Preparation

As Shuichi finished inscribing the Kanji letter, the piece of paper began to undergo a change. A faint bluish hue began to suffuse out of the paper, its malevolent nature hilling the air in the room.

The blue light flickered like a candle flame in the wind as the Kanji on it turned darker and darker still. The ink on the paper seemed to come alive and jump along the paper, seemingly transforming into a 'Door' made of ink.

Yet it was just an illusion, a symbolic representation that the talisman had been successfully created. Such symbolic sceneries accompanied the creation of any talisman, yet most would not be visible if one wasn't paying attention.

On in the creation of special grade level items was an actual projection visible without any effort on the viewer's part.

One last step and the talisman would be done.

Picking up the talisman, Shuichi activated his third technique, Hundred Armament Refining.

Immediately, the talisman shone with another radiant blue light, this time glimmering in such a way that it cast it's shadow on the walls of the room.

Done with the refinement, Shuichi put the talisman back.

Heh, turning talismans into cursed tools will make me so overpowered, it isn't even funny.

But then, the face of Gojo Satoru came to mind and he instantly felt sour.

I'll be making a weapon to help me deal with such things...

If it were possible, he would also find a way to boost his adaptation to make it reach 100%.

Turning to the t-shirt he had taken out, he activated his technique and turned the shirt into another sealing item.

And finally, as the last step he connected the two items together through the means of a synergic binding vow.

'These two sealing items would normally operate at 10% output by themselves, but when put together, their performance would be boosted by 300%', was how the binding vow went.

Using binding vows on items would also become increasingly easier as I experiment and practice more and more with hundred armament refining. Not to mention Hard to Kill would make for the most efficient possible route to becoming stronger.

Oh! It's glorious!

And so, Shuichi's grind for cursed energy efficiency would be starting very soon...

~~~

~~~

Hokkaido.

A giant coalition of buildings was standing in a large open elevated field, on the top of a plateau like structure. A massive compound of buildings and traditional japanese shrines that spanned to the combined area of 50 football fields was erected.

The chime of bells and illusory whispers of prayers and songs hummed and rang as the ambience, the sky pushed down the sun to welcome the nightly canvas of stars.

The twilight region prompted the buildings to fire up in lights and lamps, brightening up the complex alleyways and roads in the compound. And with the last phase of the twilight, a bell sounded.

Donng...!

Doong...!

Donng...!

With the gap of about 3 seconds between each chime, the sound seemed to reverberate in the air, cleansing the air all around the compound.

Various people of all ages walked along the roads and alleyways, some receding back into their houses and others heading to the shrines. Some walked up towards the roofs of their houses to admire the stars and the moon that was emerging beautifully in the sky.

A lone figure of a muscular man walked along a relatively deserted road. He wore a simple kimono robe, black in color with a bright white belt around his waist, disturbed only by a streak of red color in the centre. The robes were somewhat baggy, but it did little to hide his impressive physique. He had short golden hair and a scar on his left cheek.

He was going towards the central area of the entire compound, which was littered with hundreds of pagodas with towering heights.

At the very epicenter of the entire complex, stood a 17 storey pagoda, adorned with various talismans and strange hanging dolls and masks from the balconies.

The man walked into the main building, passing by a couple of people and through the wooden doors. Looking around for a bit, he went up the stairs to go to the 7th floor.

Slide~

The shoji doors opened with a characteristic noise, the two women, wearing kimono robes and standing on either side of the door bowed to the man.

Inside the room, three other people were seated.

One was an old man with a neatly trimmed sharp beard. His muscles bulged out with vigor, completely uncharacteristic of what his old age would suggest. He wore a grey robe and held a blood red staff in his hand, the 'Khakkhara' adorned with 8 golden red rings. It was Takamekasuchi Homura, the current head of the Takamekasuchi family and one of the Special Grade 1 Sorcerers of the Ainu Jujutsu Society; titled 'Enlightened Heart of Lightning'!

The second person was a younger man, looking somewhere between 20 to 25 in age. He had slightly messy black hair with strands of bright golden yellow mixed in. He sat in a upright position, looking extremely professional. He had the disposition of a scholar. It was Enatsu Gabimaru, a Grade 1 sorcerer with the title, Book of Kamuy*!

The last person was a middle aged woman with brown hair and dark black eyes. She also wore a traditional kimono robe,white in color with a red belt adorned with small golden bells. She was Masakado Abenanka,a Grade 1 sorcerer and the Flame Priestess of Hokkaido, titled 'Song of Blaze'!

They all nodded to the man as he took his seat.

The rugged man that had taken his seat was another Special Grade 1 sorcerer, Yamamoto Natsuhiko and the current head of the Yamamoto clan; titled 'Thousand Lights'!

It was a meeting of the Ituren-Kamui** of the Ainu Flame School!

As the silence in the room settled down, the old man with gray hair, Takamekasuchu Homura spoke out.

"You all must already roughly understand the reason for the gathering." He spoke with eyes closed in meditation.

Without waiting for anyone to reply, he continued, "Although the primary reason for today's gathering was on a request from Gabimaru, everyone has a rough idea of the rough happenings all around Hokkaido.

"The frequency of the appearance of curses has drastically increased in the last 2 months, to the point that even Grade 1 curses are spawning with regular periodicity.

Even the Tokyo and Kyoto schools have given the reports of such happenings all around Japan." With that, he quieted down, waiting for the others to speak.

The middle aged woman, Masakado Abenanka spoke in a sweet and pleasant voice, "What are the statistics?"

Opposite to her, the scholary man, Gabimaru replied. "The curse appearance rate has increased by a factor of 3.5, that means the rate at which curses are appearing has been multiplied 4 times.

"It's different in almost all areas. Some areas like Tokyo has encountered an unreasonable rise in only the lower Grade curses, with a rarely seen Grade 2 curse. A huge disparity when thinking about other regions like Nagasaki, Kyoto, Saitama, Hiroshima, and every other major city in Japan."

The muscular man, Yamamoto Natsuhiko spoke out, "The mainland recently recruited hundreds of curse users as their own orthodox sorcerers, which has lessened their burdens considerably. In comparison, Hokkaido is swarming with curses."

He turned his attention to the old man, "And so, the ritual has become more of a necessity right?"

"That is correct. Gabimaru proposed this meeting for that very reason." The old man opened his eyes, revealing lightning blue pupils. He turned towards the young man, "He wants to prepone the date of the annual Great Harae***."

Upon hearing the words, the entire rook quieted down and descended into a deafening silence.

No one spoke for a moment, contemplating in sheer repose.

"The Great Harae is a traditional ritual. The timing cannot be rashly decided, it must be carried out at specific times of the year." Said the Flame Priestess.

"It is not only a matter of the timing, the Great Harae welcomes a great festival for the people. Preponing the ritual and thereby, the festival might stir up some unrest." Natsuhiko chimed.

The Old man nodded and looked towards Gabimaru.

"Great Harae is based off of worship of Amaterasu or the fire Kamuy, both of which have various times of the year which are symbolically connected to their myths. One such time is the upcoming 27th June(I made this up, don't bother searching).

"And even then, the meaning these auspicious dates hold is merely symbolic and don't aim to please the 'Diety' They are pointed to."

"Be that as it may, not conducting the ritual on a proper date will affect the overall effectiveness of the ritual. The symbolic focus put on such practices by the masses generally demands that the ritual is carried out accordingly." Abenanka replied.

"The public unrest can be Handled without problem. If the ritual is held on 27th June, we would still have about one and a half month to prepare for the festival; if a proper schedule is followed, I do not doubt that preparations can be made." Said Natsuhiko while pinching his chin.

Abenanka and Gabimaru both nodded in understanding, and then looked towards the old man, Homura.

Such matters were of extreme importance and couldn't be taken care of lightly. It evolved a great exorcism ritual that stabilized the cursed energy to a more acceptable level throughout the land.

Obviously, such things were only possible on Hokkaido, which had a separate set of barriers and cursed artefacts that helped the process. Doing so on the mainland and maintaining it throughout the year was not possible.

Even if various such festivals were conducted, the cursed energy would not be stable and it was only possible to slightly control it for a month at maximum. In such cases, the Ainu schools held the advantage.

The Old man, Takamekasuchi Homura nodded and spoke, "Let us hold a collective vote with the High Priests and Priestesses. They are already well aware of the situation at hand and will base their decisions on logical reasoning." Hearing his words, the rest of the participants nodded.

Seeing everyone quiet down once again, Homura led the conversation to another important topic at hand.

"Has there been any report from the mainland about the strange increase in curses? Any specific reason?" He asked.

Gabimaru was quick to reply.

"The Higher ups of both the schools suspected that some curse user might be involved in the matter, as such, a decree was passed to apprehend all of the curse users in the entirety of the mainland.

"After which, a few days later, a cursed talisman was found in Tokyo, something that coalesced cursed energy in a specific area. Which means that it is most likely a ploy of some cursed user."

"Even then, we cannot rule out the possibility that it is something similar to the six eyes and limitless." Abenanka said.

The matter if the six eyes and limitless changing the balance of the world was somewhat common knowledge in the upper echelons of the jujutsu community.

After all, various such users had existed in the past and they were always accompanied by an abnormal increase in curse activity.

However, since Gojo Satoru was already born, the balance of the world had already changed. As such, something that could shift the balance of the world once again was of grand importance. Even if it was the doing of a curse user, it could not be denied that it was still a problem.

"Hmm. Very well then, since it concerns

jujutsu society as a whole, I shall apply for the usage of the cursed artefacts, 'Blessed Torii Gate' and 'Thousand Faced Tower'. Using the artefacts, investigate the teue reason behind the phenomenon." Homura said, prompting a small expression of surprise on the faces of everyone present which was quickly veiled.

It was very surprising that Homura was giving the right for the usage of those two cursed artefacts. Although the word used was 'apply for', it was merely a decor. Being one of the top members of the Ainu schools of sorcery, he held the right for the usage of the artefacts. Obviously, a record had to be held, and so, the figure of speech used.

"Gabimaru and Abenanka shall be the overseers of the matter." He spoke.

The two people who were prompted nodded their heads, ""By your order.""

"Natsuhiko, you shall arrange for the votes to be held tomorrow. If the results are in favor of the preponement, you will be responsible for the preparations of the festival. Take all the help you need from the priests and priestesses."

"By your will." He nodded.

"Then let us end it here today..."

~~~

*Kamuy is a spiritual or divine being in Ainu mythology. It is mostly used to denote an entity, animal, non living object, human tools or a physical aspect of natural that has spiritual energy. Basically, they can be considered the same as 'Kami'.

**Ituren-Kamui means Guardian Angels. In the context, it means the Guardian Angels of the Ainu schools of Jujutsu, which basically pertains to being the strongest in their respective school.

***Harae is a ritualistic practice held before a great ritual, for 'purification'. It can also refer to exorcism, which is the context being used here. The Great Harae is basically a great exorcism ritual that is responsible for the stabilisation of cursed energy throughout Hokkaido. More info will be provided in more chapters.

~~~

A/N: As you can see, Lord of the Mysteries has affected my way of writing and the way I perceive symbolism and it's meaning.

Anyway, this has been planned from like the 3rd chapter. I wanted to delve into the Ainu Jujutsu Society since not such has been mentioned about them.

And ocs were bound to be added eventually seeing as to how the balance of the world has shifted. JJK is just that kind of world.

Anyway, I have everything planned out up until like the end. Let us hope we can reach there.