An unfair fight

Haruta Shigemo had barely cost Kento Nanami any time at all.

After sending him flying several streets away with three punches, Nanami decided he could not possibly survive and immediately headed for the subway station rendezvous point where the Zenin Group was waiting.

Grade 3 Sorcerers could no longer help in the battles ahead.

And since no one knew whether any other animals like Shigemo were still roaming the perimeter, protecting the remaining Assistant Supervisors and Nitta fell to Kugisaki and Junpei.

By then, it was already 10:25 p.m.

"The smell of blood... it's strong."

The farther they descended the stairs, the more bloodstains they saw and the stronger the stench became.

There were no human bones or severed limbs, but the entire stairwell was drenched in blood.

Naobito Zenin, who had drunk quite a bit earlier and still reeked of alcohol, had stopped joking around. He walked at the rear of the group with a grave expression, staring at the blood that stuck slightly to his soles.

What kind of slaughter could have created such a hellish scene-

"Fuck... is this for real...?"

"Is this some kind of ritual?!"

In the empty subway mezzanine, enormous pillars made of joined human bones were embedded deep in the floor.

Organs still dripping blood and human heads had been carefully impaled on sharpened bone spikes. Blood trickled down under gravity, staining the catchment basins built from piled ribs red and giving off a thick, bloody stench-

There were six of these grotesque, crudely fashioned bone-spike ritual structures in the space. All had been built around the subway's support columns, as though mocking humanity by suggesting that only such "artworks" deserved to stand here in place of those ugly pillars.

"A ritual? You humans really are stupid."

An icy, mocking voice came from behind the largest bone spike.

As a human head with half its face sliced off rolled out, Thousand Fangs, who had been waiting here for some time, slowly emerged from the shadows.

"Can't you tell? This is a [Trial Ground]."

"The site of the [Trial] where I'll kill you and ascend to greater heights!"

Irrepressible delight lurked beneath Thousand Fangs' hideous, bestial face.

Ever since the Shibuya Incident began, he had been devouring the humans who wandered into this place.

Thousand Fangs had already refined his cursed technique further, and after consuming a vast number of ordinary humans and transfigured humans, his tremendous reserves of cursed energy had deepened his understanding of curses-

Now, he was only one final step away from reaching his complete form.

"Dagon, stay out of this."

"I'll avenge Hanami with my own hands."

Thousand Fangs gently told the fat octopus peeking half its head out from the corner to back off.

Before Hanami's death, he had never understood what "emotion" truly was.

But when Hanami was truly gone, he realized that gentle sea of flowers would never again soothe his soul.

Under the combined weight of many factors, the strange emotion buried in the cursed spirit's heart had already turned into anger toward jujutsu sorcerers...

"Is this thing special grade? Three against one-do we stand a chance?"

Maki Zenin's grip on her pudao had grown slippery with sweat.

It was not as though she had never seen a special grade cursed spirit before.

But the aura and oppressive presence this one gave off...

Were far too powerful.

"Enough of this spooky nonsense!"

Still clutching a half-finished can of beer and looking every bit the drunk, Naobito Zenin was the first to bare his teeth at Thousand Fangs in displeasure.

Realizing Naobito intended to attack before they had figured out what their opponent could do, Nanami turned to warn him against acting rashly.

But before he had even turned his head halfway, Naobito's figure abruptly burst from the spot and vanished-

He was running.

And yet it did not look like running.

The laws of physics seemed to have developed some sort of bug, like video-editing software on a computer.

One moment, Naobito had clearly been standing in front of Nanami. The next, his hand was already lightly touching Thousand Fangs' torso.

There was no transition whatsoever.

It was not teleportation. It was more like a strip of film with everything in the middle cut out, leaving only the beginning and the end-an uncanny sight...

"How?!"

Thousand Fangs watched helplessly as Naobito's touch instantly flattened his body.

His three-dimensional body of bestial flesh was reduced to a two-dimensional glass frame-as thin and still as a projection laid over reality itself.

His serpentine, slit-pupiled eyes, transformed into flylike compound eyes, froze on Naobito in a look of utter shock. A storm of blows immediately followed, pounding into his face.

Boom-crash!

Special Grade 1 Sorcerer Naobito Zenin's punches carried tremendous force.

Thousand Fangs hurtled sideways. His body merely clipped the enormous concrete pillar, yet the incredibly hard support column and the blood-reeking ritual pillar built around it were smashed halfway through...

Faced with such tremendous strength, even Kento Nanami in his "overtime" state had to admit:

"Mr. Zenin really is strong."

He nudged his glasses up. Seeing that Naobito could suppress their opponent alone, Nanami and Maki turned their attention to the enormous octopus-like cursed spirit hiding in the distant shadows.

Although the special grade cursed spirit presiding over this ritual slaughter had instructed it not to interfere, Nanami had dealt with cursed spirits for years, and he knew-

These filthy, disgusting curses would never honor any so-called "agreement."

To them, betrayal and broken promises were the most delicious nourishment. Human despair and terror were catalysts that propelled them to greater heights!

Nanami lunged forward, and both his blunt cursed tool and Maki's pudao went straight for the octopus cursed spirit's fat head.

"Disgusting humans! Your opponent is me!!"

Rising from the rubble, Thousand Fangs roared furiously at Nanami and Maki. The hair on his hands bristled as he slammed them together, then formed an inscrutable hand sign with fingers belonging to different animals-

"Insect Swarm..."

Before Thousand Fangs could finish speaking, Naobito swept in again, moving too fast for the naked eye to track.

Without giving him the slightest chance to use his cursed technique, Naobito closed in with another punch and smashed it viciously into the hands forming the sign.

"Your opponent is me! Don't spoil the fun!"

As Naobito barked at him, the fragile beast fingers twisted under damage they could not withstand.

That heavy punch not only interrupted Thousand Fangs' cursed technique, but, more importantly, turned his body into that two-dimensional glass frame once again...

His limbs would not move, and his whole body felt as though it had plunged into an ice cellar.

Thousand Fangs could not understand how his opponent's cursed technique worked. He could not figure out why he had been "frozen."

But thinking cost him his own time and energy.

Naobito Zenin, meanwhile, was brimming with energy and itching for a fight!

"Mr. Zenin, let's attack together!"

Nanami's blunt blade sent the enormous octopus cursed spirit flying, while Maki's pudao easily tore through its flesh and slashed it hard into the ground.

After dealing with the other, relatively harmless cursed spirit together, the two immediately rushed over to help Naobito eliminate the special grade cursed spirit Thousand Fangs.

Naobito's heavy punches rained down relentlessly on Thousand Fangs' bestial body. Both Grade 1 Sorcerers present could feel their attacks taking effect-

Their opponent did not possess impenetrable defenses. His immense cursed energy merely made him seem immortal.

As long as all three attacked together, killing the special grade cursed spirit Thousand Fangs was an absolute certainty!

"Domain Expansion-"

Hearing Thousand Fangs' indistinct words, the three fighters at close range looked down, their pupils contracting-

At some point, the beast fingers twisted by Naobito's heavy punch had formed a precise hand sign-

"All Creation!"