Inside the hall of the abandoned Western-style mansion, Utahime Iori's roar almost blew off the remaining half of the roof.
She pointed at the punchable smiling face peering through the hole in the ceiling, trembling with rage, her grip nearly crushing the charms in her hand.
"I wasn't crying! And who asked you to save me! Do you think you're some kind of superhero?!"
"Don't you understand the first thing about respecting your elders?! I'm your senior! Your senior!"
Satoru Gojo crouched at the edge of the hole, casually picking his ear before blowing on his pinky.
"Eh? Senior?"
"The kind of senior who was weak enough to be trapped by a measly Grade 1 Cursed Spirit for two days and almost became fertilizer for this mansion?"
"Honestly, Utahime, maybe you should consider a career change to horror movies. That desperate and pitiful expression you had just now was spot on. You'd definitely win Best Actress."
"You—!"
Utahime was so furious she almost threw the charms in her hand like shuriken to drag this white-haired brat down with her.
In the few seconds they spent bickering...
The core of the Grade 1 Cursed Spirit's barrier, which had been shattered by Satoru Gojo's Blue, caused the entity itself to fall into a state of total frenzy.
Rumble!
A hair-raising sound of squelching and grinding bones echoed from deep within the ruins.
Then, amidst a flurry of flying debris...
A massive stitched monstrosity, as large as a small hill and composed of countless pieces of rotting flesh, broken bones, and mansion building materials...
Roared as it crashed through the floor!
Its body was covered in dense clusters of eyes of varying sizes, all now filled with a malevolent and bloodthirsty light, staring fixedly at the humans in the hall.
Swish, swish, swish!
Hundreds of dark red tentacles, sharp as blades, tore through the air.
Letting out a grating whistle, they lunged with thunderous force toward the nearest and most defenseless person: Utahime!
This sudden turn of events caught everyone off guard.
"Crap!"
From the ceiling, Satoru Gojo's pupils shrank, and his sunglasses slipped slightly.
Having pulled an all-nighter, his nerves were frayed, and his reaction was half a beat slow.
He wanted to teleport down to save her, but his hand signs felt sluggish.
On the other side, Suguru Geto had just jumped down from the hole. Mid-air, he was only halfway through the initial stance to summon a cursed spirit, far too late to bring out a defensive spirit fast enough to block the strike.
Although Mei Mei reacted quickly, she only had time to swing her battle axe and sever a few tentacles near her, unable to reach Utahime a few meters away.
'I'm going to die...'
Utahime stared at the overwhelming wave of foul-smelling, bladed tentacles lunging for her face, her mind going blank.
She could clearly see the glinting barbs at the tips of the tentacles.
In despair, she could only close her eyes and wait for death to claim her.
However, the expected agonizing pain of being impaled never came.
Instead, an extremely warm, almost scorching current of air instantly dispelled the surrounding chilling cursed energy.
Clang—
The crisp ring of metal on metal echoed through the cavernous hall like a dragon's cry, piercing through the cursed spirit's roar.
Utahime subconsciously opened her eyes.
A tall, upright back had appeared before her like a ghost, shielding her.
It was the black-haired young man who had come with Satoru and the others!
Yoru!
He held the standard-issue katana provided by Jujutsu High, his left thumb lightly pushing the handguard.
The blade had not yet fully left its scabbard, but a terrifying heat was already surging from the narrow gap, causing the surrounding air to distort!
"Total Concentration: Constant."
Yoru took a deep breath.
With that long, drawn-out breath, the temperature in his lungs instantly spiked to an incredible extreme.
Blood roared through his veins with a sound like thunder, flooding his body with immense power.
The once ordinary steel katana seemed to be imbued with life in his hands, humming with a thirst for battle.
"Sun Breathing, First Form."
Yoru drew his sword with a sudden motion, moving faster than the eye could follow.
"Dance!"
In an instant, a perfect, blinding arc of flame resembling the blazing sun erupted with Yoru at its center!
It was no ordinary fire, but a sacred flame imbued with the purifying power of the sun—the bane of all evil and curses!
Sssst!
The arc of fire sliced through the void.
The dark red tentacles, as hard as iron, were severed without resistance the moment they touched the flames, like butter meeting a red-hot knife!
The cursed spirit's foul blood didn't even have time to spray from the wounds before being carbonized and evaporated by the intense heat, vanishing into a puff of black smoke!
But Yoru didn't stop; severing the tentacles was merely the prelude.
His body moved like a bolt of crimson lightning, crossing dozens of meters in an instant to appear above the giant stitched monstrosity.
Suspending himself in mid-air, he gripped the hilt with both hands and raised the blade high.
With boundless majesty and violence, he swung down!
BOOM!!!
A dazzling pillar of fire shot into the sky, lighting up the entire Shizuoka Prefecture.
The main body of the Grade 1 Cursed Spirit that had pushed Utahime and Mei Mei to their limits and exhausted their resources...
Didn't even have time to let out a scream before being cleaved straight down the middle by the descending flame strike!
The remaining parts of the cursed spirit's body melted rapidly like snow under a summer sun, dissipating into ash.
A one-shot kill!
An absolute, undeniable instant kill!
The entire hall instantly returned to a deathly silence.
Only the golden flames still burning on the crumbling walls crackled, proving that the divine strike just now wasn't an illusion.
Utahime stared blankly at Yoru's tall back as he sheathed his sword.
The figure standing amidst the flames looked like an invincible god of war stepped out of myth.
An unmistakable blush quickly crept onto Utahime's cheeks, and her heart began to race uncontrollably.
So... so cool!
This was a true hero saving a damsel in distress!
Compared to that white-haired bastard on the ceiling who only knew how to mock her, they were worlds apart!
However, just as this incredibly romantic and shocking atmosphere reached its peak, and Utahime was about to speak her thanks...
"Senior Utahime, are you alright?"
A familiar, calm voice drifted from the edge of the hall, interrupting Utahime's thoughts.
Shoko Ieiri stepped out from the swirling dust, an unlit cigarette dangling from her mouth, her eyes showing a hint of concern.
"I was worried since you hadn't contacted me in two days."
The moment she saw Shoko...
Utahime's nerves, which had been frayed from the narrow escape, and her irritation from Satoru's mockery, were completely released.
"Shoko!"
Utahime's eyes reddened, and like a child who had been wronged, she ran forward and hugged Shoko tightly.
"Waaah... Shoko, you must never become like those two!"
Utahime sobbed her grievances, clearly driven to her wit's end by those two problem children.
In the entire Jujutsu High, Shoko was the only one who made her feel normal and safe.
Shoko let Utahime hug her, gently patting her back while remaining calm and concise:
"Don't worry, I won't become trash like them."
This perfectly synchronized response instantly calmed Utahime's heart.
Just then, Satoru Gojo poked his head out from the ceiling again, his voice annoyingly drawn out:
"The ground where Utahime walks is gonna collapse!"
"Shut up!"
Utahime's previous gratitude vanished instantly. She turned and glared at the ceiling like a furious kitten.
Shoko watched their familiar bickering from the side, a relaxed smile tugging at her lips.
It seemed everything was fine now.
Crack.
In the middle of this relaxed atmosphere, a sudden, sharp snapping sound broke the peace.
The moment the standard-issue katana in Yoru's hand was fully sheathed...
It finally reached its limit, unable to withstand the terrifying heat of Sun Breathing and the violent impact of the previous strike. It shattered into countless iron shards that scattered across the floor with a metallic clatter.
Yoru looked at the bare hilt remaining in his hand and sighed helplessly, shaking his head.
"As I thought, ordinary steel simply can't handle this level of resonance and heat."
It seemed finding a weapon that truly belonged to him had to be moved up on the agenda; otherwise, he couldn't just rely on his fists for every fight in the future.
Just then, Mei Mei's ethereal voice drifted from the side, breaking Yoru's train of thought.
"My, my, what an exquisite strike, Instructor Yoru."
Mei Mei walked up to him, looking at the shards on the floor with a professional smile.
"However, this standard-issue katana provided by Jujutsu High costs as much as three hundred thousand yen."
"Since it's damage to public property, the full amount will be deducted from this month's salary."
Yoru's expression froze instantly.
Meanwhile, Satoru Gojo on the ceiling and Suguru Geto, who had just jumped down, finally snapped out of their extreme exhaustion.
The two of them looked at the incinerated cursed spirit and then at the broken hilt in Yoru's hand, exchanging glances.
"Hey! It's over? That fast?!"
Satoru Gojo shouted in dissatisfaction, jumping down from the ceiling.
"Yoru, you bastard, you stole our kill! You said you'd let us practice! You're making us look really bad!"
Suguru Geto also covered his mouth, struggling to suppress a laugh.
"Instructor Yoru, since you broke the weapon, Principal Yaga is definitely going to scold you."
"He hates writing equipment damage reports more than anything. You're in trouble."
Yoru looked at these two problem children enjoying the show, then at Mei Mei who was worried about the money, and finally at Utahime who was still blushing and dazed.
He suddenly felt...
This job as an off-roster combat instructor seemed far more troublesome than he had imagined.
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