Many ancient countries in the world had the custom of burying people alive with their dead.
As a super-ancient kingdom, the Kakin Empire was naturally at the forefront of such practices.
In its distant past, it had a unique sacrificial tradition known as the 'Afterlife Companion'.
On the surface, the Afterlife Companion was meant to accompany the deceased princes to the underworld.
In reality, it was to prevent those princes who failed to become king from turning into vengeful spirits that could threaten the new king and the kingdom.
This was a means of control that extended even beyond death.
From this, it can also be seen that the super-ancient country kingdom great importance to 'maintaining national authority', which has led to the birth of many almost pathological practices.
Under the long-term influence of this 'ancient culture', both above and below the royal power, there is the practice of nurturing 'death warriors'.
And when 'death warriors' and Nen are combined, the Curse-Type Nen Abilities comes into being.
The Second Prince of Kakin Empire had a squad of death warriors whose sole purpose was to unleash curses.
After awakening their Nen, once they selected a target for their curse, they would carry the target's name, photo, clothing, or even body parts such as hair or skin flakes.
Then, all they had to do was grip a small knife and stare at the photo of their cursed target every day, gradually building an intense will to curse the target to death in their hearts.
When the time was ripe, before activating their ability, they would burn all the items related to the target into ashes, brew the ashes, and drink the mixture.
Since such Curse-Type abilities typically required 'death' as an activation condition, the most ideal method was for the caster to commit suicide right in front of the target.
In this way, the caster's Post-Mortem Curse would immediately attach itself to the target, draining their energy...
Forcing the target into a state of Zetsu, the overwhelming curse power accumulated day and night by the caster would then violently corrode the target's body and mind, killing them within a few hours.
This Curse-Type Nen Ability is called [Guide to the Underworld] and belongs to the 'Curse-Attachment' subtype among Curse-Type Abilities.
Judging by its effects, this Curse-Type Nen Ability had extremely strong targeting capabilities.
However, judging from the process of activating the ability, in order to truly exert the powerful Curse-Attachment effect, various extremely harsh conditions are required.
Though the existence of 'death warriors' greatly reduced the conditions for activating the ability, the 'time sensitivity' of the ability's activation was an unavoidable issue for Curse-Type abilities.
This was the biggest drawback of most Curse-Type abilities.
After all-
Vows and Limitations were fundamental to the entire Nen System.
No gain without sacrifice.
But there were always limits within a relatively reasonable scope.
If you sacrificed one dollar, you might gain returns worth one dollar and fifty cents, or two dollars.
You could even use 'death' as a price to gain four dollars in returns. But you absolutely couldn't get five dollars or more.
This was the principle of Vows and Limitations.
Therefore, the Curse-Type abilities, which could bypass 'combat' and 'defense' to deliver fatal effects, required such stringent conditions.
At the same time,
this was all they could achieve.
The death warrior cultivated by Nasubi, who had long dwelled in darkness and mutilated himself day after day, was also a Curse-Attachment Nen User.
His Curse Ability is called [Bridge of Pain], and it also couldn't escape the problem of 'time sensitivity'.
But he took a different approach, choosing to use self-inflicted suffering and torment to offset the limitation of 'time sensitivity'.
Therefore, he didn't need to pre-select a target, nor did he need to continuously accumulate curse power through willpower directed at a specific person.
What he did was replace the 'pre-selection of a target' with 'pre-infliction of pain'.
Living in perpetual darkness, endlessly harming himself…
Silently enduring all the pain...
In this way, he ceaselessly accumulated curse power in the form of suffering.
As a result, when he temporarily selected a target, he could unleash all the curse power he had stored over time.
Now-
Following Nasubi's orders, the death warrior selected Isaac Netero as the target of his curse.
An insane surge of curse power erupted in the dim candlelit chamber in an instant.
Under Nasubi's calm gaze, it condensed within the death warrior's shadow.
That shadow-
Expanded, twisted.
It seemed to struggle violently, as if trying to break free from the death warrior's control and become an independent entity.
However, no matter how much the shadow expanded or writhed, it could never separate from the death warrior's body.
Because 'form and shadow are inseparable' was an unbreakable rule.
Without a physical form, there could be no shadow.
"May Kakin prosper for eternity!"
For some reason, the death warrior, whose mouth was already a mangled mess of flesh, regained the ability to speak at this moment.
With a voice as shrill as a cicada's, he declared his supreme loyalty and honor in words saturated with unbearable agony.
Then-
His face, which was covered with new and old wounds to the point of being unrecognizable, slowly twisted into a frenzied expression.
Squelch!
He suddenly thrust his hand into his own chest, then without hesitation, he exerted force to pull out his heart.
This act of self-mutilation, which is paid for with his life, was witnessed by Nasubi.
However, this king, who had single-handedly reformed the Kakin Empire, remained expressionless.
As if such an extreme act was nothing out of the ordinary.
Under Nasubi's calm gaze, the death warrior, who was casting the 'curse', used his last ounce of strength to shove the blood-drenched heart into his mouth.
A terrifying, unadulterated will manifested in that instant.
After a while,
The dead warrior embraced death.
And the shadow that had expanded behind him finally gained its freedom as it wished.
The shadow tore free from the death warrior's corpse, slithering like a pool of black sludge through the ventilation gaps in the chamber before vanishing.
Nasubi's gaze shifted away from the horrific corpse of the death warrior and watched the 'Filth Shadow Entity' leave.
"Go. Clear the obstacles in Kakin Empire's path."
Watching the direction in which the Filth Shadow Entity had disappeared, Nasubi murmured softly in the darkness.