Pain.
It coursed through my body like molten steel, sharp and unrelenting, radiating from my back, legs, and stomach—deep, consuming, as if my very bones were screaming in protest. The impact had nearly shattered me, but I refused to yield.
I had suffered worse.
Gritting my teeth, I activated my technique. My body responded instantly, cursed energy flowing through my veins, threading itself into the torn muscle, fractured bones, and ruptured organs. The damage began knitting itself back together, seamless, effortless. This was not reverse cursed energy—not the legendary ability to restore oneself to a pristine state—but an extension of my own innate talent. Adaptation. Evolution.
Strength was not simply power. It was not intelligence, mastery, or technique.
Strength was adaptation.
That was what made me different. That was what made me dangerous.
I had died once before. I had been reborn into a child's body, memories intact, thrown into a world that should have shattered me. Yet, I endured. I had faced curses stronger than me, faster than me, beasts that could have devoured me in seconds. I had survived.
And this moment was no different.
The dust finally settled. I remained embedded in the cratered wall, my body battered but unyielding. I felt the curse before I saw it—the oppressive weight of its cursed energy draped over the battlefield like a second sky.
Then, a sound.
Laughter.
Soft, lilting, almost delighted.
She stood before me—a vision of elegance and nightmare combined.
The curse took the form of a woman, her long black hair cascading down her back like liquid obsidian, her crimson gown fluttering despite the absence of wind. Her skin was porcelain-pale, unblemished, untouched by the horrors she had wrought. Yet, despite her beauty, she was wrong.
Her eyes—dark, bottomless—glowed with hunger, with something twisted, something too human to be ignored.
Lust.
Her lips curled upward, her expression brimming with satisfaction.
Her gaze locked onto mine.
"Hehehehe~" She giggled, voice silken, teasing. "You're just like you were before."
The amusement in her voice was unmistakable. Familiarity.
A flicker of surprise cracked through my stoic mask."Before?"
This was the first time I had heard a curse speak so clearly outside of anime. Their speech, when it existed at all, was typically fragmented, guttural, filled with nothing but hatred. Yet, this one spoke with clarity—with a sense of history.
Something was wrong.
I pushed off the wall, landing lightly on my feet. My body still ached, but it no longer mattered.
The curse's aura pulsed, suffocating in its intensity. Special-grade. That explained the intelligence. That explained the raw presence suffocating the air itself.
I had hunted before. I had seen people die before, devoured by curses—broken bodies, lifeless remains.
Once, such sights would have sent me spiraling into reckless rage.
Not anymore.
Six years of fighting had taught me control. My anger was no longer a liability—it was a weapon, honed to perfection.
Still, I couldn't stop the words from spilling out, my voice cold, measured, yet tight with fury.
"Why did you kill those people?"
The curse smiled wider—an expression of pure, perverse pleasure.
She tilted her head, mockingly thoughtful, as if the question amused her. Then, slowly, her grin spread—grotesque, predatory.
"Why?" she echoed, voice dripping with delight.
She stepped forward, slow, deliberate. The moonlight caught the crimson silk of her dress, the fabric shifting like flowing blood.
Then, she licked her lips. Slowly. Sensually.
"Isn't it obvious?"
The air shuddered.
Her body trembled, as if barely containing her own excitement.
"Because it's my nature!"
Her words rang through the silence, a manic declaration of truth.
The wind stirred, responding to her emotions—chaotic, uncontrolled.
I felt the sheer ecstasy radiating from her.
"Of all living beings, you humans understand me the most!"
Her laughter was mocking, but tinged with something deeper—an almost affectionate cruelty.
"You do it too, after all."
A pause.
I frowned. "What?"
The curse's eyes gleamed.
"Oh, don't play innocent."
Her voice turned saccharine, sickly sweet, like poisoned honey.
She leaned closer. Her breath was cold against my skin, yet I felt nothing human in it.
"The way you humans treat animals as nothing more than meat stock…"
She placed a hand against her own chest, pressing into her skin as if savoring the very idea.
"That's how I see you."
Her smile widened.
"Your flesh. Your blood. Your fear."
Her body shuddered—a grotesque display of delight.
"It's all the same to me."
Then, she moaned.
Her fingers dug into her arms, her back arching, her entire form trembling in a twisted ecstasy.
"There's no difference between us!"
The sky howled.
A storm of cursed energy erupted around her, raw and untamed. The very air warped, shifting beneath the pressure.
I stood firm.
The disgust on my face faded.
I exhaled, closing my eyes for the briefest of moments.
"Is that what you believe?"
My voice was quiet. Reflective.
I opened my eyes.
They burned like twin suns.
"From where I stand…"
My cursed energy surged, twisting around me, growing in magnitude.
"You've earned your destruction."
The ground beneath me trembled.
"Chijo no Hi—Earthly Fire."
A crack split the battlefield.
Flames roared from the earth, a towering inferno spiraling into existence. The heat was blinding, the fire hungrily devouring all in its path. The air shimmered, warping under the unbearable intensity.
"Expand."
The fire obeyed.
A tsunami of flames surged outward, engulfing the battlefield in searing destruction.
For a moment, the world was nothing but fire, heat, and the deafening sound of the inferno consuming everything in its wake.
Then—silence.
As the smoke cleared, only destruction remained.