"Roar... Ahhh——!!"
The shrill screams echoed. The faceless swordsman vanished along with the flames, turning into nothingness and being completely wiped out from this world. Only the black scabbard hanging on his waist fell onto the wooden floor with a crisp sound.
As if drained of all his energy, Hoshino Gen's whole body went limp and he dropped to one knee on the ground. He raised his left hand, grasped the hilt of the cursed sword that had pierced through his right hand, and pulled it out with force.
Another pool of blood splattered onto the floor. Hoshino Gen's face turned a shade paler and tiny beads of sweat covered his forehead.
It wasn't just because of the pain. At this moment, the penetrating wound on his hand was surrounded by wisps of black qi. Obviously, being pierced by that blade was a completely different concept from being injured by an ordinary sword.
Now Hoshino Gen desperately wanted to close his eyes and pass out. It was as if there was a hand dragging his consciousness, trying to force him into the abyss.
"Hey... Hey!" Having witnessed everything that had just happened in an instant, Shimizu Yu was so shocked that she was only awakened by the pool of blood until now. She hurriedly got up, but her body was so weak that she could only stagger towards Hoshino Gen.
"How are you! I'll call an ambulance right away..."
As she spoke, Shimizu Yu had already taken out her mobile phone, but Hoshino Gen stopped her by pressing her wrist.
He reached to his waist, took out another talisman paper and placed it over the wound on his palm. The talisman paper turned into clear water that washed the wound, and also removed those black qi at the same time.
Like a drowning man who finally reached the shore, Hoshino Gen gasped for breath heavily. He took out a roll of gauze from his coat pocket and skillfully bandaged himself up.
Although he was extremely weak all over, the fanaticism in Hoshino Gen's eyes was still hard to conceal. He picked up the cursed sword on the ground with his left hand and examined it carefully.
The originally scarlet blade had turned as black as obsidian. When held up close, it could even reflect Hoshino Gen's heterochromatic eyes. The blood of his that had just smeared on the blade was absorbed by the blade in an instant, demonstrating the ominous nature of this demon blade.
He swung it gently a couple of times. The slightly heavy weight and the sound of cutting through the air both made Hoshino Gen extremely satisfied.
"Well, your hand..." Shimizu Yu couldn't help but remind him from the side.
Hoshino Gen also picked up the scabbard, put the blade into it, and then he smiled at Shimizu Yu, "Just a minor injury. Thank you very much this time, classmate Shimizu."
"Huh?" Shimizu Yu was stunned for a moment, and then she scratched her cheek embarrassedly, "Didn't I hold you back? You said thirty seconds..."
"Don't worry about it. No matter what the process was like, as long as the result is good, that's okay. Luck is also part of strength after all." Hoshino Gen stood up, leaning on the sword. His body swayed a little, but his expression remained normal, not showing the fact that he was terribly weak at all.
He took out all the remaining talisman papers from his waist, took a glance, and there were eight left.
After thinking for a while, Hoshino Gen handed all eight talisman papers to Shimizu Yu, "Here, these are your rewards. The activation condition is your own blood at the moment when your soul separates from your body."
After saying that, he turned around, leaning on the sword, and walked towards the outside of the dojo. At the same time, he waved his hand, "Then our employment relationship ends here. You were really lucky that you didn't die this time. Don't pursue supernatural things anymore in the future. It's very dangerous."
Shimizu Yu didn't dare to stay alone in this dojo. She tightly grasped the talisman papers in her hand, hurriedly got up and trotted to catch up with Hoshino Gen, "Wait a minute! Where are you going?"
Hoshino Gen gave her a strange look, "It's almost dark. Of course, I'm going home."
"Aren't you going to the hospital? Your hand..."
"The bones and tendons aren't injured. Going to the hospital is just to suture, apply medicine and re-bandage it. The White Water Talisman just now has the effect of removing filth and accelerating healing. I also have the necessary medicine at home, and I'm not incapable of bandaging. So why must I go to the hospital and waste time?"
Shimizu Yu had nothing to say. Or maybe her brain was still in a state of chaos until now and hadn't sorted out her thoughts yet.
She silently followed beside Hoshino Gen. Everything she had experienced today was too strange and mysterious. At this moment, her mood was rather complicated.
Before she knew it, they had already left the woods where the dojo was located and returned to the road that they usually took to and from school.
Hoshino Gen stopped a taxi, waved goodbye to Shimizu Yu, and soon disappeared from her sight.
Standing alone under the dark blue sky where the sun had already set, the cyan-ink-colored clouds on the horizon hung horizontally like ink marks smeared by a writing brush.
Shimizu Yu looked at the talisman papers full of mysterious aura in her hand again. The feeling that fantasies had been brought into reality and then touched by herself... was truly wonderful.
Recalling the activation method that Hoshino Gen had told her, an impulse to prick her finger and get some blood to try it out immediately welled up in her heart. Fortunately, her rationality still remained. She looked around and several cars passed by beside her.
She swallowed hard, hugged the talisman papers tightly, and rushed towards home.
...
"I'm back."
Hoshino Gen habitually greeted when he walked into the house. Naturally, there was no response. After all, it was normal for his parents not to be at home, and his younger sister was also a busy person. However, to his surprise, when he was changing his shoes, he saw the small leather boots that Hoshino Rin had worn out today in the shoe cabinet.
Had she already come back? Or had she come back halfway?
Hoshino Gen didn't pay much attention to it and went straight back to his own room. He leaned the cursed sword he was carrying against the wall, randomly found a set of clean clothes suitable for the season, and then went into the independent bathroom in the bedroom.
The shower sprayed on his body. The water droplets mixed with the blood on his palm fell onto the smooth bathroom floor together.
Hoshino Gen lowered his eyelids and looked at the palm of his right hand. The wound was hideous and still bleeding.
"It hurts so much..."
...
Wearing a plain white shirt, shorts that didn't reach her knees, with her wet long hair hanging over her shoulders, Hoshino Rin stepped out of the bedroom with her small, fair and delicate feet in soft cartoon shark slippers. Her beautiful, moist heterochromatic eyes swept across the living room and she tentatively called out, "Brother?"
Silence~~~——
Hoshino Rin blinked her eyes, a little doubting whether she had misheard the sound of the door opening she thought she had heard in her room just now.
But thinking about the problems such as sasaeng fans and stalkers that her agent had talked to her about the other day, after some hesitation, for the sake of caution, she went to Hoshino Gen's room and knocked on the door.
"Brother? Are you back?"
There was still no response from inside.
"Excuse me." She muttered softly, grasped the doorknob and pushed the door open.
There was a very pleasant fragrance in the room. The room was quite large, about the same size as hers. The walls and ceiling were gray, and the floor was completely covered by a silver-gray carpet. The decoration had a strong Nordic style. It was just that for some reason, the temperature in the room was a little lower than outside.
This was the first time that Hoshino Rin had entered Hoshino Gen's room, and she was a bit surprised. But soon, her gaze was firmly fixed on something.
It was a long knife with a black scabbard, hilt and guard.
Although Hoshino Rin was an Internet-addicted girl who was addicted to all kinds of games, in reality, she didn't have much interest in toys or handicrafts like swords or guns.
But for some unknown reason, the long knife quietly leaning against the wall seemed to have a magical power and deeply attracted her.
Her beautiful heterochromatic eyes gradually became vacant. Without any awareness, she barged into Hoshino Gen's room. She came to the front of the knife and involuntarily picked it up.
Her right hand naturally placed on the hilt, and it seemed that there was a voice in her mind urging her to draw the knife out of the scabbard.
Clang——!
The clear and pleasant sound of the blade being drawn echoed in the bedroom. Looking at the pure black blade that could even reflect her own heterochromatic eyes, Hoshino Rin murmured in admiration from the bottom of her heart, "How beautiful..."
She put down the scabbard in her left hand and raised her hand as if curiously touched the blade.
A slight stinging sensation was transmitted from the tactile nerves on her fingertips to her brain. Hoshino Rin suddenly woke up. She was shocked at why she had gone deep into her brother's bedroom as if possessed by an evil spirit and why she had almost drawn this knife against her own will.
But the next moment, she suddenly felt her body become so heavy.
Hoshino Rin's whole body went limp and she fell to the ground. Her consciousness instantly plunged into deep darkness.
On the blade that had fallen aside, the part of the blade that had touched Hoshino Rin's finger had a trace of red on it, but it disappeared without a trace in an instant.