"Yeah. Priests can kill or like they call it... exorcise cursed spirits by binding the cursed spirits into their bodies."
The gears in Simon’s mind spun furiously the moment he heard these words.
Why?
Because one of his comrades, his wife specifically, was a priest.
And he could recall how his wife and several other priests would go to his battlefields and several other battlefields to ’purify’ and ’exorcise’ the battlefields.
His wife and the other priests would claim that they wanted to bring peace to the fallen souls of the battlefield.
Simon believed that this was what they were doing since he had seen them purify battlefields in the past.
He could perceive the change in the air and aura of the battlefield after all the priests did their thing.
And this was not the problem for Simon.
What Simon suddenly realized was that the priests had been binding the cursed spirits of the battlefield into their bodies, and this brought back memories of when he fought his comrades after their betrayal.
’The first person to attack me was my ex-wife, not any of those other bastards.’
’She was the first person to stab me with a dagger after kissing me, and that dagger contained a foreign energy I could not control or react to.’
’I had divine aether back then because I was a Demi-God, and if the dagger had the divine aether of a god, I would have been able to counter the divine aether.’
’But the energy in that dagger was completely different, and I could not even perceive the energy with my demi-god senses back then. It was only because it was ravaging my body that I knew that there was a foreign energy inside of me.’
’But what if that dagger had cursed energy or a cursed spirit... Or worse, a combination of cursed energy and cursed spirit.’
’What if my ex-wife was actually collecting powerful cursed spirits, binding it into her body, and then she created a powerful cursed spirit or cursed energy that I could not perceive or control.’
’I remember how she used to go around the world in order to save people.’
’That dagger was what truly killed me, not the bullet... But these are all speculations though. It might have been something else entirely.’
Simon exhaled deeply, then he looked at Lilith.
He decided to ask a few more questions about cursed spirits, cursed energy, and priests.
"You used the word kill when you said priests bind cursed spirits to their bodies. What did you mean? If they bind cursed spirits to their body, doesn’t that mean the cursed spirits are not dead?"
Lilith shook her head.
"When a priest binds a cursed spirit to their bodies, they would have to destroy the Will of the cursed spirit."
"Doing this is extremely dangerous since it requires you to use your Will to destroy the cursed spirit’s Will. The cursed spirit can counter attack and might even taint your Will."
"But for priests, they are usually assisted by their patron gods. Their Wills are usually strengthened by their patron gods, so whenever they bind a cursed spirit into their bodies, they are in a way using the Will of their patron gods to destroy the Will of the cursed spirit."
Simon had a deep frown hearing this, and he was beginning to put two and two together.
"And priests can use these cursed spirits which have no Will to attack, right?"
Lilith chuckled. "Of course. I was a little bit surprised when I saw this during the time of the Ghost Sword Emperor."
"I believe the humans call this method of attack by the priests, Debuffs. But what they don’t know is that the priests actually use the abilities or the cursed energy of the cursed spirits to attack their enemies."
"Instead of depending on their patron god all the time and making their patron god waste their energy, I guess they became creative and decided to use cursed spirits as a means of attack."
Simon went silent, and the gears in his mind moved at a rapid pace.
Two seconds later, he asked another question.
"And is there a possibility of a priest or a patron god fusing many cursed spirits to create a new cursed spirit? A cursed spirit that’s countless times more powerful and dangerous? A cursed spirit that the priest’s body should not be able to contain?"
Lilith looked at Simon with raised brows.
"That’s oddly specific. Were you killed by a priest in your past life?"
Simon did not reply and just kept on walking forward with his eyes looking vacant and distant.
Lilith saw this, then she clicked her tongue slightly.
"Fine... Yes, it’s very possible for a stronger cursed spirit to be created from merging numerous cursed spirits."
Simon nodded with the same absent-minded expression behind his mask. "And for a priest to do this, they usually need the help of their patron god, right?"
"Yeah. The domain of curses is not something just anybody can thread. Even some gods struggle with cursed spirits and energy."
’I see.’
Simon nodded once again with the same absent-minded expression, but despite his absent-minded expression, he somehow knew the right path to take to his class, and he never bumped into anybody.
"What of cursed energy? What exactly is cursed energy?"
Lilith glanced at Simon with slightly narrowed eyes.
"You seem so eager to know about cursed energy and cursed spirits."
Simon gave her a glance, then he closed his eyes and released a soft sigh.
"I just feel like cursed energy and cursed spirits are the best tools to assassinate an individual. Very few can see them, and it would be a good thing if I could use them against my enemies."
Lilith stared at Simon for a few seconds before shaking her head slightly.
"Or maybe you’re just worried and afraid that such an unpredictable and powerful weapon would be used against you."
Simon did not respond to that comment. He gave her a glance and asked.
"What exactly is cursed energy?"
Sigh
Lilith released a soft sigh.
"Cursed energy is a spiritual energy contaminated by negative emotions. It is produced when a person or creature has an extremely strong negative emotional imprint on the world."
"Emotions like obsession, hatred, regret, and grief are the sources of cursed energy."
"Unlike demonic energy or aether, very few beings can control cursed energy intentionally. Most people who produce it do so unconsciously."
Simon’s eyes instantly glowed with a calculating light, but before he could even speak, Lilith spoke.
"And no. You cannot control cursed energy."