Three Grade 1 Cursed Spirits had been wiped out in a single onslaught...
Suguru Geto tightened his one-handed grip on Playful Cloud. The skin between his thumb and forefinger stretched taut, his knuckles paling slightly, yet a smile bordering on excitement slowly rose across his face.
Unable to contain himself, he murmured, "Seriously...? I heard Jujutsu High just admitted a new Special Grade. Has another one turned up here?"
"Does this 'Special Grade' you mentioned mean someone really skilled? Like a master chef?" Dio asked curiously about the unfamiliar term.
"Special Grade Sorcerers aren't simply a matter of being 'skilled' or not. They're genuinely rare... beings who can take on an entire nation alone."
Geto opened his other hand, palm up, as though displaying some precious specimen.
"Four humans bear the title of 'Special Grade,' along with sixteen curses.
I'm one of them, and these two are the special grade imaginary vengeful spirits, Incarnate Tamamo-no-Mae and Incarnate Taira no Masakado."
As he explained, two utterly different special grade cursed spirits materialized beside him:
On his left stood a long-haired female ghost in a kimono, with four eyes and a mouth split all the way to her ears;
On his right stood a giant warrior carrying an enormous sword, his eyes each containing three pupils.
Meanwhile, Larue took advantage of Geto's explanation to make a hand gesture. An enormous hand of cursed energy launched a sneak attack at Dio from behind and to one side.
Dio did not even turn around. He merely shifted sideways, letting the great hand brush past the hem of his clothes.
Following through, he raised his foot and gathered cursed energy. His toe shot out like a streak of white light, striking the giant hand squarely in the palm.
A dull impact erupted. The hand bent backward under the kick and hurtled away faster than it had come, whistling sharply through the air before slamming straight into Larue behind it.
"Urgh-!"
Larue did not even have time to finish his cry before his own cursed technique struck him full force.
The two tumbled together, their remaining momentum sending them crashing into a house beside the street.
Brick walls collapsed, beams snapped, and dust billowed everywhere.
Dio stood steadily on one leg, then lowered his foot without haste and returned his gaze to Geto.
"Taking on an entire nation alone... surely you don't mean just you and these two cursed spirits?
If that assessment is accurate-does that mean there's no limit to how many cursed spirits you can control?"
"Cursed Spirit Manipulation does indeed have 'no upper limit.'
To be honest, I currently possess more than six thousand cursed spirits.
This army of monstrosities is what I rely on."
Geto spoke calmly, but his words carried a heavy weight-being a one-man army was no metaphor.
At that, Dio's expression turned peculiar.
"In that case, it sounds pretty valuable."
He cleared his throat and deliberately adopted an exaggerated tone. "Ahem. This is where I should say-it's the same type of cursed technique as mine!"
"Oh?" Geto raised an eyebrow. "There are indeed cases of someone possessing both shikigami and a cursed technique. Could your technique be..."
"Exactly!" Dio's lips curled upward. "Your Cursed Spirit Manipulation is quite nice-and now it's mine, too!
Go on, release a few cursed spirits. I'll demonstrate."
"...Then I'll give you ten. No need to return them."
Geto flicked his sleeve, tearing open the boundary between reality and the cursed spirits' space. Ten Grade 3 and Grade 2 cursed spirits appeared at his summons.
Their forms varied wildly-some resembled many-headed worms, others snakes with human faces, others spiked balls of flesh, and still others floating clusters of eyeballs.
With a slight shift of his intent, he chose to "release" them, instantly removing the restraints on these low-grade cursed spirits.
They froze for a moment, then scattered chaotically like droplets of oil thrown into boiling water.
At the same time, the Cursed Spirit Manipulation Dio had just copied activated within him.
In his perception, the wild cursed spirits fleeing in every direction were like candles suddenly lit in the dark, instinctively marked, locked onto, and highlighted by the technique.
He opened his palm. Purple-black lines spread from its creases, weaving and spinning into a miniature spatial vortex that exerted a powerful suction.
Before the low-grade cursed spirits could even struggle, an invisible force seized, compressed, and refined them-finally condensing them into ten small purple-black spheres.
"Do I have to swallow them to finish subjugating them?" Dio picked up one of the spheres and examined it closely.
"That's right~" Geto suddenly looked gleeful, his voice turning light.
That bitterness unique to users of Cursed Spirit Manipulation, which no one else could understand, would finally be tasted by a second person-I'm so high right now!
Catching sight of Geto's expression, Dio felt a bad premonition stir within him.
He stared at the cursed spirit sphere in his palm, hesitated for a moment, then steeled himself and stuffed it into his mouth.
"Mm-urgh-"
A stench like a rag left to ferment in sewage for a hundred years exploded in his mouth. The slimy sensation slid down his throat, provoking a violent physical revulsion.
Dio bent over and covered his mouth, veins twitching at his temples.
He had never suffered such an indignity before.
"Hahahahaha~ That's right! That's what I wanted to see! That exact expression!"
Geto roared with laughter, nearly doubling over, his long hair shaking with him.
"You... ate more than six thousand cursed spirits like this...? Thanks for all that effort."
Dio straightened, his eyes still watering from the physical reaction, his voice slightly hoarse.
"..." Geto's laughter stopped abruptly. His mouth twitched, and his expression grew complicated. "Hey-why get so sentimental all of a sudden? At least curse me out or something."
"I'm just telling the truth."
Dio briskly wiped the corner of his mouth. With astonishing adaptability, he had already suppressed the nauseating, slimy sensation lingering inside it.
When he spoke again, his voice had regained its usual steadiness, as though that violent physical reaction had never happened.
"Just accept my concern already. Being a tsundere went out of fashion ages ago, you know?"
"..." Geto remained silent for almost ten seconds before slowly speaking. "You're an 'unconditional Copy' sorcerer-even rarer than a Six Eyes sorcerer, aren't you?"
"Oh, you figured it out-yes, I'm just that extraordinarily gifted."
Dio stepped forward and found a suitable spot to stand.
His left leg stood straight, bearing most of his weight. His right knee turned slightly inward, his toes lightly touching the ground, while his waist shifted right to form a taut curve.
The World floated over to his left, balancing on the toes of its left foot with its right foot hooked behind its left knee, one hand on its hip and the other resting on its right knee.
Then Dio spread the fingers of his right hand and held it just before his chest, while his left arm wrapped around the World's waist, his hand clasping its own.
"Everyone lives to overcome unease and fear, and to attain peace of mind.
Seeking fame, dominating others, accumulating wealth-all of it is for peace of mind.
Devoting oneself to the law, pursuing love and peace, achieving self-fulfillment-all those efforts ultimately lead toward inner tranquility, too.
The pursuit of peace of mind is the root of every human action.
So here's the question: what, exactly, would make you uneasy about pledging your loyalty to me?"
"Haha... I'll return those words to you exactly as they are." Fighting spirit rose through Geto's smile. "Only now am I truly going all out. The outcome is still undecided, so don't get ahead of yourself!"
He rushed forward in short, quick steps. With a flick of his wrist, the three sections of Playful Cloud spun through the air.
Incarnate Tamamo-no-Mae swayed into an eerie dance. Invisible ripples spread through the air as a Simple Domain capable of stealing cursed energy quietly unfolded-a Simple Domain unique to that cursed spirit, like the Slit-Mouthed Woman's.
At the same time, Incarnate Taira no Masakado sprang into action. His enormous sword, wrapped in enough surging cursed energy to sever an overpass, came cleaving down at Dio's head.
Dio reached out with his left hand and firmly caught a section of Playful Cloud, despite the whip effect generated by its high-speed swing;
He raised his right hand, its five fingers snapping shut like a vise, and caught the gleaming edge of the enormous sword descending before his face, stopping it dead in his palm!
Metal shrieked and cursed energy splashed outward, yet the weapons in the hands of the man and the cursed spirit could not move another fraction of an inch.
Dio felt no surprise at this result, shocking though it was to those involved.
If none of them had cursed energy, he would undoubtedly win.
The raw strength and combat skill housed within this body had never belonged to the realm of ordinary mortals.
And if both sides possessed cursed energy and displayed comparable levels of it, then the added advantage of cursed energy reinforcement canceled itself out.
Under those circumstances, the outcome was fundamentally no different from what it would be if neither side had cursed energy.
So Dio immediately sneered, "How disappointing. Does your so-called full strength amount to gently caressing your opponent without leaving so much as a scratch?"
Before you continue