As the subtitles, made of crimson light dots, reformed and appeared, Hazome Sosuke felt a mysterious power surge from within his body.
Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Shunpo, Kido!
These are the four essential courses every Shinigami must take at the Spiritual Arts Academy.
They also form the primary components of a Shinigami's power.
"Zanjutsu" refers to swordsmanship; Shinigami fight using Zanpakuto. The release of a Zanpakuto is the materialization of a Shinigami's soul resonating with his Zanpakuto. It can be said that a Zanpakuto is a Shinigami's second life.
"Hakuda" refers to hand-to-hand combat, the means by which Shinigami attack enemies bare-handed, essentially martial arts.
"Shunpo" refers to a high-speed movement technique. The equivalent for Hollows is "Sonido," and for Quincys, it's "Hirenkyaku."
"Kido" is composed of Hado, Bakudo, and Kaido. It's how Shinigami, through incantation, transform their spiritual pressure into various different techniques to attack enemies.
Kido has sequences from one to ninety-nine; the higher the sequence number, the stronger the destructive power.
After Hazome Sosuke finished receiving the system's Newbie Gift Pack , his peripheral vision caught the cards he hadn't chosen, and the gray mist on those cards also dissipated.
One by one, powerful villains, so strong they inspired despair just by appearing, came into Hazome Sosuke's view.
Uchiha Madara, Dio Brando, Griffith, Frieza, Doflamingo, Meruem, Muzan Kibutsuji, Naraku… and Grey Wolf.
Hazome Sosuke: "????"
No, Grey Wolf, how did you sneak in? Did you bribe the system to get in through the back door?
Just as a bewildered Hazome Sosuke was utterly bewildered, his consciousness completely left this strange system space and returned to the real world.
What greeted him was still the Curse Spirit's ferocious gaping maw and the pungent, foul smell washing over him.
Although only a brief moment had passed, Hazome Sosuke no longer felt the fear he had before.
Instead, his face held a calm, confident expression.
Just as the Curse Spirit was about to swallow his head whole, Hazome Sosuke moved!
He swiftly extended a hand and plunged it into the Curse Spirit's large mouth.
The Curse Spirit watched its prey, which it had previously toyed with, now radiating a power that filled it with dread. Moreover, the fear that had been in the other party's eyes had, for some reason, transformed into disdain.
Although this ugly Curse Spirit had not awakened its intelligence, its almost beast-like instincts were screaming at it: Danger! Danger!
Fear flashed in the Curse Spirit's eyes, and it instinctively tried to turn and flee.
But it was too late.
"Hado Number One! Sho!"
As Hazome Sosuke softly chanted, a small shockwave shot from his fingertip, piercing through the Curse Spirit's head before him like a bullet through a slab of pork.
It penetrated the Curse Spirit's head without any obstruction!
Soon, the Curse Spirit turned into ashes and completely dissipated.
After completely exorcising the Curse Spirit, an excited expression appeared on Hazome Sosuke's face.
First time using Kido! A great success!
"However… according to the jujutsu kaisen worldview, one Kido equals one innate technique, so if I master all Kido, wouldn't I be…"
The more Hazome Sosuke thought about it, the more his lips unconsciously curved into a triumphant arc, like a protagonist from a cultivation novel.
…
At the same time, in front of an abandoned building not far away.
"Shino, your son was born only a week ago. Shouldn't you, as a father, be at home with him? I heard the black market has already put a bounty on him recently."
In front of the building, a young man wearing black sunglasses spoke to the figure beside him dressed in traditional attire.
The man, addressed as "Shino," immediately replied, "All the elders in the Gojo Family now treat that boy as a precious treasure, holding him in their hands for fear he might break, and holding him in their mouths for fear he might melt."
"As for the black market bounty?" Saying this, Shino's tone became disdainful: "Just a mere hundred million to take the life of the Gojo Family's Six Eyes child? They truly underestimate my Gojo Family, don't they? I'm just afraid they'll come but won't leave alive!"
That's right, this Shino is none other than the current head of the Gojo Family, Gojo Shino, and the child he spoke of is the Six Eyes child—Gojo Satoru—born a week ago under the witness of all members of the Gojo Family!
And the questioner beside him, wearing sunglasses, was the Tokyo Jujutsu High's Head of Instruction—Masamichi Yaga!
"But it's better to be safe than sorry, and your wife passed away only a few days ago, you should spend more time with…"
Masamichi Yaga's words were cut short by a low, stern shout from Gojo Shino.
"Yaga! When did you become so wishy-washy?"
Gojo Shino's eyes showed hatred, and his clenched teeth ground, making a creaking sound: "It's because of these damned Curse Spirits that Kana couldn't even see her son before she left. If I don't exorcise every single one of them, how will I have the face to see her again?!"
Gojo Kana, originally Mizuki Kana, changed her surname to Gojo after marrying Gojo Shino, and she was Gojo Satoru's biological mother.
A week ago, during childbirth in the hospital delivery room, she suffered a Curse Spirit attack. She managed to safely give birth to Gojo Satoru with her last breath, but unfortunately passed away.
"Sigh…"
Masamichi Yaga watched the almost tangible rage erupting from Gojo Shino's eyes, and he didn't waste any more words.
"Born from darkness, darker than dark. Filth and defilement, all purged."
Masamichi Yaga formed a hand seal, setting up the most important curtain before exorcising the Curse Spirit.
A giant black sphere slowly enveloped the entire abandoned factory.
Curse Spirits are products born from humanity's negative emotions.
This abandoned factory had previously experienced an accidental explosion, in which several workers lost their lives. Since then, the factory owner had relocated the factory.
This factory naturally fell into disuse.
Entering the factory, Gojo Shino and Masamichi Yaga surveyed their surroundings.
The factory walls and dilapidated facilities still bore charred marks from the explosion.
And behind a door deep within the factory, Gojo Shino could feel waves of chilling cursed energy surging out.
It seemed the target for this exorcism was in there!
However, the Curse Spirit, sensing someone invading its territory, was even more enraged than Gojo Shino.
With a loud bang,
The already dilapidated iron door suffered a huge impact and exploded into pieces.
Shattered iron shards flew everywhere, deeply embedding themselves into the reinforced concrete.
The speed and power were evident!
Yet, facing the Curse Spirit's almost intimidating offensive, Gojo Shino and Masamichi Yaga remained calm and unmoving, their eyes calmly fixed on the Curse Spirit slowly emerging.
The Curse Spirit's body structure was almost identical to a human's, but its charred appearance, ferocious face, and the glowing, lava-like substance flowing through the visible veins on its body.
No one would mistake it for a human.
The next moment, this Curse Spirit attacked again!
Its figure instantly blurred, moving at an incredibly fast speed to appear before Gojo Shino. Its sharp claws, accompanied by the sound of tearing air, swung towards Gojo Shino's head!
As the current head of the Gojo Family, Gojo Shino naturally didn't pay any mind to such a small trick.
He simply slowly raised a hand and blocked the Curse Spirit's attack.
However, the Curse Spirit's first attack was far from over; its cursed energy suddenly surged forth.
Under Gojo Shino's gaze, the lava-like substance in its arm veins flowed rapidly, emitting flashes of light.
With a bang!
A small explosion miraculously occurred in the palm of the Curse Spirit's hand!
The shockwave from the explosion caused Gojo Shino to retreat several meters, and his arm, which had suffered the blast, was now pitch black, with wisps of smoke rising from it, a stark contrast to its normal skin color.
"Shino!"
Seeing this, Masamichi Yaga shouted somewhat frantically.
Gojo Shino, however, shook his injured arm and replied, "You're overreacting, Yaga."
Fortunately, he had quickly condensed cursed energy onto his arm just now, which prevented any substantial damage.
"You scared me, it's good that you're fine." Seeing that Gojo Shino was mostly unharmed, Masamichi Yaga breathed a sigh of relief.
"If I were to be defeated so easily by a Grade 1 Curse Spirit, I'd truly be a laughingstock!" Gojo Shino said.
After a brief exchange, Gojo Shino had already determined the Curse Spirit's power level!
"I just didn't expect this Grade 1 Curse Spirit's technique to be explosion."
Gojo Shino had exorcised quite a few Grade 1 Curse Spirits.
But he had never seen such a rare technique before.
What piqued Gojo Shino's interest even more was that his own technique was also related to fire.
In that case, he could test whose firepower was stronger, his or the Curse Spirit's!
Gojo Shino took a step, and his figure surged, moving even faster than the speed the Curse Spirit had previously shown!
In half a breath, he appeared at the Curse Spirit's unguarded right flank, like a beast pouncing on its prey!
The Curse Spirit's pupils trembled, trying to frantically adjust its body to defend against Gojo Shino's attack, but it was already too late.
"Blue Flame!"
Gojo Shino's palm pressed against the Curse Spirit's flank, and with his soft shout,
A mesmerizing Blue Flame erupted from his palm.
Blue Flame!
Blue Flame is Gojo Shino's innate technique. When he activates it, he can summon Blue Flames. Aside from its appearance, "Blue Flame" is almost indistinguishable from ordinary flames.
However, when the target is a Curse Spirit, Blue Flame becomes the most lethal flame. It uses the enemy's cursed energy as fuel, causing geometrically multiplied damage far exceeding that of normal flames, until the opponent is reduced to ashes.
In just a moment, this Blue Flame devoured the entire Curse Spirit!
The Curse Spirit's body slowly dissipated under the burning of the Blue Flame. However, when only its head remained, the Curse Spirit's eyes suddenly became clear, just like a human's!
Its mouth also intermittently uttered ambiguous words.
"Ah ah ah ah ah! Explosion! Fire!… Run!… Home!… My dear…"
???!!!
This situation instantly struck Gojo Shino and Masamichi Yaga like lightning, leaving them frozen in place.
This Curse Spirit was a Grade 1 Curse Spirit; Gojo Shino couldn't have misjudged.
When they first engaged, it showed no signs of the intelligence that a Special Grade Cursed Spirit would possess.
Therefore, the only possibility for it to speak human words now was that this Curse Spirit itself was the product of the lingering souls of the victims from that explosion, intertwined with the cursed energy of negative emotions…
Gojo Shino, who had originally wanted to vent his anger by exorcising Curse Spirits, now felt extremely complex emotions.
His face grew increasingly solemn, and he felt a profound emptiness as he and Yaga walked out of the factory, preparing to go home.
However, outside the dissipated curtain, a figure stood in front of the factory.