'Why couldn't I see him standing here?!' He angrily shouted inside. Immediately, Hojo forced out a smile on his face and turned back to Ronnie.
He was feeling like being humiliated in front of hundreds of people, often because it was his first time experiencing something like this.
And of course, he can't show it through his facial expressions, because doing it that way would make him feel more ashamed.
"Indeed I am." Hojo's ego forced him to say something like this, completely ignoring the situation and the man before him who just shattered his belief of being the fastest.
He could say something like, "You are also fast," or at least "Yeah," but acknowledging his own abilities as the best seems kind of arrogant and weird.
But Hojo's word didn't affect him a bit. Ronnie gave him a slight smile before turning to other sorcerers standing behind.
"He's here for a little training. And you, Aaida, you are the best at explaining and describing complex stuff. So why don't you give him some knowledge on how curse energy works?"
Ronnie stepped closer to Aaida, expecting an answer. 'Oh! Of course.' Hojo doesn't need any combat technique, and it's not like anyone here can teach him.
However, Ronnie is an exception, but still Ronnie uses sword-style combat, which is currently the worst thing to teach someone like Hojo, who has literally 'zero' experience with swords.
But understanding the foundation of these supernatural powers would be a great thing for him.
After thinking for a few moments, Aaida stepped forward. Clearing her blonde hair from her forehead, she spoke:
"Ahmm. That's the main reason we are here..." Taking a few more steps, she positioned herself in the center and slightly aside from the rest of them. Her crow—Lix, which was on her shoulder—cast a floating holographic screen through its eyes in the air.
"First you have to understand what curse energy is," she continued as her thoughts pictured on screen. "The most simple definition of curse energy would be that it's a focused and concentrated spiritual mass of negativity that we humans and some other intelligent beings release over a period of time. The reason can be anything—fear of darkness or simply your fear of not being ill."
Establishing eye contact with Hojo, she next discussed what curses are. "Sometimes this curse energy gets materialized, forming what we call curses."
She also explained about the ranks, in which curses and jujutsu sorcerers are divided based on their strengths, and what the equivalency is between the ranks of two different kinds of beings.
She told them how jujutsu was formed centuries ago to protect humanity. Most of the information she told about was already available on the Internet, even in more detailed descriptions. The public was aware of curse energy, and it wasn't any secret, like it was half a century ago. But after the Shibuya incident, everything changed.
After talking about a lot of basic stuff that was nothing less than boring for other established sorcerers, she changed her tone and came to the main topic, which was yet to be publicized.
"In the last few decades, jujutsu sorcerers have weakened significantly, not to mention the total number of sorcerers that we currently have. The barrier that protected humanity from curses for many centuries is weakening day by day. Fortunately, the number of curses present today is very low. But the main problem that just arose a month ago is the aliens. They call themselves 'Simurian.'"
Hojo, who wasn't focusing on her words a moment ago, started to process each word, with his becoming more concentrated on the holographic screen. As Aaida spoke, her thoughts and imaginary pictures that she was thinking inside her brain were forming on the screen cast by her crow's eyes.
Continuing, she chose her next words carefully:
"These simurians have curse energy like us, and they are thrice as advanced as we are in the usage of curse energy. They can literally make an entire spaceship filled with more than 50 thousand such aliens float in space, not to mention that they travelled a number of light years' distance to come here. Even with our most advanced technology and the entire energy of our star, the Sun, we can't be sure to travel even a 'light year.'"
"These aliens want shelter on our planet, and currently we have agreed to this by settling them on a large island. As of now, they have maintained peace with us, but no one knows what can happen in the future. If they started a war, which will not come as a surprise, as from ancient times the stronger had always crushed the weaker, we will be helpless against them. The most terrifying of them is their king, Dabura, who is no less than a Sukuna-level threat."
She took a deep breath and watered her dry mouth with saliva. Everyone was hearing carefully, including Dodo and Oki.
"That's why we have to recruit our all forces and resources in order to prepare ourselves for what is going to come next. War is destined to arrive, even if it takes decades. It will be inevitable until power become equivalent on both sides. We are trying our best to maintain harmony, but in any case, if things get out of hands, we must have powerful sorcerers. It's all which I think you must know about."
She finished her lecture about 'curse energy' and 'current affairs', ending it with deduction that it's time to increase the power of humanity to the maximum extent possible. Every word she said was indeed true.
Hojo was about to ask something from her but someone interrupted them as one of the four doors of hall opened, slowly revealing the guest.
He was Usami. His personal assistant was nowhere to be seen but there were lot of soldiers carrying guns in their hand. For a reason, two of the soldiers were carrying a missile launcher, with many of them holding a large lazer emitting machines.
A wide grin emerged over Usami's face. An evil one. Raising his hand, he pointed toward Hojo and others. Suddenly, his hand tightened towards them, plummeting down as he made a gesture, flickering his hand in air.
"SHOOT!!"