She had to destroy them. The only thing at the core of her being was fulfilling that mission—nothing else.
She was conscious. She retained memories from when she had once lived. But before the overwhelming emotions that had given rise to this phenomenon, those were like roadside stones.
The only thing that mattered was fulfilling the duty the Spiritfolk Queen had held since ancient times.
The great forest where the Spiritfolk had lived since time beyond memory—to protect her kin from the invaders who trampled in without respect or creed, and to repel the humans.
It was nothing other than a struggle for survival against humanity. If they lost, the species would either perish or become humanity's slaves. The immense power possessed by the Spiritfolk Queen existed to prevent that.
When she awoke after eons of silent slumber, what greeted her was an impossibly vast city overflowing with hostile species. As far as her senses could reach, enormous buildings stood in endless rows, teeming with countless lives.
Their sheer numbers dwarfed even ten times the Spiritfolk she had once ruled in the forest.
But no matter how powerful the enemy or how many there were, what she had to do did not change. Memories of the past resurfaced, igniting killing intent and fanning the flames of the curse.
In the fighting, countless kin fell, and countless enemies were struck down. Tragedies multiplied, and oaths were forged in kind.
Kill as many enemies as possible. Save as many allies as possible. Wash blood with blood. Bury tragedy with tragedy. Fear begets fear, and resentment chains onward. Over long ages, it repeated without end. There was no longer any room in her heart to be wounded by that truth.
As she always had, she tried to sweep the city away with resentment and killing intent too vast to be contained in her body—and in that instant, she suddenly regained her "awareness."
Normally, nothing could surpass the annihilation of the enemies she had killed in countless numbers throughout her long history of war. But something terribly "irritating" forcibly drew her attention.
For the first time, rationality returned to a mind that had been devoted solely to destruction.
What came into her eyes—restored from the form she had assumed for maximum killing efficiency to her original shape—was the figure of an unremarkable man.
A thoroughly unremarkable young human. His bearing was leagues away from a warrior's—someone she would never normally deign to notice.
He was the sort she would crush underfoot like an insect and not even realize she had done so. And yet, for reasons she could not fathom, seeing him made irritation surge through her unbidden.
The killing intent blazing in her depths whispered that he must be destroyed before anyone else.
That killing this young man before her would be equivalent to the deaths of a million, perhaps ten million humans. Her reason knew perfectly well that was absurd. She knew perfectly well her priority should be destroying the city. And yet—she could not resist attacking.
No—this emotion, this feeling, was the ring's power. The reason she was so consumed by feeling was that ring. The tool her former companion had worn to control the "curse."
She didn't understand why it was here, but she understood the reason. She had grasped it completely. She understood. She had grasped everything. She was relieved.
The attack she had launched on instinct was deflected before the young man's eyes.
She understood. But it didn't matter. Considering countermeasures, hesitating, exercising patience—she would not indulge in such tedious things.
As she launched a rapid follow-up attack, the young man fled. Clinging for dear life to a strange carpet, dangling and swaying, he looked like nothing so much as prey.
Dangling from the carpet, the young man retreated from her at high speed. Countless humans—beings who should be killed—stared up at the scene, utterly oblivious to what was happening.
Fine. Destroying this city could wait.
Her reason berated her. How utterly disgraceful—the Spiritfolk Queen. That the proud guardian of the Spiritfolk should be deceived by such a tool. And to know everything yet still—how impossibly foolish.
Her head throbbed fiercely as the blazing killing intent warped her body. And then—for the first time since becoming a curse—she produced speech.
"Ugh……K-Kill! Don't escape! Never—never!"
§ § § Tinno's spirit was already on its last flicker. The continuous onslaught of unexpected demands and impossible situations—no matter how much he had grown through the "Thousand Trials," he could never grow accustomed to it.
That was without question the worst trial among all the Thousand Trials they had faced. A disaster that made him lose the will to even confront it.
No matter how strong he had become, humans still had their limits. That power had effortlessly exceeded those boundaries.
The terrifyingly beautiful vision she had shown at the end. The ears—the proof of the Spiritfolk. That was almost certainly the famous curse the Spiritfolk Queen had created to slay humans.
The Master never assigned half-hearted trials. Tinno remembered that clearly, in that moment, at that very instant.
She had pulled him back from danger and shielded him from attacks in various ways, but this time there was no room for gratitude. That thing hadn't even registered Tinno's existence. In other words, even being grazed by it would mean death.
With his right hand he seized the carpet, and with his left he clasped the Master's hand. His training had paid off.
No—surely this was a test. The Master would never leap from the lounge floor without a plan. She was testing whether Tinno could properly catch her on the way down. She was, without question, a demon.
If Tinno had the luxury, he would have sobbed. But he had no luxury to spare, so he desperately forced air into his lungs and willed his nearly stopped heart to beat.
The carpet soared effortlessly into the sky, but there was no sense of security. Dangling in the air, the Master called up to him from below. Her usually reliable, composed expression was—at this moment—slightly infuriating.
"Tinno, are you all right? Am I not too heavy?"
"Huh? What are you saying? There's no way you'd be heavy at this level, Mastaa!!"
"Huh... ah... yeah, yeah, that's right."
Tinno had been trained by his big sister. Even with ten more people like the Master, he could handle it. So please, no more trials, Mastaa...
The carpet flew through the sky at high speed. Unfortunately, there was no room for him to ride on top. That was fine—as long as it meant escaping from that thing.
People in the city stared up with fascination at Tinno and the Master, dangling and hurtling through the air. They should be evacuating rather than gawking, Tinno thought.
The hatred shown by that curse was beyond ordinary levels. Even Tinno, who had absorbed Mana Material, was no match for it—ordinary citizens would be crushed like ants. But there was nothing he could do. All Tinno could do now was believe that the Master was not that kind of person.
Mastaa exhaled in relief—or so it seemed—and spoke in her usual unhurried manner.
"Ask the Luminous Spirit Church. As soon as possible."
......As soon as possible, please do something about that thing, Mastaa...... Actually, can something even be done about it!? It can be done, right!?
At any rate, even at the Luminous Spirit Church, Tinno had his doubts about whether they could handle that...... If they could somehow deal with it, they would surely be Level 10.
Today was supposed to be a date with the Master, but it had turned into quite the ordeal. He missed the old days when going out together only ended with getting kidnapped by thieves.
"Did we shake them?"
The Master asked with a relaxed expression. Quite the composure for someone dangling in midair at high speed.
Actually, Mastaa... aren't you holding my hand? It feels like I'm the only one exerting any effort......
He swallowed the words that had almost escaped and looked far off toward the Clan House. Kahn's speed was remarkable—now only the spire of the Clan House was visible. Visible— "......S-She's transformed! She's following us, Mastaa!!"
"Huh!?"
Something with long limbs, black-furred, and ape-like was scaling the Clan House.
Judging by the spire, the full length was several dozen meters. Its blazingly bright eyes showed not the slightest interest in the panicking citizens—they were locked intently on Tinno and the others, dangling from the carpet at high speed.
No—not on Tinno and the others. Tinno didn't feel the gaze.
What it was watching—was the Master alone. Come to think of it, even back in the Clan Master's room, it had attacked only the Master.
Could it be that its target was Mastaa......? Tinno would have been left there unharmed—no, no, no!
He shook his head furiously and recovered his faith.
The Master was being attacked because of the ring Tinno had given her. The Master claimed everything was going according to plan, but even if it was, Tinno had still been the catalyst. He felt like throwing up, Mastaa......
"Transformed!? Why!?"
"I just... something just came over me, Mastaa......"
"A demon!? A demon tempts you into transforming!?"
Indeed, Tinno himself had once put on a mask when something came over him and transformed...... No, no, that wasn't the same thing at all.
When he looked back, the giant ape was leaping from rooftop to rooftop, closing in fast. Using the Imperial Capital's cityscape as footholds, it was approaching at tremendous speed. Perhaps it wasn't as heavy as it appeared—the buildings it landed on showed no signs of collapse.
Screams from citizens who noticed the monster surging through the rooftops came in waves. But as long as it was using rooftops as its path, there shouldn't be a risk of anyone being crushed. The only problem was that it showed no signs of letting Tinno and the others go.
Intense hatred burned in its eyes. The killing intent in the smoke that had erupted from that box had seemed dispersed over a wide area—but now it was as though all of it had been concentrated.
He hurriedly made a request to Kahn.
"Fly faster, Kahn! To the Luminous Spirit Church!"
"Tinno, Kahn doesn't listen to what people say—"
Kahn's speed accelerated even further, as if it had become the wind itself. If only he could ride Kahn with the Master to sightsee the Imperial Capital—it would have been wonderful.
But the ape was even faster. By his estimation, the distance was gradually shrinking.
The gap in fundamental ability was too great. He could only be grateful it wasn't flying after them.
He wanted to launch a long-range counterattack or anything to slow it down, but Tinno had no means of ranged attack. He urgently appealed to the Master.
"No good, Mastaa! Even if we go faster, she'll catch up!"
"Th-that's...... b-but, it'll be fine."
The Master seemed somewhat deflated for some reason, but when she raised her face, she wore a smile that could make you forget the desperate situation—or, to put it less charitably, one that only made Tinno more anxious.
"We've already arrived at the Luminous Spirit Church. Everything is going according to my plan. The rest...... Anthem will handle it!"
Th-that's not really what you'd call a plan—— A...... Brother Anthem...... please do your best.
As the Master said, the building of the Luminous Spirit Church came into view. The massive gate, reportedly built to match Brother Anthem's stature, and white marble walls that evoked a fortress.
The Luminous Spirit Church was a specialist in healing, but also a specialist in cursed artifacts. From what he had heard, most churches were built as sturdy structures. Especially large churches, which housed numerous dangerous cursed items that had been brought to them—their security was said to rival that of a real castle.
The Luminous Spirit Church priests who happened to be standing in front of the church stared wide-eyed at Tinno approaching on the carpet, and their faces drained of color when they saw the ape—clearly a product of a curse—chasing after them.
In a panic, several Holy Knights stationed there rushed outside. Their movements were swift, but against that curse, they seemed woefully inadequate.
After all, even cannon fire probably wouldn't cause it any damage.
And then, from the gate, Brother Anthem emerged without his armor. The Master waved vigorously while still dangling.
"Anthem, the rest is up to you!"
It was then that Tinno, for the first time, saw Brother Anthem's usually composed expression flicker.
The ape closed the distance to within ten meters—the gap between them—and made a massive leap. Kahn shot upward, gliding over the wall and into the church courtyard.
They swept past "Marin's Wail," which, as he had heard, was awaiting purification.
And then, the black ape's massive arm, swung downward with devastating force, shattered the wall they had just crossed as if it were nothing.