The sky remained unnervingly dark. The streets were deserted, a hollow void. The "Veil" had fallen, severing the district from the outside world, and in its shadow, the loneliness was absolute. The solitary street felt like a single grain of dust adrift in the vast, uncaring cosmos.
Every sorcerer present felt the sudden weight of this desolation. As they drew closer to the target, it felt as though they weren't approaching a group of Curse Users, but the literal end of the world.
A sense of bitter isolation washed over them. They felt like mayflies, born into the world without purpose and destined to die without meaning. The scenery before them was a mirror of the rot within their hearts.
A Grade 1 sorcerer frowned, sensing the wavering resolve of the group. "Wake up!" he barked. "Wake up!"
The Grade 2s shook themselves out of the trance, drenched in cold sweat. But those below Grade 2 remained trapped, their faces twisted in existential agony.
"What is the point of living?" "Where did I come from? Where am I going?" "I am sorry for being born." "Reiko... was I kind? I traded my life for that kindness..."
Kira Nanami could feel it—their souls were beginning to unravel.
"Wake up!" the leaders shouted. "Wake up!"
"...Let me try," Kira stepped forward. "I have a highly advanced technique for this."
"But Kira-kun, you don't use traditional jujutsu, do you?"
Kira raised a hand, signaling for silence. He walked up to a burly man whose eyes were filled with a cynical, "enlightened" sorrow. The man smiled weakly as Kira approached, speaking with the tone of a poet at his own funeral.
"You've seen the bars at 2:00 AM, haven't you? Some dance while tipsy, some collapse in corners, some pretend to be sober while their souls have long since drowned in the night. They say darkness is the seasoning of loneliness. At this hour, everything tastes sweeter than the day. If you don't believe me, go and taste—"
THUD.
Kira Nanami delivered a brutal, uncompromising kick directly to the man's groin.
In an instant, all the "enlightenment," the "melancholy," and the "philosophical reflections" in the man's eyes vanished, replaced by a singular, agonizing clarity. He collapsed, let out a long, shuddering wheeze, and began to inhale air like a dying fish.
"Sssssssss—!"
"Kira... do you know where I—Ssss!"
Kira moved through the crowd like a reaper. Everywhere he passed, the sound of sharp, pained inhalations followed. One by one, the "enlightened" sorcerers transformed into curled-up, twitching larvae on the wet pavement.
"I have so much pain... so much... Baka-yaro!" "Shindaiyu... Shindaiyu... MY BALLS!"
Sometimes, the best cure for a brooding youth is a thorough beating.
Under Kira's masterful "Physical Jujutsu," everyone regained their senses. They stared at each other, bewildered, wondering what had happened. Why were they suddenly so overwhelmed by a different kind of "sorrow"?
Kira ignored the fallen "warriors." He clapped his hands and looked toward the neon lights of the Red-Light District, his brow furrowing.
The enemy's technique had already begun to seep into their minds. It was a spiritual poison—once inhaled, it seduced the soul into wanting to dissipate.
Even more terrifying: even the Grade 1s hadn't detected the poison until it was nearly too late.
"The Poison of Jakuin (Sparrow Shadow)," an elderly sorcerer muttered. His lips were dry, and his eyes were clouded with cataracts. Kira recognized him—a retainer of the Kamo Clan, one of the Big Three Families.
Jakuin. Despite its somewhat crude-sounding name in certain dialects, it referred to one of the Seven Poins of the human soul in ancient Taoist lore—the one governing "Grief." According to texts like the Baopuzi, the soul's energy is distributed across seven centers. If the Poins dissipate, the life-force scatters. The curse had nearly erased the souls of everyone with low Cursed Energy.
Furthermore, Kira remembered the video from the account named Taikou (Fetal Light). Taikou was one of the Three Souls.
Interesting. More and more interesting, Kira thought.
"Sorcerers below Grade 2, stay here and guard the perimeter!" Aoi Todo snarled, his eyes fixed on the neon-lit district.
Kira nodded.
Under normal circumstances, even a Special Grade object couldn't pollute this many people instantly. There was only one possibility: this was the enemy's "Home Field." The closer they got to the source, the thicker the negative energy, and the lower the mental defenses.
The enemy had come prepared. They had built-in crowd control.
"Todo, Mechamaru, you're with Kira-kun," the Kamo elder commanded. "Your team is responsible for infiltrating the district, uprooting the curse, and eliminating the nascent Cursed Spirit. You can feel it, can't you?"
Kira could indeed feel it. When he focused Cursed Energy into his eyes, the world transformed.
In the gloomy sky, dark, stagnant ribbons of energy rose from the horizon. These grey bands merged in the air, forming a massive confluence of negative emotion. Like a colossal whirlpool, it spiraled around the center of the Red-Light District. At the eye of that storm, a terrifying monster was being born—slowly opening its crimson eyes.
"It is currently absorbing the dark side of all Kyoto. It is in a vulnerable, developmental state. This is the best time to strike."
The Kamo elder's voice was raspy and ancient. "You three—specifically Todo and Kira—are best suited for an assassination. The task is yours."
"As for the frontal diversion..."
The old man slowly tore off his shirt, revealing an upper body covered in wrinkles and scars. His skin, like old tree bark, clung to his bones as he stood in the wind and rain—an ancient banyan tree being lashed by a storm.
But at that moment, that "old tree" erupted with an unparalleled burst of vitality. Behind him, more "trees" rose—the other sorcerers, their Cursed Energy erupting into brilliant, searing flames of light.
"As for the front... whether it's Taikou or Jakuin, leave those bastards to us old fossils."
He grinned, looking like a fanged demon.