"Are they hypnotized? Under some kind of mind control? And why the hell isn't the district's protective array activating? Did they get to it?" Elinor muttered, her expression dark as she watched a group of C.I.B. agents ruthlessly slaughtering their own confused comrades. She clenched her fists. "At least it's after midnight… Otherwise, we would have had to worry about the casualties aside from this brain fuck."
"Neither," Janice answered, her voice sharp with focus. She adjusted the golden-rimmed monocle over her right eye, scanning the chaos below. "C.I.B. has been infiltrated by some organization. The real question is… why reveal themselves now?"
Her monocle—a legendary innate curse tool—revealed something odd. The attacking agents weren't under mind control, but each of them emitted a distinct curse energy signature, one that came from their innate curse tools rather than themselves.
"Is that… the world-famous Aurelian Eye?" Man Hunter asked, her gaze locked onto Janice's monocle. The tool, despite being mortal-tier, was rumored to be worth more than a couple of void-tier innate curse tools. Honestly, she was tempted.
But, Janice ignored her. Meanwhile, Delores eyed Man Hunter suspiciously, "Shouldn't you be contacting your superior? Maybe, I don't know, organizing a response instead of hovering around us like a damn shadow?"
"I'm on another mission," Man Hunter answered vaguely, careful not to reveal she was specifically assigned to keep an eye on Ace. Then, without missing a beat, she turned to Barton and ordered, "Agent Flux Eyes, I'll handle the civilian. You go join the others."
"Yes, ma'am," Barton nodded, then turned to Delores, and with a firm tone he answered, "Protect her with your life."
Delores scoffed at his fake display of familial love, "You don't need to tell me how to do my damn job."
Still fixated on the chaotic scene unfolding below, Janice barely glanced at Barton before flipping him off, "Fuck off, Bart."
Just as Barton disappeared into the chaos, Ace turned to Janice. "Did you notice the strange curse energy signature coming from those agents' innate curse tools?" He asked with a low, but insistent voice. He needed to understand why she had dismissed it as simple influence from another curse user.
Janice nodded, her gaze still locked on the battlefield below. "Yeah, I did. It's like they're on some kind of curse energy enhancer, but they're definitely not being controlled by anyone else. They're fully aware and acting of their own free will."
Ace frowned, reflecting on his lack of knowledge about the 'World of Curses.' He had never even heard of a curse energy enhancer, but if the name was any hint, it sounded like steroids for Curse Users.
"Have you figured out who's calling the shots yet?" he asked, his mind already formulating a plan. He didn't want to waste bullets on these pawns—every shot needed to count. He knew these agents were just a distraction. The real fight was happening elsewhere. After all, none of the high-tier Curse Masters were down there—not on either side.
Janice shook her head but speculated, "Not yet, but if I had to guess, based on the explosion earlier they're in the basement jail. That's where the inmates waiting for their hearings—or about to be transferred to prison—are held. My guess? These agents were forced to break cover after getting caught mid-mission or failing to break someone out."
Her speculation made sense to Ace, given the circumstantial evidence. He exhaled sharply saying, "That means I have enough time to find a better vantage point." He got to his feet, already turning toward Delores. He was about to ask her for a lift to the rooftop of the opposite building when—
"Gross!" Elinor's voice cut through the air attracting everyones attention to her.
Ace snapped his head around just in time to see her hair branch out like twisted tree branches, each strand splitting into smaller tendrils. In place of leaves, about a hundred red, slit-pupil eyeballs blinked erratically.
Janice stiffened. "Where? What?" she demanded. She knew that between her monocle and her cousin's hundred eyes, Elinor had the superior field of vision. If she was reacting like that—she must have caught something she missed.
"There! By the caved-in road!" Elinor shouted, panic creeping into her voice. She pointed southeast, her hundred eyes blinking erratically. "A fat, pale, worm-shaped curseling—about the size of a two-year-old baby. It crawled out of one of those double agents' mouths after he was incapacitated! Look—it's climbing onto another agent, and he doesn't even notice it! It must have stealth abilities."
Ace adjusted his rifle, peering through the scope. The creature was grotesque—soft, bloated flesh writhing as it latched onto the oblivious agent's back. His brows furrowed. What the hell is that thing? Neither the C.I.B., the S.S.S., nor the Dark Web archives had any records of a curseling . That alone set off every alarm in his head.
"…I have no idea," Janice admitted. Without hesitation, she removed her monocle—the Aurelian Eye—and passed it to Delores asking, "Do you recognize it?"
Delores took the monocle, raising it to her eye. Her usually stoic expression immediately twisted in horror. The color drained from her face as she locked onto the creature—a bloated worm, clinging to the agent's back, inching toward his head.
Her grip tightened on the monocle as she struggled to suppress the sheer terror clawing at her gut. She'd seen this before. Faced it before. One of her worst enemies from her adventures with her master into the darkest corners of the Mortal World. These little things were nightmares she and her master barely survived.
Taking a shaky breath, she shoved the monocle back into Janice's hand and turned to the group saying, "That's a Rust Worm, they are one of the worst Curseling out there." Her voice grew eerily steady adding, "And I know exactly who's behind this. There was only one group of people in history crazy enough to use these curselings..."
A heavy silence fell over them as Delores grimmly revealed, "It is the Immortal Sect."