In a ruined village surrounded by snow, Haruma walked slowly, dragging a heavy bag filled with dried curses. Despite the bitter cold, he was sweating, and his tired eyes reflected a harsh life that had known no rest.
"My whole life is just a frozen hell..." he muttered, his voice barely audible over the wind.
He looked down at the bag he held in his frozen hand. "These disgusting curses are the only thing keeping me alive."
Passing past the ruins of an abandoned village, harsh memories flooded his mind—scenes of screaming children, curses mercilessly devouring humans, his father lying motionless, while he, the little boy, hid beneath his corpse, trembling with fear.
"If I hadn't been so weak back then... If I had been stronger, maybe I could have saved them..."
He finally arrived at an old wooden hut where dried curses were sold. He pushed open the rickety door, and was confronted by an old man sitting behind a dusty table.
"Huh? A new curse? I'll give you 100 coins," the old man yawned.
Haruma's face darkened. "Nonsense! These are worth at least 300!"
The old man snorted. "Either you take them or you go freeze outside."
Haruma sighed, then grabbed the money and left angrily.
He returned to his small hut, placed the money on the table, and sat down on the floor, eating a piece of dry bread and a glass of cold water.
"It's not fair... I work like a dog, barely surviving..."
He looked down at his hands, cracked from the cold and the harsh work. "If only I were stronger," he whispered to himself. "If only I were like the great hunters... But that's a ridiculous dream, isn't it?"
He stared out the window at the calmly falling snow, but a bad feeling began to creep up inside him.
Then came the knocking. Violent.
Haruma jumped, his muscles tensing.
"Who's there this time?"
He opened the door to find a tall man, wearing a black coat, his sharp eyes reflecting a cold stare.
"I heard you're good at collecting dried curses. I have a job for you."
Haruma looked at him suspiciously. "I don't have time for deception. If you're going to ask me to kill a curse, the price starts at five hundred pieces."
The mysterious man smiled. "Not killing... but discovering treasure."
Haruma's eyes widened slightly. "Treasure?"
The man took out an old map and placed it in front of him. It had a clear X in a distant snowy area.
"There's an ancient curse buried here. Dried it out, brought it to me... and you'll get the money you've always dreamed of."
Haruma felt threatened, but he couldn't refuse the tempting offer. "Fine... but I want a thousand pieces."
The mysterious man smiled. "Deal."
Then he added in a mysterious tone, "But bring some of your friends with you if you have any."
Haruma hesitated a little, but thought of his friends. He rushed over excitedly, explaining the offer to them.
After some hesitation, they agreed.
They set off toward the designated location, where the ground seemed covered in scattered skulls and bones. The place was ominous.
One of the friends stopped, his voice trembling. "This isn't normal... Let's turn back."
But Haruma's eyes caught something shining amidst the bones.
He approached slowly, and saw that it was a Dangerous-grade Dried Curse.
"Don't touch it!" one of his friends shouted. "Leave it!"
But suddenly, shadows moved.
Tall figures appeared with strange expressions, their eyes blank and cold.
Before anyone could process the situation, one of Haruma's friends was killed in a flash.
"Haruma, run away from here!" the other friend shouted, activating his technique.
But Haruma froze.
One of the attackers ran toward him, thrusting a spear into his chest.
He felt excruciating pain, staggered, and then began to struggle, blood dripping onto the snow.
The leader of the attacking group watched silently, then gestured, "Leave him... He could die alone."
Haruma staggered, struggling through the snow, blood gushing out profusely, the cold gnawing at his body. His breathing was heavy, and his vision blurred. But he continued, driven by something he didn't understand—perhaps fear, perhaps anger.
After a distance he couldn't even estimate, the snow gradually thinned, and a deep valley appeared before him, shrouded in a thick gray mist. The place was eerie, unlike anything he'd seen before. Broken statues littered the ground, some of them seemingly moving in the darkness.
"What is this place...?" he muttered weakly, before his legs gave way and he fell to his knees.
But before he could fully lose consciousness, the ground shook beneath him. The rocky walls of the valley cracked, and one of the massive prisons in its center exploded, pulsing into ash.
Boom!
A thick cloud of dust drifted in all directions, and the screams of prisoners echoed. They emerged from their cages, their eyes flashing madly. Some fell instantly, their bodies decaying from time, but others were strong, laughing as if they had been revived after centuries of torment.
From the scattered ash, a single figure slowly emerged.
A tall man, his body thin but imposing, his long black hair cascading over his shoulders, and his eyes the color of blood. He smiled a terrifying smile, then said in a cold voice,
"Finally... free."
That was Raizen.
In a flash, he disappeared from his spot, reappearing before Haruma. The latter couldn't even react before Raizen's hand sank into his chest, leaving a strange black mark.
"I'll give you a gift, little one," Raizen whispered. "The Eyes of Ruin... they will be your curse and theirs."
Haruma felt indescribable pain. Fire raged inside his body, as if something was trying to tear him apart from the inside. Before he could even scream, Raizen vanished into thin air, as if his existence had been nothing more than a fleeting nightmare.
But it wasn't over yet.
"Damn it... you're too late."
It was someone else's voice. Haruma turned around with difficulty, seeing a young man standing at the edge of the canyon. His hair was short and messy, his eyes sharp, and he was wearing a long black cloak.
But before he could say anything else, one of the freed prisoners rushed towards them at a brutal speed. He was huge, his skin pockmarked with scars, and his eyes blazed with madness.
"I'll kill you both!"
The aide tried to stop him, but the prisoner was stronger than he looked. In an instant, Haruma received a violent blow, severely injuring him, and fell to the ground, his body trembling with pain.
"Haruma!" the aide shouted, but the prisoner was quick.
Haruma felt his life crumble before his eyes. There was no escape, no way out. But at that moment, he remembered the dried curse he had carried with him at all times.
With a trembling hand, he took it out of his pocket and looked at it for a moment.
Then... he put it in his mouth and swallowed it.
In an instant, the space froze. The aide, the prisoner, and even the air itself—everything stopped for a moment. Then... a tremendous blast of black and red energy erupted from Haruma's body, as if it were tearing apart reality itself.
He raised his head, but it was no longer Haruma. His eyes had turned crimson, and his aura resembled something inhuman.
And before the prisoner could even attack again—
He died.
Haruma didn't even move. There was no fight. In an instant, the prisoner fell dead, his head exploding in the blink of an eye.
The lieutenant stood there, completely stunned. "W-No way... How?"
But it wasn't over. Haruma slowly turned around, looked at the lieutenant... then lunged at him with terrifying speed, as if he intended to kill him as well.
"Stop!"
At the last moment, another figure appeared, stopping Haruma's attack with absolute ease.
He was a tall man, dressed in black and blue, with silver hair and eyes hidden behind dark glasses. He smiled confidently, as if he wasn't surprised at all.
"Oh... Looks like things are getting interesting."