The Strongest Curse Master

"This one doesn't have a sheath, too? Ace, you do know that a sword is incomplete without its sheath," Lyra remarked as she fed Fujin to Vyasa's womb, feeling that her baby bro was cheated big time by whoever sold him these two Wakizashi.

"They were designed for assassins, to hide in the folds of their clothes, and aid in assassination. Unfortunately, after being forged into curse tools, the curse abilities they awakened weren't fit for assassination. Still, they are the best among the sword-shaped mortal-tier curse tools that you can find in the market," Ace clarified, helping his sister understand the origin of the two Wakizashis, Fumetsu and Fujin.

"I'm not complaining, just saying," Lyra hurriedly explained, thinking her previous remark might have sounded ungrateful. She was grateful for her brother's generosity, but believed the excellent Wakizashis deserved excellent sheaths.

However, Lyra's little brother, Ace, did not like his big sister being very conscious and cautious of her actions and words around him. The same went for his other family members. Nothing they say or would do could cause him to frown unless it was intentional, because they were family. They not only accepted and respected him but helped him within their power and sometimes even beyond when he was just Ace, someone that his previous classmates and faculty believed was non-existent and never acknowledged, all because they were family.

Now that he was Toymancer Ace, he strongly felt that nothing had changed except that his means and powers had surpassed others in his family, so now it was his turn to help them. Ace did not have any feeling of superiority for doing what was right and what he was supposed to do.

Back when Lyra got her first paycheck, considering her rent and basic living expenses, it wasn't enough for her, let alone buying her baby brother a 1:60 scale master-grade model for his toy collection.

It was her first paycheck, instead of using it selfishly like treating herself to a fancy spa and salon like her colleagues did, she used it to buy her little brother an expensive toy that he had always begged his parents for on his birthday, but never received.

The fact that Lyra remembered and was willing to act on it when she didn't have to. The fact that she chose to unwind and decompress by enjoying her baby bro's happiness instead of some fancy spa and salon. Were enough to show that despite Lyra's annoying quirks, she was still the best sister in the world as far as Ace was concerned.

Well, it's another thing that she ultimately had to borrow money from their parents to make ends meet, that mouth. Though she tried to blame it on her flatmate, who likes to crank up the thermostat and sleep with her bedroom windows open, she knew she f'ed up by buying expensive gifts for her siblings and parents instead of stretching her legs according to her cover.

Not knowing how to address this, for now, Ace just nodded and passed Lyra a dozen changeling curse cores to feed to her Vyasa's womb, believing Fujin would require the same amount of curse cores as Fumetsu to be born as Lyra's curse tool spirit cursed incarnation. The brilliant right light dancing in Vyasa's womb after it digested the dozen curse cores proved his assumption was right.

"Do you want to do the honors?" Lyra offered, extending Vyasa's womb toward Ace.

"Can I? Is that even allowed?" Ace asked, but took Vyasa's womb from his sister anyway.

"We won't know until you try it, will we? Now, pop it, baby bro," Lyra ordered aloud. Infected by Lyra's enthusiasm, curious Ace pierced his thumb into the mouth of Vyasa's womb with all his might to produce as thunderous popping sound as possible. However, to the siblings' surprise, nothing happened.

"Harder Ace," Lyra pressed, thinking baby bro wasn't doing it right. Before she said another word, he shook his head and passed Vyasa's womb back to her, saying, "It's your innate curse tool; only you can open it."

"But I gave you my permission, right?" Lyra uttered, taking Vyasa's womb and piercing her thumb into its mouth, releasing the curse tool spirit, cursed incarnation with a loud pop.

"I guess it doesn't work that way," Ace answered, eyeing the humanoid that materialized before the siblings. It was a petite, white haired version of Lyra. She was not only shorter than Lyra but looked like she was still in middle school. She wore a sleeveless, white kunoichi dress with the red sun and blue folding paper fan pattern on it, with white socks that reached her inner thigh and arm sleeves protectors reaching her armpits. The Wakizashi in her hand looked like a regular Katana. Observing this, Ace couldn't help but chuckle.

He not only found this version of his sister to be cute. But it opened him up to a thought: what if Lyra hadn't been his elder sister but his younger sister? For once, would he be the bully in their relationship? No, not if she were as cute as Fujin's humanoid form. He would be a total pushover for her.

"What does this one look like a middle schooler going out on tricky treating on Halloween or attending a comic-con. Can she even fight?" Lyra asked, not impressed by the form of her Fujin curse tool spirit cursed incarnation.

"Why don't you let Fumetsu test her abilities?" Ace suggested wanting to see both Fumetsu and Fujin in action, wondering if they were sentient enough to fight exceptionally on their own without any external help, or if they were just dumb newborn spirits who had no idea what was going on and just following Lyra's instructions, acting on their instincts.

"That's a good idea," Lyra readily agreed, feeling that with Fumetsu's indestructible nature and dull blade, she wouldn't have to worry about either of her cursed incarnations getting hurt seriously enough. With that thought, she summoned Fumetsu.