Jujutsu Kaisen: Nozomi no Sora

The low-level cursed spirits inside the tent were like flies that could never be eradicated from a garbage dump, surging out from every corner of the street.

The panda smashed the head of the cursed spirit in front of it with a punch. Before it could catch its breath, it glanced to its side and saw that Xuan Yi and Gou Juan, who should have been standing there, had disappeared without a trace.

"...Did you get separated?"

In the instant it was stunned, more cursed spirits roared and pounced, piling up and climbing in a dark mass, instantly engulfing its enormous body.

"Ughh ...

A deafening roar suddenly erupted from the sphere covered by countless twisted limbs.

"Shocking Palm!!"

boom!!!

The violent cursed power exploded outwards from the panda, tearing all the cursed spirits covering its body to shreds.

As the smoke cleared, a completely different figure was revealed—the once round and chubby panda face was now angular, with ferocious fangs bared from the corners of its mouth.

"We'll think about what happens next!"

The panda cracked its fists, its beastly eyes burning with a boiling fighting spirit.

"Let's use Gorilla Mode to wipe them out in one fell swoop!!"

Meanwhile, deep within the realm of birth.

Xuan Yi calmed his mind and felt the surge of curse power within his body.

With such intense mental concentration, the blood roared in my ears, and the flow of every strand of magical power in my body was clearly discernible. The power that filled my entire body made my five senses incredibly sharp.

This is the flow state experienced by sorcerers.

Across from it, the mocking expression on the face of the top-tier cursed spirit slightly froze. It crossed its arms, tilted its head as if deep in thought, and a hint of seriousness finally appeared in its scarlet eyes.

The next second, both figures vanished from their spots.

Bang--!!

The scythe and claws collided violently in mid-air, sparking a string of dazzling sparks.

The Cursed Spirit's lips curled up, and high-density curse power suddenly condensed in the palms of his two hands that were holding the scythe. The dazzling light expanded instantly and poured down towards Xuan Yi's face!

Xuan Yi's pupils contracted sharply, and all the curse power in his body instantly gathered and formed a bright blue shield.

boom!!

The stream of light swallowed his figure.

The shield lasted only two seconds before shattering under the overwhelming power of the curse. But before that, Xuan Yi had already used the impact to flip and leap into the air, his body low to the ground, sliding like a ghost behind the cursed spirit!

The cursed spirit was shocked and retreated, but it was too late.

The scythe, wreathed in black magic, drew a sharp arc, and before anyone could react, an arm was severed cleanly at the root, crashing to the ground and turning into a pool of foul-smelling black mud.

Xuan Yi flicked the grime off his blade and tilted his head.

"I'll give you some time."

He raised his chin, pointed to the severed limb, and spoke in a flat tone.

"Hurry, you can be cured, right?"

The cursed spirit's expression froze.

Immediately, that hideous face contorted, as if it had been greatly humiliated, and it trembled with rage.

It doesn't require hand seals, nor does it require reversing spells—its body, composed of pure negative energy, is not the same as a human's.

As the magical power surged, the severed arm regenerated and healed at a speed visible to the naked eye, returning to its original state in the blink of an eye.

In the short time since its birth, it has not deliberately practiced anything; all of its fighting instincts come from the experience accumulated over thousands of years by the King of Curses.

"Hehehehe!!"

The cursed spirit's face broke into a ferocious smile again. With a flash, its claws tore through the air and slashed down towards Xuan Yi's head!

However, he missed.

Xuan Yi landed steadily behind it, slowly straightened up, and a bright blue light was already aimed at the cursed spirit in front of him.

The cursed spirit turned around abruptly, seemingly sensing an irresistible threat from the spell, and its expression became blank again.

"The technique of having no limits is really difficult."

Xuan Yi muttered to himself, the blue light in his palm slowly shrinking.

"The output of incantation power, its duration, including direction and spatial awareness... coordinating everything is really too difficult."

He looked up, a helpless smile appearing on his lips.

"Gojo-sensei, who can control all of this perfectly... is truly amazing."

The cursed spirit retreated rapidly, adopting a defensive stance as if facing a formidable enemy. Its arms were held horizontally in front of it, and a barrier of wildly surging cursed power formed around it. It stared intently at the azure light, its muscles tense, wary of the seemingly infinite gravitational pull.

But unexpectedly—

The technique was not activated.

The blue light in his palm suddenly dissipated, and Xuan Yi's figure vanished into thin air at that moment.

It's not simply high-speed movement, but rather a teleportation generated by compressing space itself using "Azure".

The cursed spirit's pupils trembled violently, leaving it no time to react.

"But, if you fall a few more times..."

Xuan Yi's gaze suddenly sharpened.

"We're pretty much in control now!"

"Black Flash—!"

boom!!!

Black lightning exploded on the fist. The extreme attraction combined with the impact of the cursed power amplified by the "Black Flash" caused the top-tier cursed spirit to be instantly pierced through, torn apart, and shattered in a light that intertwined azure and pitch black before it could even let out a cry of pain.

In the blink of an eye, the cursed spirit completely dissipated.

A withered, twisted, and bizarre finger, as if cast from wax, fell to the ground, echoing dully in the silent realm.

Xuan Yi slowly straightened up and sighed softly.

"As expected, the cursed spirits are still too fragile."

He bent down and picked up the finger of Su Nuo, weighing it in his hand.

"I had so many ideas I wanted to put into practice... but maybe next time."

As soon as he finished speaking, the area he was born in shattered and peeled away like a mirror.

The low-level cursed spirits that were still wreaking havoc vanished at the same time, as if they had never existed.

"This is... Sukuna's finger?"

The three returning from their mission laid out their spoils before Nitta Shin. The timid assistant supervisor, unable to contain his curiosity yet too afraid to approach, could only peer at them from a distance, half a step away.

"It looks like someone deliberately placed their finger there." The panda returned to its original form, its tone turning somber.

"Tuna." Dog-eared spiny chickadee chimed in.

Nitta Shin hurriedly pulled out his phone: "Indeed, no supernatural events have ever been reported in this area. If we had known beforehand that Sukuna's finger was sealed here, the disaster level would never have been only classified as Level 1... We must report this to our superiors immediately."

"I suddenly remembered someone." Xuan Yi examined the sealed box, then looked up abruptly. "She might know something."

Ten minutes later.

"Sukuna's fingers?" Kobayashi Kiri's reaction was exactly the same as Nitta Shin's, subconsciously taking half a step back with a look of disgust on her face.

"It's sealed properly, no need to worry." Xuan Yi waved his hand with a smile. "The curse on Miss Kobayashi should have subsided by now, right?"

Kobayashi Kiri was taken aback, then smiled sheepishly, "I didn't expect you to find out last time."

She rolled up her sleeves and unwrapped the bandage from her wrist.

"My grandfather in Kyoto died; he was cursed to death." She looked down at her wrist, where the skin that had been ravaged by the curse had now returned to normal.

"So you resigned and came to Kyoto... to investigate this?"

"Yes. Countless people die from the curse every year, but unless it's a large-scale incident, individual cases are usually treated as natural deaths." Kobayashi Kiri lowered her eyes. "But at my grandfather's funeral, I felt the filth."

Xuan Yi was taken aback upon hearing this.

"Miss Kobayashi, you're planning to investigate alone, isn't that too dangerous? Why not let Mr. Nishimiya know about this? Dealing with curses is safest left to a sorcerer!"

Kobayashi Kiri was silent for a moment, then smiled sheepishly, "Yes... I'm sorry to have troubled you."

"It's not really any trouble!" Xuan Yi scratched his head. "But we damaged quite a few buildings while exorcising the cursed spirits. Hopefully, it didn't affect your house."

"No, I don't live there."

"...Huh?"

"I live in Shimogyo Ward."

Xuan Yi was slightly taken aback, then suddenly turned to Nitta Shin.

"Mr. Nitta, has the same thing happened in other areas as well?"

Shinichi Nitta was startled by his sudden strong reaction and hurriedly looked down to check his phone.

"Ah... found it! There was another one in today's investigation near Nishi Honganji Temple..."

"Nishi Honganji Temple?" Kobayashi Kiri's eyes widened. "Isn't that near my house?"

Xuan Yi's heart skipped a beat.

"Mr. Nitta, how many areas like this are there?"

Nitta Shin's fingers swiped rapidly across the screen, his voice trembling: "While the disaster levels differ,... all the areas affected today have experienced large-scale curse-killing incidents."

"Could it be..." Xuan Yi gripped the sealed box tightly, a terrifying thought flashing through his mind, "...that all these places were previously adorned with top-grade cursed objects?"

"Really?" Panda's eyes widened. "They're all Sukuna's fingers? That guy would just throw such important things away like that?"

"Bokuyu-hana." Dog-rolled Thorn shook his finger.

"Senior Dog Roll is right, it definitely wasn't just thrown away." Xuan Yi shook his head, trying to organize his thoughts.

A top-tier cursed object could be fatal to an ordinary person if they came into contact with it. However, for an individual incident to escalate into a large-scale cursed killing event that could be detected by a high-level curse specialist, it would take time to develop. In other words, if these places were indeed deliberately left with top-tier cursed objects, then the perpetrator had already begun their actions long ago.

When exactly did it start?

He suddenly remembered that the day Kobayashi Kiri left her job was the day before the incident at Risaku High School.

The only person who could collect so many Sukuna fingers, besides Gao Zhuan, is that guy.

If it really is Lu Suo...

After failing to infiltrate the high school's cursed artifact warehouse, the real person chose to begin their operation in Kyoto, far from Tokyo.

Should we lure all the sorcerers from Kyoto Prefectural High School out...?

Is he planning to target the Kyoto Higher Vocational School directly?!

Xuan Yi suddenly turned to Shinichi Nitta, his face noticeably paler.

"Mr. Nitta, please return to the vocational high school immediately to report this matter. I have a very bad feeling."