I did not wake to the comfort of a bed or the gentle hands of a mage checking whether my pulse still beat within my wrist.
Instead, consciousness returned slowly beneath the harsh grinding sound of iron chains scraping across stone.
The metallic rattle echoed through the darkness like thunder rolling through an empty cavern.
For several long moments, I remained completely still.
My mind struggled to understand where I was while my body felt as though it had been torn apart and carelessly stitched back together again.
Then the paidn came.
It spread therough my chest like wildfire racing through dry timber.
Every breath dug deeper into my ribs until it felt as though something alive cognishad wrapped itself around my heart and was slowly tightening its grip.e
The purple corruption had rooted itself deep inside my chest, coilirng around my veins like poisonous vines while clashing violently with the cold darkness of the Successor's power flowing through me.
The two forces collided within my body like opposing storms.
Each breath scraped through my lungs like shards of broken glass.
"After still giving him a chance, he was still a useless coward," a booming voice declared somewhere above me.
Even through the haze of pain clouding my thoughts, I recognized it immediately.
The King's General, Iro.
"He collapsed while the Heroes fought for their lives," the man continued with open contempt.
"His Majesty has decreed that the boy will spend the night in the Pit."
"Perhaps the damp darkness will remind him of something."
Before I could even open my eyes properly, rough hands seized my arms and hauled my body upright.
They moved with the casual indifference of men who had long ago stopped caring about the suffering of others.
A moment later, I was lifted and thrown forward like an unwanted sack of grain.
My body slammed onto cold stone.
Above me, an iron door crashed shut with a deafening clang.
The sound echoed through the pit.
Then silence swallowed everything.
The darkness surrounding me was absolute.
So thick and suffocating that it felt as though the world itself had disappeared.
Leaving me alone with the sound of my own strained breathing.
For a long time, I simply lay there.
My body was too weak to stand, and the curse twisting around my heart made even the smallest movement feel like a blade sliding between my ribs.
Eventually exhaustion dragged my consciousness into a restless sleep.
But when my mind slipped away from the waking world…
The darkness did not fade.
Instead, the world became hollow.
"You misunderstand your own power."
The voice did not come from the pit.
It came from within me.
It echoed through my bones like something ancient stirring inside the structure of my body.
Slowly, the familiar figure of the Shadow formed within the emptiness of my mind.
The being stood before me once again.
Yet it appeared different from before.
Its form was larger and more defined, while long robes of shifting smoke flowed around its body like living shadows caught in an endless wind.
"You took a curse that was destroying another person," the Shadow said calmly.
"And allowed it to pass into your own body."
The memory of the battle flickered through my mind.
The corruption spreading across Clara's leg.
The moment my hand closed around hers.
The curse vanishing from her skin.
"And what did that decision earn you?" the Shadow asked quietly.
Images flashed through my mind.
The soldiers laughing.
The iron door slamming shut.
The cold stone floor beneath my body.
"They throw you into a pit while you carry the corruption that should have destroyed someone else," the Shadow continued.
"They call you weak while you suffer the consequences of your own power."
One long hand slowly extended toward my chest.
When the Shadow touched the place where the curse burned the strongest, the pain intensified instantly.
"But you misunderstand the nature of your power," the Shadow said.
"The Reversal does not remove wounds or curses."
"It transfers them."
The word echoed through the hollow dream.
"You did not cleanse the curse," the Shadow continued quietly.
"You devoured it."
"The corruption that should have destroyed another life now belongs to you."
The pressure in my chest surged.
Agony flared violently.
The corruption did not vanish.
Instead, it burrowed deeper into my chest while the Shadow's power pressed against it just enough to prevent it from consuming me entirely.
My body trembled as the pain settled deep into my bones.
"Do not mistake survival for strength, Lucius," the Shadow said.
"Your power does not erase suffering."
"It only moves it."
One dark hand hovered above my chest where the curse twisted around my heart.
"Every wound you reverse… every curse you remove… every pain you take from another person will pass through your body instead."
"Nothing about this ability will spare you from the suffering it carries."
A cold chill crawled down my spine.
I stared at the Shadow through the pain.
"If I carry their wounds… if I take their curses…" I said slowly.
"Then what do I gain from this?"
For a moment the Shadow said nothing.
Then a low sound escaped it.
It almost sounded like laughter.
"You misunderstand something, Lucius," it said.
"This power was never given for your benefit."
A chill ran down my spine.
"The world is filled with corruption, curses, and suffering that cannot easily be destroyed," the Shadow continued.
"Someone must carry those things when they are removed."
The dark figure leaned closer.
"Now that someone is you."
The Shadow studied me for a long moment before speaking again.
"The power inside you has carved out a hollow space where corruption can be contained."
"Contained?" I asked.
The Shadow nodded.
"The curses you take will pass through your body first."
"You will feel every wound, every poison, every fragment of suffering."
"But when the pain becomes fatal, the corruption will be forced into the vessel within your soul instead."
A chill ran through me.
"That does not mean you are safe," the Shadow continued calmly.
"The vessel can only hold so much before it breaks."
Far above the pit, the throne room had grown tense.
"Your Majesty, please," Clara said.
"Lucius isn't used to this world. He was already sick before we arrived here."
"Throwing him into the Pit just because he collapsed is too harsh."
The King looked down from his throne with bored disappointment.
"Lady Clara," he replied calmly,
"Your heart is far too soft."
"That boy is a flaw in the summoning ritual."
"If he cannot even carry supplies without collapsing, then he has no value to this kingdom."
"But"
"Enough."
The King dismissed her protest with a lazy wave.
"You are a Hero of Light."
"Do not waste your concern on a flickering candle that has already burned out."
Clara slowly fell silent.
Her hand drifted toward her leg.
The place where the curse had once spread across her skin now felt warm and perfectly healed.
Yet something about it felt strange.
Somewhere beneath the castle…
Lucius remained alone in darkness.
Back in the Pit, my eyes slowly opened.
The fever still burned beneath my skin.
The curse remained buried deep inside my chest.
But somehow…
I was still alive.
Slowly, I forced myself upright.
Faint sparks of purple and black energy flickered between my fingers.
Then a strange sound echoed within my mind.
Healer — Level Two.
Dark Successor — Level Two.
Another name appeared.
Curse Eater.
"Curse… eater?" I muttered.
The title meant nothing at first.
But the moment my thoughts focused on it—
The curse inside my chest reacted violently.
Pain twisted through my ribs as the corruption surged toward my heart.
"Damn it…" I muttered hoarsely.
Before it could spread further, the darkness inside me tightened around it like an unseen cage.
Then it pulled.
The corruption resisted.
But the darkness dragged it downward.
Deeper into the hollow space inside me.
For a moment the pain intensified.
Then it stopped.
The corruption was still there.
But it had settled.
A faint spark of purple energy flickered between my fingers.
"Curse Eater…" I whispered.
Not destroying curses.
Not purifying them.
Just taking them in…
And keeping them there.
The pain still burned quietly inside my chest.
But I was still standing.
I slowly sat against the cold stone wall.
A faint smile spread across my face.
"Let them believe I'm a mistake," I whispered into the darkness.
"Let them believe I'm weak."
I leaned my head back and closed my eyes.
I would wait.
I would play their game.
But the next time someone tried to kick me…
I wouldn't be the one carrying the pain alone.