The Staff of Epos was an Ancient Artifact that adjusted to the wielder's power. It was capable of sealing the Soultraits of all targets in its range.

That would have been useful to know before the Undead Pharaoh sealed Michael's Soultrait. The only advantage was that his 7-Star Soultraits hadn't been sealed. Only Divine Lifeform could unleash the Staff of Epos' true power. The Undead Pharaoh might have been a Divine Lifeform when he was alive, but his power was still sealed. He could only seal a portion of Michael's 7-Star Soultraits using the Staff of Epos.

Nonetheless, that was enough to put Michael into a tricky situation. He couldn't escape the Undead Pharaoh's grasp because he was in the pharaoh's throne hall, which had been locked moments after Michael emerged.

The only reason Michael didn't panic was that he had the World Serpent and the Curse on his side. If not for their presence reassuring him, Michael would be on the verge of losing his sanity.

[The Staff of Epos is an Ancient Artifact that can only be used by a Curse User. That's also why it's overflowing with curse power. If you get us close enough to the Staff of Epos, we can drain some of its curse power. The partial seals on your 7-Star Soultraits will disappear. The curse power inside the Staff of Epos is compressed and highly potent. As long as you stay close to him, we can unlock more Seals to strengthen you!]

The World Serpent was already in fighting mode, and the deep growl within Michael showed that his Curse was also ready to rumble. However, Michael was not yet prepared. He had to get a hang of the weird feeling that permeated his entire being. It was the first time that he felt naked and powerless.

Most of his Soultraits had been sealed, including Spirit Eyes. His vision returned to how it had been originally. The Staff of Epos also sealed the passive effects of his other Soultraits. The only passive effect that remained was the Elemental Empress' tattoo. It was just that the Elemental Empress was sealed inside Michael and that they didn't have any means to communicate. Taming was sealed, after all.

"You are talking to your Curse. That's interesting," The Undead Pharaoh noticed nonchalantly.

He was eerily calm and didn't consider Michael a threat anymore. Why would he? Michael's Soultraits were sealed, and he was merely a Lesser Lifeform. It didn't matter that Michael was already familiar with his Curse and that he could talk with it.

"I didn't expect that the young brother of that Cursed Child to be so much stronger. I felt that you were special when I read your brother's memories, but to think you were such an anomaly. Very intriguing!"

Michael frowned deeply, anger bubbling deep inside him.

"You killed my brother."

The Undead Pharaoh walked around the throne hall, the Staff of Epos clicking lightly on the polished sandstone floor.

"I sure did. But I only dealt the finishing blow to your brother. He would have died either way. The people he trusted foolishly betrayed him," He revealed in a light tone, "I wouldn't be here if not for their betrayal. Your brother's blood triggered my awakening. It was not within my plans to wake up anytime soon. In fact, I didn't want to wake up from eternal slumber in the first place. But now that I've been awakened, the Will...."

The Undead Pharaoh was just about to say something when he groaned. The blazing flames in his eyesockets flickered wildly for a second, only to die down once again. The Soul Flames regained their normal intensity once again.

"It seems like I shouldn't speak any further about this," The Undead Pharaoh shrugged lightly, trying to hide what was going through his mind. Either way, you look just like your brother. He was just a little bit older than you...and definitely weaker. Your presence and stance are entirely different from that naive man's. The Curse inside you is a lot stronger as well. I can't remember hearing of a Cursed Child capable of talking to his Curse."

"Your blood should be enough to help me re-awaken my full power!"

[Below you!] The World Serpent hissed in his mind, and several thick golden Extraction tendrils shot out of his body. The tendrils plunged into the ground, where Michael saw several pairs of bony hands emerge out of nowhere. The bony hands lunged for Michael's legs but were shattered as the Extraction tendrils impacted.

'Darkness...Is that another Curse affiliated with darkness?' Michael wondered, recalling that his mother's Curse was related to darkness and that Danny's Curse had also been a nuisance with eerie dark powers.

However, something else about the bony, dark hands attracted his attention. Something merged into the darkness.

'If Spirit Eyes was working, I would have been able to figure out what it is right away. Fuck this shit!'

Michael jumped back and retreated further. He tried to sense what his Curse's extraction tendrils had devoured, but his connection to his Curse was not strong enough to perceive much.

More hands emerged from the polished sandstone floor. Skeletons of various races, coated in darkness, formed. However, the darkness was not eerily black. Countless green lines spread through the darkness, creating multiple intricate patterns.

[Corruption. You're really unlucky.]

'What do you mean?' Michael had a good guess about what the World Serpent meant but didn't have the luxury to play the guessing game. The Skeletons kicked the ground and shot toward Michael.

Michael conjured two Aethyr Scimitars and coated them in True Extraction's power. His Cursed Seals and the Serpent Seals were still active. Fortunately, the Staff of Epos didn't seal them either.

Simultaneously, Michael used Heavenly Beast Physique. He shot forward and cut through the shroud of darkness, severing the Skeletons in half.

[Corruption. His cursed power has been corrupted. You'll have to extract the corruption properties if you want me to help defeat him.]

Michael had no idea how it mattered whether the Undead Pharaoh's cursed strength had been corrupted or not, but he certainly felt something off when he cut through the corrupted darkness shrouding the Skeletons.

True Extraction tapped into the corrupted darkness briefly, but it was enough to devour a trace of it. The corruption entered the strength of True Extraction, which shrouded the Aethyr Scimitars. At first, Michael didn't think much of it. He cut through the first two Skeletons, killing them by shattering their cores.

However, as more corruption entered the Aethyr Scimitar, Michael felt something. It was harder to control the golden hue that coated the Aethyr Scimitars. Michael was slowly losing control! Michael didn't regain control even as he tapped into True Extraction to thicken the golden hue around the Aethyr Scimitars.

He frowned deeply and accelerated by activating Foundation Break for a quarter of a second. His skin burst open as tremendous strength surged through his entire being. The Skeletons fell victim to his scimitars individually, but Michael was not happy. He retracted as much Aethyr as possible without transferring the corruption to his form before hurling two needles made of Aethyr to the other side of the room.

The golden hue coating the Aethyr needles dyed sickly green. The Corruption also devoured the True Extraction Hue before swallowing the Aethyr Needles.

'How am I supposed to remove...' Michael was about to continue curse when his Cursed nudged at the back of his head.

"You can do it?" Michael asked, a trace of hope emerging in his mind.

However, the hope was shattered and replaced by suspicion and a deep frown when his Curse tried to access his body. It spread through him in an attempt to control his being.

"But you need my form to do that?"

Was that worth it? Could he defeat the Undead Pharaoh in any other way?

At this point, Michael wasn't sure if he could trust his Curse. It hadn't bothered him much in the last few months and had been helpful. However, Michael recalled the times the Curse tried forcibly taking control of his body.

Maybe everything the Curse had down was a trick to take control of his body?

What if all of this was the Curse's plan to devour him and replace him?

'Fuck'