Chapter 188: Welcome to—[Magano]
As long as humanity itself exists, curses will never truly disappear—unless they can create a utopia free of all sorrow, or manage to lose all negative emotions and become mechanical dolls that face sadness with nothing but smiles.
Of course, in terms of results, making every non-sorcerer a jujutsu sorcerer capable of controlling cursed energy, or eliminating their cursed energy entirely, could achieve the same effect.
If one were to ask which method is better?
One would first have to know whether the person trying to solve the problem views the chosen method as merely treating the symptoms rather than the root cause.
For Emiya, he naturally felt that "World Peace"—the goal he had pursued since childhood—was the most beautiful path. Yet he knew that achieving such an end was almost impossible.
While Romm's invention should have been considered an epoch-making advancement by any standard, it didn't seem to help the college further suppress curses. Instead, it made people realize more profoundly that curses can never be cleared by physical means.
Even if Emiya had the heart to change this situation, it wasn't something he could achieve in a short time. Right now, the most important task remained how to come into contact with the core of this unknown curse in the Shibuya District.
"Let's discuss those things later. For now, please just tell me the location of the nearest curse."
"Understood! The nearest curse to you is within two hundred meters, and it happens to be exposed under a modified surveillance camera..."
Under the liaison's guidance, Emiya successfully found the location of the first latent "curse" within minutes, only to discover—
"So, this is the place where the curse is hidden?"
Looking at the trash collection point in front of him, which showed almost no signs of abnormality, Emiya suddenly realized he might truly lack talent for finding curses. To his eyes, the spot before him looked perfectly fine.
If there was one anomaly... it was perhaps that, for a trash heap, it was a bit too tidy?
"It's normal that you can't see the problem, Emiya-san. Before a curse brews into a Cursed Spirit, it won't show any abnormalities. There are only occasional leaks of cursed energy while it absorbs negative emotions, and those moments are quite brief.
If it weren't for the new equipment monitoring the flow of cursed energy, a curse like this would be almost impossible for anyone to detect in advance.
By the way, the target this curse is attached to isn't the recycling station itself, but that doll missing an eye."
With a definite target, Emiya immediately locked his gaze onto a worn-out plush doll discarded carelessly in the trash can. The black trash bags inside were piled nearly to the brim, allowing the doll to poke half its head out, staring gloomily at Emiya with its single eye.
Originally, there was nothing scary about this scene, but with a definitive answer in mind, Emiya felt the slight illusion that the doll was actually watching him. This couldn't be dismissed as him scaring himself, because a curse attached to a doll could very well pose a life-threatening danger to an unwary ordinary person.
As for why a tattered plushie would form a curse?
There were many possibilities: perhaps it carried a child's tragic childhood, or perhaps it was a parent's lingering grief over a lost child... but whatever the reason, it wasn't something Emiya could predict or concern himself with now.
"Emiya-san, you should know the techniques for clearing curses, right? If needed, I can transmit the tutorials used by auxiliary supervisors to you."
In a world of jujutsu that supposedly lacks high-dimensional beings like "gods," it was strange that the cursed seals and incantations passed down since ancient times actually worked. They all more or less related to so-called "gods." It was unclear if these legends were true, or if they were merely nonsensical titles humans bestowed to comfort themselves.
"No, there's no need to make things complicated. Just focus on identifying similar locations.
The rest of the problems, I can handle alone.
[Trace On..."
As Emiya spoke, he already held Rule Breaker in his hand, walking slowly toward the doll while meeting its "gaze." Conveniently, this "curse" was attached to a physical object, allowing his modified version of Rule Breaker to work easily.
After confirming he hadn't mistaken the target, Emiya raised the short dagger and plunged it without hesitation into the doll's tattered cotton body.
Sizzle—
Accompanied by the sound of something burning, wisps of black smoke drifted from the doll. During this process, Emiya finally clearly sensed the presence and dissipation of cursed energy. However, what puzzled him was that he seemed to see an imperceptible wisp of that black smoke drift toward him.
That couldn't possibly be cursed energy or a technique, because Rule Breaker would definitely have cleared those... Was it some unknown element that constitutes the thing called a "curse"?
"Incredible, the curse has indeed been cleared... Now, Emiya-san, the next target should be inside a cake shop three hundred meters west of you."
Before Emiya could figure out what that was, the words over the comms confirmed that it was likely a substance others couldn't sense at all. If it truly were related to the missing sorcerers, such an anomaly would have been reported long ago.
The urgency of time prevented Emiya from dwelling on it. To determine if his theory about "quantity" was correct, he needed to clear at least a dozen more.
With clear targets, the subsequent process became tedious but much faster. Unformed curses aren't like Cursed Spirits; they don't run or jump. Aside from the types with massive volume that possess lethality before a spirit is born, the rest are easily resolved once found.
From zero to clearing eighteen latent curses, Emiya took less than twenty minutes. What remained difficult for him to understand was that every time he exorcised a curse, a faint black mist would drift in his direction—a mist that apparently no one else could see.
Could this actually be the method the "curse" used to select the missing sorcerers, and he was only able to see it because he was special?
"Emiya-san, the number of curses you've exorcised is already higher than several of the missing persons, yet nothing abnormal seems to have happened, right?
Perhaps... the criteria isn't quantity?"
At this moment, the voice of the commander came through the comms. Unable to find the cause of the anomalies, the man was understandably anxious, repeatedly forcing himself to stay calm and think of viable countermeasures. There were many sorcerers in standby mode; if each offered a guess, it was enough to compile the most likely possibilities, and they might all need to be tested.
"No, there is one most critical condition that hasn't been met yet. Did you forget?"
"...What?"
"The missing sorcerers have only one absolute commonality: the locations were all in places where no one could directly observe them."
After saying this, Emiya turned off all functions—photography, positioning, everything—on his wristband and placed it gently outside the entrance of the alley he was first investigating.
"Wait, Emiya-san, isn't that a bit too risky...?"
"At least we can confirm its existence regardless of danger. The problem has to be solved eventually."
After finally switching off his only communication device, Emiya stepped without hesitation into the dim, unpredictable alley before him.
The moment he completely vanished from everyone's line of sight, the scene before Emiya transformed instantly. The sensation of this shift felt like being pulled into some deep-layered space.
"A barrier...?"
Just as Emiya subconsiously muttered his guess, a familiar voice came from behind him—
"No. To be more accurate, it should be this world, the dark side of all humanity. Even if you describe it as a barrier, it would be a massive one that encompasses the entirety of human society.
I've been waiting for you a long time, Emiya-kun. Welcome to [Magano]."
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