"Listen up.
"Your mission this time is to go to an abandoned elementary school in Kawasaki City to retrieve a dangerous Special Grade Cursed Object and, while you're at it, clear out the minor cursed spirits breeding there!"
On the training grounds of Tokyo Jujutsu High.
Satoru Gojo stood with his hands in his pockets, his tone as relaxed as if he were sending two elementary schoolers on a field trip.
Standing before him were Maki Zenin, carrying a brand-new long-handled naginata, and Yuta Okkotsu, who bore a katana on his back and a look of pure nerves.
"S-Special Grade Cursed Object?"
At those words, Yuta Okkotsu's face turned several shades paler.
Though he had only been enrolled for a few days, he already knew what 'Special Grade' meant in the jujutsu world.
It was a terrifying entity capable of causing mass casualties!
"Don't worry."
"Intelligence suggests that the cursed spirits there are at most Semi-Grade 1. With Maki's current strength, they'll be more than manageable."
Satoru Gojo patted Yuta on the shoulder with a grin.
"Besides, the two of you won't be going alone."
The moment he finished speaking,
a slender figure slowly emerged from the nearby shade of the trees.
Yoru wore a black Jujutsu High uniform, with a dark scarf wrapped around his neck that appeared ordinary but emitted a faint ripple of cursed energy.
The scarf served to store cursed spirits.
At his waist hung a standard-issue cursed tool—a simple steel blade.
"Instructor Yoru!"
The moment Maki saw Yoru, she snapped to attention, her eyes filled with absolute fervor and reverence.
Yuta swallowed hard and instinctively puffed out his chest.
Over the past three days, under Yoru's overwhelming training, he had learned the true meaning of despair and power.
"Don't get ahead of yourselves."
Yoru walked up to them, his tone indifferent.
"I'm only coming along as an observer and examiner to monitor your progress.
"Unless your heads are about to be bitten off by a cursed spirit, I will not intervene."
Yoru's gaze lingered on Yuta's still-childish face for a moment.
"Yuta, this is your first real battle.
"Show me if you've actually listened to a word I've said over these three days.
"If you don't even have the courage to swing your blade, then hurry back to the mundane world. You're just an eyesore here."
Hearing Yoru's merciless words,
Yuta's body shuddered, and his hands instinctively gripped the hilt of the sword on his back.
He took a deep breath, his eyes gradually hardening with resolve.
"Yes, Instructor Yoru!
"I definitely won't let you down!"
Half an hour later.
They stood before an elementary school in Kawasaki City that had been abandoned for years.
The sky was thick with dark clouds, blocking out every sliver of sunlight.
The entire school was shrouded in a thick, black resentment that felt almost physical, reeking of sickening decay.
"Emerge from darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify that which is impure."
As Assistant Supervisor Kiyotaka Ijichi finished the incantation, a hemispherical black Curtain descended like a giant overturned bowl, completely sealing the school off from the outside world.
"Let's go, newbie."
Maki pushed open the rusted iron gate and strode into the eerie campus.
Yuta took a deep breath, steadying his breathing rhythm as he followed closely behind Maki.
Yoru, meanwhile, vanished into the shadows like a ghost, moving without a sound.
The moment they stepped into the school building's hallway, a piercing chill washed over them.
"Something's wrong."
Maki stopped, her brows knitting together tightly.
As someone with a Heavenly Restriction, she possessed no cursed energy, but her instinct for danger far surpassed that of ordinary people.
The concentration of cursed energy in this school was absurdly high! It didn't feel like a place occupied by a mere Semi-Grade 1 cursed spirit!
"Hehehe... Meat... Fresh meat..."
Suddenly, a spine-chilling cackle echoed from the depths of the hallway.
In an instant,
over a dozen twisted, deformed cursed spirits covered in pustules and eyeballs surged out of the darkness like a tide.
"Why are there so many?!"
Maki's expression soured.
Though individually weak, their sheer numbers were enough to make one's skin crawl.
Moreover, judging by the cursed energy fluctuating from them, these things had clearly devoured something incredibly powerful and undergone a severe mutation!
It was the Special Grade Cursed Object!
"Stop spacing out! Draw your sword!"
Maki roared, her naginata flashing like silver lightning as she plunged into the swarm of cursed spirits.
*Slash! Slash! Slash!*
The sharp blade tore through the lead spirits like a hot knife through butter, instantly shredding them.
Foul-smelling, purplish-black blood splattered everywhere.
'She's so strong...'
Yuta watched Maki's violent yet balletic slaughter, his heart filled with awe.
'Is this what a member of the Zenin family is like?'
"What are you staring for?! Get over here and help!"
Maki kicked away a spirit attempting a sneak attack and barked at Yuta.
"Right!"
Yuta snapped back to reality, his hands clamping onto the katana at his waist.
*Whew—*
He closed his eyes, recalling the Breathing Style Instructor Yoru had taught him.
With a specific rhythmic breath, massive amounts of oxygen flooded his lungs, surging through his bloodstream to every corner of his body.
Yuta's eyes snapped open, a sharp glint flickering in his pupils.
"Kill!"
He roared, swinging his blade with both hands as he brought it down hard on a mutated spirit lunging at him.
*Splat!*
Driven by the terrifying explosive power of the breathing technique,
the two-meter-tall mutated spirit was literally cleaved in half by Yuta's single strike.
"Not bad, newbie!"
A flicker of admiration crossed Maki's eyes.
But before they could catch their breath, the entire school building began to shake violently.
*Rumble!*
Following a deafening roar,
the wall at the end of the hallway collapsed.
A giant, stitched-together monstrosity, three stories tall and covered in countless human arms and grotesque faces, burst through the dust, roaring as it loomed over them.
"What kind of monster is this?!"
Yuta's pupils shrank. A primal fear surged from the depths of his soul.
The cursed energy radiating from this spirit far exceeded Grade 1, faintly touching the threshold of Special Grade!
"Dammit! What the hell is wrong with the intel department?!"
Maki grit her teeth, her grip tightening on her naginata.
"This isn't Semi-Grade 1 at all. It's a mutated monster on the verge of becoming a Special Grade!"
Facing this terrifying colossus,
Maki didn't retreat. Instead, she shielded Yuta behind her.
"Listen, Yuta."
Maki spoke without looking back, her voice filled with a grim determination.
"I have no cursed energy, and I can't even see curses without these special glasses."
"In that rotten Zenin family, I was a complete failure—a piece of trash that even the servants could bully at will."
"They mocked me, spat on me, and claimed I was a disgrace to the Big Three Families."
Her voice trembled slightly, yet it was laced with a chilling pride and stubbornness.
"But I refuse to accept that!"
"Who says you can't be strong without cursed energy? Why should I let them control my life?!"
"I'm going to become a Grade 1 sorcerer. I'm going to trample that disgusting, decaying Zenin family under my feet and crush them!"
Maki snapped her head back, looking at the stunned Yuta.
"Instructor Yoru told me!"
"In this world, even without cursed energy, as long as you hone your body and will to the absolute limit, you can become a powerhouse that even the gods would fear!"
"Back then, he slaughtered his way through the entire Zenin family all by himself without any cursed energy to drag me out of that swamp..."
"I, Maki Zenin, refuse to fall here!"
*ROOOAR!!!*
Just then,
the giant mutated spirit let out a deafening roar, and its countless massive arms rained down upon them like a torrential storm.
"Get back!"
Maki barked, shoving the dazed Yuta aside.
She met the onslaught head-on, her naginata blurring into a dense curtain of silver light.
*Thud! Crash! Boom! Smash!*
The sound of violent collisions echoed through the hallway.
However,
the strength of this mutated spirit was simply too overwhelming.
Though Maki had a body tempered by Heavenly Restriction, she hadn't yet reached her full potential.
After blocking dozens of strikes, her specially-made naginata finally reached its limit under the immense pressure.
*Crack!*
A sharp snap rang out.
The naginata shattered.
"Oh no!"
Maki's pupils constricted.
Before she could react, one of the colossus's massive arms slammed into her chest.
*Spurt—!*
Maki coughed up a spray of blood and was sent flying like a broken kite, crashing heavily against the wall.
"Maki!"
Yuta's eyes widened in horror as he let out a piercing scream.
He tried to rush to her, but the giant spirit was faster. Opening its fanged, cavernous maw, it swallowed the severely injured Maki whole.
"No..."
Yuta stared blankly at the scene. His legs gave out, and he collapsed to his knees.
His katana fell into the pool of blood with a hollow clang.
Overwhelming panic, guilt, and powerlessness flooded his mind, drowning out all reason.
'I'm just a failure!'
'A total, complete failure!'
Just as Yuta was about to sink into total despair, Maki's defiant, unyielding declaration echoed in his mind.
'I'm going to become a Grade 1 sorcerer. I'm going to trample that disgusting Zenin family under my feet!'
'Instructor Yoru told me that even without cursed energy, as long as you hone your will to the limit, you can still be strong!'
'I refuse to fall here!'
'Maki...'
She hadn't realized her dream yet. She hadn't destroyed that vile family...
How could she die in the belly of such a filthy monster?!
*Thump! Thump! Thump!*
Yuta's heart began to throb violently.
An unprecedented explosion of fury and killing intent erupted within his chest.
At the same time,
Yoru, hidden in the shadows of the hallway ceiling, watched the events unfold below.
The moment Maki was swallowed, his hand had moved to the hilt of his steel blade.
The second he drew it, even if the spirit had fully evolved into a Special Grade, it would have been incinerated by the Sun Breathing flames in an instant—
Even if the blade itself might have shattered from the intense heat the moment it left its sheath.
But he didn't move.
Because, within his Transparent World, Yoru sensed a terrifying qualitative change occurring in the cursed energy flow within the boy kneeling in the blood.
It was a suffocating black energy, filled with ultimate pure love and curses!
It was tearing through the seals within Yuta's body with an unstoppable force.
"Is it finally time?"
Yoru released the hilt of his blade, a faint, expectant smile playing on his lips.
"Show me. Show me your rage."
"God of Pure Love."
In the abandoned hallway, the mutated cursed spirit let out a triumphant roar, preparing to devour Yuta as well.