One more point just to add to be clear.
Real life condition training is used here and I loved that.
I hated that the magic sword was used as a quick fix making the MC be too late. Just to have another quick fix right there to be explained.
And it doesn't mesh well with the prior storyline. Why does the Evil sword have a function like mind crush? Is that because the hero sword is too strong or is it just a "evil/dark" aspect of the sword?
More to the point, the mage was the one who activated it so is it dark magic.
Hope that clears up most of my rant.
Thank you for responding. 😊
As i said before, a Cursed Weapon is different from a Evil/Dark aspect.
Since the effect of a Curse isn't always negative. There are stories were the curse-effect of an item turn into a blessing in the long run.
The same can be said for Dark Magic as well. Inherently Dark isn't supposed to be a negative aspect (it's supposed to be neutral), it's just that in fictions authors/writers like to portray Darkness as something bad, because of its Inherent nature of portraying the unknown. And like i mentioned, we haven't really gotten an idea on the Magic System of this world. I mean, aside from Wind, Fire, Water/Ice & Healing, what else magic have we seen in this series? Plus we don't even know much about the principles even those known ones yet. So, why would their be a need to focus on other elements.
This series isn't really focused on Magic and its Principles, like for say a series like "Knight's & Magic" or "Magic Maker".
As for the Cursed Sword, it wasn't really given to Ana as a quick fix, it was always the plan to give it to her.
Instead, the conditioning training was sort-off the quick fix, since they couldn't use normal methods to break her mentally down because of the Fairy's Blessing (originally, the plan was to physically and mentally exploit her to break her down, which actually happens to her in the game plot).
As for the Cursed Sword having a mind crush effect, that isn't odd either. It's quite common in fiction for Cursed weapons with negative effect to have mind-affecting side-effects as well (like the Curse Series mentioned in "Shield Hero"; when they get activated, the Sin associated with the Curse series takes over the mind of the Heroes and they get focused on that aspect).
Also, they didn't really give it to make it too late for MC to properly rescue Ana. Her mind was already broken quite badly, which is why the Sword was able to take hold easily. Even if MC had reached her in time before she was given the Sword, she would still need some form of rehabilitation before she could be fixed.
Plus, this series has the "Isekai based on Otome game" plot. So, it isn't odd for random weapons or stuff to pop-up in story, just like in a game (just like a random School festival which technically shouldn't happen in a medieval setting).
And just because the Mage activated the magic doesn't mean he is a Dark Magic user, as we never really got explanation on his magic nature.