Chapter 85: A Sealed Curse
After asking a few more questions from him, Greg was finally let to walk out of the room.
Seeing as the door closed, Cloud started tapping on the table slowly, while his expression looked deep in thought.
A while later he looked up and asked with a frown, "I still can't understand it. Not only was his physical strength unbelievably inhuman, but also that regeneration ability... It doesn't make sense at all!"
The Saint nodded in agreement with what Cloud just told and said, "Control of six elements, physical strength, regeneration, and that mysterious bloodlust. All of these things from a simple black Soul Stone and an unknown Guardian."
"But it seems it's not that 'simple' as we think it is."
Hearing Mistress of Fortune's sudden talk, the two looked at her and waited for her to continue.
Seeing their gazes, the woman sighed and shook her head, while saying, "Don't look at me like that. I just said it's not as simple as it looks. As for what the truth behind all of these unexplainable things could be, I also tried to use my power to figure it out, but all of them ended up useless."
"How many times did you use your ability?"
Listening to The Saint's question, Mistress of Fortune put her index finger up, showing a one.
"One?", asked Cloud with a frown, but the Saint shook his head and said, "No, it's ten or a hundred. Milady used her power a hun-"
"One thousand times."
"!!"
The moment she said the unbelievably huge number, the two expert's eyes widened in an instant. They couldn't believe that Mistress of Fortune could have used her powers a thousand of times until now in a short amount of time just to find out the truth.
"T-that... But Milady, how did...?", asked Cloud with wide eyes, but he feared to continue his question. It was only a death wish to ask one expert about his or her power in front of others, especially if it's a woman.
It was like some guy from school asked a girl to show him her panties in front of everyone. You can guess what will happen after that. Nothing good that's for sure.
Mistress of Fortune hearing the unfinished question just shook her head as an answer and turned around to leave, but before she reached the door she said quietly, "I will definitely find out what is going on here."
*Click*
Pushing the handle down and opening the door, Mistress of Fortune slowly walked out with visible confidence on her face.
Cloud looked at the Saint next to him and asked as he scratched his neck, "Sir... Did I say something rude?"
The Saint hearing the question chuckled and waved his hand around, while saying, "Oh, don't worry about her, you didn't do anything wrong. She is just like this since she was a child. She loves to uncover mysteries because it helps her refine her abilities. The harder it gets for her the better it will be in the end. As for that boy, don't worry about him. If something like that happens ever again, I will be the one to stop him."
Listening to the old man, Cloud nodded and with a bow, he said respectfully, "Thank you very much!"
The Saint seeing Cloud like this just smiled and walked out of the room too, going back to the Arena to continue enjoying the blood boiling fights.
***
Somewhere else in another room, Greg was standing next to two beds, where Joe and Mila were lying at the moment, while Emma was sitting next to the latter.
Watching the three, especially Joe's shoulder, Greg knew instantly that what he did was unforgivable.
"I'm... sorry. I don't know what happened to me back there."
Mila and Emma looked at Greg and seeing that he was looking incredibly sad, they didn't know what to say.
On the other hand, Joe just smiled and said, "Haha! Look at you, looking all down. Smile, will you?"
Hearing his strange statement, Greg frowned and didn't know what to say.
Joe however still continued to smile and said, "Look, I don't really care what happened back there, because watch... we are all fine. What really matters is that you are fine and you luckily came back to your senses. Nothing else matters."
Greg after hearing what Joe said was surprised, but after seeing his shoulder, which was under heal, he still looked sad.
"But I stil-"
"You didn't do anything. That wasn't you.", said Joe with a serious expression and after a bit later he continued, "As for this, don't worry about it, you can't do anything. Because of something strange, the wound can't heal normally, so it will take a few days for it to fully heal."
"Because of something strange? Why? What happened?", asked Greg with a frown and looked at the wound on Joe's shoulder.
Shaking his head, Joe said, "A professional healer said that because the spear was made out of special substance, some of it is still inside my shoulder and it's impossible to take them out with the help of Roy."
"Roy?"
"Yes. Because the spear was made out of his power, the one who can take the small parts out is him."
Listening to this, Greg was surprised and asked, "Then what about the tournament? You can't continue the fight?"
As an answer, Joe shook his head and said, "Unfortunately until Roy doesn't wake up and helps me, I'm afraid no."
Hearing this Greg looked up at Emma and Mila and started to think deeply.
Seeing him like that, Joe just smiled and said, "Nothing will happen. Cloud's clone was here before you and he told us that, if you show any sign of going insane again, he will stop the fight in an instant."
Nodding, Greg turned his gaze back at Mila and bowed, "I'm sorry. If you hate me after this I will understand it fully. You too Emma. I'm really sorry!"
Instead of an answer, Emma just walked before Greg and looked at him expressionlessly.
Seeing her act like this Greg straightened his back and looked down at her.
Just as he was about to ask her something, suddenly she raised her and...
*Slap!*
With a strong and fast move, Emma hit Greg on the cheek, making him to turn his head to the side, while the place where she hit him started to redden in an instant.
"This is for Joe and Mila.", said Emma quietly as she looked at Greg with an expressionless face.
Putting his hand on the place where Emma hit him, Greg slowly turned his head back, but the moment he did, suddenly Emma stepped forward.
Seeing her face and her act, Greg thought she will hit him again and was about to step back too, but instead of a hit Emma just simply hugged him.
Feeling her arms around his back, while her head was buried into his chest, Greg didn't know what to do.
Just as he was about to ask her again, Emma suddenly talked.
"I... we were so worried. Why did you need to do that? But at least you are back to normal."
Seeing Emma hug Greg like that, Joe and Mila just smiled happily.
After a moment of silence, Emma finally stepped back from Greg and looked around with a beet-red face, while saying quietly, "Stupid..."
Hearing this, Mila couldn't bear it anymore and laughed out aloud, while saying, "Oh look at our little Emma. Isn't she cute? Embarrassed by a little hug?"
Seeing Mila's teasing look, Emma's face turned even redder, but this only made Mila and Joe laugh even more.
Seeing the three before him, Greg touched the place where Emma hit him and started to smile.
"It seems everything is alright."
***
Time went by and luckily Greg and their team qualified to continue the tournament.
They also succeeded to get into the top 16 and just like in the Duo, the Team fights ended for the day.
Because of the damages to the stage, Cloud announced that the tournament will pause for a day and after that everything will continue again.
He also stated that to make the tournament much more enjoyable, only Solo fights will be on the first day, while Duos on the second and Team fight on the third. On the very last day, all the events finals will take place, determining the victor of each group.
Luckily Mila and Joe got the permission to leave the hospital and go back to their hotel, but unfortunately, Joe still can't do anything with his injured arm. Not if he wants to make it heal as soon as possible.
In his room, Greg was looking at himself in the mirror.
Watching his body from up to bottom, he couldn't find anything strange at all.
"Except for the flow inside me, which end and beginning finally connected to each other, I can't feel anything strange at all."
The moment he came back to his senses, the very first thing he noticed was that the flow, which wasn't complete before, now finally formed a true and whole flow inside his body.
The second thing he felt was his inhuman strength. Just clenching his hand into a fist, made him to feel the immense power behind it. It was a terrifying yet exciting feeling.
"Hey, Alice. Can you explain what just happened to me back there?"
After Greg asked his question, he thought he will simply hear Alice's voice in his ear, but instead of that something much more incredible happened.
Before him, slowly a white light appeared, which slowly started to form a human figure.
However because the light was too shiny, it was impossible to determine the human's appearance.
As he looked at this sight with wide open mouth and eyes, suddenly the familiar voice he always heard in his ear this time came from the light before him.
"What happened was that the curse, which was sealed inside your soul, got broken for a moment because of me."