A Further Step in Their Relationship

On the rooftop, Lin Yi's plain, unadorned punch drove the newly born Special-Grade Cursed Spirit to its knees. Though Cursed Spirits could draw in cursed energy to repair themselves, it would not be getting back up anytime soon.

The sight was difficult for the Jujutsu High personnel watching from the side to accept.

"Are you kidding me? That was a Special-Grade Cursed Spirit. Even if it was only a newly born Cursed Womb, taking it down with one punch is way too ridiculous. Is that guy a Cursed Corpse, or a sorcerer?"

Grade 2 Sorcerer Takuma Ino could not comprehend what he was seeing.

Kento Nanami and Mei Mei exchanged a glance, each seeing what the other wanted to say in their eyes.

Lin Yi looked at the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit he had knocked down with one punch. After confirming that it had temporarily lost all ability to resist, he bent down, grabbed it by the neck, and lifted it up.

"Summon the Auspicious Beast, Number One, Xiezhi!"

A sharp whistle tore through the air. Lin Yi raised his left hand and, as if he had foreseen it, firmly caught the Xiezhi Horn that had come at him in a sneak attack. Looking at Kento Nanami and Mei Mei, who were closing in on him from both sides, he hurled the horn in his hand at Kento Nanami with all his strength.

The Xiezhi Horn, no longer under Takuma Ino's control, struck Kento Nanami's blunt sword and knocked him straight back.

The instant he sent Kento Nanami flying, Lin Yi appeared before Mei Mei at a speed nearly indistinguishable from teleportation and lashed out with a kick.

The immense force struck the face of the massive axe in Mei Mei's hands, forcibly kicking her off the rooftop. With the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit as a punching bag for reference, Lin Yi now had a rough idea of how much strength he could use against human sorcerers in this pseudo-Heavenly Tyrant form.

That kick was not enough to hurt a Grade 1 Sorcerer like Mei Mei. It merely sent her flying. As for falling from a building, a conscious Grade 1 Sorcerer could easily survive such a fall unscathed.

He had no desire to get tangled up with Jujutsu High personnel here. If he ran into Satoru Gojo, things would get troublesome.

With one throw and one kick, Lin Yi had sent away Kento Nanami, the strongest fighter present, and Mei Mei, who possessed tracking abilities. As for Grade 2 Sorcerer Takuma Ino, he chose to ignore him.

Channeling strength into his legs, he sprang upward with force. The rooftop floor shattered beneath him, causing Takuma Ino, who had been guarding against Lin Yi's attack, to fall through. Lin Yi himself used the recoil to reach the edge of the barrier technique, the Curtain, in the blink of an eye and threw a powerful punch.

The barrier that isolated the inside from the outside and blocked sight and sound shattered beneath Lin Yi's unreasonable punch. He vanished into the night sky with his prize.

All that remained was a battlefield in ruins.

Half an hour later, Satoru Gojo arrived and learned the full story.

"So the three of you failed to finish the extracurricular assignment I gave you? How lame, Maki."

"Shut up! As the teacher in charge, shouldn't you show at least some concern for your students' safety? I never heard there was a Masked Rider Cursed Corpse with an Innate Domain!"

"Maki, whether a Cursed Corpse can master an Innate Domain remains unknown. However, the Innate Domain that appeared in the building earlier was not released by that Masked Rider Cursed Corpse."

Hearing Maki Zenin's complaint, Kento Nanami, who had exchanged blows with Lin Yi, spoke up to correct her.

"Good evening, Nanami, Miss Mei Mei. I'm glad neither of you was hurt."

"No, Mr. Gojo. Though it may be disrespectful to say so, Miss Mei Mei, Ino, and I were unharmed because the other party had no intention of attacking us. His sole objective was to take that Special-Grade Cursed Spirit away."

Kento Nanami pushed up his glasses and truthfully recounted what had happened during his fight with Lin Yi.

Hearing that, Satoru Gojo fell silent in thought for a while.

"His target was only that newly born Special-Grade Cursed Spirit? Have you caught anyone connected to it?"

"Unfortunately, they knew nothing about it."

"Miss Mei Mei, what do you think?"

"What do I think? The other side seemed to know my technique very well, Mr. Gojo. He killed all of my crows. He knows us very well, Mr. Gojo."

Mei Mei's pointed words left Satoru Gojo silent for a moment.

Someone deeply familiar with the techniques of sorcerers from Jujutsu High, whose objective was not to harm anyone but to take away a newly born Special-Grade Cursed Spirit—in Satoru Gojo's memory, only one person fit that description: his best friend, Suguru Geto, who possessed Cursed Spirit Manipulation.

What Satoru Gojo could think of, Mei Mei naturally could as well. So could Jujutsu High graduates like Kento Nanami and Takuma Ino. Only first-years like Maki Zenin were still in the dark.

"Looks like I'll have to find some time to have a proper talk with him. Anyway, it's good that you're all fine."

"Hey, do you know something, idiot teacher? Tell me already!"

"Maki is still a child. I'll tell you when you become a sorcerer capable of standing on your own. For now, it's late-night snack time. Who wants me to go get some?"

Kiyotaka Ijichi, the assistant supervisor responsible for handling the aftermath, looked at the noisy teacher and students and felt that his workload had increased again.

Elsewhere, at Akasaka Palace in Minato Ward, Tokyo—the headquarters of Suguru Geto's Time Vessel Association.

Lin Yi brought back the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit Suguru Geto needed. To better restrict its movements, he switched himself into his sorcerer form and used a weapon constructed from cursed energy to nail the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit to the ground, rendering it unable to move.

"Yi, I'm becoming more and more interested in your technique. Though this Special-Grade Cursed Spirit is only a Cursed Womb, it is still a Special-Grade Cursed Spirit. I never expected you to take it down so easily."

"Since it's a Cursed Womb, there was no need to have me step in so early. Once a Cursed Spirit is subdued by your technique, Cursed Spirit Manipulation, its strength remains forever fixed at the point when you subdued it. A Special-Grade Cursed Spirit that's still a Cursed Womb can only display the combat power of a somewhat stronger Grade 1 Sorcerer."

"Yi, you know me very well. But if I hadn't asked you to act, this Cursed Womb would have been exorcised by my best friend. He is the strongest sorcerer of today, Satoru Gojo."

When Suguru Geto mentioned Satoru Gojo's name, the faintly lonely expression on his face made Lin Yi instinctively take half a step back.

Lin Yi watched Suguru Geto extend a hand toward the half-dead Special-Grade Cursed Spirit Cursed Womb that he had beaten senseless, preparing to use Cursed Spirit Manipulation to turn it into a cursed orb and swallow it. Then Lin Yi suddenly said, "Maybe you don't need to subdue this Cursed Spirit in such a hurry."

"Hm?"

"I still haven't tried fighting a fully developed Special-Grade Cursed Spirit. Even with Cursed Spirit Manipulation, you probably do not have many Special-Grade Cursed Spirits under your control, right? I want to see where my limits are now. Of course, you can refuse. After all, I might accidentally beat this Cursed Spirit to death."

"If it can help you, Yi, then it is only one Special-Grade Cursed Spirit. It's nothing."

Suguru Geto's enthusiasm startled Lin Yi. Looking at his sincere expression and gaze, Lin Yi thought of an unsettling possibility.

"Say, you're not treating me as a replacement for Satoru Gojo, are you?"

"Yi, don't make jokes like that. There is only one Gojo. He is my best friend, and no one can replace him. But Yi, you are family to me too."

"I can't deal with you. Then it's settled. Once I finish what I have on hand, I'll come back and help you subdue this Special-Grade Cursed Spirit Cursed Womb."

Suguru Geto's enthusiastic attitude left Lin Yi at a loss, so he hurriedly found an excuse to get away.

Suguru Geto did not think anything was wrong. With a casual gesture, the two Special-Grade Cursed Spirits he had subdued—Urban Legend: Kuchisake-Onna and Fox Spirit: Tamamo-no-Mae—appeared at his left and right.

Their powerful pressure firmly suppressed the Special-Grade Cursed Spirit on the ground, leaving it too frightened to move.

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