Chapter 219: How Can This Be a Human's Cursed Energy!!!
Dagon was ready, awaiting the long-overdue moment of victory!
This was actually its first formal battle. After all, it had only successfully molted from its Cursed Womb state into its current form today; the process of preying on humans as a Cursed Womb could hardly be called a "battle."
Although the process had been quite pathetic due to its lack of technique proficiency and combat experience—nearly leading it to follow in the footsteps of its two fallen companions—it had won in the end.
This was not only its first victory but also the moment it successfully avenged Hanami and Mahito. In a single instant, it understood the supreme pleasure of turning the tide from a disadvantage to victory, and it understood why humans completely lost their reason when faced with hatred.
Human wisdom truly was wonderful... Even those who followed useless rules regarded "slaughtering one's entire family" as a reasonable method of revenge; truly excellent. Even Dagon, who previously hadn't been fond of conflict, had now successfully understood the pleasure of combat.
It was decided: once this incident was over, it would find everyone related to its opponent and kill them all. Otherwise, the fire of rage in its heart could never be extinguished. Even if this guy died, Dagon's "family" could never come back to life because of it.
The battle wasn't even over yet, but Dagon was already beginning to feel emptiness and sorrow.
That feeling was normal at first, but after brewing for several seconds, Dagon finally began to feel that something was slightly off. Hadn't it already designated the target of the curse? Why hadn't the effect of the curse started to activate yet?
"Could it be... you actually don't have a heart?"
Dagon even considered this unconventional possibility, refusing to look at the alternative.
"No, I don't think I've reached the point where I can function without a heart. I'm not a zombie," Emiya replied.
"The reason I'm still standing here is right there in your hands, isn't it?"
Emiya's tone wasn't nearly as aggressive as Dagon's. He simply reached out and pointed at the scales in the spirit's hands.
"...What?"
Hearing this "kind" advice, Dagon was momentarily stunned. Then, with a trace of suspicion, it looked down at the Cursed Object in its grasp.
It was fine as long as it wasn't looking, but the moment it did, its eyes widened in disbelief. It saw the scales—which should have been tipped firmly toward the gold side—violently swaying back and forth as if a pair of invisible hands were toyed with them at will.
But how was this possible? This was a Special Grade Cursed Object. The curse covering it was something even Dagon itself couldn't be immune to. Why would this happen? A [Binding Vow] that was supposedly indestructible was no joke.
"What is going on... is it broken?!"
Even though the scales seemed as if they were about to collapse at any moment, Dagon didn't dare directly touch or interfere with the swaying lever. Kenjaku had explicitly warned it about the precautions before handing over the tool. Any form of interference during the comparison process would be viewed as a violation of the [Binding Vow], resulting in a random punishment.
Essentially, the curse would trigger directly on the interferer, randomly stripping an organ from their body without any targeting. Dagon naturally didn't want to make such a mistake, but the problem was... no one had ever taught it how to repair a broken Cursed Object!
"Hmm... How could a Special Grade object like this break? I think the reason it's acting like this is because it hasn't collected enough cursed energy information yet."
As someone who could be called a master blacksmith with a profound understanding of rule-based constructs, Emiya guessed the reason for the error at a glance.
The cursed energy Emiya currently used wasn't all stored "on" him; he was more like a faucet connected to a pipe, able to draw upon it at any time. He hadn't even been able to test his own total cursed energy capacity; it was unlikely this Special Grade object had the capability to trace back to his source and use it as the standard for judging quality.
The situation was clear: the object sensed that his cursed energy wasn't as shallow as what was currently flowing through his body, yet it couldn't find the true source.
Hence, it swayed violently as if it were being overloaded. If the gap in quality were truly small and hard to compare, the scales would have simply stayed level or swayed slowly.
The solution was simple, and Emiya had already thought of it for Dagon.
"Since there isn't enough cursed energy information, I'll just provide it with enough."
Next, Emiya did something very simple: he directly coated the surface of his body with cursed energy, using it as a shield and a clear signal of his fluctuations.
"What are you trying to do?!"
Seeing Emiya's movement, Dagon instinctively thought he was launching an attack and immediately called forth a mass of water to swirl around its body. In contrast to its high-alert stance, Emiya hadn't moved a single inch from his original spot.
"No need to be so nervous. See... isn't the Cursed Object fixed now?"
"...Huh?"
Hearing Emiya's words, Dagon looked down at the scales with doubt—and saw a scene it would likely never forget for the rest of its life.
On the silver tray of the scales, the pitch-black mass representing Emiya's cursed energy was pulsing like a heart, growing increasingly solid with every throb. When the pulsing reached its peak after a few seconds, it suddenly acted like a cracked egg, dripping a thick, viscous black liquid from the bottom.
In moments, this thick black liquid filled the entire tray, pressing the scale down toward the silver side without any suspense.
"This... what is going on? Impossible?!"
Realizing the situation was wrong, Dagon began frantically pouring its own cursed energy into the Cursed Object, trying to overturn this crushing situation. It couldn't imagine why its energy as a Special Grade cursed spirit would be crushed by a mere human, or why the opponent's manifested energy looked so bizarre.
But no matter how hard it poured its energy in, the scale acted like a black hole, absorbing it without limit while the lever didn't shift a fraction of a millimeter. It was as if a decisive weight had already been placed on the other side; no matter how much Dagon added, it couldn't change the predetermined outcome.
Finally, after pouring in so much energy that it began to feel faint without shifting the scale at all, Dagon realized: this was a bottomless pit that it could never fill. And based on the actual performance, the Cursed Object hadn't been broken at all—the only thing "wrong" was Dagon itself.
It didn't understand this object, and it didn't understand how the gap between its cursed energy and the opponent's could be this vast. This exceeded the quality gap it had originally expected to win by. Dagon thought it was the hunter and the opponent the prey, but now it was being told: not only was it the prey, but the opponent wasn't even a hunter—he was a gargantuan entity it couldn't even see the top of.
"It shouldn't be like this. A human's cursed energy can't possibly be this massive... What is happening! Where does this terrifying energy come from!!!"
The only possibility Dagon could think of was that Emiya was carrying some other item, causing the scale to misjudge the energy of another object. However, this time, Emiya used a different tone to cruelly shoot down its thought.
"You say a human shouldn't have this kind of cursed energy, but aren't you also born from human cursed energy?"
This was a fact the cursed spirits already knew; there was no need for Emiya to explain it. He only wanted to express one thing:
"So, judging by the standard of the Cursed Object, the one who lost... no, the cursed spirit who lost is you, right?
For all those humans you killed, having your heart stripped away is merely your deserved retribution, Cursed Spirit."
SQUELCH!
In the next instant, the object resting on the gold tray of the scale abruptly transformed into something ugly and hideous.
That was Dagon's heart.
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