Bone Whip

Regeneration Magic, huh?

“Oi, NPC, why the hell are you smiling? Don’t you get what kind of situation you’re in?”

“Of course I do. A tough spot where my opponent is a hero from another world—an alien.”

“You too, huh? This world is full of bastards like you, calling me an alien. When did I ever say I wanted to be summoned to this crappy world?”

“Hey, Hero, can we just start already? Looks like the audience is getting restless, and they’re wondering why neither of us has made a move.”

“Hmph- It’s pointless to attack me. I’ll just regenerate. Anyway, I need to find the cursed user hiding in an academy, so let’s wrap this up quickly.”

I glanced to the right, where Imeki was locked in her own battle. She was holding back—something she did far too often. The hero doesn't know that I am a cursed user and thinks I am an NPC, though I don't really know what it really means to be an NPC.

Itsuka, the so-called hero, suddenly stabbed his own abdomen with his bare hands, yanking out his intestines as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

“NPC, what are you gawking at?”

“It’s just… even if you can regenerate, doesn’t that hurt?”

“Hurt? Those bastards experimented on me every single day. They cut off my fingers, legs, hands, insides, eyes—everything, over and over again after summoning me. I got used to it at this point.”

That sounds horrific. If they did that to me, I’d have a grudge against this world too.

     I drew my weapon— common sword. I couldn’t use Imeki to transform into her sword form nor I can use necromancy here and if I did probably all undead will fill this colosseum , so this was all I had. I took a stance Imeki had drilled into me, then leaped forward, slicing cleanly through Itsuka’s neck. The crowd in the colosseum erupted in chaos.
    But what I saw next sent a chill down my spine. The hero’s neck began to regenerate, blood pouring as tissues reformed. His head, still on the ground, stared lifelessly at me as a new one formed on his body.

“That’s… actually horrifying.” I shivered in disgust looking that.

“Like I said, even if you behead me, my body will naturally create new organs.”

I pressed my hands to the ground, summoning a magic circle that called forth the illusioned corpse of a dragon.

“Holy crap, that’s so cool! First time I’ve seen a dragon since coming to this world,” Itsuka remarked, amused clapping his hands looking fascinated.

With a sickening squelch, he sliced into his shoulder, reaching inside to pull out his own spinal cord. As he yanked it through his neck, his body contorted awkwardly, the lack of a spine making it hard to stand. But within ten seconds, he was upright again, a brand new spine regenerating inside him while he held the old one like a weapon.

“What the—are you seriously going to use that as a weap—”

*WHIP!*

I dodged, barely avoiding the strike.

This is beyond disturbing. I’ve never fought someone like him before. Should I use my necromancy? No, it will create chaos too If I summon human zombies out of nowhere.

I commanded my dragon to attack, the massive beast lunging at Itsuka the hero. But with a swift motion, he used his spinal bone to slice through the dragon, bursting out from within the creature’s corpse.

“Good thing I decided to use my spine as a weapon instead of my intestines. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to slice through it,” Itsuka said, unharmed.

Should I use Imeki? If I turn her into a sword, maybe I could force him to surrender. I can’t kill the hero, but there must be a way to win this. But this might get me killed.

The hero lunged at me, unleashing a flurry of strikes with his spine-whip. I barely managed to block with my sword, but the impact sent me skidding back five meters.

What the hell…? My sword is broken now. I glanced at Imeki, who was still battling her own opponent. She looked at me, but I signaled for her not to help. I couldn’t be more pathetic, relying on her like this.

“Haah, why the hell was I even summoned here? There’s no Demon Lord or anything, just hunting down cursed kids. Even finding them is my job! For fuck’s sake, let’s end this, NPC.”

With a savage grin, the hero dug his fingers into his own eye socket, ripping out his right eye with brutal force. As usual, it began regenerating immediately.

What is he thinking? Wait, no way—judging by his hand movements, I can’t dodge this.

*CLANK! SPLASH! GUSH!*

I tried to defend with my broken sword, but it was useless. The hero flicked his eyeball with his thumb like a bullet, shattering my sword completely and piercing my heart. The pain was intense, and in that moment, I realized this was the end of Arnes Hyouki.

Death is always unexpected, huh? I guess I was cursed from the start.
To Be Continued...