Interrogation

Darkness.

This was a purer darkness than the sealed room that had trapped him for sixteen years. There was no wind, no smell of medicine. Only an oppressive cursed energy pressure, so heavy it was almost suffocating, seeped out from behind the wooden screens on all sides.

Kokichi Muta knelt on the cold, damp floor.

This was the outer perimeter of Jujutsu High's deepest Forbidden Vault, a secret place specifically used to interrogate sorcerers guilty of severe crimes.

Several shadowy figures, as motionless as clay statues, sat behind the screens. They were the old fossils of Jujutsu Society, the higher-ups lurking in the shadows. Directly before him stood Yoshinobu Gakuganji, killing intent flickering in his clouded eyes.

Kokichi Muta felt an even deeper chill down his spine from the figures in the corner who had remained silent all along. Their unfathomable cursed energy fluctuations told him, without even needing to look back, that they were the pinnacles of Jujutsu Society—Special Grade sorcerers.

"Kokichi Muta."

Gakuganji plucked a string. A piercing hum echoed through the chamber. "Explain this nearly perfect body of yours."

Kokichi Muta lowered his head, his pupils trembling faintly. The look in Shiyue Shuo's eyes before leaving surfaced in his mind.

"Do what you want to do."

Kokichi Muta spoke and explained the sequence of events. Naturally, he concealed Shiyue Shuo's involvement. "Mahito and the others betrayed our agreement. The instant the treatment ended, Mahito tried to completely transform me."

The shadows behind the screens shifted slightly, and the pressure instantly intensified.

"Continue."

"I was prepared." Kokichi Muta raised his head toward the screen before him. "I had long prepared a way to fight them. The moment Mahito touched my soul, I activated every reserve I had. At the same time, I traded my lifespan for power, overdrawing ten years' worth of cursed energy output from the future. In the end, I forced them back."

"So you forced back two Special Grade cursed spirits by yourself, and the price was merely your lifespan?"

It was a lie riddled with holes, but before an exception like a Heavenly Restriction, no one could say it was impossible.

"Yes." Kokichi Muta held firmly to his story.

The chamber fell into deathly silence.

Gakuganji rose to his feet and walked over to Kokichi Muta, his withered fingers closing around Kokichi Muta's wrist.

A moment later, the principal of Kyoto School frowned.

To his senses, the cursed energy pathways within Kokichi Muta did indeed feel shriveled, as though they had been severely overdrawn. This was because Kokichi Muta truly had exhausted his lifespan in the battle against Kenjaku. It simply had not been during the Horse Talisman's active period. Shiyue Shuo had arranged to treat him next time, yet who could have imagined that it would become the perfect cover.

"You gave up the combat power of a Semi-Grade 1 for this body?" Gakuganji withdrew his hand, a trace of mockery and pity in his tone. "That is exactly the sort of choice you would make."

"I want to live as a human being. A normal human being." Kokichi Muta gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead.

"Let him go," one of the shadows behind the screen said. "Though his combat power has been damaged, he has learned the cursed spirits' next plan. Since he is willing to make a Binding Vow of absolute obedience to prove his innocence, there is no reason to waste a useful piece."

Kyoto's western outskirts.

This was a heavy industrial plant abandoned for nearly twenty years. Its enormous rusted gears stood as high as a three-story building. The air was thick with the pungent smell of rust and an indescribable stench of decay, made all the more sinister beneath the Curtain.

"According to the intelligence, this was originally a gathering place for Grade 2 cursed spirits. But three passersby have gone missing nearby in succession over the past week, so its classification has been raised to Grade 1." Noritoshi Kamo walked at the front, his steps steady as he pinched several small vials filled with blood between his fingers.

Noritoshi Kamo was now in charge of Kyoto School's second-years, and he led the team whenever they went on missions. This time, he had also brought Shiyue Shuo from the first-year class.

"Intelligence has never been reliable at Jujutsu High." Mai Zenin snorted coldly. The revolver in her hand slowly rotated as her sharp gaze swept across the crisscrossing steel beams overhead.

Kasumi Miwa gripped the hilt of her sword tightly, her breathing slightly hurried. She was in a state of high alert, ready to activate her Simple Domain at any moment.

"Senpai, I don't think this place has good feng shui." Shiyue Shuo carried an enormous hiking backpack on his back, dawdling around the entrance with the look of someone ready to bolt at any moment.

"Shut up, Shiyue. If you dare take one step back, I'll put a hole through your thigh first." Mai threatened without looking back, but the hand holding her gun did not tremble in the slightest.

Shiyue Shuo sighed and glanced at the mechanical watch on his wrist.

"8:00."

In his mindscape, the talisman engraved with a colossal Dragon shone with a crimson light.

"Boom!"

The steel framework in the factory ceiling snapped without warning, and dozens of massive steel pipes came crashing down like rain. From the darkness, a huge cursed spirit covered in black compound eyes sprang forth.

"Scatter!" Noritoshi Kamo shouted, blood arrows shooting from his fingertips.

However, the cursed spirit was astonishingly fast. Its scythe-like limbs cut a black streak through the air, severing the blood arrows in an instant before lunging straight for Mai's face.

"Tch!" Mai gritted her teeth. Even her trigger finger could not keep up with the cursed spirit's advance.

At that moment, everyone's vision blurred. Shiyue Shuo, who had been at the very back, suddenly appeared in front of Mai. No cursed energy emanated from him. He merely extended his right hand toward the cursed spirit's chest.

"What are you—" Mai had not even finished crying out.

"Roaaar—!"

An indescribable blast of heat erupted in an instant. Crimson flames surged from Shiyue Shuo's palm.

The air was sucked dry in an instant. The compound-eyed cursed spirit, which possessed the aura of a quasi-Special Grade, did not even have time to scream before the crimson blast of energy instantly vaporized it.

"Boom!"

The residual force of the explosion tore straight through the entire factory building, blasting a massive hole several meters wide through the wall. Heat waves rolled outward, melting the rust and discarded parts around them into molten iron.

Noritoshi Kamo and Kasumi Miwa were thrown back several steps by the shockwave, staring blankly ahead.

Amid the rising flames, Shiyue Shuo lowered his hand, his expression horrifyingly calm.

"Shiyue... you..." Mai's hand trembled slightly around her gun. This was not the cursed-energy cripple she knew. That power had definitely surpassed Grade 2, perhaps even Grade 1.

"This is my innate cursed technique. I store cursed energy and fire flames." Shiyue Shuo hurriedly explained to the others.

But after that Dragon Breath, the ground shook, and a powerful malice spilled from the fissure. An arm covered in black fur slowly climbed over the edge.

"That is... a Special Grade!!!" Noritoshi Kamo's Adam's apple bobbed with difficulty. He wanted to activate his technique, but under the other's pressure, his body was almost frozen stiff.

Soon, a cursed spirit covered from head to toe in black fur appeared before them. Cursed energy gathered around it as it prepared to attack at any moment.

At that moment, a blue beam slammed viciously into the Special Grade cursed spirit's head. Though it failed to deal a fatal blow, it forcibly blasted the half-emerged monster back into the pit.

"The Great Exorcism Cannon... Mechamaru?" Kasumi Miwa turned around in delight.