Chapter 673 - A battle won (Patreon)

Reynara watched the ant queen fight against this group of new people, and she realized that the monster wouldn't be enough to stop them. Suddenly an idea popped into her mind. She and the queen were now linked, they shared her skills, her legacy, and even her will. Why would this have to be only a give? Why wouldn't she be able to also take it? Focusing on the giant ant matriarch, Reynara tapped into the hex that was inside it and started to grab what the ant was. Its powers, its skills, its knowledge. She used a skill from her legacy for it. But instead of drinking blood to increase physical attributes, the huntress drank the essence of the ant. That way, she would get everything the monster was for herself. If making her own army was no longer an option, she would become the army herself.

Not even Johnny, the guide of this room, could tell why this worked the way it did. But somehow, a grief-ridden Reynara managed to not just share her legacy but also absorb this new share of it. Doing this required a very specific set of conditions that not even the system was able to predict. The ant queen had to be fighting for her life, unable to notice the attack inside her very being. Reynara had to be willing to give up everything she was and expose her very essence to a monster. The hex needed to be something invasive, but that required permission, and the skill shared had to be something unique to one individual, not to mention the actual capability to share the skill itself. To top it all off, it required a legacy that not only could become stronger the more it absorbed from others but also to retain some of that strength across holders and a moment of pure fear from all those involved, not just from Reynara and the ant queen but from those fighting against them as well. Helena and the others were not afraid of the giant ant. Or of Reynara, but afraid of what was happening with Alex and afraid that Hera, or one of them, would be the next to fall to the curse's influence.

When all those stars aligned, something new was created. Something that existed only to fight against that fear. Something that found everything that was not itself to be a danger. Something that could grow without limits, without the need for levels, skills, special powers, or assistance from the system. Something that was afraid, and knew that the only way to stop that was to be the only thing left. Yet, there was something else inside it. A single belief that was so ingrained in the current state of its host that was also carved in the very essence of this new thing. The belief in oneself and only oneself. Unfortunately for it, and luckily for everything else, this new creation was too young to understand the concept of self and turned that belief into something that came from outside, making it so the more others believed in it, the stronger it would get.

Thus, the curse was born. Not a creature, not a spell, not an item, but a disease. A plague that infected anyone as long as they came in contact with it. Ironically, it was unable to grow alone since it was unable to consider itself as something that existed. The curse never developed a sense of self, even if it had a will, and this one detail is what gave Hera and her friends a chance to destroy it. If, in its early years, the curse was met with a different kind of opposition. The kind that asked it to be strategic, the kind that managed to push it back, maybe then, it would have the need to consider self-preservation. Maybe then, it could have considered the words 'I need to save myself' and changed its perception of the world. However, that never happened, and an existence as old as the curse was unable to change its views now that it had grown and endured so much. This was its undoing.

The moment Reynara died because of the combination of spells, the young version of the curse was too weak, too inexperienced to jump to a new host. It could do nothing but die along with its host. This fact was only confirmed when Sammy appeared by their side.

"Well done, everyone. The curse is dead and gone. I think we still have some time before the ants can move again, but let me send you all back quickly. I can say that with certainty because the memory we used as an anchor is gone. We only have a few moments to get back home now."

"Is it really over?" Shane gasped, looking at the bloodied Mylo in front of her. The ants all stopped moving, but they were still close and alive, and the damage they had caused was still on the fighter's body.

"Yes. It's over. The curse is gone. Meaning that in the future, it will never even exist. I have no idea what kind of future we are going back to, but we won. I'm talking with all of you at the same time so everyone is aware of this. Even Adriel. Talking with someone unconscious is 100% in my wheelhouse," Sammy replied with a smile.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as the curse inside of them stopped. The belief that it had died in the past was too strong, stronger than the belief in itself. It tried reaching out to its other aspects, the painting, Kirouhebi, but even they believed the curse was dead. It looked for the ants, the ones it controlled, hoping that among them there was a glimpse, a single drop, a particle that showed one of the ants took a bit more than it should, and the curse could live. Yet, it found nothing. Without any other escape, the curse withered and died.

Hera looked to the side and saw the black eyes of her friends disappearing. They all returned to their normal faces for the first time in a while. She smiled and turned to Sammy, "Is Alex ok?" she looked back to the ant nest, but the assassin was no longer there.

"Yeah, she is. Tired but ok. Since the curse was with her for a long time, she got hit the hardest because of it, and I sent her back already. Now, we need to get out of here. Fast. I don't know how long it will take for the timeline to try to get things in order, and I don't want to find that out," Sammy explained.

"Ok. Let's go," Shane nodded, trying to hold Mylo up. After the fight ended, all the adrenaline left his body, and now he struggled to move.

"Right. Actually, let me get Blue out first. Just a second," Sammy disappeared, and less than two seconds later, he was back with an expression of nausea, "Ok. Shane, you and Hera are going to be the last. Sending people with legacies back takes a lot out of me."

"I don't care, take Mylo back first. You can help him when we are back, right?" Shane's eyes were watering.

"I can, don't worry. He will be fine when we get back," Sammy smiled and sent Mylo on his way. The man became transparent as if he was vanishing from existence in particles of golden light.

"Hang on. You said it takes a lot out of you to send them back. Does that mean that you might not be able to?" Bonnie asked before Sammy did the same to her.

"No, don't worry. I can send you all back and still be here. Worst case scenario, Hera and Shane have to wait a bit before I can take them back home. It takes a lot of effort on my part to keep connected to the present, but that doesn't mean I can't recover if I have some time to rest."

"Oh, ok. Then no one will be stuck here, right?" Bonnie pressed.

"No. No one will be stuck. I promise," Sammy smiled, "Can I send you now?"

"Yeah, you can," Bonnie turned to Hera and the others, "See you guys soon," as she finished speaking, she started to become transparent and vanished in the same particles of golden light.

"Helena, you are next," Sammy turned to the mage.

She nodded, "Thanks, and thank you, Daskka. If It wasn't for your healing, I would have been a goner."

With only Shane and Hera left Sammy turned to them, "Ok, I need to be honest. That was a lie. It's not harder to send you guys. But I have to ask you two to do one thing as soon as you can. Call the guide of my room, and then go to your private rooms to talk to them. Trust me, it's important. Also, Hera," Sammy looked into the Empress' eyes, "Kirouhebi is here. Not just the version from this time but the one you saw. The guides had to bring him along so he could see the curse dying. He thanks you for what you did and says he's sorry for lying to Alex about the curse's origin. He thought it was better to tell a half-truth. The ants did attack the kingdom, but they were already cursed at the time. His idea was to make the curse slower to spread by making Alex believe she had the information. That way it wouldn't become a mystery that she would chase after. I don't think we will ever figure out if that was the right move or not, but it hardly matters right now. Oh, and he asks that, when you can, you go visit him. You and Alex."

Hera nodded, "Will do. I think we need to confirm if he is no longer cursed ourselves. I still feel like I am. I mean, there was no pain or anything when the curse died. I honestly don't feel any different," she mumbled as she dismissed the entire court, worried about what would happen if she didn't.

"Same, it's a bit weird."

"Weird as it may be, that is the truth. Now let me send you two back. I'll see you soon," Sammy smiled. There was a reason why he was rushing to send everyone out. Now that the curse was dying, the longer they stayed here, the easier it would be for it to realize that they never went to the past, only to a memory.

Hera felt herself getting lighter, she looked at her hands as she slowly vanished. It felt weird but comforting at the same time. It wasn't like she would no longer exist, but as if she was going back to where she belonged. Her vision started to be covered in light, and the last thing she heard was Sammy's voice.

"Also. I'm sorry."

Hera was about to ask what he was sorry about when she felt like she had just been dropped from an airplane and landed back in her own body. At the same time, a sharp pain covered her entire being. She yelled and gasped, not even being able to hear her own voice. Something inside her skull was burning behind her eyes. Reaching out to her face, her hands were stopped by whips of water that grabbed her and pulled her body down, forcing the Empress to keep her hands out of her head. She felt her nails digging into her palm, but even that pain was nothing compared to what was going on with the rest of her. It was like something was burning, being purged. For she didn't even know how long, the agony continued, hurting, burning, ripping her apart. She couldn't hear or feel Daskka nor her court. Even the water around her wrist was hidden from her senses. Then came a voice, a growling panicked voice that screamed in terror, followed by a sense of such a pure and adulterated fear that made her cry. She would've soiled herself if she could move her body, but even those basic functions were blocked to her. Her tears, as hot as they were, felt cold against her skin, but then they started to burn. This was a different burn, not one that came from heat, but one that came from acid, like eating a hyper-concentrated version of sour candies through her eyes.

She screamed, her voice joining a chorus that she couldn't identify, but little by little, she started to hear and feel her body. Her heart was beating like crazy, and she was covered in cold sweat. Her throat was completely dry, and she could feel her nose burning as if someone had shoved a pair of chilly peppers inside each nostril. She could still feel the pain, or the memory of such pain was so intense that it still lingered, but Hera slowly started to feel better. That's when she noticed the groans. Forcing herself to look around, she realized she was in the same place she was before going to the past. In Sammy's therapy room, surrounded by her friends. All of them were also struggling with something, but one voice still continued. One maddened and pain-stricken scream continued without even stopping for a breath. Using all the little strength that was still inside her body, Hera followed the voice and found Alex. Her head was mostly purple, but that color was slowly being purged by a golden light.

The lonely scream continued for another 10 minutes as the Empress tried her best to recover until all of the purple veins were pushed out of Alex's face through her nose, ears, and eyes. When the assassin finally stopped screaming, she passed out, too tired to continue. Something inside Hera agreed with that decision, and before any other ideas popped into her mind, she let herself fall into unconsciousness.