Chapter 75: Sure Hit

"Hurry up, hurry up and move!" Saki tried hard to calm herself down.

Unfortunately, despite her efforts, she could only manage a few steps backward and still couldn't bring herself to run.

At that moment, just as Ryuji was about to take action, he noticed something strange. The cursed spirit that had been following Saki suddenly seemed to notice something incredibly appetizing. Its demeanor shifted as it locked its gaze onto the Slit-Mouthed Woman.

Simultaneously, the aura of the Slit-Mouthed Woman began to merge with the cursed spirit's energy, creating a disturbing resonance.

"What the hell is this?"

As the two auras merged, Saki could see a grotesque and terrifying monster forming behind her. One glance at it made her body tremble uncontrollably.

"This is a cursed spirit," Ryuji's calm voice suddenly broke the silence.

"Curse… cursed spirit?" Kawasaki Saki stammered, not understanding how Ryuji could remain so calm in the face of this monstrosity. But, despite her confusion, his calm demeanor made her feel a little more at ease, as if she now had someone to rely on.

"What's a cursed spirit?" she asked, still shaking.

Ryuji, crossing his arms casually, explained, "Think of it as a monster that feeds on negative human emotions. You've been pretty stressed and negative lately, so it targeted you."

Too many negative emotions? Saki thought back to her recent late nights, long work hours, and constant exhaustion. It was true—she hadn't been in the best state of mind lately.

"Normally, humans can't see cursed spirits," Ryuji continued, "but it looks like the merging of urban legend energy and cursed energy is causing something... unexpected."

Just like when Tomoya Aki had transformed due to the Skeleton Woman urban legend, this fusion was creating a monstrous being that could be perceived by ordinary people.

"Then… what should I do?" Saki asked, now sure that Ryuji was the person responsible for dealing with these kinds of things. The reason he had followed her earlier must have been because he knew about this situation. She wondered if she had misunderstood him.

"What should you do? Just watch calmly," Ryuji replied, looking completely indifferent to the situation as he observed the merging cursed spirit and urban legend.

"...What?"

Saki thought she had misheard him, but when she saw Ryuji standing there, arms crossed and completely at ease, she was left speechless. He had no intention of acting or running. What was she supposed to do?

The fusion between the cursed spirit and the Slit-Mouthed Woman wasn't slow. In fact, it was happening rapidly. Within less than a minute, the Slit-Mouthed Woman and the cursed spirit had fully merged into a single entity.

The result was disturbing: her appearance shifted to that of a woman from an older era, her figure slightly bloated. The mask she had worn was gone, but her disfigured mouth, with the smile cut to her ears, remained. In her hand, she still clutched the bloodstained scissors, and the cruel, playful gleam in her eyes remained unchanged.

"Am I beautiful?" she asked with a sickening smile. Her voice seemed to carry a strange power, and a sudden gust of wind blew around them.

"No! I can't move!" Saki felt panic surge through her as her body became paralyzed, unable to move. She could only stand there, frozen in place.

"A domain… incomplete, but still a domain," Ryuji mused aloud, his eyes narrowing as he observed the scene.

The Slit-Mouthed Woman, who had only been a first-level cursed spirit, had merged with the third-level cursed spirit following Saki, propelling her into the ranks of special-grade cursed spirits. And with that power came the ability to form a rudimentary domain.

In essence, when the Slit-Mouthed Woman asked someone if she was beautiful, the victim would be paralyzed, forced to answer. No matter whether the answer was "yes" or "no," it would trigger her killing conditions. This was her incomplete domain, an area of absolute control.

If the cursed spirit that merged with her had been stronger, she might have been able to create a fully developed domain.

"Am I beautiful?" the Slit-Mouthed Woman asked again, her voice louder this time.

"I…" Saki could feel her mouth moving involuntarily, as if she was being compelled to answer.

But before she could respond, Ryuji's voice cut through the air.

"Sorry, but I'm not into ugly women like you."

The Slit-Mouthed Woman's bloated figure had definitely lost its appeal. Ryuji's blunt response only seemed to aggravate her further.

"Go to hell!" The killing condition had been triggered. The Slit-Mouthed Woman's figure lunged forward with surprising speed, her bloodstained scissors aimed directly at Ryuji.

"Is it a guaranteed hit?" Ryuji could sense the certainty of the attack. No matter how much he dodged, the scissors would land—it was a sure-hit condition, a trademark of domains.

"Be careful!" Saki shouted, trying to warn him, but her voice trembled with fear.

As the Slit-Mouthed Woman closed in, a strange series of markings suddenly appeared on Ryuji's mouth.

"Fall," he muttered under his breath.

In an instant, an invisible force slammed into the Slit-Mouthed Woman, knocking her out of the air and into the ground with a resounding crash.

The ground cracked from the impact, but the Slit-Mouthed Woman's scissors still flew toward Ryuji, as if determined to complete their strike.

Ryuji reached up and effortlessly caught the scissors with his hand.

"The guaranteed hit effect of domains really is troublesome," he muttered, his grip tightening around the blade.

"Physical strengthening," he said to himself, triggering the ability he had learned from Maki.

The muscles in his arm bulged slightly as his strength increased.

"Bang!"

The scissors shattered into pieces under the pressure of Ryuji's grip, crumbling into dust.

Ryuji glanced at the Slit-Mouthed Woman, who was struggling to get up from the ground, her body now limp and broken.

"You're not giving up, are you?" Ryuji said calmly, watching her writhing form.

Though she was helpless, the look in her eyes was still filled with pure malice and a desire to kill.

"Third Dimension," Ryuji muttered.

The space around the Slit-Mouthed Woman began to twist and distort. Her limbs snapped and shattered under the immense pressure, rendering her completely powerless.

"Ahhh!" Even a cursed being like the Slit-Mouthed Woman couldn't suppress the agonized scream that escaped her lips as she was torn apart.

"I'll… I'll kill you… human!" she screamed through gritted teeth.

Ryuji didn't take the threat seriously.

"You'd need to survive first," he said with a cold smile."

With that, Ryuji activated his devouring spell.

"Soul Devouring!"

Dark chains materialized from thin air, wrapping around the Slit-Mouthed Woman's dismembered form. She was dragged toward a spatial crack, unable to resist.

In seconds, the street was silent again. The only evidence of the battle was the cracked ground where the cursed spirit had fallen.

"Ahh, that feels better," Ryuji said with a satisfied grin, patting his stomach. The power he had absorbed from the special-grade cursed spirit had significantly strengthened him.

With his hands casually tucked into his pockets, Ryuji began to walk away, a look of complete contentment on his face.

"Uh…" Saki, who had been watching the entire event unfold, was left speechless. In just a short time, her entire worldview had been turned upside down.

The street was quiet, but it no longer felt familiar to her. Now, it felt as if something unseen was always lurking in the shadows, watching her.

"Wait for me!" Saki called out, hurrying to catch up with Ryuji.

Before she could reach him, Ryuji stopped and looked back at her with an amused smile.

"Are you a pervert?" he asked, echoing her earlier accusation.

"..."

Saki was stunned for a moment. Was he really getting back at her for calling him that earlier? Was his revenge mentality that strong?

But she couldn't deny that she had misunderstood him. So, she sighed and said sincerely, "Sorry… I misjudged you."

Saki had realized that Ryuji was no ordinary person. Whether he was an exorcist, an onmyoji, or something else, she didn't know, but he clearly dealt with things beyond her understanding.

"Sorry," she repeated.

"Well, don't worry about it," Ryuji said, waving it off. He wasn't the type to hold grudges over something so minor.

"Come on, let's go," he added.

"Yeah!" Saki didn't hesitate to follow him this time. After everything she had witnessed, there was no way she was walking home alone. She felt much safer staying close to Ryuji.

As they walked, Saki hesitated before asking, "Um… what exactly are you?"

"My name's Ryuji, and I'm a sorcerer," he replied casually, not stopping as he spoke.

Saki was still processing the information. "A sorcerer?" she repeated, trying to wrap her head around it.

As if sensing her confusion, Ryuji shrugged casually and decided to clarify. "Yeah, a sorcerer. Basically, we're the ones who deal with cursed spirits and things like that."

Kawasaki Saki still seemed puzzled, but at least now she had a basic idea of what was going on. "I see… So, all those strange things like the Slit-Mouthed Woman and that monster following me, they were cursed spirits?"

"Exactly," Ryuji confirmed. "Cursed spirits are born from negative human emotions. The more negativity you have around you, the more likely you are to attract them."

"That's… terrifying," Saki admitted, a shiver running down her spine. She hadn't realized that her recent stress and exhaustion had made her a beacon for these things.

After a moment of silence, curiosity got the better of her. "Is it possible for someone like me to become a sorcerer?"

Ryuji glanced at her and shook his head. "Sorry, but probably not. If you couldn't see that cursed spirit behind you earlier, it means you don't have the natural ability to be a sorcerer. Without that, it's impossible."

"Oh…" Saki's shoulders slumped, a little disappointed. She had briefly entertained the thought of gaining supernatural abilities, but reality quickly dashed those hopes.

"Don't feel too bad about it," Ryuji said, sensing her mood. "Not everyone's cut out for this kind of life. Besides, it's not all it's cracked up to be."

"Yeah, I guess…" Saki muttered, though she still felt a bit let down.

As they walked further, they came to a fork in the road. Ryuji was about to turn left, heading toward his home, but Saki tugged at his sleeve and pointed in the opposite direction.

"Um… I live this way," she said, her voice a little softer than usual.

Ryuji raised an eyebrow, amused by the sudden change in her demeanor. "So?"

Saki fidgeted slightly, embarrassed. "I don't want to walk home alone… especially after everything that just happened."

Ryuji smirked. "Oh? You were fine walking home earlier. What happened to the tough girl who called me a pervert?"

Saki glared at him, her face turning red. "I didn't know about cursed spirits back then! And now, after seeing that… I'm a little freaked out, okay?"