The four waves of Cursed Energy inside the warehouse became increasingly clear. The moment Rin landed, his Sharingan had completely locked onto the appearance of the Cursed Spirits.
They resembled shrunken monkeys, their entire bodies covered in dark brown fur. They were only the size of a basketball, yet their heads accounted for three-quarters of their bodies.
A hideous, large mouth almost covered their entire faces. Rows of fine, sharp teeth rotated at high speeds like chainsaw gears, emitting a harsh "buzzing" sound. On both sides of their deformed torsos grew two pairs of transparent membranous wings, which stirred up gusts of foul wind when they flapped.
"Big-headed flying monkey Cursed Spirit..." Rin quickly categorized them in his mind, gripping the iron rod tightly with both hands, his blood-red Sharingan exuding cold killing intent.
In mid-air, the four Cursed Spirits circled uneasily. They seemed to be wary of the Cursed Energy on Rin, yet they were also attracted by the dense negative emotions within the warehouse. The frequency of their wing flapping increased, emitting rapid "buzzing" sounds.
Rin stood tall in the center of the warehouse, his expression as calm as ice.
He did not take the initiative to attack, simply letting the Cursed Spirits circle above his head. However, his Sharingan was rapidly breaking down their flight trajectories; the angle of every wing flap and the speed of every turn were precisely recorded in his mind, and a battle plan gradually took shape.
"Screech—!"
Suddenly, the two Cursed Spirits let out a sharp screech simultaneously. Their membranous wings flapped violently, and they lunged at Rin's left and right shoulders like two black cannonballs. Their rotating sharp teeth glinted coldly, as if they would grind his shoulders into pulp in the next second.
"Now!"
The tomoe in Rin's pupils spun wildly, and his body exploded into action like a coiled spring.
He pushed off the ground with both feet, his waist twisted violently, and he swung the iron rod with both hands, tracing a perfect arc. The movement was as standard as a professional baseball player's swing.
"Bang!"
The heavy blow of the iron rod, imbued with Cursed Energy, struck the left Cursed Spirit's large head precisely.
Dark purple blood splattered instantly, and the Cursed Spirit let out a shrill scream, crashing into its approaching companion on the right like a broken ball. The two Cursed Spirits tangled together and fell heavily into the pile of debris in the corner, knocking over stacked cardboard boxes with a "crash" and kicking up a cloud of dust.
Having dealt with two, Rin did not relax in the slightest. The peripheral vision of his Sharingan swept overhead; the remaining two Cursed Spirits had actually circled behind him. The sound of their wings cutting through the air carried a deathly chill, aiming straight for his heart!
Can't turn around! The thought flashed through Rin's mind.
If he turned to defend now, he could at most knock away one Cursed Spirit, and the other would inevitably seize the opportunity to sneak attack. With the speed of a Grade 3 Cursed Spirit, he would have no time to dodge.
Almost as an instinctive reaction, Rin used the momentum of his swing to charge forward, heading straight for the group of students in the corner of the warehouse.
The screeching behind him was like a death knell from the Grim Reaper, and the sound of the wings flapping grew closer. He could even smell the putrid scent on the Cursed Spirits.
"Move!" Rin shouted in a low voice.
The students had already been frozen in fear, and only upon hearing the shout did they scramble to dodge.
Rin instantly rushed behind the crowd, placing them in front of him. This was not out of protection, but because he had already calculated that the Cursed Spirits' targets were living humans; as long as the students were there, the Cursed Spirits' attack direction would be dispersed.
Sure enough, seeing Rin hide behind the crowd, the two Cursed Spirits turned without hesitation toward the two closest boys. With a flap of their membranous wings, their large heads slammed onto the boys' heads like helmets!
"Ah!" A shrill scream rang out instantly.
The rotating sharp teeth began to tear into flesh, and blood flowed wildly down the boys' necks, staining their uniforms red. The surrounding students retreated in terror, some even collapsing to the ground and crawling away using their hands and feet.
Rin's eyes sharpened, without a moment's hesitation.
He gripped the iron rod tightly, pouring all his Cursed Energy into it, the muscles in his arms bulging, and brought it down hard on the heads of the two Cursed Spirits!
"Bang! Bang!"
Two dull, loud thuds rang out almost simultaneously.
The Cursed Spirits' large heads were like smashed watermelons, and the dark purple blood mixed with the light red human blood, splattering all over the floor.
The two boys' skulls also exploded along with the destruction of the Cursed Spirits, and their bodies collapsed limply to the ground, blood quickly pooling beneath them.
The warehouse instantly fell into dead silence.
The students widened their eyes, looking at the blood-covered Rin, their faces filled with shock and fear.
The hooligan with dyed yellow hair from before poked his head out from behind a cardboard box. Seeing the scene before him, he suddenly roared like a lit firecracker: "Rin! You fatherless and motherless trash! You actually killed someone!"
"Murderer! He's a murderer!" Someone echoed, their voice carrying deliberate anger, as if that could cover up the fear from just moments ago.
Rin slowly turned around, his blood-red Sharingan sweeping across the crowd.
He had seen these people's faces in the original owner's memories; they were the hooligans who had bullied the original owner for years, the classmates who called the original owner a "freak" and a "person of ill omen."
The Sharingan clearly captured the cowardice in their eyes, merely masked by their facade of anger.
He raised his hand and shook the blood droplets off the iron rod, and the fishy scent of rust mixed with blood permeated the air.
The noise in the warehouse vanished instantly. The students, who had just been filled with righteous indignation, retreated half a step one after another. In their eyes as they looked at Rin, only pure fear remained. They suddenly realized that the Rin before them was no longer the frail, weak boy they could bully at will, but a "monster" capable of smashing a skull with a single blow of an iron rod.
On the warehouse roof, Geto Suguru watched with a beaming smile, unable to help but clap in applause.
"Brilliant! Simply brilliant!" He had originally worried that Rin would be dragged down by the students, but he hadn't expected the other party to be so calm, especially the decisiveness when killing the Cursed Spirits, which was not at all like a newly awakened novice.
Miguel also clicked his tongue in wonder, pointing at the yellow-haired boy in the warehouse and saying: "That kid is named Rin, and it looks like he has a grudge against those students."
Geto Suguru's gaze fell upon the yellow-haired boy. When he heard the words "fatherless and motherless trash," the smile on his face instantly faded, and a trace of cold killing intent flashed in his eyes.
The Cursed Energy at his fingertips fluctuated slightly; if he hadn't wanted to continue observing Rin, that yellow-haired boy would have already become food for the Cursed Spirits.
"Don't be impatient, the good show is yet to come." Miguel felt Geto Suguru's killing intent and reminded him with a chuckle, "Look at that pile of debris, there's still a surprise."
Rin ignored the shivering students and walked straight toward the pile of debris in the corner.
He could clearly feel that among the two Cursed Spirits that had been knocked in earlier, one was still alive, and its Cursed Energy was continuously strengthening.
He kicked away the stacked cardboard boxes, and the sight before him made Rin's pupils constrict. The surviving Cursed Spirit was biting tightly onto its companion's corpse, swallowing the other's large head entirely into its own mouth.
Its body expanded at a speed visible to the naked eye, growing from the size of a basketball to the size of a washbasin. Beneath its dark brown fur, vein-like Cursed Energy patterns throbbed continuously.
"Roar—!"
The Cursed Spirit seemed to sense Rin's approach and turned its head violently. On its expanded large head, that mouth opened even wider, its rotating sharp teeth glinting with an eerie purple light, and it let out a deafening roar at Rin.
Rin did not dodge, but gripped the iron rod and stepped forward quickly, slamming it down hard toward the Cursed Spirit's head!
"Bang!"
The iron rod struck the Cursed Spirit's head, but only caused its head to deform slightly. Rin felt a chill in his heart—it really had become stronger!
Without waiting for the Cursed Spirit to counterattack, Rin's arm swung rapidly, and the iron rod rained down on the Cursed Spirit like a torrential downpour.
Dark purple blood splattered continuously, the Cursed Spirit's membranous wings were smashed to pieces, and the fur on its body was beaten off, scattering everywhere. Its originally sharp teeth broke one by one, and in its pain, the Cursed Spirit swallowed them along with the purple blood.
Finally, Rin used all his strength to drive the iron rod fiercely into the Cursed Spirit's large mouth, until it pierced through to the back of its head.
"Screech—!"
The Cursed Spirit let out one final screech, its body collapsing limply to the ground, and its rotating sharp teeth gradually stopped spinning.