Kurosawa Ren suddenly realized something.
When he first saw the news, he thought it was odd.
How could a natural gas explosion cause such widespread destruction?
But once the report ended, he simply chuckled and moved on, not bothering to dig deeper.
A long stretch of peaceful, comfortable living had dulled his instincts and sense of caution.
It wasn't until he inherited the Heroic Spirit System that he began to see the truth: beneath this seemingly calm reality, dangerous undercurrents surged.
"By the way, do you really believe I can handle the Level 2 cursed spirit in that black building?"
It was the first day they'd even met, and yet this girl brought him here to take down a high-level cursed entity?
"If you're scared, you can always turn back."
Mizaki Mei's face remained impassive as ever.
"Personally, I don't think you should be here," she said flatly. "But Misaki insisted you were different. She begged me to bring you."
Ren was taken aback by her calm, unfiltered words.
If he remembered correctly, Misaki Mei had a sister—Misaki Misaki—who had died at sixteen from leukemia, which was believed to be the result of a curse.
Could it be that the timeline of this world had somehow changed?
He stayed quiet.
Mei didn't explain further. Without a word, she turned and walked into the pitch-black building.
Ren didn't hesitate either. He followed her inside.
And truly, "Black Building" was a fitting codename.
As soon as they stepped in, they were engulfed in darkness—no light, no warmth.
The air was thick with tension. Uneasy breaths seemed to echo from unseen sources.
In that shadowy void, something unseen seemed to lurk, watching, waiting. It made the hair on Ren's arms stand on end.
"Hm? The magic sensor's shaking… That means the Level 2 cursed spirit must be nearby…"
At that moment, the enchanted detector attached to Ren's belt began vibrating rapidly, flashing warning signals.
The cursed spirit wasn't far.
"Looks like whoever sealed the [target] inside the Black Building did it in a hurry… Even someone like me, with almost no formal training in magic, can get in without a problem."
Mei led the way through the oppressive dark, her expression cool and unreadable.
"Ren, on the other hand… you surprise me. You have no magical energy whatsoever, so how are you even able to enter this easily?"
"Misaki said your body was strange, and that there's some immense power running through you—something very different from a curse…"
Thanks to the Heart of the Red Dragon, Ren's night vision had drastically improved.
It wasn't quite daylight-clear, but he could easily make out his surroundings.
The atmosphere felt strange, almost like stepping into a self-contained dimensional barrier.
The darkness was thick and heavy, almost liquid in its intensity.
It closed in around them, silently, from every direction.
"!"
A sudden, chilling sense of danger surged through Ren's body. His instincts screamed at him.
He jumped back instinctively—and summoned the Black Key in an instant.
"Projection: Activate!"
The Black Key, forged entirely from magical energy, appeared more like a vicious black claw in his grasp.
Ren lunged forward and drove it straight into the chest of a charging, wolf-shaped creature.
"Aroooo—!"
The beast let out a piercing howl as it was impaled.
The Black Key, a weapon of the Holy Church, was designed to exorcise and destroy evil spirits. It worked beautifully.
Ssss! SSSSS!
It was like pouring ice water onto boiling oil.
The spirit's black form began to seethe, bubbling violently. Screams echoed as black mist poured out around it, writhing like smoke caught in a whirlwind.
The noise alerted the other nearby cursed monsters.
From the darkness, more wolf-shaped spirits surged forward, emerging from sticky pools of shadows like they were crawling from a swamp.
One after another, they rushed toward Ren.
"Watch out!"
Mei's eyes widened. She clenched her teeth, anxiety flashing across her usually calm face.
She rushed to intercept them—just in time to see something startling.
"Don't worry. Leave this to me."
Ren's eyes widened—not with fear, but with a growing, burning power.
His chest pulsed with heat. The Heart of the Red Dragon was pumping energy through his veins like a living engine, filling him with unimaginable strength.
In his hand, a golden sword appeared—glowing brilliantly, radiating starlight.
The Sword of Vow to Victory.
Its brilliance lit up the dark hall.
Ren charged forward. In a single fluid strike, he pierced through not one, but three wolf-shaped spirits.
Behind the sword came a trail of green runes—ancient demon-slaying sigils.
The energy didn't stop with the first few spirits; it kept going, slashing through several more behind them.
In the blink of an eye, the cursed beasts dropped like candied skewers.
13: Against the Special Grade – Shocked Master and Apprentice
"What the hell…?"
Mei's usually stoic expression cracked.
Her visible red eye widened in disbelief.
She knew these wolf-shaped spirits. Each was at least a Level 2. Even she would have struggled against one or two—much less a dozen.
But Ren cut them down like it was nothing.
Like he was casually mowing grass in a field, he destroyed them all—graceful, lethal, unshaken.
"Ren! We need to get out of here—now! Something's wrong!"
Mei's voice trembled. Her hands shook.
This went far beyond the intelligence they'd been given.
There weren't just one or two Level 2 spirits here—there were many. Way too many.
Something wasn't right. That original cursed spirit must have evolved. Mutated.
"Ren, the report was wrong! That cursed spirit must've mutated into something stronger—we can't handle this! We have to retreat!"
Rrrrrr…
But before she could finish—
Every hair on Mei's body stood on end.
A chill ran down her spine.
She froze.
Without warning, a pale white hand clamped down on her shoulder.
It had moved so fast, it left no afterimage.
The creature was just about to crush Mei's neck when a beam of brilliant silver light erupted from nearby.
Whoosh!
The force of the strike was like a storm. The cursed spirit's arm was severed instantly.
"Who said you could touch what's mine?"
Mei stood frozen, as though plunged into an arctic lake.
A strong arm wrapped around her waist, and in the next second, she was lifted effortlessly and carried to safety.
"Human, you're strong."
The cursed spirit loomed tall and monstrous.
Its white skin was covered in black, writhing runes—like tadpoles etched into flesh.
Its face bore three grinning mouths, and four clawed eyes stared from its skull. It was grotesque, powerful—and eerily calm.
Its severed arm, dripping black blood, began to regenerate before their eyes—flesh crawling back together like animated clay.
Ren narrowed his eyes, still holding Mei.
"That regeneration… You're a Special Grade Cursed Spirit?"
"Bingo," it grinned. "But no prize for you."
It raised both arms and began to chant low and slow, its voice echoing like thunder.
"You killed my children. Now, you will die in their place."
"Children of Death… Domain Expansion!"
...
...
"Something's wrong!"
"The barrier in Sector 24 has been breached!"
"Someone's activated a Domain Expansion!"
High above, on the rooftop of a nearby skyscraper, a tall woman in a red-and-white miko robe stood staring at the spreading black field in the distance.
A brutal scar marked the side of her otherwise noble face. Her eyes were cold, serious.
The cursed spirit in Area 24 had originally been assessed as a Level 2 threat.
But clearly, it wasn't.
Clearly… it was something far worse.
"Lady Ange Ji, the distress signal from Area 24 has been received. The Exorcism Bureau is dispatching reinforcements."
Behind her stood a striking woman in a tailored suit, katana at her side, long blue hair flowing down her back.
She lowered her phone after reporting, her voice steady.
Ange Ji kept her composure outwardly—but inside, she was deeply uneasy.
Tokyo was already on edge.
With the resurgence of the supernatural, it was getting harder and harder to hide these events from the public.
The higher-ups had sent magicians from Kyoto to Tokyo, desperate to keep the peace in the nation's capital.
But now…
Now, things were spiraling.
A true Special Grade had appeared in Tokyo.
There was no room for error.
"Where's Gojo Satoru? Get him here—now!"
"We can't reach him," the blue-haired woman said grimly. "His phone's off. No response."
"Damn it! DAMN IT!" Ange Ji swore, fists clenched in rage.