The Strongest Curse Master

"ROAR!"

A deafening scream ripped through the air, loud enough to drown out an atomic explosion. The sheer force of it shattered every glass window within a couple-mile radius.

Ace barely managed to stay conscious as the shockwave hit him. His eardrums somehow survived, but the ringing in his head was so intense it felt like someone was driving nails into his skull.

Gritting his teeth, he forced himself forward, stepping past Delores. His balance wavered, his legs threatening to give out beneath him. But his vision remained clear—unfortunately.

Because what he saw made his stomach drop.

As he had expected, his mischief bullet had taken out multiple Curselings, including a couple of Sky-Tiers. But the moment their curse cores dropped, the surrounding Curselings went feral, tearing into each other in a frenzied battle over the fallen cores.

For a brief, fleeting second, Ace thought they might wipe themselves out before they could even reach the C.I.B. headquarters.

Then, it appeared.

From within the dark clouds, a monstrous Curseling slithered into view—a serpentine monstrosity spanning an entire mile. But it wasn’t just a massive snake. Its head was wrong. It resembled a lion’s, with silky mane, piercing eyes, and long, wispy whiskers but scaly skin like a reptile.

With a single thunderous roar, it silenced the chaos below. Every Curseling instantly fell in line, abandoning their fight for the curse cores. Then, just as quickly as it had appeared, the Curseling vanished back into the clouds—like it had never existed.

Ace swallowed hard, realizing that a Void-Tier curseling was leading this nest of Curselings.

"Ace—" Delores’ voice cut through the tension. She turned to him, her expression a storm of frustration and disbelief. She thought this was the perfect opportunity to lecture him on the consequences of his recklessness—but before she could get another word out, Ace spun on his heels, eyes glowing with an unsettling mix of excitement and madness.

"Delores," he said, voice brimming with barely contained energy, "do you want to hunt a Void-Tier Curseling with me?"

Her face twisted in sheer horror, causing her to shout in response, "Are you fucking out of your mind?!"

"Yes," Ace grinned, completely unfazed. "And I think you are, too." He took a step closer, lowering his voice. "You trust me, right?"

Despite every single signal she had been giving him that she was done with his antics, his confidence in persuading her hadn’t wavered one bit.

And that infuriated her to her core. However, before she could act on the very intrusive thoughts flooding her mind, Ace suddenly leaped onto her board, completely ignoring her rising temper. Without missing a beat, he shoved a handful of yellow paper consumable curse tools into her hand.

"They’re substitution talismans," he said, grinning like an idiot. "We just need to stick them onto objects equal to our weight every mile before we hunt the void-tier curselin—"

*SLAP*

Ace never got to finish that sentence as he was interrupted by Delore’s slap.

Delores backhanded him so hard that he was launched off her board, spiraling through the air like a ragdoll. He crashed into the ground with a sickening thud, skidding across the pavement before rolling six full rotations—only to come to a brutal stop as he slammed face-first into a concrete wall.

She hovered above him, arms crossed, staring down like a disappointed parent. "Are you finally awake?" she asked, her voice dripping with frustration. "Because if not, I’ve got plenty more of those locked and loaded."

Ace groaned, barely managing to push himself up, his vision spinning. He was very angry and made sure Delores knew, "You ungrateful bitch! I was willing to share the glory of killing a Void-Tier with you—"

*SLAP*

Once again, Delores struck without hesitation. This time, her slap sent him soaring across the terrace like a human frisbee.

Ace wheezed as he hit the ground, rolling onto his back. For a moment, he just lay there, staring at the sky. One would think he was questioning every life decision that had led to this moment when actually he was thinking of words to persuade Delores to help him hunt the Void-tier curseling.

Then, with a pained groan, he dragged himself up—this time, gripping his cursed clout in his free hand for insurance. His other hand clutched the rail rifle.

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Glaring at Delores, he let out an exasperated yell, "At least let me finish before slapping me agai—"

*SLAP*

Delores had been on the lookout for his dirty rag-shaped curse tool and had been watching Ace closely, anticipating the exact moment he tried to use it. So before he even finished his sentence, before his Mortal-tier brain could process what was happening, she smacked him so hard he went flying across the terrace, his body flipping through the air like a ragdoll. He didn’t even get the chance to use his cursed cloth.

Delores hovered over his sprawled-out form, arms crossed. Without a shred of sympathy for the latter, she asked, "You alive?"

Ace groaned, barely lifting his head. "You bitch—"

But before he could get up and curse her out properly, his face froze in sheer terror.

"LOOK OUT!" he screamed.

"What?!" Delores snapped, completely unaware of the horror looming above her.

In a desperate move, Ace grabbed her by the ankle after shoving his Rail Rifle into Emi’s toy space and then activated his cursed clout’s shadow-folding ability, vanishing from the terrace and hurling both of them off the building.

The very next second, the Void-tier Curseling came crashing down from the clouds, its massive jaws stretching wide open. With a single gulp, it swallowed the entire building whole and circled back into the cloud in a slow, deliberate motion with a bulging belly.

Ace, Delores, and her board, caught in free fall, watched the nightmare unfold. As the building vanished into the monster’s maw, their eyes wide with unfiltered terror.

"Delores, hurry!" Ace yelled, still gripping her ankle like his life depended on it—which, at this point, it did.

Snapping out of her shock, Delores willed her innate curse tool to life. In a blink, she was back on her board, gripping Ace as they sped away, running for their lives.

"FUCK!" Ace shouted, in Delores’s embrace. The realization hit him—he had gone from hunter to prey in a matter of seconds. If Delores had just worked with him instead of slapping him around, they could’ve been ready for this. They could’ve given the damn thing a fight if not kill it.

Delores, entirely ignoring Ace’s frustration, poured everything into her speed. She pushed hard, bolting out of the city, banking on one hope: That the Void-tier Curseling was more interested in seeing its primary objective, the C.I.B. headquarters, through than chasing them.

And she was right. The Curseling didn’t chase them. But then Ace suddenly yelled, "CIRCLE BACK!"