Don't you have any desires?

After walking together for a few minutes, the two reached a deserted mountainside.

With one hand resting on her slender waist, Mei Mei gazed at the shrine built on the edge of a distant cliff. Weathered by sun and wind, it looked dilapidated.

As she sensed the powerful curse emanating from within, the faint, elegant smile on her red lips slowly faded.

"Junior, the cursed aura coming from that shrine is powerful. I've never encountered anything like it before. Are you sure you can exorcise it?"

Her expression grave, Mei Mei took the case off her back and pulled out a cursed tool-a long axe that clashed terribly with her elegant demeanor.

Tsukasa Hatayama withdrew his gaze at her words and said with his usual confidence, "I'm sure. From what I can sense, it's only a Special Grade 1 Imaginary Cursed Spirit."

"It's a little weak compared to the special grade I encountered before joining Jujutsu High."

"You've exorcised a special grade cursed spirit?"

That casually revealed detail thoroughly stunned Mei Mei.

Her beautiful eyes, which normally only showed a flicker of emotion over money, now stared at Tsukasa Hatayama as though he were a monster.

Everyone knew that Jujutsu High had sixteen special grade cursed spirits on record, each powerful enough to slaughter its way through Sakura Country.

Yet her junior had exorcised one before he even entered Jujutsu High. Just how much of a freak was he...?

Tsukasa Hatayama replied modestly, "I just got lucky. I paid a terrible price during the exorcism, too. My body suffered severe injuries."

Injuries, my ass. I only used a tiny bit of cursed energy. Of course, he kept that to himself. Saying it aloud might scare his senior Mei Mei to death.

Mei Mei gave him a long, searching look. Only after a while did she recover enough to say, "You're a freak. You've really dealt your senior a blow."

For a moment, she wanted to stop partnering with her junior. It was too demoralizing. She had trained desperately in physical combat just to scrape her way into the ranks of grade 2 sorcerers.

Who could have imagined that, before even joining Jujutsu High, her junior had exorcised a special grade cursed spirit she would have avoided at all costs? How was anyone supposed to enjoy themselves like this?!

Tsukasa Hatayama said helplessly, "Then take a hundred million off my pay."

The dispirited Mei Mei bounced right back the instant she heard those words.

A smile blossomed on her face. "Your senior loves geniuses like you. Not only are you strong, you're so diligent and hardworking, too."

"It's a shame I'm graduating this year. Otherwise, I'd definitely keep partnering with you, enjoying easy exorcisms and making easy money."

Those were her flattering words, but inwardly, she felt quite differently. Who the hell would want to partner with you? You've made me so discouraged I don't even want to be a sorcerer anymore.

Tsukasa Hatayama let every compliment go in one ear and out the other. His senior Mei Mei's words were best taken lightly, or she could sell him out before he even realized it.

But seeing how the money had set his senior's silver tongue wagging nonstop, Tsukasa Hatayama could only take her delicate wrist and lead her toward the shrine. If they delayed any longer, it would be dark.

As he led her along, Mei Mei put away her money-grubbing side. Her expression became exceptionally wary and grave as she tightened her grip on the long axe cursed tool.

Yet the moment she stepped onto the creaking wooden stairs, Mei Mei suddenly froze. Then she pulled her hand free and rushed toward the cliff in wild excitement.

Fortunately, Tsukasa Hatayama noticed in time. He hurriedly caught her, stopping his senior's inexplicable attempt to leap off the cliff and kill herself.

"Junior, don't hold me back! There's so much money over there, piles and piles of it! I'll be rich if I pick it up!"

Mei Mei struggled hard to break free of Tsukasa Hatayama's hand. She even went so far as to smack his chest with the flat of her axe, throwing all her strength into trying to jump off the cliff.

The blows left Tsukasa Hatayama's chest stinging, but to stop her, he had no choice but to knock his senior Mei Mei unconscious with a palm strike.

Sorry, Tsukasa Hatayama silently apologized. Then he gently slipped an arm around his senior Mei Mei's slender waist and helped her to an open patch of ground nearby.

His senior Mei Mei smelled lovely. Her fragrance was light, fresh, and refined, just like her demeanor-always so elegant.

Once he had settled her down, Tsukasa Hatayama began examining the shrine before him.

From the instant she stepped onto the wooden stairs, his senior Mei Mei had seemed like a different person. If his guess was right, she had probably fallen under the cursed spirit's domain.

Yet he could sense no barrier extending around them, so this was likely a Simple Domain that forcibly controlled desires.

Tsukasa Hatayama smiled faintly. "That makes sense. After all, most imaginary cursed spirits are monsters and demons familiar to everyone."

"Damn human, why doesn't my Simple Domain work on you? Don't you have the desires humans possess?"

Just then, a hoarse voice abruptly demanded from inside the shrine. Its hair-raising sound seemed steeped in anger and confusion.

"Why should I have any desires?"

Tsukasa Hatayama countered indulgently, then said calmly, "I was born into the richest family in the country. I lack nothing material. In fact, having more money than I can spend is a nuisance."

"As for friendship, I have two close friends, and love is quietly coming my way, too. My life is already perfect. Tell me, what desires would I still have?"

"You damned human! Don't you want eternal life, an undying soul, to reign supreme throughout heaven and earth?"

The hoarse, monstrous voice inside the shrine grew so furious it seemed ready to tear the roof off at any moment.

Tsukasa Hatayama considered it briefly, then smiled. "Sorry, but my body already cannot perish, and my soul cannot die. I already have everything you mentioned."

"Impossible!"

"Humans without desires deserve to die, die! All of you should die! You're the greatest parasite in this world! Die!"

The decrepit wooden doors burst apart, and a short, goblin-like cursed spirit lunged out at tremendous speed, appearing before Tsukasa Hatayama in the blink of an eye.

"Wouldn't ranged spells have been better? My close combat skills are unmatched, you know."

Tsukasa Hatayama raised his right leg high and slammed a whipping kick into the cursed spirit's abdomen, knocking spittle from its mouth and blasting the special grade 1 cursed spirit back into the shrine in a single exchange.

The decrepit shrine collapsed with a thunderous crash under that kick.

Tsukasa Hatayama removed his jacket, slowly turned sideways, and lowered himself into a half crouch. "Don't blink," he murmured. "Next comes the Moment of the Gods' Descent."

Boom!

An immense surge of cursed energy erupted from Tsukasa Hatayama's half-crouched body. Rising red energy shot into the clouds like an upward-flowing waterfall.

Tsukasa Hatayama's feet left the ground as his tall, slender body slowly rose into the air. His black hair turned snow-white, and black markings surfaced across his exposed upper body.

"Break free of the cocoon, become a butterfly, and dance."

A heavenly voice, impossible to distinguish as male or female, emerged from Tsukasa Hatayama's mouth. He floated coldly in midair, looking down like a god upon the ruins as the dust dispersed.

Aside from the cross earring in his left ear, he looked exactly like a replica of Orochi.

"Damn human..."

The special grade 1 cursed spirit crawled out of the rubble and charged at Tsukasa Hatayama in a mindless frenzy, thrusting its ten thick, long fingers straight toward his vulnerable throat.

Tsukasa Hatayama remained utterly unmoved. He lightly swept his right foot at the special grade 1 cursed spirit. A beautiful red crescent appeared, slicing the cursed spirit to pieces.

"One-Handed Universal Radiance."

With the air of one supreme above all others, Tsukasa Hatayama pointed a single hand toward the sky. Pure, flawless white light enveloped the entire mountainside, annihilating the chunks of the cursed spirit's flesh.

As the cursed aura disappeared, Tsukasa Hatayama slowly returned to his original appearance. This was his first time using the Orochi's Void cursed technique in the outside world.

Although his appearance changed considerably, it was merely a different hair color and a little paint. It wasn't as though he had brought in Orochi from The King of Fighters to fight for him.

His ability to slice the cursed spirit into pieces in an instant was entirely thanks to the void cursed energy wrapped around his foot.

What was the void?

It meant freely manipulating space and black holes, teleporting, controlling light that annihilated everything and gravity, dominating souls, and creating cursed energy pillars.

"I wonder if Ryomen Sukuna could take a hit from my Soul Extraction and Sunshine..."

Tsukasa Hatayama murmured to himself with a smile, then put on the jacket lying on the ground and left that wretched place, carrying his sleep-talking senior Mei Mei on his back.