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The evening soon arrived, Naoya went back to his house and changed into a much more comfortable outfit for fighting. The school uniform was not upto his taste for combat purposes. Too restrictive.
He stood in front of the stairs leading to the school and waited for Kuroko and Utahimie to arrive.
The one who arrived first was Kuroko with a cursed tool strapped to his waist.
Naoya observed the weapon, and it was a dagger, roughly a Grade-3 cursed tool.
"Where did you get that from?" asked Naoya.
"Nagino-sensei lent it to me," replied Kuroko.
"That won't be very helpful against Semi-Grade 1 cursed spirits. Here, take this," said Naoya and partially summoned Zankyo to make a Grade-2 cursed dagger for Kuroko.
Kuroko took the weapon from Naoya and observed it, and just from a glance, he could tell that this one was a much better weapon.
"Thank You."
"Welcome. Be careful out there. We will be there to look after stuff, but accidents can happen. The only one you can absolutely depend on is yourself. So be prepared," said Naoya in a serious tone.
Kuroko looked at the dagger in his hand and gulped. He knew that the field that he opted for was vastly different and more dangerous than what he usually did, and in all honesty, he was scared of dying. He heard what Nagino and the principal were talking about, and the possibility of dying during missions was very high.
"I will do my best," replied Kuroko.
"Don't get too nervous. Just do your best. I will try to let you get as much as you can while making sure that you remain safe," said Naoya, trying to reassure the boy.
"Hmm."
The two waited a few minutes more, and Utahime arrived. With all of them gathered the got in the car and headed towards the site.
On their way, the personnel from the Jujutsu division briefed them about the mission.
The place they were heading to was a village on the outskirts, where an abandoned funeral site was sealed by the locals because of a tragedy that had taken place, and was being reopened for construction.
The workers who entered the site to work reported supernatural events happening there, such as getting lost and not being able to leave the site for multiple days. Those who did leave somehow were badly wounded.
The sorcerers who did a reconnaissance of the area mentioned that they were not able to map out the layout and that their shikigami, too, were not able to return. Right now, judging by the cursed energy levels that were detected around the site, the expected rank was given a Semi Grade-1, but no actual analysis could be done.
"That explains why three of us were deployed," muttered Utahime.
Just being a strong sorcerer was not enough if you never got to fight against the cursed spirit. If the sense of navigation is lost in the spirit's territory, then having more sorcerers explore the area was a better choice, since that gives the sorcerers more chances for the encounter.
This also meant that it involved the risk of more sorcerers dying, but that was their best course of action.
Naoya thought for a while and concluded.
"Should I just bomb the entire site?" muttered Naoya.
"NO!" retorted Utahime and smacked Naoya.
A solid shadow materialised around the spot she was going to hit and protected Naoya.
"Think about it. Going in is risky. If there is no site left, we don't need to go in. Think about it for a second," said Naoya.
Kuroko thought about it for a while and gave a light smack on his palm.
"I see. That does seem like a good idea," muttered Kuroko.
"No, it does not!!!" complained Utahime.
The first years looked at their senior and thought that she was being too unreasonable.
"You don't just destroy the house to kill a cockroach. It's just like that," said Utahime, trying to make sense to her juniors.
"I see.....we bomb the site twice just to be sure that the cockroach is dead," said Kuroko.
"Yup. You are learning well, Tetsuya-kun. As expected of senpai. You explained it so well," said Naoya.
"No, you idiots!" complained Utahime.
Naoya laughed at her reaction while Kuroko just looked confused. Was he wrong?
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After doing a back and forth for a while, the three of them finally arrived at the site.
Utahime was already feeling mentally drained from her banter with her juniors; she could have dropped their idiotic thoughts as just them messing around, but from her experience, she knew that many sorcerers were quite eccentric and could literally mean what others might say as a joke.
Naoya looked at the site and could certainly feel the eeriness from the site. Broken stairs, burnt torii gates, and, on a closer look, some bones sticking out of the ground.
He looked at the jujutsu division personnel who were keeping guard and had maintained the curtain around the site and asked.
"What exactly happened here? Why was it sealed in the first place?"
One of them looked at Naoya and gave a respectful nod, which Naoya returned.
"From the intel gathered, during the renovation of this place, one of the graves was damaged, and some of the villagers got angry and came in to protest against the authorities and during some heated back and fort the site got caught up in flames. No one at that time was able to escape, and the people in there died. The rest of the villagers decided to seal this site, and a sorcerer from that time sealed it, considering the possibility of curse womb formation. Recently, seeing that no issues happened, the site was set for restoration, but then the possible cursed spirit events started happening."
Naoya and Utahime listened intently. This was screaming cursed spirit involvement from the start when the fire burnt all those people.
Utahime looked at the site and thought about the number of people who died in the fire and the amount of resentment that might have caused. It was a miracle that no serious cursed spirit activity was happening for the time being, and only started just recently.
"What do you guys say? Bombing option is still there," said Naoya.
"Would you stop with that idea. We are not going to bomb the entire site," said Utahime with a serious tone.
Naoya shrugged and stepped forward, and got closer to the entrance of the funeral site. He looked at the entrance for a while and made a hand sign.
[Rabbit Escape]
Maou, the rabbit leader, jumped out of the shadows and landed on Naoya's shoulder.
"Maou, send a squad for reconnaissance of the site."
The rabbit leader nodded, and a moment later, a hundred rabbits jumped out of its body and rushed into the site.
Naoya looked at the rabbits for a while, but suddenly noticed that they were acting strangely and moving haphazardly.
Naoya looked at Maou, who looked at its subordinates with surprise. He suddenly could no longer sense what the rabbits were feeling, and the information he was getting from them was also incomprehensible.
Maou was about to call them back, but Naoya raised his hand to stop him.
The rabbits that seemed to crash into something mysteriously passed through the objects, and in a few moments, Naoya could no longer spot any rabbits.
"Are they alive?" asked Naoya.
Maou checked once and gave a nod.
"Tell them to explode the moment they are about to die."
Maou nodded and gave the orders to the other rabbits.
Just within a few seconds, the sound of an explosion came.
"Yup. Something's in there," noted Naoya.
"Seems like a cursed technique is in effect on the entire site..." muttered Utahime.
"Seeing how the rabbits were acting and how they passed through the objects, my guess is probably a sensory or a terrain affecting technique. Maybe both," added Naoya.
While they were talking, another explosion occured alarming the sorcerers.
"...Is the spirit alone? That sound came from a different direction?" asked Kuroko.
"Can't say. The sense-affecting technique is still in play. Might be the same curse moving around. That will be the best case," explained Utahime.
Naoya gave a nod as well, agreeing with Utahime. In a place where they don't know where they need to go or how their senses will work, having multiple enemies ambush them would be more dangerous.
"So....we are going to enter?" asked Kuroko.
"We need to..." muttered Utahime as another explosion was heard.
The three of them stood in front of the entrance as Naoya took the first step forward.
The moment he took a step inside, the entire layout of the area changed. The paths were disjointed, some obstacles blocked the paths and much more.
Without any further thought, he stepped back, and the layout returned to what he saw before, and he immediately raised his hands to stop the other two from entering.
"The layout of the land changes the moment you enter. Be careful," warned Naoya.
Utahime and Kuroko gave a nod and got wary of the place.
The three of them entered together, and the layout of the place changed for each of them differently.
They tried to inform the other two, but each of them was not able to spot the other.
Utahime and Kuroko panicked, but out of nowhere, a hand grabbed them.
"Kyaa!!!" screamed Utahime.
"Wahh!!!" screamed Kuroko, and the two of them were pulled away.
"Relax, it's me," said Naoya, the one who pulled them out of the area.
"Huh....don't scare me like that!!!!" complained Utahime.
Kuroko was holding his chest. This was quite a scary situation for him.
"Anyway, seems like once we go in, the layout of the place changes and we won't be able to see each other either. I just moved my hand to see if you two were still there, and thankfully, you were," said Naoya, and started thinking.
After thinking for a while, Naoya got an idea, and his shadow started moving.
A black rope-like shadow emerged from Naoya's shadow and wrapped itself around Kuroko's and Utahime's waist.
"We won't know where we will be heading once we are in there, and moving together will be difficult and pointless. The moment you two encounter a curse, use your cursed energy and give this shadow rope a pull. I will do the same. It will extend as long as you are moving, so don't worry about getting stuck. Also, take two of these rabbits with you each. If you get into a predicament. Throw these at the enemy and let them explode," said Naoya as two rabbits jumped on top of Utahime's and Kuroko's shoulders.
Maou gave the other rabbits their order, making the subordinate rabbits salute their boss.
Once the preparation was done, the three of them entered the abandoned funeral site.
.
.
.
It has been ten minutes since the three of them entered, and apart from the occasional explosion, no sound has been heard. No curse was in his sight, nor the rope's been pulled.
"How vast is this place?" muttered Naoya and kept looking around, trying to sense the cursed spirit.
Cupcake and Frosting were out as well, keeping their senses and guards up to find and deal with the prey.
While moving, he kept checking the shadow rope and could feel the solid shadow's movement.
The two of them were quite far away in completely different directions, or so Naoya could perceive. The sense of direction was totally wacky in here after all.
Suddenly, another explosion occured and this time Naoya felt a tug in his shadow rope.
Not wasting any moment, Naoya called in the dogs and the rabbit, before jumping inside his shadow and travelling straight towards the person who gave the tug.
In a different location, Kuroko, who was checking out the surroundings, suddenly felt eeriness creeping closer to him.
With a gulp, he held the daggers firmly and looked around.
"Ki Ki Ki"
A sound echoed in the surroundings, making Kuroko's fear increase.
He looked around and didn't see anything, but could still hear the sounds around him.
Not knowing what to do, Kuroko used his cursed technique [Dead Space] and closed his eyes.
In an instant, the echoing sounds stopped.
"Ki? KIIIIII!!!!!"
A loud screech came, making Kuroko peek and to his surprise, the twisted routes seemed to have disappeared, and instead, he found himself standing in one of the corners of the site.
However, the thing that surprised him the most was the cursed spirit that was looking around, seeming enraged, and trying to find something.
"Is it looking for me?" muttered Kuroko, though no voice reached the curse thanks to his cursed technique.
The cursed spirit's technique seemed to have stopped working on him since he used his own technique.
"Meaning, he can use that technique only on things that could be sensed..." muttered Kuroko and got closer to the spirit.
Looking at its grotesque body made him flinch a bit, though he still steeled his resolve and used his cursed energy to strengthen the dagger that Naoya gave him and slashed the cursed spirit.
Adding the delay effect from his technique, Kuroko moved away from the curse and waited for the attack finally be perceived by it, making the curse scream.
"KIII!!!!" screamed the curse in pain.
It turned around in anger, trying to find the culprit, though no one was there.
While he was looking behind him, another attack landed on him making him scream once again and the cycle continued for a while.
Kuroko, now feeling confident in himself, failed to notify Naoya about the curse and was about to jump in for another attack, but suddenly, the curse's eyes, by coincidence, met his, breaking the effect of his technique, and the curse's sensory distortion technique kicked in, making the curse vanish from Kuroko's sight.
Kuroko was about to shut his eyes again, but the Semi-Grade 1 curse was faster and attacked the human who seemed to be the one responsible for his injuries.
A heavy blow struck Kuroko's body, sending the young sorcerer flying and smashing into a tree.
Widening his eyes from the pain, Kuroko felt blood dripping down his head.
Not wanting to be hurt more, Kuroko activated his technique once again and rolled away from his spot. A moment later, Kuroko heard a crashing sound and peeked once again, only to see the curse attacking the place where he was.
With his technique active, he was once again out of the curse's technique's effect, and this time decided to call for help.
With cursed energy coating his hand, he firmly tugged the shadowy rope around his waist multiple times.
The curse kept looking around, trying to find Kuroko, but the boy just kept his guard up, ready to strike once he got an opening.
Though before the two of them could spot each other, a new person entered their view.
"I am here!" declared Naoya, jumping out of the shadows.
"Huh?" "Ki?"
The curse and Kuroko muttered simultaneously, surprised by Naoya's entry.
Naoya could not see anyone near him. The only reason he announced his entry like that was to cause a momentary pause and check if someone needed saving, though now that he was there, he could not find anyone.
The curse reacted faster than Kuroko and lunged at Naoya.
Kuroko tried to warn Naoya, but since his technique was active, Naoya could not hear anything.
Kuroko looked in horror as the cure's claws inched closer to Naoya.
"Boo." muttered Naoya as he suddenly turned around and landed a solid punch on the curse, sending it crashing through.
Kuroko looked in surprise, wondering how Naoya knew that the curse was there. The curse had the same thoughts? Was the human able to see it?
Naoya was looking at the curse but was not able to actually 'see' it. He sensed the curse earlier when the spirit touched Naoya's shadow, informing Naoya of the movement and letting him react.
Utilizing that moment, Naoya had already tagged the curse's shadow with his solid shadow and could roughly sense where the curse was, since his sense of direction for him was still wacky.
"Well, let's not delay it longer," muttered Naoya, not wanting to do the trial and error menthod. The curse's shadow was already tagged, so without any hesitation, he used his technique.
[Cursed Technique Reversal: Shadow Containment]
The curse's body got pulled inside the shadows, where it was being torn apart by the shadows.
The curse tried to scream and get out of the shadow realm, though Naoya's shadows kept breaking and tearing its body apart.
A moment later, the technique finished what it was doing, and the entire layout returned to normal for him.
"Well, there's that. Now, who was the one who called me? Considering I am not seeing anyone, it should be Tetsuya-kun, right?" asked Naoya and looked around.
"Yes," replied Kuroko, deactivating his technique.
"You okay?" asked Naoya, looking at the bleeding forehead and partially summoned Senzu to heal him.
"Yes. Thank you," replied Kuroko gratefully.
"Mention not. So how was your first mission?"
"Terrible."
"Haha. You will get used to it. Anyway, let's get Senpai and get out of here," said Naoya and started following the rope that was connected to Utahime.
On their way, they spotted multiple signs of fighting, and the moment they spotted the familiar miko outfit, they saw who was the reason behind the fighting.
There seemed to have been another cursed spirit lurking around that attacked Utahime, and right now, there was a fight going on between the two.
Naoya looked at them and sensed that the spirit was around Grade-2 level, which was not an issue for Utahime, who was actually beating the crap out of the spirit pretty brutally at that.
Still, because of the spirit's size, just reinforced blows were not going to end it anytime soon. And the miko could feel that as well.
"Whatever, it was for an emergency anyway. Here, take this! Rabbit bomb attack!" yelled the priestess and threw the two rabbits that Naoya gave her at the curse.
The rabbits immediately sprang into action and made their way towards the curse's head and blew up, destroying the damaged curse in a single attack.
"How was that!!!!" cheered Utahime with delight, unknown to the fact that a Special Grade Sorcerer recorded her 'Rabbit Bomb attack' scene.