cures mostly disease

At once, I felt my body begin to change, mutating as I began to undergo a Metamorphosis. I helped the process along with Soulforge Restoration, raising Conquest’s status effect to Max in short order. I felt power flow through me, immense even though this skill was still at level one. When the only way to return to normal was to sleep for six hours, it was a difficult skill to grind, but if I was lucky…

Putting my hands together as if praying—which I might have been, just a little bit—I used my new skill for the first time and felt a change. Opening my status window as I grew excited, there was no change, but I was sure now—sure enough to try again, charging the technique as much as I could, paying ten times the normal cost in the process. I pushed it hard and felt something hard to describe; like black sludge in my veins and light rising up beneath it. In a way, it reminded me of when I’d used Lux Aeterna, drawing upon something, and so I focused on that feeling, grasped it, and called to the same light as before.

The armor covering my hands cracked and pieces fell away, revealing hints of the dark flesh beneath. Watching the process with wide eyes, I did it again, lengthening the cracks, and pushed on.

When I’d done it ten times, the status effect dropped from [MAX] to [High], and my armor had fallen away. By the twenty-ninth, it was [Intermediate] and I could see spots of human color in my hands. By the forty-seventh, it was [Low], over half my body was clear, and I was laughing in sheer, unadulterated joy. I kept going, pushing more of the color back with each healing, drawing closer and closer to normal.

But when I hit seventy-four and the status effect didn’t disappear, I realized something was wrong. When, determined, I pushed on to a hundred and then a hundred and fifty and then even more and it still didn’t vanish, I was certain.

Spreading my hands, I watched as spots of black slowly began to form on my skin.

“Should have known it wouldn’t be that easy,” I glared at my own skin. “You persistent son of a bitch.”

Was it because the Riders were entities in their own right in addition to being status effects? Because they were Grimm and somehow resistant? Could they somehow impose themselves again when they should disappear or was it because Conquest was tied to my Aura as well as my body?

I had no idea.

But…

It was progress. And I’d gotten what I’d wanted, if not completely. I could practice with this—train, experiment, learn, and grow—until I found a way, but for now…