Chapter 47 –– hex Curse

After members of the Stainless Syndicate escaped the royal palace, Xiaohui reported to the Lord Commander about the results of the fight. He told the Lord Commander that Four and her comrades escaped yet were badly injured, so they must not be too far from the Royal Residence. He then suggested to deploy some guards to search for them and also requested for some aid to come to the palace. The Lord Commander granted his requests and called upon the guards to come to the royal palace.

With the very little fyx energy he had, Xiaouhi tried to heal the Premier from his wounds after fighting against Four.

The people who were wounded from the Battle of the Royal Palace–– Xiaohui, Akihiko, Yumi, Meixia, Zum, Haneul, and Haru–– were moved to a special room to be healed by healers from the Military Reserve Brigade. They were given the treatment necessary for their recovery.

After they became stable, Xiaohui, Haneul, and Yumi went to Yujin's room to check up on him. They were concerned about his condition.

The former King and Queen–– Yudai and Suiko–– along with the Lord Commander and the Holy Monastic were already inside the room, waiting upon Yujin to wake up. Yujin lay on his bed, with a breathing mask and cables plugged on his arm. He was on life support.

The leader of the Exorcism Regiment–– the Archimage–– ran some tests on Yujin to diagnose the curse that was put on him and figure out a way to exorcise it and cure him. She was accompanied by several other exorcists and healers to help her run the tests.

The people in the room anxiously waited for her announcement.

***************************************************************************************************

After the results were out, the Archimage finally shared the diagnosis to the people in the room.

"This curse is no ordinary curse. It is a hex curse coming from a Forbidden Weapon that destroys cells and tissues from the inside and spreads to nearby areas, eventually decaying his body completely. Even in this state, His Majesty is lucky enough to be alive. If the stab wound had been slightly closer to his chest, it would have decayed his heart and killed him instantly," the Archimage explained.

Yujin's mother cried immediately upon hearing what the Archimage said. She was scared for her son's life. Everybody in the room felt dejected.

"Is there a way to cure him, Archimage?" Yudai asked.

"Unfortunately, this curse cannot be purged solely using our medix skills alone, whether it be exorcising or healing. We need a mythical item that can nullify the effects of the hex curse in order to purge it. However, it's been more than a decade since we last heard of the item. We don't have it with us, and nobody knows where to find it. The only thing we can do now is to stop the curse from spreading farther in his body, but even so, we cannot guarantee how long we can keep that."

Yujin's father was even more dispirited after hearing what the Archimage said. Today was supposed to be a glorious day to celebrate the ascension of the new King. Yet, here he was, lying on the bed with life support.

"How long will he stay like this, Archimage?" Haneul asked.

"We really can't say for sure, Your Divinity. It depends on the limits of our medix capabilities, how malignant the curse is, and His Majesty's will to fight the curse. But, according to our estimation, this could last for months or even years."

Yumi held her brother's hand, emotionally supporting him. She couldn't believe that he fell into that state right in front of her eyes.

"Where can we find that item?" Haneul asked her again.

"Currently, we don't know if it actually exist––"

"It does exist. I know it. I searched for it once," the Holy Monastic interrupted.

Everyone in the room was surprised and intrigued. They listened closely to the Holy Monastic.

"The item is a mythical flower called Drop of Sunlight. Legend says that once consumed, it can heal all and any kinds of curses and diseases," the Holy Monastic explained.

"Where did you find that? Did you get it?" Xiaohui asked this time, intrigued by the story.

"The flower is guarded by a Divine Spirit called Soli. The spirit lives in an underground cave with complete darkness–– a dungeon. The flower appears nearby it and can only bloom along with the presence of the spirit. Since the Divine Spirit migrates from one dungeon to another every here and then, it is impossible to pinpoint one exact location."

When Premiere Tianming was under a curse, the Holy Monastic tried to find the flower all by himself. He did find the dungeon where the spirit resided, yet, due to Premiere Tianming's sudden critical condition, the Holy Monastic didn't enter the dungeon and abandoned his quest to return to the capital in order be by the Premiere's side during her final moments.

"What if we deploy soldiers to invade all dungeons of the nation? We'll eventually find the spirit," Haneul suggested.

"Unfortunately, not anyone can enter the dungeons where the spirit lives. The spirit selectively chooses who can come in and out, so that strategy might not work," the Holy Monastic answered.

Getting the mythical item sounds more and more complicated the more the Holy Monastic explained. It was as if the spirit didn't want to be found at all.

"In addition, the flower only blooms on the vernal equinox day, only once a year. If it's not plucked the day it blooms, it will wilt the very next day and one has to wait another year for it to bloom again."

Since it was currently nevea right now, the vernal equinox day was still a few months away. There was still time to search for it. However, taking into consideration the time needed to find and fight the spirit to get the flower sounded like there might not even be enough time.

After processing about what the Holy Monastic told them, the Lord Commander and the Archimage discussed a plan to find the mythical flower. The rest of them looked at Yujin, feeling sorry for him.

***************************************************************************************************

After paying a visit to her brother, someone was waiting for Yumi outside of the palace.

"Yumi, I'm sorry for what happened."

A woman approached Yumi right after she stepped out of the palace. She consoled Yumi who was wiping her tears.

"Captain Khulan?"

Yumi was surprised to see the captain of her guild that she was part of. She didn't even know that her captain was in town.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"I feel like time just stops and I'm frozen in time. It still feels surreal to me," Yumi answered.

"Well, if you ever need anything, we're here for you."

Khulan hugged her tightly, giving her the emotional support she needed.

"Thank you, captain. So....what brings you here?"

Yumi immediately got straight to the point. She knew that Khulan didn't come just for her, so there must be something else behind it.

"I'm sorry to tell you this while you're mourning.....but it is a really important matter."

Captain Khulan brought her some crucial news, something that could not wait.

***************************************************************************************************