Appearance

At nine o'clock at night, atop the Lori Group building in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo.

The Jujutsu High personnel who had entered to exorcise the Cursed Spirit were Grade 1 Sorcerers Kento Nanami and Mei Mei, along with Grade 2 Sorcerer Takuma Ino.

The three formed a triangular formation as they struggled to deal with an unexpected development during this exorcism—a newly born Special-Grade Imaginary Cursed Spirit.

Special-Grade Cursed Spirits were supreme beings manifested from humanity's collective fear of certain things or urban legends.

Some Special-Grade Cursed Spirits had prototypes, such as the Slit-Mouthed Woman from urban legends, or the Nine-Tailed Fox and Snow Woman from ghost stories. They possessed considerable intelligence, could speak human language, and had all manner of bizarre abilities. Some had even mastered Domains, something normally exclusive to sorcerers.

Since they were Cursed Spirits born from humanity's fear of certain things, urban legends, or even natural disasters, they were also called Special-Grade Imaginary Cursed Spirits.

And the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit standing before Kento Nanami, Mei Mei, and Takuma Ino was precisely one such being.

It had no source story whatsoever, merely something born from humanity's collective fear. Its basic traits were humanoid, but its core features—eyes, ears, mouths, and the like—were distorted.

The one before Kento Nanami's group was just like that: humanoid features, four eyes, four intact limbs, grayish-white skin all over, and a loincloth around its waist.

It looked utterly ridiculous and nauseating, but its strength could not be underestimated.

"Auspicious Beast Summon, Number One: Xiezhi!"

The first to attack was Grade 2 Sorcerer Takuma Ino. His technique was called Auspicious Beast Summon. By using the knitted cap he carried to conceal his face and transform himself into a masked outlaw, he became a medium capable of unleashing the power of his auspicious beasts against his opponents.

Under Takuma Ino's control, cursed energy gathered in his hands.

It formed a Xiezhi Horn, which automatically tracked cursed energy and possessed immense piercing power, like a floating cannon.

The Xiezhi Horn let out a shrill whistle through the air and shot straight at the newly born Special-Grade Cursed Spirit's face.

Though this Special-Grade Cursed Spirit had only just been born, its sense of danger was not lacking. It immediately dodged Takuma Ino's first attack. When the Xiezhi Horn missed, Ino did not become frustrated. Under his control, it followed closely behind the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit, forcing it toward the position he had anticipated.

The Grade 1 Sorcerer leading the assault, Kento Nanami, possessed the Ratio Technique. It could forcibly divide his target into a ten-part ratio. Striking the seven-to-three point dealt a critical hit. It was a simple and brutal technique based on numbers.

Among the three, it was also the most offensively powerful method, one capable of directly inflicting considerable damage upon a Special-Grade Cursed Spirit.

Kento Nanami gripped a blunt blade wrapped in white cloth and appeared along the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit's inevitable path of retreat from the Xiezhi Horn. He swung fiercely at the seven-to-three critical point he had forcibly created on its body within his field of vision!

Bang!

A heavy blunt impact rang out. The Special-Grade Cursed Spirit's left arm snapped off, and the severed limb disrupted its movements, allowing the pursuing Xiezhi Horn to bore a bloody hole through its shoulder.

Before it could even land, Mei Mei, the Grade 1 Sorcerer who had been observing from the side, swung a massive axe wholly at odds with her beautiful face and savagely cleaved the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit across the abdomen, sending it flying with a single strike.

"Good! We exorcised a Special-Grade Cursed Spirit too!"

Seeing their combination attack succeed, the younger Takuma Ino was the first to speak, only to be interrupted by Kento Nanami as he landed.

"Ino, a Special-Grade Cursed Spirit's vitality is far stronger than you think. If it cannot be killed in one blow, then the exorcism has not succeeded."

"That's right, Mr. Nanami."

Mei Mei echoed him from the side. Meanwhile, the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit that she had sent flying with her axe had already risen from the rubble.

The axe strike, which would have split an ordinary person in two, had only left a massive gash in the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit's abdomen. That wound, along with the left arm Kento Nanami had severed, was regenerating at a visible rate.

This instinctive self-repair seemed to confuse the newly born Special-Grade Cursed Spirit. Then it looked at Kento Nanami and the others before opening its mouth and spitting.

Condensed cursed energy transformed into a cannonball and shot toward the three of them.

The three dodged, and the cursed energy cannonball blasted a huge crater into the rooftop. The explosion sent shattered stone flying like bullets, its power no weaker than that of a tank.

With just one cursed energy cannonball, the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit scattered Kento Nanami's group's formation. Seeing its destructive force, Nanami spoke first.

"This Cursed Spirit has not yet mastered its own technique. Kill it before it learns how, Ino!"

"Understood! Auspicious Beast Summon, Number Two: Spirit Tortoise!"

Responding to Kento Nanami's order, Takuma Ino controlled the auspicious beast power known as the Spirit Tortoise, causing it to appear around Kento Nanami and Mei Mei as they attacked the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit. Its outward manifestation was a pool of water that followed them like a shadow.

This was a defensive skill. It could resist an opponent's cursed energy attacks to the greatest extent possible, while also carrying its target and allowing them to move.

Takuma Ino knew perfectly well that he was the weakest member of this battle, so he would support Kento Nanami, the main attacker, as much as possible. Mei Mei was responsible for covering Nanami and Ino.

The humanoid Special-Grade Cursed Spirit was clearly much faster than Kento Nanami, even though he was a Grade 1 Sorcerer. Before Nanami could approach under Takuma Ino's cover, the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit, which had begun adapting to its new form after being born, attacked first.

Its figure vanished from where it stood. Kento Nanami reacted the instant the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit disappeared, gathering cursed energy in his chest as he swung the blunt blade in his hand.

With a deafening blast, even with the defense granted by Takuma Ino's auspicious beast power, Kento Nanami was sent flying by the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit. However, he took the opportunity to sever both of its arms.

The instant its arms were cut off, the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit froze for a moment. Takuma Ino seized the chance and controlled the Xiezhi Horn and Spirit Tortoise Water. Like a threaded embroidery needle, they pierced through the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit's body, circling around it and pinning it firmly in place.

"Miss Mei Mei!"

"A Special-Grade Cursed Spirit, huh? I'll have to make Satoru Gojo pay more."

Mei Mei spoke, but her hands did not slow in the slightest.

Technique: Bird Manipulation: Kamikaze!

Controlled by Mei Mei's technique, the crows circling above the rooftop seemed to be stimulated by something. Their speed abruptly increased, their beaks becoming arrows as they dove toward the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit temporarily trapped and unable to move by Takuma Ino.

This was the true utility of Mei Mei's Bird Manipulation: Kamikaze. By sacrificing the lives of the crows under her control, she enhanced their cursed energy and launched suicidal attacks against her target.

However, against a creature like a Special-Grade Cursed Spirit, she might need quite a few crows to exorcise it completely with this move.

But Mei Mei's plan was simple: use her crows to cripple the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit as much as possible, then let Kento Nanami's technique—which could forcibly create a weakness—finish it in one blow.

Ding!

Just as Kento Nanami's group believed they were about to exorcise this newly born Special-Grade Cursed Spirit, the elevator that had stopped running behind them suddenly sounded its floor-arrival chime.

The elevator doors had only opened enough to leave a narrow gap barely wide enough for a person to pass when a figure burst out from within and appeared before the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit that was about to be exorcised.

It took Mei Mei's Crow Kamikaze and Kento Nanami's seven-to-three critical hit in its place.

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