I… I didn’t take him for that kind of guy.

  My body was made of steel, but I still felt pain. Agony was my only company–Well, the system was here too, I guess.

  But right now, it truly felt like suffering and me were the only two beings that existed in this vast world. It wasn’t as bad as the crushing, but it was indescribably sudden. I did not see it coming at all… And who would have? This Benait fellow had, in the short few moments I had known him, seemed like an idiotic, foolish goody two-shoes, at least that was the impression I had gotten.

  The sort of person that was stupid, but in a way you struggled to get mad against, a bit like with a puppy that soiled your carpets, and yet, that supposed puppy had, without hesitation, gone for the kill at the expense of a fellow of his.

  That just didn’t make sense! That guy had pursued me through the tunnel like a damned lunatic for killing that other guy! Why would he suddenly grow a pair and dare make such a harsh decision right now?! Nonsense! It was nonsense!

  My body had been slashed in half at the waist, but due to having been standing perfectly straight and remaining unmoving, it took a few seconds for my upper half to come sliding off, and as this happened, the blinding pain began to recede, allowing me to actually understand what had just happened in more detail.

  I could hardly believe what my eyes were showing me, but the guard I had been holding hostage had not been bisected like me at all. He was perfectly fine!

  How?! Did that guy sword phase through him or something? Since when do guards get to actually be efficient at their job? And since when do they get to know more than just swing their weapons in a vaguely skilful way?!

  What a travesty!

  Although…

  Did he actually expect me to relax my hold once I was slashed? People do tend to release their grip when they get suddenly hurt. But I wasn’t a person, at least not anymore. Pain was a constant companion of mine now, and more importantly, my body was not made up of muscles. I wasn’t going to reflexively let go of anything, so despite it all, I was still firmly gripping the guard’s skull.

  In fact, getting sliced in half made me so mad that I unconsciously squeezed it into a paste already.

  Well… That’s my bad, but I just get a little moody when my spine is severed in half, you know?

  In any case, in my best bout of acting since that one time at Harvey’s dinner, I let myself fall to the ground like a big lump of metal, face staring right at the ceiling as I willfully enter a momentary state of dormancy, and thus, whatever happens for the next few moments will only be known to be when I exit this state.

  But that happens instantaneously from my perspective, and I only remained ‘asleep’ for ten seconds, but in that time, Benait shifted his attention from me and instead went to check on the guard I had been stepping on since he wasn’t dead just yet, although it probably wouldn’t be long until then.

  Heh… Can’t believe that actually worked. Playing dead shouldn’t have been so easy, even with my excellent acting, considering that Benait shouldn’t have sensed any experience flowing into him as a result of the supposed kill.

  But I went for it anyway, and presumably because he was stricken by grief or something dumb like that, he didn’t pay attention to the fact that he received no confirmation of my death, or perhaps he is expecting to receive it with a delay? Who knows?

  It doesn’t matter. I am going to make him regret ever crossing paths with me–Actually, scratch that, let’s not leave him alive for long enough to actually regret anything, I don’t want to get divided into more pieces than I already am.

  I was about to try and launch myself at him to take a bite, but before I could, I noticed that I could still feel my lower body despite the unfortunate separation it and my upper self had gone through.

  As a Steel-Bound Curse, you do not lose connection or control of your body if it is merely separated from you

  Right, thanks for the intervention system, not like I realised that before you told me about it…

  My legs and waist are still standing right up as well. Benait must be aware that messing with the foot that was currently pressing down on his comrade’s spine was likely to worsen everything, as there would be nothing to keep the now-bent vertebrae in place if it were moved.

  Smarter than I gave him credit for…

  The moment I decide to take action lines up perfectly with the instant my target decides to rise, surely about to go run and find someone to provide medical assistance.

  The swordsman’s gaze flickers, sensing danger- I don’t know if that’s actually what I am witnessing, but he definitely shows some sort of reaction as my legs move, but he does not react in time.

  I raise my foot and step with all of my weight and strength onto the side of his left knee, the sight and sound are to die for as Benait’s face contorts in pure pain.

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  His sword remains firmly in his grasp despite this, but the angle makes it basically impossible to swing his sword with any amount of strength, not to mention that his focus is certainly in shambles at the moment.

  But I am not satisfied just yet. I lean into his knee further before using the twisted joint like a platform, leaping backwards with surprising grace despite lacking half of my body for that motion.

  Mister Swordsman curses loudly. His left leg is bent at a most awful angle. There is no hope for him to put pressure on it. If he is coming out of here alive, he’ll have to do so by hopping on just his right leg.

  Which would be a hilarious sight if it did not have to come at the expense of allowing this hateful sword-wielding maniac to get away from here… Seriously, what sort of madman would try to cut a delicate flower like me in half? I just bit his friend’s head off, no need to be so pissy about it!

  Regardless of my thoughts, my good friend Benait was looking at me like I was his arch-nemesis, the amount of… Of just about every type of emotion and feelings that related to wrath in some shape or form. I didn’t even have a lick of some of those in my reserves until now, and boy, was he filling those reserves quick.

  If using my abilities yields more experience, but if the strength of the thing I kill also matters- Then wasn’t this guy walking–Or hopping–Bag of experience right now?

  That is co-

  Not now, system! I need to focus… I need to get in the mood, let me feel the desire to kill for a moment…

  …Alright…?

  I ignore the uncharacteristic amount of worry displayed by the system and lock onto my prey. Benait’s face twitches with a smidge of fear as his eyes meet my beady gaze, my upper half flips onto its stomach, and my lower half bends its knees.

  The swordsman glances at them both back and forth. I feel confusion and frustration flow from him.

  Didn’t expect that this would turn into a two-on-one? Poor little guy!

  With one leg messed up, let’s see how well you can swing that sword!

  Benait eyes the stairs leading out, but seemingly gives up all thoughts of escaping as I feel his negative emotions fade. What did that mean? Was he instead experiencing a positive emotion? Was this determination? I certainly didn’t feel any resignation…

  Whatever the truth was, I controlled my lower body to kick some of the dirt and rock that covered the ground. Benait was not too impressed by this, but the worry was evident as my two halves both surged forward at the same time.

  It was weird, but controlling two different pieces of me like this was not nearly as complicated as I would have imagined. Perhaps it was due to my immunity to mental strain, but it felt just as easy as operating my full body.

  My legs reached him first, and Benait once again surged forth with impressive speed that even my unblinking gaze could not follow, but just as I expected, with his left leg as good as gone, he failed to muster the same amount of force as he did previously, only managing to leave a deep gash upon my waist.

  That’s cute. Did he try to split my legs apart to disable my lower half? Shame it didn’t work.

  My lower half replied to the unkind gesture by performing an even less nice action, namely, kicking him in the groin.

  A regular kick to that area was a bit unpleasant, or so I heard. But no doubt, being kicked, but with the might of what was essentially a big metal pipe, must be even worse.

  My upper half is sadly far less agile, so I can’t get that part of me on the scene quickly…

  Which might have been for the best, as immediately following my unsportsmanlike strike, Benait cursed again, and his sword lit up with a bright light- My studies of magic, as much as my parents had tried, had never been fruitful at all, but even I was aware that what the swordsman was doing was bad news.

  He was channelling an ungodly amount of his mana into the sword–And the next hit slashed right through both legs like butter.

  I could still feel a connection to them, but without my waist connected to them both, they couldn’t do much at all.

  His sword shattered into countless pieces immediately after, however.

  And my upper half leapt off the ground and tackled him to the ground.

  “VERY IMPRESSIVE, did YOU thinK THat YOU DID SOMETHING THERE?”

  Oh, delightful, my speech was less garbled than before!

  I try to immediately bite his face off, but his hands keep my maw open, his brute strength somehow enough to fight me off in that regard.

  I can even feel my jaw bending inward under his grasp. Is he augmenting his strength right at this moment? That could be problematic. If he had two more arms, that is.

  Grabbing his head, I see and taste panic as he hesitates to let go of my jaw to stop my hands. Neither of the two options is good. He knows it very well, but he instinctively fears my teeth more. The blood on his face from when I bit Grumpy is still here after all, he remembers the ease with which I claimed his fellow’s head.

  If you ask me… I would choose the jaws. It would have been much quicker.

  Because instead of a swift bite to end it all, I pushed my thumbs through his eyes, twisting them inside of his orbits, making mash out of his ocular globes as he screams, his grasp weakens, and before he can steady himself, I bite both of his hands off.

  His one good leg kicks and disturbs the ground as I remove my thumbs and just stare at the bloody, twitching mess that he has become.

  “Don’t DIE on me now… My good friend~ Stay with me~”

  I brush my fingers against his face.

  “You have SO MUCH more of those sweet, sweet negative emotions to give me… So don’t die on meeee~”

  “I’ll PLAY you a little melody, it’s my favourite!”

  “Oh… He’s DEAD already”

  The wave of experience hits me.

  You have an upgrade to choose

  Just one? You aren’t as good as I thought, Benait. Frankly? I’m disappointed in you. What a failure you are, I bet your parents think the same as me!

  …Let’s clean up this place and put myself back together first, all that flesh and steel should be enough to stick my body into one again, I think…