A woman with a noticeable stitch running across her forehead walked out of the police station as if she were just taking a casual stroll.
She wore a lightweight long-sleeved shirt and form-fitting pants, which highlighted her curves. Paired with her gentle smile and delicate features, she gave off the impression of a soft and elegant woman.
That is, if one ignored the fresh red stains on her clothes.
A curse user?
Suguru Geto eyed the woman warily, trying to figure out her intentions as he spoke. "You must be the mastermind behind all this."
Itadori Kaori—Kenjaku—smiled slightly. "Ah, yes, that would be me."
Despite the calmness in her expression, something about her smile sent chills down his spine. "Honestly, I didn't expect anyone to track me down with just that little bit of information. You're impressive."
"Suguru Geto."
The boy with the bun tensed up instantly.
She knows my name?
"Oh, I know exactly who you are." As if reading his thoughts, Kenjaku's lips curled into a faint smirk. "After all, in the world of sorcerers in Japan, there are only three special-grade jujutsu users—including you."
Her original plan had simply been to manipulate ordinary people into committing violent crimes, spreading fear and chaos among humans. But she hadn't expected Jujutsu High to send Suguru Geto to investigate.
What was supposed to be an average mid-level strategy suddenly became the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.
If she could eliminate Suguru Geto here and take over his body, then her plans could move forward much faster.
Looking at the short-haired woman's eerie smile—one that made it seem like she was sizing him up as prey—Suguru Geto felt a deep chill.
The mastermind was standing right in front of him. If he could take her down now, the mission would be complete.
But before making a move, there was one thing he wanted to ask.
He stood up, his sharp gaze filled with accusation as he locked eyes with the unsettling woman. "Why are you making ordinary people commit murders? What's your goal?"
"My goal?" Kenjaku tilted her head slightly at his question, an amused grin spreading across her face. "There's no real goal. I just thought it'd be fun."
"Just for fun…"
The light in Geto's eyes turned ice-cold. Without hesitation, he summoned a swarm of centipede-like cursed spirits and sent them charging toward Kenjaku.
"As I thought, you should just die."
The cursed spirits clicked their sharp mandibles, emitting a foul stench as they lunged at the unfazed woman.
Kenjaku smoothly dodged to the side, and the centipedes smashed into the stone pavement in front of the police station, cracking the ground. As debris scattered, her mocking laughter echoed in the air.
"Even though you're a special grade, you just got promoted. You're still too inexperienced. Besides, with how weak the jujutsu world is right now, you and Gojo Satoru probably only got the title because the higher-ups needed to save face, right?"
After dodging Suguru Geto's initial attack, Kenjaku didn't rush to strike back. Instead, he pressed his palms together, aiming his fingertips at Geto in the distance.
Hyakuren: Piercing Blood!
A pillar of blood shot out from his fingertips like an arrow, sharp enough to pierce anything and moving at lightning speed toward Geto.
Geto's pupils shrank as he quickly summoned a cursed spirit with multiple faces protruding from a flag-like body to block the attack. At the same time, he shifted to the side.
The high-pressure blood beam sliced through the cursed spirit like a hot knife through butter, leaving a thin cut on Geto's cheek. Warm blood trickled down his face.
"Blood Manipulation…" Geto touched his cheek lightly, looking at the red stain on his fingers. "Are you from the Kamo family?"
"Why don't you guess?"
Kenjaku had no intention of answering. Instead, he smirked mockingly.
Geto raised a hand, summoning a massive manta ray-like cursed spirit. He jumped onto it and quickly soared into the sky. As he moved, ripples of darkness spread through the night, concealing his presence.
"Using a cursed spirit to move because of an injured leg, huh?"
Kenjaku watched Geto maneuver through the sky. He could sense the surge of cursed energy but remained completely unfazed.
From the dark ripples in the sky, beams of blue light shot out—tiny mosquito-like cursed spirits that burned themselves up as fuel, turning into bullets. A dense barrage of attacks rained down toward the short-haired woman below.
The night sky lit up as if countless blue meteors were falling. The bombardment covered Kenjaku's position and the surrounding area within dozens of meters.
Geto had carefully controlled the attack's range—wide enough for a strong strike but precise enough to avoid damaging buildings other than the police station.
The officers inside the station were probably already dead at the hands of this curse user, so there was no need to hold back anymore.
The glowing blue projectiles struck the ground like artillery fire. The concrete pavement shattered, the police station's roof was blown apart, and flames and thick smoke filled the air.
Yet, Kenjaku moved through the storm of attacks as effortlessly as a swallow dancing through the rain. Not a single shot hit her. And for those that came too close, they suddenly lost all force and direction, falling harmlessly to the ground as if gravity had taken over.
But in the chaos of the bombardment, Geto didn't notice this small detail.
Not until the police station, unable to withstand the relentless attacks, finally collapsed with a thunderous crash. That was when Geto stopped his assault.
Circling in the night sky on his manta ray, Geto squinted at the battlefield, but the thick smoke blocked his view of Kenjaku's condition.
Then, without warning, a pillar of blood pierced through the smoke, shooting straight at Geto in midair.
He quickly steered his cursed spirit to dodge, but the blood arrow twisted mid-flight, changing direction to chase him down.
"Piercing Blood is fastest at the start. If you dodge the first strike, the rest isn't much of a threat. You shouldn't waste your energy running from it."
Geto maneuvered his manta ray, weaving through the air as he responded.
The blood arrow relentlessly pursued Geto, only giving up after slicing off the corner of a high-rise building.
Chunks of concrete and steel broke away from the structure, crashing onto the street below. The impact shook the ground, leaving a deep crater where they landed.
Luckily, it was an office building and not a residential one, so there were no people inside. For now, Geto saw no signs of casualties.
"You were right."
On one side, smoke still lingered. On the other, the dust had finally settled, revealing the short-haired woman standing there.
Aside from a few specks of dust on her clothes, she was completely unharmed.
Geto wasn't surprised. His first attack had only been a test. If the enemy couldn't dodge something like that, they wouldn't have put up such a strong presence from the start.
Still, fighting in a city put restrictions on him. He had to be mindful of the destruction and the innocent people who might get caught up in the battle.
The night wind howled past, ruffling the hem of the young man's robe as he hovered in the sky.
Suguru Geto frowned, his expression serious.
If possible, I'd rather avoid using any large-scale destructive Cursed Spirits. It would be best if I could deal with this woman using only spirits that target humans.
In that case...
"Oh?"
Time seemed to freeze. Everything around him was dyed in an icy blue hue, and a chilling presence appeared behind Kenjaku.
She turned around.
A ghostly woman in white floated at the intersection across the street. Her voice was haunting as she asked,
"Hey… do you think I'm pretty?"
"A Special-Grade Imaginary Vengeful Spirit? Based on the urban legend of the Slit-Mouthed Woman?" Kenjaku raised an intrigued eyebrow. "Before answering the question, she forces both parties into a simple binding domain that prevents attacks… Not bad."
"Hmm…" Kenjaku lifted a finger to her lips, tilted her head slightly, and smirked.
"Ugly as hell."
*Squelch!*
The ghostly woman in white suddenly vanished from sight. The chilling presence that had been in front of Kenjaku now loomed behind her, bringing an unbearable cold that seeped deep into her bones.
In an instant, the Slit-Mouthed Woman appeared behind Kenjaku, gripping an enormous pair of scissors.
Kenjaku's slender, pale neck was already caught between the sharp blades.
Just as the scissors were about to snap shut and decapitate her—
The ghost's floating body suddenly dropped downward, taking the scissors with her.
It was as if an invisible hand had slammed her into the ground, embedding her deep into it. Cracks spread outward from the impact.
The domain shattered, and the icy blue tint in Kenjaku's vision rapidly faded like receding tides. Time resumed its flow before her eyes.
The moment the Special-Grade Imaginary Vengeful Spirit's domain was broken, the ground beneath Kenjaku's feet gave way, and the light around her dimmed.
A massive, bloated worm burst out from the ground beneath Kenjaku—
And swallowed her whole.
Watching one of his few Special-Grade Cursed Spirits get taken down so effortlessly, Suguru Geto couldn't help but be surprised.
"Wasn't her technique supposed to be Blood Manipulation?"
From the way the Slit-Mouthed Woman was killed, it was clear that this wasn't Blood Manipulation. The technique that killed her was something else entirely.
Not even a second after swallowing Kenjaku, the worm-like Cursed Spirit suddenly exploded from the inside.
Its dark purple blood splattered everywhere, mixed with streaks of searing red blood that instantly solidified into razor-sharp needles.
Under Kenjaku's control, the blood needles shot toward Suguru Geto like a deadly rain.
At the same time, a massive shadow loomed over her.
A towering, one-eyed mountain demon appeared behind the short-haired woman and swung its colossal fist down.
The blood needles, hidden by the cover of the night and the Cursed Spirit's blood, successfully pierced through the manta ray Cursed Spirit Geto was riding.
Meanwhile, the mountain demon had been summoned at the perfect moment. Kenjaku had no choice but to reinforce her body with cursed energy and block the incoming punch with her arm.
The bun-haired boy lost his ride and plummeted from the air.
The short-haired woman coughed up blood from the impact of the mountain demon's punch, and her right forearm, which she had used to block the attack, was now broken.
The mountain demon didn't press the attack. After landing its punch, it immediately withdrew, not giving Kenjaku a chance to destroy it.
Both sides had taken damage—
But for now, Suguru Geto had the upper hand.
As long as his opponent wasn't as fast as Zenin Toji, it would be hard for her to get close.
Meanwhile, Geto could use the Cursed Spirits he had absorbed to keep her under constant pressure, overwhelming her with sheer numbers.
Even if he couldn't deal a fatal blow right away, he could still drain her cursed energy with weaker Cursed Spirits.
But the next second—
Geto saw Kenjaku's broken arm heal itself.
His expression turned grim.
"A Reversed Cursed Technique…"
For a moment, his gaze shifted to his right leg, where he had been shot.
Kenjaku, of course, didn't miss that detail.
She chuckled.
"Against someone like me, who can use Reversed Cursed Techniques, trying to wear me down with weak spirits is pointless."
"Not to mention, you're injured and have lost your ride…"
"So, Suguru Geto—what's your next move?"
"If you surrender now, things might be easier for you."
"Is that so?"
Geto let out a cold scoff.
A massive, pure-white dragon suddenly soared from behind him.
Its deafening roar shattered the silence of the night as it charged straight at Kenjaku with unstoppable force.
The Rainbow Dragon was the only special-grade cursed spirit in Suguru Geto's arsenal that relied purely on physical strength. Its body was unbelievably tough—even Satoru Gojo's strongest attack, "Blue," couldn't destroy it in one go.
Kenjaku's "Piercing Blood" attack barely left a faint white mark on the dragon's mighty head.
Just as the Rainbow Dragon was about to bite down on the short-haired woman, its head suddenly dropped as if crushed by an invisible mountain. With a loud crash, it slammed into the ground, letting out weak, muffled groans from its maw.
The dragon thrashed violently, but as Kenjaku walked past it step by step, its massive body slowly sank lower and lower to the ground.
Suguru Geto's pupils shrank.
At that moment, he finally realized what the short-haired woman's second cursed technique was—aside from her Blood Manipulation.
…
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