Chapter 7

Kurourushi, a special-grade cursed spirit.

It had been released from Kenjaku's Cursed Spirit Manipulation to participate in the Culling Game as a player.

That was how it was supposed to be.

Xuan looked at the still-dormant Kurourushi inside the huge pit at his feet and smiled kindly.

Indeed, the "binding vow" he had just made with Kenjaku prevented Xuan from directly killing Kurourushi—even if he severed the sleeping cursed spirit's body before him, it would pose little threat to a cursed spirit. It could recover almost instantly.

So, Xuan quickly came up with a solution.

If one had never learned about cockroaches, one might think they were creatures capable of burrowing out of the ground. But if one actually understood them, one would know—

A cockroach's legs were typical walking legs: slender and covered in bristles, mainly used for rapid running and climbing.

Cockroaches that supposedly burst out of the ground had actually buried themselves beneath only a thin layer of soil. As long as they broke free of that layer, they could move about freely.

And cockroaches had flat bodies. That structure was meant for squeezing through cracks, not tunneling through compact soil.

Of course, Kurourushi was certainly no ordinary insect. As a cursed spirit, it could probably chew its way out even by eating dirt. This was merely a delaying measure for Xuan.

If he let this thing get out and hurt people, quite a few ordinary people would probably end up dead or injured.

No matter what, he should bury Kurourushi as deeply as possible.

Xuan recalled the Divine Dog, which had been hopping around on the level ground to tamp down the earth, then formed a hand sign and reproduced Nue's technique on himself.

"If I want to establish a connection with another barrier, I need to get one hundred points, right?"

Xuan flapped his wings and flew high into the sky while muttering to himself.

After carefully reviewing the rules, Xuan looked up and called out into the air.

"Kogane."

Bang!

"Could a rule be added to allow travel between barriers?"

The little white cursed spirit resembling a communication device fluttered its wings in the air, but remained silent.

"Points are required."

"So that means it's possible, right?"

"Points are required."

Having understood what Kogane meant, Xuan opened his eyes. With a flap of his wings, a sonic boom rang out as he shot through the air, lightning tracing a path behind him.

"Help... Help!!"

"Ha ha ha ha! Go on, run if you can!"

On the streets of Sendai, a young man in a security guard uniform was running for his life. Behind him was a sorcerer dragging a strange, long blade—a player as well.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it! First I saw dead people come back to life, then I nearly got stepped on by a giant, and now there's some psycho killer! What the hell is this place?!!!"

The man in the security uniform was Ito Mamoru, the very first person Xuan had encountered. At that moment, he kept knocking things over to hinder the swordsman behind him, but the overturned boxes, iron racks, and even the bricks he threw were effortlessly deflected by the man.

"Ahh, I'm getting a little tired of playing around too. Even in the modern age, monkeys are still monkeys... Whenever something beyond their understanding happens, they just shriek and run away..."

The man holding the long blade kicked Ito Mamoru away, sending him crashing into a wall. Then, dragging his blade behind him, he walked toward Ito Mamoru step by step.

"Ghk... I... I'm warning you, this... this is against the law!"

"Huh?"

Ito Mamoru slumped on the ground, gasping for breath. That blow had already drained most of his strength.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

The man in front of Ito Mamoru scratched his face as he raised his long blade toward him.

"Hah. Monkeys like you, who hide behind sorcerers... You've clearly been saved by sorcerers countless times, yet you don't understand gratitude at all. That's why I hate you so damn much."

The blade's edge pointed at Ito Mamoru's head. He tried to struggle, but he had no strength left.

"My technique strengthens the blade's sharpness and hardness by absorbing the negative emotions of others. Do you know that? When monkeys like you are stabbed to death while despair and terror intertwine, it makes the best possible nourishment for my technique."

Ito Mamoru clenched his teeth. From what he had experienced, he had roughly figured out what was happening. He did not really understand what sorcerers did, but he could tell they were a group of superpowered people whose purpose was to protect humanity.

"People like you! How many humans have you killed?! You're probably worse than cursed spirits!"

Ito Mamoru roared those words, but the man before him scowled in displeasure.

"I only wanted points... But you've really pissed me off!"

"I'm going to cut off your arms and legs and let you die in agony!!!"

As he watched the man raise his blade, Ito Mamoru instinctively lifted both hands and shut his eyes.

"Monkeys like you! Just become nourishment for me!!!"

With the man's furious roar, Ito Mamoru felt as though his ears had been deafened, unable to hear anything properly. The wound he expected never came. Slowly opening his eyes, he saw that the man from before had vanished. In his place stood a man surrounded by crackling lightning, with orange-yellow wings.

Bang!

"Five points have been added."

And a mysterious creature that had appeared out of nowhere, speaking human language.

"Oh, it's you."

Xuan turned around and looked at Ito Mamoru before suddenly remembering something. He reached into the shadow in his pocket.

"Here, the ten thousand yen I borrowed from you before."

Ito Mamoru stared blankly at the man before him, raising his hand and instinctively accepting the money offered to him.

After handing the money over, Xuan kicked the knife hilt on the ground toward the wall.

"Kogane, is this guy a player?"

"Yes."

"Ah..."

Xuan turned back and gave Ito Mamoru a careful look. The guy was obviously not an ancient sorcerer incarnated in a vessel. He was most likely some unlucky bastard chosen by Kenjaku.

What was more, he was a sorcerer who had yet to properly realize his own cursed technique. If someone like that wasn't killed from the start, perhaps he wouldn't kill anyone later on either.

Thinking of what was about to happen, Xuan considered it briefly.

"If you can, find your own things sooner, Ito."

After leaving behind those cryptic words, Xuan lightly stepped on the floor and beat his wings. Only after the sound of wind and crackling electricity faded did Ito Mamoru slowly climb to his feet.

Only then did he see the scene before him. The man who had chased him all the way here had already become a "trace" scorched into the floor by lightning.

There wasn't even a trace of the smell of flesh that should have made Ito Mamoru want to vomit. The man's landing had directly vaporized it all.

At that thought, Ito Mamoru felt as though something had violently rammed his stomach. Then, he abruptly vomited.

"Kogane, how many points do I have now?"

Amid the crackle of electric arcs and the rush of wind, the white cursed spirit flew at nearly the same speed as Xuan.

"Your current score is 45 points."

"At this rate..."

He should be able to freely enter and leave the barrier tomorrow, right?

As that thought arose, Xuan spotted another person floating in the air.

More precisely, it was a woman drifting through the sky alongside the rolling sea of clouds.

She had only appeared for an instant, but she had definitely appeared.

Uro Takako?

Xuan abruptly stopped flying and sniffed out the "scent."

Within the cool "sky," the scent of a "human" had appeared.

"Hey."

As Xuan came to a stop, the direction he was watching twisted. What followed was a cool female voice.

"You found me, didn't you? What method did you use?"