Celestia's expression softened with understanding.

The amusement faded from her eyes, replaced by something warmer and more compassionate. She nodded slowly, her white-gold hair catching the afternoon light. "I figured as much. So I'll tell you what, if you really do get it, I will go with you to your siblings to help with the Elixir."

Reinhard blinked in surprise, his light blue eyes widening slightly. "Doesn't the person just need to drink it?"

"They do," Celestia confirmed. "But for curses specifically, the most effective method is wiping the body with the liquid from the Elixir. The curse embeds itself throughout the entire physical form, not just internally. External application combined with ingestion provides the best results." She smiled gently. "Brunhilde and I will help you with that process."

Reinhard trembled.

The tremor started in his hands and spread through his arms before he could control it. His jaw tightened, and for a moment, he couldn't speak. "Thank you..." He paused, swallowing hard. "I have a question. How long will it take before the curse is gone from him?"

Celestia hummed before saying. "Since your brother only had the curse for two years, it should only take a day."

Reinhard's brows furrowed immediately, confusion and concern crossing his features, a day seemed impossibly short.

Celestia's smile grew when she saw his reaction. "If he were fourteen, it would have taken two weeks and a month if he were fifteen."

It was then that retaliation swept over Reinhard like a wave. His eyes widened as the pattern became clear. "So the time for treatment increases the closer one gets to the end of their eight-year time limit?"

Celestia nodded, her expression growing more somber. "Exactly. The curse grows stronger and more rooted as time passes. By the final year, it's no longer just sitting on top of them, but it's become part of them." She paused, letting that sink in before continuing. "The worst time is the day before the limit expires. By then, it really becomes a battle of chance on whether the Elixir can purge the curse or not."

Her voice dropped lower, taking on a tone of disapproval mixed with pragmatism. "Some people even believe it isn't worth the use of an Elixir if it's that close. If it fails, then that means you've wasted a priceless Elixir that could have been used for something else."

Reinhard fell silent as his hands clenched into fists at his sides. He didn't agree with those people, not even slightly.

Even if there was only a single second remaining before the eight-year limit expired, he was absolutely certain that those who truly cared about the person suffering from the Dark Tide would still use the Elixir to try to save them.

There would be no hesitation as some things weren't about odds or efficiency. They were about not being able to live with yourself if you didn't try.

Celestia seemed to read something in his expression and smiled faintly before standing up from the chair. "I'll be right back. I need to get some additional things for your checkup since you have an extra Beast Spirit now."

Reinhard nodded as she moved toward the door. Her footsteps were soft against the floor, barely audible, and then she was gone with the door closing behind her with a quiet click.

The room felt larger with just him. Reinhard leaned back in his chair, letting his head tilt against the backrest. A sigh escaped him, it was mixed with relief, happiness, and a bit of weariness about the future, all tangled together.

Klein would be cured; that was what mattered, and so everything else he could handle. But there was something else that had been nagging at him. A conversation from before that had been interrupted and put on hold.

Now seemed like a good time to address it.

He reached inward with his consciousness and summoned Mimir.

The black crow appeared on his shoulder in a shimmer of golden light, his golden horns catching the sunlight streaming through the window. Mimir's dark eyes fixed on Reinhard with that knowing, ancient intelligence that always made him seem far older than any bird should be.

"Before, you said you weren't sure it was Angra Mainyu because lots of Beast Spirits cover curses," Reinhard began softly. "Are you saying that Beast Spirits intersect with each other?"

Mimir nodded, his head bobbing in that peculiar bird-like way. "You can imagine there are an infinite number of Beast Spirits," he said, his voice carrying that slightly echoing quality it always had. "And because there are so many, there will be many that intersect with each other, whether it be having similar stories, powers, or domains they encompass."

Reinhard blinked in surprise. The concept hadn't occurred to him before. He'd always thought of Beast Spirits as unique, singular entities. "How does that work exactly?"

Mimir looked around the room for a moment, his gaze sweeping across the medical equipment and furniture. Then he hopped off Reinhard's shoulder, wings spreading briefly before he landed with surprising delicacy on the desk nearby.

A pen sat there next to a pad of blank paper, likely left by Celestia for taking notes during examinations. Reinhard stood and moved over to the desk, curiosity pulling him forward as he watched Mimir grasp the pen in his claw with practiced ease.

The crow's movements were precise, controlled, almost human in their dexterity. The pen touched paper, and a circle began to form, smooth and even despite being drawn by a bird.

"Imagine this circle represents the domain of curses," Mimir explained as he drew. "Every type of curse, every aspect, the way it's used, its function, and every possible variation is contained within this circle. Everything that falls under the concept of 'curse' exists here."

Reinhard nodded, leaning closer to watch, and the circle was complete.

Then Mimir began drawing lines through the circle. The pen moved quickly, confidently, cutting through the circular space again and again. Lines were created from the center outward, dividing the whole into sections. It looked like someone cutting a pie into slices, some larger, some smaller, but all connected to the same center point.

"Then the cuts in the circle all represent each Beast Spirit taking up a piece of the circle as their own." Mimir continued as the pen kept moving, creating more and more divisions. "Each slice is a different Beast Spirit that encompasses some portion of the curse domain."

Reinhard's eyes widened as understanding clicked into place. "I see... It's like the circle is a pie, and each Beast Spirit is taking a slice of it as their own. But in the end, each piece came from the same pie, and they all fall under that pie's domain."

"Exactly." Mimir said, and there was approval in his tone. The crow set the pen down for a moment, regarding his diagram with what might have been satisfaction. "Each slice contains its own uniqueness and variation, which is why a Beast Spirit, even with a similar domain, will use it in different ways. The power source is the same, but the application is different."

He picked up the pen again. "And it's because of this that I wasn't sure which Beast Spirit you'd encountered in Eastern Hesod."

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