Chapter 10: First Mission, The Curse of Roppongi
"This is Roppongi? It looks more like a haunted dump."
Nobara Kugisaki brushed the dust from her shoulder with open disgust, her eyes fixed on the abandoned building sealed off behind police tape.
It stood in the middle of bustling Roppongi, yet it felt completely cut off from the city around it. Neon lights flashed in the distance, traffic murmured somewhere beyond the streets, and life moved on as usual. But this place was different. The building looked like a rotten tooth jammed into the glittering mouth of the city, exuding a stale, moldy stench that made the stomach churn.
Kiyotaka Ijichi adjusted his glasses and dabbed nervously at the cold sweat gathering on his forehead.
"Due to repeated complaints from nearby residents about strange noises, along with a recent rise in missing person reports, we've confirmed that this building is heavily infested with low level Cursed Spirits."
Even as he explained the situation, his voice carried visible tension.
That tension was not because of the building.
It was because of the four first years standing in front of him.
One was Sukuna's vessel. One was from the Zenin clan. One was a loud, prickly girl who looked ready to start a fight with either a curse or a human. And the last one, the quiet transfer student carrying a long cloth wrapped bag, was someone Gojo Satoru had personally recruited.
Anyone personally selected by Gojo was a problem by default.
"So our job is to exorcise everything inside?"
Yuji Itadori clenched his fists, eyes bright with excitement. This was his first proper mission since enrolling, and he looked more eager than nervous.
Ijichi nodded. "That's right. But be careful. Most of the Cursed Spirits inside are estimated to be Grade 4 or Grade 3. The danger level isn't high individually, but the number is expected to be considerable."
"Got it."
Gojo was nowhere to be seen. As usual, he had casually dumped the mission on them and vanished, leaving the cleanup to others like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Then Nobara suddenly turned, her sharp gaze landing on the sword hanging at Yami's waist.
The scabbard looked old and worn, plain enough that it really did seem like something dragged out of a junk pile.
"You planning to use that thing for exorcism?"
Her tone was as prickly as ever.
"I heard you did well in the entrance exam, but this isn't the same thing. Curses aren't opponents you can handle with raw physical skill alone."
She folded her arms, chin raised.
"If you don't have Cursed Energy, that junk won't even scratch a Cursed Spirit."
The words were harsh, but by the logic of jujutsu society, they were not wrong.
Only attacks infused with Cursed Energy could exorcise curses.
Ordinary blows were meaningless against them. Even overwhelming physical force was supposed to amount to nothing.
Megumi Fushiguro frowned, about to say something in Yami's defense, but Yami only smiled.
A calm, almost gentle smile.
"It's fine," he said. "If the blade is fast enough, it can cut through anything."
Nobara stared at him. "What kind of nonsense is that?"
Before she could say more, Yami stepped past the police tape.
"Let's go."
He did not explain himself.
He simply walked forward.
His footsteps were light, almost quiet, yet the moment he crossed into the shadow of the building, something about him changed.
Instantly.
One second, he had seemed like an unassuming high school student.
The next, he felt like a blade halfway drawn from its sheath.
Sharp. Cold. Dangerous.
Nobara clicked her tongue. "What a show off."
Still, she followed.
Yuji and Megumi exchanged a glance before stepping inside behind them.
The interior of the building was pitch black.
Dust hung in the air so thick it almost felt sticky. Beneath the smell of rot and mildew was something fouler, a wet, rusty scent like old blood left to decay in a sealed room.
Megumi's eyes narrowed.
"Be careful. They're here."
His fingers moved at once, forming a familiar sign.
"Divine Dogs."
Shadows rippled.
A black Divine Dog and a white Divine Dog emerged from the darkness, low to the ground and tense, their eyes scanning every corner.
The building answered with silence.
Then came the rustling.
A faint scrape.
A wet drag.
A skittering sound from somewhere beyond sight.
And then the darkness opened its eyes.
Scarlet after scarlet after scarlet.
Hundreds of eyes lit up in the black, forming a sea of crimson points that swallowed the hallway whole.
Yuji's expression changed. "That many?"
The Cursed Spirits surged forward like a tide breaking loose.
Some had too many limbs. Some were little more than swollen masses of flesh dragging themselves across the floor. Others clung to walls and ceilings like bloated insects, mouths split wide, giving off shrill, grating cries that stabbed straight into the nerves.
The sheer number alone was enough to make the skin crawl.
Nobara's face stiffened as she pulled several nails from her pouch.
"Seriously? Ijichi called this a manageable number?"
Even if most of them were weak, being drowned in this many Cursed Spirits was a different matter. Sooner or later, it would wear down their Cursed Energy.
Yuji rolled his shoulders and lowered his center of gravity, ready to charge.
Megumi's Divine Dogs bared their fangs.
The three of them had barely entered a battle stance when a figure moved ahead instead of bracing for defense.
Straight into the swarm.
Megumi's eyes widened. "Yami, wait!"
Charging into a mass of Cursed Spirits without visible Cursed Energy reinforcement was no different from suicide.
But Yami did not stop.
His right hand came to rest lightly on the hilt of his sword.
Then his breathing changed.
It was subtle at first.
Not exaggerated, not forceful, not the kind of deep inhale people made to steady themselves before a fight.
It was a rhythm.
A strange, precise rhythm that seemed to alter the atmosphere around him.
Air flowed into his lungs in measured waves, then spread through his body with unnatural efficiency. Oxygen flooded his bloodstream. His muscles tightened. His body temperature rose. The beat of his heart deepened until it sounded less like a pulse and more like war drums pounding in his chest.
[Current Role Playing Progress: 2%... 3%...]
The numbers on the system panel flickered upward.
He still had not unlocked the true forms of Sun Breathing.
But the physical enhancement granted by the breathing method alone was already more than enough for prey like this.
Yami lowered his gaze.
"Focus."
The next instant, steel sang.
Clang.
The sound of a blade leaving its sheath rang through the cramped interior like a sharp crack of judgment.
There was nothing grand or mystical about it.
Just steel scraping against steel.
Yet the moment that sound spread, every Cursed Spirit in front of him seemed to recoil instinctively.
As if death itself had opened its eyes.
Then Yami vanished.
A cold flash tore through the dark.
The foremost Cursed Spirit split apart before it could even scream, its body disintegrating in midair.
There was no visible surge of Cursed Energy.
No glowing effect.
No flashy technique.
Only a slash so fast the eye could barely follow it.
Then came the second.
The third.
The tenth.
Yami moved through the horde like a ghost slipping between nightmares.
He used no grand sword forms, no ostentatious technique names, no wasted flourishes. Just the simplest fundamentals of swordsmanship, cleaving, cutting, thrusting, drawing, turning. Basic movements stripped down to their purest form.
But in his hands, those basics became terrifying.
Every strike landed with impossible precision.
Every step placed him exactly where he needed to be.
Every motion flowed into the next without the slightest pause, like an execution written into his body long before the battle began.
Pfft. Pfft. Pfft.
Flesh burst apart.
Limbs flew.
Black blood splashed across cracked walls and dirty tile.
The horde that had looked overwhelming seconds ago was now being carved apart like a field of weeds before a wildfire.
Wherever Yami passed, Cursed Spirits died.
Not staggered.
Not wounded.
Died.
Cleanly. Absolutely. Instantly.
Yuji stopped cold.
For all his physical gifts, even he could not help staring.
"That's insane…"
Nobara still had her hammer raised, but she no longer swung it.
She didn't need to.
Because there was no opening left for her to take.
The transfer student she had thought would only get in the way was tearing through Cursed Spirits with casual efficiency, like he was cleaning up trash rather than fighting monsters.
But what truly made her scalp prickle was not just his speed.
It was what happened after each kill.
The wounds left by his blade gave off faint white smoke.
The severed remains of the Cursed Spirits writhed for an instant, then broke down completely, as though something hot and unforgiving had burned through their core. There was no sign of regeneration.
No lingering curse.
Just clean erasure.
Megumi's pupils tightened.
His Divine Dogs, usually fearless against lesser curses, had gone completely still.
Even they were staring.
"That isn't Cursed Energy…"
It absolutely was not.
Yet the pressure coming off Yami's sword strokes was more domineering, more intense, more suffocating than ordinary Cursed Energy.
It was scorching.
Blazing.
Like staring directly at something that had no business existing in this place.
Like the sun had entered a nest of filth.
Three minutes later, the building fell silent.
The screeches were gone.
The skittering was gone.
The sea of scarlet eyes had vanished completely.
Only shredded remains and the fading stench of slaughter lingered in the corridor.
Hundreds of low level Cursed Spirits had been erased.
Yami stood alone in the center of the aftermath, sword angled slightly downward. Though the corpses of curses were already dissolving, the air still carried the heavy sense of a battlefield soaked in death.
He exhaled once.
Then he flicked the blade lightly, as though brushing away blood that no longer existed, and returned it to its sheath.
Click.
"It's over."
He turned back toward the others, and just like that, the sharp killing intent around him receded. His expression softened again, almost harmless.
It was such a drastic shift that it felt unreal.
"Let's head to the second floor."
For a moment, Nobara opened her mouth, clearly intending to say something normal.
Something like You're strong. Or maybe I misjudged you.
Instead, what came out was, "You freak."
Then, as if that still failed to capture her disbelief, she added, "An absolute freak."
Who the hell exorcised curses that smoothly?
Yuji barked out a laugh, though even he looked shaken.
Megumi said nothing.
His gaze remained on Yami for a few seconds longer before it shifted upward.
Because Yami was no longer looking at them.
He was looking above.
Through the floors.
Toward the top of the building.
His dark red eyes narrowed slightly, and reflected in them was a thick, unsettling mass of blackness.
What they had just dealt with was nothing more than the outer layer.
Fodder.
The real thing was still waiting above.
Megumi noticed the change at once. "What is it?"
Yami's hand rested once more on the hilt of his sword.
His fingers tightened.
"Nothing."
His voice remained calm, but the edge beneath it was obvious.
"There's just something up there."
A brief pause.
Then his lips curved into a faint smile that held no warmth at all.
"Something so irritating," he said softly, "that I suddenly really want to cut it down."