Chapter 2: Shadows & Ancient Terror

Milnerton Harbour, Cape Town 

Milnerton Harbour smelled of rust, salt, and something rotten.

Rusted cranes loomed over stacks of shipping crates, each painted with peeling logos of companies that no longer existed.

Cyan crouched low on the steel beams, eyes locked on her target below.

 Johan Venter.

His mugshot had been pinned on the Jujutsu wanted list she’d stolen a glance at before running away.

Abalone smuggler, human trafficker, and a special grade sorcerer.

If anyone knew anything about the murders… it would be him.

She followed him across the pier, quiet as her heartbeat allowed.

But she wasn’t as careful as she thought.

Johan stopped suddenly.

The hulking man sniffed the air, tattoos rippling as he flexed his arms.

Johan: “Heh…there’s a little mouse who thinks it can follow me?”

He extended his hand, cursed energy swirling. With a snap of his fingers, shadows coiled together, birthing a spirit from his technique.

The creature was massive — the body of a snake, scales slick like oil, no eyes. Its forked tongue flickered, tasting the air. Then it hissed, locking onto Cyan’s presence.

Cyan: “Shit—!”

The serpent lunged. She vaulted off the pier onto a crate, the splash of water spraying where she’d stood.

The snake slammed into steel, denting it. She leapt again, weaving through its snapping strikes, her movements instinctive, her breathing ragged.

But she wasn’t fast enough. The snake coiled, its body lashing around her, crushing.

Cyan: “—khh!”

She gasped, bones straining under its grip.

From below, Johan’s laugh echoed across the harbour.

Johan: “Well, well. A Mowbray mark… what a prize. The boss is gonna love this. Jackpot!”

Cyan’s eyes flared with anger.

Cyan: “What do you know about the murders?”

Johan sneered, stepping closer.

Johan: “You’re not in a position to ask anything, little girl.”

The snake’s grip tightened. Cyan’s vision blurred. Johan raised his hand, cursed energy spiking—

And then—

A spear whistled through the air at impossible speed.

CRACK!

The snake’s skull exploded into black fragments, the coils loosening instantly.

Cyan fell hard onto the crate, coughing, as cursed remains dissolved into mist.

Standing on the dock, hand extended from his throw, was Megumi Honda.

 His sharp gaze locked on Johan, unreadable, yet the sheer weight of his presence hit harder than the spear.

Megumi: “Tch. Sloppy. You nearly got yourself killed.”

 

Cyan glared up at him, still gasping.

Cyan: “…and you’re late.”

Johan’s eyes flickered between the two of them. His grin spread wide.

Johan: “Two sorcerers, huh? Perfect. Guess business is about to get interesting.”

 

The cursed energy around him surged like a storm.

The Harbour Hunt

Johan didn’t flinch at the death of his serpent. Instead, he smiled.

Johan: “Not bad, kids. Let’s see how long you last.”

His hands clapped together, cursed energy swelling outward.

 Two shadows ripped themselves free from his body, forming twisted new spirits.

One unfurled wings wider than a boat, a monstrous eagle screeching as pure cursed energy burned in its beak.

The other… a woman, her skin pale and wet like something fished out of the sea. A single crimson eye stared from her half-bandaged face, teeth jagged, and in her hand— a mirror.

Its surface shimmered unnaturally.

Megumi’s eyes narrowed. “That cursed spirit has a mirror technique. Don’t look directly at it.”

The eagle screeched. A lance of raw cursed energy split the night sky.

Cyan and Megumi dived apart just as it tore down through the harbour, obliterating a row of crates. Splinters and flame rained around them.

Cyan (thinking): Too open. Need cover.

Both darted into the maze of containers, vanishing into steel shadows. The eagle circled overhead, blasting down lasers like artillery fire.

Cyan’s attention locked on the woman. The mirror glinted, hungry for her gaze. The cursed spirit lunged—Cyan vanished into the shadow of a crane, slipping through darkness just before razor claws could tear her apart.

The woman spun, confused—only to hear the whistle of something descending.

WHAM!

Megumi dropped from above, both hands gripping Playful Cloud.

The cursed tool struck with crushing force. The spirit shrieked before its body exploded into black fragments, the ground beneath them cracking open.

Cyan remerged at the far side of the harbour, panting.

 The eagle screeched again, locking onto her.

It launched, talons outstretched. She sprinted across the crate tops, every beat of its wings a storm at her back.

The eagle dove—faster. Cyan twisted, barely dodging as its beak sliced a crate in half like paper.

Cyan: “Tch—persistent bastard!”

She drew a small blade from her jacket. The cursed tool shimmered, its edge darker than the night. A flip-knife.

She flicked her wrist and threw.

The eagle banked, dodging with ease. Cyan smiled.

Behind it, the knife froze mid-air. Its blade bloomed into a shadowy rift, sucking the air around it.

The eagle screeched in panic—too late. Its massive form was yanked backward, disappearing into the abyss.

The shadow sealed shut with a hiss.

Silence.

Cyan landed beside Megumi, brushing dust off her sleeves, heart still pounding.

Cyan (grinning): “Not bad, right?”

Megumi: “…reckless. But effective.”

Johan clapped slowly, the sound echoing against the containers.

Johan: “You’re better than I expected. Which means… I can finally stop playing around.”

Cursed energy erupted from his body in a wave so thick it rattled the crates. His grin widened, sharp with madness.

Johan: “Now—let’s begin the real battle.”

 

The Birth of Horror

Johan’s grin widened as his cursed energy spiked, thick and suffocating.

With a casual wave of his hand, a dark lump rolled out from his coat and hit the concrete with a wet sound.

It pulsed.

Twitched.

A cursed spirit womb.

Megumi’s eyes went wide.

“—A cursed womb?! Are you insane!?”

The mass squirmed, veins bulging as the air thickened.

Cyan staggered back, her instincts screaming.

 She didn’t know what it was, but every fibre of her cursed energy recoiled.

This isn’t like before… this thing—this thing could kill me just by being here.

Johan laughed, voice echoing across the harbour.

Johan: “I’ve been feeding it for months. Humans, sorcerers, curses—it devoured them all. And now… it’s ready to hatch.”

CRACK.

The womb split, light spilling out through jagged fissures. Then—

BOOM.

The shell exploded outward in a spray of cursed flesh.

The shockwave hurled Cyan and Megumi back, slamming them into steel containers with a metallic screech.

When the dust cleared, the thing stood.

A towering figure, its body almost human but swollen, slick, and quivering like whale blubber.

 It had no mouth, no face—just smooth flesh. But on its forehead, embedded into its skin, was something far more horrifying.

A finger.

Long. Blackened. Radiating cursed energy so heavy the air warped around it.

Megumi froze. His heart stopped.

“That’s… one of the fingers…”

The cursed spirit didn’t wait.

It moved—blitzing across the distance in an instant, faster than sound.

Megumi and Cyan’s eyes couldn’t follow it.

 Their bodies locked, instincts screaming they were already dead.

The cursed spirit loomed over them.

Megumi whispered, voice tight with fear:

“Don’t move. Don’t—do anything.”

But Cyan’s hands shook. Rage burned inside her chest. She wouldn’t just sit there.

She dropped into her shadow—only for pain to explode across her chest.

SLAASH!

The spirit’s arm scythed through her before she could vanish fully. Blood sprayed.

She was hurled through the air, crashing through a stack of crates. Metal collapsed, burying her under debris.

Megumi gasped. “Cyan!”

He stepped back, trying to regroup, but the spirit was already there. A blur.

CRACK!

Its kick connected with his ribs, bones snapping audibly.

The impact launched him across the dock. He smashed into a crane, steel bending under the force. Blood filled his throat as his body sagged, struggling to breathe.

The cursed spirit turned, faceless head tilting unnaturally.

The finger pulsed.

Johan chuckled, watching with delight.

Johan: “Beautiful, isn’t it? You two don’t even register as opponents.”

The Birth of Jaden Ryumen

The metallic stench of blood mixed with the sea breeze.

Cyan clutched her chest, coughing violently, scarlet spilling from her lips. Her shadow twitched uselessly beneath her, her body too weak to move.

Johan crouched down, his grin shark-like.

Johan: “You’d fetch a good price… I can’t have you dying out here. Waste of talent. But him—”

He glanced toward Megumi, slumped against a crane, ribs cracked— “He’s Jujutsu filth. He dies here.”

Johan rose, his steps heavy as he strode toward Megumi.

Behind him, the faceless special grade slithered forward, its blubber-like flesh undulating. It stalked Cyan like a predator closing in on prey.

Cyan’s vision blurred.

She thought of her clan—their cold dismissal, their mocking words. 

Weak. 

Unworthy. 

The cursed technique you carry is wasted on you.

She thought of the long nights training alone, pushing herself to exhaustion, determined to prove them wrong.

 She thought about the one truth she clung to: her inheritance, a technique said to awaken once every three centuries.

And now… she was going to die without even showing them.

Her hands trembled as her shadow rippled unnaturally beneath her. Fear and desperation pulled something out of her.

Something buried.

The world darkened.

In the darkness behind her eyelids, a void blossomed—a garden made entirely of shadows.

Flowers twisted from black smoke, benches shaped from darkness, and pathways of pure obsidian stretched endlessly.

All around her, the cursed spirits she had trapped over time writhed, consumed by infinite shadow tendrils.

They shrieked, twisted, tried to escape—but the shadows held them like an unbreakable cage.

 The garden shifted.

The air itself warped, as if a new gravity took hold, rearranging the paths, folding the space upon itself.

Cyan felt it responding to her will, bending reality around her.

 

Her lips parted, voice low and sharp:

 

“Shadow Garden… Gravity Fold.”

The garden shifted.

Gravity itself bent, paths folding into one another—everything Cyan wanted, the world obeyed.

Her shadow spread like black ink, swallowing the ground around her.

Gravity pulsed from it—an invisible weight crushed the special grade into the earth, flattening its body until it imploded with a sickening crack.

The shockwave rippled through the harbour.

Johan froze mid-step, eyes wide.

Johan: “Impossible…She has the Shadow Garden cursed technique … but how?!”

Cyan rose to her feet, her chest wound closing in glowing threads of Cursed Reversal Technique.

 She exhaled, the pain vanishing, her expression cold.

Johan (muttering): “RCT huh…. I shouldn’t be surprised….. you are from one of the big 3.”

Cyan looked down.

In the crater where the spirit had been, something glinted.

A severed finger—decayed, foul, radiating cursed energy so heavy it made her skin crawl. She picked it up casually, twirling it between her fingers.

Johan’s composure cracked.

Johan: “Put that down! Now! You don’t understand what you’re holding. Hand it over or I’ll kill you.”

Cyan smirked and slipped it into her pocket.

Cyan: “Make me.”

Johan clicked his tongue, veins bulging in his temple.

 He extended his hand.

Two more cursed wombs dropped into existence, throbbing and pulsing with vile energy.

Cyan’s grin faltered. The wombs cracked open, birthing two more special grades.

Their pressure was suffocating. Her fingers shook around the finger in her pocket. She had barely survived the first.

 Two more was suicide.

Her father’s words echoed in her mind:
“Cursed objects grant power, Cyan. But at a cost… never forget the cost.”

She stared at the finger, her decision already made.

Megumi (from across the harbour, voice ragged): “Stop! Don’t—don’t eat that!!”

Johan: “It’ll tear you apart from the inside! You’ll die!”

Cyan locked eyes with Johan, lips curling into a defiant smirk. 

And then—she swallowed it.

Megumi: “You dumbfuck!!”

The two new-born special grades surged toward her—but halted mid-charge.

 Their bodies shook violently before retreating, primal fear etched into their faceless forms.

Something malevolent radiated from her—an energy that even these cursed wombs, born from decades of feeding and malice, had never encountered.

Their movements stuttered, as if the very laws of their existence bent around her.

The air warped, shadows writhed, and for a heartbeat, it seemed the cursed wombs understood—they were facing something even they had no comprehension of.

 Cyan doubled over as black markings erupted across her face and arms, crawling like living tattoos.

Her laughter echoed, jagged and unhinged, reverberating through the entire harbour.

Megumi’s stomach dropped.

Johan staggered back, sweat breaking across his brow.

Megumi felt the air shift around her, a darkness that wasn’t just cursed energy—it was alive.

I’ve never sensed power like this in anyone… ever.

The cursed energy swelling from Cyan wasn’t hers anymore.

It was ancient, malevolent, divine in its hatred.

Johan’s voice trembled as the realization dawned.

Johan: “…You… You’re—no, this can’t be. You are Jaden Ryumen…”

Cyan lifted her head, her eyes gleaming with madness, her smirk razor-sharp.

Cyan: “Bingo.”