Grade 2 Sorcerer Dai Li

"Um, I look forward to getting along with you too, Maki."

After greeting Dai Li, Yuta Okkotsu was less reserved than he had been the first time and tried his best to show Maki his goodwill.

"You've been bullied before, haven't you?"

Boom-

At Maki's words, Yuta Okkotsu looked as though he had been struck by lightning. His eyes lost focus, his expression blank and frightened, as if someone had exposed the very thing he least wanted anyone to know.

"Hit the nail on the head, did I? It's obvious. Even I feel like bullying you."

"Is it because of the curse? You might as well write 'I'm a good person' on your forehead. It's disgusting. You're the one being protected, so why are you acting like a victim?"

Here she goes. As expected of someone from the Zenin Clan, with its will to dominate. Even with an incredibly powerful Special Grade vengeful spirit protecting Yuta Okkotsu, you're still going to bully him, huh, Maki Zenin?

"You've let other people push you around your entire life, haven't you? You think you can coast along without even having a goal? Jujutsu High isn't that easy."

Without any regard for Yuta Okkotsu's feelings, Maki Zenin used the harshest words she could to pressure the newly enrolled student.

"You're putting on airs like some senior yourself. You're way too arrogant, Maki."

Dai Li, Panda, and Inumaki all felt that Maki's words had gone a little too far. To the latter two, Yuta Okkotsu was merely an ordinary person burdened with a curse.

"That's enough, Maki."

"Bonito flakes."

Panda and Inumaki spoke more sternly than usual. All three of them were reproaching Maki Zenin.

Seeing that the other three disapproved of her behavior, Maki Zenin felt too embarrassed to continue.

"Fine, stop nagging."

She turned her head to reply, raised her left hand behind her head, and rubbed the back of it a few times. With the cursed tool bag containing her Long-Handled Blade on her back, she walked briskly away without stopping.

"She's just full of herself. She doesn't understand your situation at all, Okkotsu."

Watching Maki's retreating figure, Dai Li figured she probably felt guilty about what she had just said. Probably.

"No, she's right. About me acting like a victim. Other people got hurt because of me."

Yuta Okkotsu lowered his head, his gaze falling to the ground. Gripping his left arm with his right hand, he thought over Maki's words and grew even more withdrawn and uneasy.

"Well, anyway, there's no need to beat yourself up over what she said. Just get ready for this afternoon's jujutsu field training."

"Okay..."

It really isn't that simple. Yuta Okkotsu won't open up to us yet, but at least he's confirmed we aren't hostile toward him. I'll leave the rest to time. I still have to go to this afternoon's jujutsu field training alone.

And so, Dai Li arrived at the site of his afternoon jujutsu field training...

"Born from darkness, darker than darkness. Purify every last trace of defilement."

"The Curtain is in place. Grade 2 Sorcerer Dai Li, please proceed with the exorcism."

The person who had erected the barrier was Dai Li's old acquaintance, Kiyotaka Ijichi. He was also the Assistant Supervisor for this field training session.

"Got it. Also, I'll pay you back for the money I spent shopping online with your bank card once I get back from this mission. Just wait outside."

"U-understood."

Dai Li, you really shouldn't tempt fate before a mission. Still, just a few months ago, he was a newly enrolled student, and now he's a Grade 2 Sorcerer capable of handling things on his own. At this rate, becoming a Grade 1 Sorcerer is only a matter of time for him.

Grade 2 Sorcerer Dai Li was currently strolling brazenly around inside the Curtain. He had yet to spot any cursed spirits.

"Anyone here? Can anyone in the school hear me?"

Dai Li shouted toward the school, hoping to draw out a few cursed spirits, but nothing answered him.

"That's odd. The Curtain is supposed to draw out cursed spirits. Don't tell me there's no negative emotion in this high school?"

That was impossible. From outside, the entire school had been steeped in the aura of curses, which meant there was at least one high-grade cursed spirit nearby.

"Trace On.

Full projection, standby."

Dai Li was quite cautious too. Knowing that he might be facing something powerful next, he projected more than twenty offensive, bladed cursed tools in advance, surrounding himself with them.

Unable to find any cursed spirits, he had no choice but to use the slowest method: checking the school one location at a time.

"I'll start with that building."

With light, quick steps, Dai Li soon entered the largest classroom building.

The corridors of the old classroom building looked especially unsettling in the dim light filtering through the Curtain. A thin layer of dust covered the wooden windows, and tiny motes drifted through slanting shafts of light.

"Ijichi said the main objective was to exorcise the Semi-Grade 1 Cursed Spirit that might be in here. I can ignore the weak little pests, right?"

A glance down the corridor revealed weak cursed spirits lurking in various nooks and crannies-the ceiling, the windowpanes, and the gaps beneath classroom doors. They seemed to be watching something, waiting for someone's instructions.

Suddenly, movement stirred in the deserted corridor. Shadows spilled out of the walls, doorframes, and gaps between the floor tiles all at once.

Dozens of weak, low-grade cursed spirits emerged. Their forms were small and twisted; some dragged deformed, rubbery limbs, while others had sharp mouthparts. Giving off faint but chaotic cursed auras, they shrieked shrilly and swarmed toward Dai Li.

"What a waste of my time."

Dai Li shrugged and projected another ten sword-shaped cursed tools. The thirty-odd tools of varying shapes already contained considerable cursed energy, so there was no need to spend more strengthening them against such weak cursed spirits.

A surge of red cursed energy erupted from Dai Li. With a lift of his hand, the cursed tools rushed forth, each carried by cursed energy and flashing red in midair. There were slender-bladed katanas, compact daggers, and long-handled axes with spikes.

Under Dai Li's precise control of cursed energy, thirty cursed tools shot out simultaneously, slicing through the air with piercing whistles.

Each cursed tool pierced a cursed spirit's core with perfect accuracy. For the lowest-grade spirits, there was no need even to locate their cores; the force of the tools accelerating through the air was enough to destroy their entire bodies.

In mere moments, Dai Li exorcised every attacking cursed spirit, reducing them to wisps of black smoke that dispersed into the air.

"You must be the boss, huh? Why were you cowering in there all this time? Did you think these weaklings could hold me up so you could sneak attack me?"

Accompanied by a damp, rank odor, a Semi-Grade 1 Cursed Spirit slowly emerged from the shadows. It resembled a bullfrog, its entire body covered in thick, murky gray-green skin, its surface bulging with misshapen tumors and coated in slime. Three pairs of slit-pupiled eyes sat where its frog eyes should have been, and black, corrosive liquid dripped from its opening and closing mouth.

"Gah-urrp."

Slime churned inside the cursed spirit's mouth as it prepared to spit a glob of corrosive phlegm at Dai Li.

The higher a cursed spirit's grade, the deeper its core was hidden and the harder it was to detect. This spirit wasn't very large, so piercing straight through it was the best option.

With a pulse of Dai Li's cursed energy, the thirty-odd cursed tools scattered in midair turned their blades at once. Every tip locked onto the cursed spirit's body. He intended to pierce every part of it.

"Projection, begin."

More than twenty additional cursed tools suddenly appeared out of thin air in the corridor. All fifty-eight tools now surrounding Dai Li blasted forth with a thunderous rush.

The corrosive liquid spat out by the bullfrog cursed spirit was scattered in midflight by the incoming swarm of cursed tools, leaving only a patch of charred corrosion on the wooden floor.

Vast amounts of cursed energy gathered and compressed along the blades. Then every cursed tool struck the Semi-Grade 1 Cursed Spirit, piercing clean through every part of its body.

The huge, frog-shaped body abruptly stiffened, then rapidly disintegrated from its puncture wounds, dissolving into thick black mist.