"After kneeling here in the rain all day, my body feels fine…"
After murmuring those words under his breath, Shinsuke Kiyosake let out a quiet sigh and stared at the ground. He knew it was all over…
From the moment the conversation began, he had already fallen into the other party's trap. Once you start trying to prove your own innocence, you're immediately put on the back foot.
On top of that, the other side had provided not only a "reason" but also a "standard." When those words came from the village's acknowledged "priest," they carried unquestionable authority.
And what the priest demanded was something no ordinary person could achieve. Setting aside environmental factors and everything else, just being tied up and unable to move for an entire day would already leave anyone with some kind of physical discomfort…
After binding him here, the priest first conducted a funeral, pushing his prestige in the village to its peak. Only then did he lead the emotionally unstable crowd to the "testing site" at the abandoned construction area.
Maybe it was from being drenched in rain all day, or maybe from coming into contact with the sick without any protection, but Shinsuke Kiyosake's face had turned pale, and a fever was beginning to set in.
The priest walked over and gave his head a few light pats. Because of the way he was tied up, combined with his growing weakness, Shinsuke Kiyosake's whole body tilted backward.
After confirming his condition, the priest turned to face the crowd.
"Shinsuke Kiyosake has failed to prove himself under the Great God's trial. He is the one who brought this disease!"
Though his expression was sorrowful, his voice was gentle, carrying a strange, calming force.
"Everyone, the dead will pass on to the cycle of reincarnation, entering their next life. But the living must continue on in this world, bearing suffering in their stead: the suffering of birth, aging, sickness, death, separation from loved ones, and unattainable desires…"
Looking at the villagers' eyes, filled with grief and fear yet tinged with a trace of fanaticism, the priest knew it was time for the next step.
"Everyone, eleven more people in the village have fallen ill. Tonight, I will conduct a ritual. As long as we appease the gods' anger, the root of this illness will naturally be eliminated.
As someone who can communicate with the gods, I have received a divine message: never show sympathy to those abandoned by the gods. The moment you feel even a trace of pity, you will become a target of the plague!
This afternoon, I hope everyone will call the rest of the villagers. After all, the more people there are… the higher the chances of the ritual succeeding…"
The villagers nodded repeatedly. His words were frightening, but he showed no interest in wealth or gain. What reason would he have to deceive them?
From that perspective, the priest truly seemed to be acting in their best interests.
Just as Shinsuke Kiyosake had completely given up on any hope of calling for help, a voice suddenly came from above.
"Well, that 'god' of yours doesn't sound like a good one."
"Who's there?!"
The priest looked up angrily. In his eyes, a man dressed in a black Jujutsu High teacher's uniform sat atop a massive masked Cursed Spirit. The man narrowed his eyes as he looked down, his voice filled with undisguised disgust.
"A Jujutsu High sorcerer?"
The priest's expression shifted in shock at the sight of that uniform. The masked Cursed Spirit beneath the man alone was at the level of a Grade 2 Cursed Spirit. Without having completed his ritual, he knew he wasn't capable of dealing with a high-level Jujutsu Sorcerer.
To the villagers nearby, it simply looked like someone floating in midair. Seeing the priest's stunned expression, they hurriedly dropped to their knees again, bowing toward the figure in the sky.
Suguru Geto only needed a brief glance at the scene. Combined with what he had just heard, he immediately understood the scheme behind this so-called "priest."
First, create panic by deliberately spreading disease among the villagers. Then choose one person as a "sacrifice," focusing everyone's attention and Cursed Energy onto a single point.
Then, by brutally killing that person to intensify the fear of the onlookers, they create a "Cursed Womb." Finally, using a Shikigami-based method to control the newly formed Cursed Womb, they gain the ability to tame it into a Cursed Spirit…
"Such a textbook Curse User approach… and he's trying to tame a Special Grade Cursed Spirit without even preparing a Grade 1 first…"
Suguru Geto shook his head. The method wasn't completely ineffective, but a Cursed Spirit didn't necessarily have to go through the "Cursed Womb" stage. And that so-called ritual wouldn't always produce a new Cursed Spirit. More often, it would simply attract others of a similar type…
Just like this…
Suguru Geto glanced toward the nearby woods. There, a Cursed Spirit hovered in midair, its body a dark bluish-black. Its lower half was shriveled tight, its upper body thick and heavy, and horn-like protrusions extended from its mouth.
"Smallpox Hag…"
Without sparing a glance at the priest, who was just about to summon several Grade 3 Cursed Spirits, Suguru Geto immediately directed a pink, worm-like Cursed Spirit to burrow into the "priest's" ear.
He dropped to the ground, patted Shinsuke Kiyosake on the shoulder, and looked at the village chief.
"Take him back to recover. Consider it… the will of the 'god'…"
As he spoke, the priest also nodded along, assisted by the worm-like Cursed Spirit.
The village chief quickly gathered a few people, lifted Shinsuke Kiyosake, and hurried back to the village.
Once everyone had left the abandoned factory, Suguru Geto turned his attention to the Cursed Spirit.
"Emerge from the darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify that which is impure."
At his command, several fist-sized black orb-like Cursed Spirits shot forward toward the Smallpox Hag.
In the next instant, blinding fireballs erupted, sweeping across the area with violent force…
"As 'humanity,' the source of these curses, continues to evolve, many curses born from ignorance will gradually fade. In their place, new fears will give rise to new curses…"
"Most newly born Cursed Spirits are low-grade. But used correctly, they can produce astonishing power."
As his voice fell, clusters of black Cursed Energy condensed forms began raining down from above, manifestations of humanity's fear of "explosions."
These were Cursed Spirits Suguru Geto had subdued at a flour factory where an accident had occurred. Though only Grade 3, they had a single method of attack: explosion.
The sudden surge of Cursed Energy, amplified by the concept of explosions, blasted the Smallpox Hag's body open, leaving it riddled with bleeding holes.
Realizing the danger, the Smallpox Hag quickly clenched her left fist and pressed it against her right hand.
[Graveyard Domain]
The surroundings abruptly shifted into a silent, desolate forest at night, with gravestones scattered unevenly in every direction.
Without a change in expression, Suguru Geto summoned Kuchisake-Onna, using her Simple Domain to neutralize the opponent's guaranteed-hit effect.
"In ancient times, people believed Mount Suzuka had been cast into the sea. In truth, it lies west of Nagoya.
The constant storms there were linked to tales of demons, and so legends spread of a yokai ruling that land.
This even disrupted the tribute routes from the northeast to the newly established Heian-kyo. The court sent an army of thirty thousand, yet for years, they couldn't even set foot inside the mountain…"
Suguru Geto spoke at an unhurried pace. The Smallpox Hag tried several times to trap him inside a coffin, but each attempt failed. Growing irritated, she began clapping her hands repeatedly.
Suguru Geto raised a hand and summoned a towering Cursed Spirit, six to seven meters tall. It wore tattered armor, its body covered in fifteen eyes, with three horns on its head. Its three arms each gripped a sword of flesh and blood.
"Akuro-o Otake."
The moment he spoke, Suguru Geto recalled Kuchisake-Onna. At the same time, Akuro-o Otake raised its three clawed hands upward, the flesh-and-blood swords floating above its palms.
The surrounding landscape instantly transformed into a rocky canyon, filled with thunder and lightning, wind and rain raging without end.
The Smallpox Hag was struck repeatedly by lightning, its body charred black. In the next moment, Akuro-o Otake surged forward, working in tandem with Suguru Geto's centipede-like Cursed Spirit, and pierced straight through it.
The scene snapped back to the factory. A blue orb appeared in Suguru Geto's hand, and he tilted his head back and swallowed it.