"Emerge from darkness, blacker than black. Purify that which is impure."
The dim Curtain slowly descended, swallowing the faint autumn sunlight. A biting wind swept across the ground, carrying a chill that seeped into the bone.
The four students surveyed their surroundings. Before them lay a cluster of ruined buildings surrounding a massive crater that looked as if a meteorite had struck the earth, leaving the ground deeply gouged and fractured.
"This is ridiculous," Suguru Geto said, his expression grim as he sensed the massive surge of Cursed Energy radiating from the pit. "Why would they send four freshmen on a mission of this scale?"
"Try to act like a powerhouse for once, would you? We're the 'Strongest.' Don't go spouting lines like some background extra." Satoru Gojo adjusted his sunglasses, his Six Eyes scanning the area. "Two Special Grades, seven Grade 1s, a handful of Grade 2s... what the hell is this? Are they having a convention down there?"
"Let's make it a contest, Suguru," Gojo continued, a competitive smirk playing on his lips. "Each take a side, see who gets the higher body count." Before the words had even fully left his mouth, he had already vanished, charging toward the left.
"Don't kill them all! Leave the high-grade ones for me to consume!" Suguru wasn't about to be left behind. He activated his technique, and a massive, hawk-like Cursed Spirit lunged from the void. He grabbed its talons as it dove into the crater, while a swarm of grotesque curses manifested behind him, leaping into the pit to tear into the enemy.
"Those two are so full of themselves. Absolute trash," Shoko Ieiri remarked, lighting a cigarette and brushing a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "Aren't you going in, Gumo?"
"Smoking is bad for your health, you know." Hasegumo rotated his shoulders, waving a hand in front of his nose to clear the smoke. He began his warm-up stretches. "Martial arts might be my hobby, but I've got zero interest in bullying the weak. I don't have that weird competitive streak those two share."
He performed a deep backbridge, his joints popping and snapping like dry kindling. "I crave a battle between equals. I might only be ranked as a Grade 2, but these curses aren't exactly 'qualified' opponents."
His warm-up finished, Hasegumo gave a couple of light hops. "Besides, Yaga-sensei said it himself: we have to protect our precious Shoko-sama."
"So, let them play. I'll stay here and handle any stragglers that try to sneak out—"
He was cut off as a Mantis Cursed Spirit, its forelimbs shaped like jagged scythes, lunged out of the pit. Its compound eyes swiveled, locking onto Hasegumo's back. Like a harvester cutting through weeds, it swung its blades directly at his neck.
Hasegumo didn't even seem to notice. He merely gave his wrist a casual flick as he continued talking.
One of nature's apex predators, the mantis possesses blade-like limbs, superior 3D vision, and neural reflexes so fast they are measured in milliseconds. Its strikes are famously unavoidable.
As a curse born from the collective human fear of mantises, this creature had not only inherited that lethal biology but also the instincts of a top-tier hunter.
As a Grade 1 curse, it had originally been lurking in the pit. However, the moment the two "monsters" entered and began their massacre, its instincts screamed that it was lower on the food chain. It chose to flee immediately, deciding instead to hunt the two humans staying on the sidelines.
Those idiots... what does strength matter if you don't have brains? The Mantis Cursed Spirit's limited intellect hummed with arrogance as its blade neared the boy's throat. With my instincts, I'm undefeated. Once I devour these two humans and their massive stores of Cursed Energy, I'll be the king of this 'Meteor Crater.'
Indeed, this curse had realized the nature of its Innate Technique the moment it was born.
Innate Technique: Precision Predation. A non-combat growth-type technique. By consuming living beings with high Cursed Energy, it could decompose the "food" to strengthen its own energy reserves and physical durability. If the prey was weaker than itself, there was a high probability of inheriting the victim's Cursed Technique.
While simple and ineffective against other curses, it was essentially the "Chimera Ant King" of abilities. Given enough time and enough sorcerers to eat, it would inevitably evolve into a powerhouse among Special Grades.
The "Revolving Lantern" of its thoughts felt like an eternity, but in reality, it was a fraction of a second. Just as its scythe touched Hasegumo's skin, the boy's faint Cursed Energy signature suddenly exploded. The curse's nerves began firing frantically, screaming a single command to its brain: RUN! RUN AWAY! THIS THING IS A MONSTER!
"Watch out!" Shoko shouted, having just spotted the mantis.
But as the warning left her lips, a bolt of black lightning tore through the air.
CRACK!
Hasegumo pulled his hand out of the mantis's shattered head. Pale green blood splattered across his clothes.
"Ugh, gross." Hasegumo tried to wipe the grime off his arms and looked back at Shoko with a bright, sunny smile. "Don't worry. I'm actually pretty strong."
"Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue!"
Satoru Gojo held his hand out, fingers splayed.
Objects and curses alike were violently pulled toward a central point—think Chibaku Tensei, but with the pale blue glow of Blue. At this stage, Satoru wasn't yet the "Strongest," but the Six Eyes already granted him terrifyingly precise control. The output of this Blue was tuned perfectly to pull the curses into a helpless cluster without killing them instantly.
"I knew it. You really are a monster too, Gumo."
Satoru wasn't far off. He had never actually seen Hasegumo fight before, but being naturally observant, he had kept an eye on the duo above while clearing the pit. When he saw the flash of Black Flash instantly delete a near-Special Grade Mantis, he felt a surge of relief—and renewed competitiveness.
"Good. Now I don't have to hold back. I'm not losing to you, Suguru!"
As Gojo and Geto went on their rampage, several smaller, craftier curses tried to flee, only to be bounced back by the Curtain. They stayed far away from Shoko and Hasegumo, terrified by the lingering "scent" of the dead Grade 1 mantis.
Up top, Shoko and Hasegumo watched the show. Bored but alert, they struck up a conversation.
Shoko, cigarette dangling from her lip, crossed her arms. "Gumo, you can use your Reverse Cursed Technique to heal others too, can't you?"
Hasegumo was busy staring at the disgusting green blood on his sleeve, wondering why this stuff didn't just turn to ash like the rest of the curse. Without thinking, he answered, "Yeah. How'd you know? I've never used it in front of you guys, let alone to heal someone else."
Shoko's face shifted into a look of triumph—Evil_Plan.jpg (‵▽′)ψ.
"I guessed. An RCT that's innate rather than learned is a higher-tier existence," she explained. "I had a feeling when I first met you, but you hide your energy so well and you never pick fights, so no one knew how strong you were."
"But that punch just now? That was a Grade 1 you just flattened. You don't get that level of timing without a lot of combat experience. So, I figured your RCT is probably even more refined than mine."
"Sometimes being too smart makes people dislike you, you know," Hasegumo said, making a jokingly fierce face (￣(工)￣).
Shoko knew he wasn't actually angry. She took a long drag, blowing two interlocking smoke rings that drifted into the breeze. "Why didn't you tell Yaga-sensei? The school—hell, the whole Jujutsu world—would treat you like a god-tier treasure."
"And I'd be chained to the school," Hasegumo countered. "I'm not obsessed with fighting, but I am a man seeking the 'Zenith of Martial Arts.' Freedom is a requirement for that path. Imagine it: a bunch of old farts watching your every move, never letting you leave HQ, stuck in an office waiting for casualties to be brought to you. You'd never get to face a strong curse again. They'd even watch you go to the bathroom."
Hasegumo shuddered. "Terrifying."
"Haha, yeah, that sounds like something you'd say." Shoko flicked her ash and crushed the butt under her shoe before immediately lighting another. "It's not that dramatic, but I get it. I don't mind this life. As long as I can heal people, they're usually very respectful to doctors."
She took another deep breath of smoke, feeling it fill her lungs. "At least on the surface."
"Maybe. But it's not for me." Hasegumo put a finger to his lips. "Keep it a secret for me? The part about me being able to heal others."
"Sure," Shoko smirked, her eyes narrowing playfully. "But in exchange, if I get overwhelmed with work after graduation, you have to come sneakily help me out."
"What are you two gossiping about?"
Suguru Geto's robes fluttered in the wind as he dropped from the hawk's talons, landing in a "superhero" three-point stance. "Shoko I can understand, but Gumo, you were slacking off too."
"I wasn't slacking," Hasegumo pointed at the splattered remains on the ground. "You guys both jumped down without a second thought. Someone had to stay and protect our lovely Shoko."
Shoko smiled—it was, frankly, quite adorable.
"We were talking about RCT," Shoko said. "By the way, Gumo, why is your uniform so different from theirs?"
She looked at Hasegumo's custom outfit. It was the same dark navy fabric with the high-collared buttons, but it was a sleeveless, short-cut martial arts gi. The lower half consisted of incredibly form-fitting leggings. It looked… a bit like something a high-performance eccentric would wear.
"Oh, this? I asked Yaga-sensei for a custom job," Hasegumo rubbed the back of his head. "Loose clothes get in the way of my movement. My fighting style is strictly fisticuffs, after all."
"Alright, mission accomplished!" Satoru Gojo used Blue to pull himself up to the surface. "Here, Suguru—your 'Deluxe Cursed Spirit Platter' is served."
"One, two... seventeen. Looks like you lost, Satoru," Suguru noted with a squinty-eyed, mischievous grin as he began identifying the useful curses and condensing them into black orbs.
"Che," Satoru huffed, never one to admit defeat. "I only lost because I had to keep an eye on these 'weaklings' up here."
"Right, right. Anyway, Gumo," Suguru said, trying to steer the conversation before Satoru's ego exploded, "Shoko mentioned you were talking about RCT. How does that actually work? You and Shoko are the only ones at school who can do it." He paused to swallow a cursed orb, grimacing at the taste.
Shoko and Hasegumo didn't take offense to Satoru's "weakling" comment. Shoko had fully embraced her non-combatant status, and Hasegumo simply didn't care about rankings.
Satoru's ears perked up, his interest piqued. "Yeah, what's the trick? I've got this ancestral move, Shinra Tensei—wait, no—Cursed Technique Reversal: Red. It needs Reverse Cursed Energy to work, but I can't wrap my head around it."
"It's called Red, Satoru. Stop trying to steal moves from Naruto," Hasegumo deadpanned.
"RCT is just like... you go shooo and then bam, and then whoosh," Shoko explained with vague hand gestures. She looked at the blank stares on Gojo and Geto's faces. "No talent."
The two boys turned to Hasegumo.
"My take?" Hasegumo rubbed his chin. "I think it has to do with the nature of Cursed Energy itself."
"Cursed Energy comes from negative emotions. Since Reverse Cursed Energy is the opposite, it must come from positive emotions—joy, happiness, gratitude." Hasegumo clapped his fist into his palm. "That's it! Just be happy every day, and eventually, you'll learn it."
"That is literally impossible to learn," 'Baby' Satoru and 'Baby' Suguru groaned in unison.
With the mission cleared, the Curtain was lifted, and the group headed back.
"Good work, everyone." Kiyotaka Ijichi greeted them. He had been assigned as their dedicated Assistant Director after their enrollment.
"Good work to you too, Ijichi-san," Hasegumo said cheerfully.
"It is an honor to serve you. Please, get in the car."
Hasegumo watched the trees blur past the window. "The clouds today... they're really beautiful."
To kill the time on the long drive, Suguru Geto started a conversation. "If a limb gets cut off in battle, do you have to pick it up to reattach it with RCT?"
"Picking it up uses less energy," Hasegumo replied. "But usually, you just grow a new one. Who has time to look for a missing arm during a fight?"
"I see. If I learn it, I could have my curses pick it up for me. But what if you get cut off at the neck? Do you grow a whole new body?" Suguru asked.
"I don't know. My level isn't that high yet," Hasegumo admitted.
"If you get cut in half at the waist and grow a new lower half," Satoru pointed out, "you'd be naked. You wouldn't have pants."
"Now that is a terrifying thought," Hasegumo shuddered.
"Disgusting," Shoko muttered from the front seat. She had been drifting off, but Satoru's 'heavyweight' stupidity had snapped her awake. "If Satoru got cut in half, he'd probably rather die than use RCT just to avoid the embarrassment. He'd probably spend his last breath being a sore loser, saying the enemy was 'okay' just to save face."
"Hey! What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" Satoru lunged across Hasegumo to grab at Suguru, who was laughing. "She's right and you know it!" Suguru shot back.
"Please don't fight in the car, it's dangerous!" Ijichi pleaded, suppressing a smile as he kept his eyes on the road.