Editing CubexCursedxCurious:Volume8 Chapter5 (section)

===Part 11===

Kokoro felt incomparable joy. The kick flying from a dead angle, the lightning speed and astounding strength, the unpredictable and rapid knife&mdash;She had never witnessed such sights nor had she ever fought this kind of opponent. Ahhh, this really was, this really was&mdash;

"Kahahahaha! Joy, oh what joy! The mood has finally livened up!"

"I feel no bit of joy towards that joy... I ask trivially: or just a bit?"

"Kaha, you're pretty calm there!"

Ducking to evade the foot-wielded knife, she swung the wreckage sword at the same time. However, Un Izoey had already spun like a top to circle over to her side. While moving, she also swapped the knife over to her left foot and performed a thrusting attack from a dead angle which Kokoro could not withdraw her sword to block in time.

&mdash;Completely flawless!

Kokoro stuck out her tongue and licked her lips, releasing the sword in her hand. Without even the time to toss it aside, she directly picked up another small sword that was stabbed in the ground in front of her, using it to block Un Izoey's knife. Un Izoey performed a back flip to distance herself while Kokoro picked up another wreckage sword to dual wield.

"Wonderful. I can finally satisfy my appetite with your current state."

"What are you talking about? I tell you this first, even in my tribe, eating human flesh is taboo."

"I don't mean literally. Didn't I mention it earlier? This «Ceremonial Sword of Necromancy»'s curse turns the owner into a state similar to a revived corpse. In other words, it requires one person's life to resurrect another's&mdash;I'll die if I don't replenish periodically using other people's lives. I decided long ago that I'll only eat the souls of people who are at least as strong as myself. I'm so happy that you're finally worthy of being my prey! What's left is just the process of cooking you properly!"

"I warn you with a warning that too stubborn with type of prey causes insufficient food. Also, beasts should know well they are beasts. Beasts that recognize hunter wrongly as prey will suffer painful lesson."

"Kaha, what audacious words!"

Then show me some skills next? &mdash;Just as Kokoro intended to attack Un Izoey again, the sound of something slicing through the air was heard.

"Showing motivation is very good... But now it's getting a bit bothersome!"

Kokoro used the small sword to deflect the throwing knife. Judging from the trajectory's source, it came from the short-haired woman with the calm and collected expression. Kill her first? Just as Kokoro's attention was drawn to her, a slovenly presence could be felt from behind.

"So tiring~ Can't I live life easier than this~?"

It was the woman with the weird swordsmanship. The sword that feigned attacks without attacking and feigned retreats without retreating&mdash;An illusory sword. Just as the description implied, this sword skill toyed with the enemy deceptively. Although Kokoro found it quite interesting, currently, it only caused her annoyance.

Kokoro already knew how to defeat the enemy. When engaging this type of opponent in combat, excessive brute force was enough to get the job done. She pushed her shoulder towards the enemy and intentionally allowed one of her swords to be entangled, then using her freed hand, she made a fist and punched the woman in the chest, sending her flying back with a moan of pain.

Too easy. The instant Kokoro felt that something was wrong, she noticed. It was a trap. Lying on the ground, the woman waved her hand lazily in mockery. Then jumping into view with lightning speed was the silver-haired girl rushing towards her. This girl is next? Just as this thought crossed Kokoro's mind&mdash;

"«Tragic Black River»!"

"An unexpected reappearance, «Mongolian Death Worm Yoshikado»! Followed by «Chaotic Tadamori»!"

The throwing knife, the illusory sword and even the silver-haired girl's charge were all part of the trap? Lurking in the surrounding mountain of scrap metal, the belt and the hair instantly rose up, shaking the junk away. They must have decided to spend time approaching her in secret because the usual manner would definitely result in getting severed. Too close, impossible to evade. The belt and the hair entangled Kokoro's arms from the left and the right respectively.

Not a problem. There were many ways to escape. Pull them apart with full force? Even breaking or severing her arms would be fine. After all, she could use the «Bloodstained Reginetta»'s power to recover&mdash;despite her limited stock of red cloth. Even confronted with the charging Fear-in-Cube, it would be the same. She would still be able to move even if pierced by a spear or sliced by an axe not too severely.

However, Fear halted in her steps just before reaching Kokoro. What did she intend to do at such a distance? She wouldn't be thinking of using a thrown torture tool, would she? A foolish strategy. Those kinds of things definitely lack power.

Defeating Kokoro required causing continuous damage to her until this «Bloodstained Reginetta»'s rate of healing could not keep up, until her stock of red cloth that served as its source of power was all gone.

"&mdash;You are truly a villain, Kokoro Pentangeli."

"A villain? Really? I might actually be Santa Claus, you know? I am truly capable of granting the wish of resurrecting the dead. For someone who harbors that kind of wish, I really am the Santa Claus who can offer salvation."

Kokoro answered casually while applying force through her four limbs. Fear glared further at her:

"People who harbor that kind of wish? Indeed, people's wishes come in all sorts. Those wishes, as well as the people making the wishes or the people granting wishes, not all of them are bad. For example, a man wanting to see his wife is a perfectly natural wish. But that excludes adding "even if it means raising her from the dead" to the wish. The wish itself is perfectly natural, but the means to realize it was wrong. If someone hopes for a wish to be fulfilled even if it is wrong to begin with, then that can no longer be called a wish."

"Oh? ...Then what do you call it?"

Was she being careless? Or underestimating the enemy? Kokoro wondered as she persisted in applying force. Snap, a strange sound came from her arms. One more go and Kokoro was going to escape from these bonds.

"The desire, obsession and madness in trying to fulfill a wish despite the wrong method&mdash;That already counts as a curse. The existence of that sword, cursed from those wishes, is proof of that. Hence, I absolutely cannot approve. As much as I can sympathize with the wish to resurrect someone from the dead... So long as the method is wrong, I absolutely cannot approve of it!"

Her eyes displayed completely unshakable determination, staring straight at Kokoro without any aversion. Then&mdash;

"If someone tries to use a wrong method to fulfill another person's wish, even if that person is the real Santa Claus, I will still stop him! So I'm going to stop you, just like now!"

Fear declared forcefully as she swung the drill in her hand. It did not hit. Instead, the drill's tip simply buried itself into the scrap metal heap by Kokoro's feet. However, the girl rattled the chain of cubes that was connected to the drill.

"Mechanism No.12 extinction type, revolving blade form: «Tornado of Souls»&mdash;Curse Calling!"

Immediately, it transformed into an upright pillar with countless blades on its surface. With the sound of steel turning, it began to spin like a tornado&mdash;At the same time, the resilient belt and hair entangling Kokoro's arms pushed her forward slightly. Naturally&mdash;

"Guh... Gaaaaaaaaaaaah!?"

Dragged forward, Kokoro's body made contact with the killing pillar's sharp blades. The tips of the revolving blade gouged out bloody flesh, resulting in shared sensations of the clothing's ripping and the body's pain. The dual agony caused Kokoro's mind to go utterly numb. Forced to heal without a choice, yet her wounds were sliced open by the killing mechanism as soon as they closed up, resulting in ripped open flesh again, followed by healing. The «Bloodstained Reginetta»'s area was rapidly decreasing at an unprecedented rate.

However, Kokoro pondered amidst this painful suffering.

Her thoughts were mixed with anger.

While feeling annoyed by how weak the enemies were, she also thought: How naive.

"Ahhh... Naive, naive, too naive! Why show mercy, why bother judging the distance... Isn't it faster to bring this thing closer to my body and shred me directly!"

Fueled by that anger and impatience, Kokoro applied even greater force to her arms. Then&mdash;

By her own initiative, she allowed her body to be swept up in the continuously spinning tornado of blades. The sharp blades sliced even deeper wounds in her body. However, it was fine as long as she did not die on the spot. This was the easiest method to escape. While listening to their shocked gasps, Kokoro brought her restrained arms forward and used the torture tool's spinning blades to sever the hair and the belt. Although her arms were almost sliced to pieces, it was not a problem either.

Freed of her restraints, Kokoro retreated back, all covered in blood. The «Bloodstained Reginetta»'s area was 99% consumed, all used to heal her wounds. Although she instantly became dressed in almost nothing except for underwear, she simultaneously pulled out a red cloth from the sack on her back to replenish the fabric area. The red scarf she had been wearing all this time was also consumed. Only then did the «Bloodstained Reginetta» finally return to its appearance as a red uniform.

"Kaha, what a shame. You guys failed to take full advantage of a rare opportunity&mdash;"

Halfway through her speech, Kokoro could tell from their eyes that they had not lost the will to fight yet.

It was as though they firmly believed they would win.

It was as though they were saying that they possessed reliable companions who allowed them to believe so.

Before her eyes, the killing pillar switched to the form of another torture tool.



Although the enemy had escaped from the killing pillar, Fear saw a favorable shift in the tide of battle instead. She never expected that strategy to succeed on its own to defeat the enemy completely. Furthermore, since the sack and the scarf had been used to regenerate her clothes, this meant that the enemy's healing ability had already reached a limit. The area of her current clothing was probably all she had left. Then in that case, only one thing needed to be done.

"Mechanism No.21 hanging type, hook-claw form: «Spanish Spiders», Curse Calling!"

Dangling from the stand that was connected to the chain of cubes, real chains extended in accordance to Fear's will. On the end of each of these chains were a pair of hooks in a capturing posture. Four chains with four pairs of hooks all flew at Kokoro, ensnaring her upper arms and thighs securely. Originally, this torture device was meant to hang someone beneath the stand for excruciating agony, but right now, accomplishing the task of immobilizing Kokoro was good enough already. Because&mdash;

"Tsk... I'll let you have the chance to show off. Don't get careless!"

"Understood. There's also a rule in the tribe&mdash;When eating a meal, must eat everything."

The gray-haired girl approached expressionlessly. Supporting herself on her hands, she spun her dark-skinned legs. As though imitating the killing pillar just now, she kept slashing away at Kokoro's chest at high speed with the knife wielded in her foot. Incessantly, without pause.

"Guh, k-kah... You... bitch...!"

Un Izoey's attacks were completely merciless. Each cut from the knife sliced deeply into the flesh, stabbing straight into the heart. It would not be surprising if every strike was a fatal wound. Kokoro had no choice but to keep using the «Bloodstained Reginetta» to heal herself. Nevertheless, Un Izoey continued to exhibit eyes without any emotional fluctuation, executing slicing attacks persistently, causing Kokoro's clothing to disappear progressively. Since little of her underwear had survived the ordeal of the killing pillar, Kokoro ended up with nothing but a pair of underwear on her lower body. Unbelievably shameless... Once everything is settled, I must teach the shameless brat a good lesson.

However, just as the red outfit's area was reduced to just part of a collar remaining&mdash;

"DO. NOT. UNDERESTIMATE... ME&mdash;!"

Kokoro forcibly pulled her limbs that were caught by the «Spanish Spiders», ignoring the tearing of flesh and struggled free from her restraints by force. Those wounds did not heal. Neither could they heal again.

Jumping back lightly, she pulled back and bought a few seconds to prepare a counterattack. Of course, Un Izoey pursued closely behind her and rushed forward. Using the few seconds bought by the jump, Kokoro pulled out the nearest weapon. Just as she was about to block the knife from Un Izoey's foot&mdash;

It's over&mdash;Fear thought. The one who got the true chance to perform was not Un Izoey.

The dark-skinned girl halted the stabbing motion of the knife in her foot and crouched down on the spot.

Smiling, she declared:

"Adding additional explanation of tribe's rules. Food must always be finished completely. However&mdash;sharing with trusted companions is also virtue."

Flying over Un Izoey while she was crouching, a boy appeared, wielding a Japanese sword. Before their eyes was, of course, the cornered Kokoro who had finally drawn the ceremonial sword. The Japanese sword murmured softly:

"I can see that sword already&mdash;"

Go ahead&mdash;Fear thought. Despite the sword being the target of the superintendent's faction, they seemed to be approving of what was about to happen.

Yes, that thing is not needed.

Even if it could raise someone from the dead. Even if it could fulfill a wish one really hoped would come true.

But if it required another person's life in exchange&mdash;Fear did not want that.

Hence, that thing was simply&mdash;

A cursed sword that must be destroyed.

"&mdash;«Sword-Kill Counter»!"

The impact was heard, serving as proof that new scrap metal had been created in this time and place.

Sounding akin to a scream, it was the shattering and scattering noise of the evil sword's demise, the sword that toyed with human death.