July 20, 2020

  “Now then, the base of operations for these human soldiers should be up ahead. I’ll head over there and eliminate them all. Humans do not deserve to walk on the same planet as curses.”

  Osoroi uses the ability of Idle Transfiguration to make himself a centaur and run through the forest like the wind. Using his keen senses, he notices some tracks and details left behind from the human soldiers he just killed. They should be able to point him in the direction of the headquarters. And so, he examines the tracks and decides to run in a certain direction. After running for only a few minutes, Osoroi can already pick up human activities in the vicinity. He spots several large buildings up ahead that are still standing strong. Spotting the buildings, Osoroi smiles and removes his centaur legs, returning his body back to normal. He walks over towards the buildings with prideful strides. He can see several human soldiers outside of the buildings either training or doing other tasks. Once he gets close enough, Osoroi stops and looks at everything in front of him. He has decided on a move that will eliminate all of it. Osoroi puts his hands together and closes his eyes.

  “Shrine”

  Suddenly, his hands begin to release smoke. They quickly become engulfed in fierce flames and light up the surrounding area. Osoroi moves his hands and arms in a majestic manner, moving them around and gathering the flames around hm. Then, he pulls back one of his arms and gets into a firing position, as if he were wielding a bow and arrow. The fire in his hands has formed an arrow shape. The surroundings have become incredibly hot and the human soldiers gradually begin to notice the light coming from a distance. However, they noticed far too late. Osoroi smiles as he recites a simple phrase:

  “Open”

  The arrow of fire is shot from his hands. In the blink of an eye, the arrow collided with the military headquarters and engulfs everything in an explosion. The once strong buildings are quickly crumbled and burned down to nothing but a pile of black rubble. All of the human soldiers that were standing in the headquarters are reduced to nothing by the arrow of fire. Not even their bones remained. Osoroi puts his hands down and smiles again. He watches as everything in front of him burns down in a glorious inferno. Suddenly, he begins to pick up a cursed energy signature. It’s not coming from the massive fire. It’s coming from behind him.

  “Sir, there’s no report from the headquarters! That explosion must have wiped everyone out!”

  David and Harper are desperately trying to communicate with the headquarters via radio. It’s fortunate that they were out with another group away from the headquarters. They would have suffered the same fate otherwise. After countless attempts of trying to receive something, no word comes in from the other side. David looks devastated and throws his radio at the ground.

  “Damn it! It’s one thing after another with this damn world! How many people will die until it’s satisfied?!”

  David is suddenly slapped in the face by Harper. She glared at him angrily and grabs his collar.

  “Is this any way to behave?! Get your act together already! Behaving like this is not going to do anything for any of us!”

  The sergeant of the group walks over to them and separates them, trying to get the both of them to calm themselves.

  “Both of you, that’s enough! We may not know exactly what happened, but fighting each other won’t help. Let’s just wait for the Sergeant Major’s orders.”

  David and Harper eventually calm themselves and return to the rest of the group. The group of 12 soldiers anxiously stare in the distance. That red-orange light and explosion must have destroyed their entire base along with everyone in it. Could it have been a human ambush or was this the work of a powerful curse? Being able to perform something of this caliber must mean whoever did it is of the Special Grade. Sorcerers and curses of the Special Grade are so rare that the branch of soldiers that resides here have only seen one of each ever since the cataclysm began. They carry immense power equivalent to their extravagant status. Having one show up now of all times is not ideal at all. Suddenly, the Sergeant Major calls over every soldier in the group. Everyone turns around and report to his location. They stand in a straight line and salute. Sergeant Major Anselm looks at everyone in the line and nods.

  “We have received no response from the base. It’s best to conclude that everyone there is to be considered KIA. Nobody there could have survived such a devastating explosion, even as a Grade One sorcerer. However, I plan to inspect the situation for myself. I’m aware that this could be a very foolish suicide mission, but I cannot abandon any hope that there could be one of our comrades still alive. I ask that four brave volunteers come with me to check it out. I swear, on my name and title as a the Sergeant Major, I will repay you with whatever you desire along with your lives.”

  It doesn’t take long for someone to speak up. Harper steps forward and points to herself.

  “I’ll be going with you. I can’t let you venture out by yourself now can I?”

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Two other soldiers step up and announce that they plan to join the party as well. David continues to have an expression of true anxiety and fear. He’s more worried about Harper than he is for everyone else, himself included. He swallows all of his sorrows away, and steels himself.

  “I… I will be going along too.”

  Harper turns around and stares at David with a look of surprise. Given how David usually backs away from combat, she wasn’t expecting him to join this incredibly risky expedition. Anselm smiles and steps forward, looking at the four volunteers with great pride.

  “Very well, you four will accompany me on this journey. We have to secure any men and intel that we can. Now, let’s make our way over.”

  Anselm, along with Harper, David, and the other two soldiers, move away from the rest of the group and make their way towards the burning headquarters. They were about one and a half miles away from the headquarters. However, they were making good progress with their pace. U.S soldiers are experts in traversing terrain, especially Sergeant Major Anselm. He moved through the trees and the rest of the landscape with ease and with experience. The rest of the soldiers with him followed his lead as best as they could. David was amazed by the Sergeant Major’s physicality.

  (This person is incredible. He’s not the Sergeant Major for nothing. It’s hard to believe he’s just a little older than me. I heard rumors he rose to the title in a short time as well. It’s a nice thing that we have such a dependable person in these times.)

  Anselm looks back at everyone. He sees that they’re able to keep up with him rather well. He looks forward once again to the burning headquarters. They’ve gotten closer now, but they shouldn’t try to move in any further. Anselm gets on one knee and puts his hand on a giant boulder. He then says:

  “Binoculars”

  The boulder suddenly shifts into a pair of working binoculars. Anselm grabs the binoculars and peers through them. The rest of the soldiers watch in awe. They just witnessed the Sergeant Major’s cursed technique at work. However, they have no idea what it does or how it work. That much is certain. The cursed technique of Anselm and its details were classified within the U.S army. The four soldiers walk closer as Anselm continues to look at the headquarters through the binoculars. He doesn’t see anything or anyone near the burning buildings. It’s strange, he thinks.

  (They must have gone into hiding. There don’t seem to be any cursed energy signatures anywhere either. It’s just a ruse, though. They’re close by. But I believe that it’s not a large group. They wouldn’t be able to conceal themselves like this. It has to be a party of 4 or fewer.)

  Through the lenses of the binoculars, Anselm seems to see a glare or glint in the distance. His body and instincts immediately got a bad feeling and throws the binoculars away. He turns around and yells out to everyone.

  “Get out of the way!”

  Everyone rolls to the right and manage to avoid the attack. Anselm quickly gets back up and sees the ground split in two. The earth and dirt he was just standing on was cut like a knife. He turns around again to the burning buildings and sees a figure coming towards them, their arms stretched out confidently. The figure chuckles softly to themself and looks at the human soldiers.

  “You were able to avoid that? Well, I did hold back but I didn’t expect that you were able to notice it. Bravo, humans.”

  David sits on the ground staring at the figure in confusion and fear. Questions spiral throughout their mind. His body is unable to move, shaking a lot and trembling. He looks over at Harper, who has a more composed expression on her face. However, her body language speaks another story. She’s just as scared and confused as he is. Meanwhile, Anselm is standing strong and staring at this new person with determination and an unyielding attitude. This new person is tall, looks strong, and has their left eye wrapped with some kind of cloth. Anselm takes a small glance at everyone behind him. He sees that they’re generally unable to move. He doesn’t blame them. The amount of aura seeping out from this individual is strong. It doesn’t belong to a human being. What’s standing in front of Anselm is a cursed spirit. A cursed spirit of the most powerful status: A Special Grade curse. He can’t leave any room for error, otherwise everyone will die because of his mistakes. Anselm puts his hands on each of his shoulders. He allows his cursed technique to activate.

  “Fighter and Speedster, Level One”

  Suddenly, Anselm disappears from his spot and charges at Osoroi. Osoroi is taken aback by the human’s speed and moves his hand in a cutting motion. Another invisible slash is sent at Anselm, who manages to evade right before turning into mincemeat. Osoroi then appears in front of Anselm and throws a punch straight at his chest. Anselm is able to react in time to block the punch with his arms. Osoroi’s attack is incredibly powerful, powerful enough that Anselm’s arms feel like dirt blocking the punch. However, he doesn’t let that stop him from moving. Anselm adjusts his body and throws a kick at Osoroi. Osoroi bends his body back and dodges the kick. To his surprise, Osoroi is hit with the kick again due to the leg coming back down in a stomp. Osoroi quickly swipes his hand in the air. Anselm’s eyes widen, seeing as how he’s practically in point blank range of the attack.

  “Speedster, Level Six!”

  Right before the slash of Shrine cuts Anselm, he moves away from his spot just in time. Osoroi raises an eyebrow and sighs in curiosity.

  “May I know your name, human? It’s not often that I come across a human that hasn’t already died by my hands. You’re special to still be standing on your two feet.”

  “I am Anselm Sch?fer, Sergeant Major of the United States Army. I wasn’t aware that you had a shred of dignity in you. All of the other curses that I have seen have the intelligence of a wild animal.”

  “That is simply because they are inferior. Inferior curses obviously do not hold the right to communicate and are simply there to feed off of humans. They’re quite the ugly beings, if I may say so myself.”

  “Calling your own kind ugly beings. That’s quite the harsh statement.”

  “That’s not so different from what you humans do with each other. Discrimination, harassment, killing each other like cattle, and now you have even destroyed the very earth that you walk on. In my experience, humans are more monstrous than curses.”