I Can Purify Corruption Through Intimacy in the Apocalypse

They encountered no trouble on their way to the Garden District.

Once they arrived, Lucien and Ava immediately split off to scout for the Hollow Knight while the rest of the party remained inside an abandoned building, minimizing their exposure to the Corruption.

By now, both of them knew the Hollow Knight's patrol route by heart.

Its movements traced a rough figure-eight pattern that took approximately four hours to complete before returning to its starting point.

The route itself wasn't long because of the Hollow Knight's pace.

Rather, the creature had an obsessive habit of inspecting every estate, courtyard, and stretch of road within its territory. It rarely passed anything without stopping to investigate, and those painstaking searches were what stretched the patrol into hours. Had it simply walked the route without them, the entire circuit would have taken only a fraction of the time.

Ava's hearing far surpassed Lucien's, allowing her to catch subtle sounds long before he noticed anything unusual.

She was the first to pick it up.

"...How lucky."

Standing behind a second-floor window in a deserted estate overlooking Heritage Road—the broad avenue running east to west through the district—Ava narrowed her crimson eyes, the faintest smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

Lucien stepped beside her and looked where she was staring.

The Hollow Knight.

Even from this distance, the massive armored figure was impossible to mistake. It strode steadily eastward, its heavy plate armor reflecting faint traces of the afternoon light as each measured footstep echoed through the otherwise silent district.

Clank...

Clank...

Clank...

Its destination appeared to be Garden Circle.

"You think it's heading for that estate?" Lucien asked, already beginning to understand why Ava sounded pleased.

"It should."

The smile on her lips deepened ever so slightly.

Their plan was to fight the Hollow Knight inside one of the many estates scattered throughout the Garden District. Most of them featured spacious courtyards, large enough to serve as battlefields for a party of their size while limiting interference from the surrounding streets.

The estate Lucien had in mind, however, wasn't just any estate.

It was the same one where he had first encountered the Hollow Knight.

Among all the estates in the district, it possessed one of the largest courtyards. More importantly, it stood farther from its neighbors than most, its high stone walls enclosing the grounds on almost every side. If they had to fight something that dangerous, there was no better place to do it without risking unwanted interference.

The fact that everything is lining up this neatly is making me nervous, though.

The thought lingered only briefly before he exhaled and pushed it aside.

Looking back at Ava, he asked, "Should we head back to the others and wait inside that estate before we launch the attack?"

She gave a small, matter-of-fact nod.

"That's really our only option."

Neither of them wasted another second.

They quietly retraced their route through the silent streets and returned to the abandoned building where the rest of the party had been waiting.

By the time Lucien finished explaining what they had discovered, Isolde's expression had grown noticeably more focused.

"The estate you're referring to..." Her brows rose slightly as recognition flickered across her face. "There's a good chance it belongs to Count Arlan Ashford's family."

"You know them?"

"Of course."

The answer came without the slightest hesitation.

"The Ashfords have governed much of the Garden District for generations. Their fief is famous for its horticulture and botanical research, so their family has long specialized in the Emerald Thread, particularly restoration, alchemy, and the cultivation of rare medicinal plants."

"I see."

Lucien tilted his head thoughtfully before another question occurred to him.

"What about your family?"

It was a small opportunity to learn more about her.

Not that he particularly wanted to.

"I grew up in the southern part of the Garden District, in House Ravencrest." Her tone remained calm and detached. "My father is a Viscount. Our family oversees much of the district's waterways, reservoirs, and flood-control infrastructure. We've also been responsible for maintaining bridges, canals, and several public works projects for generations."

Lucien listened quietly.

He noticed how Isolde spoke differently here.

She had always carried herself with aristocratic confidence, often accompanied by a hint of pride or irritation. Now, however, her voice was flatter, stripped of nearly all emotion, as though she were reciting facts from a history book rather than speaking about her own home.

He chose not to comment on it.

Instead, another question came to mind.

"Do you have any idea who the Hollow Knight might've been?"

"What a ridiculous question."

Isolde let out a derisive scoff, one brow arching as she looked at him.

"Do you honestly think someone of my standing would remember every ordinary knight in the city?"

Lucien's lips twitched.

A quiet sigh escaped her a moment later.

"That said..." She paused briefly, her gaze drifting toward the window as she searched her memory. "Based on your description, the Hollow Knight is most likely Sir Thorne."

Lucien blinked.

"I thought you didn't know."

"Who said I didn't?" She gave him a mildly exasperated look. "I merely pointed out how illogical it was to expect me to remember mere knights. Sir Thorne wasn't a mere knight."

Lucien waved a hand dismissively.

"Fine, whatever. Can you just get to the point?"

"What a lovely lovers' quarrel," Thane remarked dryly.

Kira immediately flashed them an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

"I'm rooting for you two!"

"Who would ever want to date a demon?" Isolde shot back, her annoyance plain to see.

Lucien looked no less unimpressed.

"And who'd want to date an old lady?"

A tiny vein throbbed near Isolde's temple.

"I'm only in my thirties."

"Which still makes you about ten years older than me."

The twitch near her temple became noticeably more pronounced.

"Say one more thing about my age," she warned, tightening her grip around her staff, "and I'll smack you over the head with it."

"Alright, alright."

Lucien raised both hands in surrender, though the smile tugging at the corners of his mouth made the gesture less convincing than he probably intended.

"Now," he said, clearing his throat with exaggerated innocence, "could you tell me more about Sir Thorne?"

Isolde let out a long, irritated sigh before deciding it wasn't worth prolonging the argument.

"Very well."

Her expression settled into something more serious.

"As far as I know, Sir Thorne was a devout follower of Ergónis—a Champion of Flamebearer."

Lucien gave a small, thoughtful nod.

Champion is the third rank of Covenant Practioner, one rank above Calla and Aldren.

That aligned with the conclusion he'd been leaning toward ever since his first encounter with the Hollow Knight.

If Sir Thorne had truly been a Flamebearer, then it made perfect sense that his abilities centered entirely around enhancing his physical capabilities. Everything the Hollow Knight had displayed so far fit that profile remarkably well.

After all, Flamebearers could be granted permanent physical enhancements through Ergónis's divine blessing.

The realization, however, only made the situation more troubling.

Those who borrowed power from the gods were never granted it unconditionally. Their right to wield divine power depended on living according to the teachings and commandments of the deity they served. Stray too far from those principles, and the blessing could be stripped away forever.

A follower of Zoḗgennis, for instance, would almost certainly lose that divine favor upon becoming a Ravenous Hollow. Zoḗgennis's teachings revolved around preserving and nurturing life, while a Ravenous Hollow existed solely to consume and destroy it. The contradiction was too absolute to reconcile.

Ergónis, however...

That was a different story.

Most of the Flamebearer's teachings emphasized action itself—the resolve to keep moving forward, to struggle, to fight, and to endure without ever succumbing to stagnation.

Even after becoming a Hollow, someone like Sir Thorne might still satisfy those principles in a grotesquely twisted way.

If so...

There was a very real possibility that he still retained fragments of Ergónis's power, warped by the Corruption into something more dangerous.

I just hope he doesn't have the ability to hurl something like a fireball...

Lucien's lips tightened into a faint frown.

Much like Weavers, those blessed by the gods could express their divine gifts in different ways. The exact nature of those blessings depended on the deity they followed, the depth of their faith, and the favors they had accumulated over years of devotion.

That meant there was still something about Sir Thorne they couldn't predict.

The uncertainty lingered in the room for a moment before Ava broke the silence with a single, light clap of her hands.

"Standing around worrying isn't going to help," she said, her voice practical. A small, confident smile returned to her face as she glanced around the group. "Let's finish the plan and get this over with."

Lucien exhaled quietly through his nose, the tension in his shoulders easing slightly.

"...Right."

They had already come this far.

Turning back was not an option.