Shiki POV
After two hours of travel, we finally landed in Hokkaido, specifically Asahikawa. The icy winds greeted us the moment we stepped out of the airport, biting at our skin. It was early January, and the weather was unforgiving. The cold crept into every layer, and the wind only made it worse, sharp enough to cut right through.
But for me, the cold was just... there. It wasn't an obstacle. I barely felt it. Having a body with heavenly restriction has its uses.
I glanced at Maki, who seemed to be managing just fine. She pulled her scarf tighter and squared her shoulders. Nanami stood calm as always, his breath barely visible in the cold air. An expert sorcerer, no doubt used to harsher conditions.
For me, the weather wasn't the issue. It was the scenery. Even though it was snowy, the lines were clearer because of the white background.
"Don't you feel cold at all?" Maki asked, adjusting her glasses and pulling her scarf tighter.
I shrugged. "Not really."
"Seriously? It's freezing."
Nanami, who had been quietly observing, glanced at us as he buttoned his coat, his usual calm demeanor unaffected by the biting wind. "The weather is the least of our concerns."
Just then, a man in a crisp black suit approached, standing out against the snowy landscape. His breath fogged in the cold air as he bowed slightly.
"You must be the sorcerers from Tokyo, I've been waiting for you." he said, his voice steady despite the cold.
Nanami nodded, stepping forward. "We are. What's the situation?"
"We should get moving. The situation has changed. I'll explain on the way."
We followed him to a nearby car, where the warmth inside was a stark contrast to the freezing air outside. Once we were settled, the man introduced himself as Harada, an official from the local jujutsu bureau. He wasted no time as he began explaining the situation.
"In essence, it was confirmed that the cursed womb is maturing. Originally, we estimated about twelve hours before it would fully mature, but…" Harada paused, his expression grim. "Something unexpected happened. The cursed spirit inside the womb has fully matured earlier than we anticipated."
The man straightened up, glancing at the sky as the wind picked up. "We should get moving. The situation has changed. I'll explain on the way."
Nanami cursed under his breath, his usual calm cracking slightly. "How early?"
"It's already reached full maturity," Harada replied. "Worse, it's been classified as a special-grade cursed spirit."
The car fell into a heavy silence. A special-grade cursed spirit was far beyond the scope of a promotion mission. Though I had once killed a special grade during the event in Tokyo, this situation was different.
A cursed spirit born from a womb is several times stronger than your typical special grades. And factoring Maki into this equation only complicated things.
Even though she's strong, a special-grade curse was well beyond what Maki should be facing right now. Nanami's jaw tightened as he absorbed the news.
"So, it's us against a special-grade," Nanami muttered, his frustration barely contained.
Maki shot me a glance, her face unreadable, but I could sense the tension in the air. Nanami's frustration was justified. This mission had just escalated far beyond its initial scope, and now we were facing the worst-case scenario.
"Are there any victims?" I asked, breaking the tense silence.
"Thankfully, we managed to evacuate most of the residents," Harada responded, his tone grim. "But… there are still peoples inside. Mostly sorcerers who stayed behind to buy time for the evacuation."
"Right now, the center is sealed off, and we've evacuated citizens within a 500-meter radius."
"And the cursed spirit?" Nanami asked, his voice sharp.
Harada hesitated for a moment before answering. "For some reason, the spirit hasn't left the building. It's isolated itself inside."
Nanami's brow furrowed. "And the sorcerers still inside?"
Harada's expression darkened. "They were trying to save the last remaining civilians. Their status is… unknown."
After several minutes of silent travel, we finally arrived at Asahikawa Medical University Hospital. The desolation was striking, with the once-busy grounds now eerily empty, save for a few vehicles and personnel from Jujutsu Tech. A thick veil had already been installed.
As we stepped out of the car, the cold wind whipped across the empty lot. . It was clear that the evacuation had been swift and precise—there wasn't a single civilian in sight. Only sorcerers remained.
Nanami stepped forward first, scanning the surroundings. He glanced back at Maki and me, his voice low but firm. "This mission is already in its worst-case scenario. Stay sharp, and don't underestimate the spirit's strength."
Maki adjusted her glasses again, her breath fogging in the cold air. "We'll handle it,"
I remained silent, my eyes focused on the hospital. The lines of the building were so clear, even through the veil. Something about the scene felt oddly familiar, it was a very familiar feeling.
Clearing my head from useless thought, I followed Nanami who led the way as we approached the hospital entrance. He glanced at the personnel stationed outside, giving them a brief nod before turning to us again.
"We'll enter from the east wing. That's where the cursed womb is located. From what we know, it's staying in the central area. Stick together, and if anything feels off, report immediately."
Maki nodded, her hand resting on the weapon strapped to her back. I could sense her determination, even through the cold air.
As we stepped into the hospital, the air felt heavier. But something strange happened. Maki and Nanami's figures began to blur, like fading illusions. When I reached out, my hand passed through them as if they were holograms.
Before I could process it, the surroundings shifted entirely, warping into something unfamiliar—no, something I didn't recognize, but felt I should.
"Already a situation before we even began," I muttered to myself.
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Maki POV
For some reason, Nanami's figure in front of me began to blur, shifting like a heatwave distorting his image before dissapearing. My instincts kicked in, and I whipped around, scanning for Shiki. As expected, she was already gone.
"What the hell!" I shouted, frustration surging through me. Typical.
It had only been a few steps inside, and already everything was falling apart. Shiki vanished, the air felt wrong, and Nanami's outline was warping. We hadn't even properly started, and now I was dealing with a mess.
I forced myself to breathe, calming the storm brewing inside. Panicking would only get me killed. I scanned the area again, trying to make sense of it. The first word that came to mind was "bizarre."
The building's interior was nothing like the outside. What should have been a normal hospital corridor felt impossibly vast, stretching far beyond its physical limits. The walls curved unnaturally, spiraling upward into a twisted, hollow void. Windows that should have shown the snow outside revealed nothing but darkness. The ceiling... there was no ceiling. Just emptiness stretching into an infinite black sky above.
It was like we'd stepped into a completely different dimension.
"Is this an innate domain?" I muttered under my breath, gripping the handle of my weapon tighter.
The space was enormous, far too huge to make sense. How strong was this cursed spirit to make his innate domain this huge? It was like the walls themselves were alive, warping and shifting with every glance.
This cursed spirit—whatever it was—was powerful.
I clenched my teeth, trying to keep my thoughts focused. I couldn't afford to hesitate.
Shiki… wherever she was, she'd better not die on me.
I took a deep breath, steadying myself. The frustration simmering in my chest cooled into focus. Tightening my grip on my naginata, I decided to move forward. Staying here, frozen, would accomplish nothing. I had to act.
If I remembered correctly, that man—Harada—had mentioned something about sorcerers still stuck inside. I should probably search for them while there's still time. It was unlikely I'd run into the cursed spirit right away, so now was my chance to find them.
With my mind cleared, I began walking, carefully, my footsteps echoing in the unnerving silence. The corridors stretched on endlessly. Each one I passed branched off into more hallways, more doors, all leading to the same hollow emptiness. It was like the hospital had no end.
I turned down another hallway, then another. And another. The corridors seemed to loop, spiraling deeper into this twisted, infinite space. The white hospital walls and fluorescent lights flickered, casting eerie shadows that felt almost alive. Every corner I turned looked exactly like the last.
"What kind of sick joke is this…" I muttered under my breath, feeling a knot of frustration growing in my gut.
I passed door after door, but none of them opened. I ran my hand along the wall, feeling for something—anything—that might give a clue, but there was nothing. It was like the hospital had swallowed everyone whole, leaving me alone in this place
I stopped for a moment, glancing down the never-ending hallway in front of me.
"Where the hell are you?" I growled, gripping my naginata tighter.
Suddenly, I heard a footstep from the branching corridor at the end. The sudden noise didn't reassure me—it unnerved me. It felt wrong, out of place.
The footstep noise began to increase, and before I could react, it multiplied. What started as a single pair of feet became a chorus of erratic thuds, like a crowd marching toward me, their steps growing faster, more frantic.
The hairs on my neck stood up. Something was coming. My instincts screamed at me, and without thinking, I swung my weapon behind me in a sharp arc.
Thud.
The blade met flesh. I turned and saw a man's head rolling to the floor, his body crumpling.
I'd just beheaded him
.
But before I could process it, the headless body lurched toward me.
"What the—?"
I barely dodged as the body collapsed forward. My breath hitched, and my eyes darted toward the source of the footsteps. A horde was charging down the corridor—a mass of bodies. They moved strangely, jerkily, like puppets with tangled strings. Their limbs twisted unnaturally, their faces blank as they bolted toward me like predators.
"Shit! What the hell is that?" I cursed under my breath. My instincts kicked in, pushing everything else aside.
Without thinking, I kicked the headless corpse away from me, using the momentum to spring back. The floor beneath my feet was slick, and my heart pounded as the horde grew closer.
There was no way I was sticking around to fight a group like this. I turned on my heel and ran, feet pounding against the cold, sterile floor.
"I'll figure this out later, but first I need to survive."
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Nanami POV
They disappeared.
One moment, Shiki and Maki were right behind me, their footsteps audible in the quiet hospital corridor. The next, they were gone. No sound, no warning—just gone, like they had never been there at all.
I pressed my hand against the wall, feeling the subtle hum of cursed energy woven into the structure.
"Damn it... An innate domain." I muttered under my breath
The cursed spirit trying to divide and conquer. It wasn't subtle, but it was effective. I was alone now, and that was exactly what it wanted.
I tightened my grip on the hilt of my weapon, the smooth handle grounding me as I forced my thoughts into clarity. Panicking or rushing ahead wouldn't change anything. I had to think.
Shiki was missing. Maki too.
Gojo had given me brief descriptions of them, enough to understand their personalities and strengths.
Both of them had their strengths, but Shiki's detached, almost mechanical approach to battle made her unpredictable. Maki, on the other hand, was strong, determined, but she lacked the experience to deal with something of this scale. A special-grade spirit was out of her league, and she knew it, even if she wouldn't admit it.
The worst-case scenario had already unfolded, and we were nowhere near the heart of the problem.
While I considered my next move, I heard a sound—a ragged breath—from the branching corridor ahead.
I narrowed my eyes, my grip tightening on the sword, filling it with cursed energy as I moved closer to the source.
Rounding the corner, I found the source of the noise. One of the sorcerers Harada had mentioned earlier—he was slumped against the wall, blood staining his clothes, his chest rising and falling in shallow breaths. He looked like he had been through hell.
"Hey," I said, approaching cautiously, my eyes sweeping the area for threats.
The sorcerer's eyes flickered open, barely focusing on me. "You… Tokyo sorcerer?" His voice was hoarse, raspy.
"We're here to deal with the situation. But it looks like things have escalated."
He laughed bitterly, though the sound quickly turned into a cough. "Escalated? That's putting it lightly. This place... it's a nightmare."
I glanced around, noticing the faint smears of blood along the floor. "Tell me what happened."
"It's not just the spirit. At first, we thought it was only the special-grade, but... the corpses. They're moving."
I raised an eyebrow. "Corpses?"
The sorcerer nodded again, his voice weaker. "The others… they didn't make it. Be careful."
I glanced around the corridor, then back at him. "Can you move?"
The sorcerer shook his head slowly. "I'm done. Just… stop this thing before it gets worse."
He slumped back against the wall, unconscious, his body finally giving out. Just as I turned to leave, I caught movement from the far end of the corridor. A horde of figures was shambling—no, running—toward me.
The corpses.
Exactly as the man had described. Their bodies were in various states of ruin. Limbs were missing, chunks of flesh torn off, bloodied clothes barely clinging to what was left. Yet, they ran with an unnatural speed, faster than any normal human should be capable of—especially not in their condition.
I tightened my grip on the wooden handle of my blunt sword, the cursed energy already flowing through it.
The first corpse lunged toward me, its hollow eyes wide with unnatural hunger. I swung my sword with a quick slash, cleaving through its torso in one swift motion.
The first corpse lunged toward me, its hollow eyes wide with unnatural hunger. With a quick, practiced slash, I cleaved through its torso in one swift motion. The body hit the floor with a dull thud, severed in half.
But before I could process the kill, the upper half of the corpse used its remaining arms to drag itself toward me, mouth still gaping open as if it hadn't registered its death. Without hesitation, I swung my sword again, cutting off both its arms and then its head. The head rolled away, but even then, the body continued to twitch.
"Tch," I muttered in frustration, gripping the handle tighter. "Even like this, they keep moving. It's like fighting meat puppets."
It didn't matter. They were corpses now, no longer human. There was no sense in holding back. I dispatched another wave of corpses, my cursed energy slicing through them as they kept coming. But there was no end in sight, and each one was just as stubborn as the last.
Just as I was about to strike down another, I felt something—a tremor beneath my feet.
I paused, holding my weapon steady as the floor beneath me rumbled. It wasn't subtle. The ground was shaking, and it wasn't from the corpses. A low, distant roar reverberated through the building, coming from somewhere deep within.
"What now?" I muttered, pressing my hand against the wall on my left. The vibrations were strong.
BOOM!
Then, a moment later, I heard it—a loud, deafening explosion that shook the entire structure, and I instinctively took a step back.
The explosion had come from the left, somewhere deeper inside the hospital.
The corpses continued to advance, but I could feel it—the source of the explosion was significant. Something was happening, something far worse than just these mindless corpses.
I glanced at my watch once more, The binding vow, still in place. Not yet.
The fainted man lay behind me, breathing shallowly. If I retreated, he'd be caught in the crossfire.
That left only one logical option.
"Come."
I turned forward, my mind clear. If the source of that explosion was tied to the special-grade spirit, then there was only one path left.
I would move forward.
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Third Person POV
The space was unrecognizable, filled with craters and debris, as if a storm of destruction had torn through it. Dust hung in the air, thick and heavy, while the ground was uneven, scarred by deep, jagged trenches.
At the center of it all stood a monstrous figure—a special-grade cursed spirit, towering and grotesque.
In front of the beast stood a lone figure, a young girl, her eyes glowed with a mystifying blue hue, the pupils reflecting colors like a fractured rainbow.
The cursed spirit, despite lacking a discernible face, emanated an aura of pure rage, its gaping maw twisted in fury as if ready to eat her whole. A severed arm lay between them, the mangled remains of someone—or something—unlucky enough to face the girl.
Her sword, stained with fresh blood, hung loosely at her side. Her gaze never left the cursed spirit, a dangerous glint dancing in her eyes as her lips curled into a slight smirk.
The cursed spirit shifted, Though it had no eyes, it could sense the threat standing before it.
Shiki tilted her head slightly, her smirk deepening.
"One down."
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