May 14, 2020

  Waldo is about to take a step forward, but he begins to notice another presence getting closer. He stops in his tracks, focuses, and realizes it’s just Mara. He sighs, a bit disappointed with her timing and how long it took for her to arrive. Waldo turns around, and sure enough, he sees Mara in the distance with the repaired wagon in tow. She seems to be using her cursed technique to help herself tow the wagon faster. At least that is a plus side. The man also seems to notice Mara coming in. He squints his eyes a bit, not entirely sure why there is a child heading this way.

  “Do you know that child coming this way?”

  “Of course I do. She travels with me, and I hone her skills, so she gets strong due to the fact that we have a similar goal in mind. She’s the only human that I haven’t eaten.”

  “So, the child is your student.”

  “Tch, I suppose you can call her that. I wouldn’t go that far, though.”

  “A curse taking care of a human. That’s something you wouldn’t see every day.”

  “It’s a giant hassle. Dealing with her shenanigans can be irritating but I make sure to discipline accordingly.”

  “Discipline…?”

  When Mara gets closer into view, the man sees something peculiar about the girl’s face. She only has one eye, and the eye that was lost looked like it was forcibly removed or destroyed. She has a few bruises around her body as well. The most notable part about all this, however, is that she is very young. All of this has happened to her while she looks like she’s only 6 years old. As he’s looking at all of these details, very uncomfortable thoughts spiral through his head for a short while. This curse in front of him must have been the cause of it. The man looks back at Waldo with a slightly harsher glare.

  “You… you did that to the child?”

  “Do what? Gouge out her eye? Of course I did. She tried to escape from me one day and I had to put her in her place. What’s so wrong with reminding a human that they cannot defy me?”

  Waldo chuckles as he recollects the memory. It was quite brilliant, and Mara never dared to defy him ever again. Mara didn’t even think about escaping again after that incident. He laughs a little bit more, remembering the harsh screams of Mara. Suddenly, his laughter is cut short as he feels something emanating from the man. He stands there in a bit of a menacing manner. Waldo smiles, realizing that he probably just ticked the man off.

  “You’re sicker than I first thought… it would be wrong to let you leave here.”

  “Haha, you’re finally coming out of your shell! Did I strike a nerve? Frankly, I don’t apologize for my actions. It’s simply who I am.”

  Waldo takes a step forward with a grin on his face. Suddenly, he lunges forward and throws a punch. The man sees this punch coming and blocks it with his forearms. Waldo’s eye widen at the man’s sturdiness.

  (He’s tough… very tough. Much tougher than any of those pathetic humans I’ve encountered before. This is like hitting a wall. I can tell he has a lot of experience in combat. I didn’t even hold back as much either, and he still took that well.)

  Waldo’s smile grows even larger as he begins to exert more power.

  “It seems I’ve underestimated you, human! You’re not so run down that you can’t keep up with me. Excellent indeed, but can you continue to match this?”

  Waldo decides to hold back no longer, cranking up his speed to as much as he can muster. His next attack lands on the man cleanly on his chest. Waldo doesn’t allow him any room for recovery and throws another punch at the man’s face. The man sees the attack coming, but his body isn’t fast enough to counter. Because of this, Waldo’s attacks continue to hit their mark. Waldo jumps up into the air and drops down in a drop-kicking stance. This time, the man gets out of the way just in time. Waldo’s foot makes contact with the ground, and it causes a crater to form and chunks of earth to fly out. He quickly turns to the man again and speeds over towards him. Meanwhile, Mara arrives at the scene to see Waldo and the man fighting. She only felt their presence, but she can clearly see the effects of them fighting. She takes several deep breaths, soothing her muscles to help recover from her intense running. She watches as Waldo and the man go head-to-head with each other. Waldo is putting on a lot of the pressure, overwhelming the man with several attacks. He seems to be even faster and stronger than when her father came and crashed down. How is that even possible? And this person that Waldo is fighting… is very different. They don’t have the same intensity or aura as a regular jujutsu sorcerer, and they’re definitely not a cursed spirit like Waldo.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  (This must be who killed all of those people back there! Waldo found him! But why are they fighting?)

  Mara shakes her head, realizing it’s not really smart to question why Waldo is fighting. He fights all of the time for seemingly no reason after all. Suddenly, Waldo lands a spinning midair kick and jumps back several meters.

  “It’s impressive that you’ve held on for this long! If you were only just a bit stronger, this could have been a lot more fun! But your life… ends here!”

  Waldo then proceeds to dash forward, kicking up a storm of dust and dirt. He appears by the man’s side, the both of them staring each other down. Then, the man’s head is sliced clean off his shoulders. Mara gasps, watching the brutal finish in front of her eyes. The man’s head rolls away, and Waldo smirks. For some reason, however, there’s something not quite right about all of this.

  (But wait… his body is still standing on its feet?)

  Waldo looks at the still standing body with mild confusion in his expression. He jumps back, questioning if the battle is over or not. The body twitches, and Waldo hears a voice coming from the severed head.

  “I see. So, this is how it is then. I’ll have to really pay attention.”

  Waldo continues to stare at the man’s standing body. Mara’s eyes widen seeing the man’s body still standing on its legs. If he isn’t a cursed spirit, then how is he capable of that? Waldo’s flaring eye suddenly turns into a violent glare at the sight of such a spectacle. Never before has Waldo thought that he would ever witness a human stay alive after decapitation. Uncontrollably, his face begins to morph, and he clutches his eye with one hand. His mouth begins to crawl towards the ends of his face, transforming into an ecstatic and overly emotional broad grin. Waldo can feel his hand tremble from the intense stimulation as he watches the man’s body walk over to the head and put it back on. The connection between the head and the shoulders is healed, and the man stares back at Waldo.

  “You… ha… HAHA! Heh… you’re not a human… there’s no way in hell! You must be some kind of mutant… some kind of super soldier! TELL ME…! What are you? What kind of a powerful being was brought into my presence?”

  “…I’m not even sure. I’ve evolved into something beyond myself.”

  The man mutters something that Waldo can’t hear. But Waldo was too focused on everything else that was happening. Before the man finishes speaking, Waldo lunges into the air. He clenches his fist while maniacally cackling. He comes down and throws his punch. A cloud of dust and dirt envelopes and Mara covers her eyes. When the dust clears away, Mara opens her eyes again and looks back up. Instead of seeing what she expected, she sees the man grabbing Waldo’s fist right before it hits him. Waldo is surprised.

  (He was getting relentlessly beat down just a moment ago and yet… he caught my fist! How is th-)

  Waldo’s thoughts are suddenly interrupted as the man throws a counterattack. Waldo barely manages to react in time to block the counterattack. The man’s power has suddenly increased and it’s a very large change. He was not able to move like that before. Waldo quickly reacts and throws another attack, launching a kick this time. The man isn’t able to dodge this attack, but they are much more resilient to the attack than before. Waldo continues to throw attack after attack, not letting down for a single second. While he’s doing this, his monstrous smile continues to shine and grow the more he’s getting pumped up. Only after a few attacks, however, does the man fully adapt to Waldo’s attack pattern and land a clean, devastating punch on his chest. Waldo reels back and then is suddenly crushed into the ground. Waldo’s eye flares as he sees the man looking down at him.

  “You say that you are war? Then you’ve met your match, for I am chaos, the fuel of conflicts.”

  The man also begins to smile. He chuckles to himself as Waldo jumps out of the crater.

  “I am not justice. I have no clue as to how that idea came into your head, but I’ll make you realize I am not that. I am the darkness that lies in the light. I am the inevitable fate of all evil. I am the fuel for chaos! I… am… Iravin!”

  The two beings come to a stare down. Waldo’s head begins to regenerate, fixing the wound very quickly. Waldo’s eye continues to flare violently, as this new stimulus is causing his senses to go into overdrive. His grin reaches every corner of his face.

  “Iravin… So that's your name. A fitting name for a warrior like yourself! You say you’re chaos? Then, what a pleasure it is to meet you! This is such a brilliant coincidence!”

  “I can’t lie; I sort of agree with you. Other people who I attacked fell quickly. You’re the only one still standing.”

  “Why, of course I am! After all, I’m the War Spirit!”

  Waldo suddenly launches into the air using a shockwave. This boost gives him a sudden surge of speed and power that allows him to strike Iravin once again. Iravin only staggers slightly, not letting his guard down. He continues to watch as Waldo throws more and more attacks with the support of his shockwaves. Waldo suddenly jumps into the air, compresses several shockwaves in his hands, and fires them back down. The shockwaves split into several different ones, increasing in number and crashing down. Iravin's forearms turn into massive shields, and he blocks all of the shockwaves. He looks back up at Waldo.

  (That cursed technique must have to deal with shockwaves. It looks like he can fire them almost endlessly and move them around as he wants.)

  Waldo flips his body in the air, aiming towards Iravin, and launches himself in that direction using shockwaves. One of Iravin’s shields turns into a whip and he swiftly lashes it at Waldo. Waldo narrowly dodges the whip, getting a small cut on his cheek. Iravin swings his arm around again, and Waldo is suddenly caught by the whip that’s now a rope. Waldo is instantly reeled in by Iravin. Iravin’s other fist begins to form a bunch of biomass, turning into a large hammer fist. As Waldo gets within range, Iravin throws the hammer fist and lands it straight on Waldo’s face. However, Waldo manages to blunt a bit of the force by using a shockwave as an oppressive force. The shockwave and the hammer fist are now in a tight clash. Waldo grits his teeth and grabs onto the rope that holds him.

  “I’m not done yet! No matter what kind of challenge I’m faced with, I will never back down! Be it a god, a super soldier, or the strongest sorcerer in the world, I will never cower before a fight! Doing so will be abandoning all I am meant for! Being the War Spirit is not just about seeking out a battle! It’s about overcoming anything in your path and destroying it with all of your might!”

  The shockwave then redirects Iravin’s hammer fist away. Waldo frees himself from the binds of the rope and kicks Iravin away. All of this pride, all of this desire for a battle, this burning flame inside of Waldo is causing his attacks to become more refined and release even more output than before.

  “Well then, chaos, I accept your challenge! Face me, Iravin! I am Waldo, the one and only War Spirit! We will settle things here and now!”

  “Fine by me, Waldo! We’ll both continue to reach new heights!”