The female student with half-rim glasses was named Sasaki.
She came to the clubroom and took out the sealed Sukuna finger.
“Here. This is the thing you were talking about.”
Luke took the Special Grade cursed object from her.
Yuji leaned closer curiously.
“Um… what exactly is inside that thing? Why is it wrapped up in such a strange way?”
He stared at the sealed Sukuna finger.
Yellowed strips of talisman paper were wound tightly around it layer after layer, covered in dense curse markings as dark as dried blood.
Not even the slightest gap remained through which the contents could be seen.
“Yeah, what kind of thing needs to be tied up like this?” Sasaki asked.
As the girl who had helped establish the Occult Research Club, Sasaki enjoyed the thrill that came from supernatural atmospheres.
If nothing unexpected happened, she had planned to remove the seal tonight.
Naturally, she was extremely curious about what was inside.
Hearing their questions, Luke raised an eyebrow.
“You really want to know what’s inside?”
The existence of curses and cursed spirits was kept under strict secrecy by the jujutsu higher-ups, leaving ordinary people completely unaware of them.
Part of the reason was that normal humans couldn’t see or sense cursed spirits.
Another was that the higher-ups believed that if the public learned their own negative emotions could potentially create powerful monsters, it might cause severe social unrest.
The rigid, conservative leaders of jujutsu society didn’t want to take that risk.
Luke had no intention of revealing the existence of curses to ordinary people either.
After thinking for a moment, his tone gradually became serious.
“Basically, this thing is extremely dangerous. Think of it as a radioactive source that was accidentally left outside. If you picked it up and took it home, not only could you end up with severe radiation sickness and your body rotting away, you might even become experimental material for some unscrupulous researchers and drag the people around you into it too.”
His voice turned dark and oppressive.
Luke used the destruction and fear associated with nuclear radiation to describe Sukuna’s finger.
To a certain extent, the danger posed by Sukuna’s finger as a Special Grade cursed object really was comparable to a source of radioactive contamination.
Yuji Itadori and the Occult Research Club students swallowed nervously.
Sasaki’s face went pale.
“Y-You’re kidding, right? Something like that…”
She enjoyed the thrill of supernatural things.
She didn’t actually want to throw her life away.
Yuji’s expression changed as well.
“If it’s something like that, please take it away as soon as possible. And make sure it’s properly secured from now on.”
Clearly frightened, he hurriedly asked, “So have we already been contaminated by something like radiation? Is our lives in danger? I still have my grandfather in the hospital to take care of.”
Seeing how badly Yuji had been scared, Luke finally couldn’t suppress a mischievous smile.
“Heh. Now you understand what kind of consequences carrying around something of unknown origin can bring, right?”
After teasing the future powerhouse of the jujutsu world, Luke finally nodded.
Yuji and Sasaki finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Luke slipped Sukuna’s finger into his pocket.
“I’ve got what I came for, so I should get going. Hope I didn’t disturb you.”
He smiled lightly in farewell.
Yuji and the Occult Research Club students nodded back.
Then Yuji suddenly remembered something.
“Wait, what time is it…? It’s already past the half-hour mark! I’ve got somewhere to be!”
He still had a grandfather in the hospital he needed to visit.
But at that moment, the air suddenly turned cold and oppressive.
A wave of malicious cursed energy rapidly spread through the corridor.
With his extensive mission experience, Luke immediately judged it to be a fairly powerful Grade 1 cursed spirit.
Simply from moving nearby, the Grade 1 cursed spirit created an oppressive atmosphere.
Even ordinary students who couldn’t sense cursed energy felt chills running down the backs of their necks and an inexplicable fear of death.
“Why… did it suddenly get so cold?”
Sasaki instinctively hugged herself.
Luke, however, revealed an amused expression.
He looked at Sukuna’s finger in his hand and thought,
“The seal on Sukuna’s finger hasn’t even been removed. Normally, there’s no way it should attract a Grade 1 cursed spirit. Looks like someone is manipulating things from the shadows.”
Only a few seconds passed while Luke’s thoughts raced, yet the corridor had already grown noticeably darker.
The Grade 1 cursed spirit appeared.
Its entire body was covered in thick, black cursed energy.
Its hunched form was grotesquely bloated, with thick limbs twisted out of shape.
There were no distinct facial features on its head, only a mouth covered in cracks.
Foul saliva continuously dripped from it as the cursed spirit muttered resentfully,
“Don’t tear… my… books…”
The instant the grotesque Grade 1 cursed spirit appeared, Yuji exclaimed,
“What is that thing?!”
Unlike an ordinary person like Sasaki, Yuji was special.
Even though he had never received any training from a sorcerer, he could see cursed spirits just like one.
Seeing Yuji’s panic, Luke calmly said,
“This is the kind of danger I was talking about when I mentioned that sealed object.”
“Then what do we do?!” Yuji hurriedly asked.
The other Occult Research Club students were already so frightened by the invisible pressure of the Grade 1 cursed spirit that they were close to losing the ability to think.
Luke merely smiled.
“It’s fine. I’m strong.”
He didn’t summon a shikigami.
Luke lowered his shoulder slightly and clenched his right hand.
In the blink of an eye, he shot forward like an arrow released from a bowstring.
Luke instantly closed the distance to the Grade 1 cursed spirit.
The creature didn’t even have time to react before Luke’s cursed-energy-reinforced fist slammed into its head.
Bang!
A deep, deafening impact erupted.
Explosive force burst out in an instant, while cursed energy poured from Luke’s fist into the cursed spirit’s body and violently tore through its flesh.
The cursed spirit’s distorted face visibly caved in beneath the punch.
Fragments of black cursed energy and foul liquid sprayed outward.
The enormous impact didn’t stop there.
Its huge, clumsy body was blasted away and flew down the corridor.
The cursed spirit let out a shrill, distorted scream before crashing heavily into the wall.
Crack!
A harsh breaking sound followed.
The solid wall shook violently as dense cracks spread outward like a spiderweb from the point of impact, deep and jagged enough to make it seem as though the entire wall might collapse in the next second.
That was the power of Luke’s punch.
The Grade 1 cursed spirit immediately dissolved into black smoke and disappeared.
Yuji stared in shock.
“S-So strong…”
He had possessed athletic ability far beyond ordinary people since childhood, but this was the first time he had ever seen someone display strength and speed superior to his own.
Yuji instantly felt that he was going to be fine.
But in the corner, the stitched-forehead man who had arranged all of this frowned slightly.
“That’s a little unexpected…”
According to the information he possessed, Luke Zenin was merely the “disgrace of Grade 1 Sorcerers,” someone who couldn’t even reliably exorcise Grade 1 cursed spirits without getting himself badly injured.
He had never expected Luke to suddenly display the strength of a top-tier Grade 1 Sorcerer.
A trace of dissatisfaction appeared in the man’s eyes.
The stitched-forehead man secretly controlling the situation decided to add more fuel to the fire.
Only a few seconds after Luke sent the cursed spirit flying, an even stronger, darker, and more twisted wave of cursed energy suddenly swept across the area without warning.
Thick blood abruptly began seeping out across the floor.
It was a dark red so deep it was nearly black, spreading slowly like melted asphalt.
Wherever it passed, it completely filled the cracks between the floor tiles.
Bubbles continuously rose from it with faint sizzling sounds, releasing a nauseating stench of blood.
The source of all that blood appeared at the far end of the corridor.
A young female cursed spirit in a bright red dress stood there silently, long hair covering her face and her entire body soaked through.
An intense resentment churned around her, almost solid enough to take physical form.
It was colder and heavier than that of any cursed spirit they had encountered before.
Beneath the long hair covering her bluish-gray face, pale lips opened as a hoarse, hollow voice emerged.
“Don’t leave… stay… stay here with me…”