Will of chaos

Author’s Note:

I apologize for my absence. I’ve been sick for almost two weeks, but in the last few days I’ve felt worse because of the medication, which made me put everything aside to recover. Now I’m much better and will return to my normal routine. I truly hope nothing like this happens again.

*********************

Pov Yaffe:

A Curse Factory is something surreal among all the types of cursed rituals in existence. Even though it’s taboo and disgusting to perform, I must admit that its difficulty level is one of the highest.

Creating something so complex is incredible. Even though it’s so horrific, it should still be seen as something separate, the thousands of types of curses, perhaps billions, all connected so perfectly for a single purpose.

The level of preparation and planning to even begin to think about it already eliminates 90% of existing Curse Masters. Even if I think I can do something like this, I don’t believe I can achieve it even remotely close to that level of perfection.

Since I arrived here, as irritated as I am by all this, I still have to applaud Raakoy for her abilities, at least in the area of ritual studies on curses.

The interaction of cursed power and miasma was fluid. Such harmony is already difficult in quick-to-use curses, but in rituals it becomes even more difficult, and the larger the scale, the difficulty level not only increases, but multiplies even further.

Perhaps the power of the Concept is one of the reasons he was able to accomplish something like this, or perhaps it simply helped him accomplish it more quickly. I don’t know the answer; I can only conjecture based on my observations.

He affected this entire world, but part of it is because this world is spiritually dead, a construct of the Ascended Ones imbued with the Laws of Energy, the Laws of Elements, and the Laws of Vitality, creating a near-perfect false natural cycle. Yet Raakoy was able to integrate the Curse Factory without disrupting these Laws using his illusions on a global scale. His boldness is commendable.

He also created a cycle of natural curses integrating the entire planet, fusing all the Curses into a single flow, turning them into two energy currents: Cursed Energy and Miasma Energy.

I can feel Phantom energy too, but it’s more of a byproduct than a part of the curse cycle, a beautiful art done to perfection, and yet I can’t fully appreciate it because they’re making such a fundamental error in the logic of curses.

“(This dome isn’t hollow as I imagined; it’s the central flow point, used to contain the energies constantly transforming through their countless interactions.)” (me)

“(If I break or damage the dome, these energies will explode, leading to a collapse, but it seems like something’s missing; the energies don’t stop transforming because they don’t have a marked target… so this is how you choose which of the two purposes you can choose…)” (me)

The more I studied the Curse Factory, the more I learned. It was academically fascinating, but unfortunately, I didn’t have the time to study it as thoroughly as I would have liked.

“(How is it working? Where’s the control point? It must be here somewhere. I just need to look for the energy flow and influence it… damn it!!)” (me)

I could feel the fluctuations of their combat on the other side of the city. I was using it to take control of the Curse Factory, but I didn’t expect something like this to happen. They’re damaging the cycle of curses and miasma around the city, gradually destabilizing the energies within this dome.

As if that weren’t bad enough, my eyes darted upward to where the artificial spectral creature was weakening. The column of light, once steady, was now losing coherence and becoming unstable. This slowed down the time to act and at the same time allowed me to find the control point.

Above the artificial spectral creature above the city appeared a tentacular staff with 3 crystal hearts, it was an Origin Artifact of the cursed type, I always wanted to get my claws on this thing as well as many others, it seems that Curse was aiming very much at Raakoy.

“(If the staff was the control point, then without the staff, an empty space was left, but it can’t be filled with just anything; it needs to be something specific, something with sufficient adaptation and that serves my purpose…)” (me)

I didn’t have much time to think, so I had to settle for the two options that came to mind first. Of these, only one was something I could use immediately.

“You two, I need you to put your ideas into something for me, and it needs to be quick!” (me)

“The functions would be to rebirth the Souls of this world and nourish those lives from the very curse of this entire place!” (me)

“That would be easy.” (Sarazar)

“Where should we apply our blessings?” (Lolth) Content presented by *.

“In my heart, once you extract it, you must act quickly. I will weaken too much, and we have no time for anything else.” (me)

“You won’t be able to return the heart to your body. Your heart would be practically an Origin Artifact, a single-use disposable, as it wouldn’t last long after that.” (Lolth)

“I know, but it doesn’t matter. I’ll get a better one after that…” (me)

“(I’ll have Zenos create a Heart for me with his power. After that, it will be much easier to transform my body into a cursed state using this new heart…” (me)

“I’m starting!” (me)

Sigh

I focus my Aura on all the serpents I placed around the dome. Each one connects to the dome, trying to destroy them, but it will still last long enough. Then I cut my shirt, scratching my chest with specific symbols. All my blood burns in my veins as much of my cursed power flows to my heart, refining my blood into a purer bloodline. My vitality has begun to drop rapidly in the process.

“< Original Curse: Source of the Cursed Serpent >” (me)

“!!!!” (me)

I thrust my hand into my chest. A magical circle around a symbol appears in my palm as my hand encircles my heart. Then, my veins around it dissolve as the heart crystallizes as it’s pulled from my body, which is withering faster than expected.

“Now…!” (me)

“< Original Curse: Tree of the Scavenging Tomb >” (Sarazar)

“< Original Curse: Blood of Rebirth >” (Lolth)

Within my crystallized heart appears an image of a petrified tree with runes on its leaves. A red Serpent with closed eyes was coiled around the tree, its head resting on its branches as if sleeping.

“< Anomalous Curse Ritual: Sacrificial Core >” (me)

A Curse Master’s heart can serve as the core for all curses. There are many extraction techniques for the heart, some more deadly and others simpler. Even so, it becomes easier to use the heart as a new core, especially with these Concept powers forming a new cursed cycle that I will use to replace the old one, consuming it in the process.

I raise my trembling hands, doing my best to keep my Aura serpents firmly attached to the energy dome as the heart rises to the center of the spectral creature, sinking into it.

“Look, it seems the Ascended are also fighting.” (Sarazar)

“My mistress told me that’s Krimus; we must hurry.” (Lolth)

“Krimus…” (me)

Knowing Krimus is here is even worse. It was clear he would realize what was going to happen down here. The changes would be too great. Unlike Raakoy, who is fighting Zenos, Krimus is known for being multi-tasking thanks to his cursed insects.

“(I have no way of defending myself in this weakened state…)” (me)

“Leave everything in our hands, I’ll get you out of here.” (Sarazar)

“I’ll take care of the rest, but we need to wait for Zenos to finish. A deal made between two Entities shouldn’t be broken. They need to finish Raakoy first.” (Lolth)

“I… I need to finish…” (me)

The heart floats to the artificial spectral creature, sinking inside. The changes then begin, shifting from the inside out. I have to delay the changes a bit to buy time.

“…” (me)

“(I didn’t expect the weakening to be so great and so fast…)” (me)

The energies that the artificial spectral creature’s tentacles gather toward their center are refined by the heart, which begins to take root within the energy column until it reaches the energy dome. I soon feel the various shifting energies collide with my attempt to take control.

This continues for a few seconds until a pulse of energy shoots downward from the heart, briefly striking all the cursed energies. The roots then spread everywhere before sinking into the ground.

Red particles gather and mix around the roots as they absorb the curses. A faint red Serpent forms, and another pulse of energy flows from the heart, this time into the ground, where it spreads, creating a trail of energy flow along which the red Serpent begins to flow.

I fell to my knees in weakness, then everything began to flow more naturally. A new cycle was established between the Curse Factory, the petrified tree, and the red Serpent.

“Finally…!” (me)

“< Activate >” (me)