Curse Return: Swordsmith Start

October 31st.

At three in the morning, ordinary people in Tokyo are still asleep.

The streetlights were on, and the lights from the vending machines flickered on and off at the street corner.

The streets were deserted, with almost no vehicles in operation; the entire city seemed to have been put on pause.

Shibuya was particularly affected. After receiving a disaster warning and with the help of the government, the area was completely evacuated of ordinary people and is now undoubtedly a no-man's land.

At one point, the sky over Shibuya changed.

In an instant, it was as if someone had poured a basin of ink onto a canvas; blackness surged outward from the center, and a black, viscous substance, invisible to ordinary people, emerged from the earth, swallowing the last ray of night light.

The guard at "Window" stood on the roof of a building on the edge of Shibuya, holding binoculars, but it was clearly no longer needed.

You can see it with your own eyes: that thick, black, living mud is crawling outwards from the direction of Shibuya Station.

Prolonged periods of intense mental stress caused his hands to tremble.

But he still managed to press the communicator button, and the voice was forced out of his throat:

"Shibuya Central Street, the concentration of cursed energy has exceeded the threshold. Repeat, Shibuya Central Street—"

Before he could finish speaking, a piercing static came through the communicator, accompanied by the sounds of monsters and screams, and the communication was cut off.

At the vocational college, the alarm bell rang instantly.

"Everyone assemble."

In the principal's office, Principal Moth, who hadn't slept all night, got up and left the room.

All the lights on the training field were on.

People came from all directions; some were wearing coats, some were holding cups, and some had their hair sticking up.

Moth stood on the steps, facing fifty or sixty people—special-level, first-level, second-level, and some sorcerers who didn't even have a level.

They stood scattered about, some leaning against the wall, some squatting on the ground, and some with their arms crossed.

Moth scanned the group, its gaze sweeping over their faces—the strongest fighters, Gojo Satoru, leaned against a pillar with his arms crossed, his expression as usual, showing no sense of urgency about the impending war.

Xia Youjie stood in the corner, his hands tucked into his sleeves, ignoring the strange looks from those around him, his eyes squinting as if he were dozing off.

To be honest, I never expected that he would step into this place again. After the high-ranking officials were purged, the Yue people also explained their relationship with the other party. During this critical period, he was assigned to the team as a combat force. His sentence for bearing the sins will be postponed until after the war ends, just like Huzhang before.

Xia Youjie also stated that he would follow any arrangements as long as Yue Ren's plan was realized.

Yi Gu You Tai stood in the front row, his back ramrod straight, weapons slung over his back, scratching his head and grinning foolishly at the Yue man next to him.

As one of the four top-tier fighters, they had just returned from overseas trials and were caught up in this incident. It can only be said that luck was on their side. The addition of another top-tier fighter could definitely change the situation instantly.

Yuki Tsukumo yawned, her hair casually tied up, as if she had just gotten out of bed. Megumi Fushiguro stood next to Maki, waiting for the principal to speak, just like the others.

"We've received intelligence from 'The Window,' and it seems the enemy has made a move..."

The moth opened its mouth, not loudly, but everyone heard it.

"The location is Shibuya... Operation complete!"

There's no need to say anything more; everything that can be prepared is already in place, and we're just waiting for this moment.

"This time, not a single one will escape."

"clear."

The voices were uneven, some high, some low, some male, some female, but every word was clear.

The moth nodded.

"Set off."

Six top-tier combatants will first enter Shibuya to locate the King of Curses and the Millennium Curse Master, and immediately exorcise them.

The logistics troops followed closely behind, setting up a barrier to seal off the battlefield, while other sorcerers were responsible for clearing out the outer cursed spirits to ensure that no enemy could come out from inside.

This time, it's a massive encirclement and suppression operation.

It's almost dawn.

On the eastern horizon, the white light grew wider and brighter, like a knife being slowly pulled out.

Shibuya.

The top floor of a building is very windy due to its height.

Rōsaku stood on the edge of the rooftop, her long hair blowing in the wind, the hem of her kimono fluttering in the breeze.

She gazed at the distant horizon—through pre-arranged methods, she could clearly sense magical energy gathering there, the gathering of sorcerers.

"You're here."

She murmured to herself, in a cheerful mood, completely uninterested in the other person's positioning or their little schemes.

Now she only feels excitement about the fact that she is about to fulfill her inner thoughts.

Want to make a breakthrough in a specific area? Sorry, we'll all have to work together.

"Let's begin the impeachment."

"clear."

Beside him, the body of the gun-wielding cursed spirit, having absorbed enough cursed power, began to swell.

It transforms from a doll into a mountain almost instantly.

The gun barrels protruded from all directions of its body, densely packed, like the quills of a porcupine or the tentacles of a sea anemone.

Each one is rotating, adjusting its angle, searching for prey.

The negative aggregate continued to expand, the gun barrels continued to lengthen, and the accumulated curse power surged within it, like a river that had been suppressed for too long finally finding its outlet.

Its sound—if the rustling of steel can be called a sound—echoed in the wind.

Consciousness entered Lu Suo's mind, calm and cold, like a machine that had been started.

"I am your tool, Ryouso. Use me as you see fit, all for the purpose of creating a cursed world."

Lu Suo laughed.

She reached out and pressed her hand against the "skin" of the impeachment, if that cold, barrel-covered metal could be called skin.

"Everything was for the purpose of creating a cursed world."

She repeated it.

But deep down, she just found it amusing.

Inside the "Control Room"—the core of the impeachment—a spherical space surrounded by countless gun barrels—the consciousness of Lu Suo and the curse power of the impeachment were connected.

She sensed everything about this cursed spirit.

The direction of the gun barrels, the trajectory of the bullets, the wailing of the plundered cursed spirits within her body, the absorbed fear flowing through her body—she showed great interest on her face.

As expected, this guy is the best 'body'.

"The principle behind barrier rewriting has been uploaded."

She traced a few lines in the air with her fingers, and patterns of magical power appeared at her fingertips.

"Now, let's add the True Man's technique—'Transformation of Non-Action'."

As requested by the user, the bullet named "Transformation of Non-Action" is loaded!

She looked up at the huge screen above the control room.

The screen displayed an aerial view of Shibuya, showing every street and every building.

There were no ordinary people left in the surrounding cities. They moved quite swiftly, but that's fine too. They had this idea all along, and the other party clearing the area saved them a lot of trouble.

"Declare your presence, impeach, let these people see the materialization of their inner fears."

The impeachment's body swelled one last time, and the gun barrels simultaneously rose, aiming at the sky above the city that was about to become a battlefield.

This is the ugly spectacle of human evil.

Determined to eradicate—

"The Ultimate Strike - Damocles"

Lu Suo has only one goal: to see the new possibilities of "humanity" and create a new "chaos" beyond her control. She doesn't care what happens to sorcerers, non-sorcerers, or cursed spirits.

There were no loud gunshots, but everyone heard them.

That wasn't a sound; it was a "pouring out"—making everyone aware of what had just happened in an extremely uncomfortable way, indicating that something bad had occurred.

This time, it was not launching an attack, but rather a 'ritual'.

"Well then, though there have been some twists and turns... 'The Return of Death' officially begins. Everyone is welcome to participate in this game that I created, but which I cannot control!"

The bullets fired into the air did not destroy the city as usual; instead, they disappeared in the sky above the city, and a huge ceremony unfolded centered on the spot where the bullets disappeared.

By combining the purified real-person technique preserved within his body through impeachment with his understanding of barrier techniques as a "user," his will was able to take root in this special way, altering the great barrier originally established by Tengen that covered all of Japan, and directly initiating the Death Annihilation Return.

At the same time, all the cursed objects that had made contracts with him, and those who had been "marked" by him, were resurrected at this moment, inside this barrier, because their brains were modified through the "transformation of non-action".

Some people who possess the techniques but lack the corresponding brain structure will awaken and become true sorcerers.

Finally, all the contracts signed over the millennia were released at this moment, the curse seeped from the earth, and the malice hidden in this land was completely unleashed.

This refers to a total number of over ten million cursed spirits...

Looking at the sorcerers who were forced into the barrier, all of them clearly stunned, Lu Suo's lips curled into a smile.