Cursed Children

Higashino Makoto emerged from the spatial rift and landed above Tokyo.

The city at night unfolds beneath my feet, ablaze with lights and shimmering neon.

The glass curtain walls of skyscrapers reflected colorful lights, and the streets were bustling with traffic and crowds.

From the air, if you ignore the huge black stone monument surrounding the city, it looks no different from any other modern metropolis in my past life.

But Higashino Makoto knew how much filth and bloodshed lay hidden beneath that glamorous surface.

He hovered in mid-air, his long, silvery-white hair swaying gently in the night breeze.

No one saw him because he had cast a small spell to make himself inconspicuous.

He was right there, but nobody would bother to look for him.

I tried to contact Ainz using communication magic, but failed.

"Muninn. Begin searching for Nazarick, Ainz, and any related clues."

"Yes, sir. But Nazarick possesses the 'Throne of Kings,' and its intelligence defenses are very high. I need time."

"I know, just do your best. Let me know as soon as you have any news."

"Yes, sir."

A raven flew out from the tattoo beside his ear, circled once in the night sky, and then flew westward.

The figure disappeared into the neon lights.

Higashino Makoto fell from the sky, his feet landing on the streets of Tokyo.

The stone path was a little damp, and the air was filled with exhaust fumes and the aroma of food, mixed with the faint sound of police sirens in the distance.

He wandered aimlessly, crossing several streets and over several overpasses.

Then he saw the first Cursed Children.

She was huddled in the corner of an alley, hugging her knees, her silver-white hair disheveled and covering most of her face.

His clothes were tattered and old, revealing his thin arms and broken legs.

Her eyes were covered by a white cloth, as if to make people forget her status Cursed Children.

Higashino Makoto stood at the alley entrance, watching her.

There was no emotion in his golden eyes.

Are you cold?

His voice was soft, but it reached the girl's ears clearly in the quiet alley.

Her body trembled violently, and she raised her head, looking in his direction with her empty eyes.

His lips were trembling; he wanted to say something, but nothing came out.

Higashino Makoto snapped his fingers lightly, activating a healing spell.

Her leg miraculously recovered quickly.

The bones, which had just been twisted and deformed, were quickly put back into place, and the wound healed rapidly.

The girl's knuckles were white, her lips were slightly parted, and she made a hoarse, almost inaudible sound.

"Thank you... thank you."

Higashino Makoto did not answer.

Do you want to leave here?

The girl's body trembled violently.

"Wh... what?"

"I want to go somewhere where I can eat my fill, stay warm, and won't be beaten, insulted, or stoned. Do you want to go?"

The girl remained silent for a long time, so long that Higashino Makoto thought she wouldn't answer.

Just as he was about to leave, she spoke.

"Think."

His voice was hoarse, but much more determined than before.

I want to go.

Higashino Makoto nodded, turned around, walked up to her, and extended his hand.

The girl raised her head; her eyes, which had been covered by a strip of cloth, seemed to have recovered, and her red eyes were filled with expectation and fear.

But she still reached out and took his hand.

Her hands were small and cold, with distinct knuckles, and her fingernails were filled with dirt.

Higashino Makoto raised his other hand and made a light sweeping motion in the air.

A pitch-black spatial rift appeared silently before the two of them.

On the other side of the rift, sunlight streamed through, revealing grass and, in the distance, a floating island shrouded in magical light.

The girl felt the warm light emanating from the crack, and her body trembled slightly.

"Go inside, someone will meet you."

She felt a sense of fear.

After all, she had never seen such a sight before.

No, she had never even heard of anyone possessing such power.

However, the warmth and kindness she had never encountered before led her to choose to believe.

Even if the warmth before your eyes is followed by an Abyss.

"Aren't you... aren't you coming along?"

"I have other things to do."

The girl was silent for a moment, then released his hand, stood up, and walked towards the crack.

Their steps were slow and cautious, as if they were testing the waters or confirming something.

She stepped into the crevice, her figure disappearing into the light.

The crack then quietly closed.

Higashino Makoto stood there, gazing at the empty ground, and remained silent for a moment.

Then he turned around and continued walking.

That night, he walked for a long time through the streets and alleys of Tokyo.

He saw the Cursed Children curled up asleep beside a garbage heap, the Cursed Children kneeling and begging by the roadside, and the Cursed Children stealing because of hunger.

He saw a man beating a Cursed Children with an iron bar.

The girl looked to be no more than eight years old. She was curled up on the ground, her hands covering her head, emitting suppressed sobs that she dared not cry out loud.

The iron rod struck her with a dull thud.

Higashino Makoto walked over, reached out, and grabbed the iron rod.

The man turned his head and saw a pair of golden eyes.

Then, the man pulled out the gun from his chest and pointed it at his temple.

That was the tool he used to "deal Cursed Children; he pointed it at his temple and pulled the trigger.

Gunshots echoed through the night sky.

The man's body collapsed, blood gushing from the wound at his temple, spreading into a small dark red stain on the ground.

Higashino Makoto looked down at the girl curled up on the ground.

Does it hurt?

The girl looked up at him with her tear-filled, red eyes.

His lips were trembling; he wanted to say something, but nothing came out.

Higashino Makoto crouched down, raised his hand, and a pale golden light emanated from his palm, enveloping his body.

The bruises and wounds inflicted by the iron rods healed rapidly in the light.

"Want to go somewhere where you can eat your fill, stay warm, and won't get beaten up?"

The girl looked at him for a long time.

Then she nodded.

Higashino Makoto stood up and opened the rift. The girl stepped into the rift and disappeared in the light.

That night, Higashino Makoto opened countless rifts.

Each time, one or two, or even more, of the Cursed Children walk into that light.

Each time, a perpetrator falls in a pool of their own blood.

They might be forced to jump off a rooftop, or forced to shoot themselves in the temple.

He didn't kill everyone.

He didn't move those who were just indifferent bystanders.

He didn't touch those who merely disliked him but didn't act.

He didn't even kill those who had shown mercy despite their actions; he merely gave them a small lesson.

But he showed no mercy to those who took pleasure in torturing and Cursed Children, those who used the Cursed Children as a target for their pent-up anger, and those who committed atrocities against young children.

A bullet, or a knife.

He doesn't care about the method; he only cares about the result.

"Unfortunately, if Nazarick weren't here, and if his whereabouts were unknown, it would have been much faster to have the Guardians come to help."

But it doesn't matter, he has already dispatched a large number of mercenary monsters and Doppelganger to various regions.

Not only Japan, but also the United States, Moscow...

He dispatched monster mercenaries to every remaining human force.

(This is my own setting; there is still no China in this world, and there will be none in any future worlds either.)

Before long, Cursed Children will be gathered together, and you just need to go and open the door yourself.

As the morning light spilled across the eastern horizon, Higashino Makoto stood on a pedestrian bridge, his golden eyes gazing at the river below, bathed in the golden light of the rising sun.

Behind them, the last Cursed Children stepped into the rift.

He has lost count of how many he has saved.

Dozens, maybe hundreds.

He didn't count.

Looking at these miserable, Cursed Children, Higashino Makoto's anger swelled even more.

He couldn't understand --

While humans rely on these young children to fight off Gastrea, they simultaneously treat them as the most heinous criminals.

Knowing full well that they possessed great power, they still humiliated them with impunity.

They're a complete bunch of trash!

He didn't want to acknowledge those who were protected by the Cursed Children while persecuting the Cursed Children as human beings!