Chapter 15: Expansion of Cursed Technique: Soul Manipulation
Cursed Spirits.
Indeed, the grotesque entities swarming outside the barrier were Cursed Spirits.
They were a unique classification of spiritual beings born from the collective negative emotions of humanity.
Manifested entirely from Cursed Energy, these creatures remained completely invisible to ordinary people. The specific nature of human grievances would dictate the form and characteristics of the resulting Cursed Spirit. Financial crises, academic stress, prolonged corporate exploitation—any persistent source of dread would inevitably lead to a high concentration of these entities.
Shuchi'in Academy gathered the absolute finest young minds in Japan. Most of the student body consisted of children from the nation's socioeconomic elite, making it a veritable breeding ground for the future leaders of the country.
Yet, curiously enough, the institution also opened its doors to ordinary students who possessed exceptional academic merits.
Miyuki Shirogane from the original timeline was the quintessential example.
Hailing from an impoverished background, he relied on an almost borderline insane work ethic to secure his place in this school of aristocrats. He consistently maintained the top rank in his year and even earned the position of Student Council President.
Could anyone possibly claim that such a person was free from negative pressure?
And did ordinary students not carry their own hidden anxieties?
Consequently, the sudden appearance of a massive horde of Cursed Spirits within an elite academy like this was hardly a shocking revelation.
What truly piqued curiosity, however, was the intense, overriding fixation these Cursed Spirits had on hunting down Asuna. That part was profoundly abnormal.
Furthermore, the sole reason they targeted her with such relentless ferocity was due to a lingering residual trace attached to her very being.
Yumesaki's mind ran through the variables for a brief moment, and the pieces of the puzzle instantly fell into place.
Asuna's name had been inscribed upon the pages of that small notebook. The designated method of her demise was, in all likelihood, an execution carried out by a Cursed Spirit.
Only a highly specific curse of that nature would trigger such an aggressive pursuit from other spiritual anomalies.
In other words, Asuna hadn't actually been taken out by a Youkai in the first place; she had been targeted by a Cursed Spirit.
It was simply because Asuna had never encountered a proper Youkai before, leading her to misidentify the grotesque Cursed Spirit as a creature of myth.
"Drop the barrier."
Having deduced the underlying cause and effect of the situation, Yumesaki calmly issued the command to Medea.
As luck would have it, he had just awakened a brand-new ability, and these swarming Cursed Spirits would serve as the perfect live targets for a little field testing.
Medea nodded softly, raising her hand to dispel the conceptual boundary.
The exact instant the barrier vanished, the Cursed Spirits outside detected the change. They unleashed a chorus of guttural roars and surged forward simultaneously from every conceivable direction.
Their absolute target was Asuna.
Right as they lunged, Yumesaki casually lifted his right hand and spoke in a low, resonant tone.
"Expansion of Cursed Technique: Soul Manipulation."
An invisible wave of Cursed Energy erupted violently from his palm. It surged outward like a tempest, weaving into a vast network of ethereal threads that blanketed the sky before instantly impaling the forms of every single Cursed Spirit in the vicinity.
Immediately after, the entire horde acted as though someone had slammed a master pause button. They froze entirely in place, completely paralyzed.
Several of the creatures remained suspended mid-air, entirely incapable of shifting even a fraction of an inch.
Medea's eyes sparkled with genuine fascination as she stared at Yumesaki's right hand.
"What an intriguing power. That doesn't seem to be Magical Energy, Master."
"It's Cursed Energy," Yumesaki replied, his tone perfectly even.
Asuna watched the grotesque monsters frozen solid around them. A wave of profound relief washed over her, the terror fading from her face to be replaced by a swelling tide of curiosity. She couldn't help but voice her confusion.
"What exactly is Cursed Energy?"
"It is the fundamental power utilized by Jujutsu Sorcerers."
Yumesaki offered a patient explanation to the bewildered girl. "A Jujutsu Sorcerer belongs to a profession dedicated to exorcising curses and eliminating Cursed Spirits. The Cursed Energy they wield is a volatile force extracted directly from human negative emotions."
"As for Cursed Spirits, they are the literal manifestations born from those very same negative emotions."
"Every single one of these bizarre monsters you see right now is a Cursed Spirit."
"Furthermore, the entity that ended your life yesterday wasn't a Youkai either. It was a Cursed Spirit."
"Not a Youkai?" Asuna muttered, visibly taken aback.
She had been entirely convinced that her killer belonged to folklore. To think it was actually a Cursed Spirit. "Is there really a difference between the two?"
Yumesaki pondered the question for a moment before answering. "The functional difference isn't particularly massive, given that Cursed Spirits do share quite a few similarities with Youkai."
"Aside from a small fraction of Youkai born naturally from the environment, the vast majority of them are actually generated by human fear."
"Cursed Spirits, meanwhile, are born from human negative emotions as a whole."
"But as we all know, fear and anxiety are fundamental subsets of human negativity. From that perspective, Cursed Spirits and Youkai aren't fundamentally different at their core."
"The primary distinction lies in the fact that Cursed Spirits lack an established legend, whereas Youkai generally possess their own localized mythology."
"For instance, entities like Nurarihyon, Kasha, Aoandon, Karasu Tengu, Natto Kozo, or Ibaraki Doji... those Youkai possess distinct lore, defined traits, and historical narratives associated with their names."
Asuna nodded along as she listened. It made sense; many Youkai carried specific stories regarding their origins.
Particularly the grand, infamous Youkai lords—each of their backgrounds was incredibly grand and terrifying.
Cursed Spirits, on the other hand, were an entirely unknown variable to her. She had never heard a single whisper of them before. They were essentially nameless anomalies without a proper identity.
"Is that truly the only difference? Just because one has a famous name and the other doesn't?"
Yumesaki nodded in affirmation. "Precisely. It really is that simple. Though if you want to look at another distinct variance, it would have to be their physical appearance."
"Their appearance?" Asuna blinked, turning her gaze toward the frozen monsters locked in place.
Trying to find a fitting description for these Cursed Spirits was a bit of a challenge. They certainly looked quite different from the traditional Youkai she had envisioned.
Yumesaki continued his breakdown. "Because they lack a specific, standardized legend to dictate their form, Cursed Spirits grow entirely at random. Their appearances are wildly chaotic. As you can see around us, they come in just about every abstract shape imaginable."
"Youkai, even the stranger ones, generally maintain a basic humanoid structure or distinct animal features. In fact, many Youkai are renowned for being strikingly beautiful... characters like Yuki-onna, Kitsune-onna, or Hone-onna are universally acknowledged as incredibly alluring women."
"In stark contrast, you will almost never find a visually appealing Cursed Spirit. Each one is progressively more abstract and grotesque than the last."
"To my knowledge, the only Cursed Spirit that naturally maintains a flawless human appearance is an entity named Mahito."
"The reason he looks human is because he is a Special Grade Cursed Spirit born directly from the collective hatred and terror that humans harbor toward other humans."
"Aside from him, there are major Cursed Spirits born from the fear of volcanoes, the fear of the ocean, the fear of the sky, and the fear of the forest."
"Yet every single one of those entities possesses a visual form that is more hideous than the last, falling vastly short of the aesthetic elegance found in Youkai."
Hearing Yumesaki's thorough breakdown, a lightbulb finally went off in Asuna's mind.
Medea, however, couldn't care less about the structural differences between monsters. Her primary focus remained entirely on how Yumesaki had managed to master Cursed Energy so suddenly.
"It's a bit of a long story."
Yumesaki gave a brief, concise recap of the events from the previous day to both Medea and Asuna, placing particular emphasis on a man named Tanaka Asahi.
That individual had been a practicing Jujutsu Sorcerer, and the exact methodology required to extract Cursed Energy from negative emotions was something Yumesaki had pulled directly from the man's severed memories.
Last night, right before heading to bed, Yumesaki had decided to test the method out.
He had successfully extracted Cursed Energy from his own residual negativity, a feat that highlighted the absolute absurdity of the Golden Gate's capabilities.
The exact moment Cursed Energy manifested within him, Yumesaki gained absolute mastery over the power. He was able to completely channel the massive reservoir of Magical Energy within his body and convert it entirely into Cursed Energy utilizing the Golden Gate as a catalyst.
Once the conversion process concluded, Yumesaki's physical vessel became absolutely saturated with an astronomical amount of Cursed Energy, which immediately triggered the awakening of his personal Innate Technique.
"An Innate Technique? What would that be?" Medea inquired.
Yumesaki clarified, "An Innate Technique is a specialized ability that a Jujutsu Sorcerer is born with. It's an inherent genetic talent encoded into their body from birth. It is virtually impossible to acquire one through later training."
"Not every Jujutsu Sorcerer is blessed with an Innate Technique, but those who do awaken one are universally considered the absolute elite of the sorcery world."
"The specific Innate Technique I unlocked is Soul Manipulation. It grants me the absolute freedom to govern the soul."
"For instance, the reason these Cursed Spirits are standing entirely frozen right now is because I used my technique to lock down their souls. They are physically incapable of movement, rendered into nothing more than living puppets."
"Is that the extent of its utility?" Medea mused, leaning closer to inspect one of the paralyzed creatures with deep intrigue.
She highly doubted that a technique bearing the name of Soul Manipulation under Yumesaki's control would be limited to mere paralysis.
"Of course not."
The moment the words left Yumesaki's lips, the physical forms of the frozen Cursed Spirits began to violently distort and warp.
Within a fraction of a second, every single one of those grotesquely shaped monsters reshaped itself flawlessly into an exact physical duplicate of Yumesaki.
"I mentioned that Special Grade Cursed Spirit named Mahito earlier, correct?"
"He possesses a technique known as Idle Transfiguration."
"His entire philosophy operates on the principle that the soul precedes the physical body. Therefore, the shape of the physical vessel is entirely dictated by the structural form of the soul."
"Consequently, his technique allows him to physically touch a soul and alter its shape, which in turn violently alters the physical body."
"My Soul Manipulation operates on a similar wavelength, though it is fundamentally superior in every measurable metric."
As he spoke, the outer forms of the duplicate bodies shifted once more, morphing from Yumesaki into Medea, then smoothly transitioning into Nero, before finally settling into the form of Asuna.
Ultimately, each of the Asuna duplicates sprouted a pair of magnificent, shimmering wings, shifting into the likeness of sacred angels.
They looked profoundly pure and majestic.
"If I wish it, I can modify their physical shells into absolutely any form I desire. Be it an angel, or a demon."
Following his words, the angelic entities shifted yet again, transforming from winged celestials into fallen succubi, each possessing incredibly exaggerated, voluptuous curves and a highly provocative allure.
Beholding the sudden visual display, Asuna's entire face flushed an intense crimson. "How... how completely shameless!"
She had only ever seen things of this nature tucked away in the darker corners of the internet. Seeing it manifested so vividly in reality was a massive shock to her system.
It was entirely too much for her to handle.
Yumesaki paid her embarrassment no mind, continuing his explanation. "Furthermore, I can use Soul Manipulation to seamlessly fuse these scattered Cursed Spirits into a single entity."
Under his precise direction, the provocatively shaped succubi dissolved in an instant, shifting into massive, pulsating masses of flesh.
Shortly after, these individual masses collided with one another, merging flawlessly into a singular, colossal sphere of flesh that hovered in the center of the room.
Medea's eyes narrowed slightly. She could actively perceive that as these Cursed Spirits coalesced, their collective Cursed Energy was skyrocketing at a staggering pace, climbing higher and higher without pause.
Initially, these individual Cursed Spirits were utterly trivial in Medea's eyes. Aside from their sheer numbers, their individual power outputs were a complete mess.
Yet, through the systematic amalgamation of such a massive quantity, the resulting strength was multiplying exponentially.
The massive sphere of flesh began to rapidly compress, shrinking at a speed visible to the naked eye.
However, the concentration of Cursed Energy grew immensely dense, instantly crossing the threshold to match the spiritual pressure of a third-rate Heroic Spirit.
This development genuinely surprised Medea.
After all, every Heroic Spirit etched into the Throne was a legendary figure of history, even those classified as third-rate.
Yet Yumesaki had taken a mere collection of spiritual refuse and successfully forged a monster capable of standing on equal footing with a third-rate Heroic Spirit.
Wasn't this ability called Soul Manipulation just a bit too absurdly powerful?
Yumesaki offered a subtle, knowing smile. "Do you truly think that's where it ends? No, no, no. All of this is merely scratching the absolute surface."
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
50 Power Stone = 1 Bonus Chapter (Up to 5 bonus chapters per week).
Join my Patreon to get access to more chapters from Webnovel here:
patreon.com/FaaanzKun