Alastor's POV

I thought this case would end well. I have gained another resourceful companion who could shed some light about this group called Sanctus. But when Maria lifted the barrier and we went back to the children, the transformation has already started.

In front of me, the children began to change. Something dark spread across their entire body before completely engulfing everything. With her last ounce of sanity left, Shana looked at me and called out my name, before turning.

“Alas…tor…”

In mere seconds, all the children I have saved earlier have assumed a new form: an unsightly beast. The creature was pure black with sharp tooth barring at me. They used their formerly human arms, now deformed, as their front legs, moving from side to side in an inhuman manner on four foot while still keeping me and Maria on sight, like a beast waiting for the time to jump at its pray. Their bones cracked as they moved. And their roar, so loud it could break a man’s eardrums if they were near.

“Shana, please control yourself! It’s me.” I shouted desperately at the beast in front of me.

Suddenly it jumped at me but was kicked down by Maria.

“That’s no longer the Shana you knew! Now it’s just a monstrosity beyond saving. We need to kill it now, put her out of her misery. I am sorry, Alastor! I really do but now there is no other way.” Said Maria.

Was there really no other way? All these demon lord powers, the ultimate crystal magic, were you telling me that despite all I got, I was powerless to do anything here? Was I supposed to standing here like an idiot watching another person close to me drift away again?

“ALASTOR!” a voice from above called out.

It was Mephisto flying down with Ikarus and Stella right behind. How did he get here? The devil looked at the children now turned into hideous beasts. I could sense a mixture of anger and sadness from him.

“Not again…I am too late again!” he muttered. For a moment, I swore, when he saw Maria, his expression became strange all of the sudden. But at that time I did not pay too much attention about it.

“What are you doing here, Mephisto?” I asked him.

“Alice told me everything so I rushed here as fast as I could with the antidote. But…” Mephisto lowered his head in disappointment. He blamed himself for it but everyone knew it was not his fault.

He mentioned Alice telling him about this. How did she know? I didn’t have time to explain to Ikarus what happened and Alice was already aware of this? Was that another effect of the chain?

“Antidote? You mean there is a cure for it?” I realised what he just said.

“Yes but it would only work if it was drank before the transformation. And I have only one dose, enough for one person only." Mephisto explained. He took out a small vial containing a red liquid.

"How do you know? Did you test it?" I urged him.

"Not yet but..." but I interrupted him and stole the vial from his hand. I rather died trying than do nothing to save Shana.

“Sorry to interrupt but we have a bigger issue right in front of us now!” Maria reminded us that we were still surrounded by the creatures.

At that moment all of them charged at us with an incredible speed. But an idea came to me. I opened a big magic circle right in front of us.

Thankfully most of them fell inside on first try, except for one. That was Shana. While they all looked more or less similar, I still kept her in my eyes since the very beginning. As she sprinted at me, I turned the earth under her foot into mud and pinned her down. I immediately rushed in and poured the vial in her mouth.

She struggled but finally stopped before falling unconscious. And her body began to morph back but for some reasons only the upper body. The lower body was left intact, traces of the beast.

"What did you just do?" asked Mephisto.

"I don't need to harm them if I could keep them contained inside a separate dimension. Not for long since despite being able to contain living beings, the dimension was not designed for that purpose and is actually very unstable. If the target resists, even a little bit, a crack could open allowing them to escape. Not to mention there are at least thirty of them here. We still have a few hours before they could break out of that space.

I assume you come here using Amelia's portal. Let's just head back to the castle for now! At least there we have enough resource to contain them. From there we can find a way to bring them back." I explained.

"I see. Then so be it. Let us hurry! The portal is just outside Cedra." Suddenly Mephisto stopped and turned toward a nearby bush. "But before that, how about you show yourself?" Mephisto shouted in nothingness.

"It's alright, Scarlet! We are together now!" as Maria called, a shadow appeared behind her before turning into a young human girl. I remembered seeing at Terrick's mansion together with Maria. "This is Scarlet, a close friend of mine! If you don't mind I would like to bring her with me to the castle."

"Why? I thought we are enemies." demanded Ikarus. It was true that I did not inform her of Maria yet.

"No need to worry Ikarus! Maria is..." but someone else interrupted me before I could finish.

"She is fine, celestial. She can come with us! If anything I would trust her more than you. More importantly we should go now." dictated the devil.

Leaving a bitter celestial following behind, we headed toward the portal. On our way, I asked Mephisto about the vial.

"Mephisto, who gave you this antidote?"

"What do you mean? Wasn't it you who found the cure and asked Alice to make it so she can give it to me?" answered the man.

* * *

As everyone focused on the journey back to Ragna, no one paid attention to Mephisto who constantly stared at the two newest members of the party: Maria and Scarlet. While he did hear from Alice about Ikarus a few weeks ago, he should not have known about Maria and Scarlet. Yet for some reasons, his eyes showed something else.

"Don't you need to tell your friends about you leaving?" said Mephisto to Maria.

"I will but it can wait. How do you know that I have other friends Mr. Mephisto?" retorted Maria.

"Just a lucky guess. Since I see that Karla....." At that moment Mephisto realized he has made a big mistake, blundered by his own emotion. And that moment of blunder has not escape Maria’s eyes.

Hearing that name, Maria switched to a more serious tone. She looked at Mephisto, this time with a judgemental eye. She knew him from when back at Caine village where Mephisto and the others demons came to rescue Alastor. At that time she did not think much of him. But hearing that name from the devil, Maria began to think there was more to Mephisto than meets the eye.

“How did you know about Scarlet’s real name? Who are you?” asked Maria.

“….Mephisto, a member of the four demon royal guards. I thought you already know about me.” Said the man in question. “But here we are at the portal. Let’s leave the chatting for later.”

With that, Mephisto dived forward and passed through the portal, followed by Alastor and the others. As Maria walked to it, she pondered about the enigmatic Mephisto.

* * *

As soon that the group arrived at the castle, without losing time for reunion, Alastor freed the creatures from the pocket dimension inside a large dungeon cell, each one with a chain around its neck shackled to the wall. To make sure that nothing would get out of hands, Ikarus, Stella, Naberius and Amelia were stationed nearby in case they broke out. It was perhaps too overdone but Alastor would take no chance.

While this was a rather crude method to treat the transformed children, Alastor did so thinking it would be only a temporary measure. The cure from earlier, while it did not fully recover Shana, could at least halt the transformation and partially reverted back their humanity. To do so, he needed more of these antidotes. And apparently Alice held the answer to the question.

Right now the boy, accompanied by Maria and Scarlet, were heading toward Alice’s chamber. Unfortunately, they met Azureus on the way, who told them that Alice has gone out to the spider’s nest but she should be back in a short moment. For now all they could do was to wait.

With utmost care, Alastor put Shana on a bed. She was still unconscious ever since she took that antidote. It must be because of the strain she had to put up with the metamorphosis.

As he sat down next the the bed, Alastor watched over the sleeping girl.

"So your sister is out huh? I didn't even know you have one." said Maria.

"She was with me during the fight between the celestials and the demons royal guards at the village. Didn't you see her?" Alastor replied.

"Let's just say my eyes were fixated on you during the fight so I didn't notice anyone else." Maria mischievously smiled. "So you learnt from her the thing you did to me huh? I am even more interesting to meet her now. What's her name?"

"Alice. You will get your wish soon enough." smiled back Alastor. "Hum Maria?"

Alastor spotted a change in expression from Maria. A mixture of both bewilderment and fear, as if a bad memory came up. But she quickly regained her composure and smiled softly at him.

'Alice...Can't be right?' was what she was thinking. However she stopped her contemplation when she saw his missing arm. His breath was getting heavy too. It must be exhausting for him after fighting a monster like herself.

“You need to rest Alastor! No need to watch her, I can do it for you! I mean you lost one of your arms.” Maria pointed out, showing her concern for him.

“It will heal as soon as I get your blood out of my system. No need to worry about me! I won’t let her out of my sight again! More importantly it seems like your friend wants to say something to me. Since earlier I have seen that she was eager to tell me something but still wavered about it.

You said your name was Scarlet, correct? Why don’t you share with us about what you want to say?” asked Alastor.

“You have quite the eye. Indeed I do have something to ask. But considering the current situation, I don’t know if it is appropriate to…..” Scarlet reluctantly expressed her concern. It seemed Maria just realized what Scarlet wanted to say.

“We are doing nothing here so go ahead! I am listening!” affirmed the boy.

“Hum….” But Scarlet was interrupted.

“Now it’s not the time Scarlet! Leave it for later!” insisted Maria while showing a worried expression.

“Now you just make me even more curious. Speak!” the boy insisted with a smile. But behind his smile, Scarlet could feel the pressure he put on. He clearly wasn’t in a good mood and hiding things from him might make him even ….unstable

“All right I will be frank with you. In return I hope you will be honest with me as this will affect you much more than it would to me.” Explained Scarlet.

“I promise! Speak quickly! I am starting to lose my patience here!”

“Do you have trouble with your memories? Things like the feelings of forgetting something but can’t seem to remember what it was? Even minor things. Anything at all?”

“Not that I am aware of. Why? What are you getting at?” the girl has certainly captured Alastor’s attention. Asking about his memories? What could she possible talking about?

“I see. I suppose asking you would be pointless since the mark is too powerful. Then let me ask something else. Do you know of the Eye of Revelation? Or the name Veritas?” demanded the girl.

“If I remember correctly, Veritas is a famous clan of assassins who specialize in magic and curse. They used to work for the Emperor of Zagon but vanished about a century ago when the king of Ceadric at that time wiped them all out.

As for the Eye of Revelation, I don’t have a clue.” Answered Alastor. He remembered reading about Veritas from a book in the archives. An interesting fact but rather pointless at that time.

“You are right about Veritas. What you don’t know is how they got their reputation. Let me show you something” Scarlet pushed her hair to a side, revealing her peculiar right eye. It had the figure of a star imprinted on it, constantly rotating from right to left in a circular motion. “This is the reason why we, member of the Veritas family, are specialized in curse. The Eye of Revelation, passed down from generation to generation.

In ancient times curse was a common alternative to assassination to deal with your enemies in a, how should I put this, discrete and indirect way. While most curses can be undone with the right equipment by any experienced mage, it was very hard to detect if someone was cursed, until it became to late.

But thanks to this Eye which allows us to see all traces of magic and therefore curse and such, we were the best of them. Nonetheless I am not here to talk about my family. What I am saying is that when I first saw you, I can see that you were and still are under the effect of a curse: the Curse of Memories.”

What Scarlet just said shocked Alastor to his very core. Someone has cast a curse on him and no one was even aware of it? But could he trust this woman? First time he talked to her and already she told him that he was cursed. Supposedly that what she said was correct, someone was able to bypass Magnus and all the demon lords combined and put a curse on him. Was this even possible?

“And that’s not all. You are not the only one who was inflicted with the curse. Everyone inside the village you were in also showed sign of exposure. At least everyone we found.” Added Scarlet.

“Everyone at Caine? I thought they were all dead.”

“Yes but just because the body died doesn’t mean the curse would be lifted. This way it would prevent someone using necromancy on the bodies to retrieve information as the souls themselves were still under the effect of the curse. But a curse that still binds its victim even in death is one of the most powerful kind I have ever seen.

Unfortunately for that person since they didn’t expect me and Maria to be there after you left. We wanted to erase all traces of you there but when I stumbled at this, I just couldn’t ignore it. What or whoever did this really thought it through.”

Everything was just too sudden. First Shana and now this? Just what was happening around this poor boy?

“It’s not that I don’t trust you but do you have any proof of this? Surely you understand that all you just said is quite hard to swallow.” Alastor said. Before continuing their discussion in this matter, he at least needed proof that there was indeed a curse on him.

“I don’t have any physical evidence nor can I show you my vision. Else it would be too easy. But it doesn’t mean we can’t prove it. In fact you already have the proof. You just can’t see it yet!” explained Scarlet.

“Are you talking about the lost memories the curse caused?” Indeed if Alastor could retrieve these lost memories, it would mean that something or someone has removed it from him, curse or not.

From her belt, Scarlet took out an unusual amulet. A triangular shape with an eye in the middle. From a glance, Alastor could tell its origin. The amulet had an insignia imprinted on the eye: the image of a cog, symbol of the Artificer. There was also one on the Anima Lantern he has taken from the Archduke. Could this be one of the Tempus Machina?

“From your expression, I can see that you know what this is. Yes this is one of the legendary artefacts made by the Artificer, a Tempus Machina: the Ara Amulet. It can be use as a protection charm against magic by cancelling all spells in the surrounding area of the wearer, including your own. But most importantly in our case, it can disrupt the mana flow used by the curse inside your body to sustain itself. In short works, it will nullify the Curse of Memories. Why don't you try it?" Scarlet handed the amulet to the boy.

The instant he put on the amulet, a sharp pain came in his head. The memories were coming back. It was as if he lived all those years he could remember again in a mere few seconds. All the emotions he felt, all the things he missed, Morgan, Gazel, it all came back to him now.

Seeing Alastor almost collapsing on his own, Maria ran to his side to help him get up.

"So did you remember anything?" asked Scarlet.

" *heavy breathing* I don't believe so. Everything was the same as before. Nothing...Wait no! ....Everything is the same...No No NOOOOO!" Alastor screamed, clunching his head in pain. He realized it now, what he missed, the thing he forgot.

Immediately Alastor ran outside of the room. Seeing his strange behavior, Maria and Scarlet decided to catch up with him.

"No No no! It can't be... That's not possible!" as he passed through the hallway, Alastor muttered to himself in disbelief. He did not want to believe what he just remembered. Something so small, so trivial yet with so crucial. How could he have overlooked this? So that was what the Curse did to him?

But then he was stopped by Maria. She held his arm firmly, not letting the boy go until he told her what just got to him.

At that moment, a figure approached from down the hall. A little girl with her fiery hair, a girl with a small stature, brimming with innocence with her smile. And yet a mere sight of her was enough to make a certain person tremble in fear.

"YOU!" Maria shouted in anger. She drew her sword, directing it to the small girl. But her arm was shaking, even though she tried her hardest to keep it down. For whatever reason, Maria was intensively afraid of that girl. What could possibly make someone fearless like Maria, who embraced death heartfully, fear from a little girl?

"What are you doing Maria?" normally if someone pointed a sword at his sister like that, Alastor would have either jumped to her side to protect her or massacred that person before they could harm the girl. Yet he remained still, only showed his surprise to Maria's reaction. Did what he remember affect him that much?

"Stay away from her, Alastor!" Maria moved between Alastor and Alice, still holding her swords ready.

"Alastor, you said that only you and Alice escaped the tragedy at Caine and she has been staying with you for a very long time, correct? Now everything makes sense." Scarlet pointed a dagger at the small girl.

"Alice you are the one who cast the Curse of Memories on Alastor!"

"No it wasn't Alice. It can't be Alice!" Maria mumbled.

"What are you saying Maria?"

"Alice already died ten years ago. That thing is not Alice!"