Unknown Level Curse…
Jaune woke up that morning and looked out the window. It was a bright day. It was finally Noah's ninth birthday. Jaune — Noah's father — went downstairs and found Noah also staring out the window. He looked worried; the clouds looked like they were running. "Hey, son, happy birthday," Jaune said, patting his son's head.
Noah let go of the windowsill. "Thanks, Dad." His hair was long, kept in a ponytail to prevent it from getting messy.
His mother was something else entirely. She leaped from the top of the stairs and, as she fell, shouted, "Happy birthday!" Noah caught her, and she hugged him so tightly she nearly crushed him. "My baby is such a handsome man now," she said out of nowhere.
"Haha, thanks, Ma." Noah smiled at his mother.
His mom placed a hand on her son's cheek.
"Forget that, Ma — let's go see Grandpa and Grandma. They must be up already," Noah said, turning and walking toward the front door with a smile. It only took a minute to reach his grandparents' house. They were old, but his grandmother still tended her garden, and his grandfather still chopped wood like a champion.
Noah remembered how, when he was younger, his grandfather would tell him about the outside world — or what many called the world beyond the sea.
"Hey, Granny," Noah said, pulling his hand out of his sweater pocket and waving at the old woman. He jogged over and hugged her.
"Oh! There is my boy — becoming a fine gentleman, just like his father. And you have the same blue eyes as your mother. That will give you a bonus with the ladies."
Noah looked down. "Y-yeah, yeah… thanks, Granny," he said, looking sad.
"Baby, do you like boys? If you do, it's okay. You don't have to worry about that — we love you exactly as you are," his grandfather said, placing a hand on Noah's shoulder.
"N-No, I like girls. It's not that… All the girls on the island see me as a problem because of what I do." Noah looked up and saw his parents and grandparents wearing sad expressions. "No — it's not your fault. People can see me however they want to. I only care that you don't see me as a nuisance or a weirdo. I chose to train. I know it wasn't my decision at the beginning, but I knew that if I told my parents, they would agree and stop my training — so I decided to continue on my own." Noah held onto his amulet, the same one he used to kill curses. "I care about love, believe me. But I care more about my family," he said, smiling brightly. "Sorry — I don't know how to explain myself."
At that moment, Noah's teacher appeared, a book in his hands. "There's the birthday boy," he said. "Noah, I got you something — I found these while searching for old books during the church renovation. This one is about the blood symbol on your hand. There's only one volume, which makes no sense, and it's written in another language. Then I found these eight volumes about water — all for the birthday boy." Noah's teacher smiled, handed him a wooden box, and hugged him.
Noah looked at the books and set them aside. "I'll take a look later. Thanks, Mr. Lee." He looked at his father. "I'm nine now. It feels unreal. All the experiences I've gathered since becoming an Exorcist — nothing, and I mean nothing, will make me regret what I've learned. All the girls here might think I'm strange, and that hurts, but I care more about how my family sees me. This is why I love you all. You don't see me as a monster or a weirdo. You are all too important to me, and I promise I will protect every one of you." Under his breath, he added: "Even if it kills me."
Oh.
Oh, poor Noah. What a naive little boy.
That night — that cruel, evil night — was strangely calm. The ocean was unusually quiet.
It was a few days after Noah's birthday. He had already read all the books his teacher had given him. He learned that he could create red water at will and fire it at great speed. The one thing he still could not do freely was turn it to ice. The water had to remain in contact with his body to freeze, and that came at a cost — when he used ice, his arteries froze slowly, spreading through his entire body. But he found a workaround: precise punches. He could strike an opponent four times before the freezing became overwhelming. He did this by coating his fists in water, so that upon contact, the water transferred and froze against his opponent's body. He also learned to use the water to slow incoming attacks.
But nothing could have prepared him for what emerged from the deepest part of the ocean.
That night, footsteps were heard across the entire island.
Giant footsteps rising from the ocean floor.
There was only the sound of those massive, thunderous steps — and then everything else went silent. The only other sounds were the doors of every house on the island swinging open. Clouds churned in the night sky, and thunder cracked — the only light, flashing for a few seconds at a time.
Noah did not wake up because of the loud thumping shaking the island. No — his mark was burning into his hand. He got up and went downstairs. His parents were outside.
They stood frozen, their faces tilted up toward the sky. Noah moved toward them, but they didn't notice him. As he stepped outside, he looked up into the darkness.
Seconds passed.
A flash of lightning illuminated the night sky, and he saw it.
An unsettling smile. Eyes like a cat's, staring down at the island. Its legs were impossibly long — long enough, Noah assumed, to reach the ocean floor.
"I — found — you." The voice reverberated across the entire island. Windows shattered.
Noah watched one of the creature's hands arc through the sky and slam into a house nearby. The people close to it tried to run, but the hand crushed them, leaving only a pool of blood and broken remains. Men, women, children. The thing did not care. It began smashing every person and animal in its path.
The chapel was destroyed. What was Noah doing? He was in shock. Everything and everyone were being destroyed. His eyes were wide open, and when he blinked, everything went silent. He saw his mother and father shove him out of the way — and then the hand swept across the ground, obliterating everything in its path, including every bone and organ in his parents' bodies. Their deaths were instant.
Noah looked around. "M-Mom…" He saw his mother's hand. Every bone was broken. Her body was several meters from where he found it.
He looked around. "Da—" He stopped. He found his father's head. Just his head.
He was shattered. Noah was consumed by despair. And then one more thing: his teacher, the man who had taught him everything, came flying through the air and landed where Noah could see him — lifeless.
Noah looked around. Everything destroyed. Everyone dead. Except him. Why?
Noah's tears fell. "W-why? WHY ME! WHY HAVEN'T YOU KILLED ME!" he screamed.
It began to rain hard.
The sound of Noah's heartbroken cries was swallowed by the thunder.
The creature began to chuckle.
Its hand swept down and slammed into him. Just before impact, a pillar of crimson ice surged up and shattered, absorbing enough of the force that Noah was not killed outright.
His power wanted him alive.
Noah was hurled into the ocean and skipped across the surface three times — like a stone across a lake.
When he finally stopped, he began to sink. A bubble formed around him and began to heal him. His arm was broken, his lungs punctured, and he had internal bleeding.
But he was special. The water loved him.
No one else in the world was loved by water.
Just him.
For four days and three nights, Noah drifted in the currents of the sea until he was carried ashore on one of the main continents.
This is where the story truly begins.
In the city of Euphra — one of the three greatest empires.
In a world abandoned by God.
On the destroyed island, a book lies open to a single page.
The page reads:
In my life, I have experienced love many times. Sometimes love is intoxicating, and you feel that you could give your life to protect a person.
Other times, love doesn't last, and you end up trapped in a hollow relationship that turns into something you hate with all your soul. This is how curses are created — from the evil within people — and it is where I find myself looking most. People say I am unique for being able to see such things. But if you can see them, they can see you too.
I decided to avoid women.
I train day and night, my body and soul answering the call of duty — because, as you can see, I am an Exorcist. In this rotten village, on this rotten island.
Sometimes I want to leave — to live alone beyond this island, freely, wherever the sea might take me. If there is an outside world, it must be beautiful. I wonder sometimes if there are more people out there, if there is a place where I can be happy, where life is calm, where I can escape this curse — the curse of the Exorcist, the curse that forces us to see disgusting monsters. The eyes of an Exorcist can see evil; they can peer into hell itself.
I hate this world. The world of Abel, the land of Abel — they all say I look like him. But they compare my mind to that of David, from the legend of a land far away where giants and humans live and wage endless war against one another.
On this little island of seven hundred people, there are only two Exorcists. Even if there were only one, the people here would be fine.
This is why I wish I could leave. I am skilled enough to kill curses with Exorcist tools, but I know nothing about myself. I don't even know much about my own ability — the gift God gave me the day I was born.
It is just my teacher and me, and the largest library on the island.
Someday, I want to be free.
The book closes. A chuckle fades with the sound of giant steps retreating. "Little brother Abel… where are you?… Oh, there you are." The chapel is completely crushed beneath a monstrous hand. Every book is destroyed. The only things left intact are the statues of the two lovers. The monster releases a roar that echoes across the entire world — and then vanishes into the darkness.