While Ren was still investigating the trail of the Herrscher of Corruption, Sakura, for her part, had reached a shallower area connected to the Deep End.
Here, the grass was verdant like a carpet, stretching out into lush meadows as far as the eye could see. A warm, crimson sun hung in the sky, painting vast swathes of gold across it. In the distance, pasture grass touched by the lingering glow rippled like waves of wheat.
Such a tranquil and peaceful scene showed no outward signs of danger, yet Sakura didn't relax in the slightest. Instead, her expression grew even more serious.
She sniffed lightly. The air wasn't filled with the fragrance of grass, but the heavy scent of ink. The sun in the sky looked bright, but it emitted no actual light—the entire sky was merely painted colors.
"Did it escape into Griseo's domain?" Sakura exhaled slowly. She glanced at the tachi in her hand, where dark green blood still trickled steadily.
Frighteningly, the moment the blood dripped onto the ground, the ink-painted meadow beneath seemed to corrode as if touched by some caustic force, instantly withering away over a large area. In the mere few minutes Sakura stood there, the ground beneath her feet had become like an artist's palette smeared with countless clashing pigments—darkened and fouled.
A single glance was enough to cause instinctive revulsion. Clearly, the space of the Elysian Realm here had been corrupted. More troubling still, Sakura didn't even know what this entity was. The only certainty was that the blood on her blade tip was not human.
"Tsk." Time was running out on her agreement with Ren, yet she still hadn't found any valuable leads. Even Sakura felt the situation was becoming difficult.
After all, while Ren had promised to help her with the Discipline problem, that was only part of their deal. Her reason for leading Ren to Aponia wasn't just to have the Discipline removed, but also to test his strength. In exchange, she was obligated to ensure no outsiders reached the Deep End while he dealt with Aponia.
But shortly after Ren left, the area around the portal had been invaded by some strange power. Sakura hadn't noticed it at first; the corruption was incredibly slow, so much so that no other Flame-Chaser had detected it. If not for her Setsuna granting her spatial perception, she likely wouldn't have realized the change either.
It was this sharp spatial intuition that had made her instinctively lash out with her blade. Unexpectedly, after tearing through the spatial barrier, she had actually struck something. She didn't know what she had hit, but it was clearly the culprit behind the Elysian Realm's corruption. Just as she prepared to locate it, the mysterious entity vanished from the space entirely.
Left with no choice, Sakura had temporarily left Mobius's body behind, following the trail of blood and the spatial disturbance all the way here. But now, not only had she failed to find the entity, she had nearly gotten lost herself within this painted world.
"I can only hope he doesn't think I've deserted him," Sakura sighed helplessly and pressed onward.
The further she walked, the more chaotic the surrounding space became. Griseo's painted world was originally a projection of her cognition of famous artworks, each painting an independent realm. But now, countless unrelated landscapes bled into one another, creating a powerful sense of disorientation. As she ventured deeper, the scenes grew increasingly bizarre.
Walking through fields, the sound wasn't the wind, but the murmuring of scarecrows. Passing down streets, the empty stalls lining the roads somehow projected countless unseen, staring eyes. Clearly, this was the result of the painted space being corrupted.
"At least I've confirmed it's in this area." Sakura kept her breathing low, ignoring the shifting environment around her. More than what her eyes saw, she trusted her intuition. Relying on this focus, she navigated past numerous threats until she reached the end of the painted world. Only then did the unsettling feeling of being watched finally fade.
The end was empty, containing only pure darkness. The moment she arrived, Sakura couldn't help but frown. The reason was simple: the space here was already completely corrupted. As a memory simulation, she felt a strong sense of repulsion the moment she drew near.
"It seems even the base code of the Elysian Realm has been distorted here." Sakura didn't understand the technical details, but that didn't stop her from recognizing the core issue.
Subconsciously tightening her grip on her tachi, Sakura grew even more vigilant. Charging straight into the unknown might be a classic horror movie trope for getting killed, but as a Flame-Chaser, she felt obligated to scout ahead for the others.
The air hung thick with a nauseating stench of decay. The only sound echoing in her ears was the dripping of blood from her blade tip. Sakura advanced step by step, expecting a terrifying monster, but instead saw a small girl huddled in the corner.
"Please, don't kill me."
The girl hugged her knees, burying her face between them. Seemingly sensing Sakura's approach, her entire body trembled with fear.
Sakura didn't lower her guard. She held her sword ready, able to strike in an instant. She had already noticed a distinct wound on the girl's side, and unnatural green bloodstains beneath her clothes. Furthermore, the girl had light pink hair—clearly, she couldn't be Griseo. The only possibility was that this was the monster she had been tracking.
"Trying to trick me with this act?" Sakura scoffed coldly, lunging forward without hesitation. Just as the blade was about to fall, the girl finally lifted her head.
In that instant, the razor-sharp blade froze, millimeters from the girl's hair.
"Please don't kill me... I don't want to die..."
The girl was genuinely terrified, tears streaming down her face. Staring at the blade inches away, her eyes were wide with fear. She instinctively tried to shrink back into the corner, but there was no space left behind her. All she could do was plead with Sakura.
But Sakura's mind went utterly blank. Her eyes widened, and her breathing hitched. Until, in a sudden rush, overwhelming emotion shattered her composure. The hands gripping the sword began to tremble, her lips quivering uncontrollably. Carefully, hesitantly, Sakura whispered the name held most fragilely within her heart.
"Rin?"
Coincidentally, the Discipline, already weakened by Aponia's defeat, shattered completely in that very moment. As it vanished, fifty thousand years of sealed memories flooded Sakura's mind. Staring at the girl's achingly familiar face, Sakura's pupils trembled violently.
A flicker of confusion crossed the girl's eyes. She didn't understand who Sakura was calling out to; her current appearance was merely fabricated based on data recorded about the Previous Era's Herrscher of Corruption.
But none of that mattered anymore. Because the next second, she found herself pulled into Sakura's tight embrace.