you’re your power back.” She pressed her palm firmly. “Refill!”

The light from the rune surged into Inwa, flickering, humming, then stabilizing, branches creaking as the massive golem slowly shifted, upright but clearly wobbling from embarrassment.

“Inwa’s healthy!” He said loudly.

The four corrupted figures staggered back in horror and awe as Inwa got bigger and stronger.

Anna looked back at them, “There we go. It fixed right?”

“G-Goddess!” One man said, the others still frozen in place, and then suddenly, “Bow down you all!” Runa said bowing at her fours, and the others bower down quickly following her.

“Now why are you all bowing down so suddenly?”

“Please purify us too, o goddess!”