Pirate: The Scourge

“I… am still alive?” Maud opened his eyes and abruptly sat up, stunned to find himself lying on a crude wooden cot.

Before he had a chance to survey his surroundings, a sudden sharp pain stabbed through his head.

A barrage of fragmented images, riddled with fine cracks, whirled through his mind like a revolving lantern.

Unfamiliar. Vivid. Blurred.

Memories, tangled and jumbled, seemed to be the very cause of the pain in his head.

“I was clearly already…” Amid the pain, Maud’s eyes were filled with confusion.

He distinctly remembered being caught up in that uproar at the Hunter Association’s hall, where he had unfortunately been struck by the power of the Wish Machine belonging to the Zoldyck family.

Not only he, but even the protagonist group of the Hunter world and many of the Association’s strongest, had not been spared.

In the face of such an unreasonable force, as if capable of shattering the very boundaries between worlds, he had done nothing at all—yet was struck down regardless.

In a single instant, without even a chance to resist, his body had been twisted like a rope.

The calamity had come swiftly and without warning, but the searing pain lingered, casting the shadow of death over Maud’s thoughts.

Even now, he could almost feel the skin-splitting agony echoing from his flesh.

Only after a long time did the negative sensation left by death’s shadow slowly fade away.

Alive.

That was enough.

Only then did Maud finally have the presence of mind to examine his surroundings.