Bathing

--"Bathing."

In the World of Cursed Techniques, this term carried a special meaning.

In the concepts of cursed techniques, "bath" usually referred to a ritual.

It was a ritual that transformed treasured family heirlooms into curse tools, protecting them from falling into the hands of outsiders.

Carefully selected living creatures were dissolved and filtered with poisonous gu to produce concentrated Cursed Energy Solution, then the treasured heirloom was placed within it. That was the ritual of "bath."

"Bathing" referred to the process of carrying out this ritual—the act of "immersing what needs to be transformed within it."

Just as Kengso set off for the Sendai Barrier to meet Riezel, such a ritual began in a solemn location.

The mysterious sorcerer named Uraume appeared there, arriving at the deepest part of the solemn grounds.

Unlike the solemn grounds outside, this place was an exceptionally evil Demonic Lair.

Countless cursed spirits had been crushed into chunks of flesh, piled together and processed, serving in place of poisonous gu as they were dissolved and filtered into concentrated Cursed Energy Solution. Pitch-black liquid continuously flowed down from the ceiling and poured into the pool below.

The pool, filled with endless Pitch-black Liquid, was equally black from top to bottom. It radiated incredibly dense waves of negative power, resembling a materialized Curse and making one nauseous.

Yet soaking in that nauseating black pool was a black-haired boy.

That boy was none other than Fushiguro Megumi, who had vanished during the Shibuya Incident.

He had been soaking there for quite some time.

Of course, he had not been placed there to undergo Curse Tool Transformation by soaking in Cursed Energy Solution created from countless cursed spirits. It was to make his consciousness sink and never awaken again.

Now, Fushiguro Megumi's consciousness had completely sunk into the