The abandoned convenience store stood quietly at the edge of the street.
Its windows were cracked, and the faded sign above the entrance flickered weakly under the streetlight. Snow had piled near the doorway, untouched by human footsteps.
Sora walked slowly toward it.
His hands were still tucked inside his jacket pockets, his pace unhurried.
But his senses were focused.
The faint ripple of cursed energy he had felt earlier was clearer now.
It came from the alley beside the building.
"…There you are."
Sora stepped into the alley.
Trash bags were piled against the wall, and a broken vending machine leaned slightly to one side. The place smelled of damp garbage and rusted metal.
And near the far wall—
Something moved.
The curse revealed itself slowly.
It was small.
Roughly the size of a medium dog.
Its body looked like a twisted bundle of blackened flesh with thin limbs crawling out from the sides. One large, uneven eye stared from the center of its body, blinking slowly.
It let out a low, unpleasant hiss when it noticed Sora.
Sora stared at it.
Silence hung in the alley for a moment.
Then he sighed.
"…Seriously?"
The cursed spirit twitched aggressively, sensing the presence of a human with cursed energy.
But Sora looked almost disappointed.
"…A grade four."
His shoulders slumped slightly.
He had expected at least something interesting tonight.
A fight.
Some practice.
Instead, he had found the weakest category of cursed spirit possible.
Grade four curses were barely dangerous.
Most trained sorcerers could exorcise them without effort.
"…What a waste."
The curse hissed again and crawled toward him slowly.
Sora didn't even bother stepping back.
Instead, something shifted beneath his jacket.
Liquid metal flowed.
Two thin metallic tendrils slipped out from his sleeves like silent snakes.
They moved instantly.
Whoosh.
The appendages shot forward and wrapped around the curse before it could react.
The creature screeched.
Its body thrashed violently as the metal coiled around it, binding its limbs and torso completely.
Within seconds—
It was immobilized.
Sora watched calmly.
"At least you showed up."
The curse struggled uselessly inside the metallic restraints.
Its eye bulged and twisted as it tried to break free.
But the metal held firmly.
Sora lifted one hand slightly.
The tendrils responded to the smallest movement of his cursed energy.
He studied the restrained spirit quietly.
The cursed energy consumption was extremely low.
Almost negligible when he was not actively manipulating the liquid metal.
Once the appendages had formed and bound the target, they maintained their structure automatically.
The cursed energy required was only enough to sustain the technique.
Output was minimal and method was efficient.
Sora tapped his chin thoughtfully.
The curse continued struggling weakly.
But it was too weak to break the hold.
For a moment, Sora simply stood there.
Thinking that he had two options.
Kill it.
Or experiment on it.
Exorcising it would take one second.
But that felt like a waste.
The alley was quiet except for the curse's muffled screeches.
Sora stared at the writhing creature.
"…Hmm."
Then—
A thought surfaced in his mind.
He blinked.
"…Oh."
His recent idea.
The one he had been considering for the past few days.
A way to store cursed spirits.
Like a portable cursed energy battery.
Something that could act as a reserve for cursed energy when needed.
Sora's eyes brightened slightly behind the mask.
"…Right."
He had been thinking about creating cursed objects.
Not the traditional kind.
But something simpler.
If a cursed spirit could be compressed and contained—
Then its cursed energy could theoretically be preserved.
And later—
Consumed.
The idea had sounded ridiculous at first.
But now—
He had a test subject.
Sora looked down at the struggling curse.
"…Congratulations. You will be the first lab rat."
The metallic tendrils tightened slightly around it.
"You will be helping science."
The curse screeched louder.
Sora raised his hand slowly.
More liquid metal flowed from beneath his sleeves.
It spread outward like dark water, surrounding the bound cursed spirit.
Within seconds, the curse was completely enveloped in the metallic mass.
Only muffled sounds escaped from inside.
Sora concentrated.
The metal responded immediately.
It began compressing.
Slowly.
The mass tightened around the cursed spirit.
Inside, the creature thrashed violently.
The pressure increased.
The cursed spirit resisted instinctively, releasing bursts of cursed energy as it tried to escape the crushing force.
The metal trembled slightly.
"…Hmm."
Sora narrowed his eyes.
"It's resisting."
Not surprising.
Cursed spirits were manifestations of negative energy.
They wouldn't simply allow themselves to be compressed into an object.
The pressure increased again.
The liquid metal tightened further.
The mass shrank.
The curse's movements became more frantic.
The alley filled with faint screeching sounds from inside the metal shell.
Sora remained focused.
Minutes passed.
Little by little—
The size decreased.
The curse's resistance weakened as the compression continued.
The metal folded inward again.
And again.
Until—
Finally—
The struggle stopped.
Sora exhaled quietly.
The liquid metal slowly peeled away.
What remained in the air above his palm was a small sphere.
Roughly the size of a marble.
Dark.
Smooth.
And radiating faint cursed energy.
Sora stared at it silently.
The sphere floated slightly above his palm, held in place by a thin strand of liquid metal.
"…Well."
His eyes examined it carefully.
The cursed energy inside the sphere was still present.
Still stable.
Still contained.
The experiment had worked.
A slow smile formed beneath his mask.
"…Looks like the idea wasn't stupid after all."
He rolled the small sphere between his fingers.
The cursed energy pulsed faintly.
Contained.
Controlled.
Sora looked up at the quiet street beyond the alley.
"…Now the real question."
He glanced back at the sphere.
"…How many of these can I store tonight?"