"Body Dumping Site"

The cursed spirit spotted Sakurada Niji and lunged straight at him.

"...Let's try this." Sakurada Niji aimed a finger at the cursed spirit and began gathering cursed energy. Pale blue cursed energy spilled out, forming an arrowhead.

"Eat...! Eat it..." the cursed spirit muttered indistinctly in a strange cadence as it reached Sakurada Niji.

With a whoosh, a pale blue ray of cursed energy struck the cursed spirit's body.

The "arrow" lodged inside the cursed spirit, disrupting the integrity of the monster's "internal domain." Sakurada Niji maintained his cursed energy connection to the "arrowhead," watching as the monster was pinned in place by the arrowhead fixed in midair.

"Waugh... eat... eat it..." The cursed spirit wasn't dead yet and kept babbling.

"It penetrated... but there's still not enough kinetic energy... all it can do is lodge the 'arrow' inside the monster?" Sakurada Niji sensed the "arrow" inside the monster through his cursed energy. It hadn't pierced all the way through, but remained lodged inside.

Simple Cursed Energy Diffusion can't give the fired "arrow" much explosive power on release. For now, throwing things is still the better primary means of attack, Sakurada Niji concluded.

The "arrow" was a move Sakurada Niji had settled on after yesterday's experiments. It worked by concentrating Cursed Energy Diffusion into a single point and releasing it in a burst. The tip of the cursed energy was fixed into an arrowhead, with Cursed Technique Reversal applied so that he could influence it and make it move.

The tail of the "arrow" was Sakurada Niji's cursed energy line. He could use this line to keep the cursed technique connection stable and exert a second stage of control over the "arrow" at the right moment.

"Well... not very practical. Needs work... all right, Disperse." Sakurada Niji controlled the "arrow" inside the cursed spirit through the cursed energy line, making it burst inside the monster.

In an instant, the bursting "arrow" pierced the monster from within, turning it into a pincushion before it slowly dissolved into smoke and dust.

Hmm, the energy cost is low. It could serve as a basic ranged harassment skill, Sakurada Niji thought, assessing the move's efficiency.

Where the slain cursed spirit had been feeding, the rotting corpses gathered together, forming a monster that lay on the ground like a centipede. Its color was much the same as the previous cursed spirit's, only it had many "legs." The severed limbs of the corpses had become the centipede's "legs." Its head was flat, with no visible facial features except a mouth filled with sharp teeth.

"Urgh... ugh... eat them all..." Many voices mingled into an overlapping chorus that made his head spin.

I thought it was disgusting enough already... what kind of resentment even gave rise to this thing...? Sakurada Niji frowned at the "giant centipede" flailing before him.

Just as Sakurada Niji was about to draw the spare knife at his waist, inspiration struck, and he took his hand off the hilt.

Wait... my brilliant brain just came up with another new move...

"If I do this... use my own strength to make up for the 'lines' lacking mobility..." Sakurada Niji casually traced out several Space-Severing Lines to block the giant centipede, then muttered to himself as he began working out how to put his sudden inspiration into practice.

Concept settled, theory complete. Time to put it into practice.

Watching the "giant centipede" before him, Sakurada Niji gathered cursed energy at his fingertips and flicked it forward, creating the finest cursed energy line he could perceive. Then he used Cursed Technique Reversal to turn it into a movable "Space-Severing Line," giving him a genuine, controllable Spatial Severance Line.

Since he directly controlled the "line," which was connected to his finger, Sakurada Niji could replenish its cursed energy at any time, continuously maintaining the cursed technique's effect to make it "unbreakable." He could also release or withdraw cursed energy through his finger to adjust the "line's" length at will.

Since this was a trial run, Sakurada Niji controlled only one "line" with each hand.

The Space-Severing Lines that had blocked the "centipede" had already lost their effect. Waving its countless "legs," the "centipede" rapidly crawled toward Sakurada Niji. The sight could truly be described as a dark, twisted crawl.

Sakurada Niji flicked the two lines forward. They wrapped around the "centipede's" body like whips, and with a slight pull, he sliced it in two.

"Roar! Urgh...!" With only its front half remaining, it refused to give up, roaring at Sakurada Niji a few times as it continued crawling forward.

This... is amazing! Weaving lines into defenses or attacks would conserve cursed energy as much as possible, but controlling them takes too much mental effort. It might take ages of practice to use them properly...

At that moment, Sakurada Niji was like a child with a new toy, his eyes gleaming as he gazed at the "lines" in his hands, seemingly oblivious to the "centipede" cursed spirit bearing down on him.

Just as the "centipede" cursed spirit was about to reach him, Sakurada Niji used Godspeed's charge-up property to lash the lines in his hands at it. The "lines" he flung sliced its remaining half into several segments, which slowly dissipated into the air.

As the cursed spirit vanished, the alley seemed much emptier, though the stench barely faded.

"Very good. Combined with Godspeed's technique, the destructive power is impressive. I can even turn the lines into whips with different anchor points." Sakurada Niji was very pleased with the "lines" as weapons.

"Hmm... a murder scene..."

Sakurada Niji withdrew the "lines" and looked deeper into the alley.

It was a dead end. Several large garbage bins stood against the wall at the far end, and the rotten stench came from them.

Sakurada Niji slowly approached and used a line to open a garbage bin-

The stench inside the bin burst out the instant its lid opened. Sakurada Niji covered his nose and mouth with his sleeve and peered inside.

There were several bodies inside the bin, though Sakurada Niji couldn't tell exactly how many. They were all in scattered pieces, so he could only estimate from the hands and feet.

"Ah... my poor stomach is going to suffer again..." Sakurada Niji saw the tattoos on those body parts and felt little sympathy. In Japan, only gangsters had tattoos.

"A simple deduction: this is probably some gang's regular body dumping site..."

"The cursed spirits are dealt with. I'll leave the rest to the police."