The curse had begun

“These are an awful lot of creatures even for you? So what do you want us to do?” Erin asked with a grin as he batted away another sharp claw with his yellow jade sword.

The child on his side also slapped away the claws that were coming too close, a testament to the tough skin and massive strength of his station.

“I need to get to the body to seal it. The injury was no mere injury but also a curse which is producing all these stupid creatures” Asato dodged another claw as his scythe met the one right in front of him.

There were just too many of those creatures.

“I’ll cut out away, so follow me. Hey kid, cover the back would you?” Asato nodded as Nate made his way slowly toward the pair while battling away the shadowy creatures.

They were not making even a dent in the number and they won’t be able to too since the only way to really kill them was for Asato to purify them.

The only other way would be through a long blown out ritual that called out power similar to his and required too much investment.

“I’ll need five minutes to completely seal the power away. The estate is already locked away so they won’t be able to escape. Be careful though, they might be poisonous if they nick you” The magic of these things was sick.

It sucked away at your own which made you weaker over time. The party with him understood as they stood in formation.

Erin’s grin changed in an instant, the whole temperament of free and flexible melded into a dangerous aura. Then the cutting began.

Amber flashed away at everything in the way, the light is reflected back in those amber eyes of his.

Behind him, Asato made sure to block the others that somehow got past the flashing amber jade sword in front.

Nate also made an excellent back watcher, punching away at the ones who drew too near from the back. The child had his back to then which allowed for a better protection formation. And yet, he never lost track of where they were headed.

The combination quickly made its way toward the body. As soon as they were within fifteen step radius, Asato picked up the speed and ducked below Erin’s swing to reach in front.

His scythe flashed before the black surrounding the body caught fire. The body was covered in black and red, with hardly any part of the skin visible throughout the whole space.

Asato called forth a dagger and stabbed it through the place where the heart was supposed to be. Then he began to guild all the magic in the body toward the knife to make it an empty vessel.

Behind him, the fight went on, Erin and Nate doing their best yet failing to make a dent in the shadowy army. It felt like a stalemate and Asato hated this situation.

He knew what Erin and a calamity were capable of and this was only the tip. It almost felt like they were playing in such a situation and bating other’s power out and refusing to reveal their own.

But it was also a smart move to hold their hand back on a fight where it won’t matter. Leaving it to Asato was the smarter choice for both party and he delivered beautifully.

The body was drained of magic fast enough and the dagger flashed black before it expanded the sphere to engulf the whole body in the sild bubble.

There was a streak of sound which made everyone cover their ears as the shadows began fleeing away.

But they won’t be able to get away much far so the shadow humans were laying all around in wait and captured them as soon as they left.

Asato ignored the other two in the room who looked no worse than when they had arrived and swung his scythe toward the black bundle before him.

Just like before, it caught fire and disappeared into ash.

“Now would you explain what this surprise was? I thought this was a normal mission” Erin complained, the earlier seriousness and danger melting away into an easier going attitude. But his eyes still had a hint of the steel from before, just much less prominent.

The two parts of his personalities were beginning to merge. It would take a long time before there was a full merge and the memories combined in a single body with this was a start. It made him feel nostalgic to see it.

“I’m alright” red eyes took in the child at the side who was not too happy about the shadow human cleaning his face. The child looked weak and thin on the outside but that all was a facade. The performance inside had been more than enough to see just how powerful the child was.

They will turn out to be a decent company in this mission after all.

“There was a curse laid upon the body along with the death. That is why everyone who kept in contact kept on dying - because it was spreading fast in their system which was not able to handle it at all” Erin cursed at his words, a worried look passing his face.

“Too many people came in contact with the body already, we will need to screen everyone individually. This will be a nightmare” Erin’s body language did not seem to be disappointed but the voice sounded disappointed enough.

“Eliminate the source, it goes away. Sister complained about too” the child spoke up and frankly Asato had not expected him to indulge the information.

“Sister said to help” that explained much more to him.

So this was a problem for both sides? If so, then who was the one behind all this. Before it could be narrowed down to one fraction but now it spread into many more fields.

“Haru said the same thing too, that they were not responsible. You should look into it on your side, discreetly though” Asato warned Erin who nodded.

He did not look happy but not shocked either. Maybe he had expected this outcome since last time already.

“I’ll get some people to look into it. My higher-ups would want to talk to you about this case too after the first part of the mess is dealt with” Asato was not looking forward to it at all.

Higher-ups meant more unreasonable people to work with and maintain relationships. It really made him want to curl back and forget about the whole thing.

“Let me rest for now. We’ll deal with it later. Nate, can we leave for the day less city tomorrow morning?” Asato asked the child who nodded the consent. Finally, something was going right.

“What you are going to do for now. I need to return and report this to the authorities and inform them to clear the easter dungeon fast. I assume Nate had to do something similar?” the child nodded again.

“You do that. I still need to make a perimeter check to make sure everything is alright. I’ll see you tomorrow then” Asato turned away from the pair and began walking back inside.

“Get plenty of sleep for your teen body” Asato almost missed the next step as something in his head throbbed in pain. He had as much experience in this field as Erin himself, despite the age difference.

His master had passed him a lot of knowledge and their own experience through the generations which had made an influence on him. In terms of experience, he was much older so Erin had no right to treat him as a child.

And this was the main reason they could never be friends despite how friendly they got.

From the first time, Erin had never seen Asato as an equal. Just as a child who would always be younger and dumber than you.

Asato wanted to yell at him but then contained himself. It won’t help, might even worsen the situation and make Erin believe he really was a child.

It was much better to ignore him.

The rest of the evening was spent patrolling the parameters and getting rid of the residual shadows in the vicinity.

Too many had escaped for his liking but they were easily traceable by following the unusual magic in the space. It took almost 3 hours to track every shadow down due to the massive size of the sealed area, but it was well worth it for the feeling of calm afterwards that was rewarded.

Dinner was a sordid affair with shadow people serving everything he needed.

However, before he could go to the bed, the feeling of wrong was back. It felt similar to the one he had felt during the encounter with the cursed body and it was coming from the same direction.

Abandoning all thoughts of sleep, he hurried toward the room of the body. The orb that contained the body was shaking heavily and there were noises that caused the whole orb to vibrate and move around.

While it would not break, it was still leaking a lot of aura in the vicinity which worried Asato. The magic was being affected even through a single layer of the fabricated space.

This meant that it was gaining power back slowly. It was only the beginning and if they could not stop it in time, it would develop into an uncontrollable curse soon enough.

It was still fresh enough to not have a hold of its victims and that was a comforting thought to have.

But that did not mean it could not. The only way to deal with it, for the time being, was to bring it even harder so that it survived the week.

Decision made, Asato approached the black shaking orb. The closer he got, the sicker he felt. He was taking a risk with what he was doing. Once he put the orb into his separate space, he would have to actively suppress it with his own magic and that would mean limiting himself.

But he trusted Erin with his safety and Nate would be there as a backup so it should be alright in the scheme.

He could just not leave this thing out or the danger would be much greater than initially expected by him. The orb disappeared as he absorbed its essence and he could feel the heavy feeling of it sucking on his magic.

That night, Asato's dream consisted of darkness and the past. the fire burned bright and blood flew in the air. The description of the previous war his master has given him took shape in his unconsciousness as if he was there himself.

The morning arrived and so did his companions for the journey ahead. The things he had to do as the architect were so troublesome.