At this moment, the shadowy Cursed Spirits had already surrounded Fushiguro Megumi and Miwa.
Cold sweat poured down Miwa's forehead.
She raised her fists, unsure of what stance to take to face the enemy.
This was her first actual combat; nervousness made her emotions fluctuate, and anxiety and dread almost swallowed her whole in an instant, especially with so many Cursed Spirits staring at her with greedy eyes.
Fushiguro Megumi hung up the phone and formed a hand sign with his shadows.
He said calmly, "Perfect timing. Miwa, your practical combat lesson has arrived."
"I heard everything! This isn't a combat lesson, it's an emergency!"
Tears almost welled up in Miwa's large eyes, and she let out a pitiful, shrill cry.
"What happened to the simple mission of just coming to pick up a Cursed Object? How did it turn into this?!"
"Get used to it quickly. This is the daily life of a Jujutsu Sorcerer," Fushiguro Megumi said, breathing slowly.
Finally, one of the Cursed Spirits in the surrounding crowd could no longer restrain itself and charged at them with a roar.
Fushiguro Megumi unleashed the Cursed Technique he had prepared and roared with all his might:
"Battle start! Go—Divine Dog!"
The shadow beneath Fushiguro Megumi's feet suddenly elongated, and leaping out from it was a large white dog—Ten Shadows Technique: Divine Dog!
The Divine Dog opened its mouth wide and bit into the charging Cursed Spirit, its immense bite force nearly snapping the spirit in half.
The Cursed Spirit let out a strange, wordless shriek.
In the next instant, the shriek vanished.
Fushiguro Megumi stepped forward, his fist infused with Cursed Energy smashing into the spirit, which exploded like a popped balloon.
Amidst the filth, Fushiguro Megumi calmly observed the surrounding situation.
He counted the total number of spirits, discovering to his surprise that there were over thirty.
Most were Grade 3, with Grade 2 Cursed Spirits hiding among the Grade 3 swarms.
It was rare for so many Cursed Spirits to gather like this because they were ranked by strength; usually, when a powerful Curse was present, lower-level Curses would not loiter nearby.
The attraction of Ryomen Sukuna's finger had broken the tacit understanding between powerful Cursed Spirits and weak ones.
A massive number of weak Curses were gathering here, searching recklessly in hopes of evolving further.
Driven by instinct, the Cursed Spirits watched with greedy eyes.
Originally, the Cursed Spirits were targeting Miwa, but when the Divine Dog and Fushiguro Megumi counterattacked, all the spirits shifted their gaze toward them.
"Whew."
Fushiguro Megumi exhaled slowly, taking his stance once more.
After less than a second of silence, the Cursed Spirits rioted!
The spirits howled as they rushed Fushiguro Megumi.
They all rioted simultaneously without any coordination, but their sheer numbers made up for it.
They lunged like two overlapping fans, and in the middle of the intersection, spirits even crowded and hindered one another.
Yet even so, they did not hesitate, surging forward like a tsunami.
Fushiguro Megumi vanished from the spirits' sight without warning.
He lowered his body almost to the ground, circulating his Cursed Energy while taking a deep breath, then exploded into motion!
He slid beneath the two fan-like formations, his hands infused with Cursed Energy striking upward.
The swarm of spirits passed over him; his instantaneous action allowed him to evade the first impact of all the spirits while he took the opportunity to kill two or three of them.
The Divine Dog crashed head-on into the swarm of spirits.
The white Shikigami dog slammed into them with all its might.
The spirits completely enveloped the Divine Dog, countless cursed hands wrapping around it.
The violent tearing caused the Divine Dog to yelp, but it surprisingly wasn't torn apart.
It withstood the tearing force and opened its large mouth to bite back.
Fushiguro Megumi delivered a kick, sending one Cursed Spirit crashing into another.
Their tsunami-like offensive vanished in an instant.
After all, they were just mindless beasts.
No, they were even worse than beasts.
A pack of beasts at least knows how to coordinate, but these things didn't even have that much sense.
Aside from their frantic, tide-like charging, they had no other form of attack.
Once the first wave was weathered, they would even get in each other's way, eventually meeting their end by being picked off one by one.
Suddenly, Fushiguro Megumi's eyes widened.
A Grade 2 Cursed Spirit hidden among the Grade 3 swarm finally bared its fangs, but the direction of its attack wasn't toward Fushiguro Megumi—it was Miwa!
This cunning Grade 2 Cursed Spirit was a snake-shaped Curse.
It had been lurking in the middle of the swarm, advancing slowly.
After the swarm was blocked by Fushiguro Megumi, it didn't try to ambush him.
Its goal remained consistent: Miwa.
It only wanted her.
And now, the opportunity had come.
Even Fushiguro Megumi was bogged down in the swarm, and Miwa was wide open.
It lunged suddenly, its snake-like body springing exactly like a snake in the hunt.
In the blink of an eye, the snake's mouth was before Miwa's eyes, fangs bared, biting down.
Miwa screamed, and Fushiguro Megumi's eyes nearly split from the strain.
"Miwa!"
In the next instant, the snake's mouth exploded.
Miwa tore the Grade 2 spirit apart amidst her screams.
Fushiguro was stunned.
He saw it clearly.
Miwa didn't have any conscious intent to attack or defend; she had simply put her hands in front of her face while screaming.
The snake's mouth had already bitten her hand, and its fangs would surely have injected potent venom.
Yet, as the fangs bit down, the Grade 2 Cursed Spirit's teeth actually failed to pierce Miwa's hand!
Howling Cursed Energy radiated outward from Miwa like a storm.
Miwa had used her instinct to cover her body's surface with Cursed Energy, which flowed over her delicate white skin.
This was the most basic Cursed Energy protection, the fundamental operation emphasized during the first year at Jujutsu High.
In the chaos, Miwa exerted her strength.
This was also part of the curriculum for first-years at Jujutsu High: reinforcing the body with Cursed Energy.
But even for Fushiguro Megumi, reinforcing the body wasn't a total reinforcement.
He had to use every bit of Cursed Energy within him cautiously.
He would calmly judge the situation and then allocate his Cursed Energy with extreme efficiency; he had always fought this way.
But now, for the first time, he saw a Jujutsu Sorcerer possessing such vast Cursed Energy that they could use it to simply crush others with power!
Miwa erupted with Cursed Energy amidst her screams, instinctively deploying a full-body Cursed Energy shield!
The Grade 2 Cursed Spirit's full-power sneak attack couldn't even bite through her basic protection.
Then, her counterattack was as simple as a baby tearing apart a thin string.
She grabbed the Grade 2 spirit with both hands and suddenly yanked outward.
The Grade 2 Cursed Spirit was actually torn in half like a string shredded by an infant, disintegrating into residue amidst its shrieks.
Fushiguro Megumi suddenly remembered the words Gojo Satoru had told him when he entrusted Miwa to him.
"If it's Miwa, don't worry about her," Gojo Satoru had told Fushiguro Megumi.
"Though I have a lot of faith in your potential, Megumi, at this stage—without a doubt, Miwa is stronger."
"She's much stronger than you, to the point where you might even feel jealous."
Fushiguro Megumi's mouth twitched.
"I see. So this is the potential Gojo Satoru-sensei spoke of, the potential to definitely become a Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerer? Now, I completely understand."
He took a deep breath and suddenly shouted, "Miwa! Calm down!"
Dazed, Miwa lowered her hands.
The residue of the Grade 2 Cursed Spirit still lingered on them.
She could hardly believe she had so easily killed a Cursed Spirit that had actively attacked her.
This wasn't a teaching material from a textbook, but a real, manifest Curse.
When the Cursed Spirit attacked her, she was almost swallowed by terror, but now she realized... it seemed like it was no big deal?
Was this body modified by Mahito really this powerful...?
She suddenly snapped back to her senses at Fushiguro Megumi's shout and responded flusteredly, "Yes! Yes, Fushiguro-kun! I'm okay, I'm actually okay!"
"You're being incoherent, calm down! Cursed Spirits can't even hurt you, haven't you realized that yet?!" Fushiguro Megumi shouted again.
This time he didn't even look back, simply continuing to strike the spirits before him with fists reinforced by Cursed Energy.
Beside him, the Divine Dog had already returned.
Working in perfect coordination with him, the swarm of over thirty spirits couldn't even get close to him.
"Eh? I—I need to calm down, I need to calm down." Miwa took deep breaths.
"Now!" Fushiguro Megumi shouted while throwing a punch, "Do you see the swarm of Cursed Spirits in front of you?"
"Yes?"
"Kill them," Fushiguro Megumi said.
"Eh...? Eh? Me?!" Miwa was stunned.
Then, Fushiguro Megumi deliberately let a few spirits pass.
These spirits realized they couldn't hit Fushiguro Megumi, so they turned their attention back to Miwa.
After all, compared to Fushiguro Megumi, Miwa was their original target.
It was only because Fushiguro Megumi kept attacking them that they instinctively attacked him back.
Now that Fushiguro Megumi no longer wanted to engage them, they naturally refocused on Miwa.
Miwa's face turned pale. "I—I can't do it!"
"Now," Fushiguro Megumi repeated his words, "Kill them."
A portion of the swarm split off and rushed toward Miwa.
Amidst Miwa's sobbing, power erupted everywhere!
See you next time! Author's Note.
Author's Note from Ancient Leaf:
I've seen the comments. Because the author is old-fashioned, posting comments in the mobile section is very difficult, and I haven't figured out how to type on the webpage version at all, so I'll say it here.
Almost every chapter of mine is over 4000 words, occasionally 5000 or 6000 words. This is to consider the reading experience, and I'm personally used to it.
If everyone doesn't like it, I can split them up; it's no trouble for me. What are everyone's thoughts? I'll listen to you all.
Of course, the number of words I update daily won't change.
For example, right now I update one chapter a day, with each chapter being around 4000 to 6000 words.
If I split them, it would become at least two chapters a day, with each chapter being around 2000 words, or even three chapters, each still being 2000 words, split from a 6000-word chapter.
If everyone is more used to splitting, I'll split them.
You can read more Chapter here:
Patreon.com/02Fanworks