The Devils of Jujutsu

Chapter 43: Progress

(Noelle's p.o.v.)

It's been 4 months since I started learning jujutsu under Junpei, and I had learned the basics and how to fight hand to hand pretty quickly. When I learned the basics, Junpei took me to a house outside of Nean village on my day off. "Junpei, why are we here?" I asked. "I've been told that cursed spirits are residing in this abandoned house. From what I sensed, they're just Grade 4 curses, so it would be a good experience for you. I'll put up a veil around the property, and you exorcise the cursed spirits inside." He explained, but there was one thing I didn't get. "What's a veil?" "A veil is a commonly used barrier in jujutsu sorcery. It not only conceals us from people on the outside, but it can also make curses visible to people with average cursed energy as well as trap your target inside." I was intrigued by that, and I asked, "Is it hard to learn?" He replied, "No, it's actually a basic generic technique that any sorcerer can learn. I'll show you how to do it later on, but let's focus on the exorcism." I nodded, he made a hand sign with his right hand and chanted:

"Emerge from darkness, blacker still, purify that which is impure."

With that, a black mass appeared in the sky above the house and started spreading out to cover the perimeter of the property. Junpei said, "Good luck, Noelle." I nodded and went inside before the veil had completely formed. Before going in the building, I looked back to see the barrier and I thought, 'It looks like day had turned to night.' I turned to the house and went in and saw two small unusual creatures in the living room. They hissed at me, seeing that I was a threat them. Knowing that they were likely going to attack me, I channeled cursed energy into my fists and readied myself for what would happen. The curses flew at me and I grabbed both of their heads and tightened my grip until they were crushed. A second after they were killed, they vanished. 'Junpei was right, cursed spirits do disappear when you kill them.' I thought. I turned my attention back to the task at hand and went through the house looking for any cursed spirits still in the house. As I went through the halls, I sensed some powerful cursed energy coming from the master bedroom. I went towards where the ominous aura was coming from and saw that it was in the closet. I opened the door and found on the top shelf, a box with talismans sealing the lid shut, that was emitting the cursed energy. I pulled the box of the shelf and decided to bring it with me to ask Junpei what it was. I looked around for another 10 minutes to see if there were any curses left inside and found nothing. I went outside and got out of the veil. Junpei saw me, took down the barrier and walked over to me. "How many curses were in there?" He asked me. I replied, "Just two, and I also found this box." He looked at it and he sensed the energy it was giving off. Junpei said, "From the amount of cursed energy it's emitting, it's safe to say it's a Special Grade Cursed object." I asked, "Cursed Object?" He explained, "A curse that exists as an object rather than a spirit. Unlike cursed tools which are imbued with curses, actual curses are bound to jujutsu artifacts, that's a cursed object. And this is a Special Grade, meaning it's extremely dangerous. Cursed spirits are attracted to it like sharks to blood. If they swallow it, it will become even stronger than they were before." I was disturbed not only by the fact, that a spirit more powerful than the Wizard King was in the item I was holding at the time, but also that I was practically curse bait while I was holding it. I asked, "What should we do with it?" He replied, "I'll contact my superiors and have them send someone to come and take it to be sealed." I was confused by the fact that he would recommend it be sealed instead of destroy it right then and there. "But if it's so dangerous, wouldn't it make sense to destroy it immediately?" I asked him. Junpei replied, "We can't destroy it, the curse is just that powerful. Instead, we use a pact to keep it from drawing cursed spirits to it." I remembered him telling me that a pact or binding vow was one of the key factors of jujutsu.

"That aside, you did a good job on your first exorcism, but don't get too confident. Remember there are cursed spirits much stronger than what you've just seen." Junpei reminded me of the dangers of fighting cursed spirits. I nodded and we went back to our training grounds a ways from the Black Bulls base.

Time skip 1 week

A week after my first exorcism, Junpei decided to explain cursed techniques. "Cursed techniques are a form of advanced jujutsu that grants their user specialized abilities. With the exception of shikigami and basic barriers, these techniques are etched into your body from the day you're born, similar to magic attributes. To find out what your technique is, you need the help of a full fledged sorcerer." He explained. I asked, "So, how do we do this?" He placed his hand on my head and told me to stay still. I felt his cursed energy flowing into me from where his hand was on my head down to my feet. After a second I heard something swishing around close to me. Junpei took his hand off and I opened my eyes to see a mass of water taking shape. It formed a giant black crab that was as tall as me. As I was stared at the crab in awe, Junpei explained, "It would seem that your cursed technique uses the moisture in your environment to form shikigami. I know one technique that is similar to that. It's called Ten Shadows. As the name implies, it enables the user to create up to ten shikigami using shadows." I was intrigued that I could do something like that, but what got me curious was how many could I create. Only time would tell that.