Without hesitation, I ran toward it, nearly stumbling with every step. My legs no longer felt like they belonged to me, as if they were being moved by nothing more than the last remnants of will that refused to be extinguished.
I hid behind the rock, my back pressed against its cold, rough surface. Damp moss clung to my clothes, its wet texture seeping through the fabric. The chill sank into my skin, crawled into my bones, but I barely cared anymore.
My breathing was a mess. My body trembled violently—not only from exhaustion, but from the fear that finally caught up to me, impossible to suppress any longer, piling up until it burst all at once.
I couldn't keep going like this. If I didn't act… I really would die.
The only way was… to use a Binding Vow again. I swallowed hard, my throat dry and aching, as if it were clogged with dust and blood. Pure, dense fear filled my chest, pressing in on my lungs from the inside, making every breath feel narrow and suffocating.
Yet beneath that fear, something else began to stir—something small but stubborn, something that refused to give up, even knowing the risk could mean the end of everything.
"Binding Vow." My voice came out hoarse, rough, like a throat forced to speak after being choked for too long by restrained terror.
A sharp sting scraped along the walls of my throat, as if every syllable had to be squeezed out by force. Even so, though the sound was fragile, my tone remained firm. Rigid. Not wavering in the slightest. There was no room for hesitation. No path of retreat left for me.
"For thirty seconds, I will increase my Cursed Energy output and my sensitivity in controlling it." Each word left my mouth slowly, clearly, neatly arranged, as if carved one by one into the cold air.
My tongue felt heavy, yet my mind was unnervingly clear. I drew a deep breath, my chest burning as the cold air entered, stabbing into my lungs mercilessly, as if this were my final breath before something irreversible began.
"In exchange, after that time ends, the flow of Cursed Energy within my body will be completely sealed for one week." I could feel the weight of the vow even before I finished saying it.
An invisible pressure seemed to press down on my chest, making my heart pound harder, faster, as if it understood that this decision was not a small sacrifice, but a gamble with my own body and life.
"I cannot cancel or avoid these consequences." My tongue felt dry and coarse, like sand clinging to every movement, yet I forced the final words out anyway. "If I break this vow, my Cursed Energy will turn against me and destroy my body from the inside."
The moment that sentence ended, a chill ran along my spine—not from the air, but from the full awareness of the risk I had just accepted with my own will.
The instant the final word left my mouth—something exploded from within me.
Not a sound. Not light. There was no dramatic flash or thunderous boom that human ears could catch. It was pressure instead. A brutal surge born deep in my abdomen, like something long sealed shut had finally been forced open, spreading through my entire body in a single, violent pulse that nearly made me lose my balance.
Cursed Energy overflowed wildly—coarse, ferocious, and hot. Its flow was not gentle, not friendly. It rushed from my core to my spine, surged up to my shoulders, down my arms, and into the tips of my fingers, like a raging current that knew no restraint. It felt as if my veins had been replaced by fire igniting from within, burning, pressing, demanding to be released completely.
The world changed.
The sound of leaves brushing against one another became painfully clear, as if they were only centimeters from my ears. The scent of damp earth stabbed sharply into my nose, mixed with the smell of moss and old blood lingering in the air.
Even the very presence of the beings around me—the flow of foreign Cursed Energy, thick and raw killing intent—felt painfully real, unbearably close, as if I could reach out and grasp it, crush it with my bare hands.
And at that exact moment—the Cursed Spirit appeared.
The dog-shaped creature leapt out from behind the trees, the ground beneath its feet exploding upward as its cracked, malformed body moved with horrifying speed.
Its skin looked like shards of pottery crudely fused together, and from the gaps in those fractures flowed dark Cursed Energy, pulsing unstably. The dog-like Cursed Spirit's jaws gaped wide, its fangs uneven and jagged, and its roar echoed low and hoarse, filled with raw, unfiltered hatred—hatred untouched by reason—as it charged straight toward me.
I moved instantly.
My body reacted without needing an order. There was no command from my brain, no hesitation. I dodged to the left just before it lunged, the sole of my foot slamming into wet ground and sending mud splashing up. The wind from its movement whipped across my face, carrying the foul stench of the Cursed Spirit so strongly it made my stomach lurch.
The Cursed Spirit's body crashed into a massive boulder behind me with a thunderous impact.
Crack.
The rock split. Fractures raced across its surface like a spider's web, small fragments flying off and striking the ground around me. Stone dust filled the air, but my vision stayed sharp, locked onto the target in front of me.
Without the slightest hesitation. Without time to think. I poured nearly all the Cursed Energy I could muster into my left hand.
It felt rough. Not smooth. Not fully under control. The flow of energy slammed into my arm from the inside, like a hammer repeatedly striking bone and flesh.
My nerves screamed, sharp pain shooting up to my shoulder, almost making my arm go numb. My muscles tightened violently, forced to adapt to power far beyond my safe limits.
But I couldn't stop now.
One punch. I only needed one punch.
I stepped forward, lowering my center of gravity, and swung my left arm without elegant technique, without perfect form. My fist landed squarely on the Cursed Spirit's body. There was no beautiful explosion. No heroic flash. No blinding light.
The creature's body simply collapsed.
It shattered brutally. Its form caved in as if it had lost all support, its Cursed Energy structure collapsing from within, distorting, then bursting outward. Its body turned into purplish-black fragments that were hurled into the air, spinning briefly before evaporating—like smoke torn apart by an unseen wind.
Silence followed.
Every sound seemed to be swallowed by the world as the Cursed Spirit's body was completely destroyed, vanishing without a trace. My heartbeat still thundered in my ears, my breathing ragged, and the heat in my arm slowly turned into a dull, throbbing pain.
My legs finally gave out.
My knees buckled, my body pitching forward as I nearly collapsed onto the wet ground, held upright only by the faint awareness that the vow was still in effect… and that my time was still ticking away.
I fell into a seated position with a dull thud, my back unconsciously hunched forward. My breaths felt heavy, caught in my throat, my chest rising and falling harshly and unevenly.
Each inhale felt like it scraped the inside of my lungs, hot and burning, as if what I was breathing in wasn't air at all, but sharp fragments forced through living flesh.
My vision blurred slightly, the colors around me slowly swirling, like a world that hadn't fully snapped back into place yet. The muscles throughout my body throbbed with pain, from my neck to the tips of my toes, as if every fiber was screaming in unison, demanding the same thing—rest.
And yet, for some reason—the smile on my face only grew wider.
Uncontrolled. Impossible to stop, even as my jaw felt stiff and my lips trembled from the lingering tension.
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