The Primal Hunter

Temlat undoubtedly had one person he hated more than anyone. An individual that represented everything he despised above all else. Despised how she was just sitting up on her floating island, staring down with mockery at the average folk beneath. She had been such a shitty person Temlat had even awakened his innate curse affinity due to how much he hated her.

This hate was felt throughout a huge part of the planet as Temlat descended upon the cloud island. The others infected by the cursed plague, even the C-grades, backed away instinctively when they saw the cloaked figure approach. Be it because they sensed the dangerous energies he emanated or simply his power, Jake didn’t know.

Landing on the floating island, Temlat began levitating forward. A few times, he reached out and made a guard or servant erupt in black cursed flames, rapidly consuming them. Jake made the educated guess these were servants of the mansion he hadn’t been a big fan of.

Following along, Jake remained true to his promise as he only observed. In his sphere, he saw the woman Temlat was aiming for, hiding with two others inside a room with heavy magical seals on it. A safe room of some kind, it appeared.

Considering the state of the mansion, a large metal box buried toward the middle stood out quite a bit, and Temlat approached it at a steady pace, not rushing at all but keeping a calm demeanor. One side of this metal box was partly transparent, allowing the people inside to look out but no one to look in – outside of people like Jake who had high enough Perception to entirely ignore the one-way glass. Temlat clearly knew they could see out as he floated down in front of the box, and his voice echoed out from beneath the hood, showing the Cursed Plague Remnant had gotten a better hold of his new form, even capable of transmitting sound now.

”I hear you’ve been looking for me… well, here I am.”

Promptly, the one-way glass became two-way, revealing to Temlat the three within. Standing at the glass was the woman who had originally hired Jake to ”retrieve her pet.”

The woman who had set everything that was happening into motion. She looked through the glass at Temlat, clearly unsure what she was looking at.

”My dear? What happe-”

A huge blast of black flames shot at the metal box, making it rumble, and the magical formations crackle from the sheer energy.

”Do not call me that!”

”I… why are you doing this? No, it cannot be; my sweet little one isn’t like this,” the woman said in denial as she leaned onto the side of the wall, looking scared. However, some-fucking-how, she gathered herself and took on an adversarial stance. ”You are from those dirty slums, aren’t you!? I’ll tell you, when the security forces arrive, you’ll be in big trouble! Are you also the one who hurt my dear little one and stole its gentle visage?”

Temlat looked at her, seemingly lost for words for a moment before he just started laughing. The cloud of curse energy around him ebbed and flowed as Jake found not a single trace of happiness or humor in his voice.

”It. You keep calling me an ”it.” Tell me… what is the name of your former dear little pet? Do you even know it?”

The woman just stared as she seemed offended. ”My dear was always called my dear; it didn’t have a name.”

The response was swift and decisive. A massive inferno of black flames erupted all around the metal box, burning away at it incredibly rapidly. Curse energy and plagues both sucked against magic formations like this, but the sheer energy output was enough to rapidly overwhelm the defenses. One crackle after another sounded out as the magic formations broke, and the metal itself began to break apart.

”Then allow me to remind you. Let my name be the last word you ever hear and your final memory: Temlat.”

With that, the metal box broke apart. The two other women in the box died instantly as nothing more than collateral damage as the flames enveloped the source of Temlat’s hatred. She didn’t share the same quick death as they suffered. Her screams began to echo as the Cursed Plague Remnant floated in front of her, controlling the black curse flame.

a good while, the only thing Jake heard was the woman’s screams, with only the faint echoes of battle in the background. Temlat was not in a hurry, as he did what he

sighed and used One

”It’s enough,” Jake said.

ever do to her!” Temlat’s enraged voice echoed out as

her will accomplish nothing beyond this point,” Jake spoke in a calm voice. ”To end her Path is the ultimate revenge. To sever her impact on the world and allow her Records to fade into obscurity. That is the true way to destroy someone. Erase her from

moment as he finally released a pulse of power. The flames intensified, and after a final scream of pain, the woman’s entire body disappeared, not even leaving ash behind. In the final moments, a bit of curse energy was released from her dead body, but Temlat instantly motioned and scattered it, refusing to allow it to

in anyway. Not just because

his time to take responsibility as a teacher. To see if Temlat truly

be satisfied and never reach their goal. Jake’s Eternal Hunger would always demand more, always be a glutton, to the level where it would try to consume Jake if it got too famished. In the same way, Temlat would always need an outlet for his Sin Curse of Wrath. Sin Curses were based on emotions that couldn’t be killed simply by fulfilling them. Wrath was something internal. What you yourself felt, regardless of what you direct your wrath at. You would always find a new target to hate, always find a new outlet. Not feeding the curse would only result in an internal

begin to hate life itself, hate the entire world. This often resulted in someone infected by a Sin Curse of Wrath simply losing their minds and beginning to mindlessly destroy anything and anyone around them, only stopping

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if they began to lose control because the curse grew too powerful for them, they sealed it away. A bit similar to what Villy had proposed Jake could do with Eternal Hunger if the weapon ever got too much. He could ”sever” it from himself and have it sealed away and drained of energy until the weapon just became an inert object many, many years later. It seemed like a waste, but it was better than Eternal

couldn’t seal away his curse. He was

of Wrath, with the only reprieve coming when the curse also took his own mind… or if he managed to fight it long enough and stay lucid, see himself fade away and die in a struggle against his own

now?” Jake asked

at where the source of his hatred had died. Where he had killed her. Jake felt that a sense of emptiness and lack of purpose had begun to affect the curse energy

a symptom of a disease… one that only a plague

what

you have to. I will stay and watch as promised… and once you’re done, let us speak once more. As you

decisively as he took to the air, Jake focusing

yet. While the whole planet was effectively just one massive city, there were more dense areas than others. Temlat had resided in the second-to-most dense area, with only one other place having more people living there. With more people also came more C-grades and the closest thing to a government this world

they weren’t fit to fight. Temlat also had an army with him, as the central

to stay clear-headed even as the cursed plague infected them, but their calmness only made them targets of the irrational rage

the target of the curse of wrath. No longer was it merely those in power… it became those withpower, too. Those with the potential to grow powerful and become the ruling

From there, the slaughter truly began. Those who had been fighting side by side before began to butt

infect practically every single person on the entire planet. Due to how everything was constructed, there were truly no places to hide, and as long as someone – anyone – knew who and where you were, you too would become infected. It also helped that the

to the ground, viewed as monuments of oppression. The mines were blown up and collapsed,

planet was borderline unrecognizable. Not a single towering building remained standing as the entire surface of the world was covered

Jake had kept to his promise and witnessed Temlat carrying out his Path. He nearly stepped in many times, but at every instance, he stopped himself upon confirmation that Temlat remained lucid and in control despite everything. As long as

of the day, he also saw that Temlat had grown in level far more than he had ever expected possible for a newly evolved C-grade… but he had also seen how it hadn’t increased in a day, communicating he had hit a wall. One he would find very difficult to

of Wrath – lvl

the planet, meaning none remained. Jake released a Pulse of Perception and did see some survivors. Not many, but there were some hidden beneath. E-grades, children, the

was floating above where the governmental head office had once been. Now, it was only a huge black crater as Temlat had burned away even the debris to