Just as he retreated, the Cursed Spirit's figure suddenly appeared behind him, its silver long sword slicing gently.
"Shhh!"
A wound deep enough to reveal bone appeared on the athlete's back, and fresh blood instantly gushed out, staining his already blood-soaked jersey red.
The athlete let out a muffled grunt, but as if he couldn't feel the pain, he turned around again, preparing to launch the next charge.
Rin's gaze swept across the soccer field. The originally emerald green turf had long been soaked through with blood, turning into a dark, reddish-brown color.
Dozens of corpses lay scattered on the ground, including soccer players and people wearing spectator attire. Their bodies had been drained of blood, their faces deathly pale; they were clearly victims of this "performance."
"What on earth is this..."
Maki's voice trembled slightly; she had never seen such a bizarre scene.
The Cursed Spirit was slaughtering humans in public, yet the spectators didn't flee; instead, they treated this bloody massacre as an exciting performance, cheering and screaming frantically.
The spectators in the stands were still roaring, their eyes filled with morbid excitement, waving colorful flags in their hands and shouting, "Kill him!" and "Do it again!"
Every time the Cursed Spirit left a wound on the athlete, an overwhelming wave of cheers would erupt from the stands, and every time the athlete fell in a sorry state, it would draw jeers of laughter from the audience.
Even more terrifying was that Rin could clearly feel the surging emotions of the audience—fanaticism, excitement, and cruelty—flowing like a tide into the Cursed Spirit in the center of the field, being continuously absorbed by it.
The crimson Cursed Energy around the Cursed Spirit grew denser, and its aura became increasingly powerful. Clearly, the negative emotions of these spectators were the source of its power.
Just then, the athlete in the center of the field launched another charge.
This time, his movements were significantly slower, his steps staggering; he had clearly reached his limit.
The Cursed Spirit looked at him, a cruel smile curling at the corner of its mouth as it slowly raised the silver long sword in its hand.
"Swish!"
The long sword sliced through the air, carrying fierce Cursed Energy, and instantly severed the athlete's head.
Blood gushed from the neck, spraying up like a fountain before landing on the blood-stained turf.
The Cursed Spirit slowly bowed, performing an elegant Matador salute to the spectators in the stands.
"Bravo!"
"Amazing!"
The spectators in the stands went completely wild; applause, cheers, and roars intertwined, shaking the entire Stadium slightly.
They stood up, waving items in their hands as if celebrating a victorious Matador.
Maki could no longer hold back; she suddenly drew her long sword and was about to charge toward the Cursed Spirit:
"This is too much! I'm going to kill it!"
Rin's fingers clamped onto Maki's wrist; the grip wasn't heavy, but it carried an unshakeable firmness.
His eyes remained cold, as if covered by a thin layer of frost, but deep within them, a faint ripple was hidden—a fragility difficult to conceal when the word "friend" was mentioned.
"No need to rush."
His voice was kept very low, just loud enough for Maki to hear clearly, but not so loud as to be drowned out by the cheers from the stands:
"No one else will die now; its target is us."
Maki turned her head abruptly, crashing into Rin's gaze.
Those eyes no longer held their usual aloofness; instead, they possessed a seriousness she had never seen before, as if he were making an extremely important decision.
Just as she hadn't yet reacted, Rin suddenly spoke, his voice as light as a breeze:
"Do you know, Maki."
This sentence made Maki's heart jump; she was too familiar with this opening. It was the first time Rin had directly responded to her previous questioning while on the flying Cursed Spirit.
"The reason I deliberately kept my distance from you all wasn't because I didn't need friends, nor because I thought 'companions' were a burden."
Rin's gaze swept past the corpses on the ground, past the fanatic spectators in the stands, and finally landed back on Maki's face, his tone carrying a trace of imperceptible hoarseness:
"It's because I don't want to endure the feeling of a friend dying in front of me again.
That feeling of being able to see it clearly but being powerless to stop it—once is enough."
Maki's breath hitched. Watching the flash of pain in Rin's eyes, she suddenly understood the source of all his indifference. It wasn't a cold nature, but past losses that made him afraid to get close to anyone easily again.
"If you believe you are qualified to be my friend..."
Rin paused, his fingers slowly releasing Maki's wrist, and instead pointed toward the Special Grade Cursed Spirit in the center of the Stadium.
That crimson Cursed Spirit was toying with the red cloth in its hand, its scarlet gaze locked firmly onto them, the Cursed Energy around its body churning constantly like boiling lava:
"Then prove it to me.
Prove your strength, prove that you won't die easily."
This sentence was like a pebble thrown into the lake of Maki's heart, leaving her stunned for a moment.
She had imagined countless scenarios of Rin's response, but she had never imagined it would be like this.
Before she could digest this statement, Rin's voice sounded again, calm without a trace of fluctuation:
"As long as you can last three minutes against it, I will agree to your words and try to open my heart.
If you can't do it..."
He didn't continue, but the meaning in his unfinished words was clearer to Maki than anyone: if she couldn't do it, she should never mention "becoming friends" again.
Maki froze in place, her fingers unconsciously gripping the hilt of her long sword, her knuckles turning white from the force.
She looked at Rin's calm profile, looked at the unquestionable seriousness in his eyes, and then turned to look at the Special Grade Cursed Spirit in the Stadium, which was exuding a terrifying aura.
The opponent was waving the red cloth, as if issuing a provocation to her.
The cheers from the stands continued; the fanatic spectators seemed to sense that a new "performance" was about to begin, and their roars became even more jarring.
The crimson Cursed Energy around the Cursed Spirit grew denser, even condensing into tiny flames in the air, falling onto the blood-stained turf and igniting weak flickers of fire.
All of this left Maki somewhat bewildered.
She had originally thought that as long as she was sincere enough, she could slowly melt the ice in Rin's heart.
Yet she hadn't expected that the "entry ticket" Rin offered would be such a cruel test. Lasting three minutes against a Special Grade Cursed Spirit was, for her, an almost impossible task.
"I..."
Maki opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but found her throat as if blocked; she couldn't even utter a complete syllable.
She looked at Rin, her eyes full of helplessness, along with a trace of hard-to-conceal grievance.
What she wanted was the warmth between friends, not a contest with stakes like this.
Rin seemed to sense her emotions but didn't soften in the slightest.
He knew this was cruel. He hoped Maki would refuse; he hoped Maki would be afraid, or even look at Rin with disgust. He wouldn't even care if Maki slapped him right now.
He never wanted to endure the feeling of losing a friend again..
"No time to hesitate."
Rin's voice turned cold, his gaze shifting back to the Cursed Spirit:
"It's coming."
As soon as he finished speaking, the Special Grade Cursed Spirit in the center of the Stadium suddenly moved.
Its figure, like a phantom, stepped on the blood-stained turf and walked slowly toward Maki, the silver long sword in its hand flashing with a blinding cold light in the sunlight.
The cheers from the stands reached a peak instantly; the spectators waved their colorful flags, anticipating a new "bloody performance."
Maki took a deep breath and suddenly lifted her head; the bewilderment in her eyes gradually faded, replaced by a trace of determination.
And Rin felt a bit uneasy.
She gripped her long sword tightly and assumed a fighting stance.
Even if this was a difficult test, even if there was only a one in ten thousand chance, she didn't want to give up.
She wanted to be Rin's friend, wanted him to know that she wouldn't die easily.