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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: TushChen
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One chance.
I will get only one chance to fill in this setting correctly.
A cold sweat broke out.
It was more so when I thought Elena would die if I failed.
“…Young Master, let me-”
Seeing Elena suffering, Nias tried to do something. If it was Nias, she might have had a way, but due to the nature of curses, they often harmed those who tried to break them as well.
“Stop, it’s dangerous.”
I grabbed Nias’ wrist and spoke.
“What? Th-Then what should…”
Nias made a tearful expression.
That was a problem for me, too.
I thought that while looking at Elin and Elena, something came to mind.
“There’s a way.”
I said that while simultaneously holding Elin and Elena’s hands.
“A way?”
Elin tightly grasped my hand. I could see her trembling hand and eyes glistening with tears in the moonlight.
She was desperate. Of course, she had to be.
To Elin, Elena was someone she never wanted to lose again.
“Don’t worry.”
I put strength into my hand clasped with Elin’s and spoke.
“From now on, the other side will be in a lot of pain instead.”
I just need to make a teeny, tiny change to the setting.
“Really…?”
Elin asked.
“Yes. Although it would be dangerous if I fail.”
Mainly for me.
I held their hands, prepared to bear the consequences if I were to fail.
It wasn’t the situation I had hoped for, but what could I do?
I was guided by my conviction to help these pure souls.
At that moment, as if realizing something, Elin opened her mouth.
“You can’t get hurt either…”
Upon those words, I briefly opened my mouth and stared blankly at Elin.
Honestly, I was a bit surprised.
I’m curious if Elin understood me to this extent.
“No one will get hurt.”
Elin nodded her head with a reassuring expression.
“Okay.”
And she gave a faint smile.
I couldn’t let her lose that barely-achieved smile again.
So, shall we try it?
This curse ends with only one thing.
Elena’s death. Once cursed, death is inevitable.
However, there is one hole in this setting.
“Do you know how the priests were able to face the Rad clan? They could kill anyone no matter how far away.”
“How…?”
I grinned.
“It can be pushed back with sacred power.”
The simplest method is the best method.
*Ding!*
The addition of the setting was a natural result, and it wasn’t over yet.
“B-but Elena can’t do it right now.”
Elin spoke in bewilderment.
Elena was already a saintess, so even if her training was insufficient, she possessed far more potential sacred power than others.
“That’s simple. In the end, imagery is important in both magic and sacred power. You two can’t do it because you haven’t learned it yet.”
“Imagery…?”
“Yes. That’s why I’m holding hands like this. It’s easier to share imagery when in contact with each other. Elena, think. Imagine…”
Despite her pain, Elena nodded her head with difficulty.
I closed my eyes and focused on Elena’s interior.
“Open the wall of your heart. Trust me absolutely.”
While in contact with each other, we could unify our imagery.
This was a communion of hearts and the most direct non-verbal communication.
Of course, it was done with something very abstract called imagery.
It required very long concentration and considerably drained one’s energy, so it wasn’t something done often except when first learning magic.
“Build a wall in your heart. In a very narrow place.”
A tiny heart was created inside Elena.
A tiny wall of light. A form that perfectly suits Elena. However, it was still insufficient to drive out the curse’s power.
“Make the wall bigger. Higher.”
The wall in Elena’s heart began to grow.
That wall started blocking the curse’s energy from infiltrating Elena, but this was just temporary.
The curse would eventually penetrate Elena’s sacred power and invade.
“It’s no use. The curse keeps pushing in…”
Elena already started to make a weak sound.
I shouted at Elena as if scolding her.
“Don’t collapse! Move the wall. Push out the curse with the sacred power inside! Don’t you want to live?!”
Elena flinched at my roar.
“Yes…!”
The wall created by Elena gradually began to push out the curse.
The curse seemed to lose momentum against Elena’s sacred power, but… it eventually pounded through the wall again like a battering ram hitting a fortress wall.
Elena’s sacred power was still lacking in strength, and cracks began forming under the curse’s pressure.
This was all as I expected.
“Elin.”
I held Elin’s hand.
“Infuse sacred power into Elena.”
Elin was startled by those words and asked back.
“B-but my sacred power…?”
“It’s okay. I’ll control it. Trust me.”
Elin’s trust was soon manifested in the opening of her imagery.
Yuan’s evil, sacred power rushed into Elena through me.
This part was dangerous.
I made my inner imagery like a filter to regulate the unusable parts of the sacred power.
Mana and sacred power are not wholly different in nature.
They only differ in the origin of power. That’s why this is possible. The filtered dark mana flowed purely into me.
I felt my life being shaved away.
I would die if I made even a tiny mistake. I focused my mind and concentrated on filtering out the sacred power.
‘I’m going to die.’
Elin must have felt my desperate movements as she put more strength into our clasped hands.
“I’m sorry…”
“For what?”
Still, it couldn’t be helped. I was the only one who could do this here.
The sacred power from Elin filtered through me once and was absorbed into Elena’s holy power.
The collapsing wall became solid and robust, pressing against the curse.
And…
“…Young Master! Black smoke is coming out of Lady Elena’s body!”
Nias’ bright voice was heard.
It was as if all the curse had been driven out of Elena’s body.
I exhaled a long breath and opened my eyes.
I saw my left and right hands that had turned black from filtering out Yuan’s curse.
“Phew… It’s done.”
At my words, Elin and Elena simultaneously collapsed towards me.
They had lost their energy. But I also had no energy, so I couldn’t support the two and fell backward.
“Ah, he-heavy.”
I spoke, crushed by Elena and Elin.
“Move…”
However, despite panting with flushed faces from exhaustion, the two saintesses didn’t want to move away from me.
“…Thank you.”
“Thank you.”
Elena and Elin looked up at me with beautifully shining silver eyes under the moonlight.
“…Yeah. Sure.”
I felt a slight sense of danger. I thought it would be good if our relationship improved, but… did I perhaps help them too much?
*Ding!*
*Ding!*
It was fine up to this point. The next part was the problem.
*Ding!*
“Thank you, Sir Leonhart.”
Elin looked up at me with somewhat sweet eyes.
With a slightly flushed face, I could feel pure affection.
It’s not a misunderstanding.
It’s the eyes of someone who likes me!
‘No!’
Let me repeat it, if I kiss Elin, I will become addicted and die.
Do you want a life-risking kiss?
I don’t. I definitely don’t.
I want to survive until the end and be happy!
“As long as… you’re alive.”
I stammered and barely pushed the two away.
“I, I really thought I was going to die. I’m alive thanks to you, Sir Leonhart! Thank you! How can I repay this kindness…”
Elena was the same as always. Bright and full of goodwill, knowing how to be grateful. But…
“Yeah.”
Elin, who was slightly blushing while looking at me, was dangerous.
I had to run away.
As I clumsily got up, Nias suddenly clung to my arm.
“…”
And without a word, she glared at Elin and Elena with her black eyes.
“Nias.”
When I called her name, Nias flinched, lifted her head, and hugged my arm tighter. As if she wouldn’t let it be taken away.
“Young Master… are you okay? I’ll take a look at you!”
It was the same smile as always.
Looking at Nias, a part of me felt somewhat relieved. Soon, Nias would secretly (Nias thought so) cast a status transfer curse on me to heal me.
*Ding!*
I immediately felt my body’s condition starting to improve. My blackened hands were also gradually being healed.
“But what happened to the curse that left me?”
Elena asked, looking at me with a slightly more comfortable complexion.
“Ah, that… it must have returned to its owner very well.”
I answered with a grin.
It differed from the status transfer curse I experienced from Nias when I was 8.
At that time, it was closer to Nias directly canceling it.
When a curse is not directly canceled by the target but forcibly broken, it returns to the caster.
So, dear owner, are you ready to be on the receiving end?
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Isaac, casting the curse while holding a wooden doll, felt the murderous energy he had sent returning to him.
He tried quickly removing his hand, but it was too late.
Crack… Shatter!
The wooden doll cracked and shattered into countless pieces.
And most of those fragments flew straight at Isaac, ignoring the laws of physics.
At that moment, Isaac reflexively drew his sword and deflected the fragments, but…
“Ugh…!”
One of the fragments cut just below Isaac’s eye as it passed.
Red blood flowed from the stinging wound. If it had been a little higher, he would have lost his sight forever; that’s how close it was.
The hand holding the wooden doll was also covered in fragments.
The curse was broken? …By those brats?!
Isaac, whose curse was broken by kids who seemed to be only 10 years old, trembled with humiliation.
This was not simply his own shame. It was an insult to the pride of his ancestors and clan.
Unbearable anger, self-loathing, and a desire for revenge flared up in Isaac.
Had the secret technique of his ruined clan fallen so low as to be broken by little brats?
There was only one way for Isaac to resolve this humiliation deeply etched in his heart.
He must kill those brats.
Isaac gnashed his teeth. He would definitely kill them.
However, even at this time, Isaac didn’t know.
The terrible future that they would bestow upon him.
He had no idea he was in for a world of suffering.
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Curious if there’s a way to counteract that poison.