Curse Return: Swordsmith Start

"I am now arresting you in the name of a Level 1 High-Level Sorcerer. Your reckless actions have awakened a curse that poses a great threat to the world. Although it is currently dormant within you, no one can predict what will happen next. Therefore, as a member of an official agency, I require you to come with us for evaluation. Do you understand?"

"Huh? An official organization?"

Tiger was bewildered by the massive amount of information he had been bombarded with in a single day. What was going on? Was he about to be arrested? Was his bright future about to be ruined?

The Yue people continued calmly.

"Fukuguro should have told you about the curse. We sorcerers are like the 'police' of the other side of the world. Your actions are equivalent to releasing a heinous death row inmate. Although there was an element of emergency avoidance in the process, we still need to make this trip. So, what's your answer?"

"I see, well then it is indeed my problem."

As expected, it was the responsible and righteous boy. Yue Ren's analogy gave this boy, who was originally clueless about what had happened, a general idea. If what the boy in front of him said was true, then although he was somewhat wronged, he had indeed made a big mistake.

His inner kindness compelled him to obey the Yue people's arrangements; this was the true nature of the boy's soul—a truly kind and gentle person.

Yue Ren nodded slightly, then turned to look at Fu Hei Hui.

"Take him back. Remember to call Gojo Satoru first. Without him, Itadori will most likely be sentenced to death. I'll continue to investigate here for a while."

"Yes, Senior Yue Ren."

He had originally wanted to ask his senior to think of a way to save Huzhang, but now he realized there was no need. Yue Ren had obviously seen through his thoughts and pointed him in the right direction. Asking that person for help should solve the problem.

"Um..."

Hu Zhang hesitated for a moment, but Yue Ren understood what he wanted to say and spoke directly without giving him a chance.

"I've already left those two students at the school gate. Don't worry, I've already dealt with them. Whether you send them home or somewhere else is up to you."

"OK."

"Thanks!"

Actually, Tiger wanted to ask if he had agreed too quickly, since the man had just mentioned "death penalty"...

However, judging from how the other party treated his two seniors, he doesn't seem to be a bad person. In that case, let's just leave it at that.

Seeing the boy's relieved smile, Yue Ren said nothing more.

He took a step forward and fell from the edge of the seven-story-high rooftop.

Yuji Itadori rushed to the edge and looked down in surprise.

Under the moonlight, the figure landed steadily on the ground without stirring up a speck of dust. He stood up straight, put his hands in his pockets, and walked into another building in the school without looking back.

Watching that receding figure, Huzhang stood there stunned for a long time.

Then he turned to look at Fushiguro Megumi.

"I haven't asked this person since the beginning... who is this?"

He then realized that he didn't even seem to know the other person's name.

Fushiguro Megumi paused for a moment.

"Kawasaki Etsuto, a senior of mine who was a year ahead of me in junior college."

His voice was very soft, as if he were telling a secret that couldn't be spoken aloud.

"The strongest artifact blacksmith in the world of sorcery."

Hisahito Itadori blinked, then he smiled.

That smile was radiant, as radiant as the moonlight in May.

"I don't really understand it, but that person seems really amazing."

On the other side, the Yue people, having finished showing off, carefully examined every corner of the school, trying to find some clues left by the enemy, but unsurprisingly, they failed.

It can only be said that Lu Suo truly lives up to his reputation as a cunning old fox who has lived for thousands of years; he is quite adept at counter-surveillance.

Unable to meet his expectations, Yue Ren had no choice but to give up. After removing the traces of the curse from the school, he returned to the vocational college.

Let's leave Tiger's matter to Gojo. Consider it punishment for his irresponsibility this time. If nothing unexpected happens, Gojo Satoru should act as originally planned.

Joining a vocational college was, in a sense, inevitable for "Tiger Emperor".

As for myself... I need to keep an eye on two sides: Hu Zi and Xia Youjie. Both of them are pawns that those guys might contact. Xia Youjie has a backup plan, so I should focus more on Hu Zi.

After all, the main plot unfolds on Hu Zi's side. Xia Youjie's main concern is not to be surrounded by the enemy. This way, he should be able to see the "real person." Once he achieves complete "non-action transformation," his puzzle pieces will be basically complete.

At that point, he will have the upper hand in the situation, and he may be able to use the subsequent return from the dead to make a move.

However, they still had to be careful. The situation was a bit different now. The cursed spirit that Fuhei and the others had just encountered suddenly had the strength of a special-grade being. This was not normal at all. There must have been some unknown changes.

On the other hand, the recent contact had given Yue Ren a basic understanding of Su Nuo. In short, he was a guy who cared little about anything except killing and fighting; a pure killer.

In terms of alignment, he should be "Chaotic Evil," which is fundamentally different from a "Lawful Evil" schemer like Luso. He's the kind of guy that both good and evil would find troublesome.

This is why he didn't hesitate to abandon his previous fighting style and instead trash-talked while fighting.

He wanted to test the other party's personality and see if he could provoke him, but it was clear that the guy was not the kind of opponent who would be affected by such petty tricks. In addition, given the other party's learning ability, Yue Ren had already confirmed that if he were to be fully resurrected, he would indeed be a very troublesome opponent.

He may not have any scheming tricks, but his opponent has a very high combat intelligence and is a madman.

In a sense, if it weren't for himself and Gojo Satoru, the higher-ups' decision to immediately execute Itadori Hisahito would have been the best course of action for the people of this country.

The Shibuya Incident that followed the original storyline has already fully illustrated the issue.

Tiger is a ticking time bomb right now, so it's necessary to keep an eye on him. It's because Rōsō understands this that, in the original story, after completing the flesh-receiving process, he directly handed Tiger Staff over to Gojō Sō. Perhaps there really is some 'family affection' involved? After all, Tiger can indeed be considered as someone 'she's' child, born after ten months of pregnancy.

After leaving Tiger's school, Yue Ren headed home.

Unbeknownst to him, thousands of miles away, several figures were leisurely vacationing in a special area.

A peaceful beach with a few deck chairs set up on the sand, where several figures were lying comfortably, which seemed a bit strange.

He held several photos in his hand, which clearly showed footage of the Yue people being searched by CCTV while they were searching for Hu Zi School.

"Hey, this guy's really cautious. Could it be that he's noticed something?"

A mocking voice rang out first. The owner of the voice was a humanoid creature, but unlike ordinary people, his body was covered with scars that looked like they had been stitched up, as if he had been dismembered and then stitched back together.

"After all, it's a top-grade cursed spirit, so it's understandable that there are questions. But don't worry, nothing will be left at the scene. I'm quite confident about that."

A woman's voice, hidden in the shadows, rang out—a voice so beautiful that just hearing it made you imagine the speaker was a great beauty.

"Hmph, Gojo Satoru is one thing, but this guy is just a student, is it really necessary to be so cautious?"

His tone was like that of a man in his thirties or forties, and his voice carried a lot of doubt.

The problem is that the other party doesn't seem like a normal person at all. Although it has human-like limbs, its head is indescribably strange. The top of its head looks like a volcano, and the holes where its ears are are plugged with two stoppers, like the neck of a wine bottle.

Even more amazing is that his eyes are not in the position of a normal person's two eyes. Instead, he has one big, slightly comical eye, like a monster named Garen Q.

Clearly, these creatures are not human, but cursed spirits.

"It's a bit complicated to explain, but let's just say it this way: perhaps it was because of him that the 'impeachment' was born. Do you understand, Water Clock?"

The gentle female voice explained calmly that the scenes that would make ordinary people fantasize were of no use to these 'monsters'.

Upon hearing this, the other human and the four strange figures unconsciously turned their gazes to one of the figures, their partner, a partner who had just been born.

The companion being watched was equally strange, only a little odd; the other party seemed more like a cartoon character that would appear in an anime, not at all like a brutal cursed spirit.

The few spirits who knew about this partner's strength and potential fell silent at the same time, mostly in disbelief.

This new partner was once considered their hope for the cursed spirit, but the "partner" in front of them actually said that this kid was actually its counterpart?

"Really?"

"Hehehe, I can only say that the probability is very high. Although he was the one who proposed this law, I still find it quite fitting. Just like Ryoumen Sukuna is compared to the strongest jujutsu master, Gojo Satoru, from my observation, his influence on jujutsu masters is similar to the influence of 'impeachment' on you."

"Didn't you guys also notice that those low-level sorcerers were harder to kill recently? A large part of that was thanks to him. For example, those weapons that are natural counters to 'Spellcasters' were made by him."

"I see. So, what level is his strength at?"

As the temporary "leader" among these cursed spirits, Louhu understood reality better than the others and quickly accepted it. It didn't matter; since the other party was human, they were the enemy, and there was nothing more to say. What was most important to consider now was whether the other party was powerful.

"I'm not entirely sure, which is why I've been avoiding him. Even within the college, there's very little information about him. He's usually very low-key, but based on his level as a first-class sorcerer, he should at least have the strength to deal with 'Special Grade' sorcerers. Moreover, considering the existence of Gojo Satoru and the fact that he's special, assassinating him would alert the enemy. I don't think it's a good idea to take action against that boy beforehand."

"Just like dealing with Gojo Satoru requires a special method, we also need to be careful with this one. The safest way is to let the 'impeachment' that controls the domain deal with him."

"What about the vessel for the Su Nuo ritual? Since it's such an important vessel, why isn't it under our control?"

The water clock nodded, but then raised another question.

He couldn't understand the other party's manipulation of Yuujin Itadori. The goal of "replacing humans with curses" required the resurrection of the curse king, Sukuna Ryoumen. In that case, as a vessel, wouldn't it be safest to keep Yuujin Itadori under his control?

The woman's voice chuckled.

Although these cursed spirits were still short-sighted, she patiently and gently explained that this was the quality she had always shown to her "clients" over the past thousand years.

"Given Gojo Satoru's personality, he would give all the fingers he collected at the high school to Itadori, which would save us some effort."

"More importantly, we need to understand that Sukuna is not our friend. He doesn't care whether you are human or a cursed spirit when he kills you. So Yuujin Itadori is more like a time bomb. It doesn't matter who has it at the moment. The key is how to use this bomb to explode... You don't want to be affected by this bomb, do you?"

"..."

The several male spirits remained silent, clearly having been persuaded, to which the female voice smiled slightly.

"So, let's remain hidden for a while longer. The right time requires patience, everyone!"

Higher vocational college.

When Fushiguro Megumi told Gojo Satoru about the matter, it unsurprisingly piqued his interest. After testing him, the guy, who was in high spirits, directly invited Itadori to join the high school. Ultimately, after "friendly negotiations" with the higher-ups, Itadori was unsurprisingly sentenced to "death with reprieve".

Uruga, Fushiguro, and the newly discovered Kugizaki Nobara together form the new class of first-year students following Otsuko and the others.

Unfortunately, the new students led by Gojo Satoru did not have a welcoming ceremony, only a trial mission.

Before the three of them could even enter the classroom together for class, they were immediately dragged off to do a task. To be honest, Yue Ren was still quite confused by this move. Although practice makes perfect, Gojo Satoru, you've gone a bit overboard with this method.

They don't even teach the most basic things before doing this kind of thing. Do they really think everyone is a genius like Yi Gu?

With the three of them, including Tiger, whom they had just met, Gojo Satoru arrived at an abandoned building on the outskirts of Tokyo, next to a cemetery.

He discovered this while passing by. There was a relatively weak cursed spirit inside, which he felt would be perfect for the two newcomers to practice on and test their strength.

So Tiger teamed up with the new girl, Wild Rose. As for Fukuro, the cursed spirits here couldn't harm him in his current state, and Gojo knew Fukuro's level, so there was no need for him.

However, Gojo Satoru wasn't completely indifferent to the newcomer's life or death. Just before Tiger was about to go in, he handed Tiger a short sword.

"This is?"

Looking at the exquisite short knife in his hand, Tiger was slightly amazed, because even he, an outsider, felt that the workmanship of this thing was very exquisite, it was simply like a work of art.

Kugizaki, standing nearby, was also drawn to the exquisite appearance of the short sword, thanks to her special technique and familiarity with cursed tools.

Behind him, Fushiguro Megumi hesitated, wanting to say something but holding back. He was now more curious about how Gojo-sensei had obtained this thing, since he simply couldn't imagine the scene of Etsu-senpai handing the thing to the guy in front of him.