The Second Curtain

"That is a domain!"

Miko could hardly believe her eyes as she looked at the black barrier that had appeared in the air. Her gaze scattered, and she swallowed with difficulty.

There was no mistake.

It wrapped the surrounding space and pulled the enemy into a world that belonged to the caster alone.

Inside a domain, a sorcerer was almost invincible. Whether it was the sure-hit effect or the power to change the world's rules, either ability was frightening.

A domain was the power all sorcerers dreamed of. It was also an uncrossable gulf between genius and ordinary people.

If Reverse Cursed Technique was the appearance of talent and insight, a miracle that might be grasped in a flash under certain circumstances, then a domain was much crueler.

It denied effort.

It was like a cursed technique, something that seemed to be written into one's blood from birth. It could not be forced, and it could not be demanded.

There were very few people in the entire jujutsu world who had mastered a domain.

It was the clearest proof of the world's unfairness.

"So that is a domain," Mei Mei said, surprised. "How impressive. Gojo probably has not mastered a complete domain yet."

"I did not expect Ren to walk ahead of him."

As Satoru Gojo's upperclassman, Mei Mei knew how terrifying the talent of that careless-looking man was.

And now, someone of the same age had walked ahead of him.

It was almost exciting.

A strange excitement appeared in Mei Mei's eyes as she looked at the domain in the sky.

"I really want to fight you."

Outside the Curtain, the civilians who had gathered nearby had already been driven away by staff sent from Tokyo.

As the only jujutsu organization supported by the state, Jujutsu Headquarters had no shortage of documents or methods. With a random excuse, the curious civilians were scattered.

A support worker in a white sweater lit a cigarette and exhaled with obvious enjoyment.

"Cough, cough. Can you smoke less?"

His coworker covered his nose and looked at him with dissatisfaction.

"A man who does not smoke has wasted his life," the man in white said with a laugh. "Kid, you are still young."

He took another careless drag, then blew smoke toward his partner.

"Bastard."

Seeing his partner's embarrassed look, the man laughed again. Then he looked toward the black Curtain, and his smile slowly faded.

"Kid, an excellent sorcerer has to face all kinds of situations. If you cannot bear this little bit of hardship, it will be hard for you to stand on your own."

The young man in black looked unwilling.

"Can people like us, without any technique, really be called sorcerers?"

The man in white took a heavy drag from his cigarette, then threw the butt to the ground and crushed it.

"Brat, someone has to do every job. Whether it is the Windows or the support staff, someone has to carry these things."

"Not everyone can shine. We just need to do our own work."

As he spoke, he ruffled the young man's hair.

"After this mission, I am going back to my hometown to get married."

He sighed, as if seeing his own younger self in the boy.

Then pain tore through his back.

His mind blurred for an instant.

"Curse!"

Years of experience told him he had been attacked by a cursed spirit.

Blood poured from his mouth, staining his white sweater red. With all his remaining strength, he raised his hand toward the boy, whose whole body had begun to tremble.

"Run!"

In the next moment, his body swelled rapidly like a balloon. His skin split apart under an unknown force, blood vessels bursting across the surface.

His body exploded in a flower of blood.

The boy sat paralyzed on the ground, shaking uncontrollably. Tears gathered at the corners of his eyes.

"Not bad," Falsehood said.

Covered from head to toe in black robes, he wiped his hand with a cloth as if touching the man had made him feel dirty.

He looked at the boy trembling on the ground and tilted his head.

"But at a moment like this, you should scream, Yadha."

The boy's expression vanished.

He slowly stood, grabbed his own head with one hand, and pulled upward.

The head was torn off.

Blood splashed.

A short figure gradually appeared in the blood, greedily swallowing what surrounded him.

"Heh. So that is how it is," Yadha said. "I have not been in contact with this era for too long."

"So now they shout shamefully?"

"I remember people who called themselves samurai. No matter what torture they suffered, they would not make a sound."

Yadha moved his wrist and licked the blood from the corner of his mouth.

"You have been away from this world too long," Falsehood said. "In this age, women and children are everywhere. Eat them however you want. It is far better than that dull canyon of yours."

He gave a gloomy smile, trying to tempt him.

"I will only help you this once," Yadha said. "So we are killing the one inside?"

"No, no. Do not rush, Yadha. The good show has only just begun. Today, we are only leaving them a surprise."

Yadha frowned slightly, but did not say anything else.

He slowly raised one finger.

A drop of black blood fell from his nail.

It landed on the ground.

The earth began to roll like a swamp, black cursed energy bubbling up.

One large hand after another reached out from the ground.

"Hahaha! This is it. This is it!" Falsehood laughed madly. "Enjoy the greeting we leave you!"

Amid his laughter, their figures grew faint, then disappeared completely.

Only a ghostly stretch of ground remained, filled with countless black hands reaching upward.

"Born from darkness, blacker than black."

"Impurity and filth, all be swallowed."

Falsehood's voice drifted from far away, carrying an indescribable strangeness.

Black cursed energy surfaced around the area. It connected and crossed, covering the original Curtain with another Curtain.

Inside Other Shore of All Things, Ren sat in the wicker rocking chair and looked at Nightmare, who had already been split countless times.

There was no pity in his eyes.

Tenbu's black hair carried a small gourd and brought it before him.

The gourd looked ordinary, but Ren sensed an enormous amount of cursed energy hidden deep inside. There was only pure cursed energy there, without a curse's presence, as if it were a tool made specifically to store cursed energy.

Even without a curse gathered inside it, the amount of energy alone was enough to deserve the words special grade.

Ren casually threw the gourd into Divine Forge ? Heaven.

He joined his fingers and drew a strange pattern in the air.

His eyes held a touch of boredom.

Although this cursed energy could nourish Six Vaults Devourer, he wanted cursed objects that carried special-grade curses far more.

Right now, he only had Tenbu and the half-finished Yamata no Orochi. The Black-and-White Reapers still lacked a key step.

"Check panel."

[System]

Divine Forge ? Hundred Refinements: Complete, 100%

Six Vaults Devourer: Complete, 100%

Spirit Dominion: Beginner, 30%

Sovereign Wind Array: Locked

Hands of Dual Perfection: Locked

Heaven-Piercing Talismans: Locked

Grand Void Insight: Locked

Primordial Sourceflow: Locked

Ren looked at Spirit Dominion's progress and frowned.

Thirty percent.

Pathetic.

If he wanted, binding the completely broken Nightmare would now be simple.

But a curse this disgusting was not something Ren wanted to keep.

A trace of irritation rose in his heart.

"Exorcise it. Looking at it is disgusting."

He looked coldly at Nightmare one last time. The curse had already lost all color, and even the root of its curse was beginning to scatter.

The moment she received Ren's order, Tenbu raised both hands.

Countless strands of black hair gathered quickly.

Nightmare's body was forced back together under that power.

The curse born from humanity's fear of truth was not weak. Its technique could almost be called a sorcerer's nightmare.

But it had met true evil.

A demon far more terrible than a curse.

Until the moment Nightmare was completely exorcised, it might never understand that it had once had a chance to survive, even as a puppet. Because of its ugly appearance, it had fallen to this end.

As Nightmare turned into original cursed energy, the domain quickly faded.

Ren did not even bother to use Six Vaults Devourer to swallow the energy in the air.

The hellish scene around them receded like a fading reflection.

He snapped his fingers and put away the wicker rocking chair, then landed on the ground.

Miko hurried over.

"Was that thing exorcised?"

"If you live long enough, maybe you will see something like it again," Ren said. "Also, remember to transfer my payment later."

Miko nodded, then continued, "What you just used was a domain, right?"

Ren felt speechless.

Had Kyoto's education already fallen to the point where it could not even teach what a domain was?

Miko understood his expression and knew she had asked nonsense, but she did not look embarrassed.

"Ren, are you interested in joining Kyoto Jujutsu High?"

"No."

He cut her off before she could finish.

He had no interest in joining these organizations. If not for Masamichi Yaga helping him participate in the Imperial Contest, he would not even have wanted the so-called off-campus student status.

Let alone Kyoto.

Miko was about to continue when Mei Mei pulled her back.

"What are you doing, Mei Mei?"

"He is clearly not interested in you. Stop clinging."

Miko blushed at the implication.

"What nonsense are you saying?"

"You know what I mean."

Ren had no interest in their teasing.

The surrounding Curtain began to disperse.

But the sky they imagined did not appear.

Instead, an even larger black curtain covered everything.

"Another Curtain outside the Curtain?"

Ren looked at the two women.

"Your work?"

"Not ours," Miko said quickly. "Our mission was only to exorcise the unhatched cursed womb. And placing another Curtain outside a Curtain is difficult. Our support staff could not do it."

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