* * *
This entire bet was a trap set by the black mass.
It was just an excuse to test whether he truly believed in Sean and his abilities.
More than that, it was likely meant to force Raizen to confront the problem he had been deliberately turning a blind eye to.
Do you trust Sean?
If someone asked Raizen, the boy would answer.
No.
But what if the question were changed?
Do you believe that Sean will come looking for you?
That was the essence of the bet proposed by the black mass.
Yet, it subtly distorted the core issue. It made him consider the very act of trusting Sean.
‘Sean is…’
After a moment of contemplation, Raizen came to a conclusion.
[You’re not seriously thinking of backing out, are you?]
Urged on by the black mass, Raizen crossed his arms.
Pressing his lips together as if deep in thought, he let out a dry chuckle.
“Is there any way for me to get out of here besides this bet?”
[Nooope!]
The voice was so lighthearted it was almost playful—so much so that it was impossible to take seriously.
Raizen gave a small nod and looked down at one of his hands.
A fireball materialized in his empty palm.
Without hesitation, he launched multiple fireballs at the walls of the room.
Kwaaang!!
With a deafening roar, thick black smoke filled the space.
But it lasted only for a moment.
The air rippled, and in an instant, the smoke vanished, the scene returning to its original state.
[Hehehe! You really don’t trust me at all, do you?! You can’t! You won’t!]
At first, the black mass spoke playfully, but in an instant, its voice turned sharp and irritable.
[Poor Raizen! Worthless Raizen! You will never, ever be saved—]
“Do it.”
At those curt words, the black mass abruptly fell silent.
[Hmm?]
Raizen furrowed his brow in irritation.
“I said, let’s do it. That damn bet.”
Do I trust Sean?
Not a chance.
Raizen doesn’t trust anyone—not even himself.
But Sean will come for him.
Because if he wants to break this curse, he has no choice but to find the one carrying it.
∗ ∗ ∗
“It’s a curse. It has to be a curse!! Ahh, Sinoa, why have you burdened us with such a trial?”
“G-Grandmother?”
‘Wow…’
This is seriously fucked up.
Suppressing his rising irritation, I forced myself to look away.
I shut my eyes tightly and focused solely on moving my power.
My power, which had always flowed in a single direction, now spread throughout the entire space. And then…
“How dare you speak my name with that filthy mouth! You wretched demon! Leave my grandson’s body at once!!”
Oh, for fuck’s sake!
I whirled around.
There stood a young Raizen and the former Duchess—his grandmother.
She was utterly insane, no doubt about it.
With bloodshot eyes, she glared at her grandson as if he were her mortal enemy.
Her voice rang vividly in my ears, but everything I saw was slightly faded, like an old film reel.
‘And they can’t perceive me.’
It was as if I had become an invisible observer, stepping inside a scene from a movie.
But unfortunately, this was no film.
This was real.
It had actually happened. It was just… in the past.
At some point, while walking through the darkness, dispersing it with my power, I had stumbled into this faded world.
The setting was undeniably the Ducal estate, but the faces of the servants I passed were all unfamiliar.
And no matter how many times I spoke to them, they didn’t react.
Then, the moment I saw the young Raizen, I knew.
This space was a manifestation of his past.
At first, I waited for the scene to play out.
But when it ended, the exact same scene repeated itself.
After watching it loop six times, I tried to leave—to move to a different space.
But no matter where I went or how I tried to escape, I always ended up back here.
‘What is this, a horror attraction?’
But staying in place forever wasn’t an option either.
The only power I had was holy energy, so I experimented with different methods and eventually found a way out.
By flooding the space with holy energy and moving in multiple directions at once, I could test where the energy would flow freely.
Most of it would be blocked, as if hitting a wall—but in one direction, it would move without resistance.
That was the exit.
‘The problem is that escaping this memory only leads to another one.’
And every single memory of Raizen’s past was miserable.
I wanted to get out of here—desperately.
“It’s a curse. It has to be a curse!! Ahh, Shinoashi, why have you burdened us with such a trial?”
Tuning out the repeated cries, I focused on moving my power again.
I let the holy energy spread through the space.
“…?”
Why are there two paths?
The energy split—one part flowing to the right, the other to the left.
“What the…?”
‘Are you kidding me?’
Whatever patience I had left was officially gone.
“Raizen!! Where the hell are you?!”
I swear, I’m going to die of stress trying to find you!
Just then, a loud crashing noise erupted nearby.
“…!”
Beyond the collapsed space, thick darkness pooled, swallowing the grand hall.
∗ ∗ ∗
[Oh dear, that kid is taking so long~?]
The black mass spoke in a smug voice, deliberately grating on Raizen’s nerves.
The boy didn’t even glance in its direction.
But on his otherwise blank face, there was a trace of lingering unease.
[Hehehe! I was right, wasn’t I? He’s not coming for you. Poor Raizen, abandoned again by someone he trusted!]
It would be a lie to say his heart didn’t sting a little at those words.
But Raizen wasn’t easily shaken.
He knew the black mass was exaggerating just to rattle him.
[Kihihihi…]
Even though Raizen didn’t react, the black mass let out a low, sinister laugh and began circling him.
[You think I’m exaggerating? That it’s not really betrayal?]
For a brief moment, Raizen’s expression flickered.
It was barely noticeable, but the black mass caught it.
[I know everything, Raizen. Even the things you don’t.]
“…”
[Aren’t you curious? Hmm? Don’t you want to know what I know?]
“…Don’t get cocky just because you guessed something right once.”
[Heh~ Raizen, you’re such a fool~]
Talking to it at all was a mistake.
A waste of breath. Raizen shut his eyes completely.
[Huuuuh…]
A dissatisfied hum echoed in his ears, followed by an eerie silence.
‘Now it’s trying to amplify my anxiety through silence.’
The black mass’s words had been an exaggeration, but that didn’t mean they were meaningless.
[Poor Raizen, abandoned again by someone he trusted!]
Betrayal.
The moment that word was spoken, it became impossible to think about anything else.
Like how your eyes instinctively follow when someone suddenly raises a hand.
That single word planted a seed, and the thoughts stemming from it spread like roots.
One led to another, and before long, it reached the belief he had been desperately holding onto.
Sean will come for me.
“…”
Sean… will he really?
Faith can be overturned in an instant.
‘I can’t let myself waver.’
Reizen clenched his molars tightly.
It wasn’t just because he refused to move as the black mass intended.
This space was created by the power of a curse.
In other words, he was essentially inside the belly of the curse itself.
If his emotions were to be shaken too violently, who knew what might happen?
As unpleasant as it was, the curse was a part of him.
The only silver lining was that, apart from running its mouth incessantly, it wasn’t doing anything else.
It was probably expending most of its strength just to maintain this space.
Given its nature, there was no way it would leave him alone like this otherwise.
Reizen shifted his thoughts in a different direction.
He had been so focused on dispelling the curse that he had momentarily set aside the most fundamental question.
‘Not that I’ll get a proper answer anyway.’
Even so, he opened his mouth.
He had no choice.
This was the first time he had faced the curse with a clear mind, and the question of why had lingered within him for so long, almost like a form of resentment.
“Why… are you doing this to me?”
[Doing what~? I don’t know what you mean~?]
“…Tormenting me.”
[Torment?]
The black mass jumped as if it had been wrongfully accused.
Yet its voice was filled with malice.
[So you’re finally curious about me?]
A peculiar choice of words.
Could four years truly be expressed as finally?
Reizen got the feeling that it was referring to a period much longer than the four years he knew, but he had no chance to press further.
‘…!! …Now!! …Di… is…!!’
Somewhere, a voice was calling for him.
Reizen’s head snapped toward the sound.
Narrowing his eyes, he fixed his gaze in that direction and began striding forward without hesitation. T
he closer he got to the source, the more the space around him crumbled.
Beyond the collapsing boundary, there was nothing but pitch-black darkness, devoid of even a single speck of light.
[H-Hiiik! F-Fake, fake! There’s nothing!! Nothing at all!!]
Behind him, the black mass let out strangled cries, barely managing to spit out fragmented words as if something were squeezing its throat.
That reaction alone was proof.
Proof that Sean was coming.
Wait.
Reizen halted.
‘Could this be a trick?’
The wariness he had honed over the years reared its head.
* * *
