Chapter 28 (Patreon)

The rain still hadn’t stopped.

Ragnar Kagenou moved through the mist-covered city while those who had already been assimilated wandered the streets in stiff, unnatural motions.

“——!”

In barely a few minutes, Ragnar had already become their target.

And no matter how much distance he tried to put between them, it made no difference at all.

A cold presence surged in from every direction like a rising tide, and the assimilated figures gradually closed in around him.

“This can’t continue.”

More and more Cursed Spirits gathered around him, so densely packed they looked like a swarm of ants.

Ragnar quickly realized something.

These Cursed Spirits had no intention of attacking him directly.

Instead, they seemed to be herding him somewhere.

“Is this… the oil painting gallery?”

Once he stepped inside, he found the place looked completely ordinary.

Hundreds of oil paintings of different sizes hung along the walls, and there were several pools of water scattered throughout the gallery.

“I wonder where Yuki got teleported to…”

Ragnar stepped through a puddle, sending water splashing outward.

The moment he finished speaking—

A figure slowly emerged from the rain, and a pale arm shot straight toward Ragnar’s heart.

Golden ripples burst open at once.

Swoosh!

A Noble Phantasm tore straight through the Cursed Spirit’s body, blasting a huge hole through it.

“Hm? This is… oil paint?”

Ragnar touched the black substance that had splattered onto his hand.

The Cursed Spirit that had been pierced seemed to lose all support. Its body swayed for a moment, then collapsed onto the water’s surface.

Immediately after, it began to twist and deform, until it turned into a puddle of black-and-white oil paint that slowly spread outward.

Seeing that, Ragnar narrowed his eyes.

“Could this Special Grade Cursed Spirit be connected to oil paint…?”

Just as Ragnar rose from the ground and prepared to leave, he happened to catch sight of his reflection in the water.

And there, beneath the still surface, he clearly saw the grinning Cursed Spirit reflected back at him.

What made it even eerier was this—

The Cursed Spirit was standing right in front of his reflection.

But when Ragnar looked up, the space before him was completely empty. There was nothing there.

“Pools… reflections…”

Ragnar muttered under his breath, his mind racing as he pieced together the connection.

Suddenly, as if he had realized something, his eyes snapped toward the puddle of oil paint from before.

But before he could get a proper look—

The Cursed Spirit hidden inside the reflection vanished without any warning.

Ragnar immediately understood one horrifying fact.

Whenever someone accidentally stepped into a pool of water, the Cursed Spirit would actively launch an attack.

And even if it manifested physically during that attack and could be killed—

It didn’t seem to truly die.

Instead, it continued to exist inside reflections in some strange form.

At that thought, Ragnar’s eyes darkened.

“Yuki… did she also step into a pool and get dragged into some unknown space?”

The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed.

At the same time, Ragnar lifted his gaze toward the surrounding walls.

What filled his vision were the countless exquisite oil paintings hanging all around him, each one vivid in color, each one painted with delicate, careful detail.

Looking at them, he spoke in a low voice.

“Maybe all of this is connected to these paintings.”

Inside the spacious and deathly quiet oil painting gallery, Ragnar moved silently through one exhibition hall after another.

His eyes swept carefully across every painting on display, yet none of them seemed especially unusual.

He couldn’t help muttering to himself,

“Or maybe these so-called Cursed Spirits can simply turn themselves into oil paint.”

But just as he was about to turn and leave, the corner of his eye suddenly caught something.

A black-and-white painting hung on the wall.

Among all the brightly colored oil paintings, it stood out so sharply that it felt jarring, almost unnatural. It carried a strange aura that drew Ragnar toward it before he even realized it.

And when he got a closer look, his expression shifted.

Because the figure in that painting was exactly the same as the Girl in Black who had attacked him earlier.

Then, something unexpected happened.

The previously still frame suddenly began to tremble violently.

The image inside started spinning like a whirlpool, and an overwhelming suction force erupted from within it.

“What—?!”

Ragnar felt a terrifying force drag at his body, but by then it was already too late.

At the same moment, dozens of pale, bloodless arms stretched out from the painting and seized him.

In almost an instant, Ragnar Kagenou was forcibly dragged into the painting.

The world around him plunged into darkness.

Then came endless rain, pouring down in a violent, overwhelming storm.

Ragnar steadied himself and realized he had arrived in a world unlike any he had seen before.

And not far ahead of him, the familiar Girl in Black stood silently beneath the downpour.

She remained perfectly still, like a statue.

Not even the rain seemed able to wet her.

Her tightly shut eyes and the eerie smile on her face were enough to send a chill through anyone’s bones.

“My name is Rain Spirit… This is my world.”

That cold voice echoed over and over through the empty, deathly silent space, making the hair on the back of one’s neck stand up.

“To show yourself so boldly, right in front of this king…”

Ragnar slowly turned around.

In the next instant, hundreds of golden ripples bloomed behind him.

They spread across the sky like a tidal wave, swallowing the heavens in the blink of an eye and bathing this cold, dark world in brilliant gold.

Ragnar’s voice rang out like a command.

“Die. Your performance ends here.”

An overwhelming storm of Noble Phantasms rained down from the sky.

Each one blazed with dazzling golden light like a falling meteor, crashing toward the Rain Spirit below with unstoppable force.

In an instant, her body was riddled with countless Noble Phantasms, pierced through so completely that she looked like a pitiful hedgehog, covered in wounds from head to toe.

And yet—

Not long after, every place where the Noble Phantasms had pierced her began to heal on its own, as though the wounds had never existed in the first place.

Ragnar’s expression shifted slightly at that eerie sight, but he didn’t hesitate for even a moment.

He reached into the Gate of Babylon and drew out a blood-red spear.

The next second, his figure flashed.

He appeared right in front of the Rain Spirit like a phantom.

“Pierce through—Gáe Dearg: Crimson Rose of Exorcism!”

As he released its true name, Ragnar gripped the crimson spear with both hands and drove it forward with all his strength.

The scarlet spear carved a brilliant arc through the air, wrapped in a sharp and violent wind—

And pierced straight through the Rain Spirit’s head.

—— —— —— —— —— ——

Noble Phantasm: Gáe Dearg — Crimson Rose of Exorcism

Rank: B

Type: Anti-Unit Noble Phantasm

Description:

The Noble Phantasm of Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, the peerless warrior of the Fianna of Ireland, famed as the owner of the “Love Spot.”

A cursed crimson spear that nullifies magical reinforcement and energy-based defenses upon contact. In this world, it is especially effective against defenses formed through Cursed Energy. Any reinforcement, enhancement, or special effect applied through Cursed Energy is forcibly stripped away the moment this spear touches it.