Curse Reply: After choosing Nawa, the cursed spirit cursed me for being cruel.

"Why...don't you play with Bai'er?"

"Stealing Bai'er's doll... is naughty."

……

This side of the corridor.

"Hey! Wake up! Wake up, you bastard!"

Gojo Satoru had already squatted down next to the unconscious Kenji Ito, and was slapping the other's cheeks without any politeness. He had no concept of gently waking up a patient.

Xia Youjie stopped Gojo Satoru from violently waking him up and checked Ito's pulse and breathing: "He's still alive. Although his vital signs are weak, his spell power is almost exhausted, and his mental energy is greatly depleted, he has indeed turned back."

He looked at Duanmu Yan, his doubts replaced by shock and a complex hope. "Duanmu, you really did it... This is simply..."

"A miracle?" Duanmu Yan deactivated his transformation, his face pale. The purification he had just undergone had consumed more energy than he had anticipated, leaving him feeling not only physically exhausted but also mentally drained.

But at this moment, he was filled with excitement. "It seems my idea was right. The power of the armor can indeed purify this transformation curse!"

Just then, Kenji Ito, lying on the ground, let out a painful groan, his eyelids twitched violently, and he slowly opened his eyes.

His eyes were initially unfocused and filled with fear, but when his blurred vision caught sight of the highly recognizable arrogant white-haired face in front of him, his pupils suddenly contracted.

“Five…five…?” His voice was hoarse like a broken bellows, filled with disbelief.

"Oh, you're awake? It's good that you recognize me, saves me the trouble of introducing myself." Gojo Satoru was slightly pleased that he recognized him, but still eagerly asked, "Quickly, Ito Kenji, how did you become like that? What happened here? Where is the biggest cursed spirit? What's going on?"

Kenji Ito didn't seem to have fully recovered from his daze and weakness, but his sorcerer's training allowed him to force himself to concentrate.

He struggled to sit up, and Xia Youjie helped him.

“I…I received an urgent notification from ‘the window’ that there’s an unusual fluctuation of magical energy here…not a high level, they told me to check first…I sneaked in…at first it was very quiet, an unsettling quiet…”

His breathing quickened, and deep confusion and bewilderment appeared in his eyes.

"I encountered a... little girl, she looked very young, wearing a white kimono, holding a tattered doll, standing in the shadows smiling at me... I was clearly wary, but somehow... the moment I saw her eyes... I felt... so sleepy..."

"Then... I don't remember anything. It's like I had a very long and heavy dream... In the dream, I kept looking for disobedient children and wanted to punish them... When I woke up, I saw you all."

A little girl in a white kimono, wearing a tattered doll, makes you sleepy just by looking at her, then you lose consciousness and become a puppet spirit that follows fixed instructions.

Xia Youjie and Duanmu Yan exchanged a glance.

The goal has been basically confirmed.

The two spoke almost simultaneously: "Special Grade Fantasy Spirit - Bai'er".

Chapter 24 Welcome New Friends

"Special Grade?! The cursed spirit inside is Special Grade?!"

Kenji Ito, who was slumped on the ground, let out a sharp shriek upon hearing the speculation.

He actually fell asleep in front of a top-tier cursed spirit and managed to escape with his life... no, he was turned into a puppet and then rescued.

Gojo Satoru waved his hand impatiently: "I know, I know, so what if it's a Special Grade? Don't make a fuss. Hey, can you leave now? If you can, hurry up and get out of here and tell Ms. Yagami what's going on inside."

Kenji Ito felt as if he had been granted a pardon, but he also knew that the battles to come were beyond his control and that staying would only be a burden.

He struggled to his feet, bowed deeply to the three men, especially Duanmu Yan, and staggered but ran back the way he came.

Watching Ito's figure disappear around the corner of the corridor, Xia Youjie turned his gaze to Duanmu Yan, whose face was slightly pale, and asked with concern and assessment, "Duanmu, how much did the purification take?"

Duanmu Yan assessed his internal energy and mental state, and frankly stated, "I've consumed about one-tenth of my energy, and I'm feeling a bit mentally exhausted. It's mainly because concentrating my will to guide the purification is quite taxing. However, it's probably because the target is a level two cursed spirit, and the transformation is more profound, so it's more strenuous. If the target were of a lower level, it would be much easier."

Xia Youjie nodded. "The purification of the others is not urgent. The most urgent task is to deal with Bai'er. When facing a top-level fantasy spirit, we must maintain our best condition. Any weakness in our spell power or spirit could become a weakness."

"Bai'er?" Gojo Satoru scratched his white hair, looking at Xia Youjie with a puzzled expression. "You guys have been talking about Bai'er, Bai'er since just now. Do you already know what kind of cursed spirit that's on the other side is? Jie, do you know?"

Xia Youjie sighed helplessly and rubbed his temples: "Wu, I told you before to read more about the spell spirit encyclopedia and folk records. Otherwise, you wouldn't have let that noisy bat spell spirit escape because you didn't understand it, which caused all this trouble later."

He turned to Duanmu Yan, "Duanmu, give him a brief explanation."

Duanmu Yan nodded and lowered his voice, "The Special-Grade Fantasy Spirit Bai'er originates from a collection of Japanese folk tales about children who died young and the unpurified resentment. Her general record can be found in the Spirit Compendium and some high-risk files. She is known to have three core abilities, which may all be related to silence, sleep, and rules."

He held up a finger: "First, any physical contact or eye contact with her will instantly create an absolute silence zone with a radius of about five meters around the target, making it impossible to make any effective sound, and naturally, impossible to chant incantations to activate spells."

The second finger: "Second, forced hypnosis and memory stripping. It has extremely strong hypnotic abilities. Those affected will fall into an irresistible sleep. If they fall asleep, their memories of their own spells will be temporarily erased. When they wake up, they may even forget how to use their spell power."

The third finger: "Third, Word Spirit Puppetization. You must never speak in front of her. She can repeat the last words the target said. Once the repetition is complete, the target's body will instantly freeze into a puppet. This is an ability that makes you 'lose if you speak'."

He paused, then added, "She possesses a domain; the specific effects are unknown, but it's definitely strongly related to the concept of sleep."

After listening, Gojo Satoru was unusually silent for two seconds, then gasped.

"Hey, this combination of abilities is way too overpowered! Mute, forced sleep, instant death from silence... How can we even fight like this? It's completely denying mages any chance of survival!"

He complained, but his eyes grew brighter and brighter, filled with eager anticipation. "Looks like I really need to look through those old illustrated guides... But knowing about the abilities will make things much easier!"

Duanmu Yan nodded solemnly: "Moreover, we just purified her puppet. She may have already sensed the abnormality. From now on, try to remain silent, communicate with gestures, and absolutely do not speak unless necessary."

Gojo Satoru and Natsuyu Jie both nodded solemnly. Facing such a special-grade fighter with extremely tricky abilities, any carelessness could be fatal.

The three quickly adjusted their formation, with Gojou Satoru in the lead, Duanmu Yan in the middle, and Xia Youjie at the rear.

The corridor seemed endless, and the number of puppets on both sides appeared to have decreased, but the atmosphere grew increasingly stagnant. A faint, sweet scent of lavender gradually intensified, mingling with the putrid smell, bringing an eerie sense of peace that unconsciously relaxed the mind. The halo of the overhead chandelier seemed to become even more hazy.

As he walked, Duanmu Yan suddenly felt his legs go weak. At first, he thought it was normal fatigue after the purification process, but then an irresistible drowsiness swept over his brain without warning!

puff.

His legs buckled, and without warning, he fell forward and crashed heavily to the ground.

Wu Tiao Wu noticed Duanmu Yan's fall almost the instant he turned around. He turned his head sharply and instantly caught Duanmu Yan's fall and Xia Youjie's suddenly swaying figure behind him.

Gojo Satoru felt a sudden alarm bell ringing in his mind, but soon he also felt intense drowsiness.

He staggered two steps toward the wall, trying to lean against it, but his arm fell limply after he had only raised it halfway.

puff.

Even the strongest of the last could not withstand the power of slumber, and fell silently to the cold ground, his sunglasses askew.

The corridor fell completely silent, with only three unconscious figures remaining.

About ten seconds later.

From the shadows at the corner of the corridor ahead, a small figure silently emerged.

She floated up to the three of them, tilted her head slightly, and then raised a small, almost transparent, white hand and gently placed it on the head of the doll in her arms.

"Welcome...new friend."

Chapter 25 Domain

A small white figure hovered in front of the three unconscious people. The face with an eternal smile lowered slightly, and the dark eyes were fixed on Gojo Satoru, Natsuyu Jie and Duanmu Yan lying on the ground.

A few seconds later, she seemed satisfied, and the smile on her lips seemed to deepen.

She slowly raised her head, holding the tattered rag doll, and turned towards the direction the three of them had come from, the corridor leading out of the school.

"Outside... there are many good friends... waiting to play with Bai'er."

"Bai'er... wants to play with them."

As soon as she finished speaking, she stopped looking at the three people on the ground. Her white sleeves fluttered without wind, and her petite figure seemed to be pulled by invisible threads, floating lightly towards the entrance of the corridor.

However, just as she drifted away from where the three had fallen and turned her back to them, the three who should have been in the deepest slumber suddenly sprang up without warning at almost the same moment!

There were no shouts, no communication, only fighting instincts and a tacit understanding to kill!

Azure - Maximum Curse Power Output!

Molten Spiral Fist!

Black Flash!

Three attacks, from three directions, three distinct but equally deadly forces.

Extreme spatial attacks, blazing spirals that incinerate and purify, and black flashes that represent the pinnacle of violence.

Faced with this sudden and terrifying combined attack, Bai'er, with her back to them, seemed to have no time to react.

She remained in a forward-drifting posture, the tattered rag doll in her arms facing backward.

Just as the attack was about to hit, the old rag doll in her arms suddenly blinked strangely.

The next instant, Bai'er's figure remained in the same spot, but the old rag doll inexplicably appeared behind her, facing the three devastating attacks head-on!

All three attacks hit the suddenly appearing doll squarely!

But despite such a terrible attack, the doll strangely did not explode. Instead, it made a faint sound like fabric tearing or something breaking, and then floated back into Bai'er's arms in an even more dilapidated state.

Bai'er's forward-moving figure finally stopped. She turned around little by little.

For the first time, that face with its innocent smile underwent a noticeable change; the curve of its lips flattened, and its pupil-less eyes stared intently at the three of them.

She looked down at the old doll in her arms, which had become even more dilapidated. She stretched out her slender, pale fingers and tremblingly stroked the doll's collapsed head and charred belly.

Then, she raised her head and looked at Duanmu Yan and the other two. Her delicate face was no longer innocent, but only a cold and piercing resentment and the grievance of being betrayed remained.

"You... are not Bai'er's friends."

The moment the words fell, an invisible and intangible strange force field suddenly spread out from Bai'er's center!

At the same time, the concentration of that intoxicating lavender scent skyrocketed!

Alarm bells were ringing in the minds of the three, and there was no communication or hesitation.

With a flash, Gojo Satoru left only a distorted afterimage in his original position. His true form appeared to Bai'er's left side like a ghost, and his fist slammed towards Bai'er's head!

If you can't speak, use your fastest speed and strongest physical skills to break her rhythm!

Beside Xia Youjie, two insect-shaped cursed spirits with hardened shells hissed and pounced out, attacking Bai'er from the right and rear.

With a powerful push from his feet, Duanmu Yan charged forward with unstoppable momentum, his crimson figure imbued with intense magical power. He poured his blazing magic into his fists, intending to use the Nava Armor's strongest close-combat ability to directly crush his opponent.

The three attacked Bai'er from all four sides.

Bai'er's physical skills were indeed as immature and clumsy as her appearance.

Faced with the attacks of the three, she could only clutch the tattered doll and frantically dodge in the narrow corridor space. Her white sleeves were constantly grazed by the sharp winds of the fists or the claws of the cursed spirits, leaving scorch marks or cracks.

She seemed to have completely given up on fighting back, only dodging, and a certain coldness was solidifying deep within her dark eyes.