Perhaps it had already decided that Mayoru was merely a weak and pitiful sorcerer.
With a roar, the cursed spirit raised its fist, intending to crush the human before it with brute force.
Its fist rose high as cursed energy surged around it.
The spirit might have been classified as Grade 2, but that was only because it lacked a cursed technique.
Its raw output was at least comparable to a semi-grade-one sorcerer.
The sudden burst of cursed energy looked powerful enough to reduce a building to rubble.
However— “Ha.” The instant the cursed-energy-coated fist descended, the spirit’s twisted eyes met the boy’s gaze.
Instead of dodging, Mayoru smiled as though this was exactly what he had been waiting for.
A strange impact rang out.
A miserable scream followed as the previously triumphant cursed spirit clutched its fist.
Its already hideous face twisted even further in pain.
The reason was its hand.
The fist that should have crushed Mayoru was thrown backward the instant it touched him.
No, calling it merely thrown backward would be inaccurate.
The immense force shattered the spirit’s fist and snapped the entire arm along with it.
Mayoru showed no surprise.
Instead, he watched thoughtfully.
“I was wondering about this earlier.
You don’t look human, but cursed spirits really do feel pain.” “Still, I didn’t actually do anything to you.
You probably can’t understand that, though.
You’re only a cursed spirit.” Mayoru spoke in a voice that almost sounded sympathetic.
“But you can’t touch me.” As mentioned before, ordinary cursed spirits were clearly not very intelligent.
However, low intelligence did not mean they had no emotions.
They were monsters formed from humanity’s negative feelings.
After hearing Mayoru’s seemingly sympathetic yet clearly mocking words, the spirit seemed to forget its pain entirely.
It raised its wrist again, and the broken hand began to regenerate.
Unlike humans, who needed Reverse Cursed Technique to heal themselves, cursed spirits were made from negative energy.
In most cases, they could regenerate simply by gathering cursed energy around their wounds.
Once its injury healed, the cursed spirit flew into a rage at Mayoru’s attitude and became even more violent.
It did not bother trying to understand why its previous attack had failed.
Driven by instinct, it attacked once more.
This time, it held nothing back.
Cursed energy at the level of a semi-grade-one sorcerer gathered around its fist.
Its control was crude, but when unleashed with such speed and force, the resulting strike resembled a storm.
Its output far surpassed the previous blow.
The mindless spirit could only assume the boy had attacked it using some unknown method.
The solution was simple.
It would defeat him with even greater power.
“OOOOOOOHHHHHH!” A warped roar shook the air.
As though trying to repay the humiliation it had suffered, the cursed spirit poured all its cursed energy into another blow aimed directly at Mayoru.
Then— “It’s over.” The cursed spirit heard those words.
In the next instant, it felt the erupting force penetrate its body.
Then its body exploded.
Literally.
Unable to withstand the unexplained violence, its body burst apart.
Flesh and blood scattered in every direction.
It did not die immediately, but it would soon vanish like every other exorcised cursed spirit.
Even on the verge of death, the spirit found the situation absurd.
It had not sensed the human doing anything.
There had been a faint trace of cursed energy, but it merely formed a thin layer around his entire body.
That made no sense.
If the boy had done nothing, then what was that overwhelming force that had struck it?
‘He must have done something…’ With its limited intelligence, the unwilling cursed spirit stared at Mayoru.
Naturally, Mayoru had no intention of explaining.
He merely looked down at it coldly.
A few seconds later, the cursed spirit turned to dust.
It had always been a spiritual being, so it left no remains behind.
Only then did Mayoru stretch and look around at the shattered landscape before muttering in complaint.
“Killing cursed spirits doesn’t give any points.
I’m shaking with anger.
When will cursed spirits finally be allowed to stand up for themselves?” Participants in the Culling Game were known as players.
One of its rules stated that any player who failed to gain points within nineteen days would have their cursed technique removed and die.
Points could only be earned by killing other players or ordinary humans without cursed energy.
Once a player accumulated one hundred points, they could add a new rule to the game.
Most cursed spirits were clearly not treated as people.
Only a small number had likely been registered as players.
Exorcising the countless mindless ones awarded nothing.
Judging by Mayoru’s complaint, this was clearly not the first cursed spirit he had encountered.
In fact, he had deliberately chosen an area where weaker cursed spirits gathered and openly walked through the streets to lure them out.
One reason was to test his cursed technique.
The other was to clean up the neighborhood.
The Culling Game would last at least several days, perhaps much longer.
Since he would be stuck here for over half a month, he might as well take care of his surroundings.
As for how Mayoru defeated the cursed spirit, the explanation was simple.
It was not his fault.
The cursed spirit had been killed by its own strength.
From beginning to end, Mayoru had never attacked.
The cursed spirit had essentially committed suicide.
That was one of the greatest features of Vector Manipulation.
Basic reflection.
Ever since Mayoru learned that he had awakened Vector Manipulation, he had felt both excited and uneasy.
The reason for his excitement was obvious, but his anxiety was equally understandable.
Vector Manipulation was powerful, but its true foundation was Accelerator himself—or more accurately, Accelerator’s computational ability.
Just how terrifying was that computational power?
The original series had already shown it clearly.
When Last Order was first infected with a virus, Accelerator attempted to remove it using his ability.
Vector Manipulation allowed him to control the electrical signals within the human brain.
However, the human brain contained over eighty billion neurons, with roughly sixteen billion involved in thought and memory.
Each neuron released dozens of electrical signals every second.
Multiplied together, the brain produced nearly a trillion signals per second.
Accelerator analyzed those signals to identify the virus inside Last Order’s brain.
He then located all 307,081 lines of implanted viral code and individually erased or overwrote them, successfully saving her life.
That was before he had fully refined the more advanced applications of Vector Manipulation.
He accomplished it almost entirely through computational power comparable to that of a supercomputer.
In other words, no matter how powerful Vector Manipulation was, using it required two things.
The first was ability development.
Its user needed to understand the necessary formulas and have a properly developed brain.
Accelerator’s mind had been carefully trained since childhood, making those calculations as natural as breathing.
The second requirement was sufficient computational power.
Understanding the formulas meant nothing if the user could not perform the calculations.
Take the Earth’s rotational force, for example.
Aside from a monster like Accelerator, how many people could calculate and manipulate it?
When Mayoru first considered this, his heart had practically frozen.
However, once he truly began studying his cursed technique, his worries quickly disappeared.
He became relieved enough to start singing historical theme song on the spot.
The formulas were not actually a serious problem.
After all, both his cursed technique and cursed energy had been awakened after Kenjaku used Idle Transfiguration to secretly alter his brain.
Thanks to his memories from his previous life, Mayoru knew how the Culling Game had begun.
Kenjaku had absorbed Mahito through Cursed Spirit Manipulation and extracted Idle Transfiguration.
He then modified ordinary people who possessed innate cursed techniques but lacked brains capable of understanding them.
Since Mayoru could use his technique, his brain had obviously already been altered through Idle Transfiguration.
In a sense, that modification was itself a form of brain development.
After a single night, Mayoru’s perception of the world had become completely different.
Through his skin, countless forms of energy poured into his mind.
Air pressure, temperature, gravity, wind…
Each piece of information entered his brain as naturally as breathing, as though he had been born with the ability to perceive and manipulate them.