Divine Dog: Umbra

Rewinding time slightly, Suguru Geto, having left the gymnasium, carried his newly purchased long staff cursed tool on his back and led a host of Cursed Spirits in a carpet search of the school.

He had bought the long staff cursed tool together with Eiji. Among all the swords and blades, Suguru Geto alone had taken an interest in hammers, staves, and other long weapons that radiated power.

However, long weapons were too large to carry around conveniently. After all, the two were not always together, and Eiji could not serve as Suguru Geto's storage space at all times.

Light, short weapons also struck Suguru Geto as boring. After weighing his options, he chose a retractable long staff cursed tool.

The staff was half a meter at its shortest and three meters at its longest. By channeling Cursed Energy into it upon impact, it could unleash a powerful shockwave. It was truly full of raw force.

"There's a cursed tool that suits you quite well. Once you've saved enough money, you can buy it from Satoru Gojo. But you'd better move fast, or someone else might snatch it up."

After fully understanding Suguru Geto's preferences, Eiji offered his suggestion.

"What cursed tool?"

Hearing that there was a cursed tool suited to him, Suguru Geto became interested.

"Special Grade Cursed Tool: Playful Cloud. Among the known Special Grade Cursed Tools, it's the only one that hasn't been imbued with a Technique. When attacking, it grants immense physical destructive power based on the user's arm strength."

"Oh? How much?"

Suguru Geto was intrigued. A cursed tool that sounded this strong and powerful was exactly his kind of thing.

"Five hundred million."

Suguru Geto opened his mouth.

Exorcising Cursed Spirits did bring in money quickly, but that was five hundred million. He would probably need to exorcise dozens of Grade 1 Cursed Spirits to save that much.

But if he worked alone...

Suguru Geto stroked his chin.

He had always teamed up with Eiji to Exorcise Cursed Spirits before, and Eiji took the larger share. If he worked alone, exorcising a dozen or so should be enough.

"I need to start saving up quickly after this is over."

With that, Suguru Geto entered the teaching building.

The High School Division's buildings were arranged in a two-three-two formation.

On the upper left were the outdoor sports grounds and club activity areas, with the gymnasium below them.

At the center, the Old School Building stood above two teaching buildings, while two Laboratory Buildings stood to the right.

Classes such as Domestic Skills, physics, and chemistry were all held in those two Laboratory Buildings.

There was strength in numbers, and the same was true for Cursed Spirits.

With the help of several hundred Cursed Spirits, Suguru Geto found every body part except the head in less than an hour.

Yet he could not find the final head no matter what.

"So the Broadcast Room is the only place left?"

The Cursed Spirits he had sent to search the Broadcast Room had never reported back. Now, he could not contact them either. Whether the final head was there or not, Suguru Geto had to investigate.

"The Crimson Figure has appeared in the Great Hall."

The familiar broadcast sounded again, and Suguru Geto frowned.

"Strange. Isn't the Crimson Figure supposed to be watched by Max Elephant? Why is it being announced that the Crimson Figure is in the Great Hall again?"

A second clone? Or the real body?

Forget it. It's only a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit. Eiji can handle it. What I need to do now is figure out what's going on in the Broadcast Room.

Suguru Geto soon arrived outside the Broadcast Room.

It was not an overcast day. The moonlight outside was bright, yet the Broadcast Room's windows were pitch-black, as though there was not a trace of light within.

Click, click.

After yanking the door several times, Suguru Geto found that it had been locked from the inside.

Gripping the long staff in his hand, Suguru Geto prepared to force his way in.

Just as he gathered strength to attack, the Broadcast Room door opened a crack.

A scarlet eye inside the door stared at Suguru Geto.

Suguru Geto's heart trembled, and he immediately prepared for battle.

"Come in."

Suguru Geto, who had been about to attack, froze. This was the first time he had encountered a Cursed Spirit capable of speaking in complete sentences.

He had seen some Grade 1 Cursed Spirits that could utter words before, but their speech had always been fragmented and meaningless.

The Broadcast Room door opened fully, and the figure of a girl appeared before Suguru Geto.

"Who are you?"

At the same time, inside the Great Hall.

Pitch-black mist surged forth, and a Cursed Spirit roughly six meters tall slowly emerged from within it.

The Cursed Spirit's body resembled that of an ordinary fat man, but its neck was a full four meters long, with black mist constantly spraying from both sides. Its enormous head had a mouth that opened and closed in four petal-like segments, while its black eyes, so dark they were easy to overlook, stared at Eiji.

Demon.

The instant the Special Grade Cursed Spirit appeared, that thought surfaced in everyone's mind.

Cold sweat slid down Eiji's forehead. The pressure brought by the Special Grade Demon Cursed Spirit made him tremble slightly.

Should I summon Mahoraga?

Mahoraga hasn't completely adapted to the Command Spell yet. If I use all three Command Spells at once, I should be able to control Mahoraga briefly.

But what happens after that?

How long will it take Mahoraga to fully adapt to the Command Spell?

A few minutes? A few seconds?

It's not impossible that Mahoraga has already completely adapted to the Command Spell.

After all, Mahoraga's ability is to adapt to Myriad Manifestations. It only needs to withstand an attack once to begin adapting, and I used three Command Spells on Mahoraga before.

At that moment, Eiji suddenly realized that his mindset overlapped somewhat with Megumi Fushiguro's.

Megumi Fushiguro had always believed that summoning Mahoraga could solve everything. Within the half year before the plot began, he had nearly self-destructed eight times.

It seemed Eiji had begun to think the same way.

"How ugly."

He had actually been afraid.

Yes, Eiji realized that the instant the Demon Cursed Spirit appeared, he had actually felt fear.

What the hell am I afraid of? The Demon Cursed Spirit is Special Grade, but am I not a Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer?

Though he had not been officially recognized by the Jujutsu World, could Satoru Gojo's Six Eyes possibly be worse than the Jujutsu World at judging strength?

Before Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto rose to prominence, Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerers were the ones who exorcised Special Grade Cursed Spirits. So what the hell was there to fear? Fight!

A trace of madness showed in Eiji's eyes. Suguru Geto might not know when he would arrive—no, he could not keep relying on others.

Assume Suguru Geto would not make it back. Risk everything, then win!

"Jade Dog! Tiger Funeral!"

Tiger Funeral took the front while the Jade Dog moved to the side, and the two Shikigami began probing attacks.

The next instant, black mist spread out, instantly engulfing the entire Great Hall.

"No signs of poisoning or weakness. Is it just a method to obstruct vision?"

Eiji thought.

Suddenly, a huge bloody maw appeared before Eiji.

"Die!"

Eiji was startled and immediately swung his blade down.

The Demon Cursed Spirit's head was instantly split in two by Eiji's attack, but Eiji immediately sensed something was wrong.

"Too light. It didn't feel like I cut through a Cursed Spirit's head. It felt more like I cut a plush toy."

The next moment, another Cursed Spirit rushed out from behind him.

Eiji raised his blade to block, but the tremendous force sent him flying.

"Gah!"

Eiji slammed violently into the Great Hall's wall, and spiderweb-like cracks spread in every direction.

He canceled the Black Divine Dog's summon, and Round Deer appeared beside him to begin healing him.

"Tiger Funeral! Blow this black mist away!"

Eiji shouted. Hearing his voice, the vortex around Tiger Funeral transformed into a storm and burst outward, immediately blowing away more than half the black mist.

The next instant, Eiji's eyes widened.

Beside Tiger Funeral, the Crimson Figure was constantly entangling its legs, while not far away, the Demon Cursed Spirit held a corpse broken in two.

It was the White Divine Dog's corpse.

"You bastard!"

The instant his injuries were healed, Eiji gripped his Tang Dao and charged toward the Special Grade Cursed Spirit in the black mist.

At that moment, Eiji seemed to enter a strange state. One half of his mind was filled with rage like an erupting volcano, while the other had fallen into an icy abyss, terrifyingly calm.

After charging into the black mist, Eiji swung his blade at the Demon Cursed Spirit's neck. The next instant, the Demon Cursed Spirit split apart again as though it were made of mist.

A huge figure appeared behind Eiji.

Eiji swung his sword behind his back, assuming a defensive posture similar to Su Qin carrying a sword on his back.

Clang.

Just as expected, this one was solid.

The instant Eiji was knocked flying, a figure appeared behind the Demon Cursed Spirit with lightning speed. Its claws lashed out, leaving a huge wound on the Demon Cursed Spirit's body.

It was Divine Dog: Umbra, which Eiji preferred to call Ferocious Dog.

When a Shikigami of the Ten Shadows Technique was killed, its Cursed Energy did not simply vanish. Instead, it was inherited by another Shikigami. After the White Divine Dog died, its Cursed Energy was successfully inherited by the Black Divine Dog, which evolved into Ferocious Dog.

If the Demon Cursed Spirit had not dodged in time, that strike might have severed its neck.

"So your ability is to create illusions within the black mist?"

Ferocious Dog stood beside Eiji and spat out two golden chess pieces.

They were the Heroic Spirit Chess Pieces of the Assassin and Rider classes.

Eiji then took out the Berserker-class chess piece and inserted it into Ferocious Dog's body.

In an instant, Ferocious Dog's muscles swelled all over, and a trace of scarlet appeared in its eyes.

Ferocious Dog charged before the Demon Cursed Spirit, swinging both claws and unleashing broad sweeping slashes.

The wide-ranging attacks meant that even if they struck illusions, the Demon Cursed Spirit's true body could only counterattack from the small areas not covered by the slashes.

Naturally, Eiji covered that opening left by Ferocious Dog.

Slash.

The Tang Dao cut into the Demon Cursed Spirit's body. The Demon Cursed Spirit bent its long neck down and bit toward Eiji.

But before the Demon Cursed Spirit could reach him, Ferocious Dog bit down on it first.

"Piercing Bull."

Piercing Bull appeared behind Eiji. A running start of over ten meters was not much, but it successfully slammed the Demon Cursed Spirit out of the Great Hall, moving the battle onto the athletic field.

"Nue."

Piercing Bull vanished, and Nue flew from Eiji's shadow, swallowing the Rider-class Heroic Spirit Chess Piece.

Ferocious Dog turned and rushed into the Great Hall, launching a fierce assault on the Crimson Figure. It needed to defeat the mere Grade 1 Cursed Spirit as quickly as possible.

Tiger Funeral, meanwhile, carried a raging wind to the Demon Cursed Spirit's battlefield.

After Eiji fed Tiger Funeral the magician-class Heroic Spirit Chess Piece, the fierce wind around Tiger Funeral grew even stronger. The black mist around the Special Grade Cursed Spirit could only remain within a range of less than ten meters.

Holding his Tang Dao, Eiji coldly stared at the Special Grade Cursed Spirit wreathed in black mist.

The next instant, thunder, compressed wind bullets, and Eiji's Tang Dao attacked the Demon Cursed Spirit simultaneously.