Once Lethe confirmed that the Wheel of Reversal could not be dismantled, he stopped pursuing the matter entirely and shifted his attention elsewhere.

No matter what, the Five Curses undeniably contained the greatest power in the Sorcerer World.

That much was fact.

The Five Curses referred to Risei’s five inheritances.

The Life Eye, Death Eye, Curse Hand, Rite Hand, and Origin Heart.

Together, they were known as the Five Curses.

If someone could gather all five, then with that power, they could stand above the entire Sorcerer World.

Conquering the world itself would no longer be impossible.

That was Lethe’s plan.

If it succeeded, both he and the Black Flag Guild would gain an enormous amount of Interference Value.

And for that goal, after years of planning, their operation had finally reached a major breakthrough.

Using his influence among the Sorcerer World’s upper ranks, Lethe had successfully secured the inheritance rights to Curse Hand for his clan.

That allowed him to obtain Curse Hand itself.

At least all those years of effort had not been wasted.

A single clan could inherit at most one of the Five Curses.

And none of them could keep it permanently.

Once the current Curse Hand bearer died, the inheritance would pass to another clan.

Which meant Lethe had very limited time.

As long as Curse Hand remained under his control, he needed to use its power to seize the other inheritances and gather all Five Curses for himself.

Of course, believing that Curse Hand alone was enough to manipulate the entire Sorcerer World would have been laughably naive.

The Sorcerer World’s leadership were not idiots.

They were old monsters who had survived countless schemes and power struggles.

There was no way they would let Lethe’s ambitions succeed easily.

That was why he needed something even stronger.

As Black Flag Guild’s representative, Lethe had maintained secret contact with the Cursed Spirit faction for years.

He was effectively the biggest traitor among the Sorcerer World’s upper echelon. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

His relationship with Mordren had always been one of mutual benefit.

Each side using the other.

Unfortunately, Mordren had terrible luck and died too early.

Otherwise, he would have lived to witness the masterpiece he helped create.

When it came to the strongest figure in the Sorcerer World’s history, only one name stood completely beyond dispute.

Fenrir.

This monstrous being had blazed across history like a blood soaked comet.

He alone had nearly exterminated every Sorcerer of his era and almost erased the Sorcerer World from existence.

Even Risei herself had fallen to him in battle.

Forced to surrender the title of strongest Sorcerer.

The massive extermination campaign launched against him had ultimately ended in total failure.

By himself, Fenrir had stood above the entire world a thousand years ago.

Even though he later disappeared for unknown reasons, those achievements remained permanently recorded in history.

Without question, he was the strongest being the Sorcerer World had ever produced.

Lethe formed another hand seal.

Buzz.

The ritual released waves of Cursed Energy.

The shrine at the center gradually began trembling.

Cracks spread across the wolf faced deity statue housed within it.

An immense flood of negative emotional energy burst outward.

This shrine was called the Idol of the Demon God.

A highly unusual Special Grade Cursed Tool.

By absorbing enormous quantities of negative emotion, it could gradually recreate the Cursed Spirit being worshipped within it.

Since Fenrir possessed half Cursed Spirit blood, the Idol of the Demon God could theoretically recreate him entirely.

That was why Mordren had once possessed the confidence to overthrow the Sorcerer World.

Unfortunately, Fenrir’s strength far exceeded all expectations.

Mordren had originally estimated the process would only require around two years.

Yet even after Mordren died, the Idol of the Demon God continued devouring negative emotions endlessly like a bottomless abyss.

After Mordren’s death, the Special Grade Cursed Tool naturally fell into Lethe’s hands.

And as one of the Sorcerer World’s leaders, Lethe understood Fenrir’s true terror even better than Mordren did.

How could he possibly resist coveting that power?

Now, at long last, the Idol of the Demon God had absorbed enough negative emotion.

Lethe’s eyes burned with excitement.

The ritual finally completed.

Boom!

The Idol of the Demon God shattered into countless fragments.

A vicious black aura overflowing with slaughter and bloodlust erupted from within.

It rapidly condensed into the figure of a man with the face of a feral wolf and a wildly arrogant expression.

"Hahahahaha!"

His laughter echoed throughout the chamber.

Fenrir greedily inhaled the atmosphere of this new era.

"So this is the world a thousand years later? Hah. Being alive again feels pretty damn good."

The pressure from his Cursed Energy was so overwhelming the air itself seemed frozen solid.

Even Lethe, a top tier Grade One Sorcerer, felt suffocated just standing nearby.

Cold sweat instantly poured down his face.

His body trembled instinctively in fear.

Yet his expression only grew more excited.

Crunch.

After venting his exhilaration, Fenrir casually crushed the shattered shrine beneath his feet.

Then he sensed the condition of his own body and frowned.

"Only ten percent of my original power restored? That’s fucking annoying."

Then his gaze shifted.

Toward Lethe.

"You..."

Fenrir looked at the kneeling man overseeing the ritual.

Despite the crushing pressure, Lethe forced himself to remain respectful.

"Lord Fenrir..."

Before he could finish, Fenrir sneered.

"Trash like you should die."

He showed absolutely no gratitude for being resurrected.

The instant he moved, he intended to crush Lethe on the spot.

His brutal personality remained exactly the same as it had a thousand years ago.

Violent.

Bloodthirsty.

Buzz.

Cursed Energy surged.

Lethe’s expression changed dramatically.

Just as Fenrir prepared to activate his technique, Lethe suddenly opened his mouth wide.

Fenrir’s eyes narrowed in surprise.

A human arm extended out from Lethe’s throat.

Instantly, Fenrir’s body froze.

The Cursed Energy inside him stopped flowing.

His technique was forcibly interrupted.

Black Cursed Energy spread from the arm emerging from Lethe’s throat and wrapped itself around Fenrir’s body.

One of the Five Curses.

Curse Hand.

Its technique allowed the user to forcibly establish a Binding Technique with any Cursed Spirit and control them.

Since Fenrir was half Cursed Spirit himself, Curse Hand worked on him as well.

Of course, Lethe himself was not the actual inheritor of Curse Hand.

The Five Curses were passed down at birth.

If you were not born with one, you could never acquire it later.

There was no such thing as forcibly transplanting it.

The inheritance system itself was tied directly to Risei’s soul.

If disturbed improperly, the Five Curses would immediately seek out new successors on their own.

Extremely cautious.

All Lethe had done was hide the true Curse Hand inheritor from his clan inside his own body using Sorcery.

Whenever needed, he simply had that person activate Curse Hand’s technique from within him.

"Risei!"

The instant he sensed that familiar aura, Fenrir’s expression darkened.

He was not the type to respect worthy opponents.

To put it simply, Fenrir was incredibly petty.

A thousand years ago, Risei had led the entire Sorcerer World against him during the extermination war.

His feelings toward her contained nothing except pure killing intent.

And now, immediately after returning in this new era, he had unexpectedly been blindsided by one of her tricks again.

Fenrir exploded with rage on the spot.