Chardo hadn't "given Cid three whacks to trigger three evolutions," but even a single move—Slashlight—was enough for Cid to owe him that much.
Cid wasn't going to call him "Master," and there was no bond between them.
But it was only a bottle of medicine—hardly something precious.
Chardo took the bottle without thinking, popped it open, and downed it in one gulp.
He was Gluttony—there was almost nothing he couldn't eat.
And he didn't believe an enemy with that kind of presence would stoop to poisoning him.
Only after swallowing it did Chardo ask with interest:
"What did you just make me take?"
"Wait. It'll kick in soon."
"…This medicine of yours—can it even suppress Behemoth's poison?"
His breathing smoothing out made Chardo gasp in surprise, and even Alfia gave Cid another look.
They knew what Behemoth meant.
If that poison were something you could casually solve, the two great Familias wouldn't have been helpless against it.
Yet Cid himself was dissatisfied.
"Behemoth's poison… and it's only suppression?"
He kept his face calm, but inwardly his nerves jumped.
His antidote-making wasn't worth bragging about.
It was merely "best in Orario by a ridiculous margin," that was all.
Cid had spent years researching antidotes to save a companion—
Kaguya Gojoya.
Kaguya had been raised in the "black ops" wing of a nation-level Familia, living a life where the job was murder.
Worse, her side had a terrifying rule:
Women trained as assassins had to ingest poison from childhood, turning their bodies into living toxins.
Those who couldn't withstand it simply died—so the bloodline wouldn't "waste" resources on weak offspring.
After surviving that training, they were taught etiquette and grooming.
It was said every woman of the Gojoya clan grew into someone poised and beautiful.
If they could seduce a target, they could kill through intimate contact—an assassination method both convenient and almost impossible to guard against.
A certain "pure" nun, apparently, was completely defenseless against tricks like that.
According to Kaguya herself, the clan's men consumed antidotes from childhood, so that when they coupled, the man's antidote would neutralize the woman's poison.
That was why Gojoya women could only bear children for Gojoya men—preserving the "purity" of the bloodline.
After coming to Orario, Kaguya had once tried to detox.
She failed.
Because she'd been molded into a poison-body since childhood, the toxins had already fused with her bones and blood—becoming part of her.
At Orario's current alchemy level, her poison was unsolvable.
Once Cid learned the truth, he began researching a cure and never stopped.
That was simply how Shadow operated: if it was something he could do, he would never beg others to do it for him.
After years of effort, he finally achieved "a small result."
Kaguya didn't know it yet—
Her poison had already been undone by Cid.
Now she could fall in love like a normal girl… and have intimacy with the person she loved.
But Cid had no idea how to tell her, so he decided to let her discover it herself.
The excuse would be easy: she'd gone too long without taking poison, so her natural resistance "recovered her" over time.
Because of that history, Cid's antidote craft had reached a level no one in Orario could match.
What he'd produced tonight was his most confident "universal antidote."
And yet it only suppressed the poison in Chardo's body?
No wonder even a mouthful of his toxic blood was so monstrous.
The name Behemoth was also familiar to Cid—he remembered it as a creature from the Bible.
Like Leviathan, it was said to be created by Yahweh on the sixth day.
In this world, Behemoth and Leviathan were two of the "Three Great Quests" of the mortal realm.
So if you were poisoned by Behemoth, that meant you'd participated in the Behemoth subjugation.
This "Chardo" really had been a hero, hadn't he?
Cid quietly made a decision:
He'd spend time later pushing his detox research further.
How could there be a poison that Shadow couldn't cure?
Especially when two people were standing in front of him at once—
One carried a poison he couldn't fully solve yet.
The other carried a curse he couldn't fully solve yet.
It was enough to make him furious.
"Today I've lost the will to fight. Adjust yourselves… and we'll fight again next time."
Cid withdrew his slime sword, with no interest in continuing.
As the Eminence in Shadow, he had no desire to bully an enemy already rotting with poison.
"Shadow—thank you for your generosity. In return, I will definitely make you regret it!"
Chardo drew a deep breath.
Perhaps because breathing had finally become smooth again, even the air tasted sweet.
"Wait. You still haven't defeated me."
Alfia hadn't even acted yet—she hadn't had her fill!
You tease someone and then try to walk away?
"You? Next time, you two can come at me together."
Cid paused for half a beat, then tossed another bottle.
He'd recently been researching curses—this was the product of that research.
"You're serious?"
Alfia caught it, uncertainty flickering in her eyes.
She knew her curse likely surpassed even Behemoth's poison.
It was practically a curse of fate.
But Chardo's example was right there, and it gave her a sliver of hope she had no business having.
"Try it."
"…"
She poured out two pills and swallowed them.
The pain of the curse truly eased.
Not enough to break it—but enough that her body regained sensation she hadn't felt in a long time.
"How did you do this?"
Holding the bottle, Alfia found Cid even more unfathomable.
This was the first person she'd ever seen who could suppress her curse.
He was terrifyingly strong—and still had spare capacity to research medicine?
And to research it to this level?
Alfia's eyes reflected Cid's silhouette.
Maybe… she had finally found the one true hero.
"Remember this: next time, it's you two challenging me."
With that, Cid left—without another pause.
He believed in himself, and he believed in his skills.
Effort always produced results.
His life—and the skill "Omnipotent Mastery"—proved it.
Give him time, and neither poison nor curse would stop him.
And he could vaguely feel it:
Tonight's battle had loosened his bottleneck.
He was already a single step away from Level 6.
If he went back and updated his Blessing… he might break through.
Chardo and Alfia watched him go, both feeling complicated.
They'd both seen the change in Shadow's attitude.
"He started out trying to challenge us… but in the end he told us to challenge him. This fight didn't satisfy him."
Chardo's words were filled with melancholy.
From the moment Shadow noticed his body was failing, Shadow had intentionally held back.
He still treated the duel seriously, but he'd lost the one emotion a duel needed most—
The tension of not knowing the outcome.
You could see it in the fight.
Chardo had revealed Slashlight—his signature trump—
But Shadow still hadn't shown anything that was uniquely his.
A warrior like that couldn't possibly have no personal ultimate move.
Yet in that battle, Shadow had only copied Chardo's technique.
Gluttony—himself—had disappointed his opponent.
"In his eyes, the two of us are half-ruined people barely clinging on. We don't deserve the title of 'Greatest Evil.'"
Alfia clenched the bottle, bitterness clogging her chest.
Against Level 6s—or even Level 5 "small fries"—their current condition was still more than enough.
It would even be easy.
But Shadow was different.
Tonight was a full moon—there should have been a "Forbidden City summit" class duel.
Instead, their bodies dragged them down, preventing them from displaying "Greatest Evil"-level performance.
As a living embodiment of talent, this was the first time in Alfia's life she had disappointed an opponent.
They'd finally met someone worth fighting.
Finally found the one true hero.
So why had it turned into this?
"Use that medicine and take this time to recover. There will be a next decisive battle."
A strange emotion rose in Chardo—something unfamiliar.
Today's humiliation wasn't dealt by Shadow.
It was dealt by this failing shell of a body.
He hadn't been able to satisfy Shadow.
He truly felt sorry for that.
"In the name of 'Greatest Evil'—next time, we'll wash away today's humiliation!"
....
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