"Is this the mission location?"
Kamihara Hajime stood beside Maki in front of a desolate, eerie hospital. Both carried long cloth-wrapped weapons on their backs.
Maki adjusted her glasses. "Confirmed. The Window reported a Second-Grade Curse inside. It was discovered late, and it's already spawned some low-level Cursed Spirits."
(A Window is a non-sorcerer who can see Cursed Spirits and helps monitor areas for Jujutsu Tech.)
"After evacuating the hospital, they called us in. Seriously, that bandaged idiot really trusts us. Throwing us at a Second-Grade right off the bat."
Cursed Spirits and Jujutsu Sorcerers are classified from Fourth Grade (lowest) to First Grade, and above that, Special Grade. Normally, Sorcerers can exorcise Curses of the same grade or lower—so Maki's irritation made sense. Sure, she was confident, but this was sudden.
"I'll set up the Curtain."
Hajime formed a hand seal and chanted, "Born from darkness, darker than darkness. All defilements and impurities—be purged."
A shadowy veil fell around the hospital, concealing the area from civilians and nullifying outside interference. This Curtain would also suppress the birth of new Curses from negative emotions triggered by witnessing supernatural events.
As they entered, several low-level Curses emerged—grotesque creatures with bladed limbs and needle-like features. Maki ripped open her weapon bag and pulled out her naginata with ease.
"Heh. The weaker they are, the more they group up like cowards," she sneered.
With a stomp, Maki launched forward like an arrow, her naginata spinning as she carved arcs through the air. The Cursed Spirits screeched, crying things like "pain" and "don't want to die" before Maki's assault silenced them.
Their bodies froze in place—then exploded with gurgling sounds, spraying purple-black ichor as they collapsed into twitching heaps.
Behind her, Hajime clapped seriously, cradling his bow under one arm. "That was beautiful. Clean slashes. All vital points. I mean—textbook."
Maki whipped her head around, face flat. "Shut up. Keep moving."
She hadn't thought much of it—just cleaning up small fry. But Hajime's genuine praise made her squirm in place. The fact that he was being earnest made it worse.
To Hajime, though, her movement was cool—using centrifugal force from a spinning body to cleanly execute a group kill with precision? Absolutely awesome.
"I'll sweep from the roof," Hajime offered, waving casually.
Without waiting for a reply, he scaled the hospital's exterior and reached the rooftop in seconds. From there, he saw Maki vanish into the dark interior. He turned, entered the rooftop access door, and began his search.
The low-level Cursed Spirits he encountered were trivial. Hajime barely had to push himself—Extermination, his Cursed Tool bow, made short work of them. With proper control over his output, he avoided destroying the hospital corridors entirely.
After reducing one bed-sheet-like Curse to ash, Hajime paused. That one hadn't been terrifying—if anything, it looked like a demonic teru teru bozu doll. Kinda cute, actually.
Just then, he felt a spike of Cursed Energy.
He turned toward the annex next door. Waves of negative energy surged, and muffled crashing echoed from that direction. Maki was in trouble.
Without hesitation, Hajime blurred through the corridor, but even faster was the blue flash streaking ahead of him—an arrow, already breaking through the far window.
Moments later, Hajime dove through the shattered frame, soaring nearly ten meters. While mid-air, he conjured an arrow and shattered a window in the neighboring building.
He landed with fluid grace. The source of the chaos was below him—second floor, judging from the tremors and energy.
Stairs would be too slow.
Hajime apologized silently to the building and drew the bowstring of Extermination. A glowing blue arrow aimed downward, infused with dense Cursed Energy.
He focused—Maki's energy signature was faint, barely above that of a normal human. So the enormous presence below could only be the Second-Grade Cursed Spirit.
He fired.
The arrow pierced through stone and steel with surgical precision, carving a path through the floor. The rooftop trembled under the pressure.
---
Meanwhile, Maki was in the thick of it.
Despite appearing reckless, she moved with strategic awareness. Her glasses—the ones imbued with Cursed Energy—allowed her to see the otherwise invisible Spirits.
Unlike most sorcerers, Maki had no innate Technique, and her own Cursed Energy was insufficient to Exorcise Curses. Instead, she traded those talents for enhanced physical abilities—thanks to a condition known as Heavenly Restriction.
Heavenly Restrictions are rare. They forcibly take something from a sorcerer at birth—like their ability to use Cursed Energy—and in return, grant them absurd physical strength. Whether it was a curse or a blessing depended on the person… but it was undeniably powerful.
Maki tore through low-level Curses on the second floor, mowing them down with her naginata. She spun, ducked, struck. Ragged monsters scattered like broken mannequins in her wake.
Just as she advanced to finish off the stragglers, she sensed danger. Her instincts screamed. She pivoted—and just in time.
The left wall exploded.
Tentacle-like rags burst through the debris. Maki raised her naginata in defense, but the sheer force sent her flying through the opposite wall.
She landed hard inside a patient room.
"Cough…"
Not seriously hurt, she scrambled up—only to dodge again as more attacks tore through the floor. She leapt into the hallway and finally got a good look at the monster.
It was massive—composed of tattered black rags swirling around a core of smoky flesh. No clear limbs or face—just a writhing, shapeless form with disturbing gaps in its layers. Possibly mouths.
It filled the corridor.
Tentacles of cloth slammed into walls and floor, carving deep craters. Maki narrowed her eyes and smirked.
"A smart one, huh? Knows how to ambush. Makes this interesting."
She dashed in, rolling under a strike, then vaulted up and slashed through a tentacle. The severed rag hissed and crumbled like ash.
In a blur, she danced through its attacks. Blades whirled. Rags fell. But when she landed a direct hit across its core—nothing. No damage. The wounds healed instantly.
"Why isn't it reacting? That was a clean hit."
Its body, bound in cursed rags, regenerated as if the attack had never happened. The weak points—eyes, limbs, heart—weren't there.
She adjusted her stance. "Alright. No conventional weak spots. Which means I've got to find where it's hiding its core."
Using tight corridors and patient rooms for cover, Maki probed the Curse's defenses. Most of its attacks were manageable, save for a few heavy blows. But the regeneration... that was the real issue.
She suspected it would try to immobilize her and drag her into the black smoke below it—probably where the actual body resided.
Then she heard it—a thunderous cracking sound from above.
Her eyes darted up.
A flash of blue light.
BOOM.
The ceiling exploded.
A Cursed Energy arrow drilled through the Curse's shoulder, followed by two more in rapid succession. They hit in perfect precision—three evenly spaced, symmetrical holes.
Before the Curse could react, another figure dropped from the ceiling like a meteor.
"Woohoo~"
Hajime's fist, wreathed in twisted black Cursed Energy, slammed into the Spirit's mass. A shockwave erupted, flattening nearby debris. The monster screamed as half its form was blasted into dust.
Now exposed beneath the tattered cloth was a writhing, grotesque mass of flesh—coiled tendrils, and dozens of mismatched eyes blinking at once.
"There it is," Hajime said, smiling coldly.
Another strike. His left hand snapped forward, and the cursed core exploded in a black flash. The Spirit didn't even get the chance to scream again—it just unraveled, piece by piece.
"Huh? That's it? I didn't even hit it that hard."
---