Chapter 534 534 Broken Curses
As instructed, all the new arrivals began to gather at the spire as soon as they finished their work shift that evening, and they were all excited after hearing for the last few hours about how amazing the Familiars were.
"Everyone line up here, so that I can purge the Bloodline Curse from your bodies before you do the summoning. We don't want it interfering with your summoning spell, and the Fae find the way you were awakened extra creepy, so we should fix that out of courtesy." Wolfe joked.
"Getting rid of the Bloodline Curse forever is enough of a reward all by itself. Will it stay gone, though?" One of the Witches asked.
"That's the thing, the answer is both yes and no. It won't come back to you, but if you have kids with a male Witch who has the Curse, then a weaker version will be passed on to your children, which will need to be cleansed from them.
But only the females can be cleansed, as the cure involves purging it from your Mana System, and a male Witch's never developed."
One of the witches smirked at Wolfe. "Well, there is a way around that as well. There is a potion that changes a woman to a man, or a man to a woman. It won't give the male witches a mana system, but it does make it possible for two curse free Witches to have a child."
Wolfe gave her a slightly shocked look. "I hadn't thought that your continent was so open-minded."
The other Witches nearby laughed. "It's a forbidden potion, only used on rapists so that they can suffer as their victims did. But in theory, it is possible to get someone pregnant or become pregnant while transformed into a woman."
"It sounds like it would be easier just to find a human. There's plenty of them here, or there are Beast Kin." Wolfe replied.
"You have an unhealthy obsession with animal ears." One of the witches informed him, while her friends smiled in amusement.
"They're so soft, though."
"But we should get ready, it's almost time to start, and we need time for you to recover from having the Bloodline Curse purged before you head to the altar to begin the summoning ritual. It's already drawn on the floor, and the witch leading the ceremony will explain everything." Wolfe added.
The witches had clearly been briefed on the requirements, or they thought that this would be the same as the nerve gas cleansing because they all took their shoes off as Wolfe approached, in preparation for him to cast his spells.
"We need some towels in here. This process won't cause acid burns, but it will leave a black sludge under your feet." Wolfe realized, a bit late.
"We have a thing for that now. It's right here." One of the local witches remarked, pointing to a grate on the floor.
"There is a cistern below that, which will collect any sort of nastiness that we need, and it is purged clean with magic four times a day when the cleaning staff comes by." She added.
Wolfe smiled and patted her on the shoulder. "Thanks for the good work. Everyone, please take a spot on the grating, with your shoes off. You can leave them off for the ceremony if you feel like it's more your style, just wipe them clean before you step up on the platform."
"What does style have to do with anything?" One of the Witches asked.
"Style is everything. They'll explain it when it's time, but you need to focus on what you want in a Familiar, who you want to become as a witch, and what sort of person you strive to be. The spell will use that focus to help guide your magic to the best match for you." Wolfe explained.
They considered that while Wolfe worked, cleansing their Bloodline Curse, and noticing that the response from the attached Awakening Spell, or Mana Beast Curse, whatever it was, had become more aggressive and reactive with every cleansing.
"That Mana Beast, where does it live? I'm assuming it's an immensely powerful magical creature." Wolfe asked.
"Beneath the Cathedral of Saints in the Capital City of our Continent. Apparently the Saints have subdued it and broken its body, but its power lives on at their behest."
That was good news. If the beast was free to roam, he got the feeling that it would be on the way here now. It was definitely not happy about him breaking the curses. Wolfe wasn't sure if it could tell the difference between that and being killed or robbed of their aura, but he felt much better risking it when the beast couldn't travel.
When Wolfe finished the last group, he could feel the beast's grip becoming weaker, allowing the hold on them to break more easily. Perhaps the creature actually cared about the witches that it awakened, and though that Wolfe had been brutally murdering them one after another. That would explain the last few, where it felt like the curse had given up.
One day, he would have to learn more about the great magical beasts. Perhaps tomorrow, if they didn't get too many new arrivals, he could search through the memories from the last Memory Crystal as well as his inheritance and try to get some answers.
"Witches, please step up to the platform, we are almost ready to begin. Rank Three Witches, please wait until I call you, we have reserved a special time slot for you to try to get better results." Cassie announced from the position of honour in front of the platform, which had the six magical circles arranged on it, covering the large inscription that was drawn on the floor itself.
The witches stepped up, and Cassie began her speech about the proper way to do the summoning, what to focus on, and how getting a different Familiar from your friends didn't mean that you weren't compatible, but only indicated a small aspect of the nature of your magic.
That last part was originally for the young students, but Cassie had left it in the speech, and the bit of humour helped to ease everyone's nerves as the first round of spells were cast.n./OveLbIn