Give children a little self-destruction shock to their worldview.

Page 194

This was beyond the understanding of the dark wizard. He was unaware that the "Darkening Magic" he had named was actually a clone of the caster from a parallel world.

Even Mayumi Haga didn't know.

Although she no longer has the spiritual protection, her magic resistance has increased significantly after undergoing dragon transformation.

She was indeed surprised for a moment when she was silently dragged into this magic, but she quickly focused her mind and began to resist the possible mental erosion.

However, unexpectedly, the magic had no effect on her.

But...

Mayumi Haga shivered. She raised her head slightly and saw a blurry figure solidifying in the shadows.

She disregarded the fact that she was still in the puppet state of being controlled by the "jealous monster" and stared at the guy who appeared in front of her with a serious expression.

Mayumi Haga suddenly felt a primal nausea rising from her stomach.

The reason is simply that the other person's appearance is too different from the impression of a "person".

It was as if the skin all over the body had been replaced with swollen scars. The skin, tightly wrapped in bandages, was still oozing dark red mucus. The bandages seemed to be serving to hold the skin in place so that it wouldn't melt and fall off.

Two extra arms grew under his armpits, and he never put down the weapons in his hands. At first, he tied the weapons to his hands with thick ropes, but later, as new flesh grew, the weapons became firmly embedded in his hands, making it impossible for him to put them down.

The entire skull was so rotten that the facial features were no longer visible. The ears had long since decayed, leaving only holes. A piece of skin, found somewhere, was sewn on crookedly, thus covering the left half of the face at an angle. Only one eyeball remained intact in its socket, a glimmer of gold peeking out from beneath the tattered bandages.

The clothes on their bodies were so tattered that it was impossible to tell what they were, but their bodies were so rotten that it was impossible to tell what their gender was.

He can only be described as barely human.

A person whose entire body is covered in rotten flesh and who moves using only a skeleton.

If it hadn't appeared in this magically shrouded space, it might have been heavily pixelated the moment it appeared in the world.

The dim gold in his eyes betrayed the true identity of the newcomer.

[Haga Mayumi] from a parallel world, whose body has been largely ravaged by calamity.

Almost instinctively, Mayumi Haga was already on guard the moment their eyes met; her muscles tensed and her brain issued a warning.

This sense of crisis was unprecedented; she was trembling all over, and an inexplicable anger was about to erupt. Even her rationality was stretched to the limit.

It was strange. Mayumi Haga shouldn't have been swayed by such a sudden emotion, but when she realized that it was herself who was presenting such an ugly appearance, a sudden panic arose that made her stomach ache.

She struggled to maintain her composure, but the other person had lost all basic judgment, seemingly mistaking her for an endless phantom, and lunging at her to kill her.

Just as she loathed and feared the possibility of herself being ravaged by calamity, the other party also showed her an irreconcilable hatred.

After transforming into this form, she no longer remembered what "she" looked like. She only instinctively loathed Mayumi Haga and instinctively wanted to tear apart the phantom that appeared before her, unable to distinguish between reality and illusion.

The two fell into the shadows at their feet, intertwined, blocking everyone's view.

The moment she touched the opponent's disgusting, sticky skin, Mayumi Haga forgot all about self-destruction and other skills.

She ripped off the other person's face, and the other person's rusty knife brutally pierced her chest cavity, their free hand grabbing her ribs forcefully.

The opponent's only remaining eye, unobstructed by an eyelid, stared intently at her, his reason long since lost in the endless battle.

Text: 313. OK, I'll beat up Mayumi Haga the same way.

monster.

This is Mayumi Haga's assessment of herself from another world.

Of course, she didn't think that the other person was much different from herself; she had a very clear understanding of herself.

It was precisely because she realized that she and the "monster" as perceived by the public were essentially the same beings, the only difference being that she wore a human skin while the other party never concealed their true nature, that Mayumi Haga felt a vague unease.

This is the kind of person she doesn't want to become, drifting further and further away from the definition of "human," and already having one foot in the abyss of "monster."

Although she spends most of her time alone, Mayumi Haga always keeps her first lesson as a guardian in mind and strives to maintain her former self as a human being.

Injuries will heal themselves; one should not harm one's body unless absolutely necessary, and should try one's best to live as a human being.

but……

She can actually remain active even without healing on her own, but her physical functions will be affected to some extent.

Even if her body decays, even if her organs and limbs become deformed, even if only a skeleton remains, theoretically, she could still maintain her mobility through a near-immortal blessing.

That would be more painful than being a normal person, but it would also grant more power than being "normal," and it would be easier to lose one's mind.

If a guardian can so easily abandon her own self, does she still remember what she wants to protect?

Mayumi Haga was unaware of this; she had never thought about this question deeply, nor did she ever want to become that kind of thing.

She is indeed someone who is prone to self-destruction and gets stuck on trivial matters. If it weren't for the Guardian lessons that Ulzana taught her at the beginning, she might have become like the Calamity True Bow in front of her.

When she first became a Guardian, the senior Urzana forcefully gouged out one of her dead eyeballs, telling her not to keep something that could not heal and would rot on her body.

Later, there were additional instructions, telling her not to learn reckless techniques and to reduce the frequency of self-destruction...

"You should know that as humans, the functions of our limbs are limited," Senior Urzana said to Mayumi Haga, opening her palms towards the child. "What if you only have two hands, but there's a situation where you need an extra hand to grip a weapon?"

Humans cannot fly like birds, but what if we modified our skeletal structure to grow wings?

There are many things that humans cannot do, but as a guardian, one cannot die. So, is it possible to transform one's physical body to become the most perfect being?

"Don't do that, Mayumi."

Senior Urzana's expression was serious as she stared intently into Mayumi Haga's eyes: "Even if you are to return to the River of Time, you must return as Mayumi Haga, not as a monster with a bunch of random accessories attached."

"Our bodies, the length of our arms and legs, our appearance... the shape of our souls, that is what we are born as."

"If you transform yourself, you are also operating on your own soul. These extra bodies will create holes in your soul, allowing external evil spirits to invade your originally indestructible spirit."

"Mayumi, you're a smart child; you know what to do."

"Cough cough... Hehe..." Yuga Mayumi's throat was slashed open, and blood blocked her airway. She couldn't breathe and could only open her mouth wide.

In a crimson blur, she used her remaining right arm to grab the hand of the person in front of her, using all her strength to prevent the sharp blade from piercing her vulnerable eyeball.

Perhaps due to the side effects of close contact with her counterpart, her self-healing ability was difficult to activate during the battle. However, the opponent was in the same boat; most of the rotten flesh on his body had been gouged out by Mayumi Haga, and one of his four arms had been replaced.

However, Mayumi Haga only had her right arm left, while her opponent still had two arms free.

The opponent's fighting style, which completely disregards himself, is indeed very strange, and his fighting style is quite different from that of Mayumi Haga.

For example, Mayumi Haga could certainly do the same thing—using her muscles to squeeze a weapon out of her body—but not with the same decisiveness as her opponent.

While fighting, Mayumi Haga still considered herself a human being, but her opponent could even attach blades to their tongues to pierce her eardrums, and carried a large number of viruses that would cause her to rot upon contact... It's hard to say how much modification had been done to her body.

Perhaps because the evil form is ten times stronger and the good form is three times weaker, for a time, Yuga Mayumi, whose body had been strengthened by the black dragon, was at a disadvantage.

Her back was roughly opened, and her still-shrinking lungs were pulled out, unfolding like blood-red wings on her back, making it impossible for her to breathe.

In the shadow space where no one else was around, and with both of their self-healing speeds suppressed to the extreme, not only was there a mass of flesh everywhere, but Yuga Mayumi's intestines were tightly strangled to the other's neck.

Amidst heavy breathing, the other person grabbed Mayumi Haga's chin and forcefully pressed her to the ground. Beneath her white hair, which was stuck together in several patches with blood, she aimed at Mayumi Haga's vulnerable temple.

When the first heavy attack landed, Mayumi Haga's vision went dark, and her thoughts even broke down. When she regained consciousness amidst a buzzing sound, there was something stuck to the opponent's axe.

She couldn't immediately distinguish the color, and her mind was temporarily unable to think. She could only passively receive information, watching the weapon, stained with light pink, fall and then rise again.

...Oh, right.

During the arduous process of brain repair, Mayumi Haga realized something.

The other party is also [Haga Mayumi], so they know that their core is located in their brain.

The Calamity Bow was indeed aimed straight at the core.

In her chaotic yet orderly thoughts, although she had never seen such a realistic hallucination before, her idea of ​​eliminating the other party was still no different from before.

Find the weaknesses, and then eliminate them.

Is the other party "oneself"?

That's even simpler; just dig out the core.

The core seems indestructible, but if it's buried inside one's own body, it can prevent the opponent's regeneration...

So she raised her axe high.

One blow is enough to see the brain tissue, the second blow makes the opening even bigger, and what follows is purely mechanical venting.

Sometimes she does this, going a little too far, and she can't control herself.

In my mind, half-corroded by calamity, something was constantly screaming.

But just when Mayumi thought that her opponent had given up struggling and that her brain had been mostly emptied, she still couldn't find the core of her opponent.

On the contrary, Mayumi Haga's intact lower half of her face showed a smile even after the craniotomy.

Mayumi Haga's brain was so badly damaged that it did affect her control over her facial muscles. As a result, with her face covered in blood and her own brain tissue, she gave a bright but somewhat eerie smile.

"Got you."

When Mayumi heard someone speaking, she was stunned for a moment before realizing that it was herself speaking.

The next second, she twisted her free hand and grabbed her own throat.

Text: 314. Mobile Morgue - Mayumi Haga

Mayumi Haga had no idea at which point the difference between her and her opponent began, resulting in such a large gap.

However, because she knew herself well enough, she was able to discern what changes had occurred in the other person.

The first thing is the misfortune that befalls the other person.

This actually shocked Mayumi Haga herself.

As a guardian known for her rapid regeneration, as long as she doesn't give up, she can generally remove the calamity from her body along with that part of her flesh before it erodes her brain.

Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to hold on alone for so long. After all, apart from her, it would be difficult for any of the other guardians to maintain such a rapid rate of physical regeneration. They had already fallen into a deep sleep and disappeared without a trace before her.

But the "self" in front of me clearly went wrong somewhere, and half of its core was eroded away.

Generally speaking, with spiritual protection, calamity could not possibly break her will.

However, the root cause of my being ravaged by calamity is now laid bare.

That is physical modification.

The people of the Alamo world firmly believe that keeping one's limbs intact can prevent the invasion of evil spirits. People who are still alive even after losing a part of their body are more susceptible to illness and more prone to weakness than ordinary people.

The soul has a shape. People who have their arms cut off will often fall into the illusion that they still have arms at first, and the pain and touch of the phantom limb are even more real.

In this child-oriented world, this is called phantom limb syndrome. But in the world where Mayumi Haga originally lived, this is proof that the soul is exposed and unprotected by the body.

Ulzana also told Mayumi Haga that even guardians cannot arbitrarily modify their bodies, as this would put their souls in a very dangerous situation.

Just like the core that stores the soul of a guardian, the soul of an ordinary person also has an intangible form, and is wrapped in a thin film on the outside. This film is protected by the body, thus isolating it from most external influences.

If a part of a limb is lost, the membrane exposed to the air can easily increase the burden on the soul, weaken its defenses, and give external evil spirits an opportunity to take advantage.

If someone relies on their body's ability to regenerate at high speed and modifies their body to enhance their combat capabilities, adding limbs that shouldn't exist, it's like stretching a perfectly sized membrane, causing the membrane's surface to crack under the pressure.

The same goes for the souls of the guardians.

The biggest difference is that the guardian's soul is stored in the core, and the strength of the core cannot be compared with the soul's outer membrane—the former and the latter are like the difference between an iron bucket and plastic wrap.

The difference in core strength between Mayumi Haga and ordinary Guardians is like the difference between a diamond and the iron bucket covering the head of the Buckethead Zombie in Plants vs. Zombies.

However, Calamity is no pushover either. It can take time to corrupt even ordinary guardians. If Yuga Mayumi really reveals a weakness because of her modified body, then it might take tens of thousands of years to take her down.

The Calamity Bow before him was clearly engaged in a long tug-of-war with the Calamity within his mind.

She may be the only surviving guardian, but her curse of immortality has been broken, and worse, she has been afflicted with a chronic poison called Calamity.

At first, it might just be a little pain, followed by the skin starting to ulcerate, and the degree might be so mild that it might just be a little itchy.

This physical discomfort wasn't a problem for [Haga Mayumi]. She just hated herself for not being stronger. She didn't care if her body was transformed into a monster, as long as more people could survive...

But people died faster than she imagined, and even if she grew eight arms, even if she hid razor blades under every muscle in her body, it would be of no use.

【Haga Mayumi】 lacks imagination; she wants to become stronger, but has no clear direction.

Moreover, she soon discovered that no matter how much she developed into a monster, she couldn't protect anyone.

In this parallel world, Mayumi Haga probably didn't receive the so-called first lesson about being a guardian from her senior, Urzana. She didn't care about her appearance or the integrity of her body and had long since changed her perception of herself as a non-human.

However, before the calamity arrived, because she herself had no reason to become a monster, and because the wizard Lania would scold her every time she saw her, and finally put her under a constraint that prevented her from arbitrarily modifying her body and that even if she did modify it, she had to immediately revert to her original state, she still did not take drastic measures against herself.

When disaster struck, she had no choice but to fight with all her might. Her eyes were filled with crimson, and she forgot her friend's warnings... After all, Rania was a thing of the past for [Haga Mayumi] at that time, and the constraints of her youth had long since lost their effect with Rania's death.

The witch never patiently explained any witchcraft principles to [Haga Mayumi]. She was too smart, and such a talented person was not good at teaching, so she simply gave up.

Therefore, in this parallel world, [Haga Mayumi] was accidentally corrupted by calamity because she had modified her body.