"Pathetic scum," A cold and condescending voice full of judgment broke Ace's chain of thoughts. When he lifted his head, he saw a stunning beauty that could stir wild feelings in a stone standing not far from him. He wondered how long she had been there and how he had failed to notice her presence.
"I feel sorry for your parents for having a son like you," Disgust for Ace was apparent in the beauty's eyes as grudgingly spoke these words.
"Who are you again?" Ace looked at his fellow rude schoolmate, wondering if he knew her.
Ace never knew their school uniform possessed a seductive allure until today. However, he quickly shook his head, realizing it was the individual wearing the uniform rather than the uniform itself. Her ample curves and slender waist, complemented by her flawless pure white skin and mid-thigh long silky hair, added charm to the otherwise plain school uniform.
"Your ancestors would roll in their graves if they knew their descendant was a lowlife who would trade his sister's nudes to save his skin," the rude schoolmate did not bother to introduce herself to Ace but did clarify why she was disgusted with him. It seems she was present for the whole Mike ordeal.
"This doesn't concern you; stay out of it and forget what you think you saw or heard here," Ace stated, giving the rude schoolmate a cold stare. She understood the situation but opted to confront Ace instead of Mike. In Ace's eyes, she and Mike were the same, preying on the weak and cowering before the strong.
"Why? Is it because you don't want the world to know what a terrible brother you are?" the rude schoolmate scoffed at Ace and did not heed his words.
"This is for your good. You don't know these streets as I do. They are very dangerous. Especially for a pretty gal like you," Ace warned as he rose, aware that Mike would target the girl if she gossiped about him. Doing his part, Ace prepared to leave. Now, it was up to his schoolmate. She was responsible for her choices.
"Are you threatening me?" the schoolmate misunderstood, listening to Ace's ambiguous words accompanied by his act of standing up.
Seeing the girl's face up close from a better angle, Ace recognized her, "You are the new transfer student, Ria Hart, right? You look different without your big glasses and bangs covering your face. Particularly without that oversized sweater."
"Creep," Ria uttered in disgust, taking a step back. "I feel for your sister," she added.
Even though it all started over a misunderstanding, now it was getting annoying. Ace had enough of Ria. Glaring at her, he said, "Since you care about my sister so much, why don't you go help her?"
5'8" Ria lifted her head to stare right back into 5'11" Ace's eyes as she taunted him, "Acting tough in front of a harmless girl, I expected nothing less from a lowlife scum like you. Where was this bravado earlier? You didn't hesitate to sell your sister to save yourself from a little beating, coward!"
After being called names by Ria, Ace's eyes burned with fury, but his mind remained calm. He turned to leave as she wasn't worth it. However, just as he took his eyes off Ria, he felt a small fist crash into his gut. Doubling over, he collapsed to the floor as his knees gave up in pain. Ria had sneak attacked him. But what surprised him most was that her punch was heavier and faster than Mike's.
Ace groaned in pain and looked up at Ria in rage, only to have his face ruthlessly stomped by her boot, "You pervert, how dare you look up my skirt?"
Ace's nose was hit, and a torrent of uncontrollable tears gushed out, obscuring his vision. The pain he felt at that moment was worse than when he had fractured his leg in middle school, losing his grip on a spinning monkey bar.
As Ace struggled to get hold of his senses, he felt Ria grasp his ankle and drag his 159-pound body like nothing. Despite his attempts to resist, his efforts proved futile against Ria's monstrous strength.
"Consider yourself fortunate, Ace Lander. You are born with an aptitude for curse energy. Regardless of my disgust towards you, since you asked me to help your sister, I will assist you in awakening your curse core. So that you can use it to get your act together," Ria explained, dragging Ace onto a curse core initiation array she had drawn using animal blood on the other side of the school roof while Mike whooped Ace's ass.
As Ria's grasp loosened, Ace immediately sprang to his feet and ran for his life. Hearing Ria talk about cursed energy and cursed core—coupled with the occult circle drawn in blood—led him to believe she was some kind of delusional cultist.
However, before he could step out of the blood circle, Ria suddenly appeared in front of him and delivered a swift kick to his groin. Ace momentarily forgot to breathe as he fell to the floor, screaming in pain.
"I pity your sister but that doesn't mean I have to be nice to you. So, for your own sake, behave," Ria said, grinning as she looked at Ace rolling inside the curse core initiation array in pain.
As Ace rolled on the curse array, it suddenly began to glow. Then Ria gestured with her left hand in the air, and a blood-red candle magically materialized in her grasp. Setting it in the array, she snapped her fingers, lighting the candle.
The burning candle started to emit red smoke, which settled on the floor and remained within the boundaries of the curse array. Within seconds, the red smoke submerged Ace. As a result, he inhaled a large amount of it.
As Ace inhaled the thick red smoke, his senses began to unravel, plunging him into a turbulent world of hallucinations. These distorted visions dredged up his memories of every incident that made him feel ashamed, angry, helpless, sad, or scared, stirring the negative emotions that built up in his heart into a crazed whirlpool. As a result, his blood pressure skyrocketed, and he felt his heart was a ticking time bomb on the verge of detonation.
"Compress all the negative emotions gathered in your heart to the extreme, turning them into your strength, much like the pressure of the Earth's crust transforming a lump of coal into a diamond. If you fail to do so, the negative emotions that have built up in your heart will burst out, and the blood vessels near your heart will snap as you die of a heart attack. So no matter how painful it is, surpass your limits; a new world awaits you," Ria guided Ace through the process. She was surprisingly as articulate as she was vengeful.