CHAPTER 107.

The Saints of Truth were here, and Amber couldn’t tell if they were here for her specifically or not⁠— considering they dealt with curse related things; based on her understanding. It made sense that they were here because of the chimera, but it still didn’t make things any better. After all, the main guy immediately locked eyes with her, before finally turning back to Frei.

“Dark Reaper,” he began. “We’ve come to secure these accursed monsters, but you’ve taken all of them.”

“Aha,” Frei replied simply, it was barely audible but it was clear the other party heard it clearly.

“We don’t wish to fight you, so how about you sell us half of the samples you’ve acquired,” he said.

And Frei glared. “Aren’t ya the asshole that tried to kill me just ‘cause I asked the saints for help?”

The man seemingly stopped lowering his head, the seconds ticked as the other two people quickly turned hostile, before finally he straightened himself and began to speak.

“I indeed did that and I regret it, Dark Reaper,” he began, before bowing. “I wish to restart anew, show you that I, and our organization is full of honorable individuals. And as a token of that, we shall choose to temporarily ignore your companion whose class is a transgression of the highest order.”

Amber raised her brow at that and Frei scoffed.

“Targeting my companion is like targeting me, y’know. I ain’t gonna stand idly while you just pay me lip while fully intending to murder my master in cold blood.”

The man paused. “Master?”

“Yes, master, I’m her loyal bitch. So, step back, cunt,” Frei spat with a frown.

Amber blinked. That… She really didn’t know how she felt about Frei talking like that, but this was most definitely a performance, so she just had to accept it.

“Right,” the man began. “I shall discuss it with the heads of the organization. I truly wish to make amends, this is important to our cause and research. So, I hope you can be as benevolent as to grant us forgiveness.”

That said, Frei still had her frown looking at the guy. Amber didn’t really know what to do, but she would much rather not have to fight at all given her condition. She was looking forward to rest, but at the same time, unexpected things happened and she didn’t feel truly blindsided by this development or anything like that. So in short; if she wasn’t injured she would’ve immediately accepted she was going to fight these people to the death.

“Your reply?” the head guy of the Saints of Truth asked, his voice sounding sincere.

At that, Frei turned to Amber, her expression conflicted. “If I take care of it will you hate me?”

Amber met her gaze for a few moments, sensing something, and for a moment she was unsure but once she looked over at Asil and he gave an approving nod, she resolved herself. She was going to let Frei do whatever she wanted.

“I’m in no condition to fight, no one is. Just keep that in mind.”

“Alright.” Frei nodded.

Finally, she turned back to the guy from the Saints of Truth, and after meeting his gaze for a couple of seconds, she spoke.

“Y’know, I am a grudgeful person, but I think I can move past this⁠—”

And she teleported behind the leader of the saints and kicked. In a single moment he hit the other side of the valley as an explosion resounded. Frei landed as the mage pointed their staff at her and the healer teleported away.

“⁠— if I kill ya first.”

And Amber blinked. She had expected something like that. Just not so, brutal. A moment later, the top of the valley exploded as an explosion of light engulfed her. And Asil, in response just sighed and raised his staff, they teleported to the road and away from all the conflict. Then, another explosion went off as that happened.

There was a period of silence as Amber saw a flash of darkness then⁠— a scream broke through it.

“YOU HEATHEN!”

An explosion of light engulfed the valley and part of it immediately evaporated, and Amber couldn’t help but blink. At first she had dismissed the scale of the battle, but seeing as how the environment quickly got torn apart, she was forced to reassess her opinions.

The two of them absolutely have the strength to destroy the entire kingdom…

It was a weird notion; of course, if King Octavius was secretly level 300 then that was a no go, but if he wasn’t; Amber couldn’t help but gulp. She hadn’t seen Frei fight earlier properly, but now ⁠— focusing properly ⁠— she saw her zip through the air with physical stats that most definitely dwarfed hers.

And in a single moment, she arrived next to the highest leveled man and began to exchange punches with him ⁠— he looked like some sort of brawler warrior ⁠— and immediately the environment was torn apart by the bangs of the hits. The weird part though was that Frei seemed to be unscathed from each hit aside from the occasional bone crack.

The blows continued for a second before the mage appeared.

“Blast⁠—”

“Idiot!” the brawler screamed.

And in a single moment both of them were engulfed by the bright light. Then a moment later a figure blasted into a different wall⁠— the warrior. Amber blinked as the light cleared and Frei stretched, her bones cracking.

“God, that feels good.”

“You twisted thing, your Legacy Branch has become pure heresy⁠— stealing life from other beings just like curses⁠—”

Frei teleported and punched, a loud explosion of rock went off as Amber just blinked. Even though she shouldn’t have been surprised, she was. Frei ⁠— like other Arcane Council members ⁠— was the elite of the elite for her level, meaning; she was stupidly strong. And for some reason, watching that, Amber couldn’t help but feel excited.

She wanted that.

Amber, currently wanted to fight⁠— she wanted to experience that. But she couldn’t fight like this, not when she was poisoned. She frowned.

“Please tell me you aren’t thinking about getting yourself killed,” Asil said, letting out a sigh.

“Amber…” Cecile called out in a rather upset tone.

Amber frowned looking at her two companions. “What?”

Cecile shook her head in disappointment and Asil pinched the bridge of his nose. As that happened another explosion went off, one that called her attention back to the site of combat. Frei went flying, this time holding a scythe of darkness as she blocked another hit from the warrior.

“You are a disgrace to all mages!”

She was thrown into the mountain wall as the environment seemed to become trivial; something to be destroyed and insignificant. And Amber, once more felt that rush of excitement, and finally, as Frei emerged from the dust and danger filled the surroundings⁠— as Frei prepared her swing, as the man shielded himself, as the environment was rent⁠—

Amber couldn’t contain herself anymore.

The entire valley was cut in half with a flash of darkness, the man went flying with a splatter of blood and Amber finally made her decision. She replaced General Weapon Mastery with one of her new skills, the one that would allow her to get into battle the soonest.

[New Core Skill! You have learned ⁠Cursed Creation 4th Rank — level 2.

You’ve grown at utilizing curses in your day to day. And now your mastery over curses has reached a new peak, allowing you to project them to the outside world, giving them solid shapes. Now, these are incredibly durable and last for a long time.

2nd Rank ⁠— Curses can now be more tightly packed in the same area, by about 1.5 times.

3rd Rank ⁠— For the first hour, the curses within the construct will replenish themselves automatically.

4th Rank ⁠— Constructs can be detonated, unleashing all their stored curses at once]

Amber smiled and immediately made a needle that looked as if it was seemingly made out of darkness, and much to the horror of her companions she stabbed it into herself. The effect was barely noticeable, but Recovery of Curses began to absorb it.

With a smile, Amber immediately began to make more needles, stabbing them in various points in her body, slowly erasing the light-headedness she was feeling from the venom. And she couldn’t wait to join the battle.

She grinned as she saw Frei pummeling the guy once more. She wasn’t suicidal, but she most definitely wanted to experience the intensity of the battle even if she didn’t directly tank any hits. After all, she had gotten a whole advancement for her Essence that she wanted to try out.

* * *

Anael had always been a pious man. He had stuck with his vows to the First primordial all his life, and he had dutifully followed the guidance he had been given all his life. He wholeheartedly believed in eradicating all the curses in the world. It was a twisted power born from demons, one that had greatly changed Vir in its entirety. Demons had shown man their power, and some had been granted their blessing to fight the supernatural.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Those were known as Cursebearers, and they were the top priority of the Saints of Truth. While curses had become more acceptable in the past thousands of years, it still didn’t change the fact that they had once been universally shunned. It wasn’t until a particularly bright Cursebearer used their powers for good that the opinion shifted, but the saints knew better.

They understood that even if the power was used for good it was still rooted in evil; a malicious thing that was related to the demons. And so, for many thousands of years, they had dutifully stuck to their mission. Anael did so too.

So when an elven girl came for their help, he immediately tried to kill her because she had been touched by the devil. She had once been a girl full of hope, a mercenary that wished to become a scholar of magic in the underexplored school of darkness magic. And if it hadn’t been for the fact that she was stained, the church might have even offered her opportunities.

But Anael stood by her actions, but it didn’t take many years for rumors of a scythe wielding mage to appear. One who used darkness magic. But even then, all this time, he had believed himself to be above her, for he was the law. But he had been wrong, because the girl that he had tried to kill had become a⁠—

His eyes widened at the incoming attack⁠— Monster.

The ground shattered and magma from beneath the surface began to spill, melting the surroundings. He couldn’t believe it. In just a few decades she had grown enough to surpass him, and even though her powers behaved like the things he stood against, they were very clearly not curses.

“You…” Anael grunted, bleeding as he looked at the approaching elf. “This is impossible, you must’ve made a contract with the First Devil himself.”

“Ha, you’re funny.” And she punched his face.

He went into the rock behind him, his head reeling with pain as the whole world blurred around him. For a moment even his thoughts were lost, unsure of what they even were, but it didn’t take Anael more than a second to recover. He pulled out and glared at the peach fuzz haired elf.

“You cast away your pride as a mage for power.”

At that, the woman frowned and headbutted him, sending him back into the rocks. In the end, even if she was seemingly stronger, he had yet to go all out. Anael pulled himself out of the rock and shouted.

“Was it worth it? Temporary power you can’t be proud of⁠—”

The wind got knocked out of him as he was sent further into the small mountain he was being pummeled on. Rubble slid off, causing an avalanche and magma to explode, bubbling out in the distance and permanently shifting this battleground. But he didn’t care.

“You are pathetic, I will show you⁠—”

He was kicked, his ribs breaking and yet he continued.

“The true law!”

The elf went for another hit, and at that moment a bright yellow light burst from his body, blasting the woman far away. His muscles were immediately filled with power as they felt like tearing just from existing. His attributes had quintupled in a single moment; that coupled with all his other enhancements truly made him a beast.

It was the power that the System had bestowed onto him for his piety to his mission of eradicating the demons and all Cursebearers alike. One that greatly decreased his lifespan for the ability to punish those that violated the holy laws of life. And now, it was time to put a stop to the calamity that was waiting to happen.

“Enock and Shirei, take care of the berserker woman⁠— she is trouble.”

He received sounds of affirmation while he nodded, then he chased after the elven woman. Arriving before her in a split second.

She blocked with a scythe of darkness, her feet digging into the hard stone ground in a single moment. And he couldn’t help but chuckle at her gritted teeth.

“Your master won’t be around for much longer,” he hissed. “And you won’t be able to protect her.”

“I ain’t concerned, pal,” she said simply, masking her helplessness.

It was hilarious to Anael, he had seen many twisted people in the past but no one was like the Dark Reaper, this woman was… so full of herself that she was blinded by the absolute truth. He smiled and kicked⁠— the woman grunted and her ribs snapped as she was sent sliding across the ground, the rock walls stopping her.

Molten rock filled the surroundings and even the ground they were standing on, but even as the two of them were burnt by it they didn’t care. It was something funny to Anael, no mage should be able to fight in these circumstances, but this woman was different⁠— and that was because she was twisted. Her powers were similar to curses, and that’s why he had to put a stop to her at once. Such things were wrong.

He grinned, forcing her to block another hit as she received the same treatment he did⁠— being thrown deep into the rocky mountain wall, causing another impending avalanche. He immediately followed up, his two hands balled into two fists, and he slammed down. The ground exploded and she was almost buried instantly, but she just flashed him a smile.

“Ya really think ya got me, eh? Funny.”

She said that and yet didn’t do anything, seemingly just defending. Something that Anael found laughable. It was a pathetic thing, perhaps a pathetic coping mechanism that she used in order to not despair; at the end of the day he didn’t care.

“Oh yea, did I mention that that other elf is really interesting?” she asked, half laughing as she coughed blood.

Anael grinned. “I don’t care.”

And he stomped down, snapping the scythe of darkness in half and breaking multiple bones of the woman.

He didn’t care about the puny companions she had, they probably were heathens and disgusting beings too. The fact that she was saying this just proved she was beyond delusional; after all, what could such a weak elf even do⁠—

And a loud bang resounded behind him with a shriek of pain.

Anael immediately snapped his head in the direction only to see Enock, the mage, pinned into the wall with a golden arrow inside his chest. And he was screaming in pain⁠— A curse? No⁠— what the fuck is that? His eyes momentarily widened, not understanding what kind of energy he was seeing, it wasn’t twisted; in fact it was even holy in his eyes, and yet it had condemned his subordinate.

Why?

“Oh, hey you may want to block that for your subordinate,” she said.

“What?!”

He turned to slap the elven bitch but paused as danger filled the surroundings, and his eyes finally fixated on a blue thing in the distance. No⁠— on the berserker charging an arrow of blue fire that seemed to be shining brightly; something that told him it was an attack worth paying attention to, and it was aimed at Enock.

“Shirei!”

He screamed but a moment later, the healer went flying, hitting the same spot with another golden arrow as Enock, and his eyes widened⁠.

“No⁠—”

The blue arrow was loosed.

And in an instant, it hit, consuming everything into a blue inferno, engulfing his two subordinates.

* * *

I seriously underestimated Asil’s capabilities with Essence… Amber gulped recalling the sight as she lowered her bow.

The mage came charging and he was immediately blasted by an invisible force, before he borrowed a bow of flames and nailed the man to the wall in the distance. It happened so easily; so stupidly simply that it was hard to believe. And the healer also suffered the same fate. The two of them were handled as if they were ragdolls, as if they were insignificant.

“Blast them, I ran out.”

That was all he said for Amber to understand that Asil wasn’t even close to his peak, and yet he had been able to trash two level 200+ individuals in mere seconds. Of course, Amber didn’t spend her time admiring him, but rather charging the Primordial Blazing Bolt and unleashing it into the two people.

Amber watched the blue pillar of blazing flames in the distance, satisfied with herself. The attack had once more grown much stronger, though this time it nearly left her completely out of Essence. Not even a second later, a notification came.

Instantly, a notification came.

[You have defeated a [Lightblessed Mage. Lvl. 244].]

For defeating an enemy 60 levels above your own, you have received bonus experience!

Less experience for defeating an enemy as a group.

Just like that he had died. All thanks to Asil’s enormous contribution this time around, however the healer notification hadn’t come. Finally, after a moment of pondering Amber shrugged.

“Well whatever, time to join the battle.”

And she immediately rushed to help Frei, even if it was just a pretense to experience the intensity of it all.

After all, she had to feel those heights in order to properly reach them.

* * *

Anael screamed.

In a single moment, his subordinates died. How? Why? What kind of bullshit was that? No⁠— he deep down knew. It was the same thing with the exiled emperor⁠— the same kind of heaven defying power. It was something that was bound to throw the world upside down. Yet, seeing it happen before his very eyes angered him to no end.

He gritted his teeth, cracking them as he felt nausea from the sheer anger he was feeling. He completely ignored whatever stupid thing the elf could have said, and he immediately teleported.

The berserker’s eyes widened and he swung⁠—

She blocked and yet was sent flying across the valley, hitting a wall with a loud bang. He immediately chased, intending to kill her in a single moment, but when he found her she was smiling, bleeding all over as if her body had fallen off a cliff. A stark contrast to her previous appearance just a moment before. And that urged him on, knowing he had just one more hit to kill her.

To kill that pest!

“Die!”

She regenerated in a fraction of a second and took another hit, the mountain exploding as blood splattered. And to his surprise⁠— she was still alive. He shouted before stomping the ground, sending all of the rubble flying away to get a clear line of sight. The berserker was twisted and mangled, barely hanging onto her life.

Now⁠—

Anael lunged and the berserker was, pulled out of the way by the elf.

“Yeah, can’t let ya do that⁠—”

And in a blink she disappeared along with his target. He immediately screamed and pushed his senses past the limit, and he found the person he was looking for immediately⁠—

Using his teleport he appeared, already punching as he woman blocked, sliding deeper into the valley. And he screamed in frustration, unable to sense the berserker anywhere.

“Why do you hide her? Are you afraid?”

The woman laughed. “Me?”

His anger toppled and he jumped towards her, but he missed, causing an explosion of magma in the ground.

“Afraid?” she asked, in a whisper.

He swiped to kill her but missed, her presence vanishing.

“Afraid of what?” her voice barely reached.

And Anael slammed the ground once more, causing a volcano-like eruption as he became unable to sense the woman.

“And why?” her voice boomed, and the day became night.

Anael shivered as he craned his head to look up, her finger lifted into the air as the sky itself seemed to pulse with white symbols of magic.

“I’m done playing warrior,” she said coldly. “I’m done playing your games.”

He gritted his teeth as he tried to rush towards her, but no matter how he tried his body didn’t seem to respond, almost as if an infinite weight was being pressed down on him. All he could do was watch. Watch as she spoke, the white symbols in the sky growing by the moment.

“Observe.” The sky began to crack. “The heights of darkness magic.”

She began to lower her finger as the cracks multiplied, shining whiter.

“Fallen⁠—”

And Anael’s eyes widened, feeling the change in the atmosphere. It was a self-made magic skill, it was the pride of any mage and this one had… she had felt something like this before… and it had… it really had…

Crossed the level 400 barrier.

“Star.”

At that moment, everything within the vicinity ceased to exist, leaving nothing but a void behind. In a single moment, all of the matter within the area was wiped⁠ off existence itself as nothing but an abyss remained. The world had been changed, and then, the missing air was replenished and an implosion shook the now desolate land.

Half of the valley was deleted from the map at that moment, leaving nothing but a deep black crater.