Mastering Nero's Curse
Having safely completed the pact with Nero, I now had about four days to figure out how to fight in sync with her. The problem was...
[No way?]
"No way! You can't just kill them during training!!"
Nero had no control over her power output. Sure, I knew she was strong. Even perched on my shoulder in her shrunken form, when she unleashed her curse, everyone except me—who had resistance—either passed out or collapsed from sheer exhaustion.
It was useful, but without distinguishing friend from foe, it was worthless.
"How do you control curses...?"
[...?]
Ah, now I understood why Skaya had called her weak for a Special Grade. The quality and quantity of her curse were Special Grade, but she had no idea how to handle it. She just bulldozed everything with absurd volume and potency. No matter how much mana you had, it was useless if you couldn't cast spells. Curses were at least lethal on contact, so they had that going for them, but the difference between using them skillfully and not was even greater than with magic.
"...Come to think of it, I've only ever endured curses, never studied them properly."
A hero using curses? It didn't suit me at all... And among the people around me, only Spear had any passing knowledge from her trivia.
And even that, I hadn't learned from her.
"Maybe I should learn this time."
She'd be at the library today too, right?
*****
"You want to learn about curses?"
"Yeah, since I contracted one this time... I figured you'd know something about them."
Spear closed the book she'd been quietly reading, stood up, and pulled one from the towering stack around her, handing it to me.
"Basics first, I suppose."
Curses and Rituals
"The most basic book. I could explain it, but read it first."
"Got it."
I hadn't even known a book like this existed.
[Whaaat...?]
"Oh, Nero."
As I browsed the shelves, Nero blinked into existence on my shoulder.
"...Your familiar just pops out on her own?"
"She craves affection more than most, so she shows up uninvited a lot. Her curse output is high, but it doesn't cause issues."
To conserve curse energy, she shrank to fairy size sometimes.
[Hey. Who's that girl...]
"Oh, Spear?"
Um... acquaintance, I guess.
"Just a friend, right?"
Spear's words made me nod, and Nero seemed satisfied, climbing onto my head, relaxing completely, and drifting off to sleep.
"...She really is rare."
"Right?"
She'd chat with me when I was bored, but when I was searching or studying, she'd quietly nap on my head. Why my head? She just wanted to be close to me, apparently.
"Now I'm curious too. Let's finish the basics quickly and move to advanced stuff."
"Sure."
And there it was—Spear's habit kicking in. When she got hooked, she dove right in like this.
"You already know the basics of curses, right?"
"Uh... something like a mimic of demonic energy made by corrupting mana?"
"Not wrong. Artificial curses are so similar to demonic energy they're basically copies, but naturally occurring ones are completely different in nature."
"Really?"
"Yeah, like the difference between mana and mana force."
Huge gap.
"Curses are made by corrupting mana force, but natural curses arise from human negative emotions and the deaths of living beings."
With that, Spear emanated mana force... no, curse from her hand.
"Even if you convert mana force to curse like this, compare it to the sleeping spirit's curse up there—you'll feel the difference."
"...Yeah, definitely different."
The curse Spear produced felt like the ones from my past life. But Nero's... right, it was like the Demon King's demonic energy.
"Naturally formed curses are way harder to ritualize than artificial ones. But in return, their power is on another level."
"Can you teach me one ritual, then?"
"Sure, the simplest one is..."
Spear quickly drew in the air, forming a ritual.
"The absolute basics for cursing—nameless, just compresses the curse into a lump and shoots it. For a spirit that strong, even just compression control would be enough."
"Thanks. I always owe you."
"No big deal."
Time to test it right away.
"Wanna come watch?"
"Nah, still got problems to finish. Try it once and come back tomorrow. I'll be here after classes anyway."
"Cool."
I borrowed a few books from Spear and headed to the second auditorium, which had both curse and mana force barriers. As soon as I arrived, I properly summoned Nero.
[You called?]
"Yeah, today's lesson is this."
I shoved the ritual at Nero, who stared at it blankly before replying.
[Dunno.]
"Yeah, figured."
No point expecting rituals from someone who couldn't even control her output yet. We'd go slow, at her pace. Nothing like with Zenovia. She had a soul-binding contract and feared battle but wouldn't throw tantrums claiming ignorance—Nero was just plain ignorant. Even if she'd been a spirit for about ten years, she'd spent most of that dead. Effectively, she was a baby less than a year old as a spirit.
"Add her human years and she'd be old, but..."
[Huh?]
From her reaction, most human memories were gone.
"Nothing. No need to control here, so gather as much curse as you can."
No mana force needed for rituals thanks to the contract—I could deploy them myself.
[Got it!]
Whiiirrrrr!!!!
"Uh-oh."
Big trouble. Curse gathered in Nero's hand. Way too much. From blue, purple, to pitch-black like ink, the lump formed. I frantically activated the ritual.
If this didn't compress right, the whole auditorium was toast!!!!
"Uwaaaah!!!"
"What the—!?"
First- and second-years training nearby freaked at Nero's sudden curse, throwing up barriers. But against Nero's curse, academy kid barriers were like blocking a fireball with paper.
"Huff... huff...!!!"
No real fight, and here I was suffering. I visualized the ritual, compressing the curse. The storm of curse molded into a massive sphere.
[Done!!]
"Haa..."
Good... but now what?
"Fire it off, I guess."
Aimed at the distant target, I launched Nero's curse lump... wait?
Once the ritual's done, shouldn't it shoot?
[For a spirit that strong, even just compression would be enough.]
"Ah."
Spear's words hit me as I realized the hopeless truth: no way to disperse it.
She didn't even teach me how to shoot!!
"Nero, can you reabsorb it?"
[Hmm... nope.]
No reabsorption either... Partial ritual destruction? No dice...
"Ah, Nero. Infuse just a tiny bit of curse here."
[Just a tiny bit?]
"Yeah, super tiny."
That'd disrupt the ritual, making it shoot like a wonky fireball.
...No way?
Boooom!!!!!
"What the hell!!"
Nero's curse whipped up a mini-storm, ricocheting everywhere. Barriers flickered on then shattered, shredding the auditorium.
I tried to block desperately, but Skaya's Dominion Magic sealed the mana force circuits tight.
Kraka-boom!!!!
"Kyaaah!!"
"Save us!!!"
No direct hits yet, but it was precarious. How to—!
Damn it. No other choice. This was it.