The Rotwrought Beacon pulsed like a wounded god buried in the earth.
Not with light.
With need.
It didn't shine — it throbbed. Each wave of rotlight that pulsed from its bone-threaded structure didn't push outward. It drew inward, feeding on the zone, rewriting silence into structure.
Monsters had come.
They didn't scream. They didn't roar. They watched.
At least a dozen stood at the clearing's edge — malformed, half-collapsed, infected beyond the point of thought. Some crawled on backwards limbs. Others twitched in place, their bodies struggling to decide what shape they should be.
They hadn't come for prey.
They'd come because something in the system told them to avoid this place.
And something in their blood told them to obey it.
Elian stood at the beacon's base.
Cloak unmoving. Breath steady.
He didn't raise his voice.
Didn't brandish power.
He simply existed — like rot given shape.
And still, they watched.
As if waiting for a signal they didn't know how to name.
[Rotwrought Beacon – Active]
[Signal: "Crownless" – Trait Broadcast Confirmed]
[Infection Radius: 22.1% Coverage]
[Rotborne Emotional Sync: Stable]
[New Status: Mutation Surge Detected – Compatible Host Found]
One of the creatures stepped forward.
It wasn't the largest. It wasn't armored or beautiful or terrifying.
It was just first.
A malformed beast with too many spines and not enough eyes. Its body shimmered with raw echo instability. It trembled — not in fear, but anticipation.
And then it knelt.
Head low.
Palms open.
It didn't speak.
But something in its stillness screamed loyalty.
The girl behind Elian inhaled sharply. "What is it doing?"
"Listening," Elian replied.
He approached the creature slowly, boots crunching softly over thread-sick soil. The monster didn't move. Its chest rose and fell like a dying drum.
Elian reached out.
Placed a hand to its head.
Rotlight surged from his palm — not violent, but absolute. It wasn't possession. It wasn't infection.
It was recognition.
[Voluntary Submission Registered – Entity Classification: Proto-Rotkin]
[Initiating Echo Override]
[Devil's Core Authority Infusion: ACCEPTED]
[Result: Entity Evolution – Rotkin Alpha (Class C)]
[Trait Link: Crownless Signal]
[Loyalty Rating: Absolute (Signal-bound)]
The transformation wasn't clean.
It was a symphony of collapse.
The creature screamed — once, long and low — as its body contorted violently. Bones cracked and rewove. Flesh sloughed off like clay, replaced by pale plates of rot-hardened tissue. A third limb sprouted from its back. Its Echo twisted into three blackened rings that floated behind it like a halo made from ruin.
When it stood, it was taller.
Sharper.
Aware.
It turned to Elian and dropped to one knee again — this time not as a beast.
But as a servant.
"Master," it said. Its voice was dry and full of memory. "I await the order."
The girl took a step back.
Even the crawlers paused — unsure whether to snarl or kneel.
Elian nodded once.
"You'll be the first."
"Not the last."
The Alpha turned to the horde behind it.
And roared.
Rotlight exploded from its body — a ring of corruption shaped like sound and command. The others flinched. Shivered. Then began to kneel one by one.
The malformed.
The broken.
The lost.
They chose.
One after another.
Until the clearing no longer held monsters…
But followers.
[Lucid Trait Sync: 50% → 52%]
[Devil's Core Progression: 16.6% → 18.1%]
[Rot Domain Expansion: 24.7% – System Monitoring Degraded]
[Sub-Faction Established: Rotkin]
[Leadership Status: Crownless – Signal Originator]
The girl whispered, "You're building an army."
Elian's eyes didn't leave the kneeling Alpha.
"No."
"I'm building a message."
"Something the system can't ignore."
Behind him, the beacon pulsed again — brighter now.
Not because of energy.
Because of faith.
And deep within the rot, something smiled.
Because devils don't need followers.
They need witnesses.