By the time the sun began to set, the field no longer looked like a battlefield.
The grass had been flattened in places, a few trees cracked from stray impacts, but otherwise it was peaceful and quiet.
That normalcy made everything worse.
Tomogui and I worked in silence.
There was no grand ceremony. No dramatic ritual. Just Tomogui and I cutting into this mass murdering sorcerer.
We cut open what remained of Kuroda's stomach.
It was brutal, the way the blood poured out, thick and viscous. Sticky. Warmer than I expected. I prepared the Holy Ichor, stabilizing it with cursed energy the way he instructed.
We poured the liquid directly into the cavity. Not just one bottle. Since Kuroda was already dead, we decided to experiment. Mixing multiple grades of Holy Ichor together. Some Grade 2. Some Grade 3.
It glowed faintly as it touched flesh.
Then we closed the wound as best we could, stitching and sealing back with flesh we already cut off.
After a while, the cursed energy dropped to the level of an ordinary person.
It made sense. He was already dead. A corpse cannot generate cursed energy.
The Holy Ichor had only given it a second pulse, a brief, artificial afterlife, before it essentially faded, with only remnants of cursed energy remaining.
After that, we cleaned everything up, and there was a pool nearby. As for Kuroda's corpse, we lured a curse spirit over to help us 'dispose' of the evidence.
That was all.
We didn't speak for a long time.
The veil had already been taken down. The container was sealed again. All the evidence of what happened was gone.
Everything was finished.
I stared at my hands.
There wasn't any blood left on them.
Still, they felt dirty.
*…We actually did it,* I thought quietly.
Tomogui didn't respond right away.
He was sitting on a fallen log, eyes lowered in thought.
*Yes,* he said at last. *We did.*
He didn't seem disturbed by what we did…
And neither was I, somewhere along the way in this life I stopped thinking about the intrinsic value of life.
That was what disturbed me. For nearly ten years in this life, I haven't made a single real friend. I only focused on jujutsu. On getting stronger.
As I get stronger though, I feel more empty, I know what the peak of this world has to offer, and whether I reach it or not, I won't be satisfied with the current world.
I just… feel like my life is leading to a boring outcome.
I let out a slow breath.
*If someone told me 10 years ago that I'd be cutting open a dead body and experimenting on it like this…* I trailed off.
*We would have called them insane,* Tomogui finished.
*Yeah.*
Silence again.
A breeze passed through the trees.
Somewhere far away, a bird called out.
Normal sounds. A normal world.
Tomogui spoke without looking at me.
*…Toji looked at people like they were walking wallets," I muttered. "Just numbers. Targets. Profit.*
Tomogui nodded slightly.
*Yes.*
I responded.
*When I looked at Kuroda's body just now… I didn't see a person either.*
That was the truth.
An uncomfortable, ugly truth.
*I only saw him as his domain. As the suspension I felt while fighting him. I never bothered learning who he was. Or why he hated Kamo.* I admitted.
Tomogui closed his eyes.
*Even if you could go back, would you actually bother learning more about him*
*... No, I'm just being introspective about how I changed as a person in the last 10 years. This is how I am now, and how I will be*
Tomogui stood first.
*We should head back. Kenta and I were going to study at the library together*
Kenta.
'Even though Tomogui and I share memories, we don't share feelings. I wondered if Kenta was truly his friend — or just another role he played.'
I watched him brush dirt from his sleeves, his expression already settled, composed again.
Tomogui glanced at me.
*You're thinking too much again, Kenta is a good friend of mine for real*
*Maybe*
He didn't press.
'I'm somewhat envious of their friendship, still it's hard to find a friend I can relate to when I have memories of a past life. All the people my age are rather childish. I guess Tomogui likes Kenta's childish nature though, I'll admit it's pretty funny sometimes'
Eventually we left the forest.
We didn't look back.
We moved on.
But something we left in that forest was unable to move on.
Kuroda Haru awakened his cursed technique at sixteen.
At the time, I believed it made me special.
A domain expansion before I even fully understood what a domain was.
Everyone praised me. Said I would leave a mark on the jujutsu world.
But I knew that wasn't true, my cursed energy reserves were low, and I wasn't talented with barrier techniques. I wouldn't reach the pinnacle, I might become a top tier among grade 1's though.
But that didn't matter to me, I was strong enough to be considered important.
For a brief moment, the jujutsu world felt bright.
That was also the year I met her.
A girl from a small, sorcerer clan.
She had a good technique, wasn't that famous, but most importantly she was kind
We took missions together.
We Fought together, lived together.
Eventually, we became lovers.
For a while, my life was perfect.
Then the Kamo clan noticed her.
A woman with decent technique, good lineage potential.
Useful.
Her own clan saw an opportunity.
A marriage proposal was arranged without her consent.
She refused.
She said she already had a lover.
She must have angered the Kamo sorcerer who was interested in her.
On a mission the following month that me and her took, Kamo sorcerers "interfered."
A cursed spirit that should have been easy became "unexpectedly dangerous."
The reinforcements that arrived didn't help, after entering the veil I set up.
They tried to kill us.
That day, the only one to leave the veil was me.
I understood immediately.
From that day on, I would hunt those Kamo clan sorcerers who took her from me, and exterminate them.
One by one.
Twenty Kamo sorcerers died by his hands over the years.
Enough deaths to shake the clan.
Enough to make him a wanted man.
Hatred kept him alive.
Hatred gave him purpose.
And hatred followed him even into death.
Present:
Darkness gathered around the corpse in the forest, as he was mawed apart by a cursed spirit led by that brat.
The Holy Ichor, left inside dead flesh, pulsed faintly.
Cursed energy that should have dissipated refused to fade.
A mind that should have gone silent continued to scream.
Defeated.
By a man with no cursed energy.
Stalled by a brat.
Killed like he was nothing.
Unacceptable.
Unacceptable.
Unacceptable.
The thoughts repeated over and over, spiraling into madness.
'I won't accept it.'
The corpse twitched, inside the cursed spirit's stomach.
'I won't accept it.'
The ichor glowed brighter.
'I won't accept it.'
Fingers curled.
'I won't accept it.'
The hatred found form.
Bone cracked.
Flesh warped.
Geometry folded in impossible ways as a figure began to emerge from the cursed spirit's stomach, expanding and exploding it from the inside.
'I won't accept it.'
A body like a living Rubik's cube began to rise from the forest floor, panels shifting, rotating, locking into place.
Cursed energy exploded outward.
'I won't accept being defeated by a human with no cursed energy.'
Colors aligned.
Faces twisted.
'I won't accept being mocked by that damn brat'
The newly born spirit opened its eyes.
'I will destroy them.'
A manic, fractured voice echoed through the trees.
'The Kamo clan.'
'The bastard with no Cursed Energy."
'And that damned child.'
Kuroda Haru had died.
But hatred did not die with him. A unique mutation occurred, fueled by the Holy Ichor implanted in him.
And in the silence of the darkening forest—
A vengeful spirit took his place.
Special Grade Vengeful Cursed Spirit Kuroda Haru: The Unsolved Puzzle
[Author Note:]
Be honest is Futago cooked
Also, I tried to focus more on character introspection this chapter. Was it ok?