Two weeks ago, when Ethan arrived in Kamar-Taj with a poisoned Miss Andler, he had recounted his encounter with the three Disaster Curses.
He had told her everything he knew about the curses—knowledge he shouldn't have possessed. However, the Ancient One didn't question it;
Every since there discussion of the death of Scorates, she and Ethan shared a silent understanding about the importance of maintaining discretion regarding hidden knowledge.
The death of Socrates (399 BC) serves as a profound historical and philosophical argument for the strategic necessity of secrets, discretion, and esotericism (hidden knowledge) similar to the modern era's Sorcerers need to keep the existence of cursed spirits a secret, inorder to prevent stronger spirits from being born.
What was actually troubling was the Cursed Technique of the patch-faced cursed spirit, Mahito: Idle Transfiguration. She had never encountered a curse born from humanity's fear of itself; any records of such a curse from the Golden Era may have already been lost. But the potential use for this Technique were vast.
Seven years ago, when she personally met Ethan at the museum, she had noticed it: his soul was different. It had puzzled her then, but now she came to a haunting realization.
It wasn't that Ethan's soul was different; it was simply that everyone else's soul had been altered—even hers—as infants.
The usage of a Cursed Technique by cursed spirits leaves behind residual cursed energy, which can be detected and analyzed by Kamar-Taj sorcerers to identify the specific technique or curse.
This energy residue acts as a lingering signature of the technique used, functioning similarly to a footprint left after a technique is activated.
However, if a curse has high-level barrier knowledge, he could theoretically mask his signature.
She had not noticed it, but how could she? It wasn't as if Idle Transfiguration was "harming" anyone; it was simply changing them, making them incapable of using cursed energy. She still had questions about how Mahito was able to reach worldwide range.
A binding vow perhaps!?
But what could he have sacrificed to reach global range!?
Though one thing was clear Mahito's knowledge of barrier techniques using cursed energy was on par with her own using dimensional energy.
If She was right,then "the Doom" in Agamotto's records was not a natural phenomenon, but something orchestrated by this patch-faced cursed spirit, Mahito.
That was why she had been so unsettled.
Mahito has been alive since the Golden Era, which also explained his vast reserves of cursed energy. Everything started falling into place.
But a question kept rising in her mind after she left Ethan with a promise to find a suitable, isolated location for his tenth ritual: Why was Ethan different? Why hadn't Idle Transfiguration affected him like everyone else?
She had thought about using precognition via the Eye of Agamotto, but the last time she tried, something—or someone—had been able to "muddy" the Time Stone's precognition regarding Ethan.
She couldn't see anything past the next two weeks. She had an idea of what caused it—the tenth Shikigami Ethan had been evasive about—but she didn't know how. She trusted Ethan, but unchecked power often brought on calamities; she had seen it one too many times.
Though she also found some answers from this whole ordeal, most importantly regarding the balance of the world. It had always been tilted toward cursed spirits for as long as she could remember.
Agamotto had theorized that the cursed energy system had once been in balanced
Equilibrium between humans and cursed spirits before "the Doom,"
But after the incident, it shifted in favor of cursed spirits. Modern-era sorcerers have never found anything wrong with the balance; after all, they have never lived in a period where the scales were in humanity's favor. Yes, it was unfavorable, but it was the norm for them.
But fourteen years ago, when Ethan Park was born, the balance of world shifted.
The scales that had always favored cursed spirits tilted towards humans once again.
That was why Ethan had such an immense amount of cursed energy. The Ancient One wanted answers regarding Mahito and regarding Ethan. She needed time... how ironic.
She had first decided to convince Ethan to perform the ritual in the Mirror Dimension, which she knew he would reject via precognition.
Then, she would ask for time to find a proper isolated ground, and two weeks from now, she would give him the location of the Kerguelen Islands in the Southern Indian Ocean, as it was supposed to be.
In these two weeks, she had to find the reason why Ethan was not affected by Idle Transfiguration. It could have been as simple as dumb luck, but her intuition, sharpened over centuries, told her otherwise.
After nearly two weeks, she did notice something: a tether, a link that anyone would miss if they didn't know what to look for in Ethan's soul. She found it while Ethan was mid-ritual with his tenth Shikigami.
The revelation was striking: Ethan was born a twin, and Idle Transfiguration must have separated them somehow during infancy. That was why Ethan's growth was unhindered by the "twin curse."
She had followed that link to a desolate section of Niganda, a neighbor to the country of Wakanda. It appeared she had arrived a moment too late.
"What have you done?" she asked solemnly as the Sling Portal closed behind her.
Mahito's eyes widened. 'The current Sorcerer Supreme... no matter which era, these Sorcerers Supreme were always a pain', he thought.
Mahito wasn't arrogant enough to think he could defeat her; after all, he had been an observer of her fight against a dimensional being—a being who could erase him in an instant.
In 1666, in a decisive battle at Stonehenge, the Ancient One bested the dread Dormammu, ruler of the Dark Dimension, forcing him back and erecting magical barriers that protected Earth from his influence.
This feat cemented her reputation among curses and humans alike, as Dormammu called her "a worthy, near-equal opponent."
Even with Seth's Heavenly Restricted body, winning against her was not an option. He had to flee... again.
While he acts with immense arrogance and cruelty, Mahito is a "cowardly" character at heart who will readily flee or hide when his safety is seriously threatened. While he will not be able to kill the prisoners of this facility, there is another way to submerge a soul: The Bath.
This ritual was originally used in the past by sorcerers of the Golden Era to convert family treasures into high-grade cursed tools. Mahito could adapt this process to submerge Seth's soul deep within his own consciousness—"polishing" the vessel to make Seth unable to resist or impede his cursed energy output.
The Bath is prepared by collecting countless cursed spirits, pinning them down, and freezing their cores before mincing them into a concentrated solution of pure cursed energy. It is as "close to evil" as one could get.
Mahito stood up in Seth's body now, already healing his wounds via Idle Transfiguration. His missing leg regenerated in an instant; the only thing different about Seth's body was the appearance of stitches on his face and limbs.
"I was hoping to keep this as a trump card... against that brat," Mahito spoke in a singsong voice, clearly enjoying the expression on the Ancient One's face.
Then, he activated his version of "The Hollow Trace." He had seen Ethan use it during their confrontation in the Sunken City, Los Angeles, and he had learned it too, after realizing it was possible to completely mask one's cursed energy.
He wasn't arrogant like a certain "volcano head" who thought masking his cursed energy was below him; he would take every advantage he could get in this war between cursed spirits and humans.
The Ancient One was startled, to say the least. A cursed spirit masking its cursed energy was unheard of, but she kept her composure.
This was similar to what Ethan does; could the curse have learned it after only one encounter? It didn't matter.
She would exorcise this cursed spirit here and now and bring Ethan's twin back with her.
Mahito couldn't use Idle Transfiguration to harm her, lest the curse be dragged into her inner world and obliterated by the Vishanti themselves.
He may have altered her soul and body when she was a defenseless infant, but she was one no longer.
She prepared for an incoming attack that never came. Mahito turned around and started running in the opposite direction at blinding speed.
The next instant, both of Mahito's legs were severed cleanly off. "Where do you think you are going... cursed spirit?" the Ancient One asked from a distance.
"You seemed to be enjoying yourself just moments ago... huh." She felt a sudden surge of cursed energy on the front of the facility's compound.
In the short time she had, the Ancient One concluded that this must be some sort of training or experimenting facility for young children, probably financed by HYDRA.
In his long life, Mahito had learned to always prepare an exit strategy in case of emergency. He had rarely ever used it, but it was a lesson he had learned by nearly dying during the Golden Era, so he always prepared one—and today it paid off.
Thousands of Grade 4 flyheads curses were just unleashed , using that Spoonbill cursed spirit as their ride.
Mahito felt his left hand loss control to Seth but quickly regained it. He needed to undergo the Bath as quickly as possible to submerge Seth completely. He healed his legs immediately and stood up.
Mahito mused, dangling from side to side as if the whole situation was amusing somehow. Maybe, for him, it was.
Both Ancient One and Mahito just looked at each other for a moment, neither saying anything. Mahito with his cursed energy signature reduced to zero due to Hollow Trace could blind in into the environment with these Grade 4 cursed spirits acting as camophlage.
Mahito vanished.
She immediately tried sensing him but failed;
Hollow Trace worked too well, perhaps. She contemplated calling Ethan immediately using the Kunai he had given her, but he was still in Myanmar, and it wouldn't help either way.
She looked around at hundreds of Grade 4 flyheads cursed spirits.
Something was odd about them, they felt old. Like they have been thrust here from a different era. Though that didn't matter now.
When she was done with them , she was drenched in the purple blood of the cursed spirits that was slowly evaporating.
She would have to explain to Ethan what had happened, but first, she looked toward the cells. No fewer than Hundred children were inside, clearly malnourished.
She had to get these children to safety first;
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If you enjoy the story, please leave a Review and Power stones!
Many of you didn't like the part that she hesitated to kill Mahito, so I rewrote it,
I kinda liked it..but nobody else did, so I changed it...
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Link is in the Author's note.
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