"What terrifying Cursed Energy!"
Mai Zenin, in the next carriage, was the first to sense that terrifying Cursed Energy.
Just being caught in the residual pressure of it made her entire body tremble. Her survival instincts froze her in place, and cold sweat instantly seeped down her back.
Mai had once fought in the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, and had even been lucky enough to see a Special Grade Cursed Spirit.
But no matter how vast that Special Grade Cursed Spirit's Cursed Energy had been, it had never made Mai feel like this.
This was not just an absolute gap in total Cursed Energy.
Mixed into that burst of Cursed Energy was sothing even harder to describe.
It was [Aura].
A murderous intent as heavy as a dark abyss had been woven into that overwhelming Cursed Energy, forming a curse pressure strong enough to make her whole body shake. It pressed down on her shoulders so hard that Mai almost wanted to drop to her knees.
Even the aftershock alone made Mai's entire body tense.
It was hard to imagine who could withstand such terrifying curse pressure, or who could make such an unfathomable master release such blatant killing intent.
Naoya was in danger!!!
Mai reached that conclusion in an instant.
But she did not head toward first class.
She simply sat there, stiff and unmoving.
Ever since she learned [Reverse Cursed Technique], her hearing had beco far sharper than that of an ordinary Jujutsu Sorcerer. So the girl could hear soone walking on the roof of the train.
What kind of person could walk on top of a speeding train, and with such calm, steady steps?
Mai abruptly turned her head and saw only a dark shadow cast across the window.
Soone was knocking on the glass.
Who could chase after this speeding train along the tracks and still reach out to knock on the window?
The knocking grew urgent.
It was not one person. Three, five.
More and more dark figures gathered outside the carriage. They stared at Mai through the fogged-up window, their smiles impossibly wicked.
The knocking instantly turned into a rough scraping, as if sothing sharp were dragging across steel and glass, making a horrible, chilling screech.
Those were the Cursed Spirits' fingernails!!!
"What is going on?!"
Kasumi Miwa scread on the spot.
"How could there be so many Cursed Spirits outside the train?!"
"Y-you've got to be kidding! This is an express train running at full speed!"
Momo Nishimiya could not help looking up at the speed display.
But the number made her heart nearly stop.
The digits flashing on the LCD screen were glaringly bright. The speed held steady at over 260 kiloters per hour.
At that speed, the raging wind was enough to tear flesh apart, and even broken stones and air currents would beco deadly blades.
Forget Cursed Spirits. Even a Grade 1 Sorcerer who carelessly exposed themselves outside the train would be instantly flung away by the high-speed wind pressure, then sucked beneath the wheels and crushed to pieces.
But the sight outside the window completely overturned common sense.
Countless deford black shadows clung densely to the outside walls of the train, the roof, and the gaps between carriages.
Their withered, twisted limbs dug tightly into the cold steel body, completely ignoring the violent headwind and extre speed.
The Cursed Spirits crowded layer upon layer outside every window, their murky eyes locked onto the passengers inside. Their mouths split into grotesque grins, thick, foul-slling black fluid dripping from them.
"What... what happened? What's happening?!"
"Can you hear that?! Sothing filthy is talking in my ear!"
"It's haunted! The train is haunted!!!"
The passengers covered their ears and looked around in terror.
[Humans...]
[Such mouthwatering blood.....]
[Unforgivable... unforgivable...]
The ordinary people in the carriage could not see the Cursed Spirits outside the windows.
In their eyes, countless blood-red handprints had simply appeared on the fogged-up glass.
Those handprints had no palm lines and cast no shadows, yet in an instant, they spread across the entire carriage.
All they could hear was the pounding, so powerful it seed like it might smash the whole train apart.
Every student from Jujutsu High felt their hair stand on end.
Fortunately, after enduring Naoya Zenin's usual hellish lessons, the students were still able to hold onto at least a sliver of calm even in the face of a terrorist attack like this.
"Protect the ordinary passengers in the carriage!!!"
Noritoshi Kamo was the first to stand, imdiately shouting orders.
What the hell was going on?
Why could these Cursed Spirits ignore the laws of the world, not only clinging tightly to an express train moving at 260 kiloters per hour, but even making ordinary people with no spiritual perception sense their existence?
This could only an one thing.
These Cursed Spirits belonged to an even higher-ranking Cursed Spirit.
That higher Cursed Spirit was commanding them from the shadows, and its Cursed Energy was powerful enough to manifest before ordinary people's eyes.
It was absolutely an existence above a Special Grade Cursed Spirit.
One of the Four Great Calamities.
"Co out."
Aoi Todo had not panicked from beginning to end.
He rely sat in his seat with his arms crossed, quietly waiting for that thing to appear.
"Heave-ho."
Hearing Aoi Todo's cold shout, the Cursed Spirit strolling leisurely across the roof stopped pretending. It directly kicked the window to pieces and flipped into the center of the carriage.
It was a beautiful figure with gray hair, a body and limbs stitched together like a zombie, and a playful smile on its lips.
At first glance, everyone would think it was human.
It did not have the distorted appearance of a Cursed Spirit, and it was wearing a trendy plaid shirt. Aside from the dense stitches covering its body, it was undoubtedly human.
But.
As long as one closed their eyes and sensed it with Cursed Energy, they would discover sothing utterly horrifying.
The thing wearing a human appearance was, in essence, entirely made of Cursed Energy. It was a Cursed Spirit through and through.
Four Great Calamities · Mahito.
A Special Grade Cursed Spirit born from humanity's hatred and fear of its own kind, and the leader of the Four Great Calamities personally chosen by Jogo, the King of Earth and Volcanoes.
"Nice to et you, adorable humans."
Mahito gave a playful, lively bow.
"And now, goodbye."
The mont the words fell, the ordinary passengers closest to Mahito were quietly brushed by its palm.
"Ugh?!"
In the next instant, the passengers' bodies began to mutate grotesquely. After a single wail, they transford in the blink of an eye into hideous, alien shapes.
"Everyone else, keep your distance! Don't make any physical contact with this Cursed Spirit!!!"
Aoi Todo roared at once.
The next mont, his palms ca together, and a crisp clap rang through the carriage.
The student Mahito had just been about to touch instantly swapped places with Aoi Todo. Then the burly man gathered dense Cursed Energy into his right fist and punched Mahito squarely in the face.
Mahito had no ti to react at all before taking the blow head-on. Its upper body was blasted away by the punch on the spot.
"We won!"
Before Kasumi Miwa could cheer, a bizarre scene unfolded.
Although Mahito's upper body had been sent flying by Aoi Todo's punch, strangely, its lower body remained perfectly intact where it stood.
Even more bizarrely, Mahito's body was like a rubber spring. As its feet began to move, the upper body that had been blown away snapped back instantly, carrying even greater impact as it punched toward Aoi Todo.
Aoi Todo had never seen anything so strange. In that critical mont, he only had ti to clap and switch places, but the wind from the punch still grazed his face.
"Todo!"
Noritoshi Kamo was shocked.
After all, Aoi Todo was the strongest among the students, and during the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, he had killed a Special Grade Cursed Spirit barehanded with [Boogie Woogie].
But no one expected that this direct disciple of Yuki Tsukumo would have his face wounded first by this gray-haired humanoid Cursed Spirit after only two exchanges.
"What an interesting technique."
Mahito shook out its right hand.
"Uh, Todo, was it? I want to play a ga with you."
Mahito pointed at the other students and giggled.
"Every ten seconds, I'll turn one of your companions into one of mine, just like Othello. The mont I eat everyone on this train, you lose."
Todo did not answer.
He was thinking calmly.
He could not sense that terrifying Cursed Energy from this Cursed Spirit.
And despite all this commotion, Naoya-sensei still had not appeared.
That ant he must be caught in a difficult battle too.
And it had to be a fight far more dangerous than this one.
This was a preditated attack.
But since when could Cursed Spirits act collectively? Was Suguru Geto not already dead? Had the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons not already ended?
And how had these Cursed Spirits managed to set up such a precise ambush on the very train they were riding?
After all, they had originally been scheduled to leave on the morning train. It was only because of an unexpected delay that they had changed to the afternoon train.
There was a mole.
Right here in this carriage, there was a mole who had betrayed their whereabouts.
But there was no point thinking about that now.
As the strongest among the students, Aoi Todo had to face this Cursed Spirit alone.
At the very least, he had to hold out until his master arrived.
Just as Aoi Todo prepared to fight to the death, soone in the crowd finally could not hold back anymore.
"Hey! You clearly promised ! You said you would absolutely never lay a hand on the students!"
Seeing that Mahito was about to slaughter the entire carriage, chamaru could no longer sit by and do nothing. He had no choice but to step forward and question the Cursed Spirit.
"Huh? Did that happen?"
Mahito scratched his cheek with a finger, looking completely puzzled.
"It's clearly written in the [Binding Vow], isn't it?! And that person said it too! This ti, you would only go after Naoya Zenin! She never said everyone on this train would be buried with him!!!"
"..."
Mahito pursed his lips.
He had been having so much fun, only for chamaru to ruin the mood. It annoyed him greatly.
But now that he thought about it, this really was part of the [Binding Vow]. Back then, he and Kenjaku had made that [Binding Vow] with chamaru, and it clearly stated that they absolutely could not harm the students of Jujutsu High.
Kenjaku had emphasized it many tis. Whoever violated the [Binding Vow], even soone as powerful as Mahito, one of the Four Great Calamities, would be completely destroyed by the backlash.
"Fine, fine. In that case, I can at least kill so ordinary humans, right?"
"...Do whatever you want."
Hearing chamaru say sothing so cold and chanical, Kasumi Miwa turned to look at him in disbelief, as if she were seeing this friend for the first ti.
"chamaru, w-what are you talking about...? This Cursed Spirit is going to kill people. Why.... not only are you not stopping it, but it sounds like you've... known this Cursed Spirit all along?"
chamaru remained silent.
"And what did you an just now? What do you an they would only go after Naoya-sensei? Are these Cursed Spirits targeting Naoya-sensei? You... you knew about this ahead of ti, didn't you?"
chamaru still said nothing.
"Hey! chamaru! Answer !!!"
"Huh? Looks like this girl was kept in the dark from the beginning."
Mahito looked back and forth between the two of them. His previously bored expression finally lit up with interest.
"Did chamaru never tell you? He's always been on our side. He took the initiative to work with us, a spy planted in Jujutsu High just for us. He's already given us lots and lots of information, including information about that dear teacher of yours."
"Nonsense!!!"
Kasumi Miwa drew her sword in anger and aid it at Mahito. Then she forced out a smile and looked at chamaru beside her.
"Hey, chamaru, say sothing. Hurry up and refute this disgusting Cursed Spirit. What is going on?!"
"...That's how it is, Miwa."
chamaru finally spoke.
He walked to Mahito's side and said expressionlessly, "I was the one who leaked the information. I inford them of Naoya-sensei's whereabouts in advance. That's why there are so many Cursed Spirits on this train."
"W-were you threatened? Do they have so kind of leverage over you?!"
Kasumi Miwa could not believe it.
She only stared blankly at chamaru.
"It was all my own choice."
chamaru's voice was unbearably cold.
"Because these people promised a brand-new body. And the price was only sacrificing Naoya Zenin."
"For such a tiny, insignificant reason?! You beca a traitor?!"
Kasumi Miwa roared through her tears, her sword raised.
"...Insignificant?"
chamaru chewed on that word for a long ti.
A very, very long ti.
"Miwa, I'm different from all of you."
There was a quiet anger in chamaru's voice.
It was the darkness and resentnt built up over the first half of his life, striking the deathly silent carriage one word at a ti through the thick puppet shell, cold and grating.
"You were born with healthy bodies, with all four limbs intact. You can run freely, breathe the air, bathe in sunlight, and walk anywhere in this world with your own two feet."
chamaru slowly raised his arm, the joints of the puppet scraping with a dry, harsh noise.
"You will never understand what it feels like to be eaten away by illness from beginning to end, with twisted bones and decaying flesh, where even breathing normally is torture. To spend your whole life hiding inside a puppet, unable to see the light of day, unable to touch the girl you love, and even being alive is endless suffering."
"That is not an insignificant reason!"
"That is the only salvation I have ever wanted in this life!!!"
Kasumi Miwa's sword arm trembled violently. The blade dipped slightly, and large tears fell from her eyes, striking the floor.
She opened her mouth, wanting to argue, but for a mont, she had nothing to say.
"You've fallen, chamaru."
Aoi Todo only spoke coldly from the side.
"So you chose to betray Jujutsu High, betray your comrades, let Cursed Spirits slaughter ordinary people, and watch master walk into a death trap?"
"Whatever. I don't care."
chamaru lowered his eyes indifferently, ignoring the hatred in the gazes of the students around him.
"chamaru, you bastard!!!"
Momo Nishimiya clenched her fists tightly. Her voice trembled, her eyes full of disappointnt and cold anger.
"Hahahaha!"
Watching the farce unfold before him, Mahito's eyes curved beneath his gray hair in an unbearably vile smile.
"That's why humans really are such interesting creatures! Your hatred, your resentnt, your twisted desires! Make things even livelier! Those are the best nutrients for giving birth to us Cursed Spirits!!!"
Mahito let out a shrill, crazed laugh.
"I've changed my mind! chamaru! The [Binding Vow] says I can't hurt you, but it doesn't say I can't torture you, right?! I'll make you humans kick up an even bigger fuss! Co on, Cursed Spirits! Go slaughter as much as you want! Right in front of these Jujutsu Sorcerers, go butcher those defenseless Mortals!!!"
"Can you stop there?"
Just as Mahito kept laughing madly, a cool, clear voice rang out.
"I can't let you go any further."
"Huh...?"
Mahito frowned and turned back, only to find that the first person to step out from the crowd was Mai Zenin.
"Everything is already a complete ss. Everyone is running around in panic."
The green-haired girl's calm and fury were rising together.
Mai's eyes burned with tangible Cursed Energy as she stared coldly at chamaru.
"chamaru, do you think you're the only one who's unhappy? That you're the only one who's lost everything? What could soone like you possibly understand?!"
The next instant, the Cursed Spirits outside the train seed to sense sothing. Before they could even scream, their bodies shattered and split apart in an instant.
"The world doesn't revolve around you alone! The things we trusted were taken from us! Everyone had everything taken from them!!!"
Fragnts of pitch-black resentnt scattered like black mist. The dense, deford shadows clinging to the train's outer walls turned into filth drifting through the air in the blink of an eye.
That sudden, crushing wave of icy Cursed Energy did not co from Mahito inside the carriage, nor did it belong to Kenjaku in the next carriage.
It was Mai Zenin.
"This feeling..."
Mahito looked at the black mist filling the air, and for the first ti, the Cursed Spirit felt a deep, instinctive dread.
"It's... the sa type of technique as mine...?!"
"Cursed Technique Reversal."
Mai spoke slowly.
[Restoration Technique].
...
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