I Awakened A Divine Curse

Auren's eyes widened as he suddenly caught sight of a white, radiant light burning through the torn cavity of the metallic chest. His brows furrowed in suspicion.

There was a pristine radiance it bore—something that didn't seem... cursed.

He couldn't quite explain how he sensed it, but he knew instinctively it was tied to the nature of his own soul.

He could recognize divinity. That, in itself, was not unusual; the difference between divinity and curse was often obvious, requiring no extraordinary perception to distinguish.

But what Auren was feeling now was something else entirely.

It was deeper.

It was different.

It refused to fit within the bounds of common sense.

The only conclusion he could reach was that the heart had always been divine—only hidden, shrouded under layers of corruption.

Which, all the more, made no sense to him.

From everything Auren had observed of the world, Divinities and Curses were distinct forces. Separate entities.

While they influenced and opposed each other, they never intertwined in the manner he was now witnessing.

A curse could not be inflicted upon a Blessed. A Cursed creature could kill a Blessed, yes—but only through an extension of its curse, not by directly corrupting the Blessed's soul.

Likewise, a blessing could not be bestowed upon a Cursed creature. A Blessed could kill a Cursed creature, but again, only through an extension of their blessing.

A direct overwrite of the soul—whether by curse or blessing—was deemed impossible, for it would mean superseding the Archon's authority over that soul.

And such a thing... should not be possible.

Auren grinned faintly as he stared at the radiant heart.

It was a literal heart—pristine and shining—floating in the darkness inside the Polypheme's shattered body.

He was amazed at what he was seeing.

Could this be the starting ground to prove that he was right?

But Auren wasn't so quick to decide. For one, the Polypheme was not under the authority of any Archon—and this world itself, built under a strange and alien construct, couldn't truly be considered the same as the world he had once dwelled in...

before he was killed.

Still, the heart—and the fact that it had been corrupted—was suggestive of something.

'So, the Polypheme is a divine being... let's say, a Blessed that got turned into a Cursed. Interesting...'

However, not completely seeing how its radiant heart still lived through the whole corruption of the curse.

Auren's mind briefly drifted back to the memory of the throne he had seen—the man who came cloaked in darkness—and how that darkness had invaded the Polypheme's body.

He pulled himself back to the present and locked his gaze on the heart.

Then, after a few quiet breaths, he muttered:

"So this is the heart Asenya wants..."

A wicked smile tugged at his dry lips.

Without hesitation, he plunged his hand into the Sentinel's metallic body and drew the heart out easily.

As he did, a radiant white, star-shaped crystal followed it, slipping from the torn chest and clattering onto the floor.

In that instant, everything seemed to happen all at once.

A terrible pain pierced deep into Auren's soul, reverberating through his heart. His breath slowed, tightened—

Every attempt to breathe became laborious... too laborious.

Then, the notifications came:

[You have slain an Exalted - Polypheme of White Star]

[You cannot absorb Divinity]

[However, due to your Curse: Requiem of a Failed Hero, you have tainted the soul of Polypheme of White Star with your death]

[You have imbued upon its soul the mark of corruption]

[Devourer has devoured its soul… but cannot digest it because of its nature]

[You have gained a shard]

"Argh! Dang!"

Auren staggered back, doubling over as the intense pain burrowed from behind his spine, tearing its way through to the front of his chest.

With a sharp gasp, he finally crumbled onto one knee.

There he remained—bent down, his hands clenched into fists against the ground—as he fought against the searing agony.

At first, it felt as if something forged from burning light had entered him, melting its way through his entire being.

But over time, the pain lessened.

Or maybe...

Maybe he had quickly grown used to it.

Even as he stood back up, the sensation lingered—a gnawing presence within his soul, something that should have dissolved but stubbornly refused to fade.

He muttered under his breath.

"Ahhh... what the..."

He carefully replayed everything he had heard in his mind while glancing over the hovering runes of notification.

And indeed, it was just as he feared:

Devourer had devoured a divine soul—and could not digest it.

'Bad news. This is bad news.'

But there were other news that demanded his attention.

Such as the fact that his death had placed a mark of corruption on the Polypheme.

Meaning...

By killing Auren, the Polypheme had cursed itself?

And not just any curse.

This was a curse that had affected the very root of its soul—a soul so radiant that not even the true darkness, which had been gnawing at it for what must have been countless ages, could fully taint it.

Even with its body stolen, its heart remained pristine.

Even with its form corrupted, its soul endured untouched.

Auren glanced down at the white star-shaped crystal lying on the ground.

Slowly, he bent down and picked it up.

The shard pulsed faintly in his palm. It was a soul heart—but different, unlike the cursed soul hearts he had seen before.

It was pure.

Divine.

'Divine beings have soul hearts too...'

Auren's gaze darkened slightly.

While he felt a vague inclination to refer to the Polypheme as a Blessed, the runes had not described it that way.

Nor had the fragmented memories hinted at it.

In this world, it seemed, there were no Blesseds.

Only Divinities.

And Curses.

Of course, all of this remained a speculation within the ever-expanding tomes of his mind.

But staring at the small white crystal, Auren realized something else—something that made his blood stir.

'The Archons are divinities, right? They should have soul hearts too...'

His eyes narrowed with deadly focus.

'Then that means... they are killable. I just have to grow strong enough.'