Sōjun Minamoto stepped out of the black vortex without a word and struck at the woman with a hand blade. She raised both arms to block, but felt a razor-sharp edge—after slicing through both her forearms, the blow landed where it was always meant to:
The side of her neck.
"Wait—"
Sōjun pressed down with the blade-like edge, forcing her to one knee. He kicked her in the chest, then yanked his hand back. Her head, now hanging upside down, clung to her body by nothing more than a flap of skin.
Her body collapsed and slowly sank into the shadow beneath her. A faint grinding sound followed as she disappeared completely.
Sōjun casually flicked his wrist. A few drops of blood fell from the edge of his palm into the twitching shadow, spreading out in thin ripples before fading entirely—erasing the last trace.
Throughout the entire process, aside from sharpening the edge of his palm, he hadn't used any cursed techniques.
It was done purely with physical strength.
After a moment of quiet, he sensed the ability of the technique he had just acquired:
Presence Suppression.
He grasped it instantly.
Sōjun walked over to where Panda was tied up, crouched down, and brushed his hand over the ropes. They snapped apart and fell away on their own.
This was the second thing he had instructed Panda to do:
If I don't come back, call my name.
He hadn't expected that, just as he emerged from the Forbidden Vault, a faint voice would echo in his mind. Then cursed energy began to ripple, forming black sparks that coalesced into a mirrored surface—Panda's shadow had appeared on it.
When he looked up, he had already pinpointed the location and crossed space to arrive here—leading to what had just happened.
At the moment, Panda's limbs were torn open. Clumps of stuffing had burst out and were bulging from the gaps, making for a pitiful sight.
Sōjun examined him closely. No serious damage—the core was still intact.
The external parts were scheduled to be replaced anyway...
Perfect timing.
He hoisted Panda onto his forearm. A line of flame dripped from his fingertip, burning away the scattered remains of the torn puppet body.
"Sōjun, Sōjun."
Panda's voice was unaffected. He tilted his head up, eyes flickering with firelight, and murmured,
"It kinda hurts."
"Hm?"
Sōjun narrowed his eyes, inspecting Panda again. The Star Eyes pierced through the plush exterior, analyzing the core deep within.
After a moment, he concluded,
"...It's phantom pain."
Panda didn't have nerves—he couldn't feel pain. He was a puppet. Yet now, just like a human, he was experiencing phantom pain.
A subjective phenomenon. Neuropathic pain. The brain, upon seeing a limb torn away, conjures the illusion of pain as a defense mechanism—to warn, to protect.
The potential of a fully autonomous cursed corpse was higher than expected. In just a few months, Panda had already developed and refined complete bodily systems on his own.
Sōjun gained a new level of appreciation for the value of this technique. Masamichi Yaga had essentially created a new species.
Technically speaking, Panda's body wasn't fixed—it could be swapped out at will. The core was the only thing that mattered. His soul and cursed energy were anchored there.
In essence, Panda was a refined core given form. The puppet body was just a vessel for movement—nothing more.
Seeing that Panda's mental state was still stable, Sōjun let out a quiet breath.
This conflict between Panda and the trafficker had ended in defeat for the former. You could tell just by how easily he was lured away and returned each time with a pile of random things.
He really was drawn to anything that piqued his curiosity, even if it was completely useless to him—and that was how this happened.
All that remained of him was a ruined shell.
Sōjun shook his head inwardly.
Panda still had a lot of growing up to do.
He was too naïve, and people far too complex. Even with three hearts, he still couldn't outmatch a woman's experience.
But that experienced woman was now dead.
Sōjun erased every trace of the scene, conjured a black vortex, and stepped into it with Panda in tow.
The vortex that lingered behind reversed and unraveled, stirring a breeze that swept away the lingering remnants of cursed energy.
Every trace of the scene was thoroughly wiped clean.
This wasn't out of fear of exposure or consequences—he was in the right, no matter who came asking. The real reason was the Jujutsu World's countless strange techniques. He couldn't be sure there wasn't one that could trace or attack using leftover residues. So, he treated anything he left behind with extra caution.
Back at the Jujutsu High dormitory, Sōjun Minamoto laid Panda flat on the lab table.
Being back in this familiar place felt like home to Panda. He relaxed completely, even spreading open his belly—cotton spilling out—as if ready to be worked on.
Sōjun Minamoto reached a hand into the mass of cotton and pulled out three faintly glowing orbs, each about the size of a fist, radiating a soft, hazy light.
He held one in his hand; the other two had either been brought out with it or forced their way out on their own. The three cores were linked by some mysterious connection, their structure exceptionally balanced and stable.
This stability wasn't just in terms of Cursed Energy and soul—intangible things—but also the partially physical form of the cores themselves.
The three orbs formed a loose triangular arrangement, and Sōjun Minamoto casually placed them on the table.
He then gathered the flannel and cotton and dumped them into the trash, pulling out the cursed tools he had brought back from the Forbidden Vault and arranging them nearby.
Now, it was time to rebuild Panda's body, using the core as the center.
The process wasn't complicated.
He wasn't planning to alter Panda's appearance—just replace the materials. Wrap the padding, encase it with the outer shell, insert the core, and that was it.
The only challenge was in the transformation of the core's Cursed Energy source from a semi-physical to a fully intangible form—and the transfer of the soul tethered to the core.
Time to use the Soul Barrier again.
With practiced ease, he detached five fingers and inserted them into five marked positions on the table. Cursed Energy surged out, forming sigils that twisted and linked between the fingers, sketching out a complex pattern. A flicker of black light, and an invisible barrier took shape.
It was a tiny barrier, no bigger than a human head.
Between his newly regrown thumb and forefinger, a blade of blue light formed. He held it delicately between his fingertips.
Looking down at the cores, he could see the souls—faint and flickering—formed from clusters of tiny light particles. Their shapes were just discernible: Panda, a gorilla, and a triceratops. Cracks like dry riverbeds marred their soul forms.
Panda looked calm, the gorilla brash, the triceratops shy and reserved. They all looked toward Sōjun Minamoto, each smiling at him in their own way.
Carefully, Sōjun Minamoto plucked them out.
Separated from their vessels, these souls were like candle flames in the wind—flickering and unstable.
They were delicate things. Without hesitation, Sōjun Minamoto quickly transferred them into the Soul Barrier, where they immediately steadied.
He then took out three Cursed Energy Sources... He was still set on keeping the number at three.
Given the current situation on the sorcerer side, three sources could barely meet the Cursed Energy demand—any more would be a waste.
Next came the fusion of the soul and the Cursed Energy Source.
He couldn't just toss them in. The source had to simultaneously function as the core of the Cursed Corpse while the soul was being inserted. That was the only way to complete the process properly.
In a way, it was like "creating" a Cursed Spirit—after all, a Cursed Energy Source combined with a soul is exactly how a Cursed Spirit is structured.
With the method clear in his mind, his hands moved faster... After burning through several Cursed Energy Sources, he finally succeeded in merging the two.
Not long after...
A new body for Panda took shape:
Skin crafted from Grade 1 Cursed Objects, cotton fluff spun from Grade 1 Cursed Objects, claws forged from Special Grade bones, eyes melted down from century-old coffin nails, and teeth made of blood-infused alloy...
The whole body was loaded with firepower.
On the stat panel, Panda had reached Grade 1.
But his Cursed Energy barely scraped Grade 3, and his hand-to-hand skills weren't even ranked—rounded down, he was basically equivalent to Kiyotaka Ijichi.
...
(40 Chapters Ahead)
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