บท 52: Infernal Arm

Team Slash/Dog, led by the usually timid Ikuse Tobio. A surprisingly efficient team, considering it was entirely made of teenagers and most are busy with schooling. Every member has a Sacred Gear of some kind. Excluding Toujou Sae, that was.

At least for now. I have some plans to mediate that in the future.

As I'd proposed, I intend on facilitating that growth. Whether it be in terms of living, training, or learning. I will turn them into warriors, but I will do it my way. They might have some input here and there, but the path they will take must be fully optimized, and that means surrendering agency over their growth into my hands.

They know this. I told them this up front. I informed them that it'll be hell.

They accepted it anyway. Their fate was sealed.

It goes something like this,

Their planned tortu-, training can be split into three parts. Their living, their studies, and their training. All three fully dictated by my hands with some help and input from Akeno.

First, their lives. Their daily schedule, their diets, their habits; I create a curated list for each member to follow rigorously. Any deviation must have an actual reason. If they skip something from laziness or reluctance, my eyes will know, and punishment will follow.

Their diet is especially crucial. All their food is subsidized by me. Everything they eat will be infused with some amount of Primal Energy. This won't help awaken their own Primal Energy or anything, but it will make them stronger and healthier in general. This was the solution I'm currently using to keep my family healthy.

Second, studying. I don't care how studious they are; all of them must adhere to a specially made curriculum. A crash course involving everything from mundane physics to lessons on taking down giant monsters. Granted, I can only spare each of them three hours of personal tutoring a week, but they'll have to make it up with some intense self-study to keep up with the material.

Third, training. Every meaning of the word is included: Physical, Mental, Combat Acumen, and Adaptability. It doesn't matter how they fight specifically, every member adheres to the same regime. Whether they're more of a physical fighter or a mage or a support, they must all learn how to fight close and from afar, using their muscles and their minds.

Suffice to say, it's hell. The first days of it are the worst for all six members, and I can almost hear their silent pleas for mercy. But I don't relent. I don't slow down.

Because I know they'll eventually start picking up. Genbu, my personal student, has an even stricter curriculum that she follows. Her first few days were hell, but she eventually adapted. Now she faces each and every lesson I give with no complaints, and it's common for her to succeed.

And eventually they do. It's slow, but they eventually begin catching up. They begin lasting longer in our training, they fall behind far less in our lessons, and it becomes easier for them to follow the strict guidelines they must live by day to day.

Their skill rockets. Their skill both in and out combat improves significantly once they start catching up to the speed of my courses. It's still far from what I'd consider acceptable, but at the pace they're going at, it won't be long before they reach that threshold.

I can't wait.

In the meantime however,

It's been around a month since Slash/Dog's hellish training began. It's just around midday right now, and I'm standing in the forest I like to frequent. And with me is Sae, who looks terribly confused and wary. Which isn't surprising. I did suddenly call her and ask her to come follow me here.

"Do forgive me for my sudden call," I begin, smiling slightly. "But I just couldn't stop myself on this."

"O-Oh! Don't worry Hyoudou-san!" She smiles warily. "I was just a little surprised when you called me. So, um," Her smile becomes a tad more shy. "Why did you call me here?"

I nod. "Right. I…have a question for you." She blinks, and I ask, "Have you ever considered using a Sacred Gear of any kind?"

She stares for a moment, and then she blinks. "Um…not really? It's not like I can get one, right?"

I raise an eyebrow. "But if you could?"

"...it would be nice, I guess." She eventually admits.

I grin. "Then would you like to have one?"

Her jaw falls. "I-, um-" She chokes on her own spit, and she quickly coughs. "A-Are you serious!?" She asks. I continue grinning, and her incredulity only grows as she begins to flounder. "I-I mean, how is that even possible!? Sacred Gears a-are God's creation and-"

I quickly raise my hand to stop her. She quiets down. "It isn't as impossible as you might think. The leader of the Fallen, Azazel, has notoriously created several artificial Sacred Gears of his own. They can't be compared to the originals, certainly, but the fact that he can mimic Sacred Gears proves that isn't impossible."

And besides, the thing I'm planning on giving her isn't actually a Sacred Gear. It's not a tool that retrofits itself into the wielder's soul and feeds on both their magic and their emotions to grow stronger. But it's close enough that people can mistake it as one.

No. I might be able to see the blueprints of Sacred Gears, but I won't be able to make them anytime soon. I don't have the required materials, nor do I have the time.

Even if I do, I don't want to make one. A tool that latches onto one's soul, and grows in tandem with the user's emotions is a dangerous combination. If the wielder's emotions grow out of control, then there's a fairly large chance that they can go out of control.

"So," I smile. "What do you say, Toujou-san?"

She gulps. "I…" She looks down at her hands for a moment, deep in thought. I can roughly guess what she's thinking about. As kind as the girl is, she's not very kind to herself. She's probably comparing herself to her friends.

Then, eventually, she turns to me, and an assured smile lifts her lips. "I accept!"

I grin. "Great!" I reach into my pocket, and I pull out a perfect sphere made from wood. It looks innocuous, but from it spills an invisible weight. Sae shivers as her eyes fall onto it. "I name this Dawn Isolation, and if you choose so, it can be yours."

She gulps, her hand slowly reaching out towards mine. She shivers as she gets closer, but she doesn't pull back. Her hand reaches forward and forward, and eventually, her fingers make contact with the orb.

Suddenly a burst of yellows and black surge around us, and she gasps as the wooden orb is absorbed into her hand. Immediately, she feels a painful heat surge in her chest, and she screams as she falls onto her knees.

I wince as I see the girl fall, but I do nothing. The 'Silence' Ofuda I set around us is still active; no one will interrupt us.

I call that orb she absorbed an Infernal Arm. I call it the reverse of a Sacred Gear. Where the latter grows in tandem with the strength of the soul, an Infernal Arm grows in response to the physical. It embeds itself deep inside the wielder's body, forming a structure similar to a new organ.

Specifically, curses. The more Curse Energy the wielder accumulates inside their body, the stronger an Infernal Arm becomes. Naturally, this isn't something a human would normally be able to use.

But Sae is…different. When she was possessed by a Utsusemi, some of the parasite's latent curses remained in her body. The girl's not very kind to herself, and those negative thoughts have only served to grow her reserve Curse Energy. That increase only serves to make her thoughts darker, which translates into even more Curse Energy.

It's a horrid positive feedback loop. And had she been left untouched for any longer, the curses living inside her might've imploded.

Which is why this is all so strange. Being possessed by a cursed entity shouldn't give someone the ability to host Curse Energy. The other survivors I'd saved all returned as normal; only Sae retained some of her enhanced strength.

In fact, I hesitate to call her a full 'Human' at this point. Her affinity with curses is just too high. She's closer to being a Youkai than anything else.

It doesn't matter for now. All that matters is that she's the perfect wielder for this world's first Infernal Arm.

I keep a careful eye on the girl as she continues to scream. The wooden orb travels further and further up her body, and eventually it settles in her torso, not too far away from her heart. Then, like a tumor, it harshly drags the surrounding nerves and vessels into itself, allowing it to form a connection with the rest of the body.

Through that does the Infernal Arm finally gain access to all the Curse Energy floating aimlessly inside her body. It pulls them all, gathering them into one location and forming a localized reservoir of power. In my eyes, it looks like an orb of pure black has just formed next to her heart.

And finally, Sae gasps as the pain abruptly disappears.

Nothing looks out of the ordinary. She still looks like she did just seconds before. Or, at least, that's how she looks to mundane eyes.

To me though, I can see that the cloud of curses that haphazardly surrounded her before has now condensed, turning into a coat that perfectly surrounds her. That unstable force has turned into an invisible defense that'll hold as long as she has some amount of Curse Energy inside her body.

"Welcome back." I say kindly, holding out my hand to her. "I do apologize for the pain, but it wasn't something I can work around."

She weakly shakes her head. "I-It's fine, Hyoudou-san." She clasps my hand, and I help her stand. "I somewhat expected it to hurt." She laughs weakly. "J-Just not that much."

I chuckle. "Well, I'm glad everything went alright."

I mean, I knew everything would go well. I spent an entire month working on that thing, twisting and morphing an insane amount of curses, Primal Energy, and Divine Energy to keep that thing stable. If that thing failed and broken, I would've actually shot myself in the head from sheer embarrassment.

…you know what, I should probably visit Kanada and thank them for the help. Haven't gone to visit them in a while.

"Give it a try." I say. She looks at me, confused as to how. I smile. "Think of…power. Of strength." I explain. "Imagine the strongest thing you can think of, and imagine yourself wielding it."

She nods vigorously, and she closes her eyes. She softly grumbles as she thinks, and as she does so I watch her through the Eyes of God. I see the reservoir of darkness in her torso begin to expand slightly, and tendrils of Curse Energy begin swarming through her chest.

Then, it finally escapes from her skin, and a beam of pure black shoots into the air. It explodes outward, and suddenly the forest around us vanishes, replaced by a pure black void.

I wince for a moment as my senses suddenly go dull. My sense of touch vanishes, my hearing is filled with static, and my sense of taste goes haywire. The only thing unaffected are my eyes, for obvious reasons.

"Open your eyes." I say, cringing at how odd my throat feels. "Look upon what you've brought into this world."

She does, and she squeaks as she sees the world of darkness around us. "This is…" She whispers in awe. "I…really did this?"

I nod. "You did." I smile. "Dawn Isolation; an Infernal Arm that allows one to form an isolated world thronging with accursed energy." I nudge a thumb into my forehead. "It wrangles the senses of those that are inside, leaving the wielder unaffected. Although do remember that this is only its Base Form." I wink. "Who knows what it's evolution might be."

She stares, and then frowns. "B-But doesn't that mean my friends will get caught up too?"

"Yes. However, I'm confident you can train yourself to exclude specific individuals from being dragged in. Or even allow your Infernal Arm to pull others in but not let them be affected." I shrug. "It's all up to you."

"O-Oh." She smiles weakly. "That m-means I'll need to train more, right…?"

I chuckle. "Naturally."

I raise a hand, and filling my fingers with power, I snap. A burst of blues and whites explode out across the void, and she yelps in surprise as the empty world shatters, bringing us back into the forest. The veil of curses that so tightly wound around us was dispersed in seconds.

"Now," I smile cruelly. "Why don't we begin your training now?"

She gulps.