Eight years later.
"Rika, I'm going out!"
"Yuta, be careful!"
Watching the couple part with lingering warmth, Shion found the crepe in his hand suddenly tasteless.
"Wait, I forgot the morning kiss! Mua~"
Snap!
Shion slammed the burrito in his hand onto the ground with exaggerated force.
"Why did you do that, Master?"
"It's fine. That burrito had peanut butter in it, and I hate peanut butter! Absolutely hate it!"
"…Huh?"
Yuta Okkotsu tilted his head, confused.
Rika smiled, her eyes playful. "Mr. Gojo, it seems Ms. Shoko actually has a crush on you!"
Shion froze for a moment, recalling Shoko Ieiri's shy smile and soft expression. Time had passed since they last saw her, and her hair was now grown long. His face turned slightly flustered.
"That guy… there's no way!"
Rika laughed, covering her mouth. It was clear she thought Shion was hopelessly oblivious where romance was concerned.
"Alright, enough teasing. This mission is about ten top‑tier cursed spirits!"
Shion grinned wickedly. "Yuta, you'll be heading off to high school soon, and you're going to give those old guys quite a shock!"
"I understand."
When Yuta Okkotsu heard that his mentor had tasked him with exterminating ten powerful cursed spirits, his reaction was calm. In the eight years under Shion's guidance, he had already faced and defeated multiple strong foes. Ordinary special‑grade curses were no longer unheard of, and even confronting them was standard for someone of Yuta's skill.
"You seem confident," Yuta said.
Shion smiled, reflecting on how much his disciple had grown. Despite balancing both school and intense training, Yuta's progress had been remarkable. His cursed energy control, physical strength, and spell execution rivaled Shion's own when he was young.
Though Yuta struggled a bit in theory class, Rika always supported him, encouraging him forward. Gradually, his seriousness and focus blossomed into genuine mastery. Shion had even remarked that the "God of Pure Love" was a force to be reckoned with.
If Satoru had that kind of awareness, he'd have beaten his older brother to a pulp long ago.
After bidding farewell to Rika, Yuta followed Shion's lead. When they reached the car, Shion suddenly remembered something. He opened the rear trunk and handed a careful package to Yuta.
Inside lay a beautifully crafted katana.
"This sword is called Dōjigiri Yasutsuna," Shion explained, holding it reverently. "It was once wielded by the legendary sorcerer Minamoto no Yorimitsu a thousand years ago to exorcise a renowned cursed spirit."
"According to its inscription, it's a powerful top‑grade cursed tool. It holds the Wind Breath technique, which allows slashes to extend forward using cursed energy."
With a single, confident swing, Shion cleaved an old abandoned billboard in two. The cut was precise and clean, without waste or flourish.
Yuta accepted the sword with both hands and said, "Thank you, Master."
"We don't need the formality between master and disciple. This isn't some cheap tool; it's worth a billion yen," Shion replied casually.
"!"
Yuta's hands trembled at the weight and significance of the weapon.
---
Hokkaido — Snowbound Village
"Phew~"
Yuta exhaled into the freezing winter air, watching his breath condense into fog. His gaze was fixed on the abandoned village before him, recalling the mission's grim briefing.
"The Snow Woman," Shion had explained, "is a top‑tier cursed spirit. She wiped out every one of the seventy‑three villagers here. Her domain is ice and snow, and her weakness seems to be fire."
"Seventy‑three lives…" Yuta murmured, fists clenched. His expression hardened.
He stepped forward, the snow crunching underfoot.
The village lay eerily still, cold winds whispering through empty streets. Searching area by area, Yuta soon spotted a small figure crouched under a large tree, trembling.
"…!"
Yuta's eyes narrowed. He drew Dōjigiri Yasutsuna without hesitation and swung the blade through the figure.
In an instant, the trembling form shattered into pieces like snowflakes blown apart, revealing it wasn't human at all — it was a snowman.
"So humans can be this heartless?" A cold voice echoed behind him.
Yuta turned to see a striking woman dressed in a flowing white kimono, snowflakes clinging to her. Her hair, eyebrows, and lashes were snow‑white, and her lips were an icy shade of red. Her gaze was piercing and unnervingly calm.
"First," Yuta said without emotion, "if that child was real, she wouldn't be out in the cold like that. Observe the illogical, that's what my master taught me."
His calm logic appeared to impress her at first — but when he went on, "Your disguise was poorly conceived, so I attacked without hesitation," the Snow Woman's expression soured.
"Fine then," she snapped.
"Ice Condensation Spell, Cold Tide!"
A sweeping storm of frost and snow surged toward Yuta, freezing whatever it touched into crystalline ice. The breadth of the attack was unavoidable, forcing Yuta to unleash his cursed energy to form a protective barrier around his body.
With resolve and cursed power combined, he charged forward.
The Snow Woman responded by conjuring an ice blade of her own, and the two engaged in a fierce duel.
Within ten precise strikes, Yuta's skill proved superior. His cursed weapon cleaved through the ice blade again and again, shattering it. She could only conjure another, unable to keep pace with his relentless attacks.
"I was hoping for a little fun with you," the Snow Woman sneered.
But she quickly shifted tactics.
"Ice Condensation Spell, Frostnagi!"
Large, jagged sheets of ice erupted around Yuta, reshaping the battlefield.
Then, with brutal force:
"Ice Condensation Spell, Iceberg Collapse!"
An enormous mass of ice surged forward.
Yuta, protected by his cursed energy, leapt into the air with uncanny agility, closing the distance despite the collapsing terrain.
The Snow Woman watched, her voice mocking, "You waste so much cursed energy, you won't last!"
"Ice Condensation Spell, Frostfall!"
Countless daggers of ice rained down.
Yuta's cursed protective energy flickered, teetering close to collapse — but he pressed on.
Finally assessing her own dwindling energy reserves, the Snow Woman realized her mistake. While she had fired powerful technique after technique, her cursed energy was nearly exhausted.
Yuta surged forward, sword raised high in an elegant arc.
The Snow Woman's eyes widened in disbelief.
Before she could react, her form toppled, crashing into the snow in defeat.
"How can someone… hold this much cursed energy? It is… illogical!"
As her form faded, a final roiling murmur of frustration echoed before she vanished entirely.
On the snow‑covered ground, all that remained was a strange purplish‑black finger, a remnant of her cursed essence.
___
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