CHAPTER 10: THE WEIGHT OF A SOUL
The screeching of metal against metal was deafening as the Curse User's spiked lance continued to grind against Dawn's shield. The passengers behind Dawn were frozen in terror, their breath hitching as sparks of blue and black lightning danced inches from their faces.
Dawn looked back over his shoulder, his expression remarkably calm despite the monster inches away. "Excuse me... everyone," he said, his voice cutting through the roar of the battle. "Could you please move back to the far end of the carriage? I'm going to need a bit more space if I'm going to clean this up."
The passengers didn't need to be told twice. "Thank you! Thank you so much!" they cried out, scrambling over seats and luggage to put as much distance between themselves and the spiked horror as possible.
"Yes, that's better," Dawn muttered, then raised his voice so the retreating crowd could hear him. "Also, you don't need to worry about the men I took down earlier. They won't be getting up anytime soon. Just focus on staying low." He even offered a small, reassuring smile, a strange sight in the middle of a life-or-death struggle.
"AHAHA!" The Curse User laughed, the sound vibrating through his spiked chest. "You're still worried about the cattle? You must be incredibly confident in your skills, kid. Or maybe you're just delusional."
Dawn turned his gaze back to the monster, his smirk returning this time, it was sharper, colder. "Oh, I'm not getting distracted, if that's what you mean. It's just that you're a bit too weak for me to be truly worried."
"Me? Weak?" The Curse User's single red eye flared with murderous intent. "You damn Sorcerer! I'll show you what 'weak' feels like!"
The shockwave of the monster's pressure intensified, the dark energy orbing around him like a black sun. "But aren't you going a bit too far for them? Putting yourself in a corner just to keep them safe? Tell me, how long can you actually keep that shield up against a Maximum technique?"
Dawn sighed, a sound of genuine boredom. "Honestly? You can just shut up now. I really didn't want to use any more Jinx energy today it's such a hassle to keep it balanced but it looks like you need to be taught exactly who you're going up against."
The air in the carriage suddenly changed.
It wasn't a sudden burst of wind; it was a heavy, crushing gravity. The Jinx energy radiating from Dawn began to climb, the blue light turning a deeper, more royal shade of violet.
"What... what is this?" The Curse User's spikes rattled against one another. "His energy is increasing? No... it's skyrocketing. How can a kid like him possess this much raw power? It's not just Jinx energy... it feels like his very soul is expanding!"
"Let's hurry up and end this," Dawn said. He didn't move a muscle, but his intent shifted. "Explosion."
The blue shield, which had been purely defensive until now, suddenly detonated outward. It wasn't a messy blast; it was a controlled, directional shockwave. The Curse User was hurled backward as if he'd been hit by a freight train. He snarled, digging his spiked claws into the metal floorboards, tearing long, jagged grooves into the steel as he fought to stabilize himself.
Sweat began to drop from the Curse User's face, sizzling as it hit his own dark aura. Wait... am I sweating? he thought, his heart hammering in a way he hadn't felt in years. Am I... getting scared? Scared of a brat?
He looked at Dawn, who stood perfectly still, his hands in his pockets.
"Don't make me laugh!" the monster roared, trying to drown out his own fear. "Do you have any idea what I had to do to gain this power? The things I had to sacrifice? The people I had to devour?"
He crouched low, his spikes glowing a sickly crimson. "I am not about to let everything go down the drain because of some shitty, self-righteous Sorcerer! I am the one who wins! I am the one who survives! I'll kill you and everyone else on this damn train!"
The Curse User launched himself forward, a living missile of obsidian thorns and hatred, aimed straight for Dawn's throat.
Dawn didn't flinch. He didn't even raise his arms. "I'm sorry to tell you this," he said, his voice echoing with a strange, double-toned quality as if two people were speaking at once. "But that power was never meant for someone like you. It's an aberration. Something that shouldn't even exist in the first place."
As the monster closed the gap, Dawn whispered four words.
"Jinx Manipulation - Minimum: Explosion Wave."
"What—?" The Curse User paused mid-air. He looked down and realized that dozens of tiny, flickering blue orbs had appeared around him during the previous blast. They were floating like silent fireflies, surrounding him in a perfect sphere. When did he... I didn't even see him attack!
"Oh, shit—"
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
A chain reaction of precise, high-potency explosions detonated all at once. The "Minimum" rank was a lie the concentration of the energy was so dense that it bypassed the monster's spiked armor entirely, vibrating through his internal organs.
The Curse User was slammed into the ceiling, then the floor, then the walls, tossed around by the overlapping blast waves like a rag in a hurricane. His spikes shattered. His dark aura evaporated.
He fell to the floor, his body reverting back to its human form, broken and bleeding. He looked up, his vision fading, and saw Dawn standing over him. For the first time, he noticed the long case the boy carried. Through the gaps in the canvas, he saw a glimpse of a hilt a sword.
A sword...? the man thought, a bitter, dying laugh escaping his throat. He had a weapon the whole time... and he didn't even need to use it. I wasn't even worth the effort of drawing his blade.
"I lose this one..." the Curse User whispered, his head hitting the floor.
Dawn stood over the defeated villain for a moment, the violet light in his eyes slowly fading back to black. He looked at the ruined carriage, the unconscious hijackers, and the terrified passengers.
The "King of Souls" inside him went quiet, satisfied for now.
"Now," Dawn said, turning toward the front of the train. "I believe I still have a ticket to the Northern District."