Special Grade Cursed Tool

Noon.

At Kyoto Prefectural Jujutsu High School, Masamichi Yaga led his prized student through a residence laid out almost identically to Tokyo Jujutsu High, his expression stern.

Along the way, Masamichi Yaga suddenly spoke. "Tsukasa, the place we're visiting is a jujutsu educational institution separate from Tokyo Jujutsu High."

"Kyoto Jujutsu High was founded a few years before Tokyo's school. The higher-ups mostly operate here, and the school rules are stricter than Tokyo's, too."

Tsukasa Hatayama nodded and asked casually, "Mr. Yaga, Satoru said Kyoto has a lot of conservative old men. Is that true?"

At those words, Masamichi Yaga's thick lips curved upward, breaking his stern expression. "There are quite a few. The biggest one is the principal."

"You might meet them in a moment. After all, that little invention of yours has already broken through the limitations of relying on cursed techniques."

Tsukasa Hatayama followed behind his teacher, unbothered. They were just a bunch of old men who refused to move forward. If they pushed their luck, he wouldn't mind bringing them to their knees.

After following Mr. Yaga through a winding route, he arrived at a tower beside a small bridge and flowing water.

Looking at the tower, which had no door, Tsukasa Hatayama found it rather curious. He probed beneath his feet with cursed energy and detected traces of a simple teleportation technique.

Tsukasa Hatayama looked at Masamichi Yaga with a faint smile. "There's a hint of positive infinite energy. Was this simple technique beneath our feet created by the Gojo Clan?"

Masamichi Yaga nodded slightly. "To avoid unnecessary disturbances, the higher-ups commissioned the Gojo Clan to install a teleportation technique in the tower."

"It uses the attraction of Cursed Technique Lapse-a simplified Blue-to teleport people over short distances."

"Although it's a simple teleportation technique and can't compare to Satoru moving hundreds of meters at a time, it can easily transport someone to the tower's third floor."

With that, Masamichi Yaga turned to the matter at hand. "I'll wait here. Step forward, and the technique will transport you to the higher-ups."

"All right."

Tsukasa Hatayama took a step forward. Once he stood still, the technique beneath his feet lit up, and he vanished with a whoosh.

Inside the tower's uppermost floor, the simple teleportation technique brought Tsukasa Hatayama into a dim room with another whoosh.

His expression calm, Tsukasa Hatayama surveyed the purple wooden screens surrounding him. After a moment, he offered a slight bow, dignified and graceful.

The six people behind the screens found the gesture utterly unexpected. Then came unprecedented delight and excitement.

For all their lofty authority and the way they ordered the sorcerers beneath them around, they didn't dare utter a single pointless word before the truly strong.

Take Yuki Tsukumo, who was off gallivanting abroad. The six of them resented her but dared not say so. Their only sanction was to suspend her pay.

That went double for the Three Great Families, whose legacies stretched back a thousand years. They routinely treated the higher-ups with disdain, and every mission commissioned from them cost a fortune.

Now, a special grade jujutsu sorcerer who could one day rival Yuki Tsukumo was showing them respect. How could they not be delighted?

"Ahem... Special Grade Sorcerer Hatayama, you truly live up to your distinguished upbringing. Such impeccable manners! The six of us are quite flattered."

An aged voice sounded from behind the screen directly ahead, warm with a smile. The other five higher-ups chimed in, all smiles as well.

Tsukasa Hatayama looked calmly at the screen before him and said evenly, "The six of you are my seniors. It's only proper for a junior to offer you a bow."

Though he disliked dealing with the higher-ups, he had to observe proper etiquette. After all, he represented the Hatayama Family's dignity.

The six felt positively elated. Their gazes through the screens filled with warmth and appreciation as they thought that he truly lived up to the Hatayama name, a family that had produced powerful statesmen for generations in the outside world.

Compared to that scumbag who threw around arrogant talk the moment he opened his mouth, this young man was far better.

"Attend us. Bring forward the rewards prepared for Special Grade Sorcerer Hatayama."

Knowing Tsukasa Hatayama wasn't particularly fond of conversation, the old man behind the screen directly ahead immediately gave a firm order to the three people standing behind him.

As soon as he finished, the three emerged from behind the old man, trays in hand, and presented them before Tsukasa Hatayama with utmost reverence.

He glanced briefly at the three. A shudder rising from their very souls surged from their feet to the crowns of their heads, and their hands shook uncontrollably as they held up the trays.

After watching them for only a few seconds, Tsukasa Hatayama turned his attention to the rewards on the trays. These three were far too weak-all grade 2 jujutsu sorcerers.

When he saw that two trays held nothing but stack after stack of Japanese yen, Tsukasa Hatayama felt profoundly bored.

If Mei Mei were here, she might have laughed aloud with excitement. He, however, felt nothing toward money but utter numbness.

But when he saw the final tray, a rare ripple stirred in his otherwise placid Red Eyes.

A Japanese katana with an oval hilt lay across the tray. Even sheathed, it exuded a keen, cutting presence.

The old man behind the screen directly ahead, who had been watching his slightest changes in expression, was delighted by Tsukasa Hatayama's reaction.

He hurried to explain. "The sword before you is a special grade cursed tool. It is the first of the three legendary Kitetsu blades."

"The First Kitetsu?"

Tsukasa Hatayama's calm voice slowly rose, and his gaze on the sword grew increasingly fervent.

The legends surrounding Kitetsu, whether in anime or reality, could only be described as extraordinary, for it was a Demon Blade.

Stroking his beard smugly, the old man said, "Perhaps you've heard its many sinister legends, but in truth, it isn't nearly as uncanny as people believe."

"The reason it kills its wielders is ultimately that people without cursed energy use it. Naturally, that causes it to drain their vitality."

"Of course."

"Those without a foundation of powerful cursed energy will also be drained. To keep it from finding its way into the outside world, we've kept it sealed in the Cursed Object Warehouse."

"Until..."

The old man paused, then sighed with feeling. "Until you appeared, Special Grade Sorcerer Hatayama. I knew then that this Demon Blade had finally found its new master."

"Even a half-baked sorcerer like myself can sense the surging cursed energy within you, let alone a Demon Blade that feeds on it."

Tsukasa Hatayama reluctantly drew his gaze away and asked curiously, "Since it's a special grade cursed tool, what effects does it have?"

The old man behind the screen smiled mysteriously and stroked his beard. "It can slay shikigami in a single strike and forcibly destroy barriers."

Startled, he looked at Kitetsu again, this time as though beholding a peerless treasure.

How was this merely a special grade cursed tool? Wasn't it a divine weapon left in the mortal world? These effects were even more outrageous than the Inverted Spear of Heaven's ability to forcibly nullify cursed techniques.

Everyone knew that closed domains were constructed using barriers. With Kitetsu, wouldn't he be able to destroy them at will?

And slaying shikigami in a single strike... Mahoraga, in the future...

No, he couldn't let himself think about it.

The more Tsukasa Hatayama tried to restrain himself, the more excited he became. Without another thought, he resolutely picked up the sword that had languished in storage for so long.

But the instant he picked it up, something unexpected happened. The cursed energy inside him surged uncontrollably toward Kitetsu.

It fed greedily, as though it hadn't eaten in ages.

"You like eating, do you? Then I'll fill you up in one go!"

Tsukasa Hatayama's lips curved into a wild grin. His hair whipped about as he unleashed the cursed energy within him, blasting the screens away and forcibly pouring it into the ominous blade.