*****
The atmosphere was different now.
Like the aftermath of a great battle—drifting residue of scattered cursed spirits,stablr tremors of fading cursed energy hanging like smoke.
It was heavier.
Deeper.
There stood Shinji, barely standing upright
The pole of streetlight flickered through broken beams and cracked concrete, casting fractured light across his figure. His eyes glowed brightly purple soft, luminous, but wrong
He wasn't fully conscious.
Not awake the way a frightened boy should be.
But he was somehow strangely aware.
Aware of the cursed spirit trembling a few steps away.
Aware of the slow, steady pulse inside his chest.
A pool of cursed energy poured from him in thick waves, spilling across the pavement and slipping into the fractures of the abandoned structure behind him. It crawled upward along exposed rebar and skeletal beams like ink bleeding through paper.
Then—
His cursed energy began to gather. Behind him, something rose.
Slowly.
Like a shape surfacing from deep, black waters.
A vast, translucent form emerged—shimmering blue, amorphous, its edges wavering like heat over asphalt. It was neither solid nor smoke, but something in between. Two black eyes floated within its mass, depthless and unblinking.
From its body hung thin yellow tendrils, dripping downward like liquid threads. They swayed gently, twitching as if tasting the air.
The cursed spirit in front of him—the distorted clown-appearance thing born from fear of painted smiles and laughter in the dark—stumbled backward.
It trembled for a bit, as if the cursed spirits understood hierarchy instinctively.
And this was something higher on the food chain.
But fear did not erase the cursed spirits instinct.
With a broken, shrill cry, it lunged forward.
It never reached him
Before the cursed spirit could make the slightest movement
The translucent entity reacted before the movement was even complete
The tendrils snapped forward.
Blindingly fast.
They struck the cursed spirit, coiling around its limbs and torso with violent force. The impact cracked the pavement as the cursed spirit was slammed down, its claws scraping uselessly against concrete.
It couldn't move.
Not even an inch.
The tendrils tightened.
Then they transformed.
The soft yellow tendrils hardened and elongated, reshaping with fluid precision into curved, glistening stingers. Their surfaces gleamed faintly under fractured light.
There was no pause in its action
No mercy whatsoever shown toward the cursed spirits and then, they pierced into the body of the cursed spirit.
Several tendril moved
Each strike sank deep with a wet, tearing sound.
Lethal doses of Venom flooded into the body of the cursed spirit
The cursed spirit convulsed violently as dark veins spidered outward from each wound, spreading across its pale, warped flesh. Its body swelled grotesquely, skin bubbling as if something corrosive devoured it from the inside.
It screamed.
High-pitched. Frantic.
Fear had steadily settled into the mind of the cursed spirit.
More stingers formed piercing into the rest of the cursed spirits body, more venom flowed into its body.
As the curse writhed in unbearable agony—
A grin appeared on Shinji's face
Unsettling.
He watched without blinking.
Something in him felt satisfied.
The curse's screams broke into choking gurgles. Its body blackened completely before rupturing into fragments of dissolving energy that scattered into the night.
The translucent being loomed behind Shinji still, tendrils drifting lazily like seaweed beneath dark water. Its black eyes remained fixed forward.
Protective.
Possessive.
*****
Elsewhere —
Momo suddenly stopped mid-step, sensing and feeling the massive wave of cursed energy flooding near
Miwa and Mai halted behind her.
They felt it too.
The air pressed against their lungs. Their skin prickled as if submerged too deep underwater. The cursed energy flooding the area was too chaotic.
Momo's gaze hardened.
This feeling wasn't that of an ordinary or weak tier cursed spirit
It was tremendously powerful.
The abandoned building stood ahead like the carcass of something long dead—windows shattered, walls split open. Wind slipping through its hollow frame carried the cursed energy straight toward them.
Momo quickly rushed into the building in hope for searching for Shinji , but is taken aback to witness the empty spot left to where she left Shinji hidden
Miwa and Mai slowly stepped behind Momo, coming to view of where Momo gaze was fixed at
"Senpai, where is Shinji?" Miwa asked
Without wasting much time, Momo gathers her thoughts "Shinji could be in an imminent danger."
"Miwa. Mai. Spread out" Momo said
They blinked.
"We'll cover more ground separately this way in our search for Shinji "
"I swear to god, if I get the chance to find him first, when I get my hands on him, I'll smack some sense into him" Mai said
Miwa chuckled
"Yeah yeah…Let's go Mai" Miwa said
Then,they split off into various directions —boots echoing against fractured pavement as they searched the perimeter.