Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume15 Chapter3 (section)

===Part 4===

"Huff... Guh, ha, ah...!"

Kirika was twisting her body on the soil, feeling the texture of pebbles against her cheeks while trying to get a sense of her surroundings. It was currently nighttime and the location seem to be a forest. Still within town, probably, since the brightness of streetlights could be seen in the distance. Was it a forest in the depths of a park? No idea which park it was, however.

She felt some kind of object pulled out of her chest. Without needing to look, she knew what it was. That spear.

"Guh, haah... Ha, haha... Totally... like a corpse, being stuffed into a trunk then this happens as soon as I'm dumped out huh...? Three times already by now?"

Like a corpse. What absolutely ridiculous words. While thinking that to herself, Kirika tried her hardest to be sarcastic, grinning at Sleif in front of her. Her arms and legs were still bound, unable to move.

The expression under the helmet did not change. Kirika clicked her tongue mentally while saying at the same time:

"How I really wish for some change. Although I won't die, it still hurts. Although it's absolutely ridiculous, I am starting to get bored. Oh, if all you want is to observe the wounds healing, this it's time you stop using that spear to..."

"Shut up."

"My only entertainment is talking. Actually, you're very curious about my Wathe, aren't you? You could be more honest."

"Insult, humiliation, desecration! Like hell anyone is curious!"

"Eeee... Gi, heeha, ahhh!?"

Sleif suddenly stuck her finger into the wound in Kirika's chest. The bloody flesh squirmed with a foreign object inserted into the opening that was in the process of healing. She stirred violently and repeatedly stuck her finger in and out. The invading finger curled and scratched the interior. Liquids splashed all around. The blinking stimulation was making Kirika's body shake forward and backward. Drool dripped on its own. She kept rolling.

"Eeee... Ha, ah, ah, ah, ah!?"

"What a contemptible Wathe...! Like this, like this, like this!? Even like this, it'll still heal!?"

"Nnnggh! Ah&mdash;hee, gii, kahah!"

"Worn on your body is ugly and unsightly evil that I don't even want to steal a glance at! Don't overestimate yourself!"

"Ha, haa... But..."

Kirika twisted her body as though trying to escape the pain. As though gnawing at the ground, she parted her trembling lips and said:

"I... finally know. Because of this... of mine&mdash;that's why you captured me... to harm me. You did that, because I am of use to you. Compared to harming the ordinary populace... like a phantom slasher, this is better... Haha, ha."

Kirika spoke with feelings of self-abuse.

She could hear Sleif groaning "muu" while hearing her own quickened breathing. Probably tired of playing with the wound, Sleif finally pulled her finger out. The feeling of squirming flesh returned. Kirika collapsed on the ground, spacing out at the sight of her own blood pooled in a depression.

"Indeed&mdash;I've discovered... certain things."

"...What things? Try me."

Slightly moistening her throat, Kirika swallowed a bloody-tasting liquid and said:

"Basically your goal. So far... from the first random slashing, then putting me... into the trunk and running all over the place, and pulling me outside to stab thrice with the spear. If you had attacked random victims elsewhere, then those places must have been the same, right? Because it's necessary. In other words, it's a required condition."

Sleif gave no reaction, just as Kirika predicted. How could an immortal girl on the verge of death cause a dramatic reversal of the situation just by saying a few words? Hence, Kirika was saying this purely to taunt and mock her, to convey to her: I know the secret you won't disclose, serves you right!

"&mdash;In other words, you need to have ''blood'' flow onto ''surface soil'', right? Whenever you stabbed me, you always stared closely at the blood flowing out from the wound. And every time you committed the act, you always picked a place where the fresh blood would seep into the soil. Coincidence? Absolutely ridiculous. Even if it happened by chance just because you picked deserted areas, this town isn't that rural. There are more than enough parking lots with no people or dark alleys. But since it happened on soil each time, that means it is necessary&mdash;"

"I see. Impressive that you figured it out. Here is your reward."

"Gi, ahhhhhh!"

This time, Sleif turned the spear tip and stabbed Kirika's thigh. Not only that, she skewered her completely as though pinning Kirika to the ground.

"Bleeding twice... at the same location... what special treatment..."

"..."

"What... is your goal? Although I don't know what kind of ritual, or what kind of curse... your actions are part of, but I pray, your efforts will be in vain. Because the blood that flows from me, it either returns to the body or vanishes..."

"No cause for worry."

Sleif shifted her weight towards the spear. Intense pain erupted from Kirika's thigh as a starting point, almost ripping her entire body to shreds. Kirika silently arched her body.

"I only need to use the spear's blade to ''stain the soil with fresh blood'', hence there's no issue even if the blood is cleaned off afterwards&mdash;Whether the blood returns to the body or vanishes due to supernatural reasons, the result is the same. This is already proven."

Excessive pain was making Kirika's vision start to flicker. She could only repeat Sleif's words as a question:

"...Already proven...?"

"Do you really think there has never been other immortals&mdash;alleged immortals&mdash;like yourself?"

Sleif's expression could not be read due to the helmet but her voice was calm and monotonous. Conversely, she was pushing on the spear. Using the ground where the spear was stabbed to serve as a fulcrum, she pushed back and forth, left and right, and swiveled in a mixing manner. Turned into a bloody pulp, the muscle fibers were swept into the mixer, causing Kirika to scream.

"Ahhh, ahhh, ahhhhhhhhhh!"

"No matter what you do or what deductions you make, it is meaningless. Instead of finding a random unlucky soul out on the streets every time then disposing of them secretly, it's simply easier to drag around a vessel that remains intact no matter the amount of bleeding. That's all. Shut up and bleed. That is your only function."

"Ahhh, ha! Eeeeee&mdash;!"

After giving an extra forceful turn of the spear, Sleif kicked Kirika's bloody thigh and drew out the spear tip violently. Like a malfunctioning musical instrument, Kirika's throat convulsed rhythmically, giving off panting noises. Sleif swung the spear to shake off viscous blood before looking down again at the writhing flesh of Kirika's wound.

"Totally filthy. A woman like a fragile protozoan with nothing but the power of immortality."

Her tone of voice was filled with scorn and derision. This time, Sleif simply kicked Kirika like a ball. Once, twice, thrice.

The repeated onslaught of pain, pain, pain. Inside the body, outside the body, her heart, everything was in immense pain. Her brain's operating speed slowed down while her consciousness was gradually buried by soil.

At this moment, in Kirika's blurry vision, she saw Sleif stop kicking her thigh and turn around. Someone was coming. To save her? Absolutely ridiculous. Impossible.

"&mdash;The knight over there, you seem quite strong. I am Kurusonzan Itaku of the Draconians. How lucky I am to discover you while on my way back to headquarters. Please fight me."

"Eyesore of a visitor. You will be forever silenced."

See, just as expected. How could it be someone to save her? Just an intruder. However, if anyone could save her, she did not mind, but it was highly improbable.

The battle scene between those two seemed very distant, very blurry, like a movie shown on the big screen.

Let them do as they wish. What Sleif said earlier was the truth, without anything that could be refuted. She was both powerless and filthy. Hence, she was unable to do anything.

(She's absolutely right. I... am this kind of thing...)

She had forgotten all along. Clearly she knew very well. Clearly back at the Lab Chief's Nation when she was undergoing experimentation repeatedly like a thing, she had admitted it. But she had forgotten.

Despite being immortal, she was more fragile than anyone. Simply a weak monster that would not die. This was herself. The woman named Ueno Kirika. Filthy, unclean, disgusting, a contemptible existence&mdash;

(Yes... Indeed...)

Kirika lay on her side, feeling the corners of her eyes get hot.

She was unable to understand what it was.

Because enveloping her heart, these absolutely grayest emotions, at this very moment&mdash;did not even permit the active will of "understanding" to surface in her cerebral cortex.