Zhen Shi was surprised that the aether hadn't warned him of this attack. Ultimately he could only assume that as an {Acquaintance of Aether} the aether will only help him on certain occasions...

Nevertheless, although Zhen Shi was sent hurtling forwards by the surprise attack, he realized that he wasn't injured at all!

As such, while standing up and getting ready to fight, he couldn't help but laugh in a smug and pleased manner!

"HAHA--" But his laughter ended abruptly as he turned around and saw the culprit that had attacked him... The attacker was actually the old aged and long-bearded Myne!

It seemed that Myne had gained control of his original physical body, but for some reason, he had attacked Zhen Shi and was now staring at him in confusion...

Initially, Myne had gained control of his original body as fast as possible in order to help his new junior brother, and had awoken prepared for a fight!

But the moment he opened his eyes, the scene that awaited him was the same that he had been forced to watch when he had left... His lover being entranced by his junior brother's shameless skill!

So in a bad mood, he had punched Zhen Shi in order to get him to stop.

However, the situation that confused Myne came after this... After his junior brother had been punched and thrown down into the ground, he had actually stood up and laughed in ecstasy! As if he had discovered a valuable treasure instead of being punched!

But Myne's confusion slowly shifted into realization and pity, 'Could it be...? That my sworn brother enjoys being hit? Is that why his body is caked in blood as well? Ahh... I shouldn't have hit him! He was only trying to help me after all...'

As such, "I'm sorry Brother. I truly am..." said Myne with a look of sincere guilt on his face while thinking, 'It might only be a coincidence, but if this younger brother of mine truly has such a side to him, I'll have to help him control himself...'

Seeing Myne's guilty face, Zhen Shi 'realized' that Myne had perhaps been confused and lost control of his body the moment he woke up.

He was also thinking, 'This Great Mage brother of mine still has that masochistic side to him... So I can't be angry and hit back... It might cause his condition to worsen...'

And so with great feelings of comradery and ridiculously mistaken feelings of pity, the duo of sworn brothers looked at each other and smiled.

Zhen Shi broke the strange silence and spoke up, "Brother Merlin, you finally woke up! I was almost flattened to death by this lady friend of yours!"

Myne frantically shook his head, "Oi! Don't forget, my name is MYNE! Besides you wouldn't be worthy of being my sworn brother if you couldn't survive that!"

Ding!

Target Cultivator has broken free of .

Vivienne shook her head free of that perverted skill and spoke through grit teeth, "Old man, you and this boy are truly peas of a pod. Both of you are as shameless as the other."

She flicked her hand manifesting the graceful pair of hands in front of her once again, this time wielding a pair of identical swords. "At this point, our battle is inevitable! Our power has greatly deteriorated over the years of being trapped in this god-forsaken valley... But unlike you, I have been constantly absorbing the fountain water and am in a much better state. So let us fight until your eventual defeat!" Vivienne shouted while slashing down with the two swords.

Myne sighed helplessly as he spoke, "Very Well. Vivienne let us fight! Let me free you from the spell you are under..." and sent forth a colorless law. The moment the swords came into contact with this law, like sand grains in the air, the swords shattered and scattered into specks of qi...

Vivienne grimaced in displeasure and hurriedly reformed the pair of graceful hands while muttering, "Your law of time is as annoying as ever."

Zhen Shi watched on in interest while raising an eyebrow at 'law of time'. But realizing that he should support Myne instead of just being a spectator, he moved forwards and grabbed onto his pants preparing to use his 'godly' skill again.

Although he had been embarrassed the first few times he used it, with continuous usage he had become rather thick-skinned about revealing himself. In fact, he was almost beginning to enjoy it... *cough* ...enjoying the immense power granted by the skill, of course.

Myne turned around and shouted in worry, "Brother what are you doing? She isn't holding back anymore. This can really kill you! Stay back..." But noticing that Zhen Shi was holding on to his pants in a strangely familiar manner, Myne grimaced and began to shout even more intensely, "Hey, Hey! Don't use that accursed skill again! Let me handle it!"

Zhen Shi was confused by Myne's outburst for a moment until he realized the matter, 'Ahh! Even masochistic grand mages don't want to be cuckolded! Yes, I should leave my brother his pride!' Thinking so, he retreated back as a truly empathetic person and continued to observe.

Myne nodded in relief and turned back to the battle.

"Vivienne, I was the one who taught you magic! Do you really think that you can win?" shouted out Myne with confidence. He flicked his hand and began to gather his terrifying law of time. Within this law, shadows of countless rotating clocks, time-pieces, and hourglasses appeared...

Vivienne grimaced as she roared with raging eyes, "Old man, you-- I'll kill you! I'll slaughter you!" The two graceful hands radiated a terrifying law of water as they expanded to form the vague but complete shadow of a mysterious lady... The mysterious lady's lips were curled into a smile of sorrow. Nevertheless, she struck down with horrifying power that ripped apart the space of the cavern!

Myne mirrored her sorrowful smile, "As powerful as the Lady of the Lake sin no one can escape the vicissitudes Time!" Instantly, the law of time dashed out and flowed throughout the cavern.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

And under the power of time, both Vivienne and the shadow of the mysterious lady were frozen in place!

Myne heaved a sorrowful sigh, and shouted again, "Time Magic: Destructive Reversal!"

The law of time began to swerve around Vivienne and the Lady of the Lake. With each rotation, Vivienne grew paler and her body of water shook and wavered. Even the mysterious Lady of the Lake was affected as cracks began to spread across her vague shadow body.

Boom!

With a final crack, the Lady of the Lake spell finally came undone and Vivienne was thrown down onto the ground in defeat.

But suddenly, just when 'the Lady of the Lake' spell dissipated, a strange knot of energy appeared connecting Vivienne to the water fountain which was now churning furiously.

Seeing this, Myne's eyes glowed in realization. His face was a mix of hope and disappointment... Nevertheless, he continued to exert the Destructive Reversal spell, and finally, under the effect of time, the strange knot of energy was scattered into specks of light.

As the strange knot disappeared, Vivienne was finally freed from the fountain. As such, her aquatic form shattered into drops of water revealing a beautiful lady dressed in a shimmering silver-white gown. Her eyes were as deep as the sea and her blue hair fell onto her shoulders in waves of ocean blue. But her face was a kaleidoscope of feelings as it switched between anger, confusion, sorrow, and grief.

Myne looked down at her with pained eyes, wanting to say a million things, but unable to... He finally whispered, "I-I'm sorry."

As his words fell onto Vivienne's ears, her confused face slowly grew calm. Raising her head to find the source of the voice, she stared at Myne's face. Her eyes glistened and her lips curled into a slight smile as she began to speak, "Hush. It was never your fault... I realize the truth now. It was a--"

Myne interrupted her and spat out angrily, "--I realized as well. It's a Divine curse!"

Zhen Shi was speechless, 'SHIT! My bullshit about Vivienne being under the effect of a spell is actually true? System, you should learn from me!'

System: "..."

Nevertheless, Zhen Shi remained respectfully silent while listening to the tragedy.

Noticing that 'Divine Curse' was a familiar term he flipped through the relevant book in the Scholarly Library and soon found out...

A Divine Curse was another type of power granted by Patron Gods. However, they were the polar opposite of Divine blessings. While Divine Blessings were an ability to be improved with training, a Divine Curse was simply a powerful weapon that was said to harness the power of Divine Will.

As such, each Divine Curse could be used to launch an utterly devastating one-shot attack. Not unlike Atomic Bombs back on earth, the most powerful Divine Curses were the final-option in all battles, and the only reason for small organizations that lacked Sovereigns to be able to continue acting independently without being absorbed into the larger organizations.

Vivienne simply smiled at Myne's outrage and continued in a whisper, almost to herself, "I should never have been suspicious and jealous... My actions back then were obviously an over-reaction. Only now can I see the truth. Even you, the Great Mage Merl-- Myne, couldn't have sensed the changes to the mind through gradual exposure to a divine curse. Not to mention, we had a war to fight--"

Pu!

But she didn't get to speak any further as she coughed out a mouthful of blood and began to fall down. But Myne hurriedly bent down and caught her.

Vivienne smiled weakly from Myne's arms and muttered, "Myne-- Strange name, but I guess it suits you."

With that comment, she began to recount a tale, "I can see that from the very beginning itself, my mother, Diana sent me to your kingdom for her own purposes... So when she heard of our relationship, she must've used the Divine Curse to slowly plant doubts in my heart about our relationship. She must've been one of the culprits behind that day... Finally, she led the two of us into this valley, where I sealed you with your own formation magic and you returned the favor..." her lips curved into a self-deprecating smile.

"I'm sorry... If only I had believed in you... maybe I could've fought the divine curse..."

Myne's eyes glistened as he looked at the woman in his arms, "No! How could it be your fault? It's my fault. Perhaps I could've saved you... All these years, I hated you... simply thinking that you had betrayed me..."

But Myne didn't get to say much more, because suddenly Vivienne struggled out of his hands and roared in rage, "Fuck you, old coot! I'll kill you! and punched out with a fist of water law... but her fist lost energy almost immediately as she collapsed back into Myne's hands.

It looked like her condition was worsening...

Myne stared down in sorrow and was about to fall into total despair when suddenly the darkness of his pupils spread out forming a pair of eery pitch-black eyes. Almost instantly, his eyes reverted back to normal, but now, he was shivering in excitement, and his mouth was curved in a relieved smile.

"Yes! That could work!" Myne shouted out excitedly.

Myne suddenly turned to Zhen Shi and spoke seriously, "Brother, Vivienne is in critical condition. Her body is weak after suddenly losing her millennia-old connection to the fountain and she is still being affected by the residual divine curse. Fortunately, the words of fate just reminded me of a method that I could use to save her. But I'll have to give up my law of time and my cultivation will regress a bit-- But for her, it's a small sacrifice. So, I hope you can look over us while I heal her..."

"And if... If I fail, I hope you can witness our final moments."

Zhen Shi frowned. The tale of Merlin and Vivienne had always ended in tragedy, which was why he had been pleased when he learned that Vivienne was actually innocent...

But now, the story was back to being a tragedy. And most of all, he didn't want his new brother to die...

As such he spoke out, "Brother Myne, can you spare me a moment? I might be able to help you..."

Myne was surprised but nodded with a slight smile. He didn't believe that Zhen Shi could actually help, but he was happy enough with the fact that he cared enough to try. Besides, a moment wouldn't make much difference.

Zhen Shi checked the System Status, Otaku Points (OP): 160. This was his highest collection of OP yet.

He quickly asked, "System how much for a random divine boon?"

Ding!

A random divine boon is set at the basic price of 100 OP.

"Alright. But is it possible to set some basic conditions and specify a requirement? As in, something or anything that is along the lines of healing Vivienne or increasing their chances of survival?"

Ding!

The user can add that as a single requirement to the random divine boon for an additional 50 OP.

Zhen Shi was ecstatic as he shouted out mentally, "Yes! Do that! Grant me a divine boon with that requirement!"

Ding!

Divine Boon gained.

Once again that familiar piece of paper appeared. But this time it only said, ~IOU~ and it also seemed that Myne couldn't see it...

Zhen Shi paid no heed to this as he quickly said, "System use it up!"

Instantly, the piece of paper disappeared.

At that moment, Zhen Shi began to worry whether this would take several hours like his last divine boon. But it seemed that he had worried unnecessarily because the divine boon arrived almost immediately.

So he quickly accepted the system notification confirming the arrival of his divine boon.

But he could only gawk speechlessly at the multicolored and box-shaped object that appeared in front of him.

He had been hoping to surprise Myne with a godly healing pill or unbelievable pill. But now... he felt like flipping a table! Scratch that, he felt like flipping two tables!

┻━┻ ︵ヽ(`Д´)ﾉ︵ ┻━┻

'FUCK!' Zhen Shi once again looked at the bulky object just to make sure that his eyes weren't being deceived. This item was... one of those old fashioned bulky Boom Boxes! To make things worse it was one of those eye-blinding multi-colored ones that looked like a fruit loop!

'System what the hell am I supposed to do with this? Am I supposed to heal Vivienne with a mix-tape of godly music? Am I supposed to throw it at her head and make her 'face the music'? Or am I supposed to let them dance through the last moments of their life?'

The System was silent for a moment... but finally spoke out.

Ding!

Congratulations to the user for obtaining a Divine Boombox!