Ten minutes ago, on the rooftop of the teaching building.
The setting sun dyed the sky a deep orange-red, its lingering glow spilling over the railings and casting long shadows.
Miguel leaned against the edge of the rooftop, his gaze fixed on the battle in the playground below. His fingers unconsciously rubbed his bald head as he turned once more to look at Suguru Geto beside him.
"Suguru, are you sure you want to do this?"
This was already the third time he had asked for confirmation. Below them, Rin was crushing the remaining Cursed Spirits with overwhelming dominance. The battle would be over soon; if they didn't make a decision now, they would miss the optimal moment.
But Suguru Geto did not respond immediately.
He sat alone on the steps in a corner of the rooftop, his back to Miguel. The light of the setting sun fell upon his cold side profile, making his emotions difficult to discern.
The roars of the Cursed Spirits and the crisp sounds of shattering bones from the playground drifted up occasionally, yet they seemed to be isolated from his world by an invisible barrier.
His clenched fists trembled slightly, his knuckles turning white as the veins on the back of his hands bulged faintly. His chest rose and fell with his erratic breathing; clearly, he was undergoing an intense internal struggle.
Miguel felt somewhat puzzled, so he withdrew his gaze from the playground and walked over to Suguru Geto's side.
He knew Suguru Geto's personality: he was always decisive and ruthless, especially regarding the matter of "recruiting Jujutsu Sorcerers"; he would never be this hesitant.
Yet today, he was refusing to take action.
"What are you thinking about?" Miguel asked softly.
Only then did Suguru Geto slowly raise his head, his gaze drifting toward the agile figure moving through the playground. His tone carried a hint of complexity:
"Look at him." He pointed at Rin.
"He is decisive and ruthless when facing Cursed Spirits, yet when that girl was hiding in the corner just now, he clearly could have ignored her, but he still let her leave."
Miguel looked in the direction he pointed, just in time to see Rin tear the last Grade 3 Cursed Spirit to pieces. Instead of immediately devouring it, Rin turned his head to look toward the corner. Only after confirming the girl had run far away did he begin to absorb the Cursed Spirit's corpse.
"So what?" Miguel was confused.
"He has talent, and his mindset is tough enough. Isn't he exactly the kind of person we're looking for?"
"But he hasn't completely lost hope in 'Non-Sorcerers' yet."
Suguru Geto's voice lowered.
"He was bullied by those ordinary people before, yet he didn't hate all Non-Sorcerers because of it. If I tell him that the Cursed Spirits in the school were all released by me, and that the deaths of those students are also related to me, what will he think? Will he hate me? Will he refuse to join us?"
This was the root of his hesitation.
He wanted to recruit Rin, but he didn't want to do it through "deception." He hoped Rin would truly identify with his ideals, rather than being bound by a momentary favor.
But he also knew that with Rin's current mindset, he might not necessarily be able to accept his extreme ideology.
"Hey! Suguru! What are you dazing off for!"
Miguel's voice suddenly rose, interrupting Suguru Geto's thoughts.
"That kid has already finished off all the Fodder Cursed Spirits! If you don't act now, he's going to leave!"
Suguru Geto snapped back to his senses and looked at the playground. Rin had already finished devouring all the Cursed Spirit corpses and was standing in place to adjust his breathing. The fluctuations of Cursed Energy around him were several points stronger than before.
He couldn't help but let out a light chuckle, his tone filled with admiration:
"What an incredible little fellow. His growth rate is truly fast."
In Suguru Geto's perception, after absorbing the Cursed Spirits, Rin's strength had moved up another level. His physical capabilities were enough to crush a Second-Grade Cursed Spirit without using cursed techniques, and the total amount of Cursed Energy in his body had reached the level of five Second-Grade Cursed Spirits.
Now, he was more than capable of dealing with a group of Second-Grade Cursed Spirits.
"It seems I can only use that method."
Suguru Geto took a deep breath, his chest heaving violently as if he were exhaling all his hesitation and uncertainty.
He slowly stood up, a resolute curve appearing at the corner of his mouth. His gaze refocused on Rin, revealing a bold determination to burn his bridges:
"That's right, I've already made my decision."
Miguel was stunned for a moment, then reacted: "Have you made up your mind?"
Suguru Geto did not answer, but simply raised both hands slowly.
His fingers danced nimbly in the air, as if weaving an invisible web of jujutsu.
As his hand gestures changed, the Cursed Energy in the air began to churn violently. Wisps of black aura surged from his palms like awakening dormant ghosts, quickly spreading in all directions and shrouding the rooftop in a cold, eerie atmosphere.
"Roar—!"
A low, shocking roar echoed from deep within the black aura. As the aura gradually dissipated, a bizarre humanoid figure slowly emerged.
It was tall, half a body taller than Suguru Geto, yet exceptionally thin. Its entire frame resembled an enlarged skeleton, and its body emitted a cold blue light, as if condensed from pure resentment.
Its skin presented a morbid paleness with a texture like ghastly white bone, covered in dense black patterns that looked like ancient cursed scripts inscribed with blood, shimmering with an eerie luster under the blue light.
The Cursed Spirit did not act immediately. Instead, it slowly leaned down, bringing its pattern-covered head close to Suguru Geto's ear, like a loyal believer listening to its master's command.
Suguru Geto's lips moved slightly, his voice low and clear, audible only to the Cursed Spirit.
After listening, the Cursed Spirit nodded slightly, then straightened up and walked step by step to the edge of the rooftop. Its pupil-less eyes were dead-locked onto Rin in the playground.
Meanwhile, Rin had already sensed this powerful Cursed Energy.
He snapped his head up, looking toward the teaching building's rooftop. His Crimson Sharingan instantly activated. With the Sharingan's superior vision, he clearly captured the figure of the Cursed Spirit as well as the familiar black figure at the edge of the rooftop.
Before Rin could observe more closely, the Cursed Spirit leaped down from the sixth-floor rooftop, crashing heavily onto the edge of the playground.
"Boom—!"
The massive impact caused the already dilapidated synthetic track to crack into spiderweb-like fissures. Dust rose like a mushroom cloud, shrouding more than half of the playground.
The sudden turn of events did not cause Rin to panic.
His expression was grave, and the Double Tomoe in his pupils spun rapidly as he stared intently at the direction where the dust was swirling.
His long hair, which had been hanging loosely behind him, swayed without wind. The strands tensed slightly like a drawn bowstring, ready to launch an attack at any moment.
Before the dust had even settled, a withered, large hand reached out from within, its fingers gripping the ground. With a sudden push, the Cursed Spirit's body emerged from the dust. It stepped onto the pitted ground and walked slowly toward Rin.
Its pace was not fast, yet it carried a suffocating sense of pressure.
Rin finally saw the Cursed Spirit's appearance clearly: a tall, emaciated body with distinct, bony contours. It looked remarkably like a basketball star from his previous life, yet it was even thinner, exuding a non-human eeriness.
He immediately utilized his Sharingan, attempting to find a weakness in the Cursed Spirit. But in the next second, the Cursed Spirit's body underwent a sudden change.
Under the gaze of the Sharingan, the Cursed Energy within the Cursed Spirit began to surge frantically, spreading along the path of its bones.
Then, a series of hair-raising "creaking and cracking" sounds broke the dead silence of the playground. The bones within its body seemed to come alive, breaking free from the constraints of its skin and rushing toward the surface!
Ribs burst through the skin on both sides of its chest like intersecting spears. Amidst the flickering cold light, their chilling edges sliced through the air.
The vertebrae climbed higher, winding along its back into a jagged keel, with sharp spinous processes standing like a forest of blades.
Its frontal bone bulged high, embedding two evil eyes burning with blue fire, and its jawbone suddenly elongated, revealing jagged, sharp teeth.
In just a few seconds, a suit of armor forged from bone formed abruptly on the Cursed Spirit's surface.
The originally skeletal Cursed Spirit instantly transformed into a three-meter-tall Bone-Armored Cursed Spirit, its entire body radiating a terrifyingly wicked aura.
Rin's pupils shrank suddenly. This Cursed Spirit's strength far surpassed all previous opponents; it was at least a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit, or perhaps even stronger!
As the Cursed Spirit continued to approach, the surging Cursed Energy hit him like a tide, making Rin feel as if an invisible hand were clutching his throat, making even breathing difficult.
But he did not retreat. He simply took a few deep breaths to force himself to adapt to this pressure, his Sharingan spinning rapidly to record every movement and every flicker of Cursed Energy from the Cursed Spirit.
Finally, the Cursed Spirit stopped its advance twenty meters away from Rin.
This was Rin's bottom line. If the Cursed Spirit took even one more step closer, he would immediately activate the Silk Binding Cursed Technique, never giving the opponent the chance to strike first.
In fact, the moment the Cursed Spirit landed, Rin had wanted to act.
But he held back. He knew very well that the Cursed Spirit before him was merely a "pawn." The true key was Suguru Geto, who was hiding on the rooftop.
Why did Suguru Geto summon such a strong Cursed Spirit? Was it to test his strength, or to force him to join his side?
Without figuring out Suguru Geto's purpose, even if he defeated this Cursed Spirit, there was no guarantee that an even stronger enemy wouldn't appear.
Rin stared intently at the Cursed Spirit, but his peripheral vision remained fixed on the direction of the rooftop. He was waiting—waiting for Suguru Geto to reveal his true intentions.