Okay then, he’s metal so it might be a bit difficult, but I should start by trying to get the blight out of him, and what better way to clear spiritual suffering than with a wonderful massage?

I clapped my hands together and activated the spirit shake spell. Just as with Ysdra when she first demonstrated it, my hands glowed a faint tealish-greenish color before going out. My mana sense ability revealed that the spell was still active, so I got to work giving the bound and gagged Galveston a good rubdown.

Obviously I started at his heart? Core? Central reactor? Whatever that glowing thing in his chest was that provided him sustenance, since it was the center, and likely source of, the blight in his body.

Slowly, carefully, and with the aid of my ‘focus’ ability I worked my hands to gently push the hazy blight from his core and out through his circuits.

And lemme tell you it wasn’t easy.

That stuff moved like near frozen tar with my magic being the only heat to keep it in a semi viscous state.

And that’s overlooking the part where it persistently tried to keep going back to his center. But, frustrated as I was, I didn’t give up and gradually increased my mana output and the speed of my hands. Which was apparently kinda quick since I heard Ysdra gasp.

Galveston, for his part, didn’t take any of it very well, and tried to resist my every effort, but since he was weak and tied up, I paid him no heed and started using the spirit needle spell to stick magical pins in my work so that the blight wouldn’t be able to regress anymore.

I mean, if I was him I’d be overjoyed to have someone pull me out of that kind of state, but based solely on the vibe I’m getting he’s of the opinion that my help is not only unwanted, but also a detriment to him. I sighed. You’re lucky that your dad cares about you so much, buddy, because you’ve gotta be pretty messed up to think you’re better off this way.

Quietly Ysdra circled around, placed both her hands over Glaveston’s eyes and muttered the incantation for the ‘soothe’ spell. Which in turn caused his feeble resistance to diminish.

I took her not so subtle hint, and likewise pumped the occasional soothe spell into him and found that the shriveled bits of his spirit that the blight had touched started to come back. It was kinda like watching a leaf burn in reverse, uncurling and regaining its proper color, but not all the way so I had to stretch it back into the empty parts of his body and pin it into place just to be safe.

All in all, it took about thirty minutes to get all the gunk to his extremities and his spirit back into total contact with his body. I watched as the sheer concentration of the stuff ate away at his spirit in those places, and mentally patted myself on the back for having the good sense to divide it up and not to push it all into his core.

That might’ve killed him, but since it’s in his fingers and toes, I can safely hold the deterioration at bay with ‘soothe’ while I figure out a way to remove it.

Initially I tried to just push it out, but it just wouldn’t leave his circuits so I tried to pierce it with a needle and pull it out but it resisted that too, kinda like trying to pick up a noodle with only one chopstick.

That doesn’t give me much to work with since it seems like my magic is only actually affecting his spirit and not the blight itself. And while the blight flows through and taints his spirit it won’t dissipate or flow out when I bring it to the edge of his being… heck, if that’s the case will it dissipate at all? If it doesn't, what am I going to do with it once it’s out?

A little fed up with the problems this guy created for himself, and without any other idea of what to do, I held out my right hand and mentally ordered the ring to use its final function.

The star on its face shone a brilliant royal violet and from it a series of chains issued forth lashing out with great speed and intent on burrowing as deep into my patient and the blight as they could get.

Galveston moaned and howled from behind the cloth gag while I grabbed hold of the mess of chains and stood up to pull. Thankfully, his restraints were pretty formidable, because after taking a few steps I was outside the carriage and all but parallel to the ground. My feet were planted on the step of the carriage, and my entire weight was supported by the magical fetters that were ever so slowly ripping the repulsive reprobate clean of his own sordid sins.

“W–what is the meaning of this outlandish display? What are you doing to my boy!?”

Maximus came running over but before he or his guards could interfere, Calden, the knights, and to my surprise, Carmella stood in their way.

All too aware of the casually dressed young lord’s identity, and bound by his all too new pledge to support him, the mecha merchant stopped his advance, but continued to shift nervously as I played the most critical game of tug of war ever conceived with Galveston.

I mean, come on! This is utterly ridiculous! I can feel that brat resisting my efforts even now! Like, I’d get it if he felt guilty and thought he should suffer for his crimes against life, but he’s seriously unable to recognize a helping hand when it’s right in front of his stupid face!

I grit my teeth, twisted my torso to the right and put more strength into the effort. I heard the wood of the carriage groan beneath my feet, then felt the whole thing start to lift and tilt in my direction, but the blight wouldn’t give.

Several gasps left those gathered when they witnessed my display of force, and that’s when I felt it. Somewhere deep within me, the instinctive knowledge came that the blight wouldn’t come out of him unless I spoke the three magic words and meant them.

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Then the system spoke.

Uggh. I don’t really feel like he deserves it, but his father isn’t a bad person, and penance served on another’s behalf isn’t something to just overlook either.

Before the carriage could tilt any further and came crashing onto my head, I calmed myself and found it within me to whisper. “Yes. I forgive you. I don’t know why I’m the one who needs to, but I forgive you anyway. Put this behind you, stop running from the light of those who love you, and move into a new day.”

Then the blight lost its grip on him and I promptly went tumbling across the ground–face first I might add, since I had twisted around to help pull. And, of course, Ysdra yelped as the carriage thudded back down and rocked a bit before returning to stillness.

After that, Countless shrieks filled the air, as apparently the carriage commotion had drawn the attention of even more people and all now gawked in my general direction.

Then Maximus murmured. “What? What is that? That horrendous bile was inside him?”

Sure enough, at the ends of the violet chains floated and flitted an inky cloud of partly viscous, partly smoky black and dark gray…well, blight. The mere sight of the stuff was enough to make my stomach turn, so I could understand the pale faces, wide eyes, and occasional loss of consciousness that the onlookers suffered from.

It’s like Goldorath, but…formless. Mindless. Simply, utterly, unapologetically evil. With no rhyme nor reason to its existence other than to spread suffering and misfortune to any and all it contacts. Heck, in that regard Goldorath was better since he at least focused and limited his malice to some extent.

Calden crouched beside me and grabbed nervously at my cloak. “M–master Anon. W–what do we do? I–is that– Is that a demon?”

“No.” I shook my head, sat up, and held the violet chains and the complete and utter garbage drifting about at the other end kinda like the world’s most repulsive balloon. “This is just blight. A whole load of self induced blight at that. And all that’s really left is to get rid of it.”

“But how?” He stared at it with abject horror. “How do we eliminate evil?”

I chuckled. “With love.” Then pointed my free hand at the shadowy mass and said. “Now begone!” While willing my as of yet unused ‘purge’ ability to activate.

I mean, if ever there was a time or place to test something like this, it’d be here. Especially since I got it for destroying a demon.

At my prompting I felt the same vague sensation I had when I first used ??? protection, and as I expected the system gave me the same reply.

Then a beat later, noticeably faster than before, it concluded.

As before, the vague feeling in my chest exploded into radiant warmth that flowed up my finger and into an unseen ray that stilled the air around the blight. Every part of the baleful blackness that it touched began to brighten, not with light, but a simple return to the way it was before the darkness came.

It was gone within the moment, and though I felt a little out of breath from the effort, none of the incredible pain or fatigue that hit me before were present now.

I guess purging a little blight is easier than saving someone who’s basically dead on three different levels. But anyway, my job’s done, so it’s time to give Maximus his debriefing.

I got up with Calden’s eager help, his eyes sparkling at my apparent effortless erasure of evil, and he wasn’t the only one. Carmella had to pick her jaw up off the floor, the knights were rubbing their eyes like they couldn’t believe what they’d seen, and the crowd of people who hadn’t fled from the mere sight of the blight now pressed their heads to the grassy ground as if in reverence or worship.

Great, more awkward acknowledgment from the assembly. I guess I shouldn’t complain though, I can feel my expended strength returning through whatever it is they’re doing.

Maximus, for his part, was stunned speechless. The line that made up his mouth blinked on and off again in an apparent effort to find something to say that never bore fruit.

I waited a bit, but since the words weren’t coming, I just smiled, placed a hand on his shoulder and said softly. “He’s safe now, weakened, but safe. You’ll need to keep a close eye on him too, both to help him recover, but also because he’ll probably try to return to his old…activities. And we can’t have that.” I started to pull away, but since I still got the feeling he wanted to say something yet couldn’t, I winked at him and said. “I know you’ve lived your life so far trading one thing for another, always paying your debts, but we had an agreement so you don’t owe anything more. If you still feel that’s lacking, I’ll gladly take a thank you whenever you should find your voice.”

His eyes sparked to life and he dropped to his knees. “Thank you! Thank you so much! I’ve searched everywhere for a solution and was ready to accept he’d never recover! Thank you! You saved us!”

I shook my head. “I saved him because you truly cared for him. I also would’ve saved him if he’d wanted to be saved, but he didn’t, so in effect, you saved him. Remember that.”

He quaked and quivered as I walked back to the carriage to retrieve Ysdra. She was obsessively analyzing Galveston, and both people perked up when I approached.

“Anon! You’re amazing! He’s healed! Completely healed! I had no idea you could use magic like that! I’ve learned so much! Thank you!”

I caught the tanned tigress as she half-tumbled half-leaped out of the carriage’s confines and held her up with a bright smile. “I couldn’t have done it without you kiddo, so many thanks to you too.”

She blushed and buried her face into my shoulder, which gave me a moment to glance at Galveston. Our eyes met, and I held his gaze for a time. I didn’t speak but got the feeling he knew this was his last chance before I purged him along with the blight.

I shut my eyes, and was about to set Ysdra down when a deep baritone bellowed. “Halt! Unhand that girl and step away! How dare you lay your hands on my sister!”

My eyes shot open, and I beheld an impeccably dressed, tanned, blonde, tiger eared man who looked an awful lot like the little lady I was hugging. I guess I’d been too tired or distracted to notice him and the heavily armed contingent of some two dozen guards with him approaching, but that was hardly the end of it.

Another similarly dressed, though slightly shorter, yet more heavily muscled, black haired tiger eared man stepped out from the interior of the group of disgruntled guards and immediately drew his saber. “Forget it brother, leave this one to me.”

I had just enough time to deposit Ysdra on her feet before his sword whooshed past my ear, had I been attacked a moment earlier he might’ve cut me, but my real problem was the dangerous glint in his eye that told me this attack was far from over.

I’m honestly not back at one hundred percent after using purge, but it’s not like I’m exhausted either. So how do I want to handle this? Surrender and hope he accepts it? Flee and hope the kids can calm them? Fight hand to hand to try to subdue him? Or do I just overwhelm him with magic and leave the explanation to his obviously older, yet equally irked, brother?

Then the system spoke.

The corner of my eye twitched as my feline foe drew back his blade for the next strike.