Crush!
“No!” I screamed as the Grimm crushed the red gem; the humans watched in horror as the old snake and other Grimms grinned.
“Now, there is no one who could save you, humans; you all will die,” Said the old snake with a laugh as it opened the fist, and red rust flew out of it, disappearing into the sky soon after.
There is no use collecting the dust; it is a trigger; it had done its job, and now it is time for the curse to do it.
Old snake and the other Grimms Grand Lords watched the humans in anticipation, wanting to see their screams as they were consumed by the curse, but as the seconds passed, nothing happened, and doubts began to flash into their eyes as they looked at the old snake.
The old snake slowly moved its neck and looked at me with shock, horror, and questions on its face.
“What did you do?” It asked with gritted teeth as it saw my expression easing up and a small smile appearing on my face.
“Me? I did not do anything; it is likely that gem of yours didn’t work,” I said back dramatically as it accused me of the great crime.
The old snake just looked at me without saying anything, but the emotions in its eyes roared, and its whole body began to shake, that I even felt fear.
“It is me, alright; I did it,” I confessed guiltily as I put my hands up, but instead of making it happy, the rage in its eyes had exploded further. “It should not have been possible; given the level of the curse, you could not interfere with it, especially in such a short time,” shouted the old, refusing to believe.
Hearing that, all the dramatic expressions on my face vanished, and a mocking smile appeared on my face. “Don’t compare yourself with me, old snake; you could not do it, does not mean I could not do it,” I said with the self-confidence that is not fake.
What I did was the easiest thing; I covered all of them with an interference barrier; with it, no signal could be passed through it other than the ones I have approved of.
“So, what? The curse is still inside them, and it is spreading; it won’t be long before the curse spreads fully and consume them,” said the after seconds of silence, gaining back some of the confidence that it had lost earlier.
“Hehe, didn’t you notice?” I asked with a laugh, “Notice what?” It asked back, voice full of doubt as it whipped its head toward the human, and a second later, its expression have changed drastically, as if it had finally noticed the change.
“How?”
It was the only thing it could ask; I could tell it wanted to ask more, but it could now let them out.
“It’s a secret,” I said with a smile.
What I did is quite difficult, and measure that will only last about an hour before I will have to find a way to reinforce that measure or find a completely different way; my clones are working on that.
As for how I did it, it is very easy to understand; I fooled the curse, made my seed the hosts fully, and made it spread through the fake pathways, but as I had said, it is only temporary. The curse made by an old snake is dangerous and intelligent in its own way; it won’t be fooled forever.
Hun!
The old snake looked at me for more than a minute before its powerful aura came back in all fury, and I readied my defenses for its attack, but the attack did not come; instead, it just kept looking at me without saying anything.
“Retreat!”
Said the old snake, surprising me and the rest of the humans and the Grimms, before fading away; the Grimms looked unwilling, which is understandable as they never had the edge on humans as they are right now, but they have followed; the old snake into retreating.
“Let’s leave,” I said to the Grand Commander and others as mobile teleportation formation came out of my hand; it had instantly stabilized the space and opened the gate.
“It’s hard to believe the Grimms had left; I thought this would be my last day,” said Rai as he appeared beside me before stepping into the gate smoothly.
It was Patriarch Bradford next, before Lord Singh and Grand Commander; the last among them was Silas Bishop, who nodded at me before he stepped inside; with everyone left, I also stepped into the gate, and the formation disappeared behind me.
The retreat of Grimms is only temporary; they will be back soon, very soon, and with more force, we will need to be ready to deal with, without curse lagging us behind.
Next second, I appeared in the pyramid with the rest; it is a medical bay, where everything is prepared, just as I had asked him to.
He is also there, along with healers, including Grandmistress Charline; all of them are projection of course. Even after controlling the curse, it is still quite dangerous, even if the tiny leakage seeped into them, they would die within a minute.
Only Grand Lords or those with that power, could defend against mist, and even then, they bear the risk.
“Lord Zaar, I can’t thank you enough for your timely recue; if it not for you, we would have been burning our life essence to take a few Grimms with us,” said Patriarch Bradford; I thought for a moment, before I shook my head at that.
“It wouldn’t have worked Patriarch; the old snake had been very crafty when designing the curse. Those of you with Inheritance wouldn’t have been able to burn your life-essence at all and those with bloodline, wouldn’t have bene able to harness more than 25% power from it,” I informed.
“Bastard!” cursed Rai, before the expressions of everyone became serious as they looked at me.
“Do you have any way to deal with it?” asked Supreme Commander; they have changed her designation. “Not permanent eradication, but I have some ideas about temporary relief,” I said with a sigh.
“That is more than good enough,” said Patriarch Bradford with a smile.
“Everyone, please lie down on the med-beds,” I said and turned to Grandmistress Charline, “Thank you, Grandmistress; without the data you and teacher have provided, I wouldn’t have been able to save the Grand Lords,” I said to old women.
‘It is quite a regret that I was not able to find a way deal with the curse,’ she signed quickly; “Don’t worry, we will find it together,” I said and turned toward the rest of the healers, but did not find the face, I was looking for.
“Where is teacher?” I asked and immediately, a faint change appeared in their expressions, and my eyes sharpened immediately; it made a couple of people shudder visibly.
“She is safe,” said Supreme Commander, as I had just opened her mouth to speak. “She said she will meet you, after you have done with the Grand Lords,” added Grandmistress Charline.
A frown appeared on my face, but it eased a second later; I have known Grandmistress Charline known long enough to trust her words.
It is without a doubt, there is something going on, and I wanted to go to marina immediately, but I could not. I have to heal the Grand Lords; that is most important, more important than me or marina as the fate of the whole race depends on them.