Journey to Become the Zenith

A Promise Beyond Life

His expression returned to its usual calm smile.

"Fine."

"Then I accept your offer."

He gently pulled his hand free before looking toward the unconscious girls once more.

"If you grant me your heart..."

"...body..."

"...and soul..."

"Then I have no problem saving your sisters."

Clara looked into Victor’s golden eyes.

That familiar smile...

It still carried the same infuriating confidence that had always annoyed her.

He looked as though everything in the world was within his grasp.

Normally, she would have argued with him.

She would have called him arrogant.

She would have challenged every word that left his mouth.

Yet today...

That very same smile became the only thing keeping her from falling apart.

As long as Victor was standing there...

As long as he still wore that fearless expression...

A strange sense of security settled inside her heart.

If it’s him...

Maybe... just maybe... everything can still be saved.

She hated herself for thinking that.

She hated how easily he could shake her emotions.

But she couldn’t deny the truth.

Ever since they had spent time together, she had stopped seeing him as merely an arrogant, reckless man.

He infuriated her.

He challenged everything she believed.

Yet among every man she had ever met...

Victor was the first she genuinely wanted to understand.

She wanted to know why he always smiled in the face of impossible odds.

Why he carried burdens without hesitation.

Why he could remain calm while everyone else panicked.

After a long silence, Clara took a slow breath.

"I agree."

"If you’re able to save my sisters..."

"I will give you my everything."

"My heart..."

"My body..."

"...and my soul..."

"...are all yours."

Victor’s smile widened ever so slightly.

"Then the deal has been made."

He crouched beside the unconscious girls.

"Now..."

"...let’s see what we have here."

Carefully, he lifted the elder sister, Kary, into his arms.

Supporting her gently, Victor closed his eyes and guided a thin stream of mana through her body.

His expression gradually became thoughtful.

The flow of mana inside her was unlike anything ordinary mages could perceive.

Dark threads wrapped themselves around every mana pathway.

Each strand pulsed like a living parasite.

"Hmm..."

"This is interesting."

Clara remained completely silent.

She didn’t dare interrupt him.

After several moments, Victor finally opened his eyes.

So that’s how it works...

The curse isn’t meant to kill immediately.

It’s meant to erase reason.

He continued observing.

Then another fluctuation caught his attention.

"Oh..."

"A sleeping spell."

His eyes narrowed.

"So someone intentionally suppressed the curse."

Victor quietly pieced everything together.

The curse was designed to drive the victims into a murderous frenzy.

Once awakened...

They would attack everyone nearby without discrimination.

The sleeping spell prevented that outcome.

But it came with a cruel price.

They would continue sleeping indefinitely.

Only breaking the spell could awaken them.

Unfortunately...

The moment the spell disappeared...

The curse would fully activate.

Victor gently placed Kary back beside her younger sister before turning toward Clara.

"I’ve figured out their current condition."

She immediately looked up.

"What is it?"

"They’re under two different spells."

"The first is a curse."

"The second is a sleeping spell meant to suppress it."

"If I remove the sleeping spell..."

"...they’ll wake up."

He paused.

"...and the curse will immediately take control."

"They’ll try to kill everyone around them."

Clara instinctively looked toward the lifeless body of her mother.

Someone...

Had protected them.

Victor quietly followed her gaze.

His eyes rested upon the elderly woman’s body.

A thought crossed his mind.

Without another word, he walked over and knelt beside her.

His fingers hovered just above her forehead.

A faint stream of mana flowed into the corpse.

Several moments later...

Victor’s eyes widened slightly.

"Oh..."

"Interesting."

Clara looked toward him.

"What is it?"

Victor slowly stood.

"Did you know..."

"...your mother has been cursed for several years?"

Clara froze.

"...What?"

"I said..."

"...your mother was cursed."

"Although she’s already dead..."

"And she managed to break free through sheer will..."

"I can still sense traces of the curse."

He looked at the old woman’s peaceful face.

"Normally..."

"When someone breaks free from a curse..."

"The lingering traces disappear completely."

"The only explanation..."

"...is that this curse remained attached to her for years."

Clara’s breathing became uneven.

Her hands slowly curled into fists.

Her entire body trembled.

"What..."

"...kind of curse?"

Victor examined the body once more.

"There were three."

"The first robbed her of her voice."

"It made her unable to speak."

"The second continuously drained her mana."

"No matter how much she recovered..."

"...it was constantly stolen."

"The third..."

Victor looked at Clara.

"...forced her into an endless dream."

"She remained conscious..."

"But could only see the illusion created by the caster."

"Everything she believed she experienced..."

"...was controlled by someone else."

The room became completely silent.

Clara bit her lip so hard that blood trickled down her chin.

Her vision blurred.

Her mother...

The woman she had misunderstood for years...

Had never abandoned them.

She had been trapped.

Unable to speak.

Unable to fight.

Unable to tell her own daughter the truth.

Clara’s legs gave way.

She collapsed beside her mother’s body.

"...Mom..."

Tears streamed uncontrollably down her face.

"I..."

"I’m sorry..."

"I’m so sorry..."

"I called you weak..."

"I hated you..."

"I thought..."

"...I thought you stopped caring..."

She covered her face.

A cry escaped her lips.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

The heartbreaking scream echoed throughout the broken house.

Victor quietly watched.

In the past...

Such emotions would have been meaningless to him.

But after living among humans...

He finally understood.

Not completely.

But enough.

Enough to recognize unbearable regret when he saw it.

Without disturbing her, he returned to examining the curse affecting the sisters.

Time quietly passed.

...

Still kneeling before her mother’s cold body, Clara slowly lowered her forehead until it touched the cold wooden floor.

"I’m sorry..."

"...I’m so... so.... sorry..."

"...for being such a worthless daughter..."

Her voice cracked with every word.

For many years...

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