Within the classification of Cursed Spirits, there exists a highly specific sub-category: the Imaginary Vengeful Spirit. The defining trait of these Curses is that they are born directly from pre-existing archetypes, possessing the exact powers and traits of their mythological origins. If a layman were to witness one, they might genuinely believe an ancient legend was unfurling before their very eyes.
Right now, trapped within Mahito's barrier, were exactly such Imaginary Vengeful Spirits.
Although Special Grade Curses seem to pop up constantly in the original canon, they are actually incredibly rare. As for Special Grade *Imaginary* Vengeful Spirits? Only one formally appears in the entire original story, and throughout the entire recorded history of Jujutsu society, only six have ever existed.
When Mahito handed down the order, he never expected them to actually find a Special Grade Imaginary Vengeful Spirit. They were simply too scarce. Furthermore, Special Grade Curses are notoriously violently uncooperative; given the Disaster Curses' half-baked Barrier Techniques, they likely couldn't contain one anyway. So, Mahito kept his demands incredibly simple: it just had to be an Imaginary Vengeful Spirit. The Grade didn't matter.
Yet, despite drastically lowering his standards, Mahito was stunned to discover that after scouring the entirety of Japan, they only managed to capture a pitiful five. It was an abysmally low number. Compared to the exponentially expanding overall population of Cursed Spirits, Mahito suspected Imaginary Vengeful Spirits accounted for less than one in ten thousand—perhaps even one in a hundred thousand.
Jogo shifted uncomfortably. "Apologies, Mahito. This was all we could find. As for Special Grades... we didn't find a single one."
"No, I am more than satisfied," Mahito waved it off dismissively.
He wasn't lying. If he had to scour the country by himself, he would never have had the time or energy. Unlike the canonical Mahito—who casually snatched up Curses for cheap experiments and carelessly discarded them—this Mahito had never once stopped rigorously researching Cursed Spirits. And now, he was about to reap the rewards.
He approached the five Imaginary Vengeful Spirits, looked down at them, and gently raised his hand. They were:
A Kappa. A Tengu. A Zashiki-warashi.
And two Yuki-onna.
In ancient times, the population of Imaginary Vengeful Spirits was surprisingly robust. The modern era, however, was fundamentally different. The vast majority of modern humans simply do not believe in Yokai. Junior high and high school students might occasionally spawn minor urban-legend Curses out of fleeting paranoia, but the moment they entered the adult workforce, those superstitious fears evaporated entirely.
Instead, Cursed Spirits born from the crushing, mundane anxieties of modern reality began to spawn endlessly. Imaginary Vengeful Spirits were practically driven to extinction.
The few that managed to survive into the modern day were, without exception, born from world-renowned folklore. The five Curses groveling before Mahito were prime examples. Because the myth of the Yuki-onna was so globally famous, it was one of the extremely rare concepts capable of spawning multiple, overlapping entities.
"Let us begin," Mahito whispered.
*Idle Transfiguration.*
The five Imaginary Vengeful Spirits began to morph. It wasn't an instantaneous, violent snap like when Mahito altered his own flesh; it was a slow, meticulous sculpting, like a master gardener carefully pruning a bonsai tree. Initially, they thrashed and shrieked in panic, but as the transfiguration progressed, they fell utterly silent. Cursed Spirits are fundamentally non-human, but their new physical vessels were rapidly converging into human silhouettes.
Idle Transfiguration was rewriting the very bedrock of their souls. Yet, they felt absolutely no pain. Instead, they embraced their physical elevation with ecstatic joy.
The Kappa was the first to complete its evolution. Originally, this Imaginary Vengeful Spirit stood two meters tall, bearing a massive, grotesque turtle shell on its back. Its flesh was the sickly green of rotting kelp, its mouth protruding like an eagle's beak, and its head was entirely bald save for a ring of scraggly hair around the crown.
But now, its mass compressed violently. Its limbs grew slender and refined, with the sleek, lethal density of coiled muscle hiding just beneath the skin. Azure blue hair erupted from its scalp, swiftly growing out to form a sharp, ear-length bob with a delicate ribbon tied at the back.
A sleeveless, skirted tunic materialized over its body, layered beneath a pale-teal haori. A long, dark scarf fluttered ethereally behind her. Black thigh-high stockings clad her legs, exposing only her heels and toes as she stood perfectly balanced in shinobi sandals.
A watery, translucent katana materialized before her. She gripped the hilt, her expression solemn and reverent.
Next was the Tengu. Massive, pitch-black wings folded tightly around its body. When they snapped open again, she was clad in an off-the-shoulder kimono, dominated by deep crimsons and blacks, accented with pure gold. Her jet-black hair was elegantly swept up and pinned with an ornate hairpin.
She stood tall, her heavy chest boldly exposed by the plunging neckline. Her long, impossibly slender legs flowed like a pristine river, the high slit of the kimono exposing her thighs as she balanced gracefully on single-tooth geta sandals.
A fan made of autumn maple leaves manifested in her hand. The Tengu courtesan smiled, radiating a lethal, overwhelming allure.
Then came the Zashiki-warashi. Her morphological shift was the least drastic, as she was already the most humanoid of the Imaginary Vengeful Spirits. Under Idle Transfiguration, the most significant change occurred in her facial structure. Previously, her features had been a chaotic, misaligned mess that only vaguely resembled a child.
Now, her features perfectly aligned, forming an agonizingly adorable, delicate face. Her previously matted black hair smoothed out into a pristine, traditional bob cut. She possessed large, obsidian eyes and wore a vibrant red kimono, a massive decorative bow tied firmly at her waist.
Twin silver bells manifested as bracelets around her wrists, chiming with a crisp, crystalline ring whenever she moved.
Finally, the Yuki-onna twins. Their bodies, previously composed of jagged, glacial ice, softly melted away. Pristine, snow-white kimonos draped over their skin. Their hair, as blindingly white as fresh snow, fell perfectly straight down their backs, cascading all the way to their hips. Their bangs and sidelocks were cut with razor-sharp precision. Breathtakingly long, snow-white eyelashes framed their eyes. They looked like twin princesses of a frozen royalty, their feet clad in white tabi socks and boat-shaped wooden clogs.
Thick, plush winter scarves wrapped securely around their slender necks, drifting gently whenever the wind caught them. All five pairs of eyes snapped open simultaneously. They dropped to one knee, offering their absolute loyalty to Mahito.
"You are the very first batch of intelligent Cursed Spirits I have engineered. I shall grant you your names," Mahito declared. He shifted his gaze to the Kappa. "Saya. It means the ethereal river-spirit, half-hidden in the morning mist. A quiet, timeless beauty, like a faded ink wash painting."
"I thank my Lord for this name. From this day forward, Saya is the Master's blade." The samurai girl bowed her head.
"Habakaede," Mahito smiled, looking at the Tengu. "May your black wings never fall, and may the brilliant crimson of the maple leaf reflect your blazing, demonic heart."
The courtesan's lips curled into an intoxicating smile. "Habakaede thanks the Master for this gift. I shall etch it into my soul."
"Yayoi signifies rebirth, and Suzu—the bell—has possessed the power to ward off evil since ancient times." Mahito looked at the Zashiki-warashi and spoke softly. "Yayoisuzu. That is your name. May your pure heart remain eternal, and may all evil spirits flee before you."
The little girl bowed, her bangs shadowing her eyes. She spoke with timid reverence, "T-Thank you, Master. Yayoisuzu will do her absolute best!"
"And finally, the miracle twins," Mahito said slowly. "Imaginary Vengeful Spirits are already incredibly rare, yet two identical entities manifested before me simultaneously. I cannot help but marvel at the exquisite tapestry of fate... Yukiori, Yukiren. To weave, and the ripples on the water. Both are words deeply intertwined with the threads of destiny. I bestow them upon you."
The snow-white twins bowed in perfect synchronization, their voices overlapping flawlessly. "Yukiori (Yukiren) thanks the Master for these names."
Kenjaku clapped his hands with manic, unbridled excitement.
"Magnificent! Absolutely magnificent! Mahito, it hasn't even been half a year since your birth, and you have literally engineered a brand-new, apex species!"
"If you, Jogo, Hanami, and Dagon are the venerated First Generation, then what you have just accomplished is the genesis of the Second Generation! If you can figure out how to engrave Idle Transfiguration into the Innate Techniques of your newly created species, we could theoretically see a Third Generation, a Fourth Generation!"
"Not only that, you could physically mutate humans into Half-Cursed Spirits!"
Kenjaku's body literally trembled with euphoria, his voice quivering with barely suppressed madness.
"I can see it! The dawn of a completely new world! What the hell is going to happen next?! I can't wait to find out! Ah... surviving for a thousand years truly has its perks! Whether human or Curse, this is all just so delightfully, endlessly fascinating!"
"Incredible, Mahito!" Jogo roared with pride. "We succeeded! We actually succeeded! From this day forward, our 'New Humanity' truly stakes its claim upon the human world!"
Hanami let out a rapid sequence of chimes, her voice overflowing with profound joy.
Dagon stared at the newly born intelligent Curses with wide eyes, instinctively straightening his posture. From this moment on, he was officially a senior!
Ashiya Sadatsuna let out a long, heavy breath. "This old master... has truly borne witness to a miracle of the gods."
"It really is insane," Kinji Hakari couldn't help but interject. "I knew you were trying to manufacture intelligent Cursed Spirits, Mahito, but the ones you engineer are fundamentally different from the ones born naturally, right?"
"I remember you guys—the naturally born First Generation—gained sentience specifically because you absorbed a catastrophic overdose of Cursed Energy. You were born inherently possessing language and general common sense. But how the hell do your manufactured Second Generation Curses already know how to speak? How do they have common sense? Did you directly inject data into their brains using Idle Transfiguration?"
Hakari had effortlessly accepted Kenjaku's 'First Generation / Second Generation' terminology. It was simply too accurate and visually intuitive.
"Surprisingly, no." Mahito looked toward the samurai girl. "Saya?"
"Yes." Saya looked at Hakari, her face stoic, her tone carrying the crystal-clear discipline of a samurai. "Prior to this, I possessed a fragmented, hazy consciousness. I merely drifted with the current, hunting and existing purely on primal instinct. However, even then, we were constantly absorbing foundational logic and knowledge—including human language—from the residual Cursed Energy lingering within the atmospheric cycle."
Hakari's pupils contracted. "...Learning knowledge by absorbing residual Cursed Energy from the atmosphere?"
"I have a working, albeit unrefined, theory," Mahito said slowly. "Whether human or Cursed Spirit, upon death, we all return to the River of Souls. And that River is not some tangible, physical location... it *is* the Cursed Energy cycle itself."
"Instructor Kenjaku should be intimately familiar with this. If I recall, Instructor Kenjaku once mentioned that to forge a vessel for Ryomen Sukuna, he actively manipulated the reincarnation cycle of Sukuna's unborn twin brother."
"Indeed I did." Kenjaku forcefully regulated his breathing, calming his manic excitement, and smiled pleasantly. "In truth, any sufficiently powerful Sorcerer possesses the potential to observe this River of Souls. However, it usually only occurs at the exact moment of death, or when dragging an opponent into that illusory space during a lethal clash. I am absolutely certain the River exists, but it is fundamentally impossible for any of us to directly interfere with it."
"But you clearly *did* interfere with it," Hakari pointed out. "The reincarnation of Sukuna's brother—wasn't that a direct result of your interference?"
Hakari was referring to Yuji Itadori. They had thoroughly discussed the mechanics of Sukuna's vessel long ago.
"I wouldn't call it 'interference.' It was more like... 'riding the current,'" Kenjaku shrugged. "Imagine dropping a message in a bottle at the headwaters of a raging river. You simply sprint down the riverbank, track the bottle's trajectory, calculate the exact timing, and fish it out downstream. I hardly consider that divine intervention."
Hakari's mind raced, suddenly connecting the dots to the Disaster Curses' self-introductions.
*Intelligent Cursed Spirits formed by housing an overdose of Cursed Energy.* The critical focal point wasn't the 'intelligent Cursed Spirit' part—it was the 'overdose of Cursed Energy'!
There had always been an ethereal, inextricably linked connection between the soul and Cursed Energy. It was highly probable that this 'excess Cursed Energy' carried the fragmented, residual memories of the deceased. When these scattered memory fragments aggregated and fused with a cursed identity... that was the true catalyst for the birth of an intelligent Cursed Spirit!
Why were highly intelligent Cursed Spirits—entities unseen for a millennium—suddenly spawning back-to-back in the modern era? Because the massive, ceaseless daily cycle of births and deaths in this densely populated country aggressively accelerated the pooling of excess Cursed Energy. That critical mass was the only reason four millennial-tier intelligent Curses could spawn in such rapid succession.
*The prosperity of humanity directly fuels the prosperity of Cursed Spirits. This is the absolute truth behind Mahito and the others' genesis!*
"Through manufacturing them, I've also confirmed a fundamental truth," Mahito sighed. "Mass-producing braindead failures is easy. But if you want to forge a truly perfect, sentient Cursed Spirit, you absolutely must use a highly specific, directional Cursed Energy target—namely, an Imaginary Vengeful Spirit. Because they are rooted in specific concepts, they act as flawless sponges, absorbing a hyper-concentrated, stable foundation of Cursed Energy far more suitable for developing sentience. Attempting to force full sapience onto any other type of Curse is nearly impossible."
Cursed Spirits lacking true sentience could only grow and operate on base instinct. Naturally, they posed absolutely no existential threat to the modern Jujutsu society.
This was the exact reason Jujutsu society had maintained its arrogant, unchallenged supremacy for centuries. It was the sole reason they confidently equated a Grade 1 Sorcerer's combat output to a Special Grade Curse.
But now, with Mahito's arrival, that geopolitical paradigm had violently, permanently shattered.
He turned back to the five newly born intelligent Curses, beaming with a radiant smile.
"It is not yet time for you to reveal yourselves to the world. But I have absolute faith in your infinite potential. I will provide you with the optimal environment to learn and grow, and I will gladly pave a bloody path for your future... Saya, Habakaede, Yayoisuzu, Yukiori, Yukiren. Welcome to the real world. Welcome... as 'Humans.'"
The newborn intelligent Curses erupted in joyous cheers.
Jogo was practically vibrating with excitement. "Then leave their training to me!"
"Hanami, I need you to stay home and care for the newborns for the next few days," Mahito smoothly cut Jogo off. "Although they possess foundational common sense, they were literally just born. They have a massive curriculum to absorb."
Hanami felt a profound, overwhelming sense of duty. She nodded firmly, masking her nervous excitement.
Jogo opened his mouth again. "And I can—"
"Furthermore, Instructor Kenjaku, I entrust the development of their Innate Techniques entirely to you," Mahito said to Kenjaku.
Kenjaku nodded, completely unsurprised. "Leave it to me. I am thoroughly looking forward to witnessing the absolute limits of their potential."
A bead of sweat rolled down Jogo's forehead. "Mahito, I can—"
"Instructor Ashiya, may I rely on you for their hand-to-hand combat and kinetic conditioning?"
"Heh, that little girl Saya looks like an absolute natural for my New Shadow Style." Ashiya agreed without a microsecond of hesitation. "I will forge her with everything I have. However, my primary instructional target remains you... You understand that, correct?"
"Of course. I wouldn't have it any other way," Mahito smiled.
A deep, primal sense of crisis flared in Jogo's chest. "I... I..."
"Dagon, you can tag along too," Mahito said softly. "But don't teach the kids any bad habits, okay? You can take them to the beach in your Domain to play."
Dagon bounced eagerly on the spot, letting out a proud, happy chirp.
"I—I can teach them too!" Jogo blurted out frantically.
"Jogo, I actually have a monumental mission exclusively for you," Mahito suddenly said, his face dead serious.
Jogo froze.
"Could you perhaps make a few more sweeps across the country? See if you can dig up any more Imaginary Vengeful Spirits?" Mahito asked.
Jogo finally snapped. "You just want to get rid of me, don't you?! You don't trust my teaching skills at all! Hanami, Dagon, and I just scoured the entirety of Japan following Kenjaku's exact coordinates, and we only managed to scrape together five! Now you want me to go out there and find more completely alone?! How the hell am I supposed to do that?!"
*Some things are better left unsaid,* Mahito thought. *Is there even a single, microscopic shred of your teaching ability that would put anyone at ease? Even leaving them with Dagon is infinitely safer than leaving them with you.*
But obviously, Mahito couldn't say that out loud.
"Securing more Imaginary Vengeful Spirits is a matter of absolute, existential priority. It dictates whether we can expand our family. You understand the strategic weight of this, don't you?" Mahito said with grave solemnity. "I am fully aware that searching the country again is like finding a needle in an ocean. But for the sake of our future, I implore you to search one more time. This is for our grand, righteous cause!"
"W-Well... if it's truly that important..." Jogo was rendered utterly speechless.
He stared blankly at the sky, harboring a very strong suspicion he had just been totally scammed. But after racking his brain, he couldn't find a single logical flaw in Mahito's reasoning. Instead, he genuinely felt he had been entrusted with the weight of the world.
Finally—
"Kinji," Mahito looked at Hakari.
Hakari crossed his arms, a feral grin spreading across his face. "Yeah. I know what I have to do."
He paused, then added, "Leave Gojo-sensei to me!"