Chapter 991 Space in Consciousness
Some time has passed since Rex was entangled by the tendrils of the Eternal Curse.
Rex was first introduced to the Eternal Curse in the bathroom of Faraday University, right before the start of his first inter-university tournament. It came suddenly and unexpectedly like a tornado.
He experienced no indication that he would be bound by its power.
Unlike the symptoms of a sickness that gradually worsened, he was hit bluntly by its effect.
It puzzled him ever since.
Naturally, equipped with the power of the System, he inquired about the Eternal Curse, only to be confronted with a ridiculous price that he needed to pay. Due to adversities that came one after the other, he put the Eternal Curse in the back of his mind.
Just like that, the Eternal Curse remains a mystery to him.
Soon he learned that he was bound to the Vampire Princess, Calidora Blodirra.
He was confronted with the truth by her.
Several assumptions raced inside his puzzled mind as the trigger of the Eternal Curse must have occurred during his encounter with Calidora. He did one thing that might've triggered the Eternal Curse, and that is giving Calidorra his blood.
That act must be the catalyst for the Eternal Curse.
At least that's the only thing possible.
However, this was nothing more than an assumption he made according to the facts.
Until this day, he only knows a couple of things about the Eternal Curse.
Firstly, his soul was tied together with Calidora which led to numerous connections between them. Secondly, it was a very powerful curse, reaching the twelfth epiphany. Third, the end result if he didn't take care of it would be death as stated by the System.
It should be quite problematic, but Rex doesn't know exactly how he will die because of it.
Now, he regretted not delving more into the Eternal Curse.
Then again, he wouldn't expect himself to rely on this curse to fight the Executor.
"Rex... Can you hear me?"
A voice crept into Rex's ears as he was meditating.
Rex was clearing his mind of worldly thoughts to start his meditation but was disturbed by this voice that he recognized to belong to Calidora. She was talking to him via telepathy, an ability that might come from the Eternal Curse.
"Yes, I can hear you" He replied in a hushed tone.
Soon, her voice came back again, "I see that you are already at the fifth epiphany, more than I expected. This will save us time. Feel my cursed source, right beside my heart, and try to make a connection with it"
Upon hearing this, Rex exactly tried doing that.
Focusing his attention on his own cursed source, he started manipulating the cursed energy.
Once again, his own constitution made it arduous to wield cursed energy. He was quite slow and sluggish in expelling it from his body and guiding it into the abyss. Within the confines of his consciousness, he found himself in an empty, dimly lit space.
Rex opens his eyes and finds himself at the center of the abyss.
He's in a meditative position, surrounded by darkness with only a bulb of light above him.
It was the only source of light, illuminating a small radius around him.
Where am I?
Observing that he was obviously not in the courtyard anymore, he frowned as it seemed his consciousness was transferred somewhere else. Before him was his cursed energy, hovering and slowly slithering away like a snake.
Remembering what Calidora said, he puts all his attention into searching for her.
He used his cursed energy to do it.
Inside this space, Rex also found that his senses were blocked as if there was some kind of limiter that was placed on him. Normally, sensing Calidora would be as easy as finding his own arm, but not in this place.
"Calidora! I don't know where you are! I can't sense you!" Rex shouted to inform her.
A brief silence enveloped the place.
Soon, her voice eventually came as if it took some time for her voice to reach him.
"Follow your intuition! Your cursed energy should guide you to me!"
Upon hearing this, Rex furrowed his brow and resumed his search with determination.
He has no time to idle and needs to pick up the pace.
Rex controlled his cursed energy and sliced through the enveloping darkness, seeing Calidora. it advanced blindly, and the deeper it delved into the obscurity, the more intense the coldness of the unknown that he could feel.
Moving the cursed energy is not that hard at all when it's already out.
It felt like an extension of his limb.
About five minutes in, Rex's eyes flashed when he suddenly sensed something was near.
Calidora has been repeatedly voicing out her words to help Rex in his search, there seems to be the need for him to be the one to search him in order to move to the next process. But as he followed his intuition, something happened.
Out of nowhere, Rex could feel his cursed energy was attacked in the darkness.
Like a slingshot, his extended cursed energy propelled back into him with immense force.
He was knocked back in the process of the cursed energy merging back with his body again, and Rex instantly grunted in a mix of shock and pain, he wasn't ready for what just occurred to him. It was so quick that he only realized what happened when he coughed out blood.
An excruciating pain infiltrates his flesh and nerves, stunning him for good seconds.
But it wasn't the physical pain that troubled him.
Following the slingshot back of his cursed energy, his mind was also rattled, the backlash aimed at the recesses of his mind, burning away layers of his consciousness. It was so bad that he was forced to grit his teeth with a stiffened body for a solid ten seconds.
When the pain receded, Rex clasped his head with a pained look.
"What was that?" He uttered while looking at the darkness, confused as to what happened.
It feels like something attacked his cursed energy.
But there shouldn't be anything in the darkness as this was his consciousness' space.
Rex wanted to ask the System but he realized that he couldn't, so he was forced to let out a shout again, "Calidora! Something attacked my cursed energy in the darkness, what was it and what should I do?"
"If something is attacking you, then you are close!" Calidora shouted back.
Upon hearing this, Rex couldn't endure the urge to curse silently as this was bad news,
One backlash was sufficient to make his mind throbbing painfully, the leftover taste was still lingering inside his head, and he didn't know if he would be fine if he got hit by another one of those.
My body should be stronger than my cursed energy, so I'll get in there myself.
Standing up, he ventured into the darkness himself.
He reached his hand inside the darkness and found the coldness biting his skin, it was far worse in the flesh compared to through cursed energy. However, it was still manageable so Rex stepped into the darkness bravely.
Relying on his memory, he went in the direction where his cursed energy was attacked.
In a moment, he seemed to reach the same place as before.
Should be close. Even if whatever attack me attacked again, I would be able to endure it.
Due to the horrendous pain he suffered from the backlash earlier, he believed that he would fare well if he was directly attacked. After all, he could endure a physical attack more than an attack such as before that aimed at his mind.
Just as he thought of that, a bronze light appeared in his view which caught him by surprise.
Rex prepared himself but turns out he overestimated himself too much.
"Haargghh!"
Knocked out of that realm, he woke up in the courtyard again before he fell to his back.
Even though he was confident in himself, the entity inside the darkness earlier was able to move even faster than his perception and split his body into two, effectively knocking him back to reality once again.
Rex wasn't even able to turn into his Werewolf form or react to the attack.
It was simply remarkable.
Despite the intrigue he had about the enigmatic entity, he lay on the ground, wailing heavily and painfully, enduring the searing pain that continued to disturb his mind, persisting even after returning to reality.
His chest felt like burning from the inside, and he in reflex, immediately ripped his shirt.
Looking at his chest, he found that his cursed source was see-through.
Rex found it was glowing visibly through his skin, and there were a couple of cracks on it.
As Calidora perceived Rex's expulsion from the realm, her eyes fluttered open. Swiftly rising, she beheld Rex sprawled on the ground, the malevolent result of his own foolishness was bare to see as she could see the seething cursed source in his chest.
"Idiot! You trespassed the darkness, didn't you?" Calidora yelled, cursing at Rex.
Out of anything, she didn't expect Rex to be this stupid.
Naturally, to break through his cursed source into the higher realm of curses, he would need to use his cursed energy. But he was stupid enough to enter the darkness with his own body, thinking that he would fare better compared to his cursed energy.
Despite wanting to check on him, the sunlight is still there, so she remains in the shadow.
Even though he was still in pain, Rex forced himself to sit up.
"I don't want to waste any time as I need to reach the ninth epiphany quickly. I was too hasty, that was my fault" Rex muttered through gasps, he deserved to be called an idiot as the fact that he had little time blurred his mind.
Upon hearing this, Calidora shook her head in disapproval.
Sitting back down again, she then said, "Okay, let's restart. Don't make the same mistake"
"Our natural body is not compatible with cursed energy. Regardless of the strength of the curse within, living beings would only reach at most the fifth epiphany. If you want to reach a high epiphany, then you need to force your body to be compatible, and this is the only way,"
"Whatever you do, you need to use your cursed energy. You need to get accustomed to your cursed energy. If you adapt well, you can definitely sense the entity's attack and dodge it. Do the same mistake again, then your cursed source will shatter" She explained, making sure that there was no more mistake.
Rex listened to this attentively and nodded his head.
He lacks the understanding of cursed power, so it's natural for him to make a mistake.
With newfound understanding, he then went back to meditate again.
On the other hand, while the two were hectic about the situation, Mavenna was still sitting beside Calidora. Not much time has passed, in fact, their meditation didn't even last more than five minutes.
So it's not surprising that Mavenna was still around.
During their brief banter earlier, she was all silent with her eyes fixed on Rex.
It almost feels like she was absent-minded.
As Rex and Calidora embarked on their meditation, a chill crept through the air, heralding the emergence of a shadowy figure that came out of Rex's corporeal form. Despite Mavenna's earnest attempt to comprehend the surreal scene unfolding before her, it was impossible.
The inexplicable nature of the phenomenon eluded the grasp of her mind.
Mavenna saw a translucent figure hovering in the sky, bringing about extreme uneasiness.
"W- What was that...? What's inside of him?"
Despite five minutes already passed, she was unable to snap out of her trance.
As a Demoness herself, something that could make her shiver and feel like this must not be ordinary at all. She was completely terrified, the overwhelming presence was too much. It would be a lie if she was not fearful of Rex because of this.
But then again, nobody would've guessed that Rex has a Goddess in his body.
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m