The Strongest Curse Master-Chapter 328: Lyra Lander
After Matthews had left with Sugarmite, a metallic gray goo enveloped the entire black SUV curse gadget before vanishing into thin air.
Ace had never actually left the town. He used Emi's invisibility, presence-erasing, and silence talismans, along with the upgraded Apache's speed, to shake off his tail and cover his tracks before returning to the town to finalize preparations for picking up his sister at a private airport that he had rented for the day.
Knowing what was likely to go down, Ace wasn't about to involve innocent people in his affairs. So, he rented the entire private airfield for the day—a move that didn't come cheap.
There were still 30 minutes until his sister's flight landed, and thanks to Specwork, he needed less than five to reach the private airfield where the chartered flight was scheduled to arrive. So, he had just enough time to finish his arrangements.
The main reason he'd left forty-five minutes early was to give the forces of the country's curse community monitoring him just enough time to make their own preparations but not enough to figure out what he was really up to.
After having Specwork consume the C.I.B.'s standard-issue SUV curse gadgets, Ace headed to Mandy's women's shelter, where Layla was currently volunteering. There, he had Specwork devour Layla's prized Aston Martin DB5 curse gadget.
He then made a few more stops to complete all his arrangements before finally rushing to the private hangar in Specwork's upgraded Apache.
Ace and his toy summons considered every possible scenario and every way things could go wrong. Then, they made sure to create detailed plans and contingencies for each one. No effort or expense was spared. After all, today was his fucking debut to the curse community of both worlds—not as the Samsara Slayer or the perfect patsy, but as Ace Lander.
…
Centennial Foxx Airport
The Gulfstream G650ER glided smoothly across the tarmac, its sleek silver frame gleaming under the afternoon sun. As it came to a gentle stop near the private terminal, the low hum of its engines faded into silence. With a soft mechanical whir, the stairs unfolded and aligned perfectly with the ground.
A moment later, the cabin door opened slowly, revealing a woman dressed in a baggy white hoodie and black sweatpants, cautiously standing at the threshold. She looked slightly out of place—lost, even.
Then, she looked down the runway and spotted an unfamiliar figure waving at her. She narrowed her eyes in confusion. She assumed he must be the driver her little brother had arranged, but he was dressed far too casually for a professional chauffeur. 'Perhaps he is a friend my brother?' she thought.
Still, she stepped down with caution and care—one hand on the rail, the other dragging an old, out-of-fashion, worn-out suitcase behind her. A breeze caught her hair as she descended, sunlight casting a soft glow on the polished surface of the aircraft behind her.
She paused briefly at the bottom, scanning the quiet runway ahead, then began walking toward the man with determined steps. Her plastic flip-flops slapped loudly against the concrete. The closer she got, the more conflicted she felt—the man looked familiar, yet somehow, also completely different.
Seeing him smile gently at her and hearing him say, "Welcome home, sis!" Lyra stared in disbelief.
"Ace?" she asked, stunned.
"Yes, that's me. What's wrong? Don't recognize your brother?" Ace teased, fully aware this was the first time Lyra was seeing him since he'd lost weight and packed an insane amount of stats into his physique.
"Is this some kind of prank? There's no way my husky brother turned into a hunk in just a few weeks! Mom did say you look a lot fitter and fairer now, but this is just freaky… No way! Where are the cameras? I like a good surprise, but this is too weird. Ace, come out before I get mad!" Lyra yelled in disbelief. Ignoring the hunk who claimed to be her brother, she turned to the SUV behind him and shouted, convinced this was all an elaborate joke.
When no one responded, Lyra abandoned her suspicions in words and rushed over to the SUV, peeking through the windows to catch her brother in the act and call him out for trying to trick her. But to her shock, the vehicle was empty.
Now fully freaking out, Lyra slowly turned back toward the man, realizing that maybe—just maybe—the hunk in front of her really was her nerdy, husky brother. The same brother she used to dress up as her favorite idols for Halloween. Suddenly, she felt incredibly self-conscious.
As if the private jet and fleet of therapy dogs weren't overwhelming enough, this transformation pushed her over the edge. She couldn't believe all of this had happened in just a few weeks. It was just too much to take in.
Lyra wasn't the only one freaking out—Ace was too. Because he had just discovered that his sister, like him, had an aptitude for curse energy. Meaning she, too, could awaken as a curse master.
This was the worst-case scenario—one that neither he nor his toy summons had considered, not even in passing.
Now, Ace found himself in a dilemma: should he introduce his sister to the World of Curses or not? With the other members of his family, the choice had been simple. They didn't have the aptitude for curse energy. The decision had been made for them at birth. But with Lyra, things were different.
Under normal circumstances, the answer would've been obvious—he would've kept her as far away from anything related to curses as possible, with the exception of himself. But the situation was far from normal. He was now tangled so deeply in the curse community that it would be nearly impossible to keep her away from the second world—the World of Curses.
"Oh my god, you really are my wimpy brother!" Lyra suddenly shouted, leaning against the SUV in disbelief.
"Wimpy? Really? I should've just let you fly economy," Ace grumbled, picking up her suitcase and tossing it into the trunk of the SUV while his sister hovered around him, inspecting him from every angle.
"What happened? Did you catch some disease? Is it contagious?" Lyra asked as she rubbed his forehead and cheeks against the back of her palm, trying to confirm that it was really him and he was okay.
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"Get off me, you weirdo," Ace said, shoving his sister off him while carefully controlling his strength. However, to his disbelief, she shamelessly began running her hands through his hair, ears, and mouth—and just as she was about to stick her fingers in his nose, he jumped back, yelling, "What's wrong with you?"
"I'm just trying to catch whatever beauty disease or germs you got," Lyra said, charging at her younger brother. She was convinced his body might be hosting some kind of miracle microbe responsible for his dramatic transformation. If she could somehow transfer them into her own system, maybe she, too, could experience similar changes.
"Cut it out! That's not how things work—this is real life, not one of your comic books," Ace scolded her, though part of him couldn't believe he was the one saying that—especially given the bizarre ability of his innate curse tool, the cursed toybox.
"Shut up and give your elder sister a kiss!" Lyra shouted, chasing after him without a care for how creepy she sounded. She'd rather try any crazy idea that popped into her head than regret not doing it later.
"Are you even hearing yourself? It's a good thing I rented out the entire airfield and gave the staff the day off. Otherwise, they'd think we were one of those hillbilly siblings," Ace yelled as he dodged her, trying to talk sense into her and protect himself from her overly aggressive curiosity about his bodily changes.
"Shut up and come give you big sis a hug!" Lyra shouted, refusing to give up as she chased her brother with all her might. As for him ranting about renting the entire airfield—she had already decided not to let her little brother's sudden fortune change their relationship. So, she didn't dwell on it and just went with the flow.
"Lyra, enough! Everyone's waiting for us at home," Ace lied. The adults in the family had no idea that Lyra was coming home today, but he was desperate to put an end to her antics.
"This will all be over with just one kiss on the cheek!" Lyra yelled, pausing to catch her breath. She was never the athletic type—well, neither of them were. But to her surprise, Ace didn't even seem winded. He hadn't broken a sweat. Even his breathing seemed too normal for someone who had just run.
The more she thought about it, the more convinced she became that her theory was right: that Ace's body now hosted super microbes helping him achieve this fit physique despite his average genes and previously sedentary lifestyle. Right now, more than anything in the world, she wanted those microbes.
