No More Pain For This Villain.

Chapter 368 Solution to a problem

Chapter 368  Solution to a problem

I looked at Aron, who was crawling on the floor like a beast. I thought by now I'd be used to it, but it seems not. The pity I once felt for him kept vanishing, replaced by a feeling that was quite alien to me—admiration.

I admired Aron. Weird but true.

After we resumed the process, he was filled with a new wave of motivation. What was supposed to be only three instances of Archon Form manifestation turned into five, and the current one was the sixth.

With each attempt, his capacity to hold onto the form was deteriorating, yet he kept insisting on trying.

Was it because of what I said? That it could fix his face? Well, theoretically, it's true. I did read that Archon Form can fix any type of impurity within a being, so it wasn't far from the truth.

In the game, Adam used the form to cure himself every time he was poisoned or had his limbs torn off. As long as the head, heart, and mana core were intact, the trick worked wonders.

So why not fix a single ugly scar?

Well, I might've just found out why. Every time he used the manifestation, something strange was happening in his body.

I haven't told him yet because it's odd, but it took me four consecutive manifestations to see the problem.

It was easy to see—one side of his body, from his heart to the scarred side of his face, had mana veins that were blocked. Mana couldn't flow there to heal him.

Even when he used his powers for normal spells, the issue remained the same. The only difference was the apparent struggle his mana core experienced as it tried to push mana in that specific direction.

Only during the manifestation of Archon Form did I notice something unusual.

From the scarred area of Aron's face, every time he used the divine power, a string of something formed. It was like a weird parasite infesting his face from within.

After straining my eyes and expending a considerable amount of mana, I saw thin, murky onyx tentacles spreading from one point—where his eye had been—to his heart. Slowly, far too slowly, they were creeping toward his mana core and heart.

...as if that was their ultimate purpose.

The parasite didn't have a body—it was like an untouchable curse. Whenever Aron used the divine power, the parasite convulsed as if in pain, retaliating to prevent even a single drop of mana from crossing into the regions it had already conquered. It behaved like a hungry beast.

It was a curse—a different kind of curse that I'd never seen in any book. It was designed to devour the host alive, slowly and painfully.

I didn't say a word to Aron about this, but I'm sure he knows something is wrong.

While studying the curse, I discovered its sole purpose: to consume the mana veins and cripple Aron until nothing was left. It wouldn't attack the mana core itself; instead, it would bypass it, corrupting everything around it.

What an insidious thing. Honestly, I'd love to study how to cast such a curse on someone. What a great card it'd be to have up one's sleeve.

Yeah, I should focus on the task again.

"Ha, five-minute break, and then we'll do one last try before ending it here," I said, wanting to study the curse further but knowing there was a lot to consider—like what tomorrow would bring.

Gasping for air, the cursed prince nodded and went to sit on a nearby chair while I continued thinking.

Curses like these are notoriously hard to get rid of. Most of the time, only a higher priest or a truly capable healer can break them, but none of them seem to work in this case.

Still, it's hard to believe that royalty couldn't find someone capable of curing Aron. Then again, they treat him like... well, what he deserves, to be honest—a stain on the image of the mighty royal family of Hestia Kingdom.

Or maybe I'm just overthinking it, and they treat him this way because he's flawed. It's not hard to guess. Plenty of royals have done worse than Aron, but his mistakes came to light and weren't buried as deeply as the others'.

Anyway, that's not for me to say. I think I've identified the problem and the solution in this situation.

The problem is the lack of mana supply to the veins plagued by the curse. The solution is... me. Where else would Aron find someone who can control raw mana like an element?

Still, it's puzzling. Why didn't someone like Headmaster Stormborne or Falco try to help Aron? They can control raw mana too, I assume.

Right, Smokeball? I asked through the mental connection between me and Blaze, who was lazily stretching his feline body.

"Yeah, princess, but there's a difference," Blaze replied. "Dragons control raw mana on a very crude level—for destruction. Maybe that's why your headmaster or that young dragon can't heal him. But don't be disheartened; you're not a dragon—you're a phoenix. One with the lineage of a queen capable of being called a goddess."

Well, that's what I thought too. I cannot heal wounds—that much is clear. But I've noticed that when I use raw mana, it seems... calm. At first, it wasn't—it was crude and chaotic. But with practice, which is rare for me, it became more and more like wielding fire in my palm, my affiliated element.

Anyway, the problem is clear, and the solution is to supply the mana. I've already done it with Blaze when I was traveling from Crooked Island to Prowler's Cove.

I just have to push raw mana from the surroundings and channel it through me to the parts where Aron's body can't. It should suppress the curse—or, more likely, diminish it completely.

It's a piece of cake for me, right?

...or so I thought and that arrogant oversight caused me a pain that was something I would never want to experience ever again.