Eight years later.
"Rika, I'm heading out now!"
z"Yuta, please be careful with everything!"
Souma Gojo watched the two of them, caught in their sugary, lingering farewell. To him, the breakfast wrap in his hand suddenly tasted like dry cardboard.
"Wait, you forgot your morning kiss! Mua~"
Thwack!
Yuta looked over in confusion as Souma violently hurled his breakfast wrap onto the pavement. "What's wrong, Master?"
"Nothing," Souma grumbled, crossing his arms. "The wrap had peanut butter in it. I hate peanut butter."
"Huh?" Yuta tilted his head, completely bewildered.
The ever-perceptive Rika giggled. "Mr. Gojo, you know, it seems like Miss Shoko actually has feelings for you."
Shoko Ieiri had visited frequently during Yuta's training years, so both Yuta and Rika had grown quite close to her. At the mention of her name, Souma's mind flashed to Shoko's elegant but perpetually exhausted face. Time had passed: the girl with the short bob now let her hair grow long and flowing.
Souma slumped his shoulders and scratched his head. "That woman? Not a chance."
Rika covered her mouth to hide a smile. It seemed that for all his tactical brilliance, Mr. Gojo was a complete idiot when it came to romance.
"Anyway, enough talk," Souma said, his expression shifting into a wicked grin. "Your mission today is... ten Special Grade cursed spirits."
Yuta didn't even flinch. "I understand."
"You're quite confident," Souma remarked. "Soon, you'll be enrolling in Jujutsu High. I want you to give those higher-up geezers a little surprise."
In the eight years of training under Souma, Yuta had already slain multiple Special Grades. Since the birth of a second Six Eyes user, the number of curses in the world had skyrocketed: a phenomenon known as the Great Cusp. General Special Grades were no longer the rare nightmares they once were.
Souma had watched Yuta's growth closely. Balancing his academic studies with grueling sorcery training, Yuta had shown effort and talent that rivaled Souma's own youth. Whenever the boy hit a wall in his studies or combat theory, Rika would be there to cheer him on. In those moments, Yuta would suddenly become a monster of focus, fueled by what Souma could only describe as the "terrifying power of pure love."
If Satoru had half that motivation, Souma mused, the younger twin might have actually managed to pin his brother down by now.
After bidding Rika a final goodbye, Yuta followed Souma to a sleek black car. Souma reached into the trunk and pulled out a long, ornate bundle, handing it to his disciple. Inside was a katana of breathtaking craftsmanship.
"This is Dojigiri Yasutsuna," Souma explained. "It was the blade held by the legendary sorcerer Minamoto no Raiko when he slew the Great Curse, Shuten-doji, a thousand years ago. It is a powerful Special Grade cursed tool. It possesses an innate technique called 'Wind's Breath,' allowing the wielder to project slashes through the air using their own cursed energy. Like this."
With a casual flick of the blade, Souma sent a ripple through the air. A discarded billboard across the street was instantly cleaved in two, the cut so clean it looked as if the metal had simply decided to separate.
Yuta accepted the sword with both hands, his eyes shining. "Thank you, Master!"
"Don't get too formal. We've been master and student for a long time. It wasn't that expensive anyway: only about a billion yen."
Yuta's hands began to shake violently. He nearly dropped the billion-yen relic in shock.
Hokkaido.
"Phew..."
Yuta exhaled a long breath, the moisture turning into a thick mist in the freezing winter air. He stared at the dilapidated remains of a mountain village, recalling the mission file.
Yuki-onna: A Special Grade curse responsible for the deaths of all seventy three villagers. Extremely aggressive. Ability: Ice and snow manipulation. Weakness: Fire.
"Seventy three lives..." Yuta murmured. His gaze sharpened, turning cold and predatory. "Unforgivable."
He stepped forward, his boots crunching softly in the fresh powder. He entered the village, a ghost town haunted only by the whistling wind. He scanned the area but saw no sign of the curse. Suddenly, he spotted a small figure: a little girl shivering piteously under a massive, snow-laden tree.
Yuta hesitated for a heartbeat. Then, without a word, he drew Dojigiri Yasutsuna and swung.
The blade whistled through the air, but when it struck, the girl's body shattered into harmless chunks of packed snow. It was a decoy.
"To think a human could be so heartless as to cut down a child," a woman's voice drifted from the shadows.
Yuta turned to find a beautiful woman standing in the clearing, dressed in a thin, snow-white kimono. Her hair, eyelashes, and skin were as white as the surrounding landscape, contrasted only by her deep blue eyes and blood-red lips.
Yuta remained expressionless. "First: if that girl were truly freezing, she would have sought shelter in a house, not stood under a tree. My master taught me to observe the illogical. Second: your camouflage was terrible. I saw through it the moment I arrived."
The Yuki-onna's appreciative smirk vanished, replaced by a mask of pure rage. "You arrogant brat! You're dead!"
"Ice Manipulation: Cold Snap!"
A blizzard of frost and jagged ice roared toward Yuta, freezing everything in its path. Since the attack covered the entire street, Yuta didn't bother dodging. He flared his cursed energy, coating himself in a shimmering violet shroud of protection, and charged straight through the storm.
The Yuki-onna summoned a blade of solid ice, and for a moment, the village became a stage for a high-speed duel. But within ten moves, the gap in skill was apparent. Dojigiri Yasutsuna was so sharp that the curse's ice weapons shattered upon contact. She couldn't even finish forming a new blade before Yuta was already upon her.
"Fine! I'm done playing!" The Yuki-onna retreated into the air. "Ice Manipulation: Frost Silence! Ice Mountain Fall!"
She summoned a massive pillar of ice from the sky, aiming to crush the boy into the earth. Yuta merely increased his output, running vertically up the side of the falling glacier with gravity-defying grace.
The curse laughed. "How ugly! Wasting so much energy just to stay alive. Let me watch your final struggle! Ice Manipulation: Sleet Fall!"
Thousands of ice needles rained down, battering Yuta's shield. His protective aura flickered and dimmed, looking as if it were about to shatter at any moment. Seeing this, the Yuki-onna poured more power into her attack, oblivious to how quickly her own reserves were draining.
Suddenly, she realized something was wrong. The boy looked like he was about to fall, yet he stayed upright. He had been "about to fall" for ten minutes. How deep were his reserves?
In a flash of violet light, Yuta lunged, his blade tracing a perfect arc.
"What—" The Yuki-onna tried to teleport away, only to find her cursed energy was completely spent. In contrast, the "flickering" aura around Yuta erupted into a towering flame of power. It had all been a bait.
Squelch!
The curse's head flew into the air, landing in the snow. As she began to dissolve, she let out one final, bitter scream. "How can you have this much energy? It's impossible!"
Yuta thought of Rika's sweet smile and the kiss from that morning. A gentle, satisfied curve touched his lips.
"I'm sorry. But since I have the power of pure love on my side, my victory was always inevitable."
The Yuki-onna, forced to endure one last boast of romance before her death, dissipated into the wind with a look of utter disgust. On the ground where she vanished, a strange, purple-black finger remained.
............................................
After hearing that the initial price was a bit high for some, I've decided to lower it by 50%. You can now download the full story at half the price.
Also Made the text formatting way better and added a PDF too
P@treon .com/zefyrus