Oh? What Do You Want to Compete with Me In?

The plane landed in Sapporo City, surrounded by a blanket of white snow. This was a plain amid the mountains, and the sky seemed shrouded in gloom.

An oppressive atmosphere hung in the air.

"Get off the plane!"

The cabin door opened, and Naomitsu led the group off the plane. There was no one waiting outside.

The surroundings were empty, as quiet as if the world had ended.

"Humans... meat... eat..."

"Die!"

They had barely stepped off the plane when a cursed spirit appeared, its strength just shy of Special Grade. It was about the size of an elephant, with seven or eight eyes crowded across its face.

Its mouths, however, were on its limbs.

"Here we go, brothers! Leave this cursed spirit to me!" Aoi Todo rushed toward it eagerly without waiting for Naomitsu's orders.

"Fine. Let's test what this cursed spirit can do."

Aoi Todo grinned broadly, pounding the cursed spirit with a flurry of punches. Yet every blow felt like it had struck a sponge, and the cursed spirit remained completely unharmed.

"Humans! Cursed energy! Eat!!!"

After the cursed spirit roared that final word, its entire body mutated. All its eyes began writhing, converging at the center of its face.

Eventually, the densely packed little eyes merged into one enormous eye. It was slightly smaller than a car, about the size of a mobility microcar.

Just looking at it sent chills down their spines.

"Keep attacking! Finish it quickly! Stop playing around!" Sensing powerful cursed energy approaching nearby, Naomitsu urged them on.

Inumaki Yaki pulled down his mask, and Noritoshi Kamo took his stance and unleashed Blood Manipulation. Fujiwara Sora joined Aoi Todo, and everyone focused their attacks on the cursed spirit.

"Don't move!"

The cursed spirit froze. Blood Manipulation sliced open its giant eye, while Aoi Todo and Fujiwara Sora used a move resembling Lariat, crushing the cursed spirit into a strip of dried meat.

Bang!

With a bang, the cursed spirit exploded. The first cursed spirit they had encountered after leaving the plane was successfully exorcised.

At the same time, the cursed spirit approaching from nearby arrived.

It was a humanoid Special Grade disaster cursed spirit, and judging by its appearance, it was one they had never seen before.

"That's the disaster cursed spirit Shuizhan. I heard about him from my grandfather. The first King of Curses was Yamata no Great Serpent, and beneath him was Shuizhan.

"He was born from humanity's fear of earthquakes, a Special Grade disaster cursed spirit. A thousand years ago, Sukuna, the strongest in history, killed him."

"Then how has he come back to life?" Naoya Zenin swallowed.

Fujiwara shook his head. He found it hard to understand, too. After all, only Sukuna could kill a monster like this.

"Then aren't we done for? We can't even escape!" Naoya Zenin clutched his head in despair.

Naomitsu waved a hand, completely unruffled.

"Human! Do you know where Sukuna is? If you tell me, you may leave alive!"

Once the stone-like monster drew close, he spoke. His very first words demanded Sukuna's whereabouts.

Clearly, he hated Sukuna deeply.

"Get out of here for now. Leave this one to me. Remember, don't split up. Stay together and work as a team. I'll see you in a bit."

Naomitsu chose to face him alone and had Fujiwara and the others leave first. After all, this creature's abilities were beyond what these students could handle.

"Boss! You've got this!"

The students still had great faith in their teacher's strength. Without much hesitation, they left the airport apron together.

"Beat me, and I'll tell you where Sukuna is!"

Naomitsu currently had only seven hundred thousand cursed energy available to use. But he was confident that would be enough to deal with this cursed spirit.

"Great Serpent!"

A Great Serpent with ten thousand cursed energy burrowed beneath the concrete, serving as Naomitsu's opening probing attack.

"Sukuna! Then I'll capture you! And those others!"

As Shuizhan muttered to himself, Great Serpent burst out of the ground behind him, opening his jaws to swallow Shuizhan's head.

Boom!

A single punch sent Great Serpent flying. Naomitsu summoned Round Deer and Max Elephant at the same time, continuing to observe Shuizhan's attacks.

Max Elephant raised a foot and stomped down at Shuizhan.

"Stop testing me with these little toys! Show me your full strength!"

After saying that, Shuizhan pressed his palms together and stamped one foot. What followed was a verbal binding vow for his cursed technique.

"Binding vow. My cursed technique, Time Resonance, locks onto a target and resonates with them at the same frequency. Whoever has the greater cursed energy output will shake the other into dust.

"Now, thanks to this verbal binding vow, my cursed energy has increased by 40%. And you, brat, will be shaken to pieces by synchronized vibrations in the next second."

Shuizhan's body began to vibrate. Naomitsu's body shook along with him.

Yet the smile never left Naomitsu's lips.

"You want to compete with me in cursed energy? You really picked the wrong opponent! Now I finally understand how Sukuna killed you."

Naomitsu wasted no cursed energy, vibrating at the same frequency as Shuizhan. When Shuizhan output ten thousand cursed energy, Naomitsu matched him.

And in Naomitsu's eyes, Shuizhan's cursed energy limit was plain to see.

[613721]

That value was the result of the 40% increase. But he could never win a contest against Naomitsu, even with Naomitsu under a binding vow.

"Impossible!"

Cold sweat broke out on Shuizhan's forehead as he increased his cursed energy output from ten thousand to a hundred thousand. The ground beneath them had already begun developing deep cracks from the synchronized vibrations of their powerful cursed energy.

"Two hundred thousand!"

The cracks immediately widened and expanded, as though a real earthquake had struck. The apron split down the middle, leaving a fissure dozens of meters long and more than ten meters deep.

The contest of cursed energy continued, rising from two hundred thousand to three hundred thousand, then from three hundred thousand to four hundred thousand.

Shuizhan's body gradually began to crack. Fissures spread across him, and every fragment that fell from his body turned to dust.

This transformation could not be reversed or healed even with Reverse Cursed Technique. Its rule-based power rivaled the World-Cutting Slash Sukuna had learned.

"The final five hundred thousand!"

Shuizhan's eyes became bloodshot. For the first time, he faced a monster even more troublesome than Sukuna.

Powerful cursed energy erupted, rocking the entire airport. The nearby terminal collapsed, and the cracks in the ground spread beyond the airport.

"Turn to dust!"

Naomitsu matched his output of five hundred thousand cursed energy, overwhelming him the next second. Under the synchronized resonance, Shuizhan's body gradually began to disintegrate.

"Domain Expansion! Earthquake!"

Clearly, Shuizhan had kept a trump card in reserve. Otherwise, a cursed technique that pitted cursed energy against cursed energy like this could all too easily backfire.

"Domain Expansion! Three Births, All Things!"

The domains collided, burning out their cursed techniques. Shuizhan's Time Resonance stopped, and a new contest between domains began.

"Bear the wrath of the earth... huh?"

There was no earth before him, only the Azure Lotus, a bodhi tree, shikigami, and humans.

"Let's keep competing in cursed energy! There's a total of about three million cursed energy in here!"