First Conflict with Jujutsu High (2)

Empowered by the immense cursed energy of his Sorcerer form, Lin Yi leaped from the high-rise without a scratch and silently made his way to the edge of the barrier technique, the "Curtain," remaining in the blind spot of Maki Zenin and the others.

After repeatedly confirming that no one was around and that not even birds were flying overhead, Lin Yi finally dared to reach out and touch the black, translucent veil separating the inside from the outside.

A repulsive force came from the Curtain.

"Is the condition that outsiders can't observe it, those inside can't leave, and those outside can't enter? In that case, unless the people inside undo the barrier themselves, I'll definitely be noticed if I force my way in."

Lin Yi stared at the black, translucent barrier before him, guessing at the conditions imposed upon it.

He had observed this through the vision of his Sorcerer form. To ordinary people, however, there was nothing here. They could neither hear the battle taking place inside the Lori Group building nor see Maki Zenin and the others waiting for a signal at the entrance below.

"If I can't force my way in, I'll have to cheat. Sigh, I should've added more conditions when I made that Binding Vow with Suguru Geto. He really got the better of me. HenShin!"

Lin Yi was somewhat annoyed. A Binding Vow went both ways. The condition he had imposed on Suguru Geto was that he would automatically forget everything related to Lin Yi and could not cause Lin Yi to directly shed blood with official jujutsu personnel. Suguru Geto's condition for Lin Yi was that Lin Yi would help him collect certain Cursed Spirits he wanted within the Tokyo Metropolitan Area.

So now Lin Yi had to come here and work in accordance with the Binding Vow. Although the commotion here had already caught Jujutsu High's attention, there was still room for him to make something happen inside.

With that thought, Lin Yi switched from his Sorcerer form into his Kamen Rider form.

Immense cursed energy automatically formed the cursed tool suit of Kamen Rider Joker as Lin Yi changed forms. It fit snugly over his current Pseudo-Heavenly Tyrant body, allowing him to pass through the barrier with ease. With his extraordinary eyesight, he also spotted Maki Zenin and the other Jujutsu High students anxiously waiting for a signal in the distance.

The building before Lin Yi was also making quite a commotion.

Explosions rang out from the floors from time to time. Glass shattered, rubble fell, and occasionally, several sizable Cursed Spirits were blasted out through the windows before dissipating into cursed energy in midair.

That was the handiwork of the two Grade 1 Sorcerers, Kento Nanami and Mei Mei, along with the Grade 2 Sorcerer, Takuma Ino.

Sorcerers were graded the same way as Cursed Spirits: from Grade 4 to Grade 1, with Special Grade standing apart from the rest. But for sorcerers, a Grade 4 could reliably defeat a Cursed Spirit of the same grade and even handle one a grade above.

In other words, with two Grade 1 Sorcerers and one Grade 2 Sorcerer in the building, even if the Yosei Association from Central America had created a Special-Grade Cursed Spirit, Kento Nanami's team could exorcise it with minimal cost—or perhaps no cost at all.

"No wonder you wanted me here, Suguru Geto. Your information network is impressive. You even guessed this. Were you testing my strength?"

Watching the commotion coming from the building ahead, Lin Yi understood why Suguru Geto had asked him to intervene.

Though he suspected he had been set up, there was nothing he could do about it. He accepted it.

"Maki, Toge, Panda, Mr. Nanami says there are civilians and a large number of Grade 3 and Grade 4 Cursed Spirits on the first basement level. Please head down and exorcise them."

"What? We're being sent in just for Grade 3 and Grade 4 Cursed Spirits?"

After hearing Kiyotaka Ijichi relay Kento Nanami's order, Maki Zenin set off with her long naginata slung over her shoulder, looking thoroughly uninterested. The remaining one human and one panda followed after her.

Only Kiyotaka Ijichi, the assistant supervisor with no combat ability, remained in the vast open space.

Seeing all their combat personnel enter the building, Kiyotaka Ijichi immediately got into his car, started it, and prepared to leave.

He had erected the barrier technique himself, so naturally, he could freely enter and leave his own barrier.

Lin Yi, hidden in the shadows, watched Kiyotaka Ijichi drive out through the barrier. Only then did he leisurely head toward the building's first basement level.

He also wanted to see what kind of scheme the Yosei Association had come up with to make Suguru Geto care so much.

"Record: March 2017, Lori Group, Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo. Top floor."

"Special-Grade Imaginary Cursed Spirit, name undetermined."

"Witnessed by three first-year Jujutsu High students, two Grade 1 Sorcerers, and one Grade 2 Sorcerer."

"During the exorcism, an apparently autonomous humanoid Cursed Corpse/Cursed Spirit intervened and abducted the Special-Grade Imaginary Cursed Spirit. Codename: Kamen Rider Joker."

Back to the present.

First basement level of the Lori Group building.

"Don't move!"

Toge Inumaki, a first-year student at Tokyo Jujutsu High, a prospective Grade 1 Sorcerer, and descendant of a Cursed Speech user, removed his mask. Usually, he used food names to express himself, but for the first time, he spoke actual words to the Cursed Spirits filling the entire first basement level.

His slightly youthful voice echoed through the bunker-like underground space. Invisible cursed energy transformed into shackles that firmly restrained the bizarrely shaped Cursed Spirits.

Once Toge Inumaki had restrained the Cursed Spirits, which greatly outnumbered their trio, Maki Zenin was the first to charge in. Her innate physical abilities far surpassed those of ordinary people. She leaped into the air, her massive naginata flashing with cold light beneath the lamps.

With a 360-degree spinning slash, she cut dozens of low-grade Cursed Spirits before her into several pieces, and they gradually dissipated in midair.

"There are too many useless pests in the way, Panda!"

"Yeah! Quake Palm!"

At Maki Zenin's command, Panda, the only nonhuman member of the three-person team, leaped over the landing Maki Zenin. But Panda's form had already changed.

He still had the overall outline of a panda, but his previously cuddly physique had become bulkier and better suited for battle. His limbs had lengthened, his paws had become gorilla-like hands and feet, and a pair of fangs protruded from his lower jaw as he unleashed the technique known as Quake Palm.

A violent shockwave tore through the underground space.

With just that one move, all the miscellaneous Cursed Spirits blocking their path to rescue the civilians were wiped out.

Panda possessed the strength of a prospective Grade 2 Sorcerer. Against ungraded Cursed Spirits or ones that were only Grade 4, he was overwhelmingly superior.

With the fodder cleared out, the Cursed Spirits capable of breaking free from Panda's Quake Palm and Toge Inumaki's Cursed Speech restraint were basically around Grade 3.

Cursed Spirits of that level could directly threaten human lives.

There were not many, but not few either—there were a full twenty or thirty throughout the underground space.

For the three-person team of Maki Zenin, Toge Inumaki, and Panda, it was a Cursed Spirit exorcism mission of just the right difficulty.

"Now the view's much clearer."

Maki Zenin rested her massive naginata on her shoulder and looked at the Grade 3 Cursed Spirits circling the ordinary people, excitement written across her face.

Starting from Grade 3, Cursed Spirits possessed a certain degree of intelligence beyond instinct. It was not much, about the level of animals.

But it was enough for them to understand that these three humans were opponents they could not defeat. Driven by their instinct to seek benefit and avoid harm, they immediately rushed toward the hosts that had spawned them, intending to use them to threaten Maki Zenin into inaction.

Faced with that, Maki Zenin raised an eyebrow and looked toward her classmate, Toge Inumaki.

Toge Inumaki stood beside Maki Zenin, cursed energy runes visible on his cheeks. Watching the Cursed Spirits continue their desperate struggle, he was about to speak and drive them away from the hostages when footsteps other than their own sounded through the spacious underground area.

"Tap. Tap. Tap."

Steady footsteps approached from behind Maki Zenin's group. The three-person team abruptly turned around and saw a figure emerge from the darkness behind them.

Crimson compound eyes, a black suit with an excellent texture, and a swaying gait with every step.

When Lin Yi, wearing the Kamen Rider Joker suit formed from his own cursed energy, entered the sight of Maki Zenin and the other two, they froze.

"Kamen Rider?"

The disbelieving words slipped out. They could not understand just who this Kamen Rider standing before them was.

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