William remained standing, his gaze shifting from his cleaned palm to the lingering traces of energy still visible around Kael's fingers. His expression had shifted into full analytical mode.
"This confirms several critical points about your system's nature," William said, beginning to pace slowly around the clearing's perimeter. His boots crushed small flowers without him noticing.
"The Curse Tyrant Interface operates on fundamentally different architecture than standard sorcery systems. Let me explain what I believe you're dealing with."
He stopped, turning to face Kael fully, and his voice took on lecturing cadence. Urgent. Like he'd been waiting for this conversation and could finally unleash observations he'd been compiling.
"Standard systems the kind ninety-nine percent of sorcerers use are constructive. They tap into the System Lattice and channel its energy into creation, enhancement, amplification. Fire sorcerers don't just summon flames they construct thermal matrices from ambient Aether."
"Healers don't just close wounds they accelerate cellular regeneration through carefully structured energy infusion."
William's hands moved as he spoke, gesturing to illustrate concepts only he could see clearly.
"Your system," he continued, "is the inverse. The Curse Tyrant Interface is a rejection engine. An anti-sorcery void specialized in three core functions: nullification, absorption, and what I can only term 'abyssal evolution.'"
Kael's brow furrowed, trying to follow.
"Explain."
"Nullification what you just demonstrated. The ability to negate, unmake, dissolve. Not through overwhelming force, but through fundamental denial. You don't destroy the apple by burning it or crushing it. You reject its existence, and reality complies. The System Lattice recognizes your authority to say 'no' to matter, to magic, to structure itself."
The words sent a chill down Kael's spine that had nothing to do with temperature. Authority to say 'no' to reality. That sounds like. . .
"Absorption," William continued, warming to his subject, "is the logical complement. What you negate, you can consume. Energy dispersed doesn't simply vanish it flows into you, into the void, feeding the engine. This theoretically means you could nullify an opponent's spell and absorb its power, converting hostile magic into your own fuel."
That's... terrifying. And incredibly dangerous. What happens if I absorb something I can't handle? Does it poison the void? Change me?
"And abyssal evolution..." William paused, choosing words carefully. "This is purely theoretical, based on historical fragments about similar systems. But I believe the CTI can adapt. Not just counter existing threats, but evolve new capabilities in response to what it encounters. If you faced a fire-based opponent repeatedly, the void might develop specific fire-negation protocols. If you absorbed curse energy, it might grant you curse-adjacent abilities."
He fell silent, letting that sink in.
Kael felt dizzy. The implications were staggering a system that learned, that grew, that could theoretically counter anything given enough exposure.
No wonder the government scrubbed information about it. A sorcerer with this power could invalidate entire military forces.
Could make conventional magic obsolete.
"But," William said, and the single word carried enough weight to make Kael tense, "there are costs. Severe ones."
He cautiously reached for the faint aura still clinging to Kael's fingers, extending his index finger to barely brush the red-black lightning.
The effect was immediate and horrifying.
The lightning snapped a sound like breaking bone and latched onto William's fingertip. In less than a second, the flesh there blackened, tissue degrading rapidly, blood vessels collapsing, skin sloughing away to reveal charred bone beneath.
William jerked his hand back with a sharp hiss of pain, cradling the injured finger against his chest. The damage was contained to just the fingertip maybe a centimeter of destroyed tissue but the speed and completeness of the destruction was chilling.
Kael's eyes went wide, horror flooding through him. "Professor!" He started forward instinctively, reaching to help, then froze.
what if I make it worse?
"A demonstration," William managed through gritted teeth, his face pale but his expression oddly satisfied despite obvious pain. He examined the blackened finger with clinical detachment. "Proof of the system's volatility and its cost structure."
He pulled a small vial from his robe pocket. A healing elixir that glowed faint green and poured it over the wound. The damaged tissue began regenerating immediately, new skin growing over charred bone, but the process was clearly painful. William's jaw clenched throughout, his breath hissing between teeth.
"The Curse Tyrant Interface," he continued once his finger looked mostly normal again, "doesn't just affect external targets. It affects you. The cost structure is brutal: physical degradation, identity erosion, and something we don't fully understand yet that the historical texts refer to as 'void hunger.'"
He flexed the healed finger experimentally.
"Physical degradation extended use damages your body at the cellular level. Your tissues can't handle the energies you're channeling. Use it too much, too quickly, and you'll literally burn yourself out from the inside. That's minor compared to what sustained activation could do."
Kael's hand moved unconsciously to his neck, where the ache had become such constant background noise he'd almost stopped noticing it.
"Identity erosion is more insidious," William said, his voice dropping. "The void doesn't just nullify external magic it erodes your connection to the System Lattice. Use it extensively, and you risk severing yourself from sorcery entirely. You'd become something else. Something that exists outside the lattice's framework."
Outside the framework. Is that what Ravok was? Is that what I'm becoming?
"And void hunger...The historical texts are vague, almost deliberately so. But they suggest the void develops... appetite. Needs. It craves nullification, craves absorption, and those cravings can influence the user. Make them seek out conflict. Make destruction feel necessary in ways it isn't."
The clearing had gone very quiet. Even the birds seemed to have fallen silent, as if nature itself was listening to this conversation and finding it disturbing.
"You also lack embedded skills," William continued, pivoting slightly. "Normal systems come with skill trees predetermined abilities that unlock through training, practice, mastery. Fire sorcerers learn fireball, then flame wall, then inferno. Each skill builds on previous knowledge."
He gestured vaguely at Kael.
"But you? Your system rejects that structure. It's freeform. Open-ended. Which means..." He paused, the implications clearly troubling him. "Which means you have to discover what you can do through experimentation. Trial and error. There's no manual, no predetermined path. Every capability has to be found, tested, refined. That's incredibly dangerous."
Great. So I'm flying blind with a weapon that could kill me as easily as it kills enemies. Perfect.
Kael absorbed the information in silence, his mind racing through scenarios, possibilities, risks. After a long moment, he looked up at William. "So how do I actually learn to use it? If there's no skill tree, no training path how do I get better without killing myself?"
William stopped pacing. "There are specialists. Not sorcerers not teachers like me. Arch-systemists."
The term was unfamiliar. Kael's confusion must have shown, because William continued immediately:
"Arch-systemists are researchers who dedicate their lives to understanding the System Lattice at its deepest levels. They're not fighters or instructors they're scholars. Engineers. They map systems, trace their connections to the lattice, identify optimal usage patterns and danger thresholds."
He resumed pacing.
"They operate mostly in isolation, in specialized research facilities funded by governments or wealthy patrons. Their work is theoretical, computational, incredibly technical. Most sorcerers never interact with them never need to. Standard systems are well-documented, user-friendly by design."
William stopped directly in front of Kael, eyes intense.
"But systems like yours the aberrant ones, the ones that break expected patterns those require arch-systemist analysis. They're the only ones with the tools and knowledge to properly map the CTI's architecture, identify safe activation thresholds, predict evolution paths."
Hope kindled in Kael's chest. "So there's someone who can help? Who can tell me how to use this without destroying myself?"
"In theory, yes." William's tone was careful.
"In practice... arch-systemists are extremely rare. They don't advertise their services you need connections, references, often royal endorsement. And their time is extraordinarily expensive."
Of course. Nothing about this can be simple.
"There's one," William said slowly, "who operates semi-publicly. Dr. Altheira Vex. She maintains a research facility in the Crystalreach District of the capital.
"Specializes in aberrant system analysis, has published extensively on rejection-type architectures."
He pulled a small notebook from his pocket and scribbled something quickly, then tore out the page and handed it to Kael.
"This is her contact information. Use my name as reference. She owes me a favor from years ago I helped her acquire samples from a deceased curse entity for her research."
"But understand: she's eccentric, demanding, and if she agrees to study your system, it will be invasive. She'll want scans, samples, controlled activation tests. It won't be pleasant."
Kael took the paper, folding it carefully and tucking it into his pocket. "Better than figuring it out by accidentally killing myself."
"Agreed," William said dryly.
They fell silent, both processing the conversation's weight.
William moved back toward the statue, settling again on its base. "The CTI defies everything we think we know about how sorcery systems should function. Standard architecture connects users to the lattice, enabling power flow. Systems are bridges, channels, amplifiers."
He looked up at Kael.
"Yours inverts that relationship. Instead of channeling lattice energy, you reject it. Instead of connecting, you disconnect. You don't enhance sorcery you end it." He shook his head slowly. "It's theoretically fascinating and practically terrifying. Because if you fully mastered it..."
He didn't finish the sentence. Didn't need to.
If I mastered it, I could negate any sorcerer. Any spell. Any defense. I'd be an extinction event for magic itself.
The thought should have been empowering. Instead, it felt like a noose tightening around his neck.
Kael was about to respond when the sky darkened.
Thick darkness gathered overhead like ink in water, black clouds forming from nothing and swallowing the blue sky within seconds.
The temperature plummeted ten degrees.
The forest's ambient sounds cut off mid-note. Birds stopped singing. Wind died completely. Even the rustling leaves fell silent, as if nature itself had drawn a shocked breath and forgotten to exhale.
The darkness continued thickening. Substance that shouldn't exist in atmosphere, coating the sky in layers that blocked not just light but seemed to absorb it.
Kael's eyes flared with alarm literally this time a faint red glow sparking in his pupils as the void stirred in response. His heart pounded. Every instinct screamed danger, the same warning that came just before a predator burst from the tall grass.
William's face transformed into confusion giving way to tension, then something approaching to fear. He stood abruptly, his head snapping upward, scanning the impossible sky with the practiced assessment of someone who'd seen combat and knew when things had gone very, very wrong.
"What..." Kael's voice came out hushed, barely disturbing the unnatural silence. "What is this?"
The void in his chest stirred uneasily, pulling at him, whispering in frequencies he couldn't quite parse. More like emotions, warnings encoded in sensations rather than language.
William stared upward. "I don't know," he admitted, and the uncertainty in his voice was somehow more frightening than any threat. "But this isn't natural. This isn't weather."
The darkness continued spreading not just over their clearing, but across the entire visible sky, blanketing the academy grounds in premature night. Through the canopy gaps, Kael could see it extending in all directions, a dome of blackness that seemed to have no edge, no limit.
It's covering everything. The whole academy. Maybe more.