Angel

The moment the girl turned her head, a ghostly figure suddenly appeared behind her, muttering over and over:

"I'm... here..."

In the next instant, its upper body abruptly stretched out, lunging at Kana like a black curtain.

Lightning flashed, and the girl vanished in an instant.

The lanky ghost lunged with all its might, only to catch empty air.

With faint sparks still dancing through his hair, Lu Yun held the little girl in his arms, his feet firmly planted against a utility pole.

"Hey, hey, abducting little girls gets you the electric chair. You two weird-looking things over there know that?"

With their prey snatched away just before they could get their hands on her, the two cursed spirits in the alley stopped hiding and flew into a frenzy.

The darkness throughout the alley surged, turning into countless black hands that reached for Lu Yun.

Lu Yun leaped, easily dodging the shadows' attack, but the utility pole behind him snapped with a crash under the cursed spirits' furious blow.

"Give! Her! Back!!"

The collapsing pole stirred up clouds of dust. With his vision obscured, Lu Yun couldn't see the two cursed spirits, only faintly hear the ghost's furious roars.

"Persistent little things, aren't you? Looks like I need to crank up the voltage."

Grabbing his stun baton, Lu Yun gathered his cursed energy and hurled it toward the voice.

The rapidly spinning baton swept away the dust as it hurtled forward with tremendous momentum. Unfortunately, it missed its target.

"Huh? Did I hear that wrong?"

Lu Yun was stunned.

There was no helping it. Despite the powerful abilities Hajime Kashimo had granted him, his lack of experience still made him prone to misjudging a fight.

Taking advantage of his momentary distraction, the other cursed spirit, a ball of flesh, attacked. Concealing its massive body in the dust, it abandoned walking altogether and used its weight to roll forward.

Fortunately, the baton had cleared away the dust, allowing Lu Yun to spot the ball of flesh right on top of him.

With the oppressive bulk of its enormous body and the momentum of its long-prepared charge, it was practically a heavy truck hurtling straight at him. Even Lu Yun couldn't help feeling his heart pound.

Lightning surged over him. Reacting swiftly, Lu Yun darted to the side just before the truck could slam into him, narrowly avoiding the collision.

Fortunately, inertia kept the rolling ball of flesh from maneuvering freely. Otherwise, Lu Yun would have been in for a world of hurt.

Unable to stop after missing its target, the ball of flesh crashed straight into a shop, destroying the entire spacious storefront.

"Phew! Scared the hell out of me. Who knew Jujutsu Kaisen had a Human Bullet Tank too? I almost got reincarnated again."

Watching the scene, Lu Yun wiped away his cold sweat.

"So you're someone who's been reincarnated, mister?"

The little girl cradled in one of Lu Yun's arms widened her eyes and looked at him curiously.

Lu Yun gave her a mischievous smile, raising an index finger to his lips in a shushing gesture.

Kana understood and obediently covered her mouth with her little hands.

The cursed spirits weren't kind enough to give Lu Yun time to catch his breath.

Seeing the ball of flesh's attack fail, the ghost merged with all the darkness in the alley, turning its body into a long black whip that lashed at Lu Yun.

The whip whistled through the air, swift and flexible.

Unwilling to experience its power firsthand, Lu Yun could only scramble out of its way.

Meanwhile, the ball of flesh finally recovered and charged at Lu Yun again.

"These two really are a pain."

Faced with this situation, Lu Yun couldn't help feeling a headache coming on.

"Hiss..."

Choosing to take a lash from the ghost head-on, Lu Yun managed to leap out of its attack range and onto another rooftop, where he calmly watched the ball of flesh rampage below.

"Heh-heh. Let's see you crash into me now."

Clearly not expecting Lu Yun to take refuge on a rooftop, the ball of flesh's simple mind froze. It slumped on the ground, at a loss.

"Come on, then! Catch me, and I'll let you... heh-heh-heh."

Lu Yun smugly taunted the dimwit downstairs, thoroughly pleased with himself.

Seeing this, the ghost moved beside the ball of flesh. Its shadowy body swelled, transforming into a huge black hand.

Lu Yun immediately had a bad feeling.

Could it be...?

Sure enough, just as he suspected, the black hand grabbed the ball of flesh and hurled it at Lu Yun like a shot put.

"Oh, come on! You could've warned me you had combo moves!"

Seeing the ball of flesh hurtling toward him, Lu Yun immediately launched himself into a mighty leap, swiftly abandoning the building beneath him.

However, as the ball of flesh missed its target yet again, the ghost acted once more. Seizing the moment while Lu Yun was still airborne with nothing to push off to dodge, it transformed again.

This time, the ghost turned into an enormous tennis racket. While the ball of flesh was likewise airborne and unable to change course, the ghost swiftly moved in front of it.

The enormous racket swung sharply. Its strings bowed wildly under the ball of flesh's tremendous force, but held without snapping. Just like hitting a tennis ball, the rebound sent the cursed spirit flying toward Lu Yun.

"Heh-heh-heh!!"

An eerie laugh escaped the ghost, which looked on the verge of burning itself out.

It didn't believe Lu Yun could dodge this time while still in midair.

"Nice, nice. There's even a second stage."

Lu Yun hadn't expected cursed spirits to be capable of such seamless teamwork. This really was an eye-opener.

"To think you could pull off something like this. I doubt I'll ever forget you, you two nameless roadside cursed spirits."

Unable to dodge in midair, Lu Yun dropped his playful attitude completely, unleashing the full force of the cursed energy within him.

"Take this!"

Flipping upside down in midair, Lu Yun whipped out a bicycle kick, driving his cursed-energy-coated right leg hard into the oncoming cursed spirit.

The instant they collided, the flesh-ball cursed spirit's body caved in where it met Lu Yun's right leg. Like a deflated ball, its enormous body was sent flying with a single kick, striking the ghost that was excitedly watching from the sidelines.

With a deafening boom, a crater several meters wide appeared where the ghost had stood. Purple blood and all kinds of cursed spirit flesh scattered across the ground.

Lu Yun landed steadily at that same moment.

"Let's be honest. The national soccer team would've made it big ages ago if your Uncle Lu Yun had bothered to train."

Crushing the ghost's still-struggling remains underfoot, Lu Yun headed back to the Supermarket without looking back.

[Successfully defeated two roadside Grade 2 Cursed Spirits. Rewards obtained: "Slight increase in cursed energy output," "Slight increase in cursed energy control."]

Receiving another reward notification, Lu Yun couldn't hide his delight.

Sure enough, the rewards weren't limited to increasing his cursed energy reserves.

Feeling his control over cursed energy grow smoother, Lu Yun's lips curled up of their own accord.

Fortunately, this reward hadn't increased his total cursed energy. Otherwise, Hajime Kashimo would definitely have noticed something amiss.

A faint current flowed from his palm as Lu Yun eagerly began testing his improved abilities.

Behind him, a clear voice suddenly called out, stopping him.

"I never imagined an ancient sorcerer like you, who takes over someone else's body, would actually care whether ordinary people live or die."

Lu Yun turned. A figure hovered in midair behind him.

A blonde girl with a halo above her head and wings sprouting from her back was staring at Lu Yun appraisingly.