“Fine. I didn’t want to get too rough, but…”
“You’ve already been plenty rough when you stabbed his leg.”
Ignoring Jack’s comment, Owen placed his hand on Jack’s shoulder. Suddenly, Jack’s body began to glow, and a blinding light enveloped the area.
“……What is this?”
Rourke, shielding his eyes from the intense brightness, saw that Jack’s figure had disappeared. In his place stood Owen, now wielding a massive scythe with a pumpkin-shaped hilt and a dull, sharp blade.
“Spirit Armament Transformation. I thought I’d shown you this before, but I guess you forgot, huh?”
Spirit Armament Transformation is an advanced technique used by a select few spirit users, allowing them to turn their contracted spirits into weapons and wield powers beyond the spirit’s original capabilities.
“Honestly, I didn’t want to use this because it’s dangerous…”
Owen muttered as he gripped the scythe’s hilt with both hands and slowly twisted his upper body.
A creepy laugh echoed from the pumpkin-shaped hilt, and at the same time, purple flames ignited along the blade of the spirit armament.
“!!”
A chill ran down Rourke’s spine as an image of his head being severed from his body flashed through his mind.
He was going to die. If he didn’t do something, he would undoubtedly die.
Sweating profusely, Rourke instinctively crouched low.
Immediately after, purple embers scattered above his head, and all the surrounding trees were cut down at a certain height, transforming the area into what looked like a logging site.
“Oops, I overdid it.”
“You’re still terrible at holding back.”
Owen, who hadn’t used the spirit armament in a while, had lost his sense of restraint.
As Owen clutched his head, looking at the fallen trees, the pumpkin-headed spirit, Jack, laughed gleefully.
“Shut up.”
“Guh!?”
Owen slammed the hilt into the ground, punishing the spirit for mocking him. Now in his spirit armament form, Jack couldn’t resist and was at Owen’s mercy.
“Seriously……Huh?”
While Owen was preoccupied with disciplining Jack, Rourke seized the opportunity to cast a spirit technique, applying immense pressure to Owen’s entire body.
However, Owen swung his scythe with ease, as if the technique had no effect, leaving Rourke utterly astonished.
“You monster……”
“That’s harsh.”
Owen gave a bitter smile at his disciple’s sharp words. Suddenly, the fallen trees and rocks around them began to float and hurtle toward Owen at high speed.
“Controlling this is tricky. Don’t make me swing it too much.”
Facing the overwhelming number of objects coming at him from all directions, Owen muttered in annoyance as he ignited the spirit armament with purple flames once more and swung it horizontally. In a single strike, all the purple flames engulfing the incoming objects were extinguished, and the residual flames surged toward Rourke.
“Guh!”
Rourke quickly raised the ground to form a makeshift wall, successfully blocking the flames, but he couldn’t help but feel terrified at the searing pain on his skin.
“Good, good. You defended yourself well.”
“Don’t mock me!!”
Rourke glared fiercely at Owen, who was about to unleash another technique while holding back. But then, Owen seemed to notice something and relaxed his stance.
“……What’s the meaning of this?”
“Time’s up. Unfortunately, the fight ends here.”
As if declaring the end of the battle, Owen’s fighting spirit vanished completely, leaving Rourke with a puzzled expression.
“What are you—“
“We’ll talk more after you wake up.”
Before Rourke could finish, Owen muttered something,
and at that moment, thunder roared as a bolt of lightning struck Rourke from above, piercing his body.
“……Gah!?”
The shock of the lightning coursing through his body knocked Rourke unconscious, and he collapsed to the ground, smoke rising from his body.
“Good grief.”
Owen sighed in exhaustion as a strange bird with two pairs of blue wings landed beside him.
“Well done. That was just the right amount of force.”
Owen praised the second contracted spirit he had summoned amidst Jack’s purple flames—Thunderbird.
“……Huh? Where is this?”
When Rourke came to his senses, he noticed that the surroundings had changed from a forest to complete darkness.
Just moments ago, he had been in the forest of Judeca, setting up a barrier to attempt a contract with a evil spirit. But now, he had no idea what was going on.
“Master? Gareth? Where is everyone…?”
The evil spirit that had been in front of him, the master and Gareth who had been watching over him, and the spirits that had set up the barrier—all of them were gone.
Where had they gone?
“……Wait, where am I even?”
As he pondered the mystery of this space, Rourke tried to recall his memories.
He remembered that he had been trying to form a contract with the evil spirit, and then some incomprehensible words had flooded his mind, sending him into a panic…
[You shouldn’t make a contract with something like that.]
“……Huh? Who’s there?”
Hearing a voice from behind, Rourke turned around to see someone standing in the darkness. Their face was hidden in the shadows, but based on the voice and silhouette, it seemed to be a girl.
[That thing isn’t worthy of you.]
“What are you talking about……Wait, who are you?”
She spoke as if she knew him, but Rourke had no recollection of her.
……Or did he?
For some reason, he felt a sense of déjà vu, as if he should know her.
“Have we met before?”
[……!]
“Hmm……No, I can’t remember.”
He felt like he had met her before, but his memories were clouded, and he couldn’t recall.
[…………]
The girl seemed to radiate a sense of dissatisfaction. It seemed he had unintentionally upset her.
[……Sigh, I guess it can’t be helped.]
“……Sorry, I guess.”
[Well, it’s fine. I messed up this time too, so I’ll let it slide.]
“Messed up? What do you mean?”
Ignoring his question, the girl flapped her wings, which seemed to sprout from her back, and slowly approached him.
When she finally stood in front of him, she smiled and pointed at him.
[But don’t go getting distracted and neglecting your cute family, okay?]
“……Huh? What are you talking about—-“
[Well then, see you later. ■■■■■]
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.PAGES.DEV
As Rourke opened his eyes, he felt a warm, rough sensation on his face. Before him was the face of a giant wolf spirit, Beowulf, sticking out its tongue.
“Hahaha.”
“Whoa! Beowulf!?”
“It seems you’ve come back to your senses.”
Hearing a voice from behind, Rourke turned to see Jack-o’-Lantern, the pumpkin-headed spirit, holding a lantern.
“Jack?”
“Long time no see, Rourke.”
“Why are you here—Ow!?”
As Rourke was confused by the appearance of his master’s contracted spirit, a sharp pain shot through his body, causing him to grimace. Looking down, he saw that he was covered in wounds, and his right ankle was wrapped in blood-soaked bandages.
“Huh? Why am I so injured?”
“You went berserk, Rourke.”
Gareth, who was sitting on the ground, answered his question.
“I went berserk? What do you mean……”
As Rourke was about to ask, he noticed that Gareth’s body was just as battered as his own.
“Did I…do that to you?”
“Whether it was really you is a bit questionable, though.”
“……Master.”
Rourke turned his gaze to his master, who had appeared behind Gareth. While his master wasn’t visibly injured, his clothes were covered in dirt and partially torn, indicating that something intense had happened.
“Was I…possessed by the evil spirit?”
“Well, it’s hard to say. It’s not certain that the evil spirit was the cause……How much do you remember?”
“I remember some incomprehensible words coming from the evil spirit. After that, it’s mostly a blur……”
Rourke held his head as he answered his master’s question.
He felt like he had spoken to someone afterward, but he couldn’t recall their appearance or what they had said. Was it just his imagination?
“……Jack.”
“That unpleasant aura from earlier is completely gone now.”
As his master turned his gaze to Jack, the spirit seemed to understand and answered while swaying his lantern.
Hearing Jack’s response, his master seemed deep in thought, stroking his chin.
“Um……Master, what happened to the evil spirit?”
Rourke didn’t want to interrupt his master’s thoughts, but he couldn’t help but worry about the missing evil spirit. When he asked, his master stopped thinking and reached into his pocket, pulling out a spirit-sealing stone.
“It’s safe. I’ve temporarily sealed it in this spirit-sealing stone.”
Rourke let out a small sigh of relief as his master showed him the black-glowing stone. He had thought the spirit might have been banished, but it seemed they had managed to capture it. That was good.
Though, considering he might have been controlled by it, maybe it wasn’t something to celebrate.
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