The little girl, constantly moving through the dim alley, seemed to recall something. She stopped and took out several strange devices from her backpack, resembling cameras or detection equipment, placing them at her feet.
Soon, a tall woman dressed in a worn brown trench coat and covered in bandages appeared at the alley's entrance.
The strangely behaving woman blocked the little girl's exit and walked toward her step by step.
If anyone had been nearby, they would have immediately called the police.
But at this moment, the alley was deserted.
Strangely, the little girl remained silent, staring intently at the eerie woman.
"Am I, am I pretty?"
The surrounding space suddenly turned light blue, and the little girl and the eerie woman seemed to be enclosed in a giant box.
"Emerge from the darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify that which is impure."
The already dim sky seemed to be stained an even darker color, and a curtain that prevented ordinary people from observing was cast by Eichi.
"That's enough. Next up are those professors."
Then Eichi turned his gaze to a truck that had just arrived, where several assistants were unloading experimental equipment.
"This is incredible. It's like frozen space from a sci-fi movie!"
A young male assistant looked excitedly at the Simple Domain released by Kuchisake-onna.
"Could it be that molecular motion is frozen in that space, like absolute zero?"
Another assistant who had just finished setting up the experimental equipment also began to fantasize.
Indeed, superhuman power was a force every young man yearned for.
Having only recently graduated, they were still at an age of innocence and fantasy. With good but not top-tier grades, and no connections to enter their ideal research institutions, they had originally planned to just give up.
Later, they received an interview invitation and, finding several well-known old professors among the staff, decided to try an internship at the Institute of Eastern Folklore for a period.
And then they opened the door to a new world.
"How could it be absolute zero? The air inside is still flowing."
A professor with salt-and-pepper hair next to them raised the detector in his hand.
"You two, stop daydreaming and come help. We're short on time."
"Yes!"
The two glasses-wearing assistants immediately stood at attention and bowed, joining the urgent research.
When they noticed a large tiger, one person tall and three to four meters long, with wings, appearing beside them, their legs trembled with fear.
Smack.
The salt-and-pepper-haired professor slapped both assistants on the head.
"Stop dawdling and hurry up."
"But Professor, there's a tiger over there."
"That's our bodyguard. You just arrived, so you wouldn't know, but we have plenty of these bodyguards."
"Huh?"
The two assistants were a bit dumbfounded, and once they snapped out of it, they worked even harder.
With so many Cursed Spirits, no, Shikigami, in the institute, if they performed well, could they also request one?
At the forefront of the research team, in front of Kuchisake-onna's Simple Domain.
Eichi and Suguru were studying the Simple Domain.
A Cursed Spirit walked up to the Simple Domain and was forced to stop.
A light blue barrier, like transparent glass, blocked its path.
"My Cursed Spirits are completely unable to move. Is this a Domain?"
Suguru was trying to control the Cursed Spirits inside the barrier to break free from Kuchisake-onna's Simple Domain.
"This is still an incomplete Domain. If it were complete, Kuchisake-onna wouldn't be a semi–Special Grade Cursed Spirit, but a true Special Grade."
Eichi interjected.
Eichi had also let Kuro test the hardness of the Simple Domain, finding that Kuro's strength could break it from the outside.
However, Eichi wasn't in a hurry. On one hand, Suguru's Cursed Spirits might get a little injured, but there was no life-threatening danger.
On the other hand, the professors and scholars behind them were enthusiastically researching, so there was no need to defeat Kuchisake-onna so quickly.
Once she was subdued by Suguru, opportunities for research would be scarce.
Suguru had to attend high school and take on requests to exorcise Cursed Spirits, so his time at the institute was very limited.
If it were weaker Grade 2 or Grade 3 Cursed Spirits, Suguru could simply throw them to the institute for the scholars and professors to research at their leisure. But a semi–Special Grade could not be casually left at the institute.
If it accidentally triggered an attack, his order to stop it from far away at school might not even arrive in time.
So, for now, let these scholars and professors research a bit longer.
As for the Cursed Spirit inside, there was no fear at all.
The little girl inside was a Special Grade Cursed Spirit skilled in transformation.
Kuchisake-onna was rated as semi–Special Grade mainly due to the guaranteed-hit attack brought by her Simple Domain.
This attack was very dangerous for Jujutsu Sorcerers. One careless mistake could cost them their life.
But for a Special Grade Cursed Spirit, it was nothing.
Although it didn't have a Domain, its inherent strength was truly Special Grade. While Kuchisake-onna's attack was painful, it was difficult to threaten the life of a Special Grade.
The scene became eerily quiet.
The effect of the Simple Domain was to open a field where they could not attack each other.
In this Domain, Kuchisake-onna would question her target. Once the target answered the question, she would launch her attack.
She would summon several giant scissors to cut the opponent to pieces.
Unfortunately, in the original story, Kuchisake-onna encountered Toji.
Toji had a complete Heavenly Restriction, with zero Cursed Energy.
For a Domain, he was an unrecognizable transparent person, just like trees and stones on the roadside.
This was also why Toji was able to knock down all of the scissors before the scissor attack landed.
The Domain could not recognize Toji, so the guaranteed-hit attack failed. Kuchisake-onna had to manually control the scissors to attack him. Therefore, although the attack was launched, it lost its guaranteed-hit property, and Toji could treat it as a normal attack.
Speaking of which, Suguru was quite unlucky. The two ace Cursed Spirits during his second year of high school, the Special Grade Rainbow Dragon known for its physical strength, and Kuchisake-onna, powerful due to her Simple Domain's guaranteed hit, were both completely countered by Toji.
The Rainbow Dragon was cut by the Soul Release Blade, which ignored hardness, and Kuchisake-onna's strongest ability, a guaranteed hit usable only once per battle, was rendered ineffective.
Just as Eichi's thoughts drifted far away, Kuchisake-onna, who had been silent for a long time, finally made a new move.
She felt insulted.
In the past, everyone who encountered her screamed and ran away. Even those who could defeat her fought with fear in their hearts.
But what were these people around her?
The little girl in front of her had been staring at her expressionlessly for over an hour without saying a single word.
Are you mute?
And the two people behind her were actually critiquing her right to her face.
The curious stares from dozens of meters behind her, as if they wanted to strip her bare and study her, were even more unbearable.
As an existence that had lasted for over twenty years and reached the strength of a semi–Special Grade, Kuchisake-onna was clearly not brainless.
And so, the not-so-bright Kuchisake-onna became enraged.
Her bandage-wrapped mouth opened, revealing a bloody maw filled with sharp teeth, split to her ears.
The light blue Simple Domain disappeared, and the scissors that had surrounded the little girl descended upon her.
As the scissors fell, Kuchisake-onna wasn't idle either. The small scissors in her hand grew larger, and she turned to stab at Eichi.
In her perception, this human held the most ill will toward her.
Eichi, who had just mentally reviewed all the methods netizens from his previous life used to deal with Kuchisake-onna: ???
(To be continued.)