Quasi Special Grade Imaginary Vengeful Spirit!

He strode into the mountains, where the sounds of a fierce battle reached him from up ahead.

Nanami and Riko were fighting more than a dozen Mountain Demons, while at least a hundred of their fellow Cursed Spirits stood in the surrounding trees, clapping their hands and letting out long howls.

They weren't very strong. Most seemed to be around Grade 4 or Grade 3.

At least a few had reached Grade 2.

Judging by the strength Nanami and Riko had displayed, if the Curses were only this strong, the two of them could probably handle them.

"Stinking monkeys! Try my Cursed Technique!"

Riko didn't fight the Cursed Spirits head-on. Instead, she kept dodging as Cursed Energy gathered in her hands.

She compressed the Cursed Energy in her body into her palms, compressing it again and again.

Then she bent her body into a bow and hurled the compressed Cursed Energy at a Cursed Spirit closing in on her.

"Boom!!"

The compressed ball of Cursed Energy seemed to turn into a bomb. The moment it touched a Cursed Spirit, it exploded.

The blast was so powerful that it reduced two Grade 4 Cursed Spirits and one Grade 3 Cursed Spirit to ash.

"Heh!"

Riko looked smug.

This was the Cursed Technique she had awakened: compressing Cursed Energy. She called it "Star of Extremes."

As long as nothing interrupted her, she could compress Cursed Energy without limit, until her body couldn't take any more.

In a sense, as long as her body could hold out, she could compress Cursed Energy into something with the power of a nuclear bomb.

Her potential put her on track to become at least a Grade 1 Sorcerer. If she could strengthen her body, reaching Special Grade wouldn't be difficult.

After all, if she could make a mushroom cloud, influencing an entire country would be a piece of cake.

No wonder the Star Plasma Vessel couldn't awaken a Cursed Technique on her own. It turned out to be this absurdly overpowered.

Watching Riko throw Cursed Energy around like bombs, Shinsuke Zenin, who was watching from a distance, twitched his mouth.

A lovely young girl in the bloom of her youth had actually taken up the art of explosions.

Hopefully, she'd surpass the masters who came before her in that field.

"Awooo!!"

A long howl came from deep in the mountains, carrying an oppressive wave of Cursed Energy.

The sheer presence made Nanami and Riko's hearts sink. Cursed Energy of this caliber was definitely Grade 1—perhaps even stronger!

"Is it happening again?"

Nanami tightened his grip on his short blade, his eyes more serious than ever.

He wouldn't let tragedy happen before his eyes again.

Just as the two of them prepared to face an even more terrifying Cursed Spirit, they realized it hadn't appeared. The Mountain Demons around them were retreating too, fleeing deeper into the mountains.

It was as if they'd received some kind of order.

"Rumble!"

A commotion erupted deep in the mountains, where two powerful sources of Cursed Energy clashed.

That caught Shinsuke Zenin's interest. He vanished from the spot in a flash.

Nanami and Riko exchanged a glance. "What should we do?"

In a situation like this, they should report to Jujutsu High first and have a stronger Sorcerer handle it.

But their instructor seemed to have run off to watch the action, leaving them unsure what to do.

"Let's go take a look. The old man's pretty strong. Even if he can't win, he should be able to get us out of there."

Riko analyzed the situation calmly.

Based on what she knew about Shinsuke Zenin, she honestly had no idea how strong he was. But judging from Gojo's earlier comments about his younger brother, the older one shouldn't be too weak either.

She couldn't vouch for anything else, but she was sure of one thing: if things went wrong, he could at least get them out of there.

At that speed, what was the difference between him and teleportation?

Nanami said nothing, and followed Riko deeper into the mountains.

A few minutes later, Nanami and Riko reached the center of the battle.

Shinsuke Zenin stood at the edge of the clearing with his arms folded, watching the fight with interest.

In the middle of the battlefield, a Mountain Demon stood facing a man. It was about three meters tall, covered in long white fur, and had a terribly vicious expression.

Nanami and Riko's eyes froze when they saw the human facing it.

"Geto?!"

Dressed in a dark kasaya, it was Geto Suguru—the man Jujutsu High had labeled a Curse User and sentenced to death.

"Well, if it isn't Little Riko and Nanami."

Geto Suguru wore an expression that was neither sad nor happy. He'd sensed earlier that two Sorcerers were fighting Cursed Spirits outside, but he hadn't expected them to be two old acquaintances.

"Hm? You're here too?"

When he saw Shinsuke Zenin standing beside them, Geto Suguru froze.

If Nanami and Riko hadn't shown up, he probably wouldn't have noticed Shinsuke Zenin at all.

After all, Shinsuke was just standing there silently, watching like a transparent person. Who would've known there was someone off to the side?

"Geto! Why did you do something like that? You were framed, right?"

Riko stared intently at Geto Suguru and shouted the question at him.

She'd never been able to accept that Geto Suguru had been branded a Curse User. Even though Satoru Gojo and Shoko Ieiri had both told her it was true, she still couldn't believe it without seeing him for herself.

How could someone change so much in such a short time?

"Sorry, Little Riko. I chose all of this myself."

Geto looked relaxed as he glanced at Shinsuke Zenin. "I'm grateful for what you said last time. It helped me understand a lot, and made me resolve to do what I like!"

"Huh?"

Shinsuke Zenin, who'd been watching the show, froze. "Hey, hey, don't go making things up. This was your own choice. What does it have to do with me?"

He wasn't taking the blame for this. If anyone had to take it, it should be Yuki Tsukumo.

"Old man! What's going on? Did you have something to do with Geto becoming a Curse User?"

Riko stared wide-eyed at Shinsuke Zenin, making him feel completely wronged.

"He had nothing to do with it. He just helped me understand a lot of things," Geto Suguru said.

Rather than keep wallowing in despair and doubt, he might as well take action and do what he believed was right.

And now, he believed that killing every non-Sorcerer in the world was the right thing to do!

The Quasi Special Grade Imaginary Vengeful Spirit before him was one of the weapons he had set his sights on.

The terrifying stories about it had been passed down through the village for generations, frightening children one after another and bringing the Cursed Spirit close to evolving into a Special Grade.

That was exactly why it had sent its minions to the village to eat people, increasing their fear and hastening its evolution.

But that very act had brought it to Jujutsu High's attention—and into Geto Suguru's sights as a target for absorption.

After all, capturing this Mountain Demon King and getting a few hundred minions thrown in was a pretty good deal.

"Awooo!!"

The White-haired boy howled at the sky. Hundreds of Mountain Demons surged forward, attacking Geto Suguru.

Of everyone there, the man before it posed the greatest threat.

As for the three standing nearby, the Cursed Energy in two of them wasn't enough to make it feel pressured. The other one didn't even have Cursed Energy. He was just some nobody on the side of the road, not worth worrying about.

"Tch. You're only Quasi Special Grade. Giving up is your only option."

Geto Suguru didn't take the Mountain Demon King seriously.

Generally speaking, a Jujutsu Sorcerer's grade was higher than a Cursed Spirit's.

That meant a Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer could exorcise a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit, while a Special Grade Sorcerer had the ability to exorcise Special Grade Cursed Spirits.

It was only Quasi Special Grade. Even with a bit of intelligence, it'd be easy for him to handle.