Chapter 185: The Holy Beast Called Me Corrupted

The difference was noticeable, but not enough to fool him.

They had won because there were three of them, because Raven had identified the Hound’s pattern, because the rifle had broken through its defenses, and because Valeria and Roland had done exactly what they needed to do.

Not because Raven could suddenly fight an Elite casually.

If any one of those pieces had failed, the Hound probably would have won.

That was fine.

Raven preferred reproducible victories to fantasies.

Then Predation reacted.

Not the way it normally did after a kill.

The response came more slowly, almost uncertainly.

[Novel Biological Structure Detected.]

[Sacred Classification Confirmed.]

[Analytical Compatibility: INCOMPLETE.]

Raven looked at the corpse.

The gland in its chest still gave off a weak golden glow despite having been partially damaged by the sword.

Predation responded again.

[High-Value Biological Structure Detected.]

[Designation Unavailable.]

[Function Partially Understood.]

Raven frowned.

Valeria recognized the expression immediately.

"You found something."

"Yes."

Roland looked toward the corpse.

"Please tell me you aren’t thinking what I think you’re thinking."

Raven didn’t answer.

Predation continued analyzing.

[Existing Biological Framework Insufficient.]

[Further Examination Recommended.]

The gland pulsed once, faintly. It was nearly dead, but not completely extinguished.

Raven watched it.

Something within his system wanted to understand the structure.

It couldn’t.

Not yet.

FORGE appeared next.

[No Current Forge Project Requires This Structure.]

That caught Raven’s attention.

There was no competition between the two Authorities this time. No rifle component waiting to be harvested and no reason to prioritize FORGE.

There was only a piece of unfamiliar biology that Predation still didn’t know how to properly classify.

Raven crouched beside the corpse without touching the gland.

Yet.

Valeria folded her arms.

"No."

Raven looked up.

"I haven’t said anything."

"I know you."

Roland pointed toward her.

"For once, I completely agree with her."

Raven returned his attention to the Hound’s chest.

He had consumed monsters, humans, mutated creatures, and organisms saturated with mana. Predation had always found some framework through which to interpret them.

This was different.

The Church called the creature sacred.

His system didn’t appear to understand what that word actually meant. It only recognized that the structure was biological and that it performed a function.

Raven cleaned his sword.

"We take it back first."

Valeria narrowed her eyes.

"Whole?"

"Enough of it."

Roland sighed.

"That means whole."

Raven grabbed one of the creature’s legs.

"Yes."

They found the collar when they started moving the body.

It was made from white leather and fitted with a golden plate bearing the symbol of the Church of Eternal Light.

Valeria picked it up.

Her expression changed.

"Order of Penance."

Raven looked at her.

"Explain."

"These Hounds have custodians. They aren’t released to wander around chasing every anomaly they happen to detect."

Roland glanced toward Bellcross.

"So someone sent it."

"Yes."

Valeria examined the plate more closely.

"And there’s something else. During a doctrinal investigation, a Penance Hound shouldn’t be given authority to act on its own classification before a Church official confirms the target."

Raven looked at the corpse.

"It classified me as corrupted."

"That explains why it attacked after finding you. It doesn’t explain why it was searching for you before Elise arrived."

The message from that morning returned to Raven’s mind.

[Remain available for ecclesiastical inquiry.]

They had complied.

Someone had taken advantage of that compliance to send an Elite tracker after him.

That didn’t prove Elise was responsible.

It didn’t prove she wasn’t either.

"We’re going back to Bellcross."

Roland pointed toward the corpse.

"With that?"

"Yes."

"Dragging a dead sacred beast into town is going to create rumors."

Raven took hold of the leg again.

"This time I want witnesses."

Valeria understood immediately.

"So no one can later change where it died or who found it."

"Yes."

Roland sighed.

"And I thought this morning we were just waiting for a Saint."

---

Bellcross stopped being discreet the moment people saw the corpse.

The first passerby stared. The second recognized the white plates. By the time someone noticed the Church collar, they had already gathered spectators.

When they reached the inn, the innkeeper opened the door and looked first at Raven, then at the Hound, then back at Raven.

"No."

Raven released the leg.

"Yes."

"Is that a Penance Hound?"

"Yes."

"From the Church?"

Valeria raised the collar.

"That too."

The woman closed her eyes.

"Why is it dead?"

Roland rested against his bow.

"That question has a much longer answer than it looks."

Raven looked toward the counter.

The transit notice was still there.

[Saint Elise Veyra.]

[Expected Arrival: Before Third Bell.]

Delayed.

Raven pointed toward one of the tables.

"I need that."

The innkeeper opened her eyes again.

"For what?"

Raven looked at the Hound.

Then at the notice.

"To wait for the Saint."

Nobody suggested running again.

---

Several kilometers from Bellcross, Elise Veyra felt the custodial bond break.

She pulled on the reins, bringing her horse to an abrupt stop.

Brother Halven continued several meters before realizing she was no longer beside him.

"Saint Veyra?"

Elise looked down at her wrist.

A small golden mark had just disappeared.

It wasn’t a control mark.

It was identification.

Custody.

"The Hound."

Halven stiffened.

"Did it find Raven?"

Elise looked down the road.

"It found something."

"Is it alive?"

"No."

Halven was silent for a moment.

"Then Raven Ashford—"

"No."

The answer came immediately.

Elise dismounted, Mercy tapping softly against her hip.

Halven frowned.

"What is it?"

Elise looked at him.

"I did not authorize a Penance Trial."

He went still.

"It could have been authorized regionally."

"They should not have released a Hound against someone before the doctrinal evaluation was complete."

"If it detected corruption—"

"That explains the creature’s reaction once it found him."

Elise kept her voice calm.

"It does not explain who gave it permission to find him."

Halven had no answer.

Elise looked toward Bellcross.

Raven had received the notice.

He had not fled.

He had waited.

And while he waited for an investigation, someone inside the Church had sent an Elite creature after him—one specifically bred to hunt what it classified as corruption.

That changed the situation.

It did not absolve Raven.

It proved nothing about whether he was innocent.

But it meant someone had already made a judgment before Elise had.

She mounted again.

"We move."

"Now?"

"Now."

Halven gathered his reins.

"When we arrive, we can request the regional authorization records."

"Do it."

Elise urged her horse forward several steps, then stopped again.

"And Brother Halven."

"Yes?"

Her blue eyes remained calm.

Too calm.

"I want to know who issued that order before anyone tries to explain why it was supposedly me."

Halven nodded.

They accelerated toward Bellcross.

Elise was a Champion.

She had destroyed creatures capable of wiping out settlements and purified corruptions that would have killed ordinary priests merely through contact. Very few things encountered on the road could force her to hurry.

Raven Ashford had just become one of them.

But as Bellcross drew closer, Elise was no longer wondering only what kind of man she would find there.

Now she also wanted to know what he had done to her Hound.

And who inside her own Church had wanted to find out before she did.

---

Back at the inn, the golden gland pulsed faintly again.

Raven saw it.

Predation did too.

[Unknown Sacred Structure.]

[Current Analytical Framework Insufficient.]

[Further Consumption May Provide Additional Data.]

Roland read Raven’s expression.

"No."

Valeria didn’t even look up.

"I agree."

Raven kept watching the corpse.

"I still haven’t done anything."

"That ’still’ is exactly the problem," Valeria said.

Raven didn’t answer.

The gland remained barely luminous, but the light was enough for Predation to keep noticing it.

For the first time since arriving in this world, Raven’s Authority was looking at something it wanted to consume...

and still didn’t know how.