BANNNNG! The ball crashed against the shields, and all the cracks that had been healed immediately began to appear; within a second, the cracks covered half of the shields, and they were spreading fast. "Bastard!" I cursed loudly as I wiped my mouth of the blood; this bastard had not only increased the power of its attack when I had burned my essence but also a moment before it had crashed against the shields, and the increase in power had been huge. If it had not been for that, then my shield, being powered by my essence, wouldn't be able to crack so easily. I had a power very close to the Grand Lord, and with such power powering up the shield, even Grand Lord would need to use substantial power to break through my shields, and the bastard did. I am angry at what the bastard had done but also helpless to do anything other than wait for that one small opportunity. The cracks kept spreading, and I poured more and more burning essence into my shields. I had stopped holding back; it would be an idiocy to do that in front of a powerful opponent such as this. Finally, I was able to stop the cracks, but there was no joy on my face; the cracks had covered 98% of the shields, and I was nearly drained of the essence. I can't remember the last time I drained my essence in such a short time because it had nothing happened. I had never drained my essence in less than three seconds. "Good, you are good; such powerful defense, no wonder even Grand Lords weren't able to kill you," said Aege, and there was no mirth in its eyes, but a killing intent, and it made no motion hide it. It is for me to see and understand how much it wants to kill me. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶 "Now, I would truly be impressed; if you are able to defend against this attack," it said, and before I could say anything, it had sent the fourth ball at me. It came like the other balls, but like before, I had no other method to defend. My shields remained in tatters; I had used all my bursts, and all my essence had been drained. BOOOOM! The Fourth ball crashed into my shields, and my shields exploded; it was not the ball that blasted the shields, but I did. It helped in diverting all the force of the attack; in exchange, I have ended up damaging my strings, but I could not think about that right now. It took a couple of seconds for the air to clear, and when it did, a genuine surprise flashed in the eyes of the Grimm. "You are still standing," it said, looking at me from up to down. I may be standing, but it is taking all my strength for me to do that. I am injured from head to toe; there is not a single part of my body that is not bleeding. The external injuries may look bad, but they are nothing compared to the internal ones; the only reason I am standing and even breathing is because of the couple of formations that lit up and sent lifesaving nutrition and energies to me. It is the only reason why; I am even able to maintain the armor on my body. "What are you waiting for? Kill me," I said after I saw Grimm staring at me with a smile on its face. "Not yet, Zaar; you are not blessed enough to get a clean death," it said with a laugh, and a small transparent bottle appeared in its hand. "This little thing is called 'Black tar'; it is a gift from old snake." "He had said this thing would make the enemy wish he was never born; a curse that loves to consume the core," "Enjoy the hell Zaar," said the Grimm with a laugh and threw the bottle at me. The bottle came in fast and stopped above my head before its cap lit up, and a black tarry substance inside came out. I shuddered the moment I felt its aura, and it was not just me; even the Grimm shuddered, and I felt it covering itself with an invisible layer of energy. Old snake is one of the most dangerous Grand Lords out there; even Matron Mavis became extremely cautious whenever it is around. She had suffered through its methods and most other Grand Lords we have. Even that dangerous curse my mother and I had was from the old snake. As the black, tarry substance came out, it immediately took the shape of a tiny snake and came at me; the closer it came, the more powerful its menacing presence would feel. I tried to get away, but I was bound by the Grimm's energy; it was so powerful that I could not even move from its spot. Sharr! The snake appeared in front of my chest and stopped; a moment later, it made the most realistic sound, like a snake, before drilling inside me. My weakened defenses were barely able to stop me for a second before it was inside my body, and I shuddered visibly; I nearly fell down, and the only reason I did not was because of the Grimms energy, which was holding me up like a puppet. Buzz Buzz Buzz As I had expected, the moment the cursed snake entered inside me; it went for my core, and at the same time, another thing had happened; thirteen formations stored in a building corner of my core lit up at the same time. I have born with the curse; it had become sentient inside me. I may not know as much as an old snake about the curse, but I know plenty, and there is no way I would let another curse afflict me. I have designed the defenses inside my very inheritance; those defenses are lying dead right now, but I have a backup. These thirteen formations are powerful defenses against the curse, more powerful than I have created those inside my Inheritance. Before the curse could even reach my core, the runes began to come out of it, and they went toward the snake. As they appeared beside me, the snake stopped for a moment but did not do anything; seeing that, a smile couldn't help but appear on my face. I have a curse constitution, and these formations are made to work with its power; the constitution itself is derived from the power of the curse that the old snake has created. So, with such power cloaking it, the snake was barely able to sense the formations before they started to surround the snake while it moved toward my core as nothing had happened. It did not take long for it to reach my core and when it, it opened its mouth, which began to become big and soon became big enough to swallow the core. BAMM! As it did, it moved to swallow the core, but right at the next moment, its huge head crashed against the wall of the cage that formed around it.