July 20, 2020

  Osoroi's face curls up into a smirk. Hearing this pompous conclusion from a human is entertaining. He really believes that he can overcome the difference in species with silt willpower. He’s never heard anything so arrogant since he last fought Waldo. He watches Anselm make his way out of the transfigured snake’s body, electric saber in his hand. Osoroi can’t help but burst out in laughter.

  “I didn’t know that you were so delusional. It’s almost as if I hit you too hard that you've lost a screw in your head. You talk like you can kill me. I’ll have you know that I’ve been fighting without exerting myself at full power. Meanwhile, it looks to me that you’ve been trying your hardest this entire time. Yet, you believe that you can overcome the obvious gap between you and me. What a lunatic! If you want to really prove your point, then I suppose I should start fighting to kill then!”

  Osoroi stretches out his arms wide and looks at the sky. He puts his eyes on Anselm.

  “Ten Shadows”

  Making a figure of a hare with his hands and fingers, Osoroi summons a gigantic wave of white hares that run towards Anselm. Anselm clutches his electric saber with both hands and charges towards the oncoming wave of hares. He proceeds to slash through them like pieces of steak and make his way towards Osoroi. More hares run up to him and block his way. With Osoroi out of Anselm’s vision, he switches back to the Shrine technique and swipes both of his hands down.

  “Dismantle”

  Several invisible slashes race towards Anselm faster than before. He manages to evade and block some of the slashes with his saber, but then his entire shoulder gets gashed by a slash. He gasps in pain and nearly lets go of his saber, but he fights back and continues to grip the saber’s handle. In the blink of an eye, Osoroi appears behind Anselm. What he did was switch from the Shrine technique to the legendary cursed technique, Limitless, and propel himself forward using the Blue. This sort of application makes it seem like Osoroi teleported. It’s almost like a certain sorcerer. Anselm quickly turns around and tries to slash Osoroi with his saber. However, his body is struck in the ribs by a devastating punch. He feels a couple of ribs shatter from the punch, and he coughs out some blood. It flows out of his mouth and down his chin. Anselm staggers back but is quickly hit again with a kick. Anselm nearly falls back but keeps himself balanced. He clutches his electric saber even harder and attempts to stab into Osoroi’s body with it. He then feels a hand touch his chest.

  “Cleave”

  In the fraction of a second, Anselm feels his body being cut open into several pieces. These are different from the invisible slashes from before. He can’t even think about their differences. Anselm is losing a lot of blood. With several gashes in his chest and the rest of his body, as well as broken ribs, what else is he supposed to do? He lets go of his electric saber and falls to the ground. Osoroi watches with a smile on his face. In his eyes, this is the position befitting such a dirty race. He puts two fingers together, and a red light begins to build up at their tips.

  “It was enjoyable while it lasted. Out of any human I’ve met before, you’re probably the only one who has managed to push me this far. You said your name was Anselm? I’ll be sure to remember it. Farewell.”

  As Osoroi aims the Red at Anselm’s head, ready to blow him away and send him to the afterlife, Anselm’s military badge suddenly appears to be glowing. Osoroi simply scoffs at this last minute act of desperation and prepares to fire the Red. However, Anselm moves swiftly and throws off the trajectory of Osoroi’s hand. This causes the Red to fire at the sky instead of Anselm’s body. Osoroi looks down and sees a perfectly healthy Anselm. Wait a minute…

  (Hold the phone. Is it me or does he look younger?)

  Osoroi is suddenly punched in the face by a quick strike. The punch carries nearly double the cursed energy output from before. Osoroi’s eyes twitch back to Anselm and his hand moves around. The Red that was fired into the sky suddenly turns around and is now headed towards Anselm once more. Anselm looks back at the Red and comes up with a quick decision. He gives himself the ‘Fighter, Level 5’ role and grabs Osoroi’s wrist with both of his hands. Osoroi tries to swipe his hand down with Dismantle, but is flung in the air. The Red is now closing in on him. However, he manages to manipulate the Red just in time for it to move off course and hit the ground. Osoroi then turns back to Anselm and lands on the ground. He grabs a nearby tree and picks it off of its roots. He adjusts it in his arms and chucks it at Anselm. Anselm puts his arms up and grabs the tree as it flies at him. He lets the tree fall on the ground, lifts up his arm, and divided the tree in two. He proceeds to put a hand on both pieces.

  “Twin short-swords, Level 3. Speedster, Level 2. Activate Full House synergy!”

  The two pieces of wood morph into two well crafted and sharp short-swords. Osoroi can then feel the cursed energy output increase in the weapons. Not only is he able to assign roles, but can certain roles activate synergies related to his cursed technique?

  (I have to kill him now. If I allow this human to live any further, they’re going to become an even bigger pain in the future. With Waldo already being as much of a headache as he is, I shouldn’t have to deal with a potential second one.)

  Anselm twirls his daggers around and charges towards Osoroi. Osoroi’s smirk fades from his face and he extends his hand out. Using his cursed technique, Osoroi enters into the subconscious of Anselm. In there, he figures out his deepest secrets and fears. In Anselm’s mind, in the middle of his charge, he suddenly gets a vision. This vision is not reality, but it feels surreal. It’s as if what’s in front of him is actually the real world. Anselm stops in his tracks and looks around. Everything is on fire and destroyed. He’s no longer in the United States. He’s somewhere else. This kind of environment and these kinds of buildings… remind Anselm about Germany, his home country.

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  “What is all of this? What am I seeing?”

  Anselm is then pierced in the chest by a very sharp object. He looks down and sees a beige colored blade stabbing his body. He turns around to see who it is. The only thing is… this person looks a lot like his late father.

  “V… Vater?”

  Blood trickles down Anselm’s jaw. This pain, this sensation, that is certainly real. He’s definitely injured. But his father is right in front of him. Anselm continues to stare at his late father’s face with a dumbfounded expression. His father’s face is devoid of all life, completely emotionless. His eyes are soulless, as if something forcibly sucked out all of their color. They’re simply two dull gray pools of water. Gradually, the vision of Anselm’s hometown burning away fades away. The landscape of the forest he was just fighting in is returning. The glaring light of the sun seeps through the dark clouds. Anselm’s eyes widen. Replacing the vision of his late father is Osoroi. His arm has turned into a blade and entered Anselm’s chest. It wasn’t his father who did that. Osoroi looks at him with a somewhat disappointed expression. He lifts up his blade arm, along with Anselm’s body, and forcibly takes it out. Anselm vomits more blood and falls to the ground. The ground becomes dyed in the crimson color. Osoroi lifts up his foot and puts it on Anselm’s head.

  “In the end, you never could overcome the difference in species. Curses will always reign supreme over humans. After all, humans are such negative creatures. Their own actions and thoughts always return to backstab them. I suppose you could call that ‘karma.’”

  Anselm slowly moves his arm up and grabs Osoroi’s ankle. Although his grip has dropped considerably, he’s still trying to fight him off. Osoroi is amused by this and puts more force on his foot.

  “I suppose if there’s one thing you humans have over cursed spirits, it’s persistence. You’re annoyingly stubborn and foolish to the point it makes wiping you out all the more enjoyable. Rest well now, Anselm. May you return to the dust in which you came from.”

  Anselm’s head is then squashed into paste in one fell swoop. Bits of his flesh and skull scatter across the ground. Osoroi smirks at finally killing Anselm. He may have been stronger than the average human, but he was also more irritating. Humans always think having some power gives them the right to bark at others. It’s a trait that Osoroi sees as the worst. After seeing that any signs of life in Anselm have disappeared, Osoroi turns around and walks away. He doesn’t head towards the other soldiers that fled because what would the point be? If he spent all of his time hunting rabbits, he would never be able to chase down a tiger. Soon, he descends into the shadows of the forests and disappears from sight. Then, coming out from under a patch of debris, Anselm crawls out and makes sure the coast is clear.

  (It’s a good thing that I made a double just before I got caught in that. If I reacted even a second later, I would have been dead for sure.)

  He watches as the dead body on the ground turns into ash. He sits down, releasing a giant sigh of relief. He looks up at the dreary sky above.

  “I guess I’m quite the lucky man, aren’t I?”

  .

  .

  Waldo charges up a shockwave in his hand and fires it. It destroys every tree in his path and clears the way.

  “There are too many trees in my way. We won’t get anywhere if we have to constantly weave through these arbors. Mara! What’s the hold up? Didn’t I tell you that we are not to stop today?”

  Waldo looks back angrily. He sees Mara staring off into the distance on her left. She has stopped the wagon and looks speechless about something. Then, she gets whacked in the head by Waldo. She gasps and clutches her head as she looks up at Waldo.

  “Hey! What do you think you’re doing? You’re spacing out while I was talking to you! Care to explain yourself?”

  “I saw some kind of white monster destroying a city. But it was in some kind of vision. It felt like a dream. I’m not lying! I’m telling the truth!”

  “Hmph, you better be. Now, come on, let’s get going.”

  Waldo shakes his head and mumbles something to himself as he walks forward. Mara rubs her head in the spot that Waldo hit her. She’s afraid that she might end up getting a headache at this rate. She puts her hands on the wagon’s handles and pushes forward. She thinks back to the vision that she was just having. In that vision, she indeed saw a white humanoid figure wrecking an entire city on its own. It was monstrously strong and incredibly tall. It was as if a force of nature had woken up and released its wrath on the city. There were no sorcerers that were able to stop it. They weren’t even able to make it flinch. They were nothing but insignificant insects in the face of the monster’s power. But there was a redeeming feature about the white monster that Mara will never forget. The more that it fought, it would get accustomed to the fight itself. That spinning wheel above its head was proof of that.

  Mara continues to follow Waldo as they push through the woods. She sometimes sees him look down at his new pendant that he received from the humans at the gold mines. She wonders sometimes about what makes that pendant so special to him. She has only overheard him say something about how it’s proof of his title as the War Spirit. Now that she thinks about it, everything has been quite the wild ride. In just half a year, Mara’s entire life was driven off course. The world blew up, curses ran amok, she met Waldo, her father died at her hands, and a whole bunch of other things. Sometimes it’s been exciting and packed full of action, but she finds herself missing the good old days where she could be tucked in bed and listen to her father’s stories. But she knows that is impossible.

  Waldo suddenly shoots a shockwave at a far away tree. The tree comes apart and a human falls down to the ground. They’re wearing the attire of a soldier, but they’re not part of the U.S military. Waldo appears in front of the body and looks down at it. Is this some sort of assassin or spy that happened to see them? He hears a static noise coming from the body. He can tell that it’s coming from the body’s radio, so he picks it up and listens in.

  “All remaining units fall back immediately to a safe zone. The sorcerer unit has fallen to the enemy. Orders from above say to attack with everything we have at the target: Divine General Mahoraga.”