I woke up in a brightly lit room, I saw my stuff scattered around the room. I half expected her voice to come from the kitchen, but again I only half expected it.

Beyond the Shoji, I could see a silhouette of a man cooking something, ‘What the hell the Harz is doing here?’ I wondered as I slid the door open.

Harz greeted me with a smile, “Brother, you need to rest I will be making breakfast for you.”

I tried to remember the last thing that had happened to me and I flinched at the very thought, I touched the place where the star had pierced me.

I sighed, “I am all well Harz, surprisingly there isn’t even a scratch.”

Harz coughed, “You must be kidding me, there is no way in either heaven or hell that you can recover from such a wound overnight.”

I smelled burnt food in the air and scoffed,

“Is this the first time you have been cooking?”

Harz’s eyes widened as he turned back to see an hour’s worth of hard work on fire.

He quickly removed the fish from the stove and shoved it on a plate, “My bad, but your attempt to distract me failed, now quickly show me your wound.”

Harz tried to touch me but I quickly slapped his hands off, “And you failed to distract me from the fact that I will have to eat bitter and black fish as the first thing in the day.”

Harz began to laugh, “Fine-fine, but if your wound worsens it won’t be my fault.”

There was fried fish and rice for breakfast, Harz was already digging his food, while I muttered a silent prayer to the lords above, to let me out of this damned island.

Harz asked, “You look more jovial than usual today Aoyama, What’s the matter?”

I stopped in the middle of my prayer and looked right into his eyes (not his right eye), I didn’t no whether I could trust Harz or not. I began to eat.

However my silence wasn’t enough to stop Harz from pestering me, “Fine I will tell you. Just don’t laugh at me.”

Harz nodded with complete sincerity, “I believe I have found my purpose, I want to venture to the outside world.” It wasn’t the complete truth but it wasn’t a lie either.

Harz was surprised, to say the least, “That’s impossible Aoyama, to venture out of this island you must be an exemplar in your field, combining it with paperwork and other eligibility criteria it will take you a decade or two.”

I was wordless, Why would such a simple task need such complex procedures, But again the island’s government wasn’t the only one that did stuff like this.

“What’s stopping me from taking a boat and running away?”

“Well, you can try that but the Beach Patrol is quite vigilant and they are always looking for opportunities to beat the shit out of people.”

“Is King’s approval enough?”

“Well it is, but to get to the King you need Vongotski’s stamp of consent, and well to do that you must appease Vongotski, and according to my experience Vongotski is a son of a bitch.”

I scoffed, so now I had to meet with the man who had voids for eyes and obsidian for a heart.

“Fine Harz, there is nothing to lose here.”

Harz raised his eyebrows, “There is stuff to lose here Aoyama, Vongotski isn’t a man who you should feel safe with, even while having a light-hearted talk.”

I chuckled a bit “You make it seem like Vongotski is the Devil himself.”

“You never know Aoyama.”

***

I was in front of Vongotski’s modest house, at least it was far better than the shack I had been living in for my entire life.

I looked behind me, Harz was standing beyond the grasses solely focused on me with a pocket watch in his hand. He was pacing around the fields, expecting Vongotski would eat me as soon as he opened the door.

‘Can that old geezer even throw a punch properly?’ I thought.

The door in front of me opened, and Vongotski’s grumpy face and hollow eyes greeted me, “Are you here to lodge a complaint?” he mumbled.

“No, are you available for a minute sir?”

The door opened further and Vongotski sunk deeper into his house, I looked around. It was the same as the last time, dark, lifeless, and congested (that was surprising since the house barely had any furniture).

Vongotski seated himself in front of me, while he began scribbling on a piece of paper.

“Sir, cutting straight through the point, I need your consent to go meet the king.”

I heard a growing raspy laughter coming from the person in front of me, and for the first time saw Vongotski facing me, those dark hollow eyes eating the life out of me.

“An impatient one aren’t you, People like to ramble, but you won’t, you know what only a few know or should know. But you should be careful, for we don’t like those who know things that only we should know.”

My heart was racing and there was jitter in my body, “What are you talking about sir?”

Vongotski smiled, “You got them back, didn’t you? Your memories?”

How did Vongotski know, and more importantly, what will he do now? I had answers to none of those questions, I tried to get up but I was glued to the couch.

Vongotski got closer, I smelled cigars, he whispered in my ear “Cursed Mansion”

The house began to transform around me and Vongotski disappeared, I was on the floor of a brightly lit corridor and there was a line of Shojis beside me with hundreds of silhouettes behind them.

I got up and looked around, there was no exit. And my worst fear came true. Hell had come, I was surrounded by humanoid creatures but without skin and only flesh that too rotting. The worst of the worst was that they were staring at me.

“I won’t be your food,” I muttered as I began running opposite to them.

They had started chasing me, I had to get them away from my back, and one leaped from the wall at me. I slid beneath him and resumed sprinting.

I quickly turned and jumped straight into a Shoji, the door gave away and I landed in a vast room.

The damnations had caught up, and I punched straight into the face, causing one of them to fly into a wall, sadly I was surrounded by hundreds of them, and my fist was bleeding from a single punch.

They ganged up on me, twisted my arm, bit it. Well, this was the end, until I saw a familiar old man walking on the ceiling. That bastard Vongotski, was here to enjoy the show. Well, I will give him a show that he will never forget.

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“Perfect Harmony!” I said, and my lungs ruptured, I spit blood. Well, that was that, but I felt stronger and faster than before.

I took on a few of them more, however, it wasn’t enough they had bitten my foot, and punched through my gut.

Even the Grip Reaper would’ve pitied my condition, to my displeasure Vongotski was worse.

The Damnations had pinned me on the floor, while that geezer gracefully landed in front of me.

The voids were fixated on me, “Listen, you little prick, I understand it wasn’t your fault that you got your memories back, however, it’s my job to keep people like you away from others.”

I was shaking with rage, I wanted to spit on his smug face and spit I did.

“You little prick, I will have you tortured for eternity.”

I used my ace in the hole, “Give & Take” I exchanged positions with one of the damned. And the first thing I did was to kick that geezer on the face.

His jaw and pride, both were broken, and he quickly jumped back and disappeared again.

And I was surrounded by those Damnations again. But two things had changed, first I was gravely injured (which wasn’t good) and second I understood how the ‘Cursed Mansion’ worked. I gave a light tap on one of the tatami mats and I was flung on the ceiling.

My head had begun to ache, calling the experience disorienting would’ve been an understatement.

Adrenaline pumped through my veins as I dashed towards the Shoji, the Damnations were stacking among themselves to get me. At least they were stupid enough to not have understood the trick.

To my dismay, Vongotski changed the rule of the Mansion, and I began to fall, but I used a ceiling ply as a jump board and I broke through the door and began in the corridor.

With around a hundred creatures of hell behind me, I began running, that was the best thing I could do currently.

I had to find a way to destroy Vongotski’s Spirit Technique which had manifested itself in the form of this mansion.

I had only one thing in mind, I wanted to get home. And no one was going to stop me.

If I had to kill a hundred damnations I would do that, I leaped on one of the Shojis and the hoard of the damnations plunged me straight into a new room, I quickly slipped past through all of them, while they were bewildered to find them alone in a room without their prey.

The floor suddenly gave away, and I fell into another room. My bones cracked and I could barely stand up. My Spirit Energy had depleted.

That bastard was in front of me again, he kicked me in the gut, and I was wreathing in pain.

“You know Aoyama, my Spirit Technique is the strongest defense technique and is among the strongest, like that of Harztone, Samurai-san, and the Monk. I am telling this so that you know that I am one of the strongest.”

It was an odd time to boast about their strength, but I went along with his rambling. The Damnations had arrived and had begun chewing my body apart.

Vongotski chuckled, “Don’t worry Aoyama, it is their way of welcoming you into the family.”

I screamed as Vongotski disappeared again.

***

The bell echoed in Harz’s ears as he collected his material and exited the classroom, he was gradually gaining pace, tension mounted on his temples. He looked at his pocket watch, Four Hours, It had been four hours since Aoyama had gone to Vongotski’s house.

Harz could only hope that Aoyama had safely returned, but his gut replied to the contrary.

He was moving with a brisk pace, he quickly passed the gate and was in Karl-Marg, the guard gave him a dirty look as he passed. Harz could simply ignore them or give the dirty looks to Aristocrats.

He Spirit-Gazed towards Vongotski’s house and his heart raced, what the hell was happening there?

Vongotski had manifested a Tier-1 Spirit Technique, just to eliminate a man who would lose to dummies.

Harz began to run, but the Spirit Technique turned off and the Mansion began to collapse towards the center.

Harz banged on Vongotski’s door, the door pulled open with a weak old man hiding behind it as if he was afraid.

“What did I do to be blessed by your visit Harz?”

“Where is Aoyama?”

“Oh, he left an hour ago. Did you check in his house or by the lake?”

Harz’s blood was boiling, and he kicked the door, as Vongotski tripped on the floor.

“You listen to me, old man. Only a fool uses a Tier-1 Spirit Technique when alone, and I wish you were a fool.”

Vongotski slowly stood up his body shaking, but he didn’t expect another kick on his face.

“What the fuck is wrong with you? I don’t where Aoyama is, why don’t you listen to me?”

“Oh I do listen to you geezer, but I don’t believe you.”

Vongotski shrieked as he crawled back, “Don’t you dare do anything, you won’t kill me for a lowly fisherman, will you?”

“That lowly fisherman is my friend, and yes I won’t kill you. But I will make sure you will see it as a better alternative.”

Vongotski began to laugh as one does in the face of death, to console oneself that it will be all right.

“What do you know about your ‘Friend’? You don’t know who or what he is, and I believe even he doesn’t have a clue.”

Harz grabbed the old man by the throat and slammed him to a wall. “Listen, Old Man, I don’t care about who or what is he, but what I do care about is that- he is my friend and he needs my help.”

Vongotski began to laugh even harder, and leaned towards Harz’s face,

“Welcome to Cursed Mansion.”

The house began to transform, and Harz was surrounded by Victorian-Era figurines, walls, and paintings. He tried to take a step ahead but tripped on a vine. Vines intertwined around his body.

As he heard the Senile Old Man’s laughter, “The youth nowadays is so susceptible to basic tricks, people at my age had to make elaborate plans just to lure people in.”

Vongotski had rambled enough for one day, as he disappeared into a void. Now he could only hope for peace for the rest of the day.

Damnations began to surround Harz, they had got two preys in one day for the first time.

But they stepped back, as they also for the first time felt- fear.

As laughter echoed throughout the mansion.

It wasn’t the laughter of a dying man, but rather of the man who had earned a title against which the Damnations would be considered meek rats.

The Damnations cowered as the World’s strongest man laughed.