Mahito tilted his head, watching the old man hanging limply in the curse's grip. The flickering arcs of lightning lit up the deep lines on the man's face. Eyes clouded, chest rising only faintly. His body looked brittle enough that a stiff breeze might shatter it.
"Really?" Mahito muttered, half to himself. "That's your bargaining chip?"
The old man was barely clinging to life before the spirit even touched him. If this was intimidation, it was pathetic.
From her position to the side, Yuki's eyes narrowed slightly. She'd seen enough hostage situations to know that, too.
But she was somewhat hoping to see something else from Mahito... Something within her hoped that she would get to see a more human side of him.
But even as a human, Mahito's view on life had always been a tad different from the norm.
His mouth curled into a smirk. The contempt on his face was almost childlike. Humans decayed like fruit left in the sun.
You could try to keep them intact, put them in a safe, cool space, to prevent them from spoiling too soon, but eventually, they all rotted.
To Mahito, killing an old, dying man to take out the curse was a more than acceptable sacrifice.
Still… something tugged at him. Not kindness. Just an itch. A curiosity.
'How easily can I heal people with my technique, I wonder?' It was easy to break something, but could he bring something back from the brink of death?
The old man's breaths were shallow, ragged, like paper tearing. Mahito's eyes traced the tremor in his fingers, the sag of his shoulders, and for a reason he didn't care to name, he stepped forward.
Yuki's brow lifted slightly at that. "Mahito… don't be stupid. He may be dying, but that's still one of the missing people we were sent to investigate."
He ignored her. The lightning spirit crackled in warning, arcs darting along its lanky limbs. The smell of ozone grew sharper, biting at the back of the throat.
Mahito raised one hand, fingers curling toward the hostage's frail chest.
The spirit reacted the instant skin touched skin. The air detonated with heat. The old man spasmed violently, back arched, as every nerve lit up with the curse's electricity. His body shook as it stood in between the two curses, steam curling from his mouth.
Yuki's stance tightened, and cursed energy flickered out of her. For a fraction of a second, she thought Mahito might drop the man and let him die right there.
It was over in less than a second. The man slumped, limbs slack. The acrid scent of burned fabric and singed hair coiled in the air.
Mahito clicked his tongue. "Now look what you've done."
He didn't sound angry. If anything, he was amused. His hand, still pressed to the man's chest, began to change. The texture softened, rippled, and sank inward.
Idle Transfiguration surged from him like ink through water. Muscles realigned. Veins reknit. The old man's heart, which had been seconds from giving up entirely, kicked back into rhythm under Mahito's coaxing. Skin smoothed where it had blistered, breath steadied.
Yuki's eyes widened a fraction. She had already theorised from the few reports she had that his technique could heal as well as deform, but seeing it applied with such ease and precision… that was new. Her lips pressed together, hiding the fact that she was impressed.
Then Mahito's hand brushed further, passing seamlessly through the old man's chest as if he were made of water.
This seemed to take the other Special Grade by surprise, just enough to allow Mahito's palm to graze the curse's arm.
Nothing.
The soul beneath his touch was there, but not open to him. Bound tight under the spirit's cursed energy, like stone wrapped in iron.
Mahito tilted his head. "Interesting."
Yuki caught the subtle shift in his tone. He wasn't just testing an opponent; he was cataloguing. Filing away weaknesses and strengths.
Mahito himself only now fought someone who could resist his Idle Transfiguration in base. Of course, were he to use his Domain Expansion, then the Lighting Special Grade would surely die just as quickly as Hanami.
But it was still interesting. The curse growled and hurled the old man away like trash, Mahito's hand slipping out of him as his chest and body seemed to return to a normal, healthy state.
The man tumbled, weightless for a moment, before a large, spine-like shikigami surged upward to catch him. Yuki's shikigami.
"Got him," she said. The shikigami's coils were gentle but firm, lowering the man to the grass. She didn't look away from Mahito or the curse for a second. But as the old man rested near her, she could tell.
His breaths were steady, his heart was beating as strongly as that of a 30-year-old, his body appeared to be less burdened by age in general. He was going to live.
Mahito didn't look back either. His focus was locked on the lightning curse. The smirk had faded, replaced by a sharp, intent calm.
The arcs of electricity around the spirit grew frantic, discharges coming faster. Its frame shifted, joints crackling audibly.
Each arc collided with Mahito's body one by one. Burns and blisters filled the skin, which quickly turned charcoal underneath the overwhelming heat.
Yet, what good would such attacks do? No matter how high the heat, it couldn't affect the soul. And the dull hints of pain that the burns were causing no longer hindered Mahito.
He had adapted.
Within a second, the burns and blisters vanished, his muscles stopped spasming, and his body returned to normal.
But the Lightning Special Grade was not done either. Rather, it seemed that he was charging up more and more as the skies above them grew angrier.
Yuki could feel the shift in the air pressure, like the moment before a lightning strike. Her hand drifted toward her side, her fist clenched slightly, veins appearing all around her arm. But she did not step in yet.
To her, it seemed that Mahito was taking more damage. And after she saw him heal that old man, she no longer agreed with the Elders' decision to kill Mahito.
'There is some good in him...'
But Mahito was neither injured nor bothered by the situation. He had healed the old man on a whim, not putting much thought into it. He rolled his reformed shoulders. "Let's see how much your cursed energy can really protect you."
The curse lashed out first, a lattice of electricity that raced toward him. Mahito blurred sideways, parts of his body melted as he stepped through whatever gaps he could, his right hand already curling into a fist.
That fist was radiating Cursed Energy; it was covered in an absurd amount of thick Purple Cursed Energy, which seemed almost to engulf his entire arm.
Yuki watched his approach, noting every subtle detail. The way his body aligned for the strike, the total absence of hesitation... Pure concentration.
His movements were inhumanly fluid, yet all the more precise. She could feel the spike in cursed energy before the blow even landed.
When it did, the sound was like glass breaking underwater.
Within one one-millionth of a second from contact, space itself seemed to fold and distort around in front of Mahito's fist. The air buckled under the sudden alignment of cursed energy, will, and timing.
"Black Flash~!"
The blow detonated through the spirit's chest, completely destroying its form and sending it skidding back in a spray of dirt and splintered wood. Thunder split the sky overhead as if the world itself reacted.
Mahito straightened, lowering his hand. A faint tingle lingered in his fingers, and his smile this time was genuine.
At that moment, he could finally see it. That which he had failed to do before.
The true nature of Cursed Energy.
It was exhilarating.
Landing a black flash would transform a newbie Jujutsu Sorcerer into a seasoned veteran. But for someone like Mahito, who was entirely constructed by Cursed Energy?
Well, it just helped him gain a better understanding of himself altogether.
Within that exhilaration, he couldn't help but boast, his blonde hair flowing in the wind as he turned to glance toward Yuki. "Your evaluation just went up a notch, right?"
She didn't answer immediately. Her shikigami hovered protectively over the old man, whose breathing was strong and steady. Her eyes stayed on Mahito, watching the way he carried himself after the strike.
Finally, she smirked. "Maybe. Keep it up."
Mahito turned back to the spirit, whose form was still sparking and twitching as it struggled to rise. The grin on his face deepened.
Yuki remained still, arms folded. In her mind, two thoughts battled. One was the certainty that Mahito was dangerous beyond even her first impression. The other was a reluctant acknowledgement: he was fascinating to watch... And he had a pretty nice smile.
For a moment, she forgot the hostage, the countryside, even her own mission. All she could see was the strange, lethal rhythm in the way he moved.
Unfortunately for her, the fight was about to end quickly enough.
'After a black flash... I feel like I can make it even stronger! I can see it... A different path I have yet to walk~'
"Now then... Let's see you block this!" Mahito moved in a strange manner, his body growing a multitude of hands from his back, each making distinctive hand signs.
Each hand had a mouth, chanting a rather ominous melody.
And with many mouths at once, something different echoed out, more recognisable.
"Domain Expansion ~ Cursed Genesis!"