Nara, since when are freaking abyssals, of all things, my allies? I trust you since you seem quite certain about this one, but it doesn’t make sense, does it?

  It makes perfect sense, it is merely that I can’t explain it without revealing information that would get me smitten, figuratively

  Huh… Do I have some abyssal powers?

  No

  That’s unfortunate. I remember hearing that things like the Abyss were incredibly powerful. I was told that plenty of great warriors and mighty heroes died because they let themselves be touched by just a small drop of abyssal matter… Can you imagine how useful that would be if, instead of flammable liquid, I spewed Abyss directly in the face of people?

  The idea was quite attractive. I would be able to slaughter people who were way stronger than me with something like that…

  Oh, I think our friend is starting to reform.

  The scattered pieces of the abyssal’s body I gathered coalesced, reforming into his spherical head and eye… Why does this guy have a cute, puppy-like eye? Is he trying to appeal to me, or did he look like that from the start? I didn’t really get to see him before that swordswoman divided him into what feels like thousands of pieces.

  Thankfully, it seemed like she and her little group had only been here for the abyssal and not me. Otherwise, the one in pieces would probably be me. I didn’t witness much myself as I was hiding underground, but my cute assistants were freaking out about what was going on up here to me.

  I had never seen them so flustered by something before. They were mesmerised by the spectacle of powerful adventurers fighting…

  Well, I guess they are still–

  “W H A T I S Y O U R N A M E, O H O L D E R O F P U R P L E?”

  Holder of purple… What kind of title is that supposed to be?! Because I have purple eyes? I am fairly certain I’m not the only one with purple eyes in this world. There are people walking around with several heads that each have their own distinct personality. There is nothing special about purple eyes!

  It is the particular shade of purple that matters

  Mmh…? Hold on…

  “S–Say, what’s u–up with the colour purple exactly? Would you mind–mind explaining this?”

  “Y O U H A V E T H E P U R P L E, T H E R E I S N O D O U B T A B O U T I T”

  “Y O U A R E A N A P O S T L E, J U S T L I K E T H E D A R K B L U E M O O N”

  I am so confused… The more I conversed with this guy, the more questions I have, especially since he doesn’t freaking answer anything! He just spits cryptic nonsense without pause! What the hell is an ‘Apostle’? Is the ‘Dark Blue Moon’ a person? Or is it an actual moon for some reason? What even is the significance of being an Apostle? And why does that entitle me to have a casual discussion with an abyssal?!

  “L–L–Listen, Buddy… Just explain yourself in clear terms, and why don’t you speak in an easier ma–nner so that I can under–understand you better?”

  “Like this, Lady Apostle?”

  “Holy fuck- You could do this this en–entire time? Hold on–on, you know what? Don’t respond to that and just keep going…”

  “I am not too clear on the details myself, Lady Apostle. I can sense an innate sense of kinship toward you, but I can only explain why with words, thanks to having once met with a True Void Being who explained such things to me”

  True Void? That’s another realm that is about on par with the Abyss in terms of the danger it poses to anything that isn’t itself…

  Once again, the heavy amount of education I was put through by my parents proves itself useful. Rifts allowing ‘True Void’ to seep in are even rarer than their equivalent for the Abyss or any other realm full of nasty stuff, as far as I know. Just looking in the direction of a being from this realm is enough to kill someone.

  And apparently, abyssals and voidlings just sort of hang around together and hold casual conversations? The image is nothing short of hilarious, at least, the way I imagine it would hurt my stomach if I still had one.

  “You may not have a direct link with the Abyss, but another Apostle–Another Holder of Purple–Rules over the Abyss. As such, I felt naturally inclined to meet and help, Lady Apostle”

  “We–Well… Aren’t you… Huh… Nice? I am afr–fraid that the people hunting you down would turn me into a memory without even trying to, th–though. I think that the best–best way for you to help me is to not be around”

  The abyssal, who was still just a spherical head standing on a thin black thread, seemed to think for a few moments.

  “You are right, Lady Apostle. I can do more whilst being away”

  I get the feeling that his intentions are a bit more elaborate than just ‘being away’, but as long as he listens to me in some way… I mean, who can boast about not only conversing with an abyssal, but also having one call you ‘Lady’? Politeness can take people a long way. If he hadn’t been so amicable and respectful, I might not have helped him get back together.

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  So, it is safe to get him back to normal, right?

  I am certain of this. The abyssal holds only good intentions toward you, viewing you as kin to the so-called ‘Dark Blue Moon’

  I see, well then…

  I gathered the squirming little bits of the very polite creature of horror and doom, allowing him to return to his original form, looking as though he had not, in fact, been absolutely destroyed by a single woman and a sword just a little while ago.

  It is honestly maddening that she could just chop an abyssal like that. Just who was that woman? And why did she look so puny despite being so strong? Where were these thick limbs, pulsing muscles, and incredible height? I may hate the dragon bitch, but at least she looked the part of being strong. That swordswoman looked like she spent five hours every day prettying herself up instead of building more muscle mass.

  I didn’t take a good look at the rest of the adventurers, unfortunately, but it just wasn’t normal to be so strong yet look so weak of body… Was she one of those who believed that skill was always superior to brute strength? Did she not understand that having skill, AND brute strength, was the true superior option?

  Are you going to add that random woman you barely saw to your hate list?

  What are you talking about? I don’t have a hate list… And three people wouldn’t count as a list anyway.

  So you are adding her…

  Don’t worry about it.

  “B–By the way, what is you–your name?”

  I asked the abyssal, expecting a pronunciation challenge.

  “I do not have a name. Is such a thing important?”

  “It is pre–pretty useful, let me give you one”

  At the mention that I was going to be the one giving him a name, the abyssal instantly seemed far more interested in the concept…

  That’s weird, that abominable creature from the depths of a realm of corruption is kind of cute. He reminds me of the dog I had when I was a little gal.

  Now that I think about it, that dog never had a name, huh? I never even bothered to check whether it was a male or female. I just found it one day and decided that I liked it… Pets are nice. They are inferior to sapients in pretty much every aspect, but they make for far more endearing individuals than people.

  Mmh… How about…

  “Sylbi. Your name is Sylbi”

  “Thank you, Lady Apostle!”

  ___

  Sylbi was a bit of a weird encounter. I met the abyssal and bid my goodbyes in a very short amount of time. So I was quickly back to just staying in my cosy underground, experimenting with my powers and wondering how to better decorate the place.

  Naturally, I had built another maze-like tunnel system with the intent of trapping people inside in the future. This one was even more complicated and refined than the last one, as I had decided to put my dear accomplices to good use by having them bring me some materials, which allowed me to build areas with a higher ceiling and wider hallways, putting some diversity down here.

  Nara did not get my infatuation with tunnels, but at least my cute assistants quite enjoyed playing and exploring the tunnels. Naturally, this place also included tunnels that were closed off, which only I could use.

  That way, my personal space could not be invaded by whoever I decided to trap in my torture maze of joy.

  It also prevented my focus from being disrupted as I tested my abilities.

  Curses, in particular, were proving to be a challenge. My lack of skill and talent in the domain of energy manipulation was catching up to me. I still only had two curses in my repertoire, and they were still rather… Meh, as I would put it.

  The one preventing healing sounded great, but the way in which I could apply it brought it down by several notches. I could only apply it if the injury I was targeting was inflicted by me, whilst I was attempting to cast said curse, it needed physical contact, and it required said contact for a while.

  If the target was even just a little bit capable of energy manipulation, they could completely nullify me because I was just that incompetent at casting.

  As for the ignition of ash… I could only achieve it because the ashes were created whilst I was taking my fire bath and were freshly made. So, in short, they had a strong connection to me that allowed for a curse to be applied.

  But the curse was just a glorified distraction that could be achieved by just… Throwing regular ash into someone’s face.

  If I didn’t know that I sucked at energy manipulation, I would have been extremely embarrassed.

  Nara is full of good advice and ideas, but my sheer lack of talent holds me back tremendously.

  Damnit, a living curse that can’t cast curses at all… This is ridiculous! Is there nothing I can do to increase my talent or something?

  Well… Your talent in casting curses should have already increased a lot, considering the amount and quality of curses you absorbed…

  So, my talent is so bad that even after improving it tremendously, I am still terrible? Was my talent in the negatives or something?!

  I used to not care much about this. After all, I was beautiful and physically gifted in every way. I had no need or interest in magic or anything related. Now, casting curses by manipulating negative energy was specifically something I was supposed to be able to do. I had literally gained an innate ability to do this!

  But I still struggled so much? It would be a bit disheartening if I were emotionally weak and in constant need of validation.

  I guess I can only wait and gather more curses to feast on before actually progressing in that regard…

  In comparison, my ghostly activities were going a bit better now.

  I used to struggle a bit with this as well, but unlike with curses, it wasn’t a matter of skill or talent, but of experimentation and testing.

  I had lots of souls and high quantities of various negative emotions to use, so I spent a lot of my time using the furnace. It was also a nice change of pace since, when using the furnace, I looked like my human self, which felt very different from my current body.

  Not to mention, my cute assistants would compliment my looks all the time here. But it was no wonder, what girl wouldn’t want to be me? I was literally the ideal woman.

  The souls I owned would also try to plead with me sometimes when I shoved them in the furnace. Giving them false hope before cooking them with negative emotions was always a delight.

  But apart from all of this, the greatest joy was the discoveries that I made…