I Awakened A Divine Curse

The fight raged on in the thick darkness. Despite Auren wielding the advantage of the dark, the intruder—his old enemy—still managed to match his pace, though it was clear the poor bastard was struggling.

Which was exactly why Auren pressed deeper with his relentless assault. He wasn't striking to kill just yet. In truth, he was savoring the difficulty of the battle.

He was drinking in the way the Paladin struggled.

Just moments ago, Auren couldn't even raise his sword against him, but now they exchanged strikes on equal footing—almost equal, in fact, as Auren held slightly superior ground.

The Paladin grunted as he blocked another vicious strike, then dropped low and shot forward to force an attack that would shatter Auren's defenses. But Auren merely shrugged it off with a handful of momentum manipulation.

Then he withdrew his sword and lashed forward with sudden, wicked ferocity, smashing against the Paladin's blade and sending a bone-rattling clang echoing through the darkness.

By now, soldiers were already patrolling the area, drawn by the furious noise. Flaming torches flickered in their hands, and Auren could hear muttered voices from several directions.

He frowned and glared at the Paladin.

'How am I going to handle this mess…'

For one, he didn't want the Paladin captured. He wanted to kill this bastard himself—not let some other fool do it for him. But he still had a crucial reputation to maintain as a Divine Cadre of sorts.

Then he still had to kill the King. Or at least try to make the stupid old man grovel for his life and apologize for daring to disrespect the Divine God.

Though Auren wasn't sure the man was the type who would piss himself when facing death.

He also still needed to dig up more information about those two strange men—they looked sketchy as hell. And he had plans to smoothly extract information from Knight Armsteir. Before this damned Paladin showed up, of course.

Auren drove another attack toward his face, forcing the Paladin to raise his sword quickly and stagger backward. If he'd missed that block, Auren's blade would have carved out the man's eye.

Auren paused, glaring at him, then sighed and spoke in a low voice.

"Why don't you retreat? Leave this place. They're bound to catch you soon. I don't know what insane notion brought you here, but I hope you're regretting it right now. So why don't you just leave?"

The Paladin remained silent for several heartbeats, fighting to catch his breath. Then he shot back:

"Regret? The only regret I have is that I can't kill you because you carry that damn dawn inside you. You demon—what have you been doing out there? How did you get so strong in such a short time?"

Auren grinned smugly and looked away for a moment.

'That's right. This bastard still has to capture me and drag me back to his kingdom because Dawn lives in me. Life really sucks for him.'

Auren sighed.

"This is the nation of Heart. You're going to get caught. You're going to get killed, and it'll be so damn stupid. I'm offering you the chance to run and strike back better. Haven't you heard what they say about the ram that staggers back? It's not necessarily running—it's going back to gather momentum."

The Paladin frowned.

"What... is a ram?"

Auren's eyes widened for a moment, and he scratched his cheek slightly.

"Never mind. Just something I like to read about."

Auren straightened his gaze with fresh resolve—not that the Paladin or anyone could see it in the darkness.

"So, are you going to be wise enough to retreat, or stupid enough to keep fighting? Let the soldiers of Heart capture you and kill you for absolutely nothing."

The Paladin seemed to linger in the darkness for a while. Then Auren heard a sharp hiss.

"I will come back for you. And next time will be the last time. I'll beat you to a pulp, capture you, and when Dawn is ripped out of you, I'll beat you again. Heal you, beat you, and heal you again until I run out of soul energy and can't heal you anymore—before I finally kill you."

Auren chuckled.

"Yeah. Good luck with that."

Auren wasn't sure how the poor bastard planned on explaining this mess, nor did he care. A moment later, he felt something move sharply in the darkness—running across the wall before suddenly leaping up and flying over.

And the Paladin's presence vanished.

He exhaled and gently pulled his cloak around himself before disappearing.

A few moments later, Auren slipped into the room and slumped onto his bed as his armor dissolved back into his body.

Asenya, who had been sleeping curled on her bed, shifted slightly.

"Are you the cause of the commotion outside?"

Auren answered with a tired, sinking voice.

"Apparently. No—it was that damn Paladin."

Asenya immediately shot upright.

"The one I promised I would kill?!"

Auren barely looked at her. His upper body sprawled across the bed while everything from his knees down dangled off the edge.

"Yeah."

"And you didn't call me?!"

"Why would I? That would take too long."

"You should have!"

"I said it would take too long! Besides, I already told you I can handle it. And now I'm even more certain I can handle it. I've gotten better at using my sword."

Asenya nodded with agreement.

"Of course you have. No one crosses swords with a Polypheme, survives, and remains the same."

"So... you didn't kill the king?"

Auren responded without raising his head.

"I used today to map out the entire castle. Tomorrow might be his death day."

Silence followed. The room drowned in it for a while before Auren's voice cut through.

"Asenya. What are Soul Armaments?"

Asenya leaned back against her bed.

"Those... they're special weapons that bond with one's soul. They can take different forms, and there are no set rules to them. Just like that golden man you saw."

"But the golden man is that way because of a curse."

"A curse?"

Auren stared at the dark ceiling, hands folded behind his head.

"Yes. Knight Armsteir said he was cursed by the Truthsayer."

Asenya frowned and sat up sharply.

"Cursed? By the Truthsayer?"

Auren also sat up, alert from her sudden movement and the edge in her voice.

"Yes. Why? Is something wrong?"

Asenya didn't respond right away. She lowered her head, still frowning as her eyes searched deep into her thoughts.

Finally, she spoke.

"Ah... Auren, I think I know what the Truthsayer is."

Auren looked at her with growing surprise.

"There was a rumor, back before I stumbled upon Night's Temple. A rumor about a very beautiful creature. They say it has eyes that speak truth and a mouth that inflicts curses. It's one of the natural disasters that was born from the war of defilement."

Auren grimaced.

"Isn't that going to be as strong as the World Shapers?"

Asenya raised an incredulous brow.

"Huh? Strong as World Shapers? How?"

"I mean... didn't you say that the Defilement preceded the disappearance of the gods? The disappearance of the gods gave birth to the World Shapers. If anything was born from the war of the Defilement, then it's equal to the World Shapers."

Asenya looked at him with indifferent eyes, then said:

"Every horrid creature was born from the war of the Defilement. They're disasters caused by the war—once beautiful and peaceful creatures that were twisted by the devastation of a war that should never have happened. Hence the name Cursed Creatures. But it wasn't only creatures that were affected. Humans, other races of beings that existed at the time were also affected, some earlier than others."

Auren frowned.

"Wouldn't that mean there are Cursed Human beings?"

'...like me?'

Asenya fell silent, her eyes losing focus for a moment. Then her voice cut through the dark quiet.

"Yes. There are. Some are twisted far worse than others, but none are to be befriended. So stop looking with so much hope in your eyes."

Auren chuckled, trying to hide what Asenya had clearly seen. He pouted slightly.

"I'm not necessarily saying I'm going to go around making friends with Cursed Human beings... but still..."

Asenya smiled.

"It feels good to know you're not alone?"

Auren was slightly taken aback by her response... and smile.

"Uhm... maybe?"

Then a moment later, a small frown darkened Auren's face as something dawned on him.

"You know I'm cursed?"

Asenya folded her hands and shrugged.

"I have very deep sight, you know. I can see every soul. I know what a normal soul looks like, I know what a Divine soul looks like, I know what a Cursed soul looks like. Yours is a bit odd, but compared to your other two friends, it's very rotten."

Auren's frown deepened.

"Isn't that quite rude to say?"

"I'm not sorry."

Auren sighed and threw his head back slightly, covering his face with his palm before speaking.

"Anyway... so this Truthsayer—she's most likely one of these other races that were defiled?"

Asenya nodded.

"Exactly."

"Alright... that would make her... what?"

Asenya smiled.

"To be honest, I don't know. But she's most likely going to be the strongest thing you've ever seen. The Polypheme doesn't even compare."