The Dawn of the New World

Olav who was almost at the top of the staircase and out of the Chaos law's reach paused mid-stride.

He looked at Arthur's back and then at the other Orcs on the other side of the training hall. This might actually be their best chance, even if it was extremely dangerous.

'Are you sure? I haven't tried it on someone of your size before. It could be deadly, maybe even fatal.'

'Yeah, just do it. If we can't bring his power down then the only way to compete is to buff ourselves.'

Olav sighed inwardly knowing full well that the repercussions of using untested and completely experimental curses could very easily take the target's life or worse, leave them damaged beyond help.

'Alright, I will do it.'

He took a few more steps and completely left the territory of the Chaos. His powers returned in full force so without wasting any more time he started casting the curse.

But this one wasn't so easily done. Olav reached into his pockets and pulled a small leather pouch from which he took out a small vial of blood and hair. It had Arthur's name on it.

Most complex curses required something that belonged to the target to create a bridge to the caster or perhaps offer as a sacrifice. Be it some simple details like a birth name, place/time of birth or something more physical like a personal belonging, some hair, blood or teeth, each curse had its own conditions.

Curses, like almost every other ability, could have both good and bad effects on the target. But what made curses unique was that they weren't directly cast by the caster but only "initiated" in a sense.

The black globs of shadow and corruption that Hao Xuan saw surrounding Olav were the ones that actually made the curses possible. These were otherworldly spirits summoned into this realm to do the caster's bidding.

If the caster was powerful enough they could control these spirits at will but if not, those conditions came into the picture.

Once the cursed was cast the spirit would need to go out and do its job. The curse Olav had created was made by reaching out to a particularly vile sect of spirits. Their unprecedented bloodthirst was only matched by their horrifying powers.

Olav sat down where he was and made a circle with a five-sided star in the middle using Arthur's blood. He then placed the hair in the middle and started chanting the inscription.

No one else could see the changes but Olav. The floor started cracking and wisps of smoke leaked out into this world. They hovered above the circle and slowly took shape. Yes, unlike all the other spirits in disposal this spirit had its own unique form.

A pair of large bull horns erupted from the smoke followed by a disfigured face with eyes that burned with a red flame. When it looked at who had summoned it Olav's face lost all color. His breathing became unstable and he could not even stay upright without the help of the quarterstaff.

Still, he forced himself to look up and gaze into the spirit's eyes.

"The sacrifice!" he said right before cutting off his own index finger with a shortblade.

Tendrils of smoke reached forth and grabbed the finger, consuming it instantly. The spirit turned around and looked towards Arthur who was the target but naturally, it saw Hao Xuan standing in front of him as well.

And as if by an unknown force, Hao Xuan suddenly looked up and stared right at the spirit, the same spirit that no one else could see.

The red flame burning within the spirits eye sockets became brighter and the lower half of its face cracked open into a sickening grin. It shot forth passing right through the walls of the training hall and disappearing into Arthur's body.

Arthur's pupils vanished completely and the whites of his eyes sullied with a blood-red color. His bones cracked loudly in the silent hall and he shot up to his feet.

"AARGH!" he screamed in pain as a red tail and bright yellow crystalline horns swelled up from the flesh on his back and forehead. His stature increased by almost a half and the skin of his hands and feet hardened with a stone-like texture.

The other Orcs had heard what Olav was going to do but seeing it first hand even Olav himself was shocked speechless.

Arthur's chest heaved up and down with loud whooshing sounds for a few seconds before coming to an abrupt halt.

His body was overflowing with so much disturbing energy that it made the eyes of every spectator itch just by looking. And then, without any warning, Arthur's clenched fist shot out at breakneck speed.

*Boom*

*BOOOM*

*BOOOOM*

Three loud explosions were all that could be heard by the others since their movements were beyond what they could pick up on.