A fierce heat, hot enough to sear the skin dry, was the first thing to strike my consciousness.
Next came the acrid ash clogging my lungs and the vile stench of blood stabbing at my nose.
I slowly opened my eyes. Filling my vision was a sky stained blood-red, and a grotesque landscape of ruins collapsing and burning violently on all sides.
The concrete wreckage was wrapped in flames, reduced to bare skeletons, while shrieks of unknown origin and the crashing of buildings echoed endlessly in my ears.
I quietly pushed myself up.
And in that instant, a headache like a sharp awl drilling into my brain hit me, and fragments of alien memories came pouring down like a waterfall.
"...A past life, huh."
A dry voice slipped from my lips.
My name was Togabito Yaiba.
I was nineteen years old. That was my present life.
But the memories just carved into my mind told me that I had once lived in another world, and that I had seen this burning hell before me as a game on a screen.
I still had no memory of what had happened immediately before I ended up here, in this burning Fuyuki.
But the moment I became aware of my past life, the reason for the twisted life I had been forced to endure over these past nineteen years became chillingly clear.
From the moment I was born, I had been someone people hated.
Everyone instinctively loathed and rejected me. Kind neighbors spat at me as if I were vermin whenever they saw me, and gentle teachers pointed to me as the source of every malicious rumor.
The people of the world hated me. The world itself hated me.
Just as I was trying to logically sort through my past life and my present, stained through with hatred—
[System activation confirmed. Entity name: Togabito Yaiba. Manifestation complete. Current location: [Singularity F].]
A translucent blue holographic window rose into the air.
A cold, inorganic system window, as though projected directly onto my retina.
For an ordinary human like me, who could neither sense nor control mana, it was nothing short of miraculous. But instead of panicking, I simply read the text it displayed with emotionless eyes.
[Trait [Rejection of the World] (Curse) activated. Warning: You will receive extreme hostility and hatred from beings of Good and Neutral alignment.]
"...How fresh. To think the hatred I endured all my life was just a single line of system text."
Even faced with those cursed words saying I was rejected by the world, I accepted them calmly. If anything, it was almost refreshing.
[Privilege [Seeker of Evil] activated. Summoning Evil-aligned Heroic Spirits is now possible, and you will receive an absolute affinity bonus from those of that alignment. In synchronization with the memories of your past life, the system is now fully unlocked.]
At that moment, I heard an unpleasant rattling scrape from the distance. It was not the sound of human footsteps.
Beyond the burning rubble, a pack of skeletons holding rusted swords—Dragon Tooth Warriors, in other words—turned toward me.
Killing intent poured down on me.
[Tutorial reward: Initiating 1 random Craft Essence summon. Summoning...]
The system window flashed, and geometric patterns spun in the air before me, radiating light.
I calculated the distance to the enemy with an indifferent gaze. Roughly thirty meters. No visible weapon on hand.
The escape route was blocked by flames, and with my physical abilities, breaking through head-on was impossible.
The light faded, and something heavy settled into my hand.
I had hoped for a sword, a shield, or at least some useful Mystic Code to break this situation open, but what I found in my grasp was, absurdly enough, a bowl of food.
Something steaming, red chili oil sloshing on the surface.
[Craft Essence: [Super Spicy Mapo Tofu] (★3). Effect: Upon consumption, restores a small amount of HP while inflicting extreme pain as if your esophagus were being torn apart.]
"..."
The Dragon Tooth Warriors began charging toward me, their jawbones clacking.
I stared at the mapo tofu in my hand for a moment, then, without the slightest hesitation, shoveled the bright red mass into my mouth and chewed and swallowed it.
Instantly, a blazing agony shot through my whole body, as if my throat and stomach had caught fire.
It was pure pain, so intense my eyes watered and my tongue went numb. But I only frowned faintly. I forced it down without letting out so much as a scream or a cough.
For someone who had endured the world's malice with his bare body his entire life, this level of physical pain was tolerable. Along with the pain, I felt a very slight bit of vitality return.
"Terrible efficiency. The recovery is pathetic compared to the pain."
The empty bowl crumbled into particles of light in midair. The enemies were now only ten meters away. Just as the skeletons raised their rusted blades and prepared to leap, the system window before me flashed red once more.
[Danger detected. Forced execution of free tutorial Heroic Spirit summon (1 time). Searching for a bond engraved upon your soul...]
A Heroic Spirit summon?
[Bond level with a specific Heroic Spirit has exceeded the limit. Bond Level 15 (Max) data synchronization complete.]
Three silver rings appeared in the air and began spinning furiously.
Soon, the light pouring from the rings was dyed a brilliant rainbow.
The moment the light burst forth, a sickeningly sweet, heavy scent of alcohol spread everywhere, completely overwhelming the smell of acrid ash.
A deep violet mist flowed across the ground and seized the space. The Dragon Tooth Warriors stiffened in midair as if gripped by instinctive fear, then landed and froze in place, rattling.
Soft footsteps came from within the mist. A girl with two red horns rising from her head, dressed in a kimono so revealing it was dizzying.
It was Shuten-Douji, the great yokai and leader of the oni.
Shuten paid no mind to the burning city or the skeletal monsters surrounding her.
The moment her eyes met mine through the mist, I heard her suck in a breath. The lazy, arrogant gaze of the monster instantly darkened with a hazy heat.
That was not the look of a Servant seeing her Master for the first time.
That gaze alone made it clear: it was a blind, clinging attachment, as though she had crossed eternal ages to finally find her one and only mate.
For someone like me, who had received nothing but hatred from everyone in the world, it was the first time I had ever been met with such an alien and overwhelming mass of emotion.
"Ah... this scent. Those cool eyes. There is no way I could ever forget. How could I possibly forget?"
As if entranced, Shuten approached and boldly cupped my cheeks in both hands. Between her luscious smile, her long red tongue slowly licked across her lips.
A languid, sticky voice coiled out from between her lips like a snake.
"I'm so very happy to see you again, my husband. So then, what dreadful hell have you called me into this time?"
The chill of her fingertips against my cheeks, the sharp smell of alcohol stinging my nose. Even standing at the center of that suffocating demonic aura, I did not so much as blink.
I let out a short sigh and lightly placed my hand over the back of one of her small hands where it held my face.
My expression remained stiff, but a faint warmth slipped into my blunt voice before I knew it.
"...I get that you're happy to see me, but we can catch up later, Shuten."
There was a lot I wanted to say. A lot I wanted to ask. But right now, there were more pressing things to do.
"For now, could you clean up the area first? I don't want to face you covered in dust."
At my words, Shuten trembled, her shoulders shivering as if a thrill had run through her whole body. Her cheeks flushed red, and a bizarre, ecstatic smile split across her lips.
"Hehe, ahaha! That's exactly how my husband should be. Acting all aloof, but every word dripping with affection. It really sends a shiver straight through me."
Reluctantly, Shuten took her hands off my cheeks and slowly turned around.
The sticky affection she had been pouring onto me just moments ago vanished without a trace, replaced by the oni's true, dreadful, viscous killing intent, freezing the heat of burning Fuyuki in an instant.
"How dare these filthy bone scraps interrupt my sweet little time with my husband? I'll tear every last one of them to pieces."
The moment Shuten lightly snapped her fingers, blades of condensed violet liquor shot through the air in every direction.
"Kyaaaagh!"
A single gesture. That alone was enough to blow apart the pack of Dragon Tooth Warriors that had been directing killing intent at me, leaving behind nothing but bloody chunks of flesh and bone dust.
After that overwhelming violence swept through, only red remnants rained down like droplets.
"Well then, my husband. Shall we spend a little quality time together now?"
Somehow, it felt like things were going to get very eventful from here on out.
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