Strange Encounters

"Uwaa... I got really lucky today. It was worth it to wait an hour before the program started; I was practically the first guy there," Ryusei muttered to himself as he strolled through the streets, carrying a bag filled with photos and a small Tadaka-chan figurine.

"I wished that meet time lasted forever," Ryusei mumbled to himself as he walked on the sidewalk among many others.

"He really is hard to keep track of," a blue-haired curse muttered to itself as it observed Ryusei from a thin alleyway.

'I have been trying to follow him for two days now; if I don't have him in sight, he disappears into nothingness,' the curse thought to itself.

Special Grade Curse Spirit: Mahito

The curse's form changed as its body morphed into a snake-like creature with a slender body and started following Ryusei's footsteps.

The curse continued to tail Ryusei, who mingled within the crowd, buying daily necessities and snacks.

'Is this guy even a jujutsu sorcerer? I have gotten so close without him even showing any signs of knowing my existence,' Mahito thought to himself.

Regardless of a sorcerer's grade, the first thing they are taught is how to detect curses within a certain range. Even the most untalented ones can detect curses within a 5-meter radius.

'That is what Geto had told me...but I am now within a 3-meter range...is this Ryusei even a threat?' Mahito thought to himself as a toothy grin formed on his face.

The sun began to set as the morning turned to nighttime. Mahito had now been closely following Ryusei for four hours.

The two now stood inside an abandoned school building.

"You done now?" Ryusei questioned as he stood in the middle of a classroom.

"So you did notice," Mahito exclaimed as he opened the door and lunged at Ryusei.

"Your disgusting smell alerted me," Ryusei responded as he swiftly dodged Mahito's grab.

'It can form perfect human speech and keep track of me...a special grade, eh?' Ryusei thought to himself.

'But...its body looks feeble; it has to be a newborn,' Ryusei concluded as he easily dodged all of Mahito's attempts to touch him.

'Swift. I can't touch him at all,' Mahito thought to himself as a wide grin formed on his face.

"HRAAAAA!" Mahito yelled as his arms formed into two large whip-like blades. With great force, Mahito recklessly swung his arms around, tearing apart all the furniture in the room.

Cursed energy covered Ryusei's body as all of Mahito's strikes were easily deflected.

Curse technique rebound: as long as enough curse energy is provided, all physical attacks will be deflected from the body under the condition the user cannot move.

'Now!' Ryusei thought to himself as the cursed energy surrounding him dissipated. He slid under the first two strikes coming at him; then his hand reached out.

Grabbing a piece of broken wood, Ryusei armed himself. With his groceries in one hand and a piece of wood in the other, Ryusei faced off against Mahito.

-[Template Skill: Sword Genius: All sharp objects in hand will be recognized as a sword]- -[Passive Skill: Sword Master]- -[Buff: Sword Master(SSS+)] -

-[Strength: S+ -> SS-]- -[Speed: SS -> SS+]-

Curse energy covered the piece of wood as Ryusei's eyes showed a sharp glint. As soon as Mahito's arms got within his range, in a moment both of them were sliced off.

'Ehh?' Mahito's face turned surprised as he saw both of his arms sliced off.

'He cut through my arms with a piece of wood?'

"You sure are strong!" Mahito exclaimed as his arms reformed back to normal.

"But no matter how strong you are, if you cannot harm my soul, it's all useless!" Mahito yelled as spikes shot from his chest at Ryusei.

Ryusei swung the piece of wood in a diagonal fashion and slashed the spikes heading for him. As the spikes broke off, Mahito emerged from behind them.

Aiming to grab Ryusei, Mahito once again lunged at him.

'This curse... it realized it couldn't get to me, so it devised a plan instead.'

'The frenzy at the start and spikes now were just to make me assume it is weak.'

"However... In close range, nobody is a match for me," Ryusei muttered with a grin as his upper body leaned to the side, dodging the strike.

"Heh!" Mahito grinned as his hands turned into claws, and he latched onto the wall. His neck extended as his mouth opened wide to reveal multiple sets of razor-sharp teeth.

'He cornered me...'

"you really thought this one out, eh!?" Ryusei yelled; his lower body swiftly twisted under him, making him airborne, utilizing the momentum. Ryusei sliced off the curse's neck with the wood.

'Seriously...this guy, is he even human?' Mahito thought to himself as his neck swiftly attached back to his body.

'So even separating vital parts won't do anything unless I can interact with its soul...' Ryusei thought to himself.

"It's all useless unless you can really harm me!" Mahito yelled.

'Curse Technique, Maximum Output.'

Upon reaching a certain point of mastery over curse energy, a user can stack his curse techniques to create an even stronger version. At the maximum possible stack, the curse technique sometimes evolves beyond what it starts with.

'My cursed inheritance carries a sort of priority order: at the base level, I can inherit techniques, then comes to their curse reserves that add onto mine, then their memories, then any sort of specialty they might possess, then their physical attributes, and lastly, their soul merges with mine.'

"Maximum Output: Soul Harvest!" Ryusei yelled as curse energy gathered in his hands.

At the base level, one can say that Ryusei's cursed inheritance is a forced pact between two beings; at its strongest, the technique can even target his opponent's souls.

Dropping the piece of wood and his bags, Ryusei rushed at Mahito.

His feet firmly planted on the ground; he twisted his waist and launched a devastating punch at Mahito's chest.

"bleagh!" Mahito spat out blood, but it was not enough to stop Ryusei, who continued to viciously strike at Mahito's upper body over and over again.

With one more heavy punch, Ryusei launched Mahito out of the class, and he crashed through the halls into the school's playground.

'It's not healing... he can strike at my soul now!' Mahito yelled to himself alarmed.

'The curse technique Geto told me about must be wrong!' Mahito concluded as he healed his wounds.

"haah...haah...hah" Mahito panted loudly.

'I have about 30% left in me... that guy must have over 80%...'

'But maybe...just maybe...just one single touch,' Mahito thought to himself as he controlled his breathing.

"Done getting your shit together?" Ryusei questioned as he jumped from the hole he created, carrying his bag of groceries.

'Just one touch...and this is my victory,' Hoping to taste the sense of victory against an opponent like Ryusei, Mahito prepared himself to strike once again.

"Seriously? you still wanna continue?" Ryusei questioned; he stood in front of Mahito.

'Compared to the other special grades I face, he is still on the weaker side...'

'But...just what is the thing giving him enough confidence to still fight against me?'

'This one must have a trump card with him,' Ryusei concluded.

"How troublesome you curses really like to ruin my vacations. First, it was a deity in India; then the disaster curse in Germany; after that, the curse womb as soon as I returned, and now you."

"You know I am getting real irritated; it's as if you guys have a group chat made to harass me and me only."

"Who knows maybe you just attract bad luck," Mahito responded and then spat out multiple small stone-like projectiles at Ryusei.

'Soul manipulation and some sort of projectiles? They have curse energy of their own; they must be some sort of Shikigami.' Ryusei prepared himself as curse energy covered his body.

Suddenly, the objects Mahito spat expanded and turned into several curses resembling beasts.

'This looks like the perfect time to use that one,' Ryusei thought to himself.

'System switch template Gongseob to Taesoo.'

-[Template Name: Ma Taesoo]-

-[Strength: SSS++]-

-[Speed: S+]-

-[Endurance: SS+]-

-[Curse Reserves: None]-

-[Curse Technique: None]-

-[Unique Skill: Iron Right(SSS+), Right Beliefs(??)]-

-[Unique Item: Ma Taesoo's Coat(U)]-

-[Strength: S+ -> SS+]-

-[Speed: SS -> S+]-

'Believe in me.'

'Believe in your right hand.'

'Believe in Ansan's Fist!'

-[Template Skill: Right Belief(??) -> Right Belief(S+)]-

-[Buff(s): Right Belief(S+), Iron Right(SSS+)]-

-[Strength: SS+ -> SSS- ]-

With his hands tightly clenched in a fist, Ryusei swung at the creature closest to him. As his fist made contact with the creature, its body exploded in a pool of blood.

'These are not curses or shikigami...these are humans!' Ryusei's eyes widened at realization as he backed away from the horde of transfigured humans charging at him.

'That's right! At your core...you're just another fool unable to kill your own kind!' Mahito thought to himself as he spat a few more transfigured humans who rushed at Ryusei.

"Sa--Save me..."

"Plea...Pleas-" Before it could continue, Ryusei's fist connected to it, killing it in an instant.

'Did he resolve himself?' Mahito now alarmed rushed towards Ryusei.

"Despite the numbers...you fuckers are just as thin as paper!" Ryusei exclaimed as he tore through the transfigured humans.

This was a miscalculation that Mahito had made since his young age.

Ryusei never really cared about the loss of human lives he didn't know of.

In a sense, Ryusei was born crazy as someone who lacked empathy to a certain extent.

"Heahhh!!!" As Ryusei was about to kill the last transfigured human, Mahito screeched and lunged at him.

'Again? wait.'

Seeing Mahito mid-air and arms outstretched, Ryusei's brain started to work overtime as his thoughts collected rapidly.

'All the transfigured humans must have been normal at some point before the curse interacted with their souls.'

'Since the start, as he tried was to grab me.'

'He can interact with human souls upon touching them with his hands,' Ryusei concluded. With his right hand, he swiftly grabbed the transfigured human and then threw it at Mahito.

Mahito's hands touched the transfigured human, and in an instant, the transfigured human turned into spikes rapidly approaching Ryusei.

Ryusei covered his hands with curse energy and struck at the spikes that burst into a slash of blood, temporarily blinding him.

"GOTCHA!" Mahito yelled with a grin as he appeared beside Ryusei, his arms outstretched just moments away from touching Ryusei's body.

Up until now, Mahito had concluded that Ryusei was leagues above his level; however, Ryusei was also not taking him seriously.

Mahito's cunningness and Ryusei's overconfidence had presented this situation.

As Mahito's hands were about to reach Ryusei, he realized something.

Mahito had greatly miscalculated the level difference between the two.

Ryusei was someone who had faced many greater threats and fought in many worse conditions. Even if his 5 senses were blocked, Ryusei could fully sense the presence of a curse.

Ryusei's fist covered with curse energy landed first.

Maximum Output: Soul Harvest.

"Blearghhh!" Mahito spat out blood once more and dropped to his knees.

Ryusei raised his fist once more to land the decisive blow. Just as his fist was about to connect to Mahito, roots spurted out from the ground, creating a wall between the two.

"There was another one!" Ryusei exclaimed in slight surprise as he prepared himself for another wave of attacks but they never came.

Ryusei stood alone as the two curses had now left the scene.

"These motherfuckers really have a group chat!" Ryusei cursed out loud enraged.