Once the two warriors blocking the way had fallen, the legion of ants began to surge mindlessly forward once more. They trampled over the corpses of their brethren, free from any desire for revenge against the powerful warriors responsible.
It was a sprawling and dispassionate march of war. Homura felt cold shivers run down her back.
“Forgive me, I seem to have acquired a curse…,” Falmeyr said, still spitting out blood.
“Damn. This is no normal curse, either.”
Psycho had a hand pressed against Falmeyr’s chest and was inspecting her soul. The priests waiting on the wall-walk had rushed over as well and were attempting to heal Falmeyr, but their magic didn’t seem to be doing any good. Amid the confusion, Falmeyr’s attendant continued to watch the battlefield in silence.
“What do you mean, not normal…?” asked Homura.
“It looks like her soul is being devoured from within, and whenever I try to dispel the curse, it resists, almost as if it’s alive. Not to mention, with a curse this powerful, there should have been some sign before it took effect. Considering how powerful it is, the air along the spell path should have warped completely.”
“The air…should have warped…?”
“You’re supposed to be a student at the Academy of the Black Arts; don’t you know anything?! Even with a simple magic missile or barrier you still see some sort of glow or visual effect, don’t you?! So if someone cast a powerful curse from far away, there should have been a strong visual indication! Even I have to touch a creature before I…before um, nothing, never mind!”
“Shh! You’re gonna get yourself thrown into the dungeon!” Homura hissed loudly.
Psycho had been about to mention her fusion magic. Psycho’s healing magic, when used to fuse creatures together, was not very different from a curse, but she still had to touch her victims directly to use it. Desecrating the dead was a crime. If people found out about Psycho’s magic, her punishment would be swift and severe.
A possibility occurred to Homura.
“Then someone close must have—”
Homura gasped and glanced toward Falmeyr’s attendant. The attendant had shown almost no reaction when Falmeyr collapsed. She just continued to calmly watch the battlefield. It seemed unnatural.
“What if it was her…?”
If the attendant realized they were onto her, Homura and Psycho might become the next victims of her black magic. But if they didn’t do something, the situation was just going to get worse. Homura quietly readied her staff, ready to act if things went south.
Falmeyr, however, seemed to pick up on Homura’s suspicions. She spoke softly, her breath ragged.
“R…elax… It was…n’t her…”
“I-it wasn’t?”
Homura lowered her staff, although she wasn’t entirely convinced. However, no one else on the wall seemed to view the woman with any suspicion.
“S… Sorry…”
Homura remained on her guard. There was no telling who the culprit might be.
“If this is the Dark Army’s doing, then the new Dark Lord must be even more cunning than we assumed…” Falmeyr coughed up more blood.
“The healers aren’t helping. Shit! Why didn’t I study curses more?! I’m never useful when it really counts!” Psycho scratched her head roughly, pulling at her hair. Her sense of frustration and inferiority was starting to get to her. Earlier, she had been told that she might be better suited for a support role than for a combat role, but now she was even failing at that.
Just when it looked like they were at a dead end, however, and the people on the wall were beginning to despair, a solution came from an unexpected source.
“I think I saw this…in the book…”
“You recognize this magic, Tsutsumi?”
Tsutsumi began to shyly explain. “It looks like…polluted magic. Like a…living curse. She was just…absorbing magic…so…”
“Of course, Tsutsumi! You were reading the forbi—th-the book!”
Homura had nearly said the words forbidden grimoire out loud.
Tsutsumi’s comment was enough for Psycho to work out the truth.
“Of course! Those creeps must have hidden the curse in the magic she absorbed. Falmeyr draws magical power from others to cast her spells. So the polluted magic she absorbed is now eroding her soul. That must be why Seigrat and Ieskha collapsed at the same time. She was using polluted magic when she tried to aid them.”
“B-b-but what are we supposed to do now?!”
Down on the battlefield, the two protectorates were barely moving. The giant ant creatures were beating the crap out of them, knocking them across the battlefield.
“Tsutsumi, is there any way to dispel the curse?”
“The person who cast the curse…is controlling it…so they can resist… You have to stop…the caster.”
“But where the hell are they…?”
Unless they could figure that out, there was nothing else the girls could do. Fortunately, Tsutsumi had an idea.
“I can do it.” Tsutsumi approached Falmeyr’s side. “Use your magic on me…”
“But…if I do that…”
Psycho spoke up as well. “It’s all right. Tsutsumi’s soul is very durable.”
The conviction in Psycho’s eyes did away with Falmeyr’s doubts. So be it. Falmeyr cast her healing magic on Tsutsumi. Falmeyr’s soul and Tsutsumi’s were linked by magical energy, and the polluted mana began to flow into Tsutsumi as well.
As expected, it began to immediately attack her.
“It kind of…tingles…”
This powerful curse, which had already brought down Falmeyr and two Holy Protectorates of the Shield, felt like only a slight tickle from Tsutsumi’s perspective. Tsutsumi began to pull at the frail, inky black strand.
“I feel it…over there… It’s coming from that house…I think…”
“Well done, Tsutsumi!” cried Homura.
“Allow me.”
As soon as Tsutsumi identified the house, which was located inside Galdorssia’s wall, Jin reached for Crimson Rain and leaped into action. She clearly meant business—enough so that she was willing to use her cursed sword.
“That’s weird, though,” said Psycho. “I thought Falmeyr only received her magic power from faithful believers. Why would one of the faithful attack her—?”
It was a glaring question. Regardless, Psycho cursed their complacency.
“Whatever, it doesn’t matter how they did it. These bastards have clearly been plotting this war for some time now. They must have cooked up some scheme to get one of Falmeyr’s followers to target her with a deadly curse despite their faith. We’re just too addled by peace to see how it could be done. Even I thought that Galdorssia was safe.”
The tension was unbearable, but there was little they could do now but berate themselves. Meanwhile, Seigrat and Ieskha continued to be dragged across the battlefield.
A moment later, Tsutsumi’s tingling sensation subsided. Jin must have killed the black mage.
Falmeyr’s condition, however, did not improve. The magic had already eaten away at her soul, and it was not going to recover immediately.
“That takes care of the curse, but what are we supposed to do now…?”