The Strongest Curse Master-Chapter 217: Curse Tool: Inner Mirror

"Is that supposed to be funny?" Janice asked, her annoyance evident.

Ace immediately shut his mouth.

She looked exhausted—dark circles under her eyes, tension in her shoulders. Turns out, she’d burned through a third of her curse tools dealing with her uncle and had spent the entire night planning how to restock as quickly as possible. But before she could even get started, the chaos in the villa had ruined everything—costing her not just a curse item, but a rare curse core.

Yeah. She was not in the mood to entertain Ace’s humor.

Ace cleared his throat. "I’ll wash it…" he offered weakly, dragging out his words in hopes she’d just let it go.

Janice sighed, rubbing her temples. "Leave it."

Ace exhaled in relief seeing the crisis avert itself. Janice shifted her gaze to him, suddenly frowning. "What are you doing here? Is Mandy with you? I told her she didn’t have to check up on me, I’m doing fine."

During the storm, Mandy had been worried—Treasure Lake was one of the hardest-hit areas. She had called Janice, wanting to come check on her best friend in person. But Janice had waved her off, lying that their resort barely got touched. Now, her irritation wasn’t just from exhaustion—it was from the thought of Mandy ignoring her and showing up anyway.

Ace raised a brow, debating whether or not to mess with her—but then he noticed the way her chest rose and fell, her patience razor-thin. Yeah… probably not the best time.

"Mandy’s not here," he said instead. "But I got into some trouble with a curse master, and now I’m here looking for someone called Aurelian Eyes to help me remove the curse they put on me. Do you know them?"

Janice just stared at him. Her brain was still trying to process what he had just said, but somehow, she still managed to stammer, "Wait, what?"

Ignoring her stunned reaction, Ace grabbed her wrist and pulled her into the hall. Without a word, he pointed at the chaos unfolding before them—

A blazing werewolf and a fabric T-Rex rolling on the floor, locked in a vicious battle for dominance.

Then, to the side, two middle-aged women who looked way too awkward to even be in the same room.

Ace arched a brow, silently asking So… you sure you still wanna be mad at me? Janice’s eyes darted from one absurd sight to the next. Then, her patience snapped.

"Delores, what the heck is going on here?!" she yelled, her voice echoing through the hall.

A curseling—a literal flaming curseling—was wrestling with Luna in one of the halls of her villa, and Delores was just standing there, doing nothing about it.

As if she wasn’t already dealing with enough, now she had to figure this mess out. But what was really sending her mind into overdrive was Ace and what he just said ’Curse masters,’ ’Cursed,’ ’Aurelian Eyes.’ She did not want her best friend’s nephew to step into the World of Curses. Because sooner or later his whole family would be dragged into it. She was worried for her friend and the people she loved.

"I thought it’d be good practice for Lola," Delores said irresponsibly, then turned to yell at the latter. "Lola, finish it!"

"Roar!" Lola let out a guttural roar—but interestingly, everyone in the room seemed to understand her.

’She won’t go down! She just keeps getting stronger!’

Matthews’ eyes narrowed. "Sonia, retreat."

But the moment she spoke, she realized something—Sonia had lost consciousness in her fusion form. She was in full berserk mode.

Matthews sighed deeply. "Tch." With a snap of her fingers, the blazing Werefur exploded into countless burning chunks, sending flaming meat flying across the hall.

Janice recoiled in fright and disgust saying, "You didn’t have to kill it!"

Matthews waved her off dismissively, explaining, "Don’t worry, she’ll regenerate."

But Janice squinted at Sonia’s remains. The largest chunk still ablaze was struggling to reform as the flames kept consuming it.

Ace followed her gaze, then pointed. "Uh… someone should probably put that fire out. Otherwise, she won’t be able to regenerate."

Everyone turned to stare at him in suspicion. Causing Ace to sigh and defend himself explaining, "Come on, isn’t it obvious? She’s struggling to regenerate because of the flames. You guys need to start watching anime—you have no imagination."

Lola, still in her T-Rex form, let out a sheepish "Roar"—as if saying, ’Oops, my bad.’ as she deactivated her other innate curse tool. Almost instantly, the flames on Sonia’s remains flickered out. The moment they did, her body began to regenerate—fully restored... and completely naked.

Ace didn’t even pretend to look away. He watched shamelessly, knowing full well that Sonia didn’t mind—she had made that very clear before.

Unfortunately for him, the show was short-lived. Sonia’s Werefur curseling materialized, wrapping around her like a fur coat, covering her up.

Just as Sonia became aware of her surroundings, Matthews immediately thundered, "Why the hell did you use your fusion form when you know you can’t control it?!"

Sonia flinched instinctively, her body remembering what Matthews had done to her earlier. But she quickly shook it off and composed herself.

"Why not? Do you expect me to become her punching bag instead?" she shot back, jerking a thumb toward the humanoid T-Rex plush.

Matthews crossed her arms, unimpressed. "I thought I could deploy you in the field immediately, but clearly, you still need training."

Sonia’s expression darkened with disappointment. She was frustrated with herself, too, as no matter how hard she tried she still couldn’t stay conscious in her fusion form.

This chapt𝙚r is updated by freeωebnovēl.c૦m.

Before the tension could stretch any further, Janice cut in, "Enough of that." She then proceeded to point at Ace, as her sharp gaze met Matthews’, and demanded, "What’s this I’m hearing about you being cursed by a curse master?"

Matthews kept it brief. "He was unlucky enough to run into a curse terrorist and got hit with a curse. It’s dormant but incredibly powerful. Even I can’t detect it or figure out how he’s still alive."

Janice narrowed her eyes. "Are you sure he’s cursed?"

She wasn’t just being skeptical—what Matthews was suggesting should have been impossible. It completely defied the laws of curses as she understood them.

Matthews simply gestured toward the fur coat draped by Sonia informing, "The Werefur curseling sensed it on him." Sonia nodded in agreement adding, "Yeah. Scratchifer is never wrong about this kind of thing."

"Fuck!" Janice cursed aloud in frustration, running a hand through her hair. Without wasting another second, she pulled a mirror-shaped curse tool from her earring and thrust it toward Ace, instructing, "Hold this. Tell me—what do you see reflected in it?"

Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Ace hesitantly took the mirror and looked into it. His breath hitched as the mirror except for his reflection, reflected his cursed toy box, Dame Wasp, Apex earring, Emi, Doctor Druid, and a digital dialogue window. It showed his innate curse tools and art except for his reflection.

Ace’s palm grew clammy. His mind raced as subconsciously screamed in his mind, ’Shit. How was I supposed to answer her?’

Ace had no clue what kind of curse tool this mirror was or how it worked, but one thing was clear—if he answered Janice honestly, everything would be out in the open. His secrets. His past. All of it. His brain kicked into overdrive, desperately searching for a way out.

Janice, however, completely misread the hesitation on his face. Taking it as fear, her expression softened slightly as she encouraged him asking, "Do you see a monster reflected in the mirror instead of your own face?" Then her voice laced with concern she assured, "Don’t worry—just describe it to me."

"No, I just see my own reflection," Ace lied, keeping his expression neutral. He figured that if a regular mortal held the mirror, they’d most likely see only their reflection—no cursed tools, no lingering magic. He could only bet on that assumption because, either way, telling the truth or getting caught in a lie would lead to the same outcome for him.

Janice studied him carefully. Her frown eased slightly, but suspicion still lingered in her eyes.

"Are you sure?" she pressed, her voice softer now—like she was talking to a little brother rather than an outsider. It was clear how much she valued Mandy’s friendship.

Ace nodded quickly. "Yeah, it’s just... I look even more handsome in it," he added with a smirk, hoping to play off his earlier hesitation.

Janice rolled her eyes but let out a small chuckle. "That just means you’re even more beautiful on the inside," she said dryly before turning to Sonia. Her expression hardened. "Is your Werefur a knockoff? He clearly has no trace of curse energy on him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to see his reflection on the Inner Mirror."

"What? That’s impossible! Scratchifer is never wrong," Sonia shot back defensively, her brows knitting together. She glanced at her Werefur partner, almost as if expecting it to react. "There must be something wrong with your curse tool."

Janice scoffed. "My grandfather used this to catch the Formless Curse Enforcer. If there’s an issue, it’s with your curseling, not my mirror."