She could not even be bothered to use Quantization against these two. Ending the fight too easily would not only give them painless deaths, it would also bore her terribly. Since they were things she despised, she naturally had to torment them properly.
"To toy with an ant, nothing is more direct than beating it with fists that land."
By the time they reacted, the girl's words were already ringing in Jogo and Hanami's ears.
The two Cursed Spirits recoiled to either side in terror, staring uncertainly at the girl who had somehow appeared between them.
Claws wrapped in Cursed Energy shot toward the two Cursed Spirits from either side, smashing them together at terrifying speed. The crushing force kneaded their bones to pieces again and again, and Hanami and Jogo both spat purple blood.
"Don't look down on me!"
Jogo's eyes widened. He reached toward the sneering Black Amber beside him, about to unleash flames, only for Black Amber to slam him into the ground with even greater force, forcibly interrupting his gathered Cursed Energy.
Cursed Spirits were not incapable of feeling pain.
Though they were condensed Cursed Energy, and unlike humans, who required the positive energy of Reverse Cursed Technique to heal, Cursed Spirits—being collections of negative energy themselves—could directly repair their bodies with Cursed Energy, that did not mean they could not feel pain.
After being struck twice in succession with attacks powerful enough to crush their bodies, even Cursed Spirits felt pain that pierced their bones.
As Hanami repaired his body, he instantly raised a hand. Several sharp trees erupted beneath Black Amber's feet. Compared to Jogo, whose cursed technique had to be released with himself as the center, Hanami's technique was far more flexible.
However, its power was also far inferior.
Black Amber could not even be bothered to glance at them. With one swipe of her claws, she snapped every tree apart.
"Run! Hanami!"
Jogo had not expected his opponent to be this powerful. He was both furious and bewildered.
He was an exceptionally rare and powerful Cursed Spirit, yet he had suffered setback after setback lately. Geto Suguru had matched him evenly through sheer strength. That Heavenly Curse Spirit calling herself the Herrscher of Reason had pinned him down and beaten him senseless. And now, some Special Grade that had appeared out of nowhere was displaying equally terrifying power.
Hanami did not want to abandon his companion and flee alone, so he summoned a massive wooden stump covered in dense grooves. Each groove held a tree bud with a mouth full of sharp teeth, and under his control, they shot rapidly toward Black Amber.
These were seeds that could grow by absorbing Cursed Energy. Once someone used Cursed Energy to defend, they would parasitize them. If they continued using Cursed Energy, the seeds would drain it dry, gradually sprouting until they completely sucked their host dry.
But they had no effect on Black Amber. One force could break ten thousand techniques, and she simply held her claws before herself.
Hanami had expected the seeds to pass through the claws formed from Cursed Energy and then parasitize his opponent, but he discovered that every one of them had been firmly blocked.
"Those claws aren't made of Cursed Energy!?"
Hanami could not believe it.
"Of course they're made of Cursed Energy."
Black Amber did not mind giving him another shock. "But don't assume only you are geniuses at manipulating techniques... Oh, sorry. What kind of geniuses are you supposed to be? You are merely Cursed Spirits with instincts for this sort of thing."
Hanami's two attacks had both ended in failure, and Jogo no longer dared let him remain here. "This is no battlefield for you to stay on any longer! Instead of wasting time here, go kill those humans!"
He knew it would be difficult to persuade Hanami to abandon him, so he simply used another reason to make Hanami leave. As for himself, he directly expanded his Domain here.
"Domain Expansion—Coffin Circle Mountain!"
Seeing the Domain that had excluded him, Hanami immediately understood Jogo's intentions. Though reluctant, he still turned to look at Amber, who was reviving the dead.
Black Amber was not in a hurry either. Though things had not gone as she had planned, sending Amber an experience pack was not a bad choice. Besides... being in a space with only the two of them was better. That way... she would not have to worry about her methods frightening that coward.
There was no need for words. Black Amber directly used Domain Extension. In Jogo's stunned gaze, she endured his full-power attack head-on, and her figure was already standing before him.
"You call yourself proud New Humanity! Why do you mingle with Old Humanity!?"
Jogo angrily rebuked the girl before him and slapped a hand toward her face.
Naturally, his attack was effortlessly evaded.
The girl's claws instantly tore off Jogo's attacking arm, then snapped his left leg amid his howls of agony.
"How... is this possible!?"
Jogo's body trembled continuously in pain. "This is my Domain!"
"Though you call yourself New Humanity, you do not seem any different from the Old Humanity you speak of."
Black Amber did not mind dealing him another blow. "Weak, lowly, willing to sacrifice yourself for your companions, and still clinging to unrealistic fantasies. You are so pitiful that it makes one want to thoroughly ravage you."
As she spoke, a black-and-red scythe appeared in her hand. With a swing, it effortlessly severed the arm that had just regenerated. Apparently feeling that was insufficient, Black Amber gave his other arm the same treatment.
"Urghhh...!!"
Cursed Spirits did not sweat. If they did, Jogo would likely have been drenched in cold sweat by now. Gasping heavily, he growled, "You are nothing but a curse that has submitted to humans. What makes you think you can lecture me?"
He knew anything he said as the loser would sound like empty bravado, but he simply did not want her to be so pleased with herself.
He frantically drove Cursed Energy to repair his injuries. Suppressing the pain throughout his body, Jogo forced a sneer onto his twisted face. "You care about your host, don't you? Don't worry. Hanami will kill her soon enough. Before that happens, I will not let you leave!"
"Ha, ha, ha."
The girl seemed to have heard something amusing, her expression making Jogo deeply uneasy.
"You don't actually think this Domain can hold me, do you?"
Jogo's heart skipped a beat. The smile remained on his face, but it had clearly become far more strained. "Isn't that so...? Otherwise, you would have rushed out to save that human immediately, wouldn't you?"
"What a colossal misunderstanding~"
Black Amber slowly bent down, her shadow covering Jogo's upper body. Her sudden approach made her seem dark and enormous. "I was merely curious... about the expression she would make when she believed she was avenging you, only to find herself in desperate straits. And yours, right now..."
"The expression you will make when you realize you pushed your companion into another hell."
Hanami's Death
Creation's power was immensely strong. If using the Fu Hua Character Card had felt like using overwhelming force to break all techniques, then Amber now had become the ultimate gimmick monster. Forget barely hanging on to life—even someone who was dead could be directly revived.
But without personally seeing the people lying on the ground recover, Amber still felt uneasy.
The corpses on the ground had already returned to their original forms. One of them was an illegitimate son of the Kamo Clan, who had received the treatment of an heir after awakening the Kamo Clan's strongest Blood Manipulation.
The other was Toge Inumaki, who had spent the past few days with them and used Cursed Speech.
Their clothes had been completely burned into charcoal and fused to their flesh. Creation could fully repair a person's body, but unlike Reverse Cursed Technique, it could not repair their clothing as well. Thus, the two were still completely naked.
Fortunately, Yuji and Fushiguro immediately draped their school uniform jackets over them.
"Their heartbeats have returned. Their breathing is stable... They really came back to life...?"
Fushiguro Megumi carefully checked the condition of the three bodies, disbelief still written across his face.
"They are Special Grades, after all."
Todo's reaction was much simpler. Though equally astonished, he did not let that stop him from quickly accepting the shock of a Special Grade.
"Shier...! Nobara and the others are all right now, right?"
Tears had welled up in Yuji's eyes. He was someone who could throw away his life without hesitation in a crisis, yet seeing his companions return from the dead had left him looking so helpless.
Still, that was only natural. Being able to accept one's own death did not mean one could accept the deaths of friends and family. Besides, his tears were clearly born from the excitement of seeing his companions revived.
His agitated, uneasy appearance, as though he desperately needed her to make him feel safe, made Amber force herself to pull herself together despite her own anxiety.
"They're fine. We just need to wait for them to wake up slowly."
Amber spoke.
Her mind was working faster than ever at that moment. She had even thought of what to do if they failed to wake up.
During the Shinjuku Incident, there was a Curse User whose technique was Spirit Summoning. With her cursed technique, plus the original bodies she had restored for Nobara and the others, it should be possible to revive them...
No, that Spirit Summoning technique seemed to require the sorcerer's own Cursed Energy to remain active... But there should be a way around that, right? If she unlocked the system shop, would there be any useful items there?
It was the first time Amber had thought through so many things, but her train of thought was interrupted by Cursed Energy suddenly erupting from beneath the ground.
The wooden spikes bursting from below attacked not only Amber, but also the three people she had just revived. Hanami rapidly approached, treating no one other than Amber as an obstacle or opponent.
He had to inherit Jogo's will and kill this girl, who could bring enormous changes to the future balance of power, right here.
Yet Amber was faster than the wooden spikes. She dodged away in an instant and was about to move the three people on the ground when a crisp clap rang out.
In an instant, the three people on the ground switched positions with Todo, Yuji, and Fushiguro. The three who had been switched were already prepared and easily dodged the wooden spikes rising from the ground.
"What an irritating technique!"
Hanami felt thoroughly disgusted. Even if he could not kill that girl, he could have killed the three people Amber had revived again. This time, he would not even leave them intact corpses.
Because it had not happened before her eyes, Amber had felt more grief and confusion than anger over her companions' condition. But Hanami's actions now completely ignited her fury.
She had no concept of holding back. Using Quantization, she appeared directly before Hanami. A scythe materialized in her hand and swept horizontally without mercy, smoothly cutting through his robust body as though slicing butter.
Hanami was shocked by the strength the girl displayed. Geto Suguru had clearly said she only reached Special Grade because of the curse inside her, and that she herself possessed only the strength of a Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer. But her movements were completely beyond what a Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer could possibly display!
I can't defeat her quickly...! I have to retreat first. I'll withdraw and observe in secret. If Jogo defeats that Cursed Spirit, I'll come back to help. If he can't... then I can only flee.
Being cut in half was not an especially serious injury for a Cursed Spirit. As long as they had Cursed Energy, they could regenerate rapidly.
Hanami mobilized his Cursed Energy, intending to repair his body and flee at once. But then he discovered in horror that his body showed no signs of healing. Not only that... an inexplicable force was continuously eroding it!?
Though he had considered all sorts of possibilities, those thoughts had taken less than a second in reality.
The three only saw Amber suddenly appear before that Special Grade Cursed Spirit, then exorcise it with a single attack.
"That easily...?"
Fushiguro Megumi's eyes widened. He knew that Special Grades and everything below them existed in entirely different worlds, but seeing the Cursed Spirit that had driven them into desperation get exorcised so effortlessly still felt surreal.
"Special Grade Cursed Spirits possess unimaginable regenerative abilities. Ordinary Special Grade Cursed Spirits are already like this, so a unique Special Grade like that one must have even greater regenerative power."
Todo Aoi was also somewhat amazed. He knew three Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerers among humans, and he had personally exorcised a Special Grade Cursed Spirit during the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons a year ago. Of the three, he understood Special Grades best.
"It is not merely that her attacks are powerful. Being able to easily break through a Special Grade Cursed Spirit's Cursed Energy defenses is indeed impressive, but to kill it outright after breaking those defenses requires more than powerful attacks alone."
Seeing Fushiguro Megumi and Itadori Yuji turn their gazes toward him, Todo Aoi, who had a favorable impression of Yuji, did not mind broadening their horizons and understanding. After all, knowledge and perspective could also raise someone's potential.
"That must be another application of the unprecedented cursed technique in the Jujutsu World—Creation Withering. It no longer defies common sense by using negative energy to repair the body. Instead, it brings the characteristics of negative energy to their utmost extreme, using overwhelming destructive power to utterly sever the enemy's life force."
Todo Aoi smiled. "No matter how many times I see it, a technique that combines offense and defense like this still inspires awe. She is simply a monster."
If Gojo Satoru was T0, Okkotsu Yuta was T0.5, and other Special Grades were T1, then in his eyes, the girl was now at a new tier between Gojo Satoru and Okkotsu Yuta. She was stronger than Okkotsu Yuta, but likely weaker than Gojo Satoru.
That was only counting cursed techniques and their combat power, however. If other functions were included, Creation Withering was likely the most versatile cursed technique of all.
On the other side, Amber, who had killed Hanami, let out a heavy breath.
For some reason, she did not feel as relieved as she had imagined. A knot remained in her chest, leaving her unable to feel any comfort or relaxation.
Just as she thought that, a cracking sound came from the Domain in the distance. As the cracks spread, the entire Domain finally shattered completely.
Black Amber tossed a head that still bore a dazed, agonized expression before Amber.
"A toy that weak is no fun to play with. I'll leave the matter of how to deal with him to you, Shier."
The girl in the black-and-red Lolita dress wore a disdainful expression as she waited for her host's decision.
Gojo Satoru: This Child Is Terrifying
Looking at the head tossed before her, Amber wanted to say that they should simply exorcise him. But considering how unrecognizable the current situation had become compared to the original plot, she swallowed those words.
"Could we ask Gojo-sensei to interrogate him?"
Amber said.
"I don't care."
In that brief time, Black Amber had thoroughly enjoyed tormenting Jogo. Drawing and quartering, the iron maiden—if she had not been worried that delaying things would make Amber anxious, she still had plenty of torture methods she had been curious to try one by one.
"Since you already have an idea, I'll leave it to you. Don't ask me to step in over small fry like this again. There won't be a next time."
Out of the corner of her eye, Black Amber noticed the curious yet unafraid gazes of the humans. She felt a little annoyed. She had originally wanted to put on a show and scare them, but remembering that Amber was not in a good mood, she ultimately gave up.
After leaving behind only that dissatisfied remark, she vanished from where she stood.
Even so, the brief time she had manifested made the three exchange glances. They had gained a rough impression of the unknown curse residing within the girl.
How should they put it... She was far stronger than they had imagined, but also far more harmless. She did not seem like a curse at all. Though her methods appeared somewhat cruel, the methods Jujutsu Sorcerers used against Cursed Spirits were hardly worth mentioning.
After all, Cursed Spirits could not feel pain. Not.
In their eyes, the briefly appearing Black Amber was simply a powerful and somewhat arrogant girl.
Except for Fushiguro Megumi.
Though Fushiguro Megumi felt apologetic for his earlier suspicions, he would continue being suspicious. She was a Cursed Spirit, a collection of negative energy. Someone had to remain wary of her.
If everyone else chose to trust her, then he could only take the path of not trusting her.
At that moment, the black curtain in the sky slowly vanished. Gojo Satoru was already standing in midair, looking down at the situation below, while Nobara, who had been the first to receive treatment as she lay on the ground, let out a muffled groan.
Before you continue