A/N - So half this chapter is information about this world's past - how the CURSE MAGIC works? what was THE LAST WAR? what is the EMERGENCE of portals/monsters? etc etc. ----- but don't skip it CUZ IT'S NECESSARY.

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Artemis felt her heart at peace as she looked at her son sleeping peacefully. She was glad that they could identify the curse and stop it before it affected her son's brain.

Curses like these weren't deadly but they were the most feared, cause they can change a person's personality and affect his mental state, since Andreas removed the curse and her son wasn't feeling any aftereffects - she was glad.

Now she was wondering about how someone could place a powerful curse like this on her son without getting detected. As Andreas speculated that the curse was placed on him for a long time and she agreed too.

Curses are a type of magic practice where to get the desired result , you have to constantly supply the mark with mana.

That's why curses only work on awakened people. Cause After a person is awakened their body will always retain a little amount of mana even if they exhaust themselves completely.

So placing a curse on a non-awakened human was a difficult task in itself.

Someone had to constantly supply the required amount of mana at regular intervals into the cursed person's body for the curse to work properly and not kill the person directly. And they had to do that while avoiding detrction of cursed mana from everyone in the mansion.

*** World info dump***

The CURSED MANA is what demons were said to be using in the last war. Evil's Scion somehow found a way to utilize it by putting it in spells or marks and thus curse magic was born.

It may sound simple but it was a near impossible feat at the beginning cause cursed mana isn't suitable for humans or any other races except demons. Curse mana can simply damage or deal direct death to anyone after coming in contact with other types of mana.

That's why it was called the bane of every other type of mana.This was also the reason why demons though far less in numbers, were feared throughout the world and why everyone united to fight against them in what is now called - THE LAST WAR.

Even God Apollo himself couldn't kill The Demon King Ditail and chose to seal him , though that might be a speculation as records pertaining to the details of The Last War were erased soon after.magic

After the Last war ended and God Apollo left the world again.

The world was enjoying a brief amount of peace but then came another challenge that threatened not only the existence of their race but the world as a whole - THE EMERGENCE.

Portals and spacial cracks started appearing around the world and with that many different kinds of towers and dungeons and monsters came too.

Many believed that when God Apollo chose to seal Demon King Ditail in a different realm. It broke the balance of the universe and different planes started merging into one.

During that time humanity nearly lost everything but with every curse comes blessing too. As new monsters appeared - so came new races too.

With the different knowledge those races possessed and powers that humans amassed in their home planet Arcadia - everyone started to stand together and fight against rampaging monsters.

After many years of relentless battle and uncountable sacrifices on both sides - we won. Monsters were pushed back into their towers or some uninhabited places and sealed there.

The fight against a common enemy not only helped everyone to put aside the difference between their races and way of living but it also helped everyone to understand each other and helped usher in a new era of peace.

At the beginning there were still some skirmishes and fights between different races for hierarchy but with the constant threat of monsters and dungeons which could open anywhere - they all agreed to put aside their differences and help each other when needed.

After that every race chose their ideal places to stay on Arcadia and coordinated with each other to maintain the balance.

*** Back to Story***

That's why Artemis and Agnus were shocked to learn Rio was cursed at first.

Cause that meant that someone from Evil's Scion had infiltrated the mansion or someone was actively helping them.

It would have taken a long time to put the curse and maintain it to hide beneath everyone's eyes.

Artemis started to suspect everyone in the mansion who's been in constant contact with Rio for the past years.

Every guard, every maid, his butlers, his shadows - she doubted everyone.

And that's why she didn't want to leave Rio alone for a second with anyone. She didn't want to take a chance again and regret later if something happened to him.

Yesterday night she had already ordered to capture every person who was a suspect in her eyes - and currently they were all held captive in prison, if someone resisted or asked too many questions - they were to be killed on the spot.

She knew many of them were innocent and were loyal to the Duchy, but when the choice was between her son's life and some stranger's - she chose her son without a second thought or any guilt.

She was only waiting for Rio to wake up once so she could go and deal with them appropriately without constantly worrying about his safety.

While Artemis was cleaning up the mansion for any traitors, Duke Agnus wasn't just sitting back.

He had ordered all the Shade guild members to search throughout Damascus city and kill anyone who is found associated with Evil's Scion.

The blood that flowed that night on Damascus city's roads was something that had never happened in the past 1000 years.

The bloodshed wasn't only limited at Damascus, as one of 3 Duke's selected by the Royal Family and one of the humanity's pillars against the constant stampede in towers - the support Agnus Blake had was massive.

Many others joined the hunt for Evil's Scion in their own territories to either get the support of Duke or to just eradicate any possible future troubles due to this common enemy.

In only one night while Rio was sleeping peacefully in darkness, the outside world was thrown in chaos.

A/N :- So what do u think - how was it.

Character arts are poster as auxiliary chapter so check it out.