Fuck, he’s fast…

Thirty-five... Yeah, it makes sense that I'd be in trouble like I am now.

“Better we use magic and finish this as quickly as possible.” I motivate myself.

Inside the thick puff of smoke, illuminated by the puddle of some kind of liquid that was brightly lit by the magic effect, neither of us could see each other's faces... But at least our whole bodies were clearly visible as two black silhouettes against a red background in this place, such as a two-dimensional puppet or wayang show that uses shadows as its own visual medium.

I swung my five black claws while being knocked off by how powerful this man's slash was that I had just parried... The moment he leapt to dodge my deadly attack, the asphalt of his footing was crushed by the psychic pressure. I even had time to be confused about where he landed because the body he had moved so quickly…

“What was that!?” He asked to refer to my five magical claws earlier, but I didn't answer.

Those claw attacks of mine back there were too slow... This is such a very bad situation for me. Even my magic moves much slower than the swing of my sword, meaning for a man as strong as him, that curse just now only felt like a slow motion.

“So you're what people call the great carriers?” He asked a second question.

The attack just now didn't hit him at all, but I still have to receive the same counter-curse as usual on my body. Damn... Is it really impossible for me to get used to this kind of pain?

Fuck, he's running at such an insane speed! I won't be able to avoid it in time!

Just as I thought, the sword I was holding with both hands had been flung high in the air... It was so far away from me that its form automatically disappeared, and reappeared on my back. Because of the same thing, my chest received a thin slash wound from him.

The second and third attacks came, what had previously made me hesitant to use my mist form had disappeared due to a state of compulsion. Flying with a lot of red smoke mixed with my black mist, my form returned intact after keeping quite a bit of space away from the enemy's position.

Shit… I didn't expect the pain from my counter-curse sometimes made me hesitate to use more of magical abilities.

But it's such a waste anyway… Because I can't control the movement of the claw to be much faster than a sword strike. This magic has its own weaknesses after all…

Oh fuck… He’s coming again!

There must be something… Like another ability. I need another form of magic…

Think! Daniel, just try to remember about something… Anything! Remember of how Elis used this power.

Yeah, I think there should be a lot of abilities that I actually have... Like how Ellie can control the movement of water, change the ambient temperature, transform into a liquid, even summon lightning if she thinks hard enough about how to do so.

Manipulating the authority that each of us has…

My authority is suffering, but its absoluteness sometimes sounds like an equal exchange. Like when you are tying a contract with a demon, as long as I suffer against something equal, I can do the other thing that has far greater impact.

This one... But it will feel so much more painful.

Activating a power, something suddenly spreaded over my back and my left shoulder. The mark was so big, about five times the size of the counter-curse I'd receive if I used those claws from before. My body was smoky all over, when this Soul Strength ability had been used successfully.

This power simply felt like doubling the number of souls I currently had… Or maybe it really wasn’t?

Or if I had to explain in detail, actually this power didn't double the number of my souls. More towards amplifying the output... Or something like the offensive side of my physical strength. While the defensive side will likely remain the same…

My psychic and magical abilities won't be affected, but at least my body is much stronger than usual. Well, I think that's probably the only defensive side affected. And that's just because I needed it to hit a lot harder without breaking my own hand instead.

Its activation cost was five times more painful than any other magic abilities possessed by Elis, and every second that passed while I was in this state, my back and left arm would be more and more consumed by the continuous counter-curse…

fourteen... Meaning that my physical ability can be interpreted the same as someone who has the strength of around twenty eight souls. Still seven points below this guy tho, but I think that's already much better than not being able to keep up with the speed he has.

He was already very close to my position, and suddenly his movement seemed to slow down a bit. But of course that's not really the case here… I'm the only one that's currently being a little faster.

So after retrieving the sword from my back, I managed to block the slash of the enemy's sword even though this leg was still dragged back a bit…

Well… Actually I don't really want to clash sword with sword with this guy, but I do this one another attack just for the sake of testing the improvement of my own power.

While he was still in shock, as our swords pushed and pressed against each other, I lightened this sword then I kicked his leg which he was forcing to push forward.

He didn't fall, but his back was wide open in front of me.

Instinctively, I leaned my left hand forward, my claws glowed on all sides... And then again... I even became more doubtful.

Fuck…

It's such a very wide and open opportunity tho…

An opportunity that I may only receive once...

This is the second time around I'm afraid to hurt myself with an extra counter-curse on my own skin. So instead, I had to swing my sword at him right on the back, he was rolling in the middle of this empty street for that slashing pain.

Waiting for him to get back on his feet, my eyes were blurry because I was also in such another level of pain from him, even at the point where I could feel the curse had spread almost around my neck.

But… In a fight where someone possessed the ability of the curse of suffering like me, it might be reasonable to say that, as long as I remain wise in hiding my pain from my opponent's eyes, then only I will understand everyone's position in this arena.

Meaning, this guy probably thought that we were equally strong…

Or right now, maybe he thinks that I am the one who is much stronger…

Also he doesn't know anything about my body getting weaker, thanks to the influence of my own counter-curse…

I can take advantage of this kind of condition, can't I?

~~~~~

At that moment I had an idea… So I said to him, “I was forced by someone to kill you... Otherwise, I will lose something precious. So try to hear my ideas. I have the ability to take all the souls you have harvested, but first I have to kill you by piercing the heart you have…”

“Do you think i'm stupid?!”

Hmm… if I heard the words I just said myself, Yeah, they did sound like some stupid god trying to deceive a normal human with his smart and healthy brain. So let's try once again to explain in a much more correct and believable way...

“No! I mean, I can take all the souls you've harvested without... Having to... Kill you... By... Having to kill you first... Wait, what?”

I don't really mean like that, but the way my unique ability performs does sound like the same… Shit... How do I explain to this guy what I mean? Fuck... He came on with the attack, feeling full of emotion. Well…

I guess I should try to kill him first without saying anything for now…

At least he got a little carried away by emotions and fought more haphazardly than before. He was not very skilled with the sword though, and it seemed that all this time he had managed to win against other people simply by luck.

Different from me who has the memory of Elis' battle... No... I guess I've also been quite proficient with the sword ever since my birth. But, wait... Am I recalling a memory that belongs to myself, or is it Elis's?

Why lately have I felt confused to understand which memories belong to me and which ones belong to Elis?

“I don't want to die... I don't want to die, I don't want to die!” His sword now slashed much heavier, but his movements were so shattered that sometimes he just tried desperately to slash through the wind. I'm getting tired, but I still haven't found an opening.

Because he's moving too much…

And my head feels like… Dammit! My eyes are too blurry to see that one attack.

The attack that managed to slash through the muscle of my right arm, this sword fell without any pressure to keep it upright.

Another one straight slash towards my head, this body turned into mist... Moving right through him, I have no weapons to injure this man.

So I just kicked him in the back until he fell more because he was so tired than the kick I just gave him.

There was this one time, that I was so stupid, So because of the pain, I removed the effect of the soul strength from all over my body. And when I did, the whole swelling pain seemed to be getting doubled because of how weak my real self was…

I rolled on the ground, grabbing my back with both hands, gritting my teeth to keep myself from screaming.

This counter-curse had even filled my neck completely. My entire left shoulder was blackened, and suddenly I lost the ability to control my both hands for a while.

That man ran towards me, his sword buried deep into the asphalt as I turned myself into mist, backed away and tried to escape from that spot. Again, he comes trying to slash my neck…

So I scream while swinging this claw. “Stay away!”

He changed his mind, backed to the side from the slow movement of the magic that I had, whereupon I fell down from swinging my left hand too hard which was its skin getting darker and even darker.

Okay, let's try that again, Daniel…

Just one more time!

The one wide black spot on the back of my body suddenly spread all the way to the skin of my cheek, and a bright red crack appeared on my left shoulder. Wait…

Elis?! What is this!?

“That's the second stage of your own counter-curse. Meaning that the body you currently have has already exceeded its own capacity to endure all those black wounds.” While soul strength was activated for the second time, Elis came to warn.

Previously I thought there was no limit to using this power…

“There isn't really anything… But right now you're just bearing far more curse than usual… The wound will be much more painful and take longer to heal itself. Oh yeah, about that... I have another warning for you, don't ever touch the third stage of the counter-curse. I never really got there, but I do know that it will permanently affect your physical body... Indeed you won't die, but your body will be much more fragile permanently. So there really is no limit, you just have to remember that your body will get even weaker the more you use that magic. And this could also mean your body could become permanently weakened if you're not careful. So… Again… Just try to finish this fight right here right now, Daniel...”

You're too late to tell me about that. Besides, I can't use my left hand anymore… Also the slash wound in the muscle of my right hand still hasn't fully recovered yet.

Not only that, I also need something that moves very fast. Faster than the claws and even the slash of this sword itself…

“Yeah, we have that.”

Hmm… That one?

“Yes, that one.”

Maybe Elis and I were actually talking about the same thing. But I didn't expect much from the start because this ability won't cast any curse on anyone other than myself…

So it’s actually like… I can temporarily create objects in the form of solids, liquids or gasses, which are formed from the black particles that I have.

Yeah, yeah... everything I own is black.

Do you have any problem with that?

After all, what curse of suffering is given the color pink?

I can't choose any color other than black, so just get used to it!

But even if it doesn't inflict any cursed wounds on the enemy, the things I create can be controlled more freely... Meaning I can also adjust the speed depending on how much I can manipulate it. For example, the speed of a bullet? Hmm... Let's give it a try then…

With both hands hanging without me being able to use, and with these legs that frozen in silence waiting for him to run even closer, ten black, small pointy-pointed solid objects floated at each side of my body.

It’s a little complicated... Or it’s actually in a very complicated way, but I managed to get everything spinning in place.

The first five strikes, this man still managed to see the movement of the thing. Not only did he dodge by changing places, but he also slashed the two bullets while traveling at an extremely fast speed.

Before launching the second attack, I retreated for a while because the two of us were already getting too close… But something unexpected happened.

He threw his sword straight at my shoulder. Embedded in my flesh for a moment before then the sword form disappeared, a blow came towards my cheek... Threw this body far away, dragged on the surface of the street.

The man ran even faster. Again, he took the same sword from his back, raised high preparing to end the battle.

Thinking fiercely enough, the five pointed objects that were still hovering around me faded into mist, changing their own shape into something that looked like a rather long chain. Then I stretched out my right arm that was still shaking, ordered the chain to move to strangle his neck and restrain his right arm until it was frozen in place.

His left hand tried to release the tight chain from his neck, as the two legs he had started to lift and sway in the air… Though it can't hurt the enemy in the slightest, it turns out this ability is actually much more useful than I ever thought…

One index claw on my right hand glowed red, releasing the one remaining strength that I had to stab his chest right in the middle. Sure, the movement of this magic attack was slow, but he couldn't go anywhere else...

The black mark on his chest then slowly dripped out a trickle of blood. The thrashing of his feet slowly stopped trying to reach the ground, his face was pale before then his eyes closed crying to himself.

It’s finally over...

Lying on my back on this rough surface, I released all magic, both soul strength and the chain-shaped non-elemental object, faded and evaporated leaving me and someone else's corpse here on the ground…

“Daniel. Hurry up and make the change before it's too late.” Elis reminded me not to waste too much time, in order to activate another power that I have. But first, I have to call Ellie to take care of my own body…

Forty-nine…

With that many souls, I clapped my hands together to create a psychic air blast. Blowing away all the red smoke, as well as the bright red puddles of liquid that spread across many parts of the street surface. From down here my eyes can sharpen their own senses, to see who is standing far above the skyscrapers there…

“Ellie…” I whispered.

A lot of people started jumping down towards me, but that girl instantly arrived using teleportation…

“Listen to me well. I will bring the man back to life, but my heart will stop beating for maybe a few hours... Or days? But the point is, I'm not dead yet. So I need you to take care of my body, keep this skin away from any impact, or I'll be completely classified as an inanimate object. Do you hear?” I spoke each word slowly and very clearly, until Ellie herself was reluctant to ask me to repeat it.

So I stood up. I approached the man's body, I touched his chest where the curse was lodged. As I touched my own chest with my other hand, Ellie asked. “Are you really going to be okay?”

“One hundred percent... But I need your help to protect me.”

“Oh, I see... Okay, I agree. After you wake up, we have to talk.”

“Ugh…” I suddenly became afraid of what she would ask me next time we met… Also why is she so calm after I said that my heart will stop beating for a few days? Is my life not that important for this girl? Oh goddess of forgiveness?

But, yeah... Maybe I can deal with that later.

After convincing myself, I stabbed this own body right in the chest with the same curse... Then I died for the second time…

~~~~~