"Fei-Fei! Are you okay?!" A voice cried out, prompting two figures to turn their heads and see a man with a tattered blue robe. One of the figures was in a dark robe and the other had blue braids.

They were inside the Yue Clan's temple, waiting for him to arrive. The temple's ornate stone was cracked and broken from a serious battle, but still stood strong. Despite the new enemy the two seemed more preoccupied with something else, which warranted worry.

They looked at each other and asked, "Is that Yue Kai?"

Yue Kai didn't wait and lunged forward, before abruptly freezing in place. On the ground was the body of a girl wearing a black dress. Her stature was small, and blood was leaking from her lips. The worst part, a large section of her side was missing, causing entrails to fall onto the ground.

Yue Kai stared at Yue Fei before a shadow covered his face. "No... Fei-Fei..," A short pause, and he looked up with bloodshot eyes, "DAMN YOU! SUGAWARA SLAVE!!"

From behind a pillar, a teenage boy emerged with straight white hair which appeared ethereal. His eyes were lifeless, but inside them was an array of jewels and azure skies. His body swayed from left to right as he faced Yue Kai, requesting, "Please die."

Instantly, the blue-braided Livia used her Gateway and teleported herself and Yue Fei to a different location. This left her partner, Li Wei Jie, shocked and confused, "Why did she leave me with these monsters? Hey, Kaneyori, you'll let me off at least, right?"

"Uh oh..." Before Li Wei Jie could react, an invisible distortion of space from Kaneyori, and and fist of monstrous energy levels hit Li Wei Jie. His body was torn apart in six different directions, leaving one to question why he had a look of bliss on his face despite being killed so mercilessly.

Yue Kai jumped towards the pillar, causing Kaneyori to send a barrage of Blue, missing due to the sheer speed and battle sense of Yue Kai. He could sense small changes of cursed energy in the atmosphere and predict where an attack would take place, within a fraction of a second.

In a short moment, Yue Kai shouted, "THIS IS FOR FEI-FEI!" before launching a fist into Kaneyori's jaw.

However, Yue Kai noticed his fist wasn't able to reach it, as a small barrier of Infinity stopped the attack from ever reaching him. With a blank expression, Kaneyori grabbed Yue Kai's wrist fiercely at the close range between them and chanted, "Reversal Red."

The entire temple began to glow crimson, before a massive eruption took place.

From inside the Yue Clan's Temple, Yue Kai was seen with an arm bleeding a puddle of red into the ground. His left arm was completely gone, all the way to his shoulder. Kaneyori expected him to heal, due to the reports of him possessing self-healing skills. Even so, Kaneyori would use that moment to end the battle.

"Hahaha!"

But to Kaneyori's surprise, Yue Kai was smirking like a madman. This finally revealed an expression of fear for a split moment on Kaneyori's face, prompting him to sweat bullet while trying to escape.

However, it was too late.

"You know the difference between a real domain and fake is their strength. But most don't know that there isn't any of the drawbacks either... It didn't work last time, so let me show you the true power I possess right now!" Yue Kai said, clenching his right fist as tightly as possible, creating a small sphere around himself and Kaneyori.

He smirked and flooded the small area barrier with cursed energy. All the way until it felt like Kaneyori was drowning in an ocean, unable to move.

"Domain Expansion..." Yue Kai clenched his fist with hatred flooding his mind.

"INVERTED SPEAR OF HEAVEN!!!"

Pulling out a dagger with a jitte-shaped blade. All the domain's energy instantly disappeared abruptly prompting Kaneyori to defend himself with his arms.

But just as he covered his face, the dagger pierced through Kaneyori's neck, face, and left eye. It was a ultimate attack of force and nullification which didn't hesitate to erase anything in its path.

"FAN YANG SHUI!" Yue Kai screamed to the heavens, who in response exploded an azure light into the sky. The oceans themselves seemed to be in the air singing.

Then, like Kaneyori's wake up call, diverging torrents of blue energy rushed forward after the attack, collecting all the energy of the domain in a final hit. It was an after-effect of the attack, prompting, double damage! A whole new blast erupted into Kaneyori's head.

But worst of all, there was the cackling of black lightning...

The fabric of space distorted, multiplying all destruction, like a god calling judgement down on the temple.

"BLACK FLASH!!!!!"

...

...

"Holy shit! Who the hell is this, Livia? They are missing a chunk of... well themselves." Gabimaru, who lay in his old straw house, questioned Livia who sat across from him.

She was heaving deep breaths, sensing her cursed energy was almost depleted. But more than that, she showed a deep fear on her face that even Gabimaru had never seen.

"Couldn't save... Yue Fei... H-He is... Still... Ali-..." With that, Livia passed out on the wooden flours. Her body seemed fine, but there was psychological damage that Gabimaru knew he would have to deal with later.

Then, his gaze fell on the little girl. That was, until the lightbulb burned bright in his head, causing his eyes to widen and mouth to gape.

"Yue Fei! That's her... or what's left. Well damn. If she dies here, I won't be able to get that favor from her brother. Ah, what to do..."

In his mind, the Yama's Court appeared, making him want to quickly force out her secrets before she died, but then he remembered that the brother might be able to sense it somehow. Sibling, more specifically twins, seemed to share some kind of destiny. It wasn't worth the risk for the high chance of failure.

Instead, Gabimaru pulled out a Contract, something he often relied on for life-and-death situations, and knew what he had to do.

Gabimaru, created the conditions of a Contract, giving the highest level of favor to Yue Fei. This was the first time he made a Contract with these types of conditions, but he thought it would be the best way to help Yue Fei's condition. Then, he sat cross-legged and pondered, 'How do I even get her to accept...?'

"Oh! I know! This was a trick I was saving to try out sometime, who knew today would be the day. I guess I will be making you a Follower, albeit temporarily." Gabimaru lifted his hands and spent 100 Faith on a Faith Mark.

He gently touched Yue Fei's face, not minding her organs plopped on his sleeping space. With a slight brush, he removed the hair from her face and gently smiled, "You look so tasty, just laying there like that... What a cutie, it would be a shame for you to die here... Right!?"

Grabbing her unconscious head, Gabimaru began to cycle and chant nonstop, converting 10,000 Faith directly into Orders and pumping them into her head.

"Wake up!"

"Resurrect!"

"Don't sleep on me!"

Her fingers twitched as if annoyed by waking up early on a school day. This small change made Gabimaru laugh and continue with even more force. This time, he increased the number to 100,000 Faith into 10,000 Orders, without giving a moment of rest for Yue Fei.

"Hahaha! Either you die or your mind does! Pick your poison! Unless you wake up, everything will me destroyed!"

"Get up, sleepy head!"

"Come on!"

As if a corpse waking up, Yue Fei blinked in utter shock that she was alive. It wasn't even her own doing, but her unconscious jolting awake in a near-death state. Even her heart was not beating, yet she was still awake. The reason for this was her brain was still functioning temporarily, despite not receiving new blood for over a minute.

If prolonged any longer, her brain cells would deteriorate and never recover naturally, causing permanent death. Right now, she was in a state of revival from temporary death, which is already a rare occurrence, especially without a true healing ability.

"Who needs a reversed cursed technique? Huh! I am GOD!" Gabimaru pointed to the skies and gave a middle finger.

The problem with this method was it could only work for a short time. Under normal circumstances, the target wouldn't be able to get up, yet Yue Fei sat with her legs crossed, not minding her entrails making a mess.

"Did you save me?"

Gabimaru stopped gloating and looked at the girl, seeing her dark strands of hair dyed partly in blood. His smile disappeared as he handed her the meta-physical Contract, responding, "Not yet. If you want to be saved, sign that contract. I won't force you, but you can't hold any grudges after for passing it up."

"I see... Is Kai alright?" Yue Fei asked Gabimaru, with blood trickling from her lips. Gabimaru wanted to speed up the conversation, even if she had trouble speaking with her condition, "That's right! He will be fine with just the dark necromancer to deal with. Anyway, if you sign this Contract, you will live and become stronger."

Unknown to Gabimaru, this didn't change the girl's feeling. Gabimaru didn't see her face even twitch a muscle, but he didn't think it was related.

Then, she did something asked unexpected, "Stronger...? Do you think... I'm beautiful?"

Gabimaru rubbed his head in frustration, "Listen lady, I know you are basically high on the feeling of death, but can you focus! Contract or no?"

"If I say yes, will you mate with me?"

Gabimaru jumped back almost in fear, "Gyaaa! This little lady is a freaaaak~! Even people on drugs wouldn't ask that!"

"Am I... Not good enough. I... am... still... unattractive..." She began to cry and fall over, feeling her last moments finally start to reach her.

For the first time, Gabimaru felt truly confused and afraid. He wasn't scared for his own life, but this woman's life. Although she looked small, she was in her twenties.

'The kind of horror she must have experienced...' Gabimaru thought to himself, biting his nails.

"Why doesn't anyone ever want to do it!?" Yue Fei screamed while tears fell onto her organs. This scene made Gabimaru silent, causing a shadow to cover his face.

He wiped the tears from her face and asked, "What makes someone attractive? There are only four factors... But which is most important? Is it their body, is it their personality, is it their status, or is it their face? In my long experience, I've come to understand it to be... Face."

Yue Fei gazed at him in wonder, "Hm?"

"The face is something which can never truly change naturally. The body, mind, and status are always like the breeze, blowing wherever it wants. However, something which never truly changes is something which is real! Something concrete! Something truly worth valuing! It is eternal! It is the unique and persistent curse that defines our very souls!"

"..." Yue Fei's eyes widened at Gabimaru.

But he didn't notice and continued, "Every creature has a symbol which represents themselves! Although I have lost my face permanently, my symbol of Gluttony will never fade! I will always be myself! Thus, the one thing I cherish yet can never fully possess is the epitome of beauty, the face! And you, little lady, have one of the most beautiful faces I've ever seen in my lives."

"!!" A breeze gushed in through the window, moving the hair from Yue Fei's face. On it, she was blushing despite being very pale. She felt her heart throb, despite it being long since out-of-order. She felt a warm feeling swelling inside, and her tears began to dry.

Although she couldn't fully understand it, she wanted more than anything to do so. It was like a fire had ignited in that room, and even Gabimaru felt he released over a decade's worth of stress. His anxiety of his true identity and past life faded, like a burden had been lifted from his soul.

For the first time in a very long time, both of them had genuine smiles that resembled normal people.

"I will sign... Contract." Her Japanese was enough for Gabimaru to quickly understand what she meant. He ran to her hand and pushed the Contract beneath it, giving her the chance to sign with her blood.

While the sunlight in the room began to dim for Yue Fei, she felt her unconscious take over, moving on its own before flopping on the ground. She had finally used her last bit of life.

Gabimaru looked down at the Contract with a nervous sweat, gazing at the girl. He didn't know whether she helped him open up more or he helped her, but he just sat down and glanced back at the sky, removing his Faith Mark from Yue Fei.

"She did it."

ValentineSnacks

End of Volume 3. Will wait for more of the original manga to release more, for a few weeks.