Shut up

"Get out! Or I'll chop you up and feed you to the dogs!"

Several brutish-looking rogue curse users slapped the table and roared with laughter.

One of them, a one-eyed man, even stood up, grabbed a bloodstained machete, and swaggered toward Yagami Jue.

"Brat, didn't your parents teach you not to wander around after dark?"

The one-eyed man grinned viciously and slammed his machete onto the table beside Yagami Jue.

"Hand over your valuables. I'll be merciful and leave you one leg to crawl home on!"

Faced with the one-eyed man's threat, Yagami Jue didn't even lift his eyelids.

He merely spat out two cold words.

"Shut up."

Before the words had finished leaving his mouth!

Yagami Jue's right hand had already become a blur!

With 52 points in speed, he was in an entirely different dimension from these trash curse users who weren't even Grade 2!

Crack!

The teeth-grinding sound of snapping bone rang through the entire bar!

The one-eyed man hadn't even seen Yagami Jue move before his sword arm was brutally twisted into a corkscrew!

"Aaaaaah-!"

His agonized scream instantly tore through the air in the bar.

Before the one-eyed man could fall.

Yagami Jue raised his foot and viciously kicked his knee!

Thud!

The one-eyed man's knees bent backward at grotesque angles, and he crashed to his knees before Yagami Jue, passing out from the pain!

An instant takedown!

An utterly one-sided instant takedown!

Deathly silence fell over the bar again.

The curse users who had been laughing wildly moments earlier now looked like roosters with their throats squeezed shut, mouths gaping and eyes practically popping out!

"Holy shit..."

"That speed! Did any of you see it?!"

"He has... no cursed energy! How can his physical strength be that terrifying?!"

"A monster! This guy's a monster in human skin!"

Everyone sucked in sharp breaths and backed away, afraid of getting caught in the crossfire.

Without even glancing at the one-eyed man on the floor, Yagami Jue walked straight to the bar.

Behind the counter stood a refined-looking bartender wearing gold-rimmed glasses.

He was this black-market bar's information broker, code-named Spider.

"I'm here for the job at the abandoned hospital on the outskirts."

Yagami Jue tapped the wooden counter, his voice icy.

"Three million for a Grade 2 Cursed Spirit, right?"

Spider pushed up the glasses on his nose, a sheen of cold sweat already forming on his forehead.

In his line of work, he was an excellent judge of people.

Though the boy before him didn't give off the slightest ripple of cursed energy, his restrained, terrifying killing intent was more frightening than that of any Grade 1 curse user Spider had ever met!

"Y-yes, sir."

Spider swallowed, his manner becoming exceedingly respectful.

"Five high school students have gone missing at Ci'en Abandoned Hospital on the outskirts over the past week. Window's observation report indicates that a Grade 2 Cursed Spirit on the verge of evolving has taken up residence inside."

"The official jujutsu sorcerers are short-staffed, so the job ended up on the black market."

Spider took out a file envelope stained with dark red blood and handed it to Yagami Jue.

"Just bring back cursed residue proving that you've exorcised the cursed spirit, and three million yen will be transferred to your account immediately."

Yagami Jue took the envelope and casually glanced through its contents.

"Good."

He stuffed the envelope into his pocket, turned, and left.

"W-wait!"

Spider couldn't help calling out, "The cursed spirit in that hospital is very strange. Don't you need to prepare some special grade cursed tools?"

Yagami Jue didn't look back.

"Cursed tools?"

He raised his right hand and abruptly clenched it into a fist!

Pop!

Air surged outward with a deafening sonic boom!

"My fists are the strongest cursed tools there are!"

Watching Yagami Jue's silhouette disappear into the night, the curse users in the bar exchanged looks, their minds reeling.

"Fuck... since when did Sendai City have a badass like that?"

"No cursed energy, just his body... could that be the legendary heavenly restriction?!"

"Things are changing... that kid's a goddamn killing machine!"

Eleven that night.

Ci'en Abandoned Hospital, on the outskirts.

The night wind howled. Hidden in thick black mist, the dilapidated hospital building resembled a great beast with its bloody maw wide open.

Not a single insect chirped in the surrounding silence. The air reeked of a pungent mixture of formalin and rotting flesh.

System, open the panel.

Standing before the hospital's rusty iron gates, Yagami Jue issued the command in his mind.

[Host: Yagami Jue]

[Current rank: civilian without cursed energy (nascent Heavenly Tyrant)]

[Account balance: 0 yen]

[Constitution: 38]

[Strength: 52]

[Speed: 52]

[Specialized skills: none]

A flash of savagery crossed Yagami Jue's eyes as he looked at the glaring "0" in his account balance.

"I can't stand being broke for even one more second."

He abruptly raised his foot and sent the rusty iron gate, weighing hundreds of pounds, flying with a single kick!

Crash!

The gate landed in the weeds in the courtyard with a deafening crash.

"You bastards in there."

Yagami Jue strode into the courtyard and rolled his neck, producing a series of sharp cracks.

"Your reaper's here to collect!"

The moment he finished speaking.

Hiss-!

Seven or eight dark shapes suddenly sprang out of the shadowy weeds!

They were Grade 4 cursed spirits the size of large dogs, with the faces of human infants!

Drooling foul-smelling saliva, they scrambled on all fours and lunged wildly at Yagami Jue's throat and limbs!

"Even low-level cannon fodder dares come looking for death?"

Yagami Jue sneered and advanced instead of retreating.

He didn't need any defense at all.

Pure speed and strength were the most brutal defense!

Thud!

Yagami Jue moved like lightning. His right leg became a black battle-axe that tore through the air and cleaved straight into the head of the leading cursed spirit!

Splat!

Before the Grade 4 cursed spirit could even scream, its head burst like a watermelon!

Foul-smelling black blood sprayed across the ground!

[Ding! One Grade 4 Cursed Spirit killed. Reward obtained: 10,000 yen!]

The system notification rang in his mind.

It wasn't much money, but every little bit counted!

"Die!"

With a feverish gleam in his eyes, Yagami Jue charged like a tiger plunging into a flock of sheep.

No fancy tricks!

Left hook!

Right roundhouse kick!

Knee strike!

Elbow strike!

Every punch struck flesh!

Every move was lethal!

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Dull impacts erupted one after another through the abandoned courtyard.

Those cursed spirits, deadly to ordinary people, were more fragile than paper beneath Yagami Jue's iron fists.

In less than thirty seconds.

All eight Grade 4 cursed spirits had become black ash scattered across the ground.

[Ding! Eight Grade 4 Cursed Spirits killed. Total reward obtained: 80,000 yen!]

"Too slow."

Yagami Jue shook the slime off his hands and glanced at the pitch-black outpatient building.