Shuten Doji

Suguru Geto pushed open the palace doors, and a pungent stench of blood rushed into his nose.

"How many people did they have to eat for this..."

Geto's gaze turned cold. Although his cursed technique let him control cursed spirits and turn them to his own use-

He still couldn't help feeling disgust toward cursed spirits that slaughtered people so viciously.

"Slit-Mouthed Woman, take care of these cursed spirits."

Geto summoned the Slit-Mouthed Woman to clear out the lesser cursed spirits along the way.

"Ring, ring, ring..."

Geto's phone suddenly rang. He took it out of his pocket and answered. "Hello?"

"Geto, it's me!"

Satoru Gojo's voice came through. "How's it going over there? Can you finish before tonight?"

"We've all got to get together this evening!"

"Shouldn't be a problem."

Geto tilted his head to dodge a lunging cursed spirit, then casually kicked it in front of the Slit-Mouthed Woman.

"There are quite a few cursed spirits here, but they actually built a palace. I'm starting to wonder if they've developed intelligence."

"Huh? That's probably impossible, right?"

Back at Jujutsu High, Gojo sat with his legs crossed and laughed nonchalantly. "Ze did say some cursed spirits would develop intelligence, but I doubt they'd pose much of a threat..."

"Gojo, don't get careless."

Geto rested a hand against his chin as though pondering something. "Zenin's always careful about what he does. He doesn't usually worry for nothing."

"You two really are cautious..." Gojo pressed a hand to his forehead in exasperation. "Get back soon!"

"All right."

The Slit-Mouthed Woman split the scissors in her hand into many pairs, controlling them as she reaped through the crowd of cursed spirits ahead like the Grim Reaper.

Most of them were low-level cursed spirits. As he was now, Geto didn't even feel the urge to absorb them.

As he cut through them like weeds, Geto slipped his phone back into his pocket.

Watching the purple blood flow from the cursed spirits, he suddenly recalled another exchange, seemingly from a summer many years ago.

"What's the difference between humans and cursed spirits?"

Geto held his head. Remembering the horrific scene in the village outside, he couldn't help sneering. "A cursed spirit is a cursed spirit. Once a cursed spirit, always a cursed spirit..."

Decades had passed. Even after losing his memories of his three years at Jujutsu High, his personality had veered toward genuine indifference, leaving his relationships with Ze Zenin and the others unremarkable even after ten years.

Yet his hazy memories of the past, along with witnessing far too many partings in life and death, had also given Geto a maturity far beyond that of his days at Jujutsu High.

Eventually, he entered a magnificent hall. From a distance, Geto spotted a cursed spirit holding a human woman, presumably just abducted from the village.

The woman could see curses, and her voice trembled as she pleaded, "Please let me go. I'll do anything..."

The cursed spirit chuckled, seemingly in disdain, or perhaps mockery, and looked toward Geto at the entrance to the hall.

As though provoking him, he lifted the woman, then snapped her neck right before Geto's eyes.

Cursed energy surged around him, as though he had long been prepared for Geto's arrival.

Geto's gaze turned utterly cold. Killing someone right in front of him-this creature was practically begging to die.

"Trying to provoke me? Did that cursed spirit outside the palace warn you?"

Alarm bells rang in Geto's mind as he sensed something amiss. He immediately formed a gun with his fingers, and swarms of cuttlefish cursed spirits surged toward the seat of honor like a tide.

The cursed spirit tossed the woman aside. A huge gourd materialized in his hand, and he pointed it toward the oncoming cursed spirits, sucking them all inside.

Then he slowly approached from above, and Geto finally got a clear look at him.

Standing before Geto was a massive, red-skinned cursed spirit dressed in large-checkered fabric and a green hakama, with a hideous face and horns atop his head.

"Just as I thought..."

Geto wasn't frightened by his terrifying appearance. Instead, he merely gave a disdainful smile. "A special grade imaginary cursed spirit-Shuten Doji?"

"Human, this is not a place you should come."

Shuten Doji didn't notice Geto's smile and merely repeated the same sentence.

"So you've developed some intelligence. Is that because you've eaten too many people?"

Geto held Playful Cloud in front of him as a black hole appeared behind him, releasing the tentacled cursed spirit he had subdued outside earlier.

Shuten Doji attacked first, driving his massive fist straight toward Geto's face with tremendous speed.

Geto reacted swiftly, bending down to dodge while using Playful Cloud's flexibility to lock Shuten Doji's right hand firmly in place.

At that very instant, the tentacled cursed spirit's four tentacles seized Shuten Doji's left hand.

"Then let's start things off with a bang!"

Cursed energy gathered in Geto's hand. He greatly reinforced his fist with it and drove a punch straight into Shuten Doji's face.

"You tried to punch me in the face. It's only fair that I return the favor, right?"

Geto smiled faintly as he watched Shuten Doji fly backward.

Shuten Doji got to his feet and said again, "Human, this is not a place you should come..."

"Looks like that's the only thing you can say." Geto narrowed his eyes, and a huge, one-eyed cursed spirit burst out of the ground with its fist raised.

Shuten Doji dodged sideways and immediately conjured a Samurai Sword in his hand. He then raced across the one-eyed cursed spirit's body, his blade slashing wildly behind him and sending its blood spraying.

"I'm not letting you destroy him!"

Geto swept his hand, and a long white dragon appeared inside the hall, knocking Shuten Doji down in an instant.

Shuten Doji immediately held his blade across himself to block the Rainbow Dragon's ramming and biting attacks. At the same time, he lowered his center of gravity along with his arms, using sheer brute strength to drag the Rainbow Dragon out of the air and onto the ground.

"He can overpower the Rainbow Dragon with brute strength alone..."

Geto watched Shuten Doji with a hint of surprise. "As expected of the oni king from Japanese legend."

One octopus cursed spirit after another shot from the ground toward Shuten Doji like blue lasers.

He kicked the Rainbow Dragon away, then swung his Samurai Sword relentlessly, chopping through the octopus cursed spirits as though slicing vegetables.

At that moment, Geto swiftly closed in on Shuten Doji. Playful Cloud clashed against his Samurai Sword with a series of metallic clangs.

Shuten Doji delivered a vertical slash with his Samurai Sword, immediately following it with a heavy punch.

Geto calmly dodged Shuten Doji's attacks, striking his face with the two end sections of Playful Cloud. Finally, he reinforced his leg and delivered a vicious kick, driving him into the wall.

"This guy's taijutsu isn't particularly strong..."

Geto suddenly realized something. From the start of the fight until now, Shuten Doji had never used his cursed technique.

Except for that first time with the gourd...

Could it be...

At that thought, Geto stared at Shuten Doji, only to see a huge gourd appear in his hand once more.

What followed was the cursed technique he had kept hidden all this time!