[29]: The Curse Emerges

With a swift kick, Shin Shuichi shattered the wooden door leading to the hallway, and as he passed through the floating debris, he moved rapidly towards the source of the screams. The cursed energy in the air had reached its peak.

Breaking down another door, Shin entered the room and was met with a bizarre sight: a tattooed man, holding a short knife, knelt before two corpses, his face a mixture of excitement and fear. On the other side of the room stood a grotesque, monstrous figure—an enormous, cube-shaped mass of flesh, with a giant, vertical eye in the center.

The eye, a black-red orb that resembled a bug trapped in amber, seemed to shift its gaze toward Shin.

The powerful curse had no conventional limbs. Instead, two oversized humanoid arms extended from either side, propping its body up. On the underside of the creature, a gaping, toothless mouth yawned open. Eyes dotted each side of its cube-like body, constantly shifting as if trying to perceive everything at once. It looked like a grotesque, living die.

The curse was in the process of consuming half a corpse, and suspended midair were splashes of blood, frozen in a twisted, chaotic scene.

Without hesitation, Shin immediately reversed the flow of cursed energy in his body.

Wheel of Time: Reversal

His target was the group of ordinary people who had been killed. However, as Shin tried to apply the reversal technique, he was met with intense resistance, especially from the three victims the curse had already partially consumed.

The curse, likely of special grade, acted like a stubborn boulder in a river, blocking the reversal process. The immense energy consumption and the growing strain began to take a toll on Shin, his head throbbing with pain.

As the pressure mounted, blood trickled down from Shin's nose, and the reversal technique was forcefully interrupted. The three women and one man in the room awoke from their dazed state, their faces still marked by extreme terror.

Once they processed the scene before them, they couldn't fully comprehend what had happened. When their eyes fell upon the tattooed man, still holding the bloodstained knife in a daze, they collapsed to the ground, trembling in fear.

"What... what's going on?"

The tattooed man's mind was still stuck on the fact that he had just sacrificed five people to the "god." But now, four of them were somehow alive? He stared at the knife in his hand, confused, before suddenly glaring at Shin, who was wiping the blood from his nose.

"It was you! You ruined the sacrifice to the god! I'll sacrifice you instead!"

The man charged at Shin with the short knife raised. But Shin, more focused on the increasingly agitated curse, barely acknowledged the man. As the man closed in, aiming to stab Shin in the neck, Shin kicked him effortlessly, sending the man flying ten meters into the wall. The impact left a massive dent, and the man spat blood in the air, hanging on the brink of death but still alive.

"Shin!"

Nanami Kento arrived just in time to see the powerful curse, its overwhelming presence making him instinctively tighten his grip on his weapon, instantly preparing for battle.

"Nanami-senpai, please take those four people to safety," Shin said, turning his back to Nanami and advancing toward the cube-like curse that was now rapidly crawling toward him.

Nanami quickly made a decision. He grabbed one of the women, who was on the verge of a mental breakdown, and called out to the others, "Follow me, quickly!"

Wheel of Time

Shin unleashed a rapid flurry of strikes on the curse, his blade slicing through its body like fabric. Black blood sprayed everywhere, soaking Shin's clothes. However, the repeated strikes and the excessive cursed energy he infused into his attacks caused the cursed blade to shatter. Shin had pushed it beyond its limits to break through the curse's defenses.

As the curse howled in pain, its central eye emitted a gray-black light, forming a beam as thick as a barrel. The scorching energy shot across the room in an instant.

Though the attack was fast, it wasn't fast enough to catch Shin off guard. The curse's many eyes shifted toward its rear, where a figure stood, his fist enveloped in raging cursed energy. But in the next instant, that figure vanished from its sight.

One punch, two punches... Black Flash activated!

With the might of his technique, Shin's fists landed blow after blow. The curse, now reeling from Shin's overwhelming power, froze in its tracks.

Pseudo-Black Flash Double Strike

The chaotic, dark energy coursed through Shin's fist as he landed another punch on the curse's largest eye, shattering it like a decayed balloon. But Shin wasn't done. Ignoring the growing discomfort in his body, he activated the reversal technique on himself once more.

Pseudo-Black Flash Triple Strike

The intense black energy roared like a beast as Shin's fists pounded the curse. With a final blow, the curse's massive body was launched through the air, crashing through the walls and leaving gaping holes behind. The curse tumbled outside the building, covered in thick clouds of dust and debris.

"That... was that the god?" the tattooed man, barely alive, muttered in a daze. He gazed at the curse, a grotesque look of bliss on his face. But before he could fully comprehend what he was seeing, a dark shadow loomed over him. Looking up, he saw the figure of Shin, his dark red hair looking as though it had been drenched in blood, his blood-soaked clothes giving him an otherworldly, demonic appearance.

"A demon..."

Shin grabbed the tattooed man by the collar and dragged him through the hole in the wall. The curse was already beginning to stir, its deformed body slowly regenerating. Even the eye that Shin had destroyed began to regrow, the sight grotesque and unsettling.

As the tattooed man, barely clinging to life, finally got a clear view of the "god" he worshiped, terror overshadowed whatever twisted devotion he had left. The monstrous creature, with its writhing eyes, seemed to whisper maddening voices in his ear.

"What?"

Shin watched in shock as the curse's regeneration accelerated, and its cursed energy inexplicably grew stronger. Was this part of its technique?

"It's feeding on fear!"

Nanami, who had returned, observed the situation. Shin glanced down at the tattooed man he had tossed aside. Moments ago, the man had been consumed by terror, but now his face was eerily calm. He stared at the curse with a mix of emotions, none of which were fear.

"So, Nanami-senpai, you're saying this curse's technique allows it to absorb fear and convert it into strength?" Shin mused. Curses are born from negative emotions, but if this one could actively absorb fear, it could become incredibly dangerous.

If this special-grade curse fought an opponent who harbored even the slightest fear, it would grow stronger, absorbing that fear and triggering a snowball effect—growing stronger, inducing more fear, and growing stronger still.

Perhaps it had grown this powerful by feeding on the fear of the victims trapped in this hellish place.

Shin's mind raced as he assessed the situation. Then, with a quick movement, he flung the tattooed man toward the curse. The curse, too furious from being injured, didn't care who it consumed. Its massive hand grabbed the tattooed man and crushed him like a sponge.

Nanami loosened his tie slightly, showing no reaction. He had seen the tattooed man's earlier actions. Although jujutsu sorcerers were prohibited from killing regular people, this death was on the curse, not Shin.

As Nanami prepared to join the fight, Shin stopped him. "Nanami-senpai, let me handle this. The ringleaders are still on the rooftop, and there are more victims inside. Please keep the situation under control. I need to lead this curse away from here before it gets stronger."

The crashing sounds had already alerted those inside the barrier. They didn't know what was happening, but fear from their past traumas was already bubbling to the surface.

Fueled by this fresh surge of fear, the curse's body had nearly fully regenerated. Its massive form charged forward. Its eyes once again glowing as black beams shot through the air.

Shin dodged the beams, which blasted large holes into the building behind him. Another hit or two like that, and the structure wouldn't hold.

Shin wasted no time, activating his technique and disappearing with the curse in tow, leaving behind a gaping hole in the compound's walls.

°°°

If you want to read ahead and access 20 advanced chapters, check the patreon

Link: Patreon/Moziel