Uh, this curse thing I've got myself involved in might be a little too high for my bridges, if you know what I mean. So, as it turns out, things are not as straightforward as originally thought. Sure, my power can prevail over some small amounts of cursed energy, but the entire country is infested with it.

  Last night, some old guy carrying some royal decree rushed all the way to this small town of demi-humans to get me back to their capital where the biggest outbreak of cursed energy is striking at the moment, and based on what we've been seeing going there I have a strong feeling that I will not have such an easy time in the capital.

  While traveling inside the comfort of a royal carriage, I got to see people fleeing with all their belongings and even more sick and about to die on the road. I mean, whatever this curse was, it was clear that it had taken its toll already, but it wasn't done yet.

  "So, is it true?" After talking for hours, the old man who came to seek me asked me a question, and I didn't pay him much attention until he pressed me to answer. "What?" I respond, "Is it true you're the current top Witch?" The old man responds, to which I say, "Yeah, for the time being, I am."

  "Splendid! Oh, we've been looking for a powerful mage for a while now; this plague situation has gotten so out of hand that even the King has fallen ill, forcing the Queen to be the representative for the Bering meeting." The old man says while I try not to think about all the sick people we nonchalantly move next to.

  "While I appreciate the praise, this is not a plague but a powerful curse that's eating away at your land. Dispelling such a curse, I don't even know if I can do it without the nation's help." The old man suddenly stops smiling and looks dead serious at me as he gathers the courage to respond.

  "How do you know about the curse?" The old man says as I grab one of the little pastries on top of the carriage table. "Simple deduction and research, and based on your looks, I would say I am right." My fingers slowly bring the small vanilla pastry to my lips, and I bite on it to find a fantastic flavor.

  "Yes, it's as you say. The true rulers of these lands died eons ago, and while our rituals were enough to keep their rage at bay for thousands of years, it seems like it's no longer enough to hold their anger back." So, something big and powerful died in this land? I wonder if they were on the level of the Witch Queen.

  "What has the Crown tried to combat the curse?" I ask the old man, who quickly responds.

  "What haven't we? Everyone we send to the spiritual realm where the curse lives perishes within seconds of entering the place. Nobody else is brave enough even to try dispelling it from that front, so our efforts moved to general dispellment with the help of holy church mages, but even that isn't enough."

  "I don't work with the Church." That's the first thing that popped into my mind based on the anger I had against them for being such assholes to my entire race. I wouldn't be caught dead working with the church or the Pope. "Why not? Their resources are very valuable," The old man responds.

  "Because they tried to kill me and my entire race, and I killed some of their top warriors, so we are not on the best terms." The old man looks worried right after I say that, but just when he is about to answer, the carriage comes to a dead stop.

  "What the? Hey, what's wrong, James?" The old man yells out to the carriage conductor, but nobody answers, prompting me to deploy my dark shield immediately. I tug on the old man's arm to enlarge the shield into a bubble and wait as he doesn't seem to understand my concern. I order the Crown to scan our surroundings for signs of enemies, even inside the carriage.

  "What are you doing!?" The old man says that as I soon received the data collected by the Crown, it didn't seem very favorable at all. [There's a large army of unknown entities outside, and the driver is dead]

  "Shut up! Enemies surround us, so say goodbye to the carriage! Ahh!!" The old guy doesn't seem to believe me until I finally push the bubble shape of the dark shield against the carriage's walls, quickly destroying it as it expands.

  To my surprise and relief, what waits for us outside is not humans or church guys but just a bunch of aggressive forest creatures that soon make me feel much better about my chances of success. "Uh!? It's just a bunch of goblins and ogres," I say, and the old man starts panicking straight up.

  "What do you mean just a bunch of goblins and ogres? It's a lot of them. We are so screwed!" The old man starts hyperventilating while I simply begin casting one of my new favorite moves based on holy power until one of the big ogres starts talking to us out of the blue, quickly making me doubt myself into using Fallen Down.

  "We mean no harm; we felt a strong presence. We want to seek help from a strong presence!" The Ogre says sloppily while dropping his spear, followed by all of the other goblins near him. "Why would you kill the carriage driver if you want help!?" I ask this to the big Ogre, who now slowly approaches us, with me still not trusting him enough to dispel my dark shield.

  "Cause he wouldn't want to give you up so easily! AHAHA!" The big dumb Ogre screams while stupidly throwing his fists against my dark shield, which doesn't even move one bit; instead, it reacts to the Ogre's punches by delivering high dosages of concentrated dark power needles on its own.

  {Sight} "Man, I really thought you would prove my preassumption of you being a savage wrong." My voice quickly propagates across the field as the goblins try to help the leader by throwing axes, spears, and arrows at my shield to no avail, only proving that they were just as dumb as I thought, all while the old man shat himself every time the Ogre hit his fists against the shield.

  "How are you confident!? They will kill me once they break the shield and take you away into their breeding cave!" What the old man says in the last part was soon to be the last straw in my thought process; what did he mean by breeding cave? [Large Goblin populations with Ogre leadership usually kidnap and rape human women for fun]

  "What!?" I respond to the Crown's voice as it starts showing me horrible images and videos of recorded incidents, which I turn off right away because it disgusts me so much. "Aww! Fuck that! They're not even worth the full spell; just fucking do it! Ruler of hope! Unique Skill! FALLEN DOWN!"

  The skies soon get brighter than the sun itself, and in almost an instant, the all too common seal of Fallen Down marks itself proudly on top of the clouds as it begins to rain down light spears and bolts against the hundreds of Ogres and goblins at once. "Uh! UUHH! UUH!?" The old man just watches all happen while his mouth is wide open.

  {Goblin screams of pain}

  "Ugh! I'm going to need therapy to get those images out of my head; a little warning would be nice next time you plan on showing me something that vile!" I say to the Crown Voice while the Old man looks at me like I am crazy talking to myself as well he should because I was not about to tell him the Crown's secret.

  "Just who are you really!? You're no ordinary Witch!" I take a little pride as the old man starts freaking out over the insane level of power I've acquired so far. "I told you already. I am the current strongest Witch there is. Now, how well do you handle heights? I can't fly but have the next best thing available."

  "You won't save the girls under the goblin's control?" The old man quickly points out that I should basically finish the job which I almost decline just thinking about those horrible images the Crown showed me, which were too graphic even for me, and I've seen some fucked up shit before.

  "Fine, it will only take a few minutes, but I'd rather not walk or run wherever their place is, so let's catch one of the Ogres that can talk and make him take us there."

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.