Cursed Elements

**Cursed Elements**, the use of which is known as **Mirror Magic**, are six elements from which their counterpart has been stripped. They are **Chaos**, **Decay**, **Cinder**, **Zero**, **Choke**, and **Corruption**. Without their counterpart, all elements can solely destroy. The cursed elements cannot be mixed together and are highly volatile, but are unrivaled when it it comes to destruction.

With the exception of Abominations, Demons, Guardians, and Liches, very few have learned Chaos magic (much less Mirror Magic) and survived. To make matters worse, they all went insane in the space of a few years. The only way to safely learn Chaos magic is to give up on one's life, turning into a full Abomination and then coming back to life. Aside from Decay, cursed elements are dangerous even for Eldritches.

The cursed elements are just corrupted versions of the 6 elements, meaning they can be negated with elemental sealing arrays.

## Chaos Magic

*Color: Black*

**Chaos magic** is a twisted version of darkness magic, formed when darkness magic is forcibly stripped of its light component, making it instinctively seek out any light magic in the area. The spell still follows the directives of the caster, but is substantially more difficult to control. Due to its light-seeking nature, Chaos magic will automatically seek out the zones of the target's life force that are the healthiest, dealing damage to user's very life force akin to Origin Flames.

### Properties

Whatever is hit by Chaos magic doesn't just rot, it also transfers its innate light energy to restore the balance, leaving the victim with no protection against the invading darkness energy. Chaos magic moves fast because its energies are attracted by light magic like magnets of opposite poles.

Chaos magic can destroy matter almost to the atomic level, but light magic is its fatal weakness. It is the imbalance that makes Chaos magic so powerful - the raw darkness magic is drawn by the light element residing inside its target, making it fast. Also, the darkness magic drains the light element to return whole, amplifying darkness magic's destructive force several times. A light magic energy construct restores the balance, turning Chaos magic back into common darkness magic.

Contrary to popular belief, the greatest danger of conjuring Chaos magic doesn't lie in losing control of its darkness component. When that happens, the caster would simply and quickly die. The use of Chaos magic requires to completely separate light from darkness, but while darkness is shot at the enemy, light remains. Without its other half, the light element stimulates the metabolism of its caster to the extreme, turning each second into a year. The few mages who practice Chaos magic would either be eaten by the darkness, consumed by the light, or both. Only Abominations can safely use it because their bodies can absorb the light element without a limit.

What makes surviving to Chaos magic so hard, even for its caster, is the fact that it strikes at its target and drains it of all of its light element until the Chaos turns into darkness, making the spell hit three times. The first takes place when Chaos strikes, the second once the lack of light element causes a toxic imbalance in the body, and the last when the darkness element produced from the Chaos spreads without encountering any resistance. Casting a Chaos spell is not only so demanding in terms of mana that even Eldritch Abominations take care to not use them indiscriminately, but also extremely dangerous. The slightest mistake controlling it induces madness. It is the reason why not even Guardians use it and why usually very few Abominations live long enough to become Eldritches. The effects of Chaos magic combined with their relentless hunger and isolation would turn them into mindless creatures, easy to find and even easier to put down. Only those with outstanding mental fortitude and discipline can resist the effects of Chaos magic long enough to master it.

Chaos can controlled and amplified using Domination, akin to using an already lit torch to spread the fire. There is no need to know how to light the torch.

### Counter

Chaos magic can be as dangerous to the enemy as to the caster, and coupled with its wild and unstable nature makes it a very poor choice for mages with other elemental options. **Pure mana** is one of the better defenses against Chaos magic due to being the most dense and resilient of the elements.

While normal darkness magic affects matter and mana, Chaos can affect even the mind. To cure the effects of the former, it is necessary to cleanse the darkness and then heal the body through light magic. Treating the latter, however, requires much more. Light can't heal such injuries, but it keeps them from spreading before it is too late and turns the still lingering Chaos into the darkness that can be destroyed using focused darkness pulses.

Decay is also the perfect defense against Chaos Magic as the latter will follow the pure light element akin to a hungry beast after a wounded prey instead of the caster's intended target.

## Decay Magic

*Color: Silver*

**Decay magic** is the opposite of Chaos magic. It is formed when light magic is forcibly stripped of its darkness component. While Chaos magic breaks all bonds, turning matter into atoms and exhausting all forms of energy, Decay magic pushes the clock forward. Used against a stone, it would turn it into sand. Used against a muddy pond, in the presence of enough nutrients, it would boost life to the point that in a few minutes, life forms would evolve from unicellular organisms to tadpoles. However, there is no way to provide an amount of nutrients sufficient to sustain them, so the only result is death. Even if it is possible, Decay can only generate corrupted life forms with a metabolism so fast that their life span lasts only for a few seconds. Just like Chaos, Decay can’t be controlled, only unleashed after being created.

## Cinder Magic

*Color: Red*

**Cinder magic** is formed when fire magic is stripped of its water component. The cursed element takes the form of bright red flames that move as fast as Chaos. It instantly generates a heat reaching thousands of degrees while also robbing the humidity from anything that comes too close to it in order to restore its balance by absorbing the nearby water element. Upon hitting a living target, Cinder boils their blood, heats armor until it becomes white-hot, and turns tissue into dried meat.

## Zero Magic

*Color: Blue*

**Zero magic** is formed when water magic is stripped of its fire component. As its name suggests, it lowers the temperature to absolute zero. Zero can create a city block-sized ice age.

## Choke Magic

*Color: Yellow*

**Choke magic** is formed when air magic is stripped of its earth component. Choke and Corruption operate according to similar principles but have different effects - choke makes the air unbreathable and turns it into a universal acid. Choke can poison to death anyone within a 100 meters radius.

## Corruption Magic

*Color: Brown*

**Corruption magic** is formed when earth magic is stripped of its air component. It is able to turn the ground into a powerful acid. Choke and Corruption operate according to similar principles but have different effects - Corruption modifies the atomic bonds, making them collapse.

## Spells

### Eldritch Tier Spells

**Eldritch tier spells** simply refer to Mirror Magic that only Eldritches can use. Abominations have limited access to Chaos due to the limits of their black core - limits that can only be bypassed by turning into Eldritches. They are classified by their ability to endlessly process any kind of energy (e.g. Suneater). In other words, an exploitation of the fact that Eldritches are the only race that doesn't suffer from mana abuse because they are living masses of energy.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Chapter 1224: Light and Decay (Part 2)
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Chapter 1529: Mirror Magic (Part 1)
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Chapter 1506: Back in Black (Part 2)
4. ↑ Chapter 1583: The Pain of Loss (Part 1)
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Chapter 1526: Going All Out (Part 2)
6. ↑ Chapter 413: Message (Part 1)
7. ↑ Chapter 615: Hybrid (Part 1)
8. ↑ Chapter 944: Creation and Chaos (Part 2)
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Chapter 1178: Battle Against Time (Part 2)
10. ↑ Chapter 850: Deadly Combo (Part 2)
11. ↑ Chapter 1177: Battle Against Time (Part 1)
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Chapter 1530: Mirror Magic (Part 2)
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Legion on Discord
14. ↑ Chapter 1613: Chaos and Flames (Part 1)
15. ↑ Chapter 1572: Breach of Trust (Part 2)
16. ↑ Legion on Discord