Reggie Star and Iori Hazenoki were sitting at a small table in the apartment, playing UNO.
The room itself looked messy—old furniture pushed against the walls, a cracked window letting in the evening light, and random receipts and junk scattered around the place. The only thing that looked organized was the UNO cards laid neatly between them.
Reggie glanced at the doorway for a moment before looking back at his cards.
"Where are Remi and Chizuru?" he murmured.
Hazenoki shrugged lazily.
"Who knows?"
Reggie tapped the table with one finger.
"Remi said she found someone. She should've brought them by now."
Hazenoki didn't answer. Instead, he slowly placed a card down.
"+4."
Reggie looked at it.
"…Seriously?"
"Yup."
Reggie sighed and began pulling cards from the deck.
Meanwhile, Hazenoki leaned back in his chair with a smug expression.
Their game slowly became more intense. What started as a casual match had now turned into a silent war.
Hazenoki checked his hand.
One card left.
Reggie noticed.
"Oh hell no."
He immediately slammed down a Block card.
Then another.
Then a 4.+
Hazenoki's face twisted in disbelief.
"You've got to be kidding me."
While the two were busy mentally destroying each other over UNO, something else had appeared quietly in the corner of the room.
A cardboard box.
Hazenoki glanced at it briefly.
Strange. He frowned slightly but returned his focus to the game.
A few turns later, he looked again.
The cardboard box was… closer.
"…Is it just me," Hazenoki said slowly, "or did that box move?"
Reggie didn't even look up.
"You're paranoid."
"I swear I can feel cursed energy coming from it."
Reggie finally glanced over.
The box sat silently near the wall.
"…You're just paranoid because you're losing again."
He casually dropped a yellow four onto the table.
"Your turn."
Hazenoki stared at the box again.
"I'm serious—"
Before he could finish his sentence—
I exploded out of the cardboard box.
"SURPRISE—"
A flaming sword appeared above my head as I swung downward.
Reggie reacted instantly and raised his arm to block, but the sword still carved through his defense. The blade sliced across his cheek and buried itself into his shoulder, cutting deep.
His right shoulder instantly went limp.
Reggie jumped backward in pain, knocking the table over as UNO cards scattered everywhere.
Hazenoki also jumped away, already reaching into his mouth and pulling out one of his teeth.
"WHO ARE YOU?!" Reggie shouted, clutching his shoulder.
"What do you want?!"
I looked at the two of them calmly.
My plan had been to kill one of them instantly.
I targeted Reggie. He didn't have Reverse Cursed Technique, so even if I failed to kill him outright, he would still be at a disadvantage.
But then something strange happened.
Reggie reached into his coat and pulled out a receipt.
I watched in confusion as the paper glowed slightly.
His wound began healing.
My eyes widened.
"WAIT—"
"WAS THAT A HOSPITAL RECEIPT?!"
"YOU CAN EVEN DO THAT?!"
The wound didn't fully disappear, but it closed enough that he could still move.
Right.
His right arm was probably still unusable.
I had overreacted a bit.
Meanwhile, I noticed Hazenoki chewing.
At first, I thought he was literally chewing something.
Then I realized.
He was preparing a tooth bomb.
The moment he spat the tooth at me, I immediately reshaped my flaming sword into a baseball bat and swung.
CRACK.
The tooth flew straight back toward them and exploded near their position.
"Homerun!!!" I yelled
Reggie shot Hazenoki an angry look.
"Watch where you're aiming!"
I didn't waste time.
I charged forward.
Reggie began pulling out receipt after receipt, summoning random objects, and throwing them at me.
Chairs. Tools. Kitchen junk. Literally anything.
"Random bullshit go brr merchant…" I muttered.
I reshaped my bat back into a sword and sliced through several objects mid-air while advancing.
Then Hazenoki rushed me.
He spat blood toward me.
The blood exploded the moment it touched the air.
The blast pushed me backward, and Hazenoki immediately followed up with punches and kicks.
I parried his attacks with my sword.
Poorly.
Very poorly.
I had zero sword training.
But having a sword was still better than not having one.
I jumped backward just in time as Reggie threw a set of knives.
I parried most of them. Most.
One slipped through.
The knife stabbed into my lung.
I gasped as the blade pierced my chest.
Before I could recover—
Hazenoki threw an eyeball at me from the side.
The eyeball exploded point-blank to my right side.
The blast launched me straight out of the apartment window.
I crashed onto the street below.
"…That hurt."
I slowly stood up and looked down at myself.
Half my body was burned.
I sighed and began using the Reverse Cursed Technique.
I wasn't very good at it yet.
First, I pulled the knife out of my lung.
Then I focused on healing the lung itself.
Fifteen seconds later, my breathing stabilized.
Just in time.
I looked up.
Reggie and Hazenoki were descending toward me from above using umbrellas.
They landed on the street and froze when they saw my wounds closing.
"…Reverse Cursed Technique," Hazenoki murmured.
Reggie narrowed his eyes.
"So you're a sorceress of that level."
Then he suddenly smiled.
"Why don't you work for me?"
"…No." I shook my head.
"But I have an offer."
Both of them looked intrigued.
"I'm a modern sorcerer," I said.
"Come work with modern sorcerers and help us end the Culling Game."
Both of them immediately shook their heads.
Rejected.
Well. I tried talk-no-jutsu.
Didn't work. So we fight.
I charged Hazenoki again.
Reggie resumed throwing objects nonstop.
At one point, a microwave flew past my head.
I dodged it and jumped off a couch Reggie had thrown at me, using it as a springboard.
I appeared beside Hazenoki and slashed.
His arm was cut clean off.
He jumped back instantly.
But before I could react—
A loud voice interrupted.
Takaba suddenly jumped in front of the severed arm.
The arm exploded.
The blast was massive.
Even with Takaba standing in front of me, the explosion still threw me backward.
When the dust cleared, I stared in shock.
Takaba stood there.
Bleeding slightly from his head.
But otherwise… fine.
I quickly healed my minor burns.
Behind him, the apartment building had been completely destroyed.
A thirty-meter crater scarred the street.
I slowly realized what had happened.
Hazenoki had planned that. He wanted me to cut his arm so he could detonate it.
If Takaba hadn't jumped in front of it…
I could have died.
A cold shiver ran down my spine.
I really lacked battle experience.
I looked at Takaba seriously.
"You…" I bowed deeply.
"Thank you, great sir."
Takaba stood there with his mouth slightly open.
He still looked like he was about to say the funniest joke in human history.
But for some reason…
Nothing came out.
His head was still leaking blood. I watched as the speed increased and decreased due to changes in his blood pressure.
Reggie, Hazenoki, and I stood in silence. It was too awkward
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End of chapter