Someone in the Multiverse, Transformed into Fu Hua at the Start Chapter 41

"Is Shier a Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerer?"

Fushiguro was somewhat surprised. Although he knew the curse inside Shier was incredibly powerful, wasn't the curse inside Yuji just as strong? That wasn't how Special Grade was rated.

"You didn't come to training this morning, so you wouldn't know."

Gojo Satoru explained, "Don't let little Shier's appearance fool you. Even without letting the other her out, she still has the power to exorcise Special Grade Cursed Spirits~"

"That really is surprising..."

Fushiguro sized up Amber again. He couldn't see how such an introverted, gentle girl could be that kind of powerful Jujutsu Sorcerer.

After all, powerful Jujutsu Sorcerers were all a little unhinged one way or another.

The three chatted idly outside, waiting for the two inside to finish their business and come out.

The main target of this test wasn't actually Yuji, but Nobara, who had come from the countryside to the big city.

Compared to the countryside, the city had more people and greater stress, so Cursed Spirits were generally much stronger and possessed a certain degree of intelligence. Whether Nobara, who could handle rural Cursed Spirits, could keep up with Tokyo's pace—that was what Gojo wanted to see.

It wasn't that she'd be expelled if she couldn't keep up—Jujutsu Sorcerers were too rare for that. It mainly affected her ranking and future mission assignments.

Fortunately, neither of them disappointed Gojo. Although Nobara wasn't exceptional in solo combat and lacked in both physical technique and stamina, her technique was rare and powerful.

As long as someone could create a situation where the enemy was injured—whether it was a limb or blood—she could use those to deal damage. She was essentially a very strong finisher and backline damage dealer.

The only drawback was that her individual combat power was somewhat limited. She was fine in a stomp, but in an even match it was harder, and in a losing battle, if she couldn't land damage on the opponent, she was effectively banned.

Seeing the two come out unscathed, Gojo was in an excellent mood. He'd treated the three first-years to a big meal just yesterday, and today he took Nobara out for another feast. When she learned everyone had already eaten before she arrived, Nobara felt extremely unbalanced.

Why did she have to come a day late!

Everyone got along smoothly. Seeing them bond so quickly made Gojo even happier, but even the best banquets have to end.

After they all returned to Jujutsu High that night, Gojo finally pulled Amber aside alone: "Little Shier, your test is here too. It's nighttime, but give it a little extra effort~"

Chapter Twenty-Three: Special Grade Assessment

"Shier's test?"

Amber thought her test wouldn't come for a few more days. Were Special Grades really that common?

"High-grade Cursed Spirits aren't that numerous, but if you look, you can find them. Follow the legends, or the urban legends that terrify people, and you can usually track some down."

Gojo explained, "Generally speaking, mountain villages—especially remote ones with religious customs—tend to have more Cursed Spirits. Some are very weak, but others are strong enough to be classified as Special Grade."

"Is the one we found this time like that?"

"Exactly."

Neither of them was the type to dawdle. Without wasting words, they got in a car, headed to the airport, flew for the better part of a day, then took another car to the foot of a mountain.

"There used to be a shrine here, halfway up the mountain, worshipped by the nearby villages. During one ritual, one village didn't send anyone. The next day, a mudslide hit, damaging all the surrounding villages—but the shrine on the mountainside was completely unharmed. The villagers interpreted this as the wrath of the gods."

Gojo walked up the mountain path, explaining the origin of this Cursed Spirit to Amber: "After that, the villagers became terrified of the shrine, believing the gods were punishing them. Even though they moved far away to avoid the punishment, their fear kept accumulating, eventually forming a Special Grade Cursed Spirit."

"I see..."

Amber nodded in understanding.

"Little Shier's task is to exorcise this Special Grade Cursed Spirit and prove she has the strength of a Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerer."

Standing at the shrine's gate, Gojo said with a smile.

"But didn't Shier already kill a Special Grade Cursed Spirit last time?"

Amber tilted her head.

"According to your testimony and Maki Zenin's, the one who killed that Cursed Spirit wasn't little Shier, but the other you inside you."

Gojo pointed at the faint red mark visible on Amber's chest: "Don't use her power this time, since this is little Shier's test."

"Shier understands."

The girl nodded.

"Becoming Special Grade will bring some trouble, but it also has plenty of benefits. This was hard-won by your teacher Gojo~"

Gojo was very satisfied with his student's obedience. It was too rare—he'd never had a student who didn't cause him worry in all his years of teaching. Finally meeting one, how could he not savor the feeling of being respected by his students?

Though, given his personality, it probably wasn't anyone else's fault.

Amber didn't hold back either, her voice soft and clear: "Thank you, Gojo-sensei."

"Good, good~ Now let's see little Shier's performance."

This place wasn't near the city, so Gojo couldn't be bothered to set up a curtain. He simply gestured for Amber to go in whenever she was ready.

Seeing this, Amber took a breath and stepped into the shrine.

In her last world, she'd fought Demon Beasts plenty of times. At first, their ferocity and appearance made her nervous, but after killing them long enough, she stopped caring. But... Cursed Spirits were far uglier and more terrifying than Demon Beasts. Compared to Cursed Spirits, any Demon Beast could be called handsome.

She really was worried something suddenly popping out and horrifying her.

Because no one had come to clean or pray for a long time, the shrine was now dilapidated and overgrown. Unlike last time, this Special Grade Cursed Spirit's Cursed Energy permeated the entire shrine, but it hadn't spread any domain. Since its aura was everywhere, Amber couldn't lock onto a target right away.

But as Amber slowly walked deeper into the shrine, the Special Grade Cursed Spirit—which had been eyeing the girl for a long time and confirmed the other prey didn't seem to be coming in—could no longer suppress its restless desire. It launched an attack at Amber.

The next moment, a massive claw, large enough to tear the girl's entire body apart, materialized silently out of thin air, wrapped in Cursed Energy, and swiped toward her.

Yet this attack didn't even require Black Amber to dodge.

A scythe matching her petite frame materialized in her hand. As she spun to evade the strike, momentum carried the blade cleanly through the claw.

Blood rained down in the next instant. Black Amber's scythe severed the claw without resistance. Watching the splatter, she Quantized her body, dodging the blood entirely.

Cursed spirits usually dissipated upon death, yet this one bled...

"Waaah!"

A miserable shriek erupted from the direction the claw had come. Following the sound, a massive fox appeared before Black Amber.

"A fox-shaped cursed spirit?"

Black Amber was puzzled. Weren't cursed spirits' forms typically based on human fears?

'Probably because this is Inari Shrine.'

Black Amber wasn't surprised: 'Japan's most common shrines are Inari Shrines. Since they honor the gods of agriculture and commerce, anyone can pay homage.'

That made sense.

The severed claw quickly dissolved into black Cursed Energy and vanished. Then the enormous brown Fox Cursed Spirit regenerated the lost limb by pouring in more Cursed Energy. Hatred burned in its eyes before it disappeared from sight again.

Black Amber almost said, 'Looks like we have the same technique.'

'Dealing with it is simple.'

Black Amber saw through it at once: 'A cursed spirit's foundation is Cursed Energy condensation. Cursed Energy forms the spirit, but it only disperses back into Cursed Energy upon death. Its technique likely lets it exist as Cursed Energy without dying.'

Black Amber understood now: "So it spreads its Cursed Energy throughout the shrine, turning the whole place into a territory where it can attack or retreat at will."

'At least you're not dumb.'

Black Amber nodded in satisfaction.

As she said, this cursed spirit's technique was troublesome. Without the ability to sweep the entire shrine in one blow, you'd be helpless, only able to hurt it when it showed itself.

But...

It just so happened to be countered by Black Amber.

Tai Xu Sword Qi could absorb surrounding energy for her own use. Against Black Amber, this cursed spirit was practically a free meal. Plus, her earlier move had already been seen by Gojo as 'her brilliant talent in Cursed Energy manipulation,' so it wasn't out of character, right?

With that thought, Black Amber activated her Sword Heart and rapidly absorbed the shrine's Cursed Energy... into Black Amber.

'Don't dump your trash here!'

Black Amber complained.

'But there's nowhere else to store it...'

Black Amber felt a bit embarrassed. Fu Hua had always resisted her using Cursed Energy, let alone absorbing it. She'd probably get dragged into Feathered Dust for a beating tonight.

After thinking it over, only Black Amber's place could hold it.

Black Amber: 'Hmph. I don't know what you'd do without me.'

Chapter Twenty-Four: The Fox's Desperate Gambit

As Black Amber rapidly absorbed the Cursed Energy, the Fox Cursed Spirit finally sensed something wrong. To prevent her from draining it all, it had to pull back its dispersed energy. Even so, its full power had already halved.

Black Amber felt a twinge of regret. Her Sword Heart was only at the first level, meaning she couldn't instantly absorb energy from kilometers around like in her last world. Both speed and range were far too limited.

But... her opponent's strength couldn't compare to those from her previous world either.

Special Grade Cursed Spirits possessed a degree of intelligence. The fox now realized it was cornered, but that only stoked its ferocity. Spotting the girl not far away, it charged without hesitation, jaws wide.

'It's a cursed spirit, but its form is a fox. Canine weaknesses are too obvious.'

Why could a same-sized feline easily kill a canine? Not just because cats had faster reflexes and more agility, but because their weapons weren't limited to biting.

A rear naked choke was lethal to canines, but for felines, a big cat could shred your arm with its sharp claws.

In comparison, a canine's claws lacked finesse.

Facing this straightforward pounce, Black Amber swung her scythe without a second thought. Under Quantization, the Cursed Energy-enhanced body felt like tofu or air—no resistance, as if swinging through nothing. The Fox Cursed Spirit was effortlessly split in two.

"Well done~"

Gojo appeared beside Black Amber in the next instant, clapping as he said, "Even though your technique countered it, even without that, you could've handled it easily with some time~"

The Fox Cursed Spirit's technique was indeed a nightmare for sorcerers without large-scale destruction abilities. But wasn't Black Amber's technique just as nasty?

Even if she couldn't simultaneously use displacement, defense, and attack like the curse inside her, any one of those abilities alone was enough to be unfair.

Still, even with her performance just now, she didn't qualify as Special Grade—only as a strong Grade 1 capable of exorcising Special Grade Cursed Spirits. But... that didn't really matter.

She'd just enrolled. When Yuta Okkotsu first enrolled, he couldn't even beat a Grade 3, let alone a Special Grade. He relied entirely on the Special Grade Cursed Womb, Rika's power.

The reason she couldn't get Special Grade status approved the same way this time was because Gojo wasn't obedient enough. And with one Special Grade student already under his wing, the higher-ups didn't want another one joining his side no matter what.

But as always, they couldn't stop it—only stall the process to annoy them.

'Something's off.'

Black Amber suddenly spoke.

'Off?'

Amber had no idea why she suddenly blurted that out: 'Something's off?'

'I can't say for sure.'

Black Amber furrowed her brows. She held no goodwill toward humans, so her contact with them was minimal. Her knowledge hadn't come from anyone's teaching—it was just books the Herrscher of Reason had brought her to pass the time.

She'd never been interested in human nature, because in her eyes, there was nothing good about it. Even though she knew her thinking was wrong, instinct made it hard to break that stereotype.

Was this whole incident really just cooked up to annoy the two of them?

Black Amber felt something was wrong, and Amber certainly wouldn't dismiss it as baseless. So she explained the matter to Gojo Satoru.

"So, the other you thinks this isn't that simple?"

Gojo Satoru propped his chin on one hand, tilting his head to the side as he pondered what they might have missed—but he came up completely blank.

'Why not ask that one who calls herself an Immortal?'

Black Amber suddenly suggested.

'Calls herself an Immortal?'

That oddly cobbled-together term felt unfamiliar to Amber.

'That Herrscher of Reason. Isn't she pretty clear on all these convoluted schemes? Instead of us racking our brains here, let her take a look.'

Amber nodded, then sank her consciousness into Feathered Dust.

In that snowy white world, a familiar figure sat cross-legged, floating in the void. Fu Hua's eyes were tightly shut, showing no reaction to Amber's arrival.

Amber wasn't surprised. With the Herrscher of Reason having run off, and Amber and Black Amber's fusion, Fu Hua—unable to rest easy about either side—could only keep her consciousness shuttling back and forth. Since she wasn't here right now, that meant she was over at the Herrscher of Reason's side.

The girl stepped forward a few paces and called out to Fu Hua, who was on the other side.

"What happened?"