Negary pov :

.

Allowing my flesh golem to relax, I commanded subtle adjustments in its posture, conveying an outward appearance of nonthreatening calmness. Yet, beneath this facade, my soul sense remained active, scanning the surroundings with aggressive scrutiny, searching for any signs of an attack.

Alas, my adversary's puppet remained motionless and devoid of expression. Even the mana circulating around it seeming to freeze as I sent a minuscule wave of soul energy toward it.

The small, undulating wave of energy silently traversed the darkness of the hall, imperceptible to all but the keenest mortal eyes. Yet, the Waif's head snapped toward its direction with an audible crack, the void in its eyes appearing to widen as the wave phased through its body without any discernible impact.

It wasn't an offensive move...the energy was too insignificant to harm even a vermin. Instead, it served as a message, much like that Abyssal Ice sword used to do in the first layer of hell.

'𝗠𝘆 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀...

𝗗𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗺𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗺. 𝗛𝗼𝘄𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿, 𝗜'𝗺 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗮 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀.

𝗜'𝗺 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗱....'

This was what the message conveyed...a bare bones scripted apology not worth a rat's ass...but enough to start off a conversation and convey non-aggression.

'This should also tell me if there is actually someone inside that body or if it's merely a scarecrow...' I thought as I waited for the spirit's response, be it with words or actions...

"𝑯𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎..."

A soft hum, reminiscent of an otherworldly lullaby, started echoing in the air like a spectral melody with no apparent source, and with unknown meaning.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

My attention, however, remained fixed on the Waif's body as it finally started showing a response.

In a grotesque display, her mouth contorted unnaturally, stretching far beyond the limits of human anatomy, resembling a voracious maw.

As her lips parted, a single sound escaped—an unholy screech that pierced through the eerie silence of the hall...

"D̸̡̨̟̣̲͉̰͖̼̪̣̬̾̄ͅẽ̸̡̧͓͈̮̬̗͓͈͊͆͆̄͆̃̔̊̉͊͗͆̃͜ͅà̷̧̱͙͎͓̼̭̩̙͖̳̼̦̪̞͒̔̅͛͐̋̕͝͠ä̶̖̞́̋̾͛́̀́͝͝͝ả̸̫͔̞̙͍̓͒̈́̋̂̾͆́̌̕͘̕͠a̴̡͕̖͖̜̬͔̟̥̻̞̗̪͒̽̈́̊́͜ả̴̖̺̪̱̝͎̽̽̍̈́̾̔͗̋͒̽͘a̷͘̚a̷̜̙͙̩̣̪͗́̉̈́ͅa̸̢̡̧̧̱͈͇͓͈̱̠̥͒̓̔̐̌͒̏̈a̴̪͚̼̻̲̍̈́̂́̉̎́̿̔͠ą̵̨̹̭̺̝̟̘̙͕̎̆ţ̶̻̞͚̘̻̦̈́͑̇̏̀̃͝ḧ̴̦̫͓̻̮̖́̉̈͒̆"

Black blood oozed from the sides of her distorted mouth, staining her sickly face.

The screech itself was meaningless, but the words it conveyed were clear. Just like my earlier message, it was imbued with soul energy, so I could literally feel the hate and madness emanating from the corpse.

'This thing...It's like a dog with rabies' I thought as Its mouth abruptly snapped shut, as though an unseen force seized control, forcefully silencing the noise.

"𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗜 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝘆 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆?"

I inquired into the hollow expanse of the hall, a charming smile adorning my face. I also dismissed the puppet for the time being . It was evident that the disembodied voice held it's leash somehow.

The hall fell into silence once more, a pregnant pause where not even the sound of breathing dared to disturb the stillness. Then, the disembodied voice echoed from every corner simultaneously, as if challenging me to track it's origin.

"𝑯𝒆 𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒆, 𝒏𝒐 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂𝒑𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒆𝒔, 𝑴𝒓. 𝑫𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒏. 𝑰 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒚 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖. 𝑨 𝒔𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒗𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒍 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒆, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒛𝒆 𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒍..."

As the spirit continued it's ramblings, and I only half-heartedly listened because something was beginning to happen to the corpse puppet in front of me.

The Waif's tainted blood defied the laws of gravity as it elegantly coalesced along both of her burned hands. The inky substance (which I now recognized to be an extremely dense soul energy) metamorphosed into two sinister, sword-like appendages each with a wicked-looking blade.

Simultaneously, the ambient mana, once peacefully orbiting the Waif, surged toward the newly formed blades.

The air crackled with an ominous energy as the blades grew sharper, radiating a reddish glow.

In the hall's cold silence, the blades seemed to hum with a malevolent intent, echoing the impending chaos they were destined to unleash...

"𝑰𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒈𝒊𝒇𝒕, 𝑰 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂 𝒔𝒘𝒊𝒇𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔.....𝑯𝒖𝒉?"

The omnipresent voice abruptly stopped, as though recoiling in disbelief.

As for the reason why...

*Splat*

'Who knows?' I pondered silently, observing as the once-Waif's body split in two opposite directions, cleaved symmetrically down the middle.

I allowed a small smirk to surface, sure of the fact that it would be seen by my opponent.

'It's truly a mystery...'

.

.

.

.

-----------------

A.N :

"He did not want to settle for a small job barely scraping by. He refused this notion.

He wanted to be at the top.

His ambitions led to him planning his life, and to do that, he had to work hard.

Realizing that he needed a scholarship if he wanted a good life, he devoted himself to school and made sure to get perfect grades.

Countless hours all to make sure he was at the top. This seemingly tasteless life was lived with absolute dedication, all to fulfill his ambition.

Although his life was seen as monotone to many, the thought of his ambition being fulfilled left him extremely happy."

-Some random workaholic Isekai MC