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While we were riding toward the mission site, I turned to Lala.
"Lala, can all aliens see supernatural things?" I asked.
"Only some of them," she replied. "Others can only sense them or use advanced technology to detect them. That's why Father ordered us to study Earth's spiritual side."
"So… does that mean there's no supernatural stuff on other planets?" I asked again.
"Well," Lala thought for a moment. "Each planet has its own characteristics. Maybe the supernatural is Earth's unique trait."
After a while of riding, we finally arrived.
"Alright, time to set up a barrier," I said, pulling out a Wonder Ride Book and opening it.
"BARRIER BOOK!"
A shimmering barrier formed around the area.
"Lala, stay here. If you want to watch, use the drone," I said.
"Okay~!" she replied cheerfully.
I walked toward the place where the curse was located, drawing Ankokuken Kurayami. A belt appeared around my waist.
I pulled out the Jaaku Dragon Wonder Ride Book and opened it. A voice echoed from it:
"Jaaku Dragon! It was only one god beast which birthed the darkness that once enveloped the world."
I closed the book and scanned it with Kurayami's blade.
"Jaaku Read!"
I inserted the book into the belt and pressed the top of the book with Kurayami's hilt.
"Henshin."
A black and purple eastern dragon burst out from the book, wrapping around me before forming my armor.
"Get go under conquer than get keen.
(Moonlight! Darkness! Slashing!)
Jaaku Dragon! Darkness deciphered!
Stealing the light, the jet-black sword ruthlessly rules the dark dragon!"
"Swordsman of darkness, Calibur. Hah, I've always wanted to say that," I muttered proudly.
As I got closer, I could feel the thick cursed energy in the air.
"Such dense cursed energy… I'll have to end this quickly."
But then I also sensed something else, demonic energy.
"Why is there demonic energy here too?" I muttered cautiously, continuing to move forward.
There, I found the half-eaten body of a wild demon.
"This curse even devoured a demon? Great, this is gonna be troublesome."
Suddenly, two massive scythes came flying toward me. I blocked both with Kurayami and jumped back, spotting my attacker a humanoid curse with three mantis-like scythes and four centaur-like legs.
"You're the weirdest curse I've ever seen," I said before channeling my aura throughout my body and charging forward.
I swung horizontally, aiming to cut off its arms, but it blocked and countered with its other two hands. I activated my pre-set energy shield. The shield cracked under pressure, so I immediately pressed Kurayami's trigger to unleash its technique.
"UNCOVER THE DARKSIDE, EXPLICATING SLASH!"
A black slash erupted from my sword, striking the curse at close range. It staggered back but remained unharmed, protected by a barrier.
It rushed at me again, swinging all three scythes wildly. I jumped up and countered with two quick slashes. The curse stopped, turned, and unleashed several energy slashes of its own. I deployed multiple shield emitters, creating layered barriers.
"You're just a downgraded Sukuna," I sneered.
I created ten laser pistols, controlled them with telekinesis, and opened fire while sending out two black slashes. The curse was pushed back again, but that same stubborn barrier protected it.
"That barrier's tough…" I muttered.
Then I felt the environment shift. I coated myself with aura, forming a simple domain using my aura, just in time. Countless slash marks appeared across the area.
'A domain? Even its domain looks similar… weaker, but still dangerous if it stacks. Sukuna, is this your kid or something?' I thought sarcastically.
"Let's finish this," I said, placing Kurayami's blade before the belt.
"FINAL READ! JAAKU DRAGON!"
"KURAYAMI: MIDNIGHT STRIKE!"
I slashed vertically, releasing a black energy wave toward the curse. It tried to counter by launching its own slashes, but mine shattered them instantly. My slash then split into two and exploded, obliterating the curse completely.
I tried to sense if it was still alive—nothing.
'System, is the curse dead?' I asked in my mind.
[Confirmed: The curse has been eliminated.]
"Good," I said, looking at the demon's corpse. I created a disintegration fluid and poured it over the remains.
Walking toward the explosion site, I spotted two objects, a Sukuna finger and a ring.
"A Sukuna finger… and a ring? System, what's this ring?" I asked.
[That ring is an artifact from the era of Solomon.]
"An artifact? So that's what gave the curse its barrier…" I muttered.
"I'll ask Kamiyama-san about it later. Time to head back."
---
Lala's POV
I sat on the bike, watching Ace through the drone feed displayed on the tablet.
He drew his sword and opened that strange book again. After placing it into his belt, he transformed.
"Wow, his armor looks so cool~! Maybe I should make one for myself too! What do you think, Peke?" I asked.
"You can, if you wish, Lala-sama," Peke replied from his bracelet form.
"Hehe! Then we'll be two legendary knights together!" I said excitedly.
On the screen, Ace was attacked by two scythes. He blocked and jumped back. So that's the curse he was talking about—it looked hideous. I'd heard from Father that Earth had strange creatures, but this was just… ugly.
Ace fought back but the curse blocked his strike, countering with its other arms. Luckily, Ace's shield protected him. He launched a black slash, but the curse's barrier absorbed it completely.
"Come on, Ace! Beat that ugly curse!" I cheered.
The curse charged again, and Ace dodged. Suddenly, the entire area turned pitch black.
"Eh?! What happened? Why did everything get covered?!" I shouted.
After a while, the black dome disappeared, and only Ace was standing. The curse was gone.
"Nooo! I didn't even get to see the fight!" I complained, pouting.
I gave up watching and just waited for Ace to come back.
---
Ace's POV
I removed the Wonder Ride Book from the belt, and the armor dissolved like fluttering book pages.
Walking back toward Lala, I saw her pouting.
'Why is she pouting?' I thought.
"Lala, I'm back," I said.
"Finally! Why was the fight covered up like that?!" she complained.
"Oh, you mean the Domain Expansion."
"Domain Expansion?" she tilted her head.
"Yeah. When a Jujutsu Sorcerer or a curse reaches a high level, they can release a domain, kind of like their ultimate move. When it activates, it separates the inside from the outside, that's why it looked like a barrier."
"Huh… so you didn't make that thing?"
"Nope, the curse did. Anyway, since the mission's done, wanna go home or look around first?"
"Let's look around!" she said happily.
---
Time Skip
After riding around for a while, we decided to stop by Kamiyama-san's bookstore, mainly because Lala wanted to learn more about supernatural stuff, and I figured this was the best place to ask.
"Hello, Kamiyama-san," I greeted him as he was writing something.
"Mm… Oh, Ace-kun! What brings you here? Having trouble with the mission?" he asked.
"No, just dropping by, and to report that it's done," I said.
"That was fast. You really are talented, Ace-kun," Kamiyama-san praised.
"I wanted to borrow some books about supernatural phenomena. Do you have any?"
"What for? Don't you already know plenty? And… who's the girl with you?" he asked, glancing at Lala.
"This is Lala, my fiancée," I replied. I could see his pen almost slip from his hand.
"Fiancée? You have a fiancée?"
"Yup! I'm Lala Satalin Deviluke, Ace's fiancée! Nice to meet you, Ace's senior!" she said cheerfully.
"Oh, nice to meet you too, Miss Deviluke. Wait… she's not human, is she?"
"How'd you know?" I asked.
He pointed at Lala's tail.
'She forgot to hide it… wait, did she forget the entire time we were out?' I thought.
"She's an alien from Planet Deviluke," I explained.
"An alien, huh. Are you having any trouble living on Earth, Miss Deviluke?" Kamiyama-san asked.
"Nope! Don't worry, I'm not going to invade the planet," Lala said jokingly.
We both laughed.
Kamiyama-san went to fetch the books, so we waited on the sofa inside the shop.
"Is this the Sword of Logos headquarters, Ace?" Lala asked.
"No, this is just Kamiyama-san's personal bookstore," I replied.
A few minutes later, he returned with several books.
"Here are the books you asked for about curses, cursed energy, Touki, artifacts, and more."
"Thanks, Kamiyama-san. I'll return them next week. By the way, I found a finger and a ring after defeating the curse," I said, handing them to him.
"A Sukuna finger and… what's this? Hmm. I'll secure the Sukuna finger. You can keep the ring," he said.
"Thanks. Oh, and please give this to the Sword of Logos council," I said, handing him a scroll containing the method to fuse Cursed Energy and Touki into Aura.
Kamiyama-san opened it. "Where did you get this?"
"If I said I made it myself, would you believe me?"
"Maybe. But this is quite valuable. Are you sure?"
"Of course. Consider it my entry fee to the organization," I said.
"Alright, I'll deliver this to the council and ask them to reward you," Kamiyama-san promised.
"Nice! I'll be waiting for that reward," I said with a grin as Lala and I left the shop.
We rode home together.
"We're back,";we both said.
"Welcome home," Craftbot replied.
"Anyone visit while we were gone?" I asked.
"No one," Craftbot said.
'Weird. I thought Zastin would show up today… well, good. I'm exhausted anyway,' I thought.
It was only 11 a.m.
"What should I do now?" I wondered.
"Lala, what do you want to do?" I asked.
"I'm going to build my workshop! Is there a good place for it, Ace?"
"Of course. Follow me."
We went down to the basement. I pointed to an area I rarely used for training.
"You can build it here,;or expand this wall if you need more space," I said.
"That sounds perfect," Lala replied.
"I'll be meditating over there," I said.
"Okay~!" she replied cheerfully.
"Just don't blow up my basement, okay?" I said.
"Okay~ Don't worry~," Lala replied cheerfully.
I sat cross-legged and began calming my mind.
'System, why hasn't Zastin come yet?' I asked mentally.
[He hasn't received a report from his subordinates yet.]
'How could that, oh right, I froze them. It'll take some time for them to thaw,' I thought.
'Whatever, let's start training.'
I closed my eyes and began focusing on controlling my aura more precisely.
---
??? POV
"Why haven't they returned yet?" said a shadowy figure.
A communication device lit up, showing two aliens on the screen.
"Captain, we're sorry. We failed to bring the princess back. We were stopped by a human," said the first alien.
"Hmph… You were defeated by a human? Return immediately. When you get back, you'll face your punishment," the figure replied coldly.
"Yes, Captain," both aliens said before the transmission ended.
"That human seems interesting… I'll report this to the king," the figure muttered.
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