Discovered

The battle was over.

With Nue joining the fight, the tide had turned in an instant.

The Divine Dogs were fine, too. After the cursed spirit was torn apart, they ate its remains and returned to their original state.

Once the cursed spirit disappeared, the black barrier dissipated on its own.

The man outside looked surprised. When he noticed me coming out, he seemed even more surprised.

He seemed able to see my Divine Dogs and Nue, because the moment he saw them, he actually collapsed onto the ground.

*?*

Seriously, was I that scary?

Naoki Imai was just an ordinary assistant supervisor.

Unlike the other assistant supervisors affiliated with Jujutsu Headquarters, he answered to the Gojo Clan.

Not long ago, he had received orders from the Gojo Clan to pick a special grade mission out of the vast assortment at Jujutsu Headquarters. They had even specified that the special grade couldn't be too strong, and preferably wouldn't inflict any mental damage.

Naoki Imai: "..."

He didn't dare say anything, nor did he dare ask.

After all his years navigating Jujutsu Headquarters, the simple but useful lesson that curiosity killed the cat had been deeply engraved in his heart.

When the higher-ups gave an order, he just had to do it.

After staying up all night, he finally found a suitable mission-a special grade cursed womb was forming inside an abandoned building on the outskirts of Kyoto.

He made his decision on the spot. Great, this is the one!

Then he compiled all the necessary information and, fighting through his exhaustion, sent it to his contact at the Gojo Clan.

Once that was done, he planned to get a good night's sleep and recover. But while he was half asleep, his contact replied, "Very good. The clan head and young master Satoru will go to the mission site tomorrow. Make absolutely sure you attend to them properly."

*!*

What? Had he read that wrong?

The Gojo Clan head and... the Six Eyes?

He jolted awake and couldn't get back to sleep.

Naoki Imai tossed and turned all night, anxious that he might do something improper the next day and offend those important figures.

So he drove to the destination first thing in the morning, promptly lowered a curtain, and began waiting for instructions.

At ten, the sun was already high in the sky, but they still hadn't come...

At twelve, the presence inside the curtain was growing stronger, but they still hadn't come.

At one in the afternoon, the cursed spirit's presence had grown even more intense, yet he still hadn't seen a soul.

Had I offended someone without realizing it, and now they've set me up to die? Naoki Imai wondered.

The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed. Why else hadn't he seen so much as a hair on the Six Eyes' head by now?

Yes, that had to be it. Everyone in Jujutsu Society knew how much the Gojo Clan treasured their Child of God. How could they possibly send him out to exorcise a special grade cursed womb?

I'm doomed. I can't wait any longer! At this rate, if the cursed spirit hatches, I'll be the first to die!

Naoki Imai immediately panicked. He almost wanted to floor the accelerator and leave right away, but his last shred of conscience stopped him.

No, someone still has to deal with this cursed womb... that's it!

An idea flashed through his mind, and he exclaimed excitedly, "The Zenin Clan! We're close to their territory!"

He immediately pulled out his phone and dialed a jujutsu sorcerer from the Zenin Clan. "There's a special grade cursed womb about to hatch on the outskirts, roughly three kilometers northwest of Kyoto's central square! Please come and hel-huh?"

Like a bubble pricked by a fine needle, the black barrier crumbled bit by bit from top to bottom, then slowly vanished into nothing.

The curtain... dissipated?

Dust filled the air. The abandoned building was now nothing but a heap of rubble, covered in traces of the cursed womb and another, unfamiliar cursed energy...

Clearly, an extremely fierce battle had just taken place inside the curtain.

Amid the swirling ash, a small figure slowly emerged.

...Someone actually went inside without me noticing... wait, does that mean this child exorcised the special grade cursed womb?

The Six Eyes is already here?

No... isn't the Six Eyes a white-haired boy with blue eyes?

But this is clearly a black-haired girl with green eyes!

Then he saw the shikigami emerging alongside the little girl-the Divine Dogs and Nue.

A faint sense of foreboding rose in Naoki Imai's heart.

Surely it couldn't be that much of a coincidence...

Although the Zenin Clan had yet to make an official announcement, Naobito Zenin's reaction at the last Gojo Clan banquet had already led Jujutsu Society to speculate that someone in the Zenin Clan might have awakened the Ten Shadows Technique...

The first few shikigami of the Ten Shadows Technique were no great secret in Jujutsu Society, and he had heard a little about them.

And now, seeing the two dogs, one black and one white, that matched the rumors almost exactly, along with the unmistakable giant bird circling overhead...

The girl's identity was all but certain.

Just then, the Zenin Clan's jujutsu sorcerer hurried to the location mentioned over the phone. At the sight of the small figure standing in the middle, his mind went blank.

Panic seized him, and he blurted out, "Miss Kuang Wu! What are you doing here?!"

Naoki Imai's legs gave out, and he sank to his knees.

I'm doomed.