Chapter 30 – The Ignored Gojo Satoru
"The axe isn't bad… but I think I dulled it. I'll return a sharper one next time."
Zen'in Shinsuke walked back to Mei Mei and the others, handing over the battered axe.
They froze for a moment, before Mei Mei waved dismissively. "Forget it. It's just an axe."
She loved money, sure—but not everything could be measured by its value.
"Much appreciated then."
Shinsuke wasn't polite about it. Truth was, he didn't have the money to buy her a new cursed tool anyway.
"Um… so can we head back now?" Iori Utahime asked nervously. She couldn't deny it—Zen'in Shinsuke scared her. More than fear though, it was shock.
Yes, his way of exorcising curses was brutal, but to wipe out so many so easily… it proved he wasn't even in the same league as them.
"We should be done, yeah? Mission's complete. Though if we want to extend the stay a few days on the school's tab, I wouldn't complain."
For once, Shinsuke was in a good mood—he even cracked a joke.
"Haha… might not be appropriate though."
Kusakabe, still suppressing his awe, forced a laugh. Truth was, he barely lifted a finger this whole mission. Free vacation days? His conscience twinged.
"Yo—looks like you all wrapped it up nicely. Knew I could count on you."
Gojo Satoru finally appeared, late as ever. Now that Geto's men had withdrawn, he could shake them off and arrive. They hadn't wanted a head-on fight with him—just to stall. It had been frustrating.
"Gojo! Couldn't you have shown up sooner? Do you know how close Mei Mei-senpai came to—" Utahime snapped, glaring. With his speed, he could've been here the moment he got the message.
"Uh… I was tied up, sorry, sorry." Gojo scratched his head, sheepish.
"But since you're all fine, I'm guessing the problem's dealt with?"
"Mm. To be exact, Shinsuke-sensei handled it alone. We couldn't even get involved." Kusakabe quickly explained.
When Gojo heard the full story, he regretted it. If he'd known the cursed spirit was that strong, he should've stopped fooling around. One Domain Expansion, wipe the floor, and he'd have made it here on time.
All because of Geto's tricks, he hesitated. Next time, he told himself, he couldn't afford to go easy—softness would cost him.
"Still… you're seriously strong. Why don't we take this chance to fight it out?" Gojo grinned at Shinsuke, clearly unsatisfied from his stalled battle.
"Idiot…"
Shinsuke ignored him, took the broken Playful Cloud from Kusakabe, and strode out of the tent.
"Tch—what's that supposed to mean? Doesn't he want to test himself against the strongest sorcerer?" Gojo muttered.
"Ahem… maybe, just maybe, Shinsuke-sensei's not interested in you." Kusakabe patted Gojo's shoulder. "From what I've seen, he only really enjoys fighting curses."
"Oi, what's that supposed to mean? Are you saying I rank below a cursed spirit?"
Gojo almost lost it. Shinsuke would go wild fighting curses, but when it came to him—nothing.
Was he being looked down on?
"We're leaving, strongest sorcerer." Utahime helped Mei Mei up and walked out after Shinsuke.
"…" Gojo was left behind.
No one cared whether he ranked above a cursed spirit or not. The mission was done—they could go home. The cleanup would be left to the Grade 2s and below.
---
Days later, Zen'in Shinsuke found himself with a new nickname: Cursed Spirit Slayer.
No one knew who coined it, but paired with his brother's infamous moniker Sorcerer Slayer, the title quickly stuck.
The Zen'in estate courtyard—
Shinsuke reclined lazily on a sun chair, basking in the orange glow of morning light. Training had lost its edge; he was shifting his focus to hunting powerful cursed spirits instead.
The problem was, there were far too few that met his standards. Still, he wasn't worried. A few years from now, plenty would surface. Then he'd level up to his heart's content.
"Brother, look! I'm about to succeed!"
Beside him, Mai strained with all her might, face flushed red. She pressed her palms together, forcing out threads of cursed energy until they condensed into a tiny stone.
"Brother! I really did it!"
Her face lit up with joy as she turned to show Shinsuke the pebble of cursed energy.
But the moment she spun around, her body went limp. Vision blackened. She collapsed forward.
Smack.
Fortunately, Zen'in Shinsuke reached out and caught her before she could faceplant into the ground.
The pebble of cursed energy slipped from her palm, scattering back into raw cursed power before vanishing completely.
" Tsk, tsk."
He laid Mai gently onto the chair, then glanced over at Maki, who was still sweating bullets under the tree. His tone was half–mocking, half–sighing.
"You two sisters… honestly, one's weaker than the other."
No surprise there—it was the curse of the twins.
Sharing one person's talent between two bodies made climbing toward strength nearly impossible. Unless the two of them worked together perfectly, the odds were basically zero.
As things stood, they were dragging each other down.
Mai lacked cursed energy. Maki, on the other hand, had just a little too much of it.
The result? Mai's Construction Technique couldn't reach its full potential, while Maki's Heavenly Restriction was weakened, dulling her physical augmentation.
To fix the defect, one twin would have to die.
Still… if Maki's faint traces of cursed energy could somehow be transferred into Mai, maybe the curse of the twins could be broken.
What Shinsuke didn't know was whether Maki could ever cultivate bloodforce. After all, bloodforce and cursed energy were polar opposites—only one could exist in a body at a time.
He could only wait until Maki's physical strength reached the threshold, then give it a try. Her cursed energy was so faint, there was a real chance it might work.
"Eh… what happened to me?"
Before long, Mai stirred awake, realizing she had somehow stolen her brother's chair. Her face was full of confusion. Wasn't she just training her technique?
"That's normal for the first time. With more practice, it'll get easier."
Shinsuke gave a simple explanation.
"Oh, I see… looks like I still have a lot of work to do."
Easily convinced, Mai assumed her fainting was just part of the process. It never crossed her mind that something was wrong—because her brother would never lie to her.
Seeing this, Shinsuke reached out and ruffled her hair.
The truth was, it didn't matter how hard she tried. With such a defect, even relentless effort might not lead to strength. If the flaw couldn't be fixed, working herself to death would only make her miserable.
Better to stay comfortable.
If he hadn't been handed his "cheat," he'd probably still be slacking off somewhere, living off someone else's efforts.
When hard work had no visible path to results, he'd always choose another road—the easier one.