3. The Birth Of Inferno

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ARK Bearer Of Curse

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ARK The Bane Of Spectres

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***

The next accounts were vague memories. I could remember seeing it happened, but I didn't remember doing it.

"Finally! The Curse of Time!!" The occult leader exclaimed. His dagger still in my gut. Its cold blade pierced the insides of my heart.

My eyes closed shut. Then I died.

But somehow, I came back.

And when I did, I wasn't sure if it was even me.

"AAAARRRGHHH!" It was the leader's turn to scream. His hand holding the dagger was gone. Like gone, gone! One of the occultists was dumb enough to get closer to me and as it did, it completely disintegrated.

"What the hell?!" Sister Ann was furious. "Did you bring a defective dagger?!" She shouted, gripping the collar of the leader.

I had the time to look around and I noticed everything was dark green. That color tainted every where I looked. It covered everything.

Until I realized I was the one covered in this dark matter. A dark green fire enveloping my body should have put my mind into panic but I remained calm even with the thought of "what's going on?"

At first, I thought these occultists were just maniacs. Psycho killers. But then I saw their forms changed. Literally.

"We can extract the curse easier if he's paralyzed with poison!!!" A voice roared behind me.

One of the occultists turned to a scorpion like creature which I now knew as a Manticore. It charged at me, stinger first. Not having learned anything from its leader, the Manticore disintegrated as soon as its whole body made contact with the fire.

"What the f*** is that thing?"

"It's Greek Fire! Damn you, woman! You said he was just a kid!!"

The other two occultists shouted. One had werewolf features except its face was that of a hyena. The other looked pale, a vampire. An ironic team if you asked me.

The hyena tried to circle around me. It must be trying to find an opening. As I followed him with my gaze, he continued to run in circles, unable to find an opportunity to attack.

"Forget the curse! You're f***ing dead, kid!!" He screamed as he vanished.

That didn't surprise me. The light from the full moon gave his position. His shadow obviously exposed his attack from above.

Realizing that the fire was covering even my head, he kicked the air, which I found amazing, in order to change direction and avoiding certain death.

"This brat!" He furiously whispered, spitting on the ground. "He shouldn't be able to keep his flames forever. We'll keep our distance and attack when-"

This time, he was surprised. I could only guess his shock was due to the fact that I was no longer in front of him.

Hyena's got good sense of smell. He noticed my location. I was making my way to him downwards when he dodged by a hair's breadth.

"Oi, woman do something-", he was about to scream a demand when his eyes widened with hope.

I realized everything went back to its original color. The green fire was gone. By all means, I should be vulnerable.

The hyena shifted his weight, he was about to pounce at me. But before he could react, I dashed quickly and my foot was making its way to his jaw.

"UURRGGHH!" A repressed sound came from his broken jaw. I could feel his bones shattered at the impact.

"F***ing hell! I'm outta here", the vampire guy uttered as he quickly ran to the deeper part of the forest.

Escaping was futile. It didn't matter how quick he was. I didn't know how it was even possible, but I was quicker.

The next thing I knew, I was chasing down the bloodsucker. Leaping from one three to another, it gave me the boost I needed to catch on. When I was on top of the last and tallest tree, I predicted the angle of his running. With a powerful kick imitating the hyena's feet earlier, I landed to the back of the vampire.

"Aaaarrghhh! Get the f*** off me, you monster!" He screamed. It was obvious he was the monster between us, why would he call me that and look so scared?

"AAARRGGGHH-" He was trying to scream the last of his death throes when I grabbed his head and forcefully twisted his neck, breaking it from his spine.

I knew that vampires didn't die easily, so I twisted it once more. And again. And another. And it was on the fourth time his skin was torn, completely separating the head from the body.

I didn't know why I had to carry the vampire's head back to the ritual spot. Perhaps I wanted to scare the occultists with what I could do to them.

Reaching the clearing in mere seconds, I saw the hyena slowly recovering so I went to him first.

"H-Help.." I heard him painfully whispered. It didn't have the same intensity it had earlier when he was fighting me. Even his cry for help was more pitiful than mine earlier, but I recognized he had the same desperation.

Finishing what I started, I jumped while running at full speed. The gravity that pulled me from mid air gave the acceleration I needed to pound the beast even harder than I did the vampire.

My foot landed on its skull, this time cracking it open. Whatever last words the hyena man was about to speak, it stayed in his broken head.

That's four. Only two more.

Looking at the direction of the trunk, I saw the leader and Sister Ann still attempting to invoke that devilish chant. I only said Sister Ann but the creature I saw had no resemblance from the seductive nun, yet I recognized the same ominous aura emanating from her.

So that's the thing which made me uneasy when I first met Sister Ann, I thought. That aura, that energy, it seemed to represent her very soul. Vicious, dark, and evil.

"Lucian, why don't you be a good boy and I will lay you down here", she said in between hissing. Her hair had turned to venomous snakes. Her upper body was that of a naked woman, but the rest was that of a slithering serpent.

"If you don't behave yourself, Sister will punish you", she threatened as she crack her whip.

But it didn't scare me. I was long immune to the pain of her lashing and beating. I remained still, ignoring Sister Ann. My eyes were focused on the leader who was desperately chanting.

"Why do you have to be so stubborn you bastard?!" Sister Ann shrieked, lashing her whip my way.

I saw the flying whip move slowly. It didn't even sweat me to avoid it. As I slowly shifted to dodge her lashing, I threw the vampire's head right at her face.

"You little-", her frustration from the severed head was cut short as my knee struck her now ugly face.

Blood splattered everywhere, but it wasn't just hers. When I hit her, I was within reach of her hair snakes which bit my attacking leg more than I knew how to count.

"Ignorant fool! You had better luck with the Manticore's paralyzing venom. My dear snakes will kill you in seconds!" She bragged.

If you only had seconds to live, what would you do? Utter a prayer perhaps? But I had something else in mind. I would die taking this freaking nun with me to the grave.

I mustered all the strength I had but the venom sank in. It started to disconnect the nerves of my legs from my brain, rendering the leg useless. With my underweight body, one leg was enough for me to move but it diminished my speed and messed my balance.

"Struggling is useless, Lucian", she said, kneeling to me when I tripped on my attack. The poison continued to spread. Soon after, both my legs were unable to function.

Sister Ann lifted my face from the dirt. She wasn't that ugly in this gorgon form. If anything, this was her true self, which I found more beautiful than her false nun face.

"I will miss our good nights of agonizing torture, Lucian my dear. Come to think of if, I might have actually grown to love you", she confessed, her slippy snake tongue licking my cheek. This gorgon had a twisted definition of love.

"But all good things must come to an end, and there is nothing that I love more than our-"

Sister Ann's, no, the gorgon froze. Its eyes and its snakes' eyes were bleeding. A stinking fluid dripped from its mouth, its mere smell stung my eyes. She looked like she was the one poisoned and not me.

I noticed her pupils dilation and saw my own reflection before the life from her eyes was gone. What are those, I thought, as I touched parts of my body that seemed to glow.

I didn't have time to ponder about that. The night wasn't finished yet. The occult leader was still alive, he was already screaming his chants. And he finished it just in time.

"Surrender the Curse of Time you undeserving filthy human!!" He screamed. I had no idea what he meant.

"These guys aren't just a bunch of monsters, they really are psychos", I thought.

I felt my legs starting to respond to my brain. Somehow, I knew that the venom was gone from my system. My life was no longer in danger.

"Why is the Curse not answering my call?! I have been a devout follower! Please! I'm doing it for you!!" The leader screamed. To whom was he pleading, I didn't know.

Prayers were a foreign concept to me. But even I understood that whoever he was praying to, his prayers went unanswered.

"You f***ing lowly human!! How can you receive such a favor?! You don't deserve that gift! I will f***king kill you and take the curse by force from your bloody corpse!" Now he was just screaming insanity.

His transformation wasn't as grand as the others. Only his skin color changed to carmine, and two thick horns sprouted from his head.

"Infernal flame!!" The leader shouted and burst of fires shot out from all over the place. But it couldn't slow down my new found strength. I was faster than earlier.

In an instant, I managed to bridge the distance while dodging all the flames and give him the most regrettable punch I ever delivered.

"HAHAHA! You think you're unique?! This is Infernal Flame!! Too bad you ran out of spirit energy to ignite even a spark of your Greek Fire!" He laughed and explained. I still thought it was stupid to explain your trick to your enemy for the sake of bragging.

He was right, though. Try as I might, I couldn't bring out the green flames. His so called Infernal Flame burned my fist. If I hit him with it, or anything with it, I fear my hand would turn from coal to ash.

Flames rained on me again. I had to think of a way to kill this demon. Attacking with fists or feet was not possible, I would get burned to crisp. His nonstop attacks hardly gave me the chance to think.

Until I felt something cold in my body. As I looked to the direction of the cold, I noticed the dark red dagger was still sticking from my gut. Only its blade remained, I imagined its grip was burned. Then I had an epiphany.

"Surrender the Curse to me, boy! Perhaps I would let you live!" The leader shouted but I was busy dodging his attacks and pulling the blade out of my gut. I swear removing it was more painful than when it stabbed me.

"Fool! Everything you do is futile! Even if I don't harvest the Curse from you, when you die it would pass on to someone worthy. And that someone will serve-."

I grew tired of people, or rather monsters monologuing that night. While he talked the hell out, I managed to cut the distance and before he knew it, I was face to face with him, about to deliver him to death.

Using my already burned hand, I gripped the blade tight, cutting my own palm bloody, and stabbed it to the demon's chest. Ignoring the burning and cutting, I made sure the blade was all the way through. When I felt it reach its heart, I twisted it just to be sure, again and again, completely destroying the demon's heart as the monster slowly turned to ashes.