Ch. 83 - Dealing with the Curse

Maven gasped at the horrifying sight of an endless amount of pure, translucent nature energy slowly being dyed a filthy black by the Curse God's little parting gift. She had no idea what this so-called Seed of Origin was or where it came from, but it felt like one of the wonders of the world was being slowly defaced right before her very eyes.

"You guys take a look at this too, I'm not sure what I'm looking at." Maven said in a hushed tone, awed by the sheer majesty of the power hidden away in the deepest depths of Ela's soul.

Using her experience with divinity and mental communication, Maven shared her view of Ela's soul with her companions as she sent a tendril of energy towards the sickening cocoon of curse energy.

"I'm of a mind to just cut the connection between the curse and whatever that pile of energy is… Judging solely by the sheer quantity and purity of energy I can see here, it's probably important. Plus, I just hate the thought of letting Kurga's curse do whatever it wants."

Giving her opinion as she used a thread of divine power to check out the ropey vines connecting the Seed of Origin to its satellite, Maven was hoping her companions would give her some perspective.

"I've never hear of a Seed of Origin before, but it's certainly amazing… Sure, the amount and purity of energy is pretty amazing in itself… but the fact that it doesn't have any sort of attribute at all is what amazes me. I haven't seen pure nature power like this the day we used it all to help give birth to Avalon."

Raising an eyebrow at Henna's words, Maven marked that down as something to follow up when Ela woke back up before she moved her focus back to vines pumping Ela full of a ghastly curse.

Opting to rely on her unique flavor of divinity, Maven wrapped each of the dozens of silky tendrils up tight with a thread of condensed power. Terrifying in its potency and backed by the full power of a god as the curse might be, once Maven tightened the threads, she sliced right through it like a hot knife through butter.

"You did it!"

"Good job, Maven."

"That wasn't so bad."

"Just as I'd expect from my goddess."

Receiving happy cheers from her companions, Maven ignored Fae's little slip-up and kept her focus on Ela and the curse. She had rather easily severed Ela's connection with the curse, but who knows what the aftermath of that would be. Additionally, she had yet to deal with the root of the problem.

And, like she feared, the curse did not appreciate Maven's interference. The second Maven severed the connection, the asteroid sized curse shot out dozens of new ropey tendrils that writhed through the air like they had a mind of their own - all seeking to dye that untainted nature energy with dirty malice.

"Not a chance! You really think I'll just let you do whatever you want?!"

Shouting in defiance as she ensnared each of these new connections, Maven opted not to slice them to ribbons this time. Perhaps sensing Maven's will to fight, the moon-sized ball of dirty power shot out a hundred new tendrils, each dozens of times larger than those that preceded them. Writhing disturbingly as they flew through the air, they plunged towards the nature energy like a flock of starving leviathans.

"Ewww... look at all the tentacles!" Kannon squealed in displeasure, covering her eyes to try and escape the chill inducing sight. Unfortunately for her, blocking her sight could not stop the endless deluge of images.

"Shut up, Kannon." Henna said in exasperation. "The curse seems to have gone into defense mode, Maven. Looks like the curse was made from a fragment of Kurga's divine authority, based on the aura I'm feeling through the connection... This must be more important to him, if he was willing to rip out a piece of his soul and risk losing it just to create a curse."

Ignoring the eternal bickering of the goddesses, Maven focused on Henna's thoughts about the nature of the curse.

"A piece of his soul and authority, huh? So I should treat this thing like a mini-Kurga?" Maven said, her brow knit thoughtfully.

"Pretty much."

"Hehehe, this time, I'm not letting that guy get away from me!"

Laughing darkly, Maven brought the full force of her power to bear on the enormous collection of curse power and divinity. He must have been counting on the strength his attribute to give him the time he needed to poison Ela's soul. And he had good reason for his confidence too. The gods of Avalon were powerless before it, not even able to penetrate the shell.

Yet, his impregnable shield was meaningless before Maven. Carrying with her all the possibilities that lay within the fusion of Life and Death, Light and Dark, there was nothing in Avalon that could hold Maven back for long.