Deicide Front

By Ardith Pelton

The heavens and the earth were broken, the gods fell, the forces of the Dominion exterminated the cities, and the whole world was corrupted by evil thoughts.

By the seventh day, the great united empire had been wiped of all civilisation and laid to rest. And after that, monsters hunted, evil gods besieged, and the remnants of the undead ra

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ardith Pelton
• Release date: Feb 15, 2024
• ISBN: 9798869393418

Book preview

Chapter 0 debris

    God will punish you! Panicked voice.

    God? Ho ho, there's no such thing anymore ...... A pause, followed by the sound of a sharp instrument cutting into flesh and blood, Nor will there ever be again, ho ho.

    Another voice: No Imperial remnants found, plus a small ......

    The former voice plummeted in fury, Empire? You call them an empire? Ho, turning abruptly mild, Ho, ho, ho, then you go and keep your empire company.

    Nibbling sounds.

    Keep searching!

    Dense and slightly hurried footsteps.

    ......

    The ancient hero drew his longsword.

    He stood silently on top of the Evil God corpses, looking at the many Evil Gods that surrounded and hissed in the distance but cowered and dared not move forward.

    With this level of power, he could kill the guys, with just one sword.

    But how many humans can fight against these evil gods like him? Or even get out alive from the Evil God siege.

    How many of them are still alive, and how many of the ones who are alive still remember them as a bunch of guys who are long dead but just haven't dispersed yet?

    How long can this world of the Imperium, which is somewhere between the unreal and the real, last?

    The sword couldn't give him an answer either.

    Probably won't see the answer either.

    A dark shadow shrouded the land as the evil god hissed and growled and finally actually came charging at the chrysalis.

    ......

    Everything comes to a standstill.

    The sky was dense and layered with countless eyes open, as if a being outside the world had poked a hole in its shell and was carefully peering inside.

    Where all the eyes met, there was a small, plain hill.

    On the side of the hill, shrunk a man.

    It's an old man.

    Very old man.

    The face is withered, the withered hair is tangled, the old skin is wrapped around the bones, and the aura of death is haunting the body.

    He was hunched over, his hands folded on the sword pier and his head barely resting on the backs of his hands, so he crouched against the hill.

    As if that would make it easier for him.

    From the hill outward, there was a messy mass of huge chunks of odd shapes and colors, like chipping off long-standing flesh and blood.

    The guys are squirming.

    They're asking for help.

    ......

    Your Highness, the lines codenamed 'Pure Fire' have been drawn, and the current resource materials are enough for us to etch more than five hundred Pure Fire runes.

    What are the results of the depth test?

    The depth of resistable evil thoughts increased by an average of twelve, of which the runes of fire, which is closer to the design ideas of Pure Fire, increased the highest, followed by light and heat, while the runes of ice and water decreased instead, in order to solve this problem, the grain of the codename 'Deep Pool' is under research. The follow-up research of Pure Fire is still underway, and there is also the fact that we are preparing to redesign the grain of the original runes ......

    The study of the Pure Fire and the Deep Pool was meant to be a stopgap measure. The environment has changed, and redesigning the tattoo is something that must be done, but not until after this operation is over ...... Remember to file the original tattoo records.

    As you wish.

    This time, vow to cut down Loulan. She murmured, May the Pure Fire banish our doom.

    ......

    The long night is dark.

    In the darkness, Kibi walked in silence over the dry, hard earth.

    The distance to the destination was already very close, Kibi Li became more and more cautious, even the speed of rushing was slowed down a bit.

    Boom-boom.

    Suddenly, there was a distant, irregular, soft sound in the dull air.

    Kibi stopped walking and listened with her ears.

    It was the sound of a heartbeat, Kibi was quick to judge, and it was the heartbeat of a somewhat scrawny human.

    Could the human ...... wasteland ...... be a monster in disguise or bait for an evil god?

    Kibi stood silently, then inclined her head to squint in the direction from which the heartbeat had come.

    He doesn't look directly at it, just casts an afterimage, sensing it there, while more of his attention is in other directions.

    At the same time, his right hand had gripped his short sword, ready to retreat or meet the battle at any time.

    The power of emotions trailed in that direction with Kibi's senses, stalking across the ruins before suddenly chaining to yet another small mass of emotions.

    It's human, human emotions.

    A flicker of volatility flashed in Kibi's calm eyes, and quickly subsided.

    Fear, confusion, sadness, and ...... is it hope? Kibi sensed the feeble mass of emotions.

    It's amazing that anyone has hope in the middle of the apocalypse. Kibi thought.

    In a chain of emotions and moods, Kibi passes on the idea of going to appeasement, while holding the knife and walking towards that.

    The connectivity of the Sea of Emotions allowed Kibi to know and believe that what was hiding there was a true human being. If he was deceived, then there was no longer any difference between fleeing and not fleeing.

    It had been a long time since I had seen a living human. Kibi thought.

    In the darkness, Kibi slowly approached the small mass of emotions in her perception, and with the soothing of [Restraint], the man's fear and confusion had subsided, while the sadness was re-hidden.

    With the power of emotions, Kibi dismantled any possible defenses and gained what might be called eye-to-eye trust.

    Finally, Kibi saw a small piece of undulating ruins, and sensed the sudden joy that was born in the man inside.

    Kibble stops here.

    He gazed at the ruins, contemplating whether or not it stood out.

    The appearance of a ruin in the middle of a flat barren wilderness didn't seem to be sudden, but Kibi Li had traveled all the way for more than ten miles and suddenly met this ruin, and happened to sense that a human was here.

    Even if he believed in that person, Kibi was still skeptical.

    In the midst of this apocalypse, the weak know too little, and what they show, even if it's harmless, can still harbor the malice of those powerful monsters or evil gods.

    It was too much of a coincidence, and with Kibi's caution, he had to be more wary.

    In the midst of the silent and eerie confrontation, a low cry with trembling and surprise suddenly rang out from the ruins.

    Ama? Is that you?

    Kibi heard the soft thud of stones being stepped on, while the joy and excitement that had suddenly intensified was perceived more clearly.

    Beware of monsters that may or may not exist, he realized one more thing in a trance: it was a little girl who had been separated from her team.

    A ...... huh? You ...... The sound of stones wearing each other down stopped.

    Out of the low ruins stood up a short little girl, not able to tell her age, her clothes and hair were a mess, the only thing better about her was probably the fact that the clothes she was wearing covered all of her skin, and would allow her to make it through the cold of the night.

    Kibi didn't look at her.

    Nothing happened, no attack on the Beware, no lurking monsters, nothing.

    There was only one little girl who was hopeful and silent and stagnant.

    Kibi finally stopped being wary, and even lowered her head to meet the little girl's eyes, no longer wary.

    If there really was a monster lurking, then this subconscious relaxation after a long period of vigilance would be the perfect node in its mind for an attack.

    They were beautiful eyes, and didn't just have the clarification characteristic of a child, but more ......

    Emotions.

    Kibi saw in her eyes, saw the overflowing emotions, was blank stagnation and dumbfounded, and there was shock sadness flinching trepidation ......

    It's very pure emotion from the heart.

    It's a very pretty pair of eyes for the mood genre.

    The eye was an emotional medium, and she would surely be a genius at joining the emotional genre. Kibi suddenly thought of this sentence.

    In the barren world, the adult lowered his head to gaze at the little girl who tilted her head and tried to back away but couldn't move her feet, in a rare bit of a trance.

    Finally he took the short sword back into its sheath and rehung it at his waist, his face softening a bit.

    My name is Kibi.

    I...my name is Mai-Su.

Chapter 1: Anger

    I'm thirsty.

    Kiba stopped his steps, passed the water pouch in silence, and raised his eyes to look at the sky.

    Luckily, it's still possible to keep going.

    Mai Xiu took a small sip, then carefully screwed it up and handed it back to Kibi.

    Kibi didn't pick it up, so Mai Xiu was very quiet, holding the water bag as if it were a treasure.

    She stood behind Kibi obediently.

    Because of the long journey, the two didn't communicate again except for a soft word from Mai Xiu.

    Dimly lit, gray earth, this is the gray earth the map says it is.

    Kibi stood still, quietly contemplating where to go and what to do next.

    If you want to live in this world, the less you do, the better, and if you can keep avoiding monsters and evil gods, and then just struggle to survive and stay out of the way, you can live longer.

    And it all requires planning ahead for what comes next and giving contingencies a head start.

    With his main weapon gone, he had to find a sword for temporary use, and a short sword would not be enough.

    Kibi didn't want to get too involved in the fighting, but that didn't mean stop arming himself; he wasn't in a position to lay down his weapons yet.

    There wasn't much water left in the bladder, so the next step was to find a water source and fill it with some water.

    It was originally a desert area with little water, and even though the apocalypse had changed the landscape of the desert area, the heat was still the theme of the day More accurately, it was sweltering.

    Here, each water source represents one or more water-related monsters, the most common probably being water demons.

    And apart from the water source that was occupied by the monster as a nest, there was no water here, I'm afraid. A water source without a monster to inhabit it would inevitably vaporize in the heat and disappear.

    Figuring that Mai Xiu should be well rested, Kibi briefly signaled, lifted the shoulder straps of his backpack and prepared to hurry.

    But just then, the wind picked up.

    Kibi's entire body tensed quickly at the sound of the subtle wind.

    He wordlessly drew his short sword, his eyes sharpened in the direction the wind was blowing.

    Northwest.

    There was nothing there, but Kibi was still on guard very seriously, as if he was guarding against a very powerful enemy.

    As soon as Mai Xiu saw Kibi go into battle mode, he hurriedly hid behind Kibi, staying close to, but not in the way of, him.

    It was a very important reason for her to be able to follow Kibi, she wasn't in the way.

    Nothing happened.

    Kibi gradually relaxed.

    Not a wind demon, just a regular wind.

    Danger averted.

    Without a word, Kibi began to walk forward, when a place becomes unsettled, staying away is the most effective way to avoid danger.

    Even if it may not be dangerous.

    When there was no wind, the whole world was quiet, and Kibli's feet stepped on the gray earth, and there was no sound.

    Walking gently and silently is one of the most basic requirements for staying alive, and monsters have far sharper senses than humans.

    Aside from the occasional dead grass, ruins where monsters lurked, and water sources, the gray earth was almost devoid of anything, and an eerie, eerie silence, nay, dead silence, pervaded the entirety of it.

    At least the only one in Kibi's field of vision that could be taller than Kukusa outside of him was Mai Xiu.

    Mai Xiu quietly followed Kibi.

    From time to time, a phantom flashed across the sky, as if it were the minions of an evil god parading the gray earth.

    Mai Xiu was a bit scared and slightly lowered his head to watch Kibli's back, repeating over and over in his mind what he had said.

    Fear not, fear not, fear not ......

    But it's still scary.

    Kibi had no thoughts of turning back to comfort Mai Xiu, he was now pondering which way to go next.

    This was already the safest place in the map he'd gotten, it might not even have an evil god watching over it, it was too barren.

    So barren that there were so few humans and monsters that even Mai Xiu, a little girl, could live alone for two or three days with fear and trepidation but smoothly.

    Mai Xiu was picked up by Kibi, from a short ruin that wasn't overrun by monsters.

    He'd been watching and wary for a long time, and the Sea of Emotions hookup told him it was human.

    Kibi trusted the outcome. If he didn't even trust his own power, there was no way he would survive.

    Not to mention that the ones that could deceive emotions were related to the extremely superior Evil God. For an existence of that realm, a single gaze was a ritual, a ritual that was enough for it to gain everything.

    To live a long life, you need to do less superfluous things. Doing nothing is good, doing more is wrong.

    Those superfluous things, once they constitute some kind of hidden ritual, will attract extremely powerful monsters or even evil gods, and that way, life is over.

    Rituals, the shadows that the evil gods cast over the whole world, they are like curtains that hide hope from mankind.

    Even the light of the sun turned dim.

    Gathering is a rite of passage, so cities are reduced to food; prayer is a rite of passage, so the faithless live on ......

    Everything could be a ritual.

    An overabundance of evil gods brings an overabundance of rituals, and many rituals, once performed, represent the end of life.

    Kibi felt that he needed to decide quickly whether to go there or ...... stay away.

    Will there really be hope there ......?

    Was that message really right?

    Kibi took a deep breath and stopped thinking about it. Right or wrong, after sacrificing so many people, I have to get there.

    At least ...... splits the blade.

    In silence, the two slowly walked away, finally ......

    Mai-soo, as usual.

    This is the first time Kibi opened his mouth today. There was no vicissitude magnetic or low, only hoarse.

    Maisu nodded thoughtfully.

    She trotted over to the jutting looking fountain in front of her, stopping motionless about a meter from it.

    The monsters that can inhabit the fountain should be water demons that can transform into water, or smaller monsters.

    Kibi is more than two meters away from Mai Xiu. That was the limit of his distance for counterattacks and defense.

    He'd gotten used to letting himself stray from the edge of danger early on, risking his life for something he could give to someone else.

    They waited quietly for a while and there was no response. The monster did not appear.

    This means that McShue can safely take about half a water bladder.

    Half a water bladder, this was Kibi's own experience, a threshold value arrived at after many times of waking up water demons.

    Maixu is a little scared.

    Still, she moved a little closer to the fountain. Fetching water was her mission, and no one in the apocalypse wanted to carry a little girl who was just a liability.

    Kibi and Mai Xiu synchronized and slowly approached the fountain. The appearance of a fountain means that it's already a former town zone.

    Short knife in hand, trailing behind, Kibi's stance looked distantly as if he wanted to assassinate Mai Xiu.

    Kibble is in defense of the water demon.

    Doomsday could not afford to forbid the eventuality. While he didn't like fighting and killing, he wouldn't let his guard down.

    Luckily, nothing happened ......

    Mai Xiu had finished taking half of the water from the water bladder by this time, and began to step backwards towards Kibi.

    Turning her back on the unknowable was a danger, that's what Kibi had told her.

    Kibi suddenly felt a little fond of this little girl's caution and trust. But he quickly cut away that emotion.

    The power of emotions brings with it not only the ability to fight, but also the ability to break bonds.

    Kibi has no ties anymore and doesn't need them. He was alone to live longer.

    Just as Mai Xiu had retreated to Kibi Li, just as she was about to turn around, unexpectedly, a stream of water shot out.

    Above the fountain, a stream of water suddenly crawled up, and they mingled and converged into a blue monster.

    On each of its ribs, there were three crescent-shaped purple marks.

    Water Demon!

    It's not sleeping!

    Kibi flicked Mai Xiu straight back down, then threw his short sword at the water demon.

    The water demon subconsciously went to pluck the short blade, and its torso flowed for a moment rippling in circles.

    The short blade broke through the body.

    Drawing the knife is supposed to be a luxury.

    But the time bought by Kibi was enough for Mai Xiu to get up and avoid the water demon.

    Realizing he was being teased the water demon hissed and jumped off the fountain, flailing.

    On Kibi's side, he had already gotten his leather armor wet from the water spray.

    He looked down at the wet marks on his body and was actually lost in thought for a moment, finally he looked up at the sound of the howling wind.

    [Rage].

    He whispered.

    The water demon didn't care what Kibi was saying and directly tore up.

    The large, hideous blue face quickly zoomed in, occupying Kibi's line of sight and inexplicably making Kibi a little angry.

Chapter 2: Swallowing

    McShue got rattled down and scrambled up nicely, then ducked to the side.

    Not behind Kibi, but a little farther away, a distance that gave her a chance to run away even after Kibi's death.

    The water bladder in her arms was protected better than she herself, and not a drop escaped.

    She saw the blue and purple monster pounce on Kibi, and she heard Kibi's calm, hoarse voice as he spoke, angry?

    [Rage]?

    Angry about what?

    Kibi doesn't know.

    But he can be angry, anytime, anywhere, whenever there is a reason, he can mobilize the power of [anger], or even awaken [anger] as he is doing now.

    It's all about emotions.

    The genre of coalescing one's certain emotions into an entity.

    The water demon had already pounced on top of Kibi's head, and as he looked up, he felt that the shimmering light of the water rippling in the water demon's body was even softer than the sunlight of this apocalypse.

    This made him even angrier.

    So he raised his hand.

    The water demon is dead.

    Isn't it more than obvious who is weak and who dies.

    The weakest of the weak stand as servants, and it could not be more true.

    Fill it up this time. Kibi said to Mai Xiu, then crouched down to watch the water demon's body turn into water a little bit.

    It was obviously already liquid water, but it clumped together stubbornly like glue, maintaining the decency of its corpse.

    Kibi washed his hands and his face in the process.

    He calmed down slightly as his blood was rising from awakening [Anger].

    Then ...... is just waiting.

    After Mai-Su caught the water, she quietly crouched down and hid in front of the fountain, curling up into a small ball.

    Death is also a rite of passage.

    Whether it's the death of a human or a monster, it's a rite of passage.

    According to Kibi's survival logic, he should hurry up and leave now, but after awakening [Anger], there were conditions for wanting to put him to sleep.

    Or rather, there is a price to pay.

    Getting the anger that's been churning up out is fundamental.

    Kibi had mobilized the power of [Restraint] to suppress the effects of [Anger] on him.

    The situation just now was a bit bizarre, in the past, there was no way he could have awakened [Rage] in that situation, even if that puddle of wet marks brought back memories of that fight with the Evil God.

    He was supposed to just mobilize the power of a certain emotion, not awaken it.

    Kibi picked up a kernel from the puddle of bodies that hadn't yet seeped into the earth and finally stood up.

    This water demon is considered to be one of the stronger individuals of its race, and the ritual that its death constitutes may call forth quite a few monsters.

    Kibi was ready to strike out and beat them up as a way to lessen the effect of [Anger] on him.

    The first monster has arrived.

    It's a wind demon.

    A wind demon doesn't ride the wind, it is a wind.

    It's usually cannon fodder driven by monsters, which means its presence could represent powerful intelligent monsters peering in.

    Kibi could have hit Stroke, but that would have been contrary to his original intent of trying to appease [Rage] to put him to sleep.

    So he simply raised his hand and pushed his palm. The palm wind with the power of [Restrain] caused the wind demon to simply be chosen to fly away.

    The power of [restraint] is constraint.

    The second one, a ghost.

    Ghosts have a portion of psychic intelligence.

    Kibi directly pressed the pounding emotional power through, then handed over the water demon's nucleus.

    It had no value to him. At best, it had the effect of moisturizing the skin.

    The apparition took the nucleus with a shudder and fled.

    Kibi was a little curious if it would turn into a water ghost.

    The third, a group of ghouls.

    The ghouls that roam the gray earth, for whom life consists of occasionally eating the corpses of others, and occasionally being eaten as corpses by their companions.

    Life is not easy, please bear with me.

    So Kibi removed their five limbs.

    This calmed [Rage]'s anger at being woken up a bit.

    Ghouls didn't have blood, which was the reason Kibi dared to unload their arms and legs.

    Oh, the fifth limb is the tail ah, if I accidentally unloaded something else, then I'm really sorry na.

    Blood is also a rite of passage, one more dangerous than death.

    Many evil gods don't have the power of death, but the power of blood is mass. Mass means it's easy to startle more evil gods.

    The power of [Rage] has gradually receded, which means that this whole thing of awakening [Rage] is sort of almost over.

    Kibi knew that as long as he paid some attention and didn't irritate him before [Rage] fell asleep, he would fall asleep again in a day or two.

    But ...... mobilizing [restraint] comes at a price.

    The power of [Restraint] is used by Kibi to suppress almost every other emotion, and once invoked it can be negligent.

    This time, coincidentally, it coincided with [Curious] waking up from his own sleep.

    Is there more behind the kibble?

    Kibi, whose name was called, sighed and did not reply, but likewise did not leave.

    While [Curious] is an emotion that can be defied, it means that [Curious] may give Kibi a hard time at other times.

    For example, [Curious] wanted to see a certain symbol, and it turned out to be the Badge of the Evil God, Rising Servant.

    For example, [Curious] wants to go somewhere to play and finds out it's the Cloisters of Hell, Rising Servant.

    At least this time the situation won't be beyond the range of strength, Kibi thought so and continued to wait.

    The fourth, a dead dodo.

    It landed on the ghoul's face in the sky, merrily eating the ghoul's arms that were scattered next to it before thanking Kibi slightly.

    The ghoul whose face had been stomped on hissed in impotent rage, but could not move.

    [Curious] Very curious.

    Kibi was also curious, of course, this was because the strong emotion emanating from [Curious] was infecting him.

    But ...... he didn t want to be curious! This fucking one look at the evil thoughts of the death of the dodo! Curious ah ghost, will die!

    [Curious] commiserates with an oh-so-curious sigh, no longer feeling curious.

    This dead dodo flew away.

    The fifth, or fifth, was a flock of dead dodos.

    They ate all the scattered limbs of the ghouls and ate them cleanly, and Kibi thought that it was definitely because the ghouls were their counterparts.

    So, vicious peer competition is not to be.

    The evil-minded death-defying dodo came again, and once more it gestured slightly, [Curious] finding it amusing.

    I'm afraid this isn't a king of crows, dragging his family along for a feast.

    Finally, they flew away.

    Dead Dodos are a lot smarter than Ghouls, they didn't create widespread death, and the Ghouls are all still alive.

    With so many ghouls dying together, it would be a grand ceremony. The Dead Dodo's have no entrance.

    Kibi had thought of that, too.

    The map said that there had only been sporadic sightings of Evil Thoughtforms here, but he had already seen an Evilized Dead Dodo this very moment.

    There is still wisdom!

    It's common for evil minded bodies to infest monsters, it's a type of feeding, but it's uncommon for an evilized monster to appear that has resisted the infestation.

    Something may have changed here.

    Kibi was silent.

    So the destruction of the gathering place where McShue was was no accident?

    There won't be any monsters coming, Kibi responded to [Curious] in this way.

    [Curious] Ask why.

    Kibi replied that the dead dodo just appeared only at the end of the death ritual.

    [Curious] Satisfied, then pinched his nose and said he didn't like the air outside, and re-ran back to the Sea of Emotions.

    She's really easy to coax, just don't let her get caught up in serial curiosity.

    Suddenly, Kibi sensed something, as if a massive beast was about to open its huge mouth.

    Go!

    Kibi abandoned the short sword and led Mai Xiu into the distance.

    Not walking fast.

    It was said that the existence of the Shadow Plane or the Death Plane would sense it if one went too fast.

    Before they could get very far, it suddenly got dark.

    They were still walking, Mai Xiu was shivering a bit and Kibli took her hand.

    From a hundred meters away came a clear and rapid swallowing sound, as if a long-hungry vagabond had finally found food, and was afraid of being taken away, so he had to gobble it down.

    Kibi bowed his head, restraining all his emotions, then he closed his eyes, and so did Mai Xiu.

    Walk slowly, listen quietly to the sound of swallowing as if it were nothing, and let ignore you.

    You're going to be an immovable adult now, no moodiness, no sneaky misses, no looking back.

Chapter 3: The Night

    The two had walked for a long time, and the dim sun had disappeared.

    The gray earth was still as dead as ever.

    This is especially true of the gray earth in the dark.

    The little girl wasn't in a very good mood, and yes, how else could she be calm after seeing such deep horror.

    But six years at the end of the day, Mai Xiu, no matter how fearful, still quietly followed Kibi, holding the water bag.

    Continuing to walk in the darkness for a while, Kibi finally stopped, and then he quietly extended the power of his emotions into the distance.

    He sensed a somewhat faint familiar power, a rune. And if there was no mistake, this one should be [Stability].

    It was the power of the old days, and if it was preserved, it could still be of some use to Kibi and the others.

    Kibi walked over slowly with Mai Xiu.

    It was a small tumbledown low wall, not quite as high as Kibli was sitting, almost the equivalent of being leveled.

    At the very bottom of the still-surviving wall was a blurred engraving of a tattoo.

    This is the rune, or rather, a simplified version of the rune.

    Mai Xiu carefully leaned against the low wall while Kibi sat next to her to keep watch.

    But it would be a good night to spend today, and the active terrestrial creatures of the desert lands can be much more peaceful under the effect of [Stabilize].

    Seeing and touching things, Kibi suddenly began to think back to the story before the doomsday, but soon thought of the day the doomsday broke out.

    The end came so suddenly, more than ten years ago there was a cry of building a glorious empire together, and six years ago there was nothing left.

    It was like a weak lamb suddenly exposed to a group of robbers.

    The world was divided up by the evil gods, leaving only a group of people who had broken off their generation and lost their faith, fleeing like wandering ghosts.

    What attracted the evil gods? Kibi didn't know, and had heard that the Empire had fought back, but in the end everything stopped.

    With death as a sentence, the empire remains an empire. But the empire is still gone. That's the power of an evil god.

    Kibi was silent.

    This constant danger was really wearing him down, and he glanced over at Maixu, who was curled up against the wall, and inexplicably asked softly.

    Do you want to survive on your own.

    Kibi's voice was soft and not pronounced with his throat.

    Maisu responded after a moment.

    Think.

    Kibi didn't understand why he was asking this out of context, why he was doing this redundant thing.

    Teaching someone how to live isn't easy and doesn't make much sense.

    Wasn't she intended to be a laborer, doing things, scouting, breaking off when necessary?

    But ...... is it fun to live like this ......

    Kibi suddenly questioned a bit the logic of his six-year existence, but in a flash the idea was firm again.

    I'm just raising a stronger cannon fodder.

    Yeah, that's it.

    Kibi said softly, You go to sleep first, and I'll start teaching you some things tomorrow.

    Uh-huh.

    Mai Xiu curled up next to Kibi, listening to his low, slow heartbeat, and felt as if the dark night wasn't quite so scary.

    That fearful heart that was afraid of where a monster would suddenly come out of nowhere was completely gone.

    If there was a monster, it would have been stopped by Kibi-san, right?

    She trusted Kibi, she had trusted him from the first time she had seen him that night, and even before she had seen Kibi she had somewhat foreseen his appearance.

    To her, Mr. Kibi was like a hero in a story.

    Naturally, Kibi didn't know that his initial act of probing out his emotions to search would actually make Mai Xiu trust him like that.

    He just sat on the ground and closed his eyes.

    The breathing around him slowly soothed, and Kibi knew that Mai Xiu should have fallen asleep.

    That would be nice.

    Kibi restrained [Rage] a little, hoping to put him to sleep a little sooner.

    Before Doomsday, he hadn't specialized in [Anger], which left him missing a lot of techniques to specifically appease [Anger].

    He could only grind away a little bit with the most basic skills of his emotions.

    Time slowly passed, and suddenly, Kibli felt a wave of fear.

    Fear is also an emotion.

    McShow is in fear.

    Kibi opened her eyes and looked at Mai Xiu.

    It's a nightmare, Kibi thought. Then he gently used [Restraint] to restrain Mai Xiu, and Mai Xiu gradually quieted down.

    Actually, it would be better to use a technique from the [Calm] department, although Kibi didn't condense the [Calm], he could still use the basic techniques out of it.

    But [Restraint] was a bit smoother, which meant he wouldn't be tainted with too many evil thoughts because of [Restraint].

    Spreading emotions outside the body will inevitably come into contact with the evil thoughts that pervade everything, and the more skillful the emotion in this case, the more it will reduce the staining of evil thoughts.

    Dabbling in evil thoughts brings about a buildup of evil thoughts.

    Kibi did her best to make the [Restraint] restraint gentle, soothing Mai Xiu while restraining her fearful emotions.

    He moved fear back into his sea of emotions as [fear] of ...... buns?

    Kiba couldn't help but smile.

    This level of fear might not even be a pastry, probably crumbs of bread?

    Uh ...... [Fear] I don't think the Grand Master is going to pour out his power because of this, is he?

    I don't think so, it's not like he's [angry], how could he be angry.

    Kibble is at ease.

    But his reassurance was quickly replaced by disbelief.

    There's something approaching in the air!

    There was no sound of flapping wings, so if it wasn't a mythological species or something, then it was a ghostly apparition of an evil spirit or something like that.

    Kibi didn't guess the range wrong.

    Only that he hadn't expected that what had appeared was actually an Evil Thought Body that was theoretically relatively rare in this area.

    The map says that there are very few evil thought bodies here, but Kibi is now a huh.

    Either the map was a trap, or something had really changed in this land.

    But now is not the time to think about that.

    The dark gray evil thought body had drifted to Kibi Li's face and then lunged.

    Kibble, glare.

    Then it twisted, its lower body still forward while its upper body desperately pranced backward.

    It's in fear.

    It's gone.

    Just the thing to use as food for the [Fear] Grand Master, and this time it might come together as a small slice of bread.

    To someone who has mastered emotions, evil thought bodies, especially ordinary ones, are nothing more than food.

    The nature of evil thoughts was not yet known, but its qualities were actually eerily similar to the power of emotions cultivated by the Emotion School.

    Those who have mastered the negative toward emotions can become powerful by devouring evil thought bodies. As long as one is willing to pay the price of being heavily tainted with evil thoughts.

    [Fear] didn't wake up, but still instinctively ate the Evil Thought Body, while the weak mass of Fear, shivering, merged into it.

    That's the emotional genre.

    Of the powers that humans still possessed after the destruction of the olden times, Emotion was the one with the widest range of attacks; it could hurt the vast majority of monsters, and even naturally restrain some of them.

    It is a double-edged sword.

    But the point of a double-edged sword is to hurt the enemy. Even if it hurts you.

    Kibi remembered the old days.

    But soon he cut away the memory, drowning in sadness that would make him cry.

    How can I cry when I am at least a loner in the vicissitudes of unclehood?

    The night slowly recedes and the sky finally breaks.

    Mai Xiu remained curled up in the corner, shivering and slumbering.

    Kibi didn't nudge her awake, just sat alone and quiet.

    It's just a little hard. Get used to it.

Chapter IV. Transfers

    Maisu woke up and stopped shivering.

    The rising sun spilled dim light through the layers of gray haze, hitting Kibi obliquely and casting a fuzzy shadow on the gray earth.

    Maisu sat up straight from her curled up position on the floor, moving her somewhat numb arms in small increments.

    Awake?

    A new day greeted