I don't want to be an elf!

Standing atop the tree, looking around, Nia Honjo asked with some confusion.

This cursed child was clearly professionally trained, as could be seen from her movements.

Well-trained, calm and collected, attacking with restraint and dodging with order.

Therefore, she is probably not a homeless, cursed child, but rather the initiator of a certain police officer's life.

What's strange is that police officers usually work together as a team, but Nia Honjo searched for a long time and couldn't find her facilitator nearby.

"We can't sense anyone else's presence. There's no one else here except us."

Nibekol focused his attention and searched the surroundings, but did not detect any other biological presence: "Could it be that it thought its Initiator couldn't defeat this Gastrea, so it just ran away?"

"If that's the case, then our trip today wasn't in vain."

Gastrea are divided into five stages. With each evolution, they possess more Gastrea Factor and have stronger self-healing abilities.

Based on Nia's observations, this Gastrea is most likely a Stage 2 being. Its animal characteristics are very simple, and even without the murmur of the text, it is immediately obvious that it is a Gastrea possessing both crab and snail factors.

Against these defensively specialized Gastrea, if the Promoter has no combat ability and the Initiator has no combat-type Gastrea factor, it's really hard to say who will win.

Soon, the battle not far away was also coming to an end.

As the cursed child's strength gradually dwindled, she could no longer maintain her previous high level of dodging, and the Gastrea found an opening in her defenses.

Under the Gastrea's relentless attack, she was swept away and fell like a bird with broken wings.

The stick in her hand was also broken into several pieces.

"Huh? Isn't that a colored weapon?" Honjou Nia asked in confusion as she saw the lime color showing through the broken stick.

Gastrea have an extremely high self-healing ability, and it is impossible to effectively damage them with ordinary weapons.

Even the cursed children must fight using weapons made of a special metal called "Hua" to suppress Gastrea's self-healing abilities while accumulating lethal damage.

This cursed child, despite appearing to be an experienced Initiator, wields only an ordinary baseball bat.

No wonder I haven't been able to kill it after fighting for so long.

"Miss police officer over there, could you please help me?"

The cursed son shakily stood up from the ground, his head bleeding profusely, and he did not look well.

But while remaining wary of the Gastrea's movements, she calmly said, "As you can see, if you don't act soon, I might die."

They actually noticed us?

Nia Honjo raised an eyebrow in surprise.

The two of them didn't make a sound from beginning to end, quietly watching the battle from the sidelines. They never expected that the child who was focused on the fight would still be able to spot them.

"We're ready to act without even asking."

Nia Honjo jumped down from the treetop and landed steadily on the ground: "However, to avoid any trouble later, let's make it clear beforehand that you won't get a share of the commission fee."

"No need, as long as you can deal with this Gastrea."

"Hmm, you're a reasonable and good child. As a reward, I'll give you one-tenth of the commission."

"...I really don't need it. Please, you and your partner, take care of this Gastrea as soon as possible."

"Huh? You don't want it? Really?" Honjou Nia asked in surprise again. "I'm not being polite, but if you're going to be polite, then I won't be."

"Please...hurry up..."

The cursed child's eyes twitched a few times, but he still patiently said, "This Gastrea is on the verge of evolution. If we don't act now, it will take a lot of unnecessary effort before it reaches Stage 3, and the commission fee for you will still remain unchanged."

"Phase three, huh?"

Honjou Nia stroked her chin, lost in thought.

The main reason she accepted the commission this time was to test how well she could fight without using the Whispering Tome.

After all, in the original work, Nia Honjou almost never participated in any important battles and even joked that she had no fighting ability. Later in the original work, Mio Takamiya left Ratatoskr and even replaced her as the new analyst, always doing support work in the back.

Therefore, the girl had absolutely no idea what level Nia Honjou was capable of in battle.

This Phase 2 Gastrea is clearly a good target for testing strength.

Because it possesses the characteristics of a crab and a snail, its attack and movement speeds are very slow, but its defense is very high.

With the blessing of the Divine Armor, a mere Stage 2 Gastrea posed no threat to her.

"Phase three it is. A little challenge will better test my true strength."

Nia Honjo made the decision and then commanded, "Nini, go and hold it off!"

"Yes!"

Upon receiving the order, Nibekor immediately focused his attention, enveloped his entire body in spiritual energy, and charged towards the Gastrea.

With her exceptional mobility, she spun the cumbersome Gastrea around in circles, its pincers unable to grasp her at all.

The gastrulators were enraged, and their gastrulatory factors became more active, further accelerating the pace of evolution.

Watching Nibelkol entangle with the Gastrea, the wounded, cursed child opened his mouth, as if to say something.

This was the first time she had ever met someone who deliberately allowed Gastrea to evolve.

However, as a wounded soldier unable to participate in combat, it would be ungrateful to say anything more at this point, so in the end she said nothing.

"I hope you have a correct assessment of your own abilities."

Now, as a burden, she could no longer fight and could only limp over to Honjou Nia's side to watch the battle together.

"squeak----!"

About ten minutes later, stimulated by Nibekol, the factors in this stage two gastrulator became overactive, and it quickly evolved into stage three.

The crab's shell was covered with many sharp spines, I don't know if they were hedgehog or porcupine genes, but they certainly didn't look like a joke.

"Whoosh whoosh!"

The spikes loosened and shot towards Nibekol like bullets. If she hadn't been on high alert from the start, she would have been hit by now.

If one were to be struck by these black spikes, each more powerful than a bullet, even with the extra defense provided by the Divine Armor, the injury would be far more severe than a mere scratch.

"Hmm, this level is about right."

Honjo Nia mobilized her spiritual power and prepared for battle.

"Well then, it's my turn now!"

Chapter Twenty: The Strongest Blow

After Nia Honjo entered the arena, Nibekol stopped and stood with the other cursed child.

However, she did not immediately let her guard down, and even while watching the battle, she still kept her attention on the fight.

After a while, once she was certain that Nia Honjou was able to fight Gastrea with ease, she finally felt relieved.

Although Nia Honjou's Divine Armor is only the lowest-level C-rank, and doesn't provide much of a boost compared to other combat-type spirits, it's still not an easy task to catch the slow-moving Gastrea.

Nibekol turned his gaze to the girl beside him and, idly introducing himself, said, "Hello, my name is Nibekol, and yours is..."

"...Is this really the time to do this? Your facilitator is fighting Gastrea."

"It's alright. If nothing unexpected happens, that Gastrea won't pose a threat to Mom."

"Mom, Mom? You're that policewoman's... lady's child?" The girl's eyes widened slightly.

"Yes, I was created by my mother."

"I really didn't expect that." A hint of envy flashed in the girl's eyes. "I didn't realize there was such a special combination among the police officers as you two."

The girl naturally regarded Nibekol as the cursed child, while Honjou Nia was even more naturally regarded as her biological mother.

The vast majority of mothers are devastated after learning that their child is cursed.

Abandoned, drowned, buried alive, and so on—countless girls, shortly after being targeted, left this world before they even had a chance to open their eyes and see it.

Those who are slightly luckier, like the girl who was sent to the International Initiator Supervision Organization, at least get a name and are raised with minimal resources.

For her, "mother" was a word that seemed unattainable.

That's why she was shocked and envious when she learned that the police duo in front of her were actually a mother and daughter.

Although... she fundamentally misunderstood.

Nibekol was not the cursed child, and Nia Honjo was not her biological mother.

“You still haven’t told me your name,” Nibekol asked again.

"We probably won't see each other again, and one of us might even die tomorrow. What's the point of knowing each other's names then?"

"At least we can remember that we existed."

"Very nice words."

"Hehe, I learned that from The Girl Who Killed Heaven."

"This isn't a compliment... Fine, I'm speechless."

The girl wanted to say something, but looking at Nibekol's silly grin, she suddenly felt that the two of them might not be on the same intellectual level.

Even if I explained it, the other person probably wouldn't understand.

It's better to save your energy.

So she closed her eyes to rest, hoping her injuries would heal faster.

“Why didn’t you tell me your name?” Nibekol nudged her arm. “Don’t you have a name?”

"Can't you just let me rest in peace for a while?"

"Oh fine."

Nibekor finally shut his mouth and looked at Honjou Nia, who was still fighting fiercely with Phase Two.

However, not long after, she spoke again.

"Can I call you Braids?"

"You have terrible taste in nicknames."

The girl opened her eyes, revealing a pair of dead fish eyes: "Even elementary school students wouldn't directly use someone else's hairstyle as a nickname."