Dust hung lazily in the air of the small storage room.
The wooden walls creaked faintly whenever the wind passed through the courtyard outside. Thin lines of sunlight filtered through the gaps in the planks, illuminating the scattered droplets of metallic residue left behind from Sora's repeated failures.
He wiped sweat from his forehead with the back of his sleeve.
"…Again."
A thin ripple of liquid metal gathered over his palm.
It flowed smoothly, coating his fingers in a shimmering layer before pooling slightly above his skin.
This part had always been easy.
Control.
Shape.
Stick or materialize.
1 Year of practice had made the technique almost instinctive.
The difficult part came after.
Sora inhaled slowly and tried again to shift the nature of the energy feeding the metal.
Instead of the usual negative cursed energy-
He attempted to recreate the reversed flow he had used earlier when healing his body.
Not a full burst of Reverse Cursed Technique.
Just a small infusion. The one he can manage.
Carefully.
Slowly.
The metal trembled.
Then—
Crack.
The entire construct shattered again, droplets scattering across the wooden floor before dissolving.
Sora groaned quietly.
"That makes… what… twenty?"
He had stopped counting properly after the first dozen attempts.
Each failure drained a little more energy.
But something was different now.
Earlier attempts had collapsed instantly.
Now the metal lasted a little longer before breaking.
Which meant he was getting closer.
Sora flexed his fingers again.
Liquid metal formed once more.
This time he focused on the moment before failure.
During the last few attempts, something strange had happened.
The metal hadn't simply broken.
It had… warped.
Distorted.
Like the energy was being pulled inwards instead of exploding outwards or even hardening at equilibrium.
He narrowed his eyes.
"…Try again."
The metal gathered again.
This time he guided a very faint stream of positive energy into the construct.
Not enough to destabilize everything immediately.
Just a small amount.
The metal rippled.
For a moment it held shape.
Then the surface wrinkled slightly.
Instead of flowing outward like normal liquid metal—
It began drawing inward.
Sora blinked.
"…Wait."
The construct trembled violently.
Then shattered again.
But this time Sora didn't look annoyed.
Instead, he crouched down and stared at the small droplets fading on the floor.
"…That wasn't random."
He straightened slowly.
He held a small piece of hardened cursed metal.
The next attempt began immediately.
Liquid metal formed.
Positive energy flowed.
This time he paid closer attention to the reaction.
The moment the reversed energy touched the technique—
The metal changed.
It thickened slightly.
The surface tension shifted.
Instead of spreading outward freely like a liquid, the metal seemed to pull inward toward the energy source.
He brought the piece of cursed metal near it.
And the cursed energy in the metal was reduced slightly which flowed back into his body.
Sora's eyes widened slightly.
"…It's not breaking."
The reverse cursed metal suddenly collapsed again.
But the pattern was clear now.
Each attempt was getting closer.
Each time the reversed energy flowed into the technique, the behavior changed slightly.
It wasn't simply destroying the liquid metal.
It was changing its properties.
Sora continued experimenting.
Attempt after attempt.
The room gradually filled with faint metallic residue as the technique repeatedly destabilized.
Thirty attempts.
Forty.
Fifty.
Nearly an hour passed.
By now Sora's breathing had become heavier.
But his focus had sharpened.
The metal formed again in his palm.
This time he infused the reversed energy more carefully.
The silver liquid thickened slightly.
It no longer spread across his hand like normal.
Instead it clung tightly to his skin.
Almost… greedily.
Sora tilted his head slightly.
"…That's different."
The metal trembled again.
But instead of collapsing instantly—
It stayed intact for several seconds.
Sora slowly extended his other hand toward it.
He allowed a small amount of normal cursed energy to leak from his fingertips.
The moment the energy touched the metal—
The reaction was immediate.
The liquid twitched sharply.
Then the cursed energy vanished.
Absorbed.
Sora froze.
"…What?"
The metal trembled again and then finally collapsed, dripping away into nothing.
But Sora barely noticed.
He stared at his empty palm.
His mind rapidly pieced together the pattern from the past hour of attempts.
Normal liquid metal created through his cursed technique was controlled through negative cursed energy.
It flowed.
Expanded.
Shaped itself through manipulation.
But when reversed energy entered the process…
The behavior inverted.
Instead of spreading outward—
The metal pulled inward.
Instead of shaping energy—
It consumed it and transferred to him.
Sora slowly looked at his hand again.
"…So that's it."
His voice carried a hint of excitement now.
Reversal didn't mean creating the opposite material.
It meant creating the opposite function.
Normal liquid metal = manipulation.
Reversed liquid metal = absorption.
Sora rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"…Like a leech."
The comparison fit perfectly.
The moment cursed energy touched the reversed construct, it was drained away.
Not violently.
Just pulled in.
Which explained why every earlier attempt had shattered.
He had been forcing too much energy into it.
Overfeeding the construct until it collapsed.
Sora leaned back against the wall and let out a quiet laugh.
"Well."
He glanced at his palm again.
"That's… terrifying."
If he could stabilize that effect…
It meant his technique would be capable of draining cursed energy directly from opponents.
Sorcerers.
Curses.
Barrier techniques.
Anything powered by cursed energy.
The implications were obvious.
Sora flexed his fingers slowly.
The technique is not directly useful in combat or is absolutely broken like Reversal Red.
But it could help him advance beyond his natural limit.
"But the speed I made the technique is baffling. Maybe I am a one in million kind of genius."
Sora entertained a narcissistic thought.
Outside, the afternoon sun had begun lowering toward the trees.
Inside the dusty storage room—
Sora sat quietly.
Already thinking about the next experiment.