After the red-clothed girl cursed spirit appeared, the stitched-forehead man secretly observing Luke and Yuji smiled.
“Special Grade cursed spirit—Abandoned Hanako, an imaginary cursed spirit born from humanity’s fear of a widely circulated urban legend.”
In the world of jujutsu, human fear toward anything could give birth to a corresponding cursed spirit.
The more widespread and long-lasting that fear became, the stronger the resulting cursed spirit could be.
The Hanako cursed spirit controlled by the stitched-forehead man had been born from a widely known urban legend, giving it cursed energy on the level of a Special Grade cursed spirit.
“Don’t! Leave!”
Hanako’s agonized scream rang out.
Cold, hateful cursed energy swept across the area.
The blood beneath Luke, Yuji, and the Occult Research Club students suddenly rose into walls and doors, trapping them inside a cramped, dark compartment.
Blood continuously seeped from the walls.
Everyone inside could feel their physical strength draining away at a terrifying rate.
An invisible force seemed to tighten around their throats, making it increasingly difficult to breathe.
The ordinary students of the Occult Research Club were the first to give out.
“So cold… so hungry… so tired… I can’t breathe…”
Sasaki’s eyes rolled back, and she collapsed into the foul blood with a splash.
Her breathing rapidly weakened.
Yuji looked horrified.
“Sasaki-senpai?!”
He immediately realized something was wrong with the compartment and kicked the door hard, producing a heavy impact.
But his attack had no effect.
“What is wrong with this door?!”
Yuji grew increasingly anxious as his breathing became more strained.
He already felt as though he were suffocating to death.
Luke remained calm.
“This is that monster’s cursed technique. It seems to carry a domain-like effect. You can only break out of this compartment with cursed energy.”
Just as talented sorcerers possessed unique cursed techniques, higher-level cursed spirits were also increasingly likely to possess special abilities.
Luke had already realized that this Special Grade cursed spirit’s technique carried a certain domain-like property, allowing it to trap designated targets inside compartments formed by a simple domain.
Seeing Yuji still trying to break through, Luke said,
“Don’t waste your strength. You may be able to see cursed spirits, but you don’t have cursed energy inside your body. Your attacks won’t work.”
Yuji stared blankly at his own hands.
Cursed energy ignited around Luke’s left fist, and a powerful aura spread from his body.
He punched.
The compartment shook violently, fine cracks spreading across the walls.
Bang! This chapter was copied from novelping.com without permission.
Bang!
Bang!
Luke continued hammering it with heavy punches.
In less than two breaths, the strange compartment shattered into countless fragments of cursed energy that scattered through the air.
The weakness, suffocation, and sense of approaching death disappeared instantly.
Yuji gasped heavily like someone who had nearly drowned.
“We’re saved… Thanks…”
He looked at Luke’s back and immediately felt a strong sense of security.
Yuji still had no idea who Luke really was, but the strength Luke had just shown was enough to earn his trust.
“Is there anything I can do?”
Luke stared at the Special Grade cursed spirit Hanako.
“That monster should be after the sealed object I’m carrying. To cursed spirits, it’s basically a supplement that strengthens their cursed energy when consumed. They won’t pay much attention to you. Find a chance and get out.”
Luke secured Sukuna’s finger on his body.
He quickly adjusted his state and entered the same highly concentrated condition he had reached during his fight with Naoya Zenin a week earlier.
Yuji moved quickly, lifting the two Occult Research Club students with his arms.
“Got it. I’ll get Sasaki-senpai and the others out as soon as I get the chance.”
Luke focused entirely on Hanako, its figure reflected in his eyes.
He exploded forward at tremendous speed.
“Don’t—leave!”
Hanako screamed.
One suffocating compartment after another rose directly along Luke’s path, only to be smashed apart in succession by his heavy punches.
Luke continued until he reached Hanako.
He threw a cursed-energy-coated punch, and Hanako immediately enclosed itself within a defensive compartment.
Luke’s fist struck it.
The defensive compartment shook violently but showed no cracks.
“Hm? A Binding Vow that sacrifices offensive power from the cursed technique in exchange for stronger defense. That doesn’t seem like something a wild cursed spirit should know how to use.”
Luke narrowed his eyes, then began punching even faster and harder.
His fists nearly blurred together, producing impacts like repeated explosions.
The defensive compartment shook continuously, and fine cracks soon began appearing at a visible rate.
Seeing Luke suppress the cursed spirit with brute force, Yuji didn’t waste the opportunity.
He hurriedly carried the Occult Research Club students toward the classroom exit, trying to break through the cursed spirit’s blockade.
But then a bloated cursed spirit crawling through the darkness near the floor suddenly appeared from around a corner, blocking Yuji’s escape route.
Yuji swallowed.
“Didn’t you say these monsters were focused on that sealed object?”
As the cursed spirit approached step by step, Yuji could only retreat while carrying his classmates.
But something had changed on Luke’s side as well.
The compartment that had seemed about to shatter under his punches suddenly opened its door.
Pairs of pale little hands reached out, seized Luke’s limbs, and forcibly dragged him inside.
“…The door… won’t… open anymore…”
Hanako whispered hatefully.
Its body dissolved into a pool of blood and immediately fused with the entire compartment, greatly strengthening the curse’s suffocating effect.
The whole space rapidly filled with blood.
A fatal sense of weakness and suffocation surged upward like a tide, turning the compartment into a deadly prison.
The force behind Luke’s punches began to decline, while the curse’s corrosive effect spread across his skin, staining it with a decayed gray color.
Special Grade cursed spirits were dangerous beings that normally required Special Grade Sorcerers to exorcise reliably.
Only a small number of powerful Grade 1 Sorcerers could rely on experience and luck to defeat weaker Special Grade cursed spirits.
Luke’s current dangerous situation was exactly what the stitched-forehead man manipulating everything from behind the scenes wanted.
“I spent quite a while preparing this. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens.”
The stitched-forehead man smiled.
His name was Kenjaku.
He was an ancient and mysterious sorcerer who had spent a thousand years preparing for an enormous plan.
According to his calculations, Luke would either die or break through the Special Grade cursed spirit’s blockade at the cost of severe injuries, losing the Special Grade cursed object—Ryomen Sukuna’s finger—in the process.
At that point, Yuji Itadori, the important piece Kenjaku had prepared, would naturally be activated.
But inside Hanako’s deathtrap, things were different from what Kenjaku expected.
Foul blood churned continuously.
Yet beneath that sea of red, within the dense shadows, one pair of crimson eyes after another began to appear.
The Shadowkhan awaited Luke’s command.
An ominous dark-purple hue spread across Luke’s face.
The darkness within his heart took physical form and rapidly spread through the real world, covering the blood-filled compartment Hanako had created.
Luke revealed a vicious smile.
“In that case, feast.”
Sharp claws burst from the shadows one after another.
In an instant, a dense web of slashes filled the cramped, suffocating compartment.
Kenjaku, watching from the shadows, immediately realized something was wrong.
“That cursed energy…!”
The cursed energy erupting from Luke carried a deep, cold, and oppressive nature.
It was a curse far older and deeper than even the Special Grade cursed spirit Hanako, born from a fear that had remained unchanged ever since the dawn of human civilization.
Before Kenjaku could react, the Shadowkhan’s bladed claws tore apart the domain-like effect of the Special Grade cursed spirit’s technique.
Hanako itself was shredded into pieces by the dense barrage of slashes.