~BWUUSH~
Echoes of wind danced all around the room, as torrents swirled all over Rey.
Green light sparked, followed by bright white, and eventually gold.
All this energies kept evolving, until they finally reached the level that Rey desired—Healing Magic that was on the Divine Tier.
'I no longer have my [Absolute Healing] Skill, but this is much better…' He smiled as his hands flowed with bright golden light.
They seemed to invigorate everything around them.
Sparks of white still danced around the golden glare, and before he realized it…
"Haha… yes!"
… Rey was chucking to himself.
'This is it!' With widened eyes, his irises reflecting the golden light on his palms, he neared Alicia's sleeping body.
'This should do it!'
He was well aware that Ater was much stronger than he previously gave him credit for, but there really was no way an imperfect item that he created would be able to resist the Healing Magic birthed by his two Divine Skills working in tandem.
Without wasting any further time in thiught, Rey pushed his hands forward and touched Alicia with them.
The darkness surrounding her tried to resist, but he was most definitely stronger.
His power made it through, and the golden surge of light made its way all around her body.
In a single moment, she was brimming with golden light.
"Haa…" Rey's eyes widened as the bright glow remained evident in his eyes.
He watched as his Magic did its wonders and waited for her to flick her eyes open.
But—
[System Notice]
~Healing Magic failed: Target's Curse can not be healed by Magic~
[Would You Like To Try Again?]
"H-huh?"
Rey's eyes slightly widened as he saw the panel open up in front of him.
Exactly at that moment, the golden light that had been surrounding Alicia was engulfed by the darkness, causing it to vanish forever.
He failed.
Before Rey could even think about it, or process the implications of what he had just seen, his lips practically moved on their own.
"Try again."
Once more, the golden light appeared. It went through the same process and covered Alicia from head to toe.
But—
[System Notice]
~Healing Magic failed: Target's Curse can not be healed by Magic~
[Would You Like To Try Again?]
—He received the same rude awakening.
"Try again."
The same thing happened.
"… Again!"
Nothing changed.
"Try…"
No matter how hard he tried, or how many times he used his Healing Magic, it didn't work.
… Until finally, he nearly ran out of Mana.
'Why isn't it working? I'm missing something, aren't I?'
For all he knew, [Absolute Healing] as a Skill couldn't cure Curses.
He faced that problem against the Dark Undertaking.
That was why, in making his own Healing Magic, he factored that and made it so that his method would cure all negative status conditions and even alleviate curses.
The fact that his Magic activated meant those conditions had to have been fulfilled.
Yet… why wasn't it still working?
"A-Ater… what's going on?" Rey finally had to utter, after trying hard to think of something to no avail.
~WHUSH~
A swirling dark mist appeared behind Rey, and instsntly Ater emerged with a solemn look on his perfectly carved face.
"Curses are internal manifestations of the world's laws, Master. Healing Magic, no matter the tier, won't work on it."
Laws such as Gravity and Time existed, and with Magic… those laws could be harnessed and bent to the whims of the user.
But that didn't change the fact that those laws remained.
Another kind of Magic—say Fire Magic—could not interfere with those laws, but would have to operate within the bounds of it.
"Curse Magic exists to somewhat shape the invisible and downright dangerous nature of that law, but it's impossible to dispel it with Magic like Healing." Ater said.
Somehow, the explanations only made Rey feel all the more frustrated.
"You created the item, didn't you? Why can't you dispel the curse yourself?"
"I indeed made the item, but the curse wasn't mine."
"What?"
"This world inflicts a curse as a consequence of certain things. It usually comes as a result of breaking certain bounds; like the natural law of existence—"
"I don't understand a thing you're saying!" Rey growled as he turned back to look at Ater.
His overflowing anger was instantly removed—most definitely by the System—leaving him with nothing but a glare that had lost its luster.
"In simple terms, it's similar to how gravity dictates that whatever goes up comes down. In terms of curses, when you do something unnatural, a negative consequence follows."
It was the same way overusing a Skill would end with a negative status condition of exhaustion. Or by overstraining one's muscles, a ligament could tear.
Commit a crime, and you would get punished.
These were examples of the consequences that followed extreme actions.
A natural way of life.
In that same vein, by forcefully reaching the very heights of a Skill, one would have to be cursed as a response from the world.
"It's like cheating and getting scolded at the aftermath."
Adonis could avoid it due to his Privilege as the Hero. Rey could also do the same since he had been granted similar Privileges by the World.
But… not Alicia.
"What if I had a Skill? A Curse Magic Skill… maybe it could work."
"I doubt it. It would be different if someone cursed you with Magic, but this is pretty much a curse that comes from the world itself."
It was similar to how Class Privileges could not be altered unless someone changed their Class.
"Though… if you had a Curse Skill, that would be different." As Ater said this, he rubbed his chin.
"Curse Skill? Isn't that what I just said?"
"No. Curse Skill and Curse Magic Skill are different."
"Huh?"
At this point, Rey was slightly confused.
He looked at Ater in a strange way, as though expecting an explanation from him.
As expected of the Familiar, he picked up on this very quickly.
"Magic is a product of sentient understanding and evolution. Humans, Dragon… they learn Magic which is how they understand the laws of the world and how to bend it to their whims. Once they reach a certain level of proficiency, a Skill is unlocked. Sometimes, they are naturally born with this ability as well… so you'd get something like [Wind Magic] or [Curse Magic] as a Skill."
So far, Rey perfectly understood.
Frustration still tugged at his heart, and he found himself slightly distracted by Alicia and his concern for her.
Still, he paid attention.
"Skills in themselves are not sentient dependent, and they are simply given by the world. They're similar to privileges in a way, and so they're not limited to the sentient capabilities."
"I… don't get it." Rey muttered.
"For example [Divine Beast Summon] is a Skill in itself, and it's not Magic. It relies on something beyond the reach of Magic, since it summons creatures from another world. [Divine Sword Summon] is another example. These are all Skills that transcend the limits of what Magic can do."
Rey began to rub his own chin before realizing it.
"So… there's a difference between [Fire Magic] and [Fire] Skill?"
"Yes. Other than the fact that you'd need to cast a Soell to generate the first, unless you have a Skill like [Magic Application] or [Magic Supremacy], and you are restricted by those Spells, the [Fire] Skill allows free rein over fire, depending on Tiers. It's basically a pass given by the System to use that which is within its bounds."
"I see. So a [Curse] Skill would allow me to interact directly with the Curse that's afflicting her, while [Curse Magic] would only be able to affect Curses within the bounds of Magic itself."
"Correct. You learn fast, Master."
Rey couldn't feel happy for his achievement even if he wanted to. He still didn't understand the details of what Ater was talking about, and frankly… he didn't have the strength to.
All this time, he thought he was only delaying the inevitable so he could prepare his heart when he finally met and woke Alicia up.
But now, he realized he couldn't do it—at the very least, not as he was.
'I'm such a joke…' He smiled at himself as he removed his hand from Alicia, still seeing the darkness overshadow her.
He covered his his eye with the eyepatch, causing his vision to return to Normal Mode.
With that, he could no longer see the depressing sight of the girl he loved being consumed by darkness.
"Is there really no way to wake her up now? Anything I can do at all…?"
"Well—"
Before Ater could say any further, both he and Rey sensed something beyond the door of the room, and they instantly knew what it was.
Ater stared at Rey with curious eyes, as if asking him;
"What will you do now?"
Rey sighed and rose to his feet, still remaining by Alicia's side, as the doors were pushed open and the people outside were granted a view into the vast expanse.
It was the first time in months that Rey had seeen them, and he could feel the building tension as he rested his gaze on the group that stood outside the room.
'Justin, Clark, Belle, Lucielle, and Brutus…' All of them had surprised expressions on their faces, and rightfully so.
This was also the first time in months that they were seeing him.
'… It's been a while.'
*
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Thanks For Reading, everyone!
I'm sure you were all waiting for this moment. Well… at long last… they've reunited.
