"You've done well today, my pupil" said the leader of the healing coven with a smile of their face "very well"
"Enough to have me graduate already?" Asked Clement raising a brow
"Not yet, but trust me, at this rate, very soon" said the coven leader calmly
"Not soon enough" said Clement narrowing his eyes as he stared at the large figure that was the coven leader
"Ha ha ha, always so hasty" said the coven leader with a smile "you're not ready yet, besides, i have another task for you"
"Task?"
"Well, it's more of a request, there's someone i need you to heal" said the coven leader, their expression turning grim
"So a curse, that's why you can't heal them yourself, right?" Said Clement bluntly with a hand on his chin
"...yes, they had it for quite a while now, they have it under control, but it won't last forever, so i thought that maybe you could do something about it" said the coven leader calmly
A pregnant pause took place, Clement stared at his mentor before breaking the silence
"Fine, but you better get the next lesson going very-very soon" said Clement frowning
The coven leader laughed "very well, I'll get you tomorrow to visit that person, now it's time for you to go home and get some rest"
Clement rolled his eyes before he rode his staff back to his home
_-_-_
"The emperor's castle?" Asked Clement raising a brow as he stared at the castle in front of him, he was wearing an aquamarine turtleneck shirt with black pants "really?"
"Well, i might've hidden a few things about the one you're healing" said the healing coven leader with a light laugh
"This is why i have trust issues" said Clement pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration "so who is this mysterious patient?'
"...you'll see"
The two navigated their way through the emperor's castle, and the coven leader decided to break the silence
"While we're on the way, what do you think of my teaching?"
"Great, yadda yadda, don't care" said Clement bluntly "and never ask me that question again"
"*sigh* you never change, do you" said the coven leader before they approached a giant door "regardless, here we are"
The door opened and Clement quickly realized who his mysterious patient is
"Emperor Belos, i have brought you someone who could heal your ailment" said the healing coven leader kneeling in front of the emperor
They were in the emperor's throne room
Clement didn't bow in front of the emperor, he just stood still with his ever present frown
"Do you take the emperor for a fool!" Said the emperor's assistant angrily "Sire! They_"
The emperor signaled for her stop before speaking
"A child?" Asked Belos calmly "don't tell me you've gotten senile"
"I swear, he can help" said the coven leader still kneeling
"How about you judge me after i do the thing" said Clement frowning as his staff teleported into his hands "i don't have all day"
The leader of the healing coven flinched, they knew Clement was rude, but in front of the emperor, his assistant AND the golden guard all at the same time
"You dare speak to the emperor like that" yelled the emperor's assistant angrily, signaling for the guards to get ready to attack
"I lost my sense of self preservation a long time ago" deadpanned Clement "i don't care about respect, i care about results without side effects"
"You_"
"Kikimora" said Belos calmly, making Kiki stop in her tracks before turning to Clement "you sound confident"
"I know what i can and can't do" said Clement bluntly "if you don't want to do it, i can just leave"
"If the leader of the healing coven has this much faith in you, then there's some truth to your claims" said Belos calmly "do it"
"Okay, first, can you stand in front of me, I'd be better if you're not sitting" said Clement with his ever present frown
Kikimora was about to say something but the emperor stopped her and stood in front of Clement
"This is gonna get weird, so don't get startled" said Clement calmly and the emperor let out a hum of affirmation
Hearing that, Clement hit the ground with his staff, and the tongue of his dark blue colored frog palisman shot out at Belos
He flinched at the tongue before understanding Clement's words
The tongue turned black and the frog palisman soon followed, it's eyes glowing white, and after a few seconds, the tongue retracted back to the palisman's mouth
Then the palisman turned back to it's original color
"Look, I'm not gonna sugar coat this, but this is gonna hurt...a lot" said Clement calmly "do you still want to do this?"
"Do it"
Clement aimed his staff at Belos and fired a dark aquamarine colored beam at him
At first, the emperor fell to his knees, then he clutched his head
Then the black goo started appearing, eventually, Belos turned into a sludge like monster and tried to attack Clement
But the beam weakned the sludge curse rapidly, making it crawl towards Clement, trying to attack him
But it stopped directly in front of Clement, like a dying man in a desert reaching for a drop of water
Then the sludge disappeared, and Belos could be seen again, fallen on the ground
The golden guard immediately ran to support the emperor and Kikimora ordered the guards to attack Clement
But the emperor stopped her
"Stop!...it worked" said Belos panting, the guards and Kiki stopped per his orders
"Not yet, i only healed a part of it" said Clement calmly
"What?!" Said Kikimora
"I'm not powerful enough to remove it in one sitting and keep him alive as well, you're expecting too much from a thirteen year old" said Clement pulling a small box from his pockets "don't worry, only the first one is this violent"
"So how long would it take to cure?" The golden guard finally spoke after helping the emperor back on his throne
"Depends on how much time i spend with him, and since i have a lot of personal things going on, i can't be with him very much right now, so I'll come every once in a while to keep the curse somewhat weakened" explained Clement bluntly as he pulled a small needle from the box he pulled out and pressed that needle against his palisman, making those needles turn a dark blue color before putting them back in the box "Shorty! Catch!"
Clement threw the box towards Kikimora who caught it, she looked confused by the item before Clement explained
"Prick him with that needle if he gets an outburst and you don't have a way to stop it. use it only in emergencies since it can only be used once and all that" said Clement bluntly before he started walking away
"You're leaving?" Asked the golden guard in confusion
"I did everything i needed to do, I'll come by once a week to do the same thing i did today" said Clement scratching his palisman under it's chin
The golden guard stared at that palisman, it was different from a normal palisman, just the liquid on it's skin could stop emperor Belos from getting any outbursts
That wasn't normal for a staff
If he could just study it, then maybe he could replicate it's effects
And remove his uncle's need to absorb palismen, he wouldn't have to worry about outbursts entirely
Suddenly, the idea of borrowing the staff popped into his head
The golden guard had a new objective
_-_-_
"You're a lying jerk, you know that, right?" Said Clement with a scowl on his face
"And you're insane, i never thought you'd act like that in front of the emperor" said the leader of the healing coven tiredly "thankfully, nothing terrible happened"
"Just wait until they get greedy" said Clement frowning "I'll be hunted because of you"
"Worry not, Clement, the emperor would never do that_"
"Just go already, you won't convince me" deadpanned Clement
The coven leader laughed a little before teleporting away
Clement sighed before continuing his walk home, until a red beam of energy was fired at him
He barely blocked it with a barrier
"Already?" Asked Clement looking at where the attack came from
But another attack came at him from behind, he blocked it as well
Another attack came at him, it was the emperor's right hand man, the golden guard
Clement blocked it and counter attacked with a beam of energy
The golden guard teleported out of the way before landing on the ground
"Hello" deadpanned Clement
"Look, just give me that staff and there won't be a fight" said the golden guard
"That's too bad, Fletcher hates strangers" said Clement frowning getting ready to fight
"You asked for this" said the guard right before teleporting behind Clement, trying to smack him with his artificial magic staff
Clement blocked with his own staff and drew a small magic circle that made a beam that hit the guard
But nothing happened
"That did nothing?"
"Doesn't have to" said Clement firing a blast from his staff at the golden guard
The guard teleported away, this continued on, the golden guard attacking and Clement blocking while attacking occasionally
Eventually, the golden started feeling tired, too tired for the amount of fighting he just did, Clement even managed to hit him a few more times
The golden guard realized it too late, the "pointless" attacks he got hit by were what's making him tired
He tried to escape, but Clement knocked him out
_-_-_
"Aaah! Hah hah, where am i?!" Said the golden guard in confusion after waking up from his nap
"Hi"
"You!" Said the guard trying to move before realizing that he was all tied up and not wearing his mask
"Did you really think i was gonna leave you free?" Said Clement raising a brow "doesn't matter, what matters is why you decided to attack me, they weren't the emperor's orders, he's too tired, and you would've had backup"
"It's none of your business!"
"You're not getting out of that until you convince me" said Clement tiredly, the golden guard stayed silent "at least tell me your name, i don't want to have to call you golden guard all the time"
The golden guard stayed silent
"Did you do it because you thought that my palisman could replace whatever you're using to keep the outbursts away?" Asked Clement raising a brow
The golden guard flinched
"So i was right"
"What about it, it's better used to cure the emperor than it being with you for your 'personal problems'" said the golden guard frowning
Clement went silent for a few seconds before speaking
"My mother is cursed"
"What?" Asked the golden guard instinctively
"She is in a much worse shape than Belos, she's already just a wild beast, the reason I was the healing coven leader is that they promised to help me graduate early if i become their student, i need to stay with her as much as possible if i want to heal her" said Clement crestfallen "Why do you think someone would spend their time making a palisman so focused on dealing with curses?, just because they can?"
"Oh...I'm_"
"Sorry? Yeah, that's what anyone would say" said Clement frowning "i don't blame you for trying to steal Fletcher, if i was in your shoes, I'd do it too"
A pregnant pause took place, then the golden guard decided to speak
"Hunter...my name is Hunter"
Clement was silent for a few seconds, then he decided to speak
"Hello, Hunter, my name is Clement"
This was the start of a brand new friendship
_-_-_
Tell me how i did, leave a review
Toodles.
