Hundreds of humans, who had endured the oppressive presence of the Curseuman thanks to the Spiritumens within them, now lay sprawled across the battlefield in various states of severe injury. Beyond them, at a further distance, many more were simply dead.
Among the fallen, Yuki lay motionless on the ground. She struggled to push herself up, but a fresh stream of blood welled up and spilled from her mouth, forcing her back down.
"I... I was perfectly correct," she rasped, breathing heavily. "I didn't bring Ray here. If I'm in this condition, he would have been instantly killed and flung miles away."
After a short, agonizing pause, Yuki's resolve hardened. "I... I have to stand up and fight. Even if not to fight, I have to call for the medical team for the rest of us. I have to stand up."
She tried again, pushing with all her might, but her legs utterly failed her. She collapsed back onto the ground with a painful thud.
"Looks like the bones of both my left and right legs are fractured," Yuki groaned, a grimace of pain twisting her features. "I have to do something. Yuzuki, do you have any ideas?"
Yuzuki's voice, faint but clear in Yuki's mind, responded: "I can't do anything for your fractured legs, but I can give you some strength. I can only do this for now; I used most of my natural energy to keep you alive from that monster."
"Do you know him?" Yuki asked.
"No, he is an ancient Curseuman," Yuzuki replied. "From what he said, he's probably from the era when the first Great Spirit Rebellion happened."
"If you want," Yuzuki offered, "I can inform your father by sending a message to my sister's mind."
"Do that fast!" Yuki urged, her voice strained. "Tell him to send a medical unit here quickly!"
The scene shifted to where the unknown figure who threw slash at curseuman, now fully appeared, stood revealed. He possessed stark white hair, piercing red eyes, and a lean, powerfully muscular physique.
"I thought you were a Spiritumen," the Curseuman snarled, his gaze fixed on the figure who had slashed him. "But you are a human, merely using the powers of a Spiritumen."
"It seems you're not satisfied with the slash I threw at you," the newly revealed figure retorted, his voice laced with a playful mockery. "You Curseumans are really a pain in the ass."
"How dare you, you tiny insect!" the Curseuman roared, his regenerated form trembling with rage. "Don't get ahead of yourself because of a mere slash! It was nothing to me!"
"It looks like you're pretty interested in insects, Maw!" the figure taunted.
"How do you know my name?!" Maw roared, genuinely surprised. "I want to talk to the Spiritumen inside you!"
The figure chuckled. "Hey, Krishna, do you want to talk to him?"
Krishna's voice, from within the human, replied curtly, "No, I don't."
The human figure smirked at Maw. "He's not interested in talking to a weakling like you."
"What did you say?!" Maw bellowed, his pure anger evident in his eyes. "Say it again!"
Again, the same demonic aura began to surge outwards from Maw's body, but this time, it specifically surged towards the human figure.
"Looks like I'll have to make a barrier," the human casually remarked.
The moment he spoke, a luminous barrier, approximately 200 meters in radius, materialized around both of them, completely blocking Maw's rampaging aura within its confines. From outside, the barrier appeared utterly dark and dense.
The human figure chuckled again, his smile unwavering. "I said, he's not interested in talking to a weakling like you."
"Firstly," Maw hissed, his eyes blazing with pure fury, "I have to cut down that smiling face of yours!"
"DARK, APPEAR!"
Suddenly, from the surrounding darkness, a black sword materialized in Maw's hand. It was not a thin, long katana, but a short, wide blade. Embedded within its center was a dark, obsidian crystal, shining with an eerie, corrupt light.
"Hey, don't mind this," the human figure said, a slight laugh escaping him. "But don't you think naming a sword 'Dark' is purely childish?"
Krishna's voice, from within the human, cautioned: "Hey, Ash. Don't underestimate that sword. It has the ability to manipulate darkness, bind light, cut through space itself, and any sort of matter. It can unleash hundreds of slashes, like the one before, in a single swing. The name 'Dark' represents its dark and dense nature."
Ash chuckled, his smile still firmly in place. "I know. As long as you're here, all his tricks are useless, and I am safe."
A faint chuckle echoed from Krishna.
"Still smiling, huh?" Maw seethed, his grip tightening on his sword. "Let's see how much time you stand against me!"
He swung his sword through the air, and instantly, numerous slashes of pure, concentrated dark energy materialized, hurtling towards Ash.
"What a foolish thing to say," Ash scoffed, his voice filled with unwavering confidence, "to someone superior to yourself."
Ash casually swung one hand through the air in the direction of the oncoming slashes. Instantly, the focused and condensed energy comprising the slashes became disturbed, dissolving them in mid-air and releasing their raw energy within the barrier. Because the barrier was a contained space, immense pressure began to build inside due to the continuous release of Maw's curse energy and aura.
Ash, meanwhile, was barely releasing any energy himself. The barrier was now utterly consumed by darkness, with no light penetrating its dense depths. But suddenly, within that pervasive gloom, two red eyes, shining with overwhelming power and pride, completely devoid of fear, began to glow—undoubtedly, they belonged to Ash.
"Did you think," Ash's voice echoed through the darkness, "that darkening the barrier with your dense curse energy would dull my vision, or that I wouldn't be able to see?"
"No!" Maw roared back, his anger flaring. "That wasn't my goal! Instead, I was trying to do something you can't even imagine!"
Suddenly, a slash materialized at incredible speed from behind Ash and struck his waist. A fast stream of blood erupted from Ash's back, gushing out like a river when a dam unexpectedly breaks.
"How!" Ash gasped, his eyes widening in shock.