In the shadow of the steel beams and pipes, Gyanav Regio was sneakily following three men in front of him who were heading somewhere he didn't know. He needed a chance to try out his new ability before his target reached his destination, otherwise, it would be too dangerous for Gyanav.
Psshhhh!!
The sound of steam rushing and rising from the pipes was occasionally heard, along with the roaring of the tram far in the distance. The ticking of gears subtly filled the background as Gyanav walked past the back of the buildings, right there in the quiet alley.
I think this place should be good enough, he thought.
Ahead of him, there was a big indent at the wall in which he could hide. The path ahead also had stairs leading down, so once Sacha and his companions walked down, Gyanav would have a better vantage point of his target, especially with his Caeco eyes.
As long as the three men couldn't see him while he was using his ability, it was good enough for Gyanav. So far, the hiding places were too conspicuous, so he had to keep following his target for several meters until he finally found the perfect place.
Taking out the cotton-stuffed leather doll from his hoodie pocket, Gyanav tied the hair strands of Sacha Drozdov around its neck and began pouring spiritual energy into the needle that he had taken off the doll's back. He then took a peek at the three men walking ahead of him before quickly retreated back to his hiding spot.
This should be far enough. If they begin searching around, they shouldn't reach this spot while I can still see them perfectly.
Sacha, Michail, and the curious-sounding man had now walked down the stairs in the distance while Gyanav readied the needle. With a confident motion, he raised the needle before lowering it quickly, stabbing the doll's left calf with its sharp point.
"Fuck!!"
There was a shout coming from the distance, which Gyanav knew belonged to his target, Sacha Drozdov.
He quickly took a peek again and saw that the target was inspecting the very same area that he had stabbed the doll in.
"What's wrong with you now? You've been screaming like a maniac since earlier," Michail asked with a frown.
"Something just stabbed me!" Sacha protested, not thinking that he had done anything wrong.
The tall man lifted the left sleeve of his pants and inspected the painful area closer, only to notice that there was no wound nor stab mark. Michail could only look at him with an expression that was a mix of concern and pity like Sacha was a kind of idiot.
"I know that look! You must be thinking that I'm stupid! You wanna fight?!" in his irritation, he lost his cool under the condescending gaze of his companion.
The curious-sounding man quickly got between the other two with a worried expression.
"Sacha, Michail didn't mean it like that I'm sure. Maybe it's the same wasp that stung you earlier?" he tried to defuse the situation.
Michail shrugged while Sacha inspected the area again with a red face.
"A fucking bee again, eh, Oleg?" Sacha said sarcastically.
Meanwhile, Gyanav was busy being entertained by the three men's quarrel and at the same time, analyzing his new ability.
So this new Curse doesn't cause any injury but only sends the pain. That means, pouring water on the doll won't make my target wet, only give them a wet sensation. That makes sense since I can't magically conjure water around my target in the first place. Then, fire will surely give them the pain of being burned without actually burning them. This information will certainly be useful...
What else can I do with this doll then...
Gyanav began rubbing his nose in thought.
What if I bury this doll, or just cover its head with something. Will it suffocate my target? Although, a stab already cost me a lot of spiritual energy, so something stronger than that will surely cost more.
And what if I just take apart the limbs of this doll? Will it cause my target to lose their limbs as well? It should definitely be experimented upon, but I doubt the results will be just as I hypothesized since this Curse is called the Curse of Pain, not Death. I'm highly certain that at most, I can only send pain. The degree of pain then will depend on my spiritual energy.
The moment he was done with his analysis, he noticed that Sacha had lowered his pants sleeve and continued walking again. Gyanav had to continue with his experiment quickly before the target left the area because of that. He quickly focused some spiritual energy into his fingers and held the desired spot on the doll.
Crack!
With a strong motion, he twisted the joint of the doll's right knee to the wrong side, effectively breaking without any resistance. At the same time, a shrill scream came from the direction of the three men.
"Arghh!!!"
Even Michail and the guy called Oleg didn't expect the sudden scream that genuinely sounded pained.
"What happened, Sacha?" Oleg worriedly checked upon the man who was lying on the ground holding his right knee.
Sacha's face was pale with sweat. Gone was the red that accompanied his anger.
"My leg is broken!! My leg!" he shouted frantically, holding very tightly to his knee.
Michail looked at the man's leg and didn't notice anything wrong with it. He crouched down and knocked on Sacha's knees lightly with his knuckle and waited for the man's reaction.
"It doesn't look like it's broken. Did it hurt when I hit it?" he asked casually.
Sacha shook his head weekly. He looked at his right knee and realized that it was still alright, and the pain was also gone. In confusion, he started tapping his leg and stretched it like someone who was just been able to walk again.
"What the hell? It's not broken? But I am sure it was!!"
Gyanav could see that the target's knee was indeed still in the correct position despite the one on the doll being broken. It confirmed his theory that his ability only transferred the pain and not the actual injury.
At this point, at most I can only use it once more before they realize something is wrong. I should really use it to gain important information about my ability then. Also, breaking the doll's leg unexpectedly took a lot of my spiritual energy, so right now I don't think I can do something too big with this ability.
With that knowledge in mind, Gyanav knew that he wouldn't be able to kill his target even though he stabbed the doll in the heart-- not that he even wanted to since he didn't hate Sacha that much to begin with. The man was just unfortunate enough to anger the petty Caeco by kicking his dog.
Let's see what happens if I do it anyway...
Focusing his spiritual energy on the needle in his hand, Gyanav calmly and precisely sunk the metal object into the doll's heart, puncturing its leather skin.
"AAaarghhh!!!!!"
The target's shouting became even more frantic. Sacha held his chest tightly with both hands, lying on the ground with an expression of terror. His breathing was heavy and irregular, and his face had become even paler. Gone was all the arrogance that he once wore; what was left was weakness and fear.
"What happened now, Sacha??" Oleg was becoming more worried.
Still unable to speak from the shock, Sacha stayed quiet.
Meanwhile, Gyanav quickly sneaked out of his hiding position, lowering his body as such so that the three men below couldn't see him. They were busy checking on the Drugs Warrior, so they didn't notice the person creeping away in the distance.
"What happened to you?" asked Michail, now genuinely curious.
The man still didn't answer. It seemed that he was still recovering from the shock, rather than the pain.
Pant... Pant...
"I... it feels... like I just had a heart attack..." he said with difficulty. His right hand was still gripping his chest tightly.
"That can't be a mere coincidence. Someone must be doing something to you," Michail responded and then quickly looked around, scanning their surroundings, "Quickly, look around and find someone suspicious. They might still be around!" he ordered.
Oleg nodded.
The man, who was just a little shorter than Sacha, lowered his body as if getting ready to run, and suddenly
Whoosh!
He darted at a frightening speed towards the distance. There was a weak shockwave left behind as he pushed forward from his spot.
"Heh... that man is a Warrior but he's a coward. Always running away made his abilities evolve in that way," Michail snorted, "But that makes him useful for catching enemies."
Sacha didn't respond. He was still regulating his breathing and overcoming the shock. It was the kind of pain he had never experienced before.
Not long after that, Oleg returned, drenched in sweat. The warm weather and the hot steam coming from the pipe didn't really help his situation either.
"*Panting* I... can't find anyone around here..." he said, holding on to his knees.
"They must have escaped then. That means you're the only target," Michail looked at Sacha, "It seems someone has a personal vendetta against you."
Sacha finally looked up at Michail with eyes full of rage.
"And since I'm not dead... when I catch them, I will make them experience pain much worse than what they did to me!" he spoke; malice filled his voice as he clenched his fist.
Michail shrugged while Oleg looked scared, seeing Sacha like that.
"Well, anyway, we need to get going. The boss will be angry if we're late," the Narcotics Nurse suggested.
Sacha Drozdov got up from the dirty concrete ground and tapped his bottom, cleaning it lightly. The denim pants that he was wearing were now all dirty, and his cleaning it couldn't remove all the brown stains on them.
"Let's go!" he said, still sounding irritated.
The three men continued walking in the back alley, past the backs of the metal buildings with pipes and beams protruding to the top. At some point, the concrete ground beneath them was replaced by metal floors that created a loud noise as the men walked on them.
"Your boots are too loud!" Michail complained, looking at Oleg. The Warrior was also the fattest of all of them, although he couldn't really be called fat, so he made the most noise.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Michail's slender and short body allowed him to walk lightly, avoiding making a lot of noise while Sacha, with his tall and muscular body, didn't make as much noise because of the shoes he was wearing. However, he didn't really care about any of those. His mind was still racing to find out who had done something like that to him.
Finally, the three men arrived at a dead end. There were only metal walls surrounding them, and above them, the buildings went all the way up that the sunlight couldn't reach their location.
Michail moved forward and placed his knuckle on the thick metal wall in front of him. He then began tapping on it in a specific rhythm.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
Tap! Knock! Knock! Tap!
Tap!
Knock! Tap!
Pshhhhh!!!!
Suddenly, the pipe on the right side of the wall let out steam from its tiny holes. The white steam slowly turned green and began filling the whole area.
Michail's expression didn't show any change while Sacha still looked enraged, but he didn't react to the steam. Only Oleg looked worried as he tried to back up. However, the steam quickly enveloped them, blocking their vision completely.
"!!"
Suddenly, the three men felt sleepy and fell unconscious on the ground.
...
In a sunshiny apartment room, a young man with curly brown hair was sitting at his wooden desk with a pen in his right hand. On the floor beside him, a golden retriever was sitting obediently, looking at his master with eyes brimming with joy.
'Dear journal. I've just finished experimenting with my new ability and found some interesting things. I will write the detail below later.
Next, it's time for me to actually use it to fight against monsters. Using it against weaker monsters is a waste of spiritual energy since I can just use my other Curses and kill them with my book.
I want to try fighting a stronger monster using this ability, and maybe try to kill them with it. We know that every creature has its own pain threshold. If they experience pain beyond that, they might die of shock, so I want to see if I can inflict that upon a monster. Although, I doubt my spiritual energy will be enough... Stabbing that man's heart already took most of my energy.
Well anyway, we'll never know if we don't try, right? Besides, I have Alfie. He can buff me with his abilities as well. So, it's now time to go!'