"Let's go get some taiyaki! I know a really good place nearby!"
Walking side by side down an unassuming lane after finishing an exorcism assignment, Megumi Fushiguro and Kugisaki chatted about all the food they could fill their stomachs with later...
So much had happened over the past few days, and with the sharp increase in exorcism assignments, neither of them had enjoyed a proper rest in ages.
So while Kugisaki was brimming with enthusiasm, Megumi Fushiguro remained decidedly indifferent.
All he wanted was to return to his dorm at Jujutsu High and get a good night's sleep...
But before he could even picture his soft dorm bed, a black sedan suddenly shot out of an intersection and screeched to a stop in front of them.
The door opened, and Mr. Ijichi stepped out of the back seat. He had accompanied Megumi Fushiguro on assignments before, handling the deployment of Curtains.
Right now, his expression was grim.
"A new special grade cursed spirit has emerged."
The black sedan raced through the streets. The Jujutsu High staff member behind the wheel paid no attention whatsoever to the color of the traffic lights-
Over the car radio, transmissions from Jujutsu High's other supervisors and the police overlapped in a chaotic jumble, but Megumi and Kugisaki still picked out some useful information:
"We lost two of our guys! That thing isn't a terrorist! You fucking lied to us!"
"One Grade 3 Sorcerer critically injured! We've lost contact with three Semi-Grade 2 sorcerers! We're calling in nearby units for backup!!"
Disaster had already struck. When the sedan stopped and Megumi and Kugisaki opened their doors, an enormous Curtain greeted them.
Four assistant supervisors, summoned on an emergency basis, had worked together to lower a Curtain that completely enclosed Central Park, the site of the incident, preventing any living creature from escaping.
"Hey, hey, hey... this presence..."
"Isn't this a little too strong...?"
After listening to Ijichi's summary and report, Megumi Fushiguro and Kugisaki stepped straight inside the Curtain and began searching for survivors.
But the moment they entered, the waves of cursed energy emanating from deep within the park-almost strong enough to drag them bodily toward their source-made both their expressions change drastically...
Unless they were mistaken.
This special grade cursed spirit...
Was even stronger than the [Cursed Womb Must Die] they had encountered at the Juvenile Detention Center.
"Gojo should already be on his way. Let's not push our luck. Once we've confirmed the survivors' locations and conditions, we leave."
Megumi Fushiguro swallowed. Though the cursed spirit's presence inside the park frightened him, his duty as a jujutsu sorcerer drove him steadily forward, without a single step back.
He knew that for the sorcerers they had completely lost contact with and the ordinary human survivors inside, every second now meant life or death.
They had no time to wait for a Special Grade Sorcerer to arrive and rescue them.
If the special grade cursed spirit here grew stronger or noticed them, only death awaited!
"Beyond saving..."
Beside the enormous pond, the visitors who had once fished and jogged there were nowhere to be seen.
All that awaited Megumi and Kugisaki, who had followed the scent of residual cursed energy, was a lifeless, mutilated human body slumped beside a tree trunk.
"Something tore into the face. The entire left arm is missing... and these enormous claw marks..."
Megumi Fushiguro crouched to examine the unrecognizable corpse. Judging by the bloodstained suit and the shattered long-bladed cursed tool lying nearby, this was most likely one of the missing Semi-Grade 2 sorcerers...
"What the hell did this...?"
The sight of human flesh and blood made Kugisaki nauseous. Covering her mouth to keep herself from vomiting, she still remembered to ask Megumi Fushiguro, who had encountered more cursed spirits, whether he could determine what type they were facing.
"I'm not sure, but judging by the damage, it's probably a type with greater physical destructive power."
Megumi Fushiguro lightly ran his fingers over the claw marks on the broken tree trunk-
The gouges sank deeper into the wood than the claws of his Divine Dogs shikigami could reach. In all likelihood, this cursed spirit was a beast-type focused on speed and attack power...
"Nue."
He formed a hand sign to summon his shikigami. An enormous eagle-shaped shikigami emerged from the shadows, seized Megumi Fushiguro by the shoulders, and lifted him into the air, giving him a clear view of the entire area around the pond.
"North! There are signs of fighting to the north!"
"It's not over yet! Hurry!"
Dismissing his shikigami, Megumi Fushiguro dropped swiftly from branch to branch, then grabbed Kugisaki and pulled her onto a nearby path.
From the air, he had clearly seen dust and fluctuations of cursed energy near the enormous banyan tree.
If they were fast enough, perhaps they could fight alongside the surviving sorcerers and save the others...
It's only just been born. Even if it's special grade, we should still be able to fight back...
Megumi Fushiguro reassured himself as he picked up the pace. Divine Dog: Totality had already rushed ahead to scout and clear the way. At the slightest sign of trouble, it would stop.
Clang-clang-clang!!!
Clatter-!!!
The sound of snapping metal rang out.
When Megumi Fushiguro and Kugisaki pushed through the bushes and reached the vast clearing before the banyan tree, a sight that sent their blood surging burned itself into their eyes:
A sorcerer missing an arm and half a lower leg, blood streaming from every opening in their face, plunged a broken short blade into the insubstantial shadow before them. It did nothing. Their body, already at its limit, finally collapsed as a pair of shadow claws withdrew from their chest-
Roughly two meters tall, the towering figure stood before the Semi-Grade 2 sorcerer's still-warm corpse. Its entire body consisted of pitch-black shadows that constantly twisted and shifted, and it silently savored the dying of the last spark of life in the sorcerer's eyes.
[Special grade cursed spirit · ??] [Unrecorded]
"Coordinated attack!!!"
Megumi Fushiguro shouted and swiftly brought his hands together in a sign. As Divine Dog: Totality used the shadows of the banyan tree and surrounding vegetation to close in, an enormous shadow emerged behind Megumi Fushiguro and coalesced into the shape of an elephant.
"Straw Doll Technique: Hairpin."
A high-speed jet of water compressed into a single stream and cursed-energy-infused nails launched by Kugisaki's hammer hurtled from two directions toward the special grade cursed spirit standing motionless in place.
Though its body appeared to be made of shadows, Megumi Fushiguro, who possessed the Ten Shadows Technique, saw at once that this was merely its initial form, unable to stabilize while it remained in the [embryo] stage.
In other words...
Normal cursed energy attacks worked!!!
Completely unguarded, as though it had not even noticed the attack, the special grade cursed spirit had a huge hole torn through its abdomen by the water jet fired by [Max Elephant].
At the same moment, Kugisaki's nail, brimming with cursed energy, pierced its shadowy skin and buried itself inside. With a crisp snap of her fingers, blue ripples of cursed energy instantly blasted apart the undefended special grade cursed spirit's right arm...
"You like tearing people's arms off?! How does that feel?!!!"
Furious, Kugisaki hammered another three cursed-energy-infused nails toward the special grade cursed spirit's remaining left arm. With Divine Dog: Totality's head halfway out of the shadows, poised to attack, she was confident that she and Megumi Fushiguro could cripple their opponent with this strike!
"Don't get close to it!!!"
A hoarse cry rang out to their right.
Seeing a filthy sorcerer, clearly someone who had been hiding in the bushes for a long time, rush out at the risk of their own life to stop Divine Dog: Totality's attack, Megumi Fushiguro's heart lurched.
His hand signs changed rapidly as Megumi issued commands to halt and recall Divine Dog, canceling the technique as fast as he could. But he was still far too slow compared with the special grade cursed spirit...
Black-and-red cursed energy surged through the shattered mass of shadows. The instant Divine Dog turned to retreat, steel claws that had shifted from an illusory form into solid matter came crashing down toward its head...
"Hairpin!!!"
A crisp finger snap rang out.
Knowing that Divine Dog was the mainstay of Megumi Fushiguro's technique, Kugisaki detonated her cursed-energy-infused nails early, trying to interrupt the special grade cursed spirit's full-force strike aimed at Divine Dog...
But the gulf in strength was plain to see.
Even when the three nails, brimming with cursed energy, exploded together in one spot, their blue cursed energy only nudged the silver-white claws slightly off course. With a loud, wet tearing sound, the black-and-white Divine Dog tumbled out of the shadows with a low whine and landed beside Megumi Fushiguro's feet. Looking down, he saw three bloody wounds across its back, so deep that bone showed...
One strike. Just one casual, effortless strike.
[Divine Dog: Totality] could no longer rise.