Chapter 17: Meeting The Curse's Caster
The Queen sat on a chair, her eyes closed, most of her body was covered in purple veins, and she seemed asleep.
"Did she come here to die like this?"
"How far will she to go to maintain her dignity as the Tyrant?"
"It's because you do things like this that you've made enemies everywhere!"
She must've been in terrible pain.
Nonetheless, her expression remained stone cold.
It irritated Paul.
"If it's going to be like this, I would rather kill you with my own hands."
He was thankful that Clara wasn't here.
Because she would've definitely stopped him.
Even the reason Clara casted the curse was because Paul persuaded her.
Paul threw Neo's corpse aside and pulled out his sword.
He approached the Queen.
His arms shook and his breathing became ragged.
He could not help but worry if the Queen would wake up.
While his complete focus on the Queen, Neo's corpse moved.
The injury on his neck rapidly healed and he opened his eyes.
As he woke up, he realized 40% of his Divine Energy was used to heal his body before his soul was revived.
"What a shitty skill."
Paul snapped his head towards his back when he heard the voice.
Before he could see Neo, Neo used Necrotic Touch and grabbed his face.
Black ink dripped from Neo's hand after he applied three stacks.
"You're alive!?"
Paul, his face covered in black ink, jumped back, dumbfounded.
He could clearly remember the sensation of Neo's cold corpse.
"H-how? Are you an illusion created by the Queen?"
Neo did not respond.
He stared at him with cold eyes.
In truth, Neo was in a daze.
Using three stacks of Necrotic Touch used another 30% of his Divine Energy, leaving him only 30% of the total energy reserves.
He was anemic after burning so much God Blood.
Slightly out of it, he looked at the room.
The Queen, asleep, was resting on the chair, he stood near the wall, and it was dark outside.
The only enemy inside the room was Paul.
"You! Why aren't you responding!?"
Paul pounced on Neo.
Just as his sword was about to hit him, Neo activated the Spell.
The dark ink on Paul's face seeped into his skin and began to devour his life span.
"Arghghgh!!! What is this!!! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts!"
Unlike the Gulwaks, Paul's body did not shatter, and he seemed to be under immense pain.
Was it because he was a living soul?
Neo watched him calmly.
He did not like torturing people but there was no need to show sympathy for those who killed him.
"Now, how do I call your sister? If I remember correctly, both of you have an artifact that tells you if the other's life is in danger."
As soon as Neo finished his words, his death affinity reacted.
An overwhelming amount of danger was coming at him.
He didn't dodge.
The wall next to him broke as a hand came through it and grabbed his neck.
"What did you do to him?" Clara questioned, enraged.
She walked through the wall as if it was made of paper.
"Answer me," she spoke in a icy voice.
Orbs of liquid metal materialized in the room.
The transformed into weapons aimed at Neo.
Neo, unaffected by intimidation, grabbed her arm and applied two stacks of Necrotic Touch.
…!!!
Clara sensed something was wrong and hurriedly threw him away.
He crashed through the broken wall.
"This is…?"
Clara noticed the black markings on her hand.
Her face hardened as she recalled Neo's "curse ability".
She could feel her life span draining at a snail's pace.
It was not dangerous for her, but it could kill Paul, an Awakened Demigod, within a week, and Paul had a stronger curse cast on him.
Neo did not stand up.
He remained lying on the wall's rubble and stared at the roof in a daze.
"It's a Death Mark," he explained. "Once that appears on your body, you will die, no questions asked."
Clara clenched her teeth.
Her brother's blood curling scream filled her with despair and anger.
Desperate to stop Neo, she stabbed a sword into his leg and twisted it.
"Release the curse on my brother or…"
Her words were struck in her throats.
She thought Neo would scream or cry from the pain, just like her brother, but he stared at her with a calm, unmoving gaze.
"I told you," he spoke unhurriedly. "I'm Immortal."
"…!?"
"Death threats or torture wouldn't work on me."
In panic, Clara forgot Neo was supposed to be dead.
Her face went under countless changes when she realized he was actually immortal.
While Clara was frozen, Neo stood up and approached the table with a limp.
He sat with a thump before he prepared the tea cups.
"Where are the tea leaves?"
He opened the tea pot.
"Clara, can you get me some tea leaves? They should be in the cabinet."
"What?"
"Tea leaves. In the cabinet."
"....Why are you so calm in the current situation?" Her face twisted into a grimace.
"…? What's wrong with getting snacks? I'm parched and hungry."
The queen was halfway through the door of death, her brother was screaming in pain, dozens of weapons were aimed at him, and his leg was bleeding.
He wanted snacks in this situation?
"Crazy bastard."
"Just get me the tea leaves. It's not like you can kill me."
Clara knew that.
Only the curse's caster could do something about the curse.
If she wanted to save Paul, she had to listen to him.
Of course, it was a lie woven by Neo.
Necrotic Touch, a Magic Spell, would disappear after his death.
It would not linger like a curse.
Neo took the tea leaves Clara brought and started making a tea.
"Sit," he said.
Both of them stayed silent after she heeded his words.
Clara was furiously thinking of a way to save her brother, while Neo was appreciating Clara.
When she attacked him, although enraged, she used a non-lethal attack, and did not dare to kill him before she confirmed her brother's safety.
Unluckily for her, her actions worked against her.
"What do you want?"
She asked as Neo calmly sipped the tea.
"And stop… please, my brother is in pain."
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone