Fuso Nation, Sugisawa City. A construction site at night.
A silver-white full moon hung high in the sky, obscured by roiling black clouds that choked off what little moonlight might have reached the earth below.
A humanoid monster covered head to toe in dark brown eyeballs stood atop the rubble of the construction site. Its massive mouth secreted a horrifying corrosive fluid that dripped onto the ground.
Sizzle! Sizzle!
The ground corroded into pits of varying sizes, releasing waves of putrid stench like a worm freshly crawled from the sewers.
The nauseating creature stood roughly three meters tall, a grotesque giant.
Across from it stood a tall, lean young man.
Jet-black hair cascaded loosely over his shoulders. He wore casual clothes, hands tucked in his pockets, and lifted his head casually. Silver-white pupils reflected the monster's form.
Against such a towering beast, the six-foot youth seemed small as an infant.
"A Grade 4 cursed spirit? Disappointing." Ryder regarded the creature before him with calm detachment, his phoenix eyes flashing crimson for a brief moment.
Greed flickered across the monster's dark brown pupils.
"Fix the pipes! Fix them today!"
"If you don't fix them, don't bother going home!"
A grotesque chorus of overlapping male voices barked accusations, echoing with an eerie resonance.
BOOM!
The monster charged straight at Ryder. Its massive body shook the ground with every thunderous step.
"Fix the pipes! FIX THEM!"
CRASH!
The cursed spirit barreled forward like a heavy tank, carrying enough force to crush an ordinary person into paste.
"Heh." Facing the terrible monster, Ryder's lips curled into a disdainful smirk.
Whoosh!
He tapped his foot lightly. The cross pendant at his neck emitted a faint glow. In the instant before the Grade 4 curse collided with him, his form blurred into an afterimage.
THUD!
The curse's massive body smashed straight through a concrete wall, reducing it to powder. Dust filled the air, shrouding the creature's enormous frame.
"Grr... grr..."
The monster scratched its head in confusion. That boy, who clearly had no cursed energy whatsoever, had easily dodged its attack. The Grade 4 curse's already limited brain struggled to process what just happened.
Jujutsu sorcerers and curses had been locked in battle for thousands of years.
Humans without cursed energy were food. Prey.
Yet this seemingly ordinary boy had vanished from sight in the blink of an eye.
The monster's countless eyeballs swiveled frantically, searching for the youth's position. Suddenly, a mocking voice whispered in its ear.
"Looking for me?"
That voice was like a devil's murmur from the depths of hell. Even this low-grade curse, which should have felt nothing, trembled involuntarily.
"Fix... fix it! If you don't fix..."
The low-grade curse's limited intelligence could only parrot the resentment from which it was born.
"A curse born from a boss's relentless nagging? I wonder what you taste like."
Ryder had somehow appeared atop the monster's head. He laced his fingers together, speaking to himself as if contemplating a meal.
He looked at the cursed spirit the way one might eye a delicious dish.
ROAR!
The Grade 4 curse swung its massive palm upward, fury erupting as it struck viciously toward its own head.
Violent wind pressure rippled outward.
Standing atop the monster's head, Ryder didn't dodge or evade. The gale whipped his hair wildly.
"FIX IT! FIX IT!"
"Gluttonous Devourer!"
BOOM!
RUMBLE!
Just as the curse roared, Ryder coldly spread his interlaced fingers and opened his mouth slightly. In an instant, a terrifying suction force erupted from within, sweeping forth like a hurricane.
RUMBLE!
"Fix... fix..." The curse couldn't even complete a full sentence.
The next moment, its massive body deflated like a punctured balloon. The dark brown eyeballs lost all color, crumbling like weathered plastic toys.
Plop! Plop!
Countless eyeballs fell from the curse's body.
The cursed energy accumulated within its form was extracted by Ryder through some bizarre method and drawn into his abdomen.
One breath later, the Grade 4 curse disintegrated like burnt paper, scattering in the wind.
Ryder's face bore an expression of satisfaction.
He murmured to himself.
"Chocolate flavor. Not bad."
The terrifying curse had been nothing more than a child's toy before Ryder. No—more accurately, it was like a dish at an all-you-can-eat buffet, ready to be consumed at will.
"The Gluttonous Devourer hasn't disappointed me."
"Open status panel." Ryder spoke the command in his mind.
Divine Forge: Complete — 100% progress
Gluttonous Devourer: Beginner — 9% progress
Windcaller's Gate: Locked
Spectral Command: Locked
Dual Mastery: Locked
Heavenly Sigil: Locked
Omniscient Eye: Locked
Origin Flow: Locked