A mass of cold, brilliant blue flame engulfed the Servo-Skull. Like venomous snakes in a frenzy, the twisting fire poured continuously into every orifice of the skull.
Although Nakamura had been muted, the violent trembling and convulsing of the skull showed that this was an agonizing process.
The monitoring instrument beside it showed that the temperature inside the brain had reached 41°C and was still climbing.
This was an abnormal reaction; there must have been a flaw in Kenmei's psychic spell.
Kenmei hadn't used this memory-scanning spell on Nakamura earlier because he was a novice and wasn't proficient with it yet.
If he accidentally caused brain death with the spell, torturing a soulless body would bring Kenmei no psychological pleasure or sense of revenge.
After Nakamura endured the torture of having his soul nearly torn apart, Kenmei successfully activated the spell just before his psychic energy went out of control.
The blue flame created a bridge between Kenmei and Nakamura—a one-way street where only Kenmei could view the other's memories.
A screen appeared in front of Kenmei. The psychic modification had formatted Nakamura's memories into a video file. Kenmei just had to drag the progress bar to access any memory from any time.
He had zero interest in Nakamura's upbringing or his life before becoming a psychopath. He dragged the bar straight to the part he really wanted to see.
"The day my sister was murdered."
Just thinking about it sent a sharp pain through his heart.
As a victim's family member, reliving the victim's tragic experience was practically masochistic.
It was like tearing open a healed wound.
Kenmei took a deep breath and clicked on the screen. Once the playback started, under the spell's effect, he entered the scene directly.
But unlike the dark, rainy alley he imagined, Kenmei found himself in a luxuriously decorated living room.
The exquisite interior was now a mess, with items scattered everywhere, showing signs of violent struggle. The white walls were splattered with large patches of blood, some even reaching the ceiling. It was a shocking sight.
This was clearly a gruesome murder scene!
Kenmei inadvertently glanced at the debris under his feet and met the gaze of a severed head with wide, staring eyes that had died with grievances.
The face was twisted from inhuman abuse, covered in bruises and signs of rot. Being stared at by eyes filled with such fear and helplessness was enough to make anyone's blood run cold.
Kenmei was startled, but he quickly realized this wasn't his sister's head; she never wore hair accessories like that.
It looked more like the first idol Nakamura killed. Her long purple hair was matted together, making her original appearance unrecognizable.
Unless he was mistaken, the huge black garbage bag in the living room likely contained the victim's torso.
He had dragged the progress bar to the wrong spot. Kenmei exited and re-entered.
He adjusted the bar again. When he opened his eyes, he was in an alley.
The scene before him nearly suffocated him. The walls of the dim alley were also covered in splatter patterns of blood.
It was pouring rain. A large puddle had formed in the alley due to poor drainage.
At Kenmei's feet lay a single girl's loafer, quietly resting in the rainwater.
The strap was broken, and on the wet label inside, the name "Sakura" was faintly visible.
Kenmei could almost see a panicked girl running wildly in the rain, tripping heavily, and then continuing to run without caring about her broken shoe.
His sister's phone lay casually on the ground. The lit screen showed a photo of the two of them, now stained with blood.
"Hahahaha!"
Nakamura's manic laughter rang in Kenmei's ears. As the scumbag's body moved, his blade fell, and a slender arm dropped to the ground.
Splash. It fell into the mixture of blood and water, the sound crystal clear.
Gritting his teeth and clenching his fists, Kenmei stared at the scarred arm. On the wrist was a four-leaf clover bracelet—the sixteenth birthday gift he had given her.
Kenmei couldn't watch any further.
He was afraid. He was afraid to walk over and see his dying sister calling his name with her last breath.
He could do nothing but watch her die.
But at least half of his goal was achieved. He now knew why there was residual Cursed Energy on his sister's dismembered body.
It was the blood-drenched boning knife in Nakamura's hand. It was a special Cursed Tool; the Cursed Energy fluctuation on it chilled Kenmei to the bone.
It was definitely Grade 1 or higher—possibly even a Special Grade Cursed Tool.
Cursed Tools are weapons imbued with curses and energy, graded like Sorcerers from Grade 4 up to Special Grade.
Special Grade is the highest standard. The heirloom sword "Nue" of the Isayama family was a Special Grade Cursed Tool.
It was strange. Although the Sorcerer Association only had one Special Grade Sorcerer, there were several Special Grade Cursed Tools, each with unique techniques.
Every Sorcerer craved their own Cursed Tool. Demand exceeded supply internally, so how could one end up in civilian hands?
The probability of such a high-level tool appearing in the hands of an ordinary person was infinitely close to zero.
And after Nakamura was arrested, the whereabouts of that high-grade tool became unknown.
Thinking of this, Kenmei canceled the playback.
He began searching Nakamura's memories for information about the boning knife.
Considering the possibility of it being a family heirloom, Kenmei searched for a long time—from childhood to adulthood, learning even how many times Nakamura wet the bed—but found no memory of the knife.
Kenmei also discovered that the idol was brutally murdered with the same ominous knife.
The knife seemed to appear in Nakamura's hand out of thin air. It was absurd.
Kenmei concluded that someone had tampered with Nakamura's memories, erasing the knife's origin.
But Kenmei wasn't one to give up easily. He dug in.
Finally, he found a fragment of memory that felt jarringly out of place.
Although it was just a fragment, Kenmei saw a woman whose face was unclear but who had a very distinct line of stitches across her forehead. She said something to Nakamura.
One second he was normal; the next, he became utterly insane.