Chapter 943
Eivass: This is much more fun than a gun.
After Merlin left, Eivass amusingly played with the “short spear” in the garden.
He tried to inject his light attribute mana into it.
In an instant, a brilliant radiance bloomed from the ruby handle—
With a “hum,” a white-gold light blade, the same color as Eivass’s hair, shot out from it!
As it shot out, it first transformed into a giant sword like a ruler. But with a thought from Eivass, the sword body shortened and narrowed, becoming a single-handed sword that fit his hand perfectly. It was entirely composed of light, condensed into a translucent texture resembling a glowing crystal.
The sword was as clear as glass, and its appearance was so captivating that Eivass fell in love with it at first sight.
“……Holy crap, a lightsaber?”
Eivass exclaimed, gently reaching out to touch the sword. After all, even if his finger fell off, it would just grow back.
But unlike what Eivass imagined… perhaps because Eivass wasn’t activating the Flame Holy Sword, the temperature of this light sword wasn’t very high.
It was just like a light bulb that had been on for a long time, slightly warm to the touch. It also gave off a warm feeling, like holding a glass cup of hot water. He pressed down on the sword, and the spot he pressed turned a slightly deeper orange-gold.
Eivass swung it, finding it incredibly light. The sword had a slight weight, and if he moved his grip on the hilt back a bit, the center of gravity wouldn’t be too far back.
Eivass wasn’t skilled in swordsmanship, but his physical condition was now supernaturally powerful. As long as he was fast and accurate enough, it didn’t affect his combat, except for the lack of martial skills that could amplify his strength.
He kicked the pile of flowers into the air—then the blade, like flowing water, precisely sliced through each petal. Golden brands instantly cut them, and they remained bright even after the blade left. Under the night sky, it looked like holding a small firework, leaving clear light traces.
He swung his sword and cut off a branch, then kicked up a piece of gravel and cut it in half with his sword. It was only then that Eivass finally felt the sensation of “definitely cutting something,” but he still cut it easily.
He slung the light sword behind his back, and it suspended itself behind him, a short distance from his back. Eivass crouched down to examine the small stone and found its cut surface to be incredibly smooth, turned into a transparent glass-like material, and even with some residual light that hadn’t yet dissipated, like embers gradually going out.
“……Interesting.”
Eivass touched the stone with interest, only to find it retained a high temperature that could scald an ordinary person.
Did it instantly heat up upon impact? Or was it some other principle?
But regardless, this sword could serve as Eivass’s regular weapon.
It was usually a thirty-centimeter short spear, but once activated, it could instantly transform into a one-handed or two-handed sword.
It could even…
Eivass drew a card from the void, then made it disappear from his hand.
Iridescent ice condensed into a long handle, covering the “Handle of Curses.” In the blink of an eye, it elongated, transforming into a greatsword with a blade over two meters long!
—Eivass knew how to use this thing.
Through memories from Helchin, Eivass had mastered Elven-style spear techniques. With a weapon of the same length, if modified slightly to include chopping motions, it could also serve as a striking method for polearms.
Moreover, the light blade on it could transform, and the ice-made blade could shrink or lengthen as Eivass wished—it was quite flexible!
The only problem was its added curse vulnerability.
After unsealing, the curse energy within leaked out. Now, even just holding the sword without using Sacred Sword Techniques would make him more susceptible to curse damage. But thankfully, “Dissolving Soul” itself had strong resistance to curses, greatly weakening the side effects for Eivass when wielding this sword.
And if he inflicted curse vulnerability on an enemy, it would make it easier for Night Demons to harm them!
Even its endurance had greatly improved—originally, the Holy Sword could only be temporarily activated for one minute with one point of mana, but now it could exist as long as he didn’t actively sheath it, and its form had stabilized. Although activating it required more mana, this was clearly not a major problem for Eivass.
For a moment, Eivass had the thought: it would be quite useful just as a weapon, without even needing it as a medium to awaken the “Sun Knight.”
Eivass, like a child with a new toy, excitedly played in the garden late into the night for nearly two hours before returning to his room.
Isabel was already very tired today and had gone to sleep early. She had affairs of state to attend to tomorrow, so Eivass didn’t disturb her.
Incidentally, Eivass also had something to ask Viness.
The Night Demon, in its crow form, stood silently on Eivass’s hat rack as usual. Its feathers were pure black, with only its eyes being scarlet, making it look more like a shadowy monster than a crow.
“……The collateral of the Moriarty Family? Let me think…”
Viness chewed on the words with a somewhat unfamiliar tone, sorting through her own almost forgotten, and already incomplete, memories.
It was too distant for her, as distant as a debt from a past life.
The Night Demon pondered for a while before giving a somewhat uncertain answer, “I’m not sure where the items are. After all, my parents weren’t the only Beyads. The family also had collateral branches… But without me, they shouldn’t be able to take most of it.
“The Beyad family is, after all, a family of Curse Masters. Even their descendants wouldn’t dare to casually touch what we left behind.”
After Viness “disappeared” back then, the Beyad Group didn’t last long before collapsing on its own. They ultimately couldn’t survive the Sundering Wars.
After that, these “collateral items,” which had served as mediums for curses, became bad debts.
“The essence of these collateral items is that the essence of curses is ‘service-oriented’,” Viness explained. “Although some curses take effect immediately—like cursing someone to death. But most curses require long-term maintenance and upkeep.
“For example, cursing the Moriarty Family until the seventh generation—a curse of this magnitude certainly couldn’t be completed in one go. Setting aside how much Power would be needed to sustain it for so long… a curse that has expanded to such a scale could, and in fact would, cause irreversible damage to the cursed.”
“You still need to avoid damage?” Eivass asked, quite surprised.
Curse Masters still protected the cursed?
“I’m not sure, as I was too young then. I hadn’t yet been involved in the family’s business.”
Viness shook her crow head, her voice hoarse and ethereal, “Take this seventh generation, for instance—if someone never triggered the curse, the Power might indeed be preserved for that long. But what if someone triggered it in each generation? A curse that is never triggered requires different Power than a curse triggered every generation.
“So how can one ensure it stops precisely at the seventh generation? If it’s never triggered, the residual Power might persist until the eighth, tenth, or even later generations… just like the Moriarty Family. But if the trigger frequency is too fast, it might be gone by the third generation, so it needs constant maintenance.
“Moreover, curses that span a few generations of a family are relatively fewer. The most common curses are actually protective curses.”
“Protective curses?”
Eivass found the term novel and quite pleasing to the ear.
“Yes,” Viness replied seriously. “For instance, a grave that one doesn’t want others to dig up. Or some treasure that one doesn’t want to be stolen. Setting up a forbidden area that only special individuals can enter. Or fearing one’s own death, so preemptively setting up a counter-curse to curse and assassinate those who plot against oneself—this kind of service is actually the most common. Although rituals can achieve similar things, rituals are too easily broken; they are essentially mechanisms. But curses are like poison; even if you know what it is, you can’t necessarily undo it.
“And this kind of demand requires long-term maintenance, possibly for decades or even centuries. So those who commission the service wouldn’t just pay upfront and forget about it—what if subsequent maintenance is needed? Therefore, they only pay a deposit, and the remaining balance is paid upon completion of the service.
“But the family also fears the other party defaulting. After all, several generations might have passed, and the descendants might completely default, or even resent the family. It’s even possible that the other family has completely vanished… There are quite a few noble families that went extinct during the Empire period. To prevent such situations, they would collect collateral. Usually, it’s a family heirloom or something of special significance to the family.
“Through these items as mediums, they can also remotely check the residual Power of the curse.”
The Night Demon recalled, “But I was ‘killed’ by ‘myself’ at that time… No, it should be said that I, as the Child of the Moon, was devoured by me, as the Shadow Demon. Although it was the ‘death of Beyad,’ it also meant the completion of the self. Therefore, rituals and prophecies couldn’t determine whether I was dead or alive.
“It was precisely because they worried I might suddenly return that the family didn’t dare to touch the things I left behind. But later, the Beyad family scattered across various regions, and I don’t know if they took those things with them.
“—Didn’t you meet that person who claimed to be the Son of Baron Beyad? He should be in Leipzig now, and perhaps has already been rescued to Avalon… Why don’t you go look for him? If he knows the ‘hiding place,’ I can unseal it.”
“Ah, I remember now…”
Eivass suddenly recalled.
It was also the young man with the iris flower whom he had met when he was acting as Alain.
Because Star Antinomy had promised them baronial titles, he and his father had come to Star Antinomy from Iris.
Not long after their arrival, Star Antinomy exploded.
He should be in Avalon now!
“I remember his name is… Landon Viness von Beyad, right?”
Eivass made up his mind, “I’ll go look for him first thing tomorrow morning… Oh, wait.”
He suddenly realized his own identity.
He sat in his rocking chair, leaning back, a smile creeping onto his lips, “Tomorrow morning, have him come and pay his respects to me.”
(This chapter is finished)
