Chapter 782: Dragons, Fenrir, and a Cat

"Will it work this time?" Michael asked, not in the mood to get killed by chance.

Eren studied him briefly before shrugging lightly, "Don't act like that. I gave you and your little lover girl enough time to say goodbye. Don't be so grumpy."

"As for the Nest Sphere. Evee helped me adjust its settings. There shouldn't be anymore issues."

Michael nodded slowly, but he didn't say anything. Eren sighed and was just about to shove Michael through the Nest Sphere when Michael stepped forward. There was no need to waste anymore time. The longer he hesitated, the harder it would be to leave the Tritan Alliance and Alice.

Michael ignored the discomfort that enveloped his entire being as he stepped into the energy mass. He closed his eyes and focused on something else as the space around him was torn and twisted. Michael didn't even dare to breathe as long as the sensation continued. It felt like the fabric of reality was ripped into shreds, and Michael was certain that he could see something unique inside the portal, but he didn't dare open his eyes. Something told him that Spirit Eyes would discover things he didn't want to know...just yet.

The feeling was weird, but Michael's gut feeling hardly ever betrayed him. It helped him more often than he wanted to acknowledge.

A gust of air brushed past Michael's face. It shrouded the discomfort around him and shoved it away. Michael felt something underneath his feet and strode forward, his eyes opening slowly.

He was in a large, brightly illuminated room. Contrary to his expectations, the Nest wasn't dark and gloomy. They were in a large hall constructed with grayish-silver materials. Michael couldn't remember having ever seen this material, but the bricks connected seamlessly to each other. It felt like the grayish-silver hall had been carved from a single stone.

That was interesting, but not as much as the massive six-layered runic array that covered the ground. The array expanded across the four support pillars surrounding the Nest Sphere's portal.

Some of the runic arrays glowed dimly, while the others were either inactive or glowing brighter than the others together. Michael activated Spirit Eyes and studied the intricate arrays. He separated them in his mind and created images of the arrays before they were interwoven with one another.

"Two Advanced Runic Arrays, three Master Runic Arrays, and one..."

"One Arcane Runic Array. You might have never heard of them since you're from a backwater galaxy. But given your background, it's already surprising that you can distinguish the arrays and know what Master Runic Arrays look like. Fenrirs are not known for their extensive knowledge about anything other than combat;" A resonant voice reached Michael's ears.

He spun around to spot the source of the voice. A woman with azure eyes and silver hair appeared before him. She graced Eren and Evalynn merely with a glance before her attention pulled back to Michael.

"But then again, I saw what you did to the Undead Pharaoh. You are still a Fenrir."

"And you are a dragon," Michael responded lightly, not even trying to hide from the intense eye contact. He smiled lightly at the woman wearing the neat uniform.

"How do you know?" The young woman, Evee, asked. A trace of surprise flashed through her eyes.

She recalled something and glared at Eren, who could only shake his head.

'I didn't tell him anything!' Eren's expression seemed to say. Evee didn't believe Eren in the slightest. Fortunately, Michael decided to intervene.

"Eren didn't say anything, but it's pretty obvious. Eren's Curse should be a silver dragon, and you should be his daughter. I guessed that your Curse is a dragon as well. I might be mistaken, tho. My mother's Curse isn't a wolf, and I know that my brother didn't have a Wolf Curse either."

Everyone's eyes pulled to Michael, including Evalynn, who'd been studying the Long father-daughter duo.

"I never showed you my Curse," Evalynn murmured, trying to avoid glancing toward Eren at times.

Michael shrugged, "Your Curse doesn't feel like mine. I might not have seen your Curse through Curse Manifestation as it happened with Eren when he fought Bloodhound, but I know what my brother's Curse sensed like. It feels more like your Curse, and I know his Curse wasn't a wolf. It was a Tiger. So, either you also have a Tiger, or the Fenrir bloodline has some weirdass Curses."

Evee burst into laughter while Eren tried to hide a smile.

"You're right," Evee said while continuing to laugh until it hurt, "The Fenrir bloodline is weird. Only a few members of the Fenrir bloodline are born with a Wolf Curse. Most are born with a Curse that looks like a feline. The strength and kind of feline depends on various factors, so your Mother-...Well, she can tell you about her Curse when she feels like it."

Evee glanced at Evalynn for a mere second. She didn't acknowledge her much longer than that.

"Either way, you're right. Eren, over there, is my dad. We have Dragon Curses, though ours are a little bit complicated, mine is even more so than my dad's. But that shouldn't matter much. Aren't you here for your High Ascension? You shouldn't squander too much time over here, otherwise, our Curses might also influence you."

Michael tilted his head, which Evee understood right away.

"You didn't know that Cursed Children should elude powerful Curse Users?" Her eyes darted to Eren and Evalynn. She stared at them accusatory and sighed deeply.

"Well. It doesn't seem like it matters much to you. Your Curse, or Curses, are always awake," She murmured, "But, if you're curious about what I was talking about. Under normal circumstances, you should elude Curses, or powerful Curse Users - Divine Lifeforms, to be precise - because their Curse's affect might influence your hibernating Curse - Curses, in your case. But since yours are already awake, you can forget about my warning. It doesn't matter."

Michael nodded slowly, recalling his encounters with a few entities whom he predicted to be either Curses, Curse Users, or closely related to either of them.

'Is that why the Wolf Curse awakened so early?'

It would make sense, but something else attracted his attention. The event that triggered his Curse's awakening was closely related to Extraction. In fact, Extraction and the Wolf Curse sensed like one entity at times. It didn't make sense that Extraction and the Wolf Curse were one and the same, but the Curse Seals amplified Extraction's power. That was a fact.

It was also a fact that the Wolf Curse could unleash Extraction's power with an even higher potency than Michael's.

"I've been wondering about something," Michael cleared his throat while trying to think of a way not to sound like he was crazy, "But what happens when a Soultrait and a Curse fuse?"

Evee, Eren, and Evelaynn stared at Michael. They were still in the portal room and had yet to move out, but it didn't look like anyone was ready to make a move as Eren and Evee's expressions distorted ever so slightly.

"Perfect compatibility. That's incredibly rare, and it can be both a blessing and a curse, depending on your relationship with your Curse," Evee mumbled, her expression turning somber.

"A single mistake and you're dead," Eren mumbled, his eyes dead serious, "If you like being alive...never trust your Curse too much."

Evee's eyes turned wet.

"Or you will end like my mother."