I walked silently to my room.

Sitting on the bed, I glanced up at the ceiling, then silently... whispered through my teeth.

’Greta...’

Initially, when I’d transmigrated to this world...

My thoughts paused there as I quickly bent low and rummaged through the drawer ahead.

WYATT. ZOROS. GRETA. AZATOTH. GREAM

Reading through the words my predecessor had written, I couldn’t help drawing a sharp breath.

It was still the same words as before... 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

My eyes landed on ’Greta...’

One of the entities who had taken part in cursing him.

I glanced down at my arm, where the eye still stared back at me like a curse.

Despite all the increase to my strength, along with everything else, it remained ever present.

’To think it’s from such a high-ranked cursed gate...’

The thought that my predecessor could come in contact with an entity on that level was enough to shake me to my core.

Even so, I kept my calm.

’I can still handle it... for now, father and the others can deal with everything.’

I truly believed it wouldn’t be long before I gained enough strength to eliminate them and drive away the curse.

With that in mind, I stood up and paced around slightly, then closed my eyes.

Gradually... my eyes turned blood red, the Hades’ Eyes activating as my whole room slipped into an illusion domain.

The bed, cupboard, wardrobe, and everything else turned into wisps of smoke and dissolved.

Then, silently, silhouettes began appearing.

Some wielded spears, others axes. Some were fully clad, while others flickered in and out of existence with lightning crawling across them. A wave of spatial distortion wrapped around their forms.

By simulating my sister’s strength and multiplying it many times over, I’d created clones of what I believed to be ’cursed expert’ level fighters.

I wanted to explore my strength without relying on the illusion eyes.

After all, I knew it wasn’t omnipotent, no matter how far I’d pushed it so far.

A sword coalesced in my grasp as I ordered the shadows to begin attacking.

Instantly, all sorts of attacks rained down on me.

It was all within my control, so it stayed within an acceptable range.

Storms, lightning, distortions of space and everything else came crashing toward me.

Calmly, a blur of shadow and motion appeared.

Calmly, a blur of shadow and motion appeared.

I stepped forward instead of retreating, letting the storm I had created close in around me.

A spear drove toward my throat, fast enough to blur. I watched it come, then shifted its angle just enough that it slipped past my neck, grazing the air beside me. At the same time, the axe behind it descended with crushing weight. I didn’t avoid it immediately. I let it fall, waited until the last possible moment, then moved.

The timing was off.

Not mine.

Theirs.

I adjusted it.

The next exchange flowed smoother.

Steel met steel for a brief instant before my blade slipped through a gap that hadn’t existed a moment ago. One silhouette collapsed, but the others closed in without pause, their movements already changing, adapting under my control.

Faster.

Closer.

More precise.

A flicker of lightning arced toward my side. I let it come, studying the rhythm behind it, then stepped through the strike as if it had always been meant to miss.

Still not enough.

A quiet breath left my lips.

"Dragon Flame... Cursed Art."

The words were little more than a murmur, yet the response was immediate.

A dark crimson flame gathered along the edge of my sword, not wild or explosive, but tightly coiled, like something restrained. The heat didn’t spread into the room. It remained contained, pressed into the blade until even the air around it began to distort.

I moved.

The swing was simple.

The result wasn’t.

The silhouette in front of me didn’t break apart or get pushed back. The flame passed through it in silence, and for a brief moment, nothing happened.

Then its body split cleanly, the edges blackened as if the fire had burned through something deeper than form.

I didn’t stop to look.

The domain shifted again under my will, feeding the remaining silhouettes sharper reactions. One of them mirrored my stance almost perfectly, its blade rising in sync with mine, its timing just a fraction behind.

I corrected that too.

Now it matched me.

Good.

I stepped in, and our blades met.

For a brief instant, the exchange felt... balanced.

Then I broke it.

"Illusory Blade... Cursed Art."

The sword in my hand didn’t change, not in any obvious way. Yet when I moved, the strike didn’t come alone.

There was a second edge.

A third.

Not separate, not real in the usual sense, but layered over the original motion so seamlessly that even I could feel the difference.

The silhouette tried to parry.

It blocked one strike.

The others passed through.

It froze for a moment, as if unsure what had happened, before its body came apart along several clean lines.

I exhaled slowly, the faint pressure building behind my eyes ignored.

So it worked.

Not imitation.

Not memory.

Construction.

The realization settled quietly, without excitement.

If Dragon Flame could be shaped—

Then there was no reason to stop there.

The next wave came immediately, faster than before, their attacks overlapping in a way that left almost no space to move.

I didn’t step back.

"Void Step... Cursed Art."

The ground beneath me seemed to thin, and the distance between one step and the next simply... ceased to matter.

I moved forward.

And arrived.

One moment I stood outside their range.

The next, I was already inside it.

My blade passed through one, then another, the motion smooth, uninterrupted, as if the space between them had never existed to begin with.

The remaining silhouettes adjusted again, their patterns tightening, their reactions sharpening under my control.

I let them.

Watched them.

Then shifted slightly, just enough to throw their footing off by a fraction.

"Gravebind... Cursed Art."

The shadows beneath them stirred, subtle but precise, dragging at their movement at the exact moment they committed to their strikes.

It was enough.

It was always enough.

My sword moved once.

Then again.

By the time the motion ended, nothing remained in front of me.

The domain grew quiet.

I stood there for a moment, steady, breathing even, the faint glow in my eyes dimming slightly as the pressure eased.

There was no need to rush.

No need to force anything further.

I already understood.

Cursed arts weren’t something I had to learn.

They were something I could define.

As long as I could see it clearly enough...

As long as I could shape it without hesitation...

Then the result would follow.

The space around me stirred once more as new silhouettes began to form, denser than before, their presence closer to something real.

I raised my sword slightly.

And stepped forward again.

The blur of sword and motion continued ringing out incessantly.

My illusions and I clashed against each other countless times, neither side gaining the upper hand.

As soon as I got even a little better than the clones, I created more to maintain the pressure.

At this point, all sorts of cursed arts had been displayed.

Ones I didn’t know even existed in this world, and ones I figured already did.

The battle soon became overwhelming, and before I could realize it...

Shink!

A sword pierced through my arm.

At this moment, more than a hundred clones encircled me.

More than twenty were within inches of me. Their postures were taut and precise, positioned so they weren’t clustered or getting in each other’s way.

My control had been so exact that I’d accidentally created a monster... and that monster was now trying to kill me.

Six blades curved upward, targeting my head as my weakness.

Six more aimed at my lower body, ensuring I stayed in place even if I blocked.

At the same time, four thrust straight for my head, and four more came for my back.

From a few meters away, cursed arts bloomed into motion, all aimed at claiming my life.

The air burned red, streaked with pale blue light.

Naturally, I had input the thought that every one of them was disposable, so they took advantage of that to bury me under the assault from the front attackers.

Good...

This was exactly the pressure I wanted.

It reminded me I wasn’t invincible. Not yet.

My hand moved in rapid succession.

Illusory sword art.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

My blade flashed, cleaving away every attack aimed at me.

I was striking multiple times within a breath, my movements pushing to their limit.

And with my cursed nebula physique, I adapted to every motion almost instantly.

I laughed wildly.

’Bring it on!’

Clang! Clang! Clang!

At this point, our movements were barely visible as we clashed again and again.

Gradually, a shadowy blur formed, and in an instant, more than fifty clones were severed.

Swoosh! They dispersed, only to reform in double the number.

The battle raged on until a soft knock at the door broke through the noise.

Author’s note: One Chapter today, three tomorrow. I have a serious exam, so I need to read, sorry. I tried to make it long enough. Also, it’s finally time for the mother and son duo to be intimate!