Perhaps it was because they had been born with the power to fight Cursed Spirits. Or perhaps it was because they dealt with them every single day. Treating Cursed Spirits as part of their routine had dulled them to the horror of it all.
It wasn't until Momo Nishimiya was seized by a suddenly elongating arm… until Kasumi Miwa's blade failed to cut through the Cursed Spirit's limb… until Mai Zenin emptied every bullet in her gun and even used her technique to construct more—only for the damage to regenerate instantly—that they realized how badly they had misjudged the situation.
This wasn't something they could exorcise.
Why is it this strong? It hasn't even used a technique. Isn't it supposed to be Grade 2?
One of Mai's arms was twisted out of shape. Momo Nishimiya was flung far into the distance. Kasumi Miwa was swatted away, crashing through layers of glass before landing inside another building.
If Mechamaru were here, he'd probably fire an Ultra Cannon straight into its face.
Only Mai was left standing.
The Cursed Spirit seemed to have grown bored of the "toy" in its grasp. It released its blood-soaked hands, tossing the shop clerk aside, then began writhing and crawling toward Mai.
But after using her technique, Mai's heartbeat was erratic, her mind foggy with exhaustion, blood streaming from her nose. In her current state, she would struggle to exorcise even a Fly Head.
"Hehehehe!! Your turn—your turn!!"
The Cursed Spirit cackled, its expression a grotesque condensation of every negative emotion humanity could produce.
"At least… we held it off for a while. The 'Window' should've finished evacuating by now. Under these circumstances… we've probably minimized the damage…"
Mai tried to lure it away, but her legs gave out. She collapsed to her knees.
There was no other choice. With death closing in, she crawled in the opposite direction, venting the fear and frustration boiling inside her.
"Damn it… being a Jujutsu Sorcerer is crap. Why did I ever choose this? Wouldn't it have been better to just stay home?"
[Close your eyes. If you can't see it, then it's as if it doesn't exist.]
A memory from childhood suddenly surfaced in her mind.
"How could that be? If I close my eyes, will it stop it from killing me? Isn't that just like an ostrich burying its head in the sand?
The only reason I felt safe… was because you were holding my hand."
The Cursed Spirit paid no attention to her words. All it wanted was to savor the pleasure of torment and killing.
Clap!
A sharp sound rang out. In an instant, Mai's body switched places with a thin sheet of paper.
"You noticed I was here and used your last bit of Cursed Energy to create a sheet of paper?"
Not bad. Looks like Akira-san's training wasn't a complete waste."
A broad, sturdy figure appeared nearby. Just standing there, he gave off an overwhelming sense of stability.
What Aoi Todo didn't know was that, for certain reasons, Akira Zenin's targeted training had never been particularly effective for Mai.
The Cursed Energy required for Mai's Construction Technique depended on the mass of the object she created. Akira Zenin had often complained about why she didn't research materials like aerogels—low density, high functionality.
But Mai never truly wanted to grow stronger, and much of the theory went over her head. In the end, nothing came of it.
Still, even in her exhausted state, she could barely manage to construct a sheet of paper imbued with Cursed Energy.
Aoi Todo casually picked up a stone, infused it with Cursed Energy, and hurled it at the Cursed Spirit.
Clap.
He swapped positions again, appearing behind it, and drove a fist into its head. The impact split it open, dark "blood" spilling from its irregular eye sockets.
"That's enough, you serial killer."
His eyes hardened. With a powerful downward elbow strike, he crushed the Cursed Spirit completely.
Against a non-Special Grade Cursed Spirit, he normally wouldn't even need to use his technique.
But this creature, which had slaughtered hundreds, had crossed a line he couldn't tolerate.
As the Cursed Spirit finally disintegrated, Kasumi Miwa limped over. She still seemed stuck on the moment her blade had failed to cut through its arm, her face filled with guilt and frustration.
"You are useless Miwa… I'm back.
Huh? Why is Todo here? Is it already over…?"
"It's not over."
Aoi Todo stood and glanced around.
"I did receive a distress call, but I didn't come specifically because of that. I'm here because the Cursed Spirit from just now was already classified under my mission."
"Isn't that basically the same thing?"
Kasumi Miwa caught the wobbly Momo Nishimiya as she drifted back down, tilting her head in confusion.
"No, no, no."
Aoi Todo wagged a finger.
"This incident falls under my mission as an overlapping case.
In other words, the Cursed Spirit here is just a byproduct of the case I'm handling."
Kasumi Miwa stared at him in shock.
"A byproduct…? That thing was just a byproduct??"
Aoi Todo nodded. After confirming there were no lingering traces of Cursed Spirits nearby, he sat down and began explaining his mission. If he hadn't been waiting for someone, he wouldn't have bothered taking the time.
"Since 2006, when the internet became widespread in Japan, online suicide pacts started becoming popular.
People with suicidal thoughts would meet online, gather in person, 'encourage' each other, indulge in things they'd never dared to do before… and then agree to meet at the same place to say goodbye to the world together."
"Ugh… what were they even thinking…"
"Shh."
Aoi Todo raised a finger to his lips, signaling Kasumi Miwa to quiet down.
"Right now, there are more than a dozen so-called 'assistance' websites sharing information on 'how to commit suicide.' If that were all, it would fall under police jurisdiction.
But there's one site called 'Your Turn.' For some unknown reason, it gathered people's fear and gave rise to a supernatural phenomenon. In other words, it produced a Cursed Spirit."
"Through the internet?"
This time, Aoi Todo didn't silence her.
"That's right. As long as someone posts 'It's my turn' on that site, they'll die suddenly within one or two days—at most within a week—each for their own reasons.
The Cursed Spirit itself isn't extraordinarily powerful. But the number of casualties it's caused already far exceeds that of an average Special Grade Cursed Spirit.
Based on current observations, its technique should be something like 'Marking' and 'Teleportation.'
After completing a massacre—or when it's about to suffer a fatal blow—it teleports to the next marked location.
According to calculations and deductions from the 'Window' personnel, the one you just encountered should also be that 'Your Turn.'"
Mai had regained some strength and steadied her breathing.
"So that was a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit… No wonder it was so strong…"
"Wait…"
Something clicked in her mind.
"Why did that Cursed Spirit appear here? Don't tell me…"
"You're thinking in the right direction."
Aoi Todo, sharp as ever, picked up on her thoughts immediately.
"That victim just now… she was seeking death herself. She posted 'It's my turn' on that website."