”Domain Expansion: Garden of Limitless Decay”

  Waldo watches as the two of them become entrapped inside of some sort of black veil. He’s never seen something like this before from any sorcerer or curse. Also, what the hell is a domain expansion? Suddenly, the entire environment around him becomes a desolate and dead garden. Waldo looks down, seeing several shriveled up and dead plants, carcasses of animals, and watching as the murky skies and water pour their way into everything. They’re no longer inside of the city. It’s as if he was teleported into a brand-new location.

  “You have mocked my power and I far too much, little spirit. I am Gensui, the curse of pollution and decay. I was born from the substantial loss of the world from its pollution and needless habitual suffering. You have ventured into my territory and caused your petty destruction. And now I, Gensui, will see to it that you suffer a slow, decaying, and painful end,” Gensui says in a normal and non-gurgling manner.

  “Hmph, congratulations for finally having a clear voice. Should I give you a gift or kneel?”

  The plants that lay at Waldo’s feet suddenly spring up and bind his legs together. Waldo attempts to shake off the plants. When that doesn’t work, he generates a shockwave in his hand and shoots at the plants. However, the shockwave doesn’t work, simply disappearing and converting itself into energy for Gensui. Did it just get decayed by the domain?

  “Your attacks have been rendered useless. They will quickly decay inside of my domain. Attempting to destroy your surroundings with your technique is no longer possible.”

  “Is that so? So, this is what a Domain Expansion is, eh? I must say, it’s rather annoying to deal with if I have to say so myself.”

  “You continue to run your mouth rampantly. You won’t ever speak such insolent language once I’m through with you, little curse.”

  Gensui pushes its arm forward and Waldo is suddenly hit with a large wave of unknown force. He can feel his cursed energy being syphoned away as it decays and converts itself back to Gensui. The more that Waldo struggles, the harder the environment and plants grips his body so he cannot escape. Gensui walks forward, treading over the dead bodies and flora, and stands before the bound Waldo. Waldo continues to frantically move around as he glares up at it.

  “It’s time you taste the suffering you’ve inflicted upon others.”

  Gensui proceeds to punch Waldo square in the face. With its transformation and the buffs from the Domain Expansion, the punch does a good amount of damage. Gensui continues to strike at Waldo rapidly and repeatedly. With each punch, more and more cursed energy is syphoned from Waldo, lowering his power. The plants restraining him continue to increase their grip, as if they’re threatened to pull his limbs off. Suddenly, Waldo’s eye glows furiously and he roars, escaping its bind with its cursed energy pressure. In a fit of rage, Waldo managed to concentrate his cursed energy together and multiply it, winning back the power that he had lost

  “You’re in for it now! I won’t allow you to walk away from this humiliation alive! Die!”

  Waldo steps forward and throws a swift punch at Gensui, striking it in the chest and knocking it away.

  “I’m aware that this so-called Domain Expansion grants you some power and some petty tricks, but it will never prevail against the likes of me. After all, I am the War Spirit! I am the ultimate curse!”

  Waldo appears in front of Gensui and throws a powerful combination of kicks at it. Even without being able to use his technique, the cursed energy that resides within Waldo is more than enough to take down Gensui in hand-to-hand combat. That is, if Gensui continues to fight hand to hand. Gensui counters one of Waldo’s kicks by grabbing his leg and slamming his body onto the ground. It then grips both of the legs and throws Waldo up into the sky. The musky water that is present inside of the domain suddenly becomes still and is faced in the direction of Waldo. Gensui points its arm up at the sky with an exerting grunt and the water quickly blasts off into several beams towards Waldo. Waldo spots the several beams of water coming towards him and scans his surroundings for a way out. However, before he can think of a solution, his body suddenly commands itself on instinct to vault over all of the water beams and safely land back on the ground.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Gensui grunts in frustration and recalls the water, changing its direction and sending it back to Waldo. Waldo multiplies his cursed energy again and begins to sprint towards Gensui, dodging and weaving through the water with ease.

  “Your time is over, meat sack! You better hit me harder, or you’ll be forced to bite the curb! Come on!”

  “Silence, you insolent brat! I will not take this sitting down! Haaa! Hydra’s Waterfall!”

  The sky inside the domain expansion begins to grow darker with ominous black clouds. These clouds then release a downpour of severely toxic water. Waldo assumes that enough exposure to this water will cause total paralysis. In order to avoid such a problem, Waldo dodges, weaves, and pushes through the rain. Although he still comes into contact with some of the water, it isn’t enough to completely paralyze him. Gensui sees that Waldo is getting closer and searches for a desperate last struggle. It stomps the ground, causing it to instantly decay and crumble away. The mass decay creates a large divide between Gensui and Waldo, creating a cliff of substantial distance. Waldo makes a last-ditch effort and charges a giant jump, leaping across the large cliff that divided the two curses. The two of them clench their fists, come towards one another, and the two powers collide.

  When two curses become enveloped in a fight, one of the curses must die no matter what. Now, whenever a Domain Expansion occurs in the battle, that statement becomes undeniably, 100% guaranteed. And that is exactly what has happened here.

  The Domain Expansion’s barrier instantly crumbles away. Whatever was inside is now free. Within the domain’s remains, Waldo marches out holding Gensui’s body by its head. Waldo lets go of Gensui’s head and puts his boot on the head, smirking with glee.

  “In the end, you failed to best me. You were an amazing curse, but you fought the wrong opponent. However, because of you, I have learned much more about my abilities and technique, as well as what to expect from others. For that, I thank you. Now, good riddance.”

  Gensui stares up weakly at Waldo. It’s unable to say anything and can only watch as Waldo looks down upon it. Waldo slightly lifts his hand up and charges up a shockwave in his hand. Then, the shockwave is released, destroying the city plaza and exorcising Gensui along with it. Waldo looks up at the sky, in a slight sadness. For as much fun as it had, everything must come to an end.

  Waldo looks at the destroyed city once again. He should figure out more about these new abilities before he ventures out again. Waldo was most curious about this new multiplying application and that instinctual vaulting. His body never moved like that before, and he wasn’t even aware it could in the first place. The multiplying application seems to be too good to be true. Skyrocketing his power in the middle of a battle would be incredible useful

  “What fascinating abilities. If I can further develop these abilities, or discover more of them, I will become even stronger.”

  With this newfound knowledge, Waldo turns around and faces a building. He charges up a shockwave in his hand and releases it. Then, using the new ability, he multiplies the shockwave by 3 to create duplicates of the shockwave, causing the building to be erased. Waldo checks the amount of damage that the shockwaves did and laughs to himself. This battle was indeed useful.

  (I can multiply both my cursed energy reserves and my abilities. Now, to find out how much I can multiply… I’ll experiment with that some other day.)

  Waldo straightens himself up and sighs. While he stares back at the contaminated city grounds, he thinks about several things. What caused the world to fall to such a state? Who was the grand mastermind behind it all? How will the world continue to change moving forward? Questions like this race through his mind like an endless sea. Once Waldo finishes recovering, he gets up and leaves the city. Now that Waldo finished his fight against Gensui, he continues to explore, looking for more worthy opponents.

  (Perhaps if there are areas that contain survivors, that would be most helpful. Those sorcerers I fought from before must have come from some refuge. If I can find a refuge like that, there will be no shortage of opponents. No shortage of warriors.)

  In the hopes of finding a sorcerer refuge nearby, Waldo does a search around the center of New Mexico. He launches shockwaves from the soles of his feet and takes to the air. After flying around in a 10-mile diameter and finding nothing, Waldo decides that he must extend his search, as annoying as that is. And so, going north towards Albuquerque, he continues to fly around in search of opponents. 15 minutes into his flight, Waldo sees something down on the ground below. It appears to be the remains of a camp or hideout. Perfect

  (This must be it. At the very least, if I do not manage to encounter anyone I can search for clues.)

  Waldo flies down to the ground towards the camp. He lands close by and dusts off his clothes. He quickly scans the area and looks around. Upon seeing that the area is clear of any threats or potential hiding spots for enemies, Waldo walks towards the camp site in search of clues.