The Devils of Jujutsu

Chapter 45: Cursed Alliance part 1

(Asta's p.o.v.)

I was mad that Gojo set me up on a meeting with my loathsome former squad mates, but at least he was there to explain his reasons. He was right, if I wanted to get that bird off my ass, I had to make her get the message as clearly as I could. I threatened to kill her if she ever got in my line of sight again, I even shot a Black Slash laced with cursed energy at her, as a warning.

During our time training at the Academy, Liebe and I discovered that our Anti-magic and cursed energy have similar properties. Since cursed energy is born from negative emotions, and Anti-magic was manifested from Liebe's anger, pain, and hatred for other devils, the two powers are nearly identical in nature. For this reason, we can mix the two in order to achieve results that cursed energy nor Anti-magic can do alone. It also helps hide my cursed energy in plain site when I have to use it. And on an interesting side note, when mixed with Anti-magic, cursed energy becomes undetectable to a Jujutsu Sorcerer, and Cursed Spirits. It is, in a sense, a cursed technique that can nullify curses and magic.

But back to the topic at hand, Gojo had brought me and Liebe back to the Academy after Nero had left. I made my way to the cafeteria to eat lunch since I hadn't eaten yet. When I got there, I saw Yuuji, Liebe, and Nobara already eating. I got my food and went over to them. They noticed me and Yuuji said, "Hey Asta. How did that meeting go?" I told them that I met Nero, and Yuuji replied, "Gojo set you up to meet with your former squad member? Why?" "He explained that she would've kept hounding him, until he gave in. And that the best way to get her to leave me alone, was to hear it straight from my mouth. I even gave her a threat and a warning shot to make sure she never even come into my line of sight again." Liebe replied, "Yikes! And I thought Nobara can be scary." "I'm right here!" She yelled and we jumped. Yuuji said, "Anyway, I heard that the higher ups have already sent construction teams to the sites of our new branches." We had found the perfect locations to set up our stronghold/educational facilities in the 4 kingdoms a while back, and marked the locations on a map. Liebe and I had gotten permission from the elders of Heart Kingdom's elven village and informed our superiors about it, and they said that having good relations with a hidden village would be beneficial to both the elves and the jujutsu community. And now that the preparations were completed, the higher ups sent construction crews to the work sites. And since many of the workers are shikigami users, the branch divisions will be finished in a matter of months. Shikigami can be used to do things other than fight. For example, some shikigami are able to retrieve and store objects, but it takes a while to tame them. So, using shikigami to help lift heavy construction materials wouldn't be so strange. Speaking of strange, there was something that had been on my mind for a while. "Hey, guys. Don't you think it's weird that we haven't heard about Geto since he announced the night parade?" I asked. They seemed to agree by the looks of their faces. Yuuji replied, "Yeah, that is weird. Now that I think about it, he didn't make another appearance ever since he attacked the academy, not even to take us down when we defeated his armies of cursed spirits." Nobara stated, "Yeah, we were too injured to keep fighting after that. It would've been a perfect opportunity to take us out, but Geto didn't show himself to any of the teams." Liebe added, "What's more is that he didn't do anything to stop us from protecting the four kingdoms' capitals. Why?" We were all wondering the same thing, 'What the hell is going on here?'

Elsewhere

  (????? P.o.v.)

 
It had been over 5 months since the Night Parade of 10000 Demons, and I had been working on my next plan in my hideout. Suddenly, I sensed four powerful sources of cursed energy coming toward me. "Who's there?!" I called out to them. They came closer and I got a clear view of my visitors. They were clearly Cursed Spirits, and Special Grade ones at that. One was a tall humanoid with white skin, trees for eyes, and it's left arm wrapped inside a cloth. One was a shorter, one eyed male with a volcano on the top of his head. Another was bright red, with the appearance of an aquatic animal, like an octopus. The last was a man with long blue hair and a patchwork face. "No need to be on edge, we came here to talk." I stood there for a moment to try and sense any hostility from them and couldn't sense any. "Who are you? You're not normal cursed spirits, considering the fact that you're able to communicate." Patchwork replied, "My name is Mahito, the octopus is Dagon, the one with the volcano head is Jogo, and the one with the trees for eyes is Hanami. And as for your remark about us not being normal curses, is a rather astute observation. I'm sure you're aware why cursed spirits in cities are powerful than those in the countryside, correct?" I understood what he meant, a cursed spirit is born from the negative feelings people harbor towards a given subject. The stronger the feelings, the stronger the curse is. In heavily populated areas, such as cities, cursed spirits have intelligence because the feelings are much stronger in the hearts of the masses. So, in theory, it would make sense for a cursed spirit to gain human level intellect and the ability to communicate. I nodded and Mahito continued, "We were born from the fear and hate humans harbor towards the earth, the forest, the oceans, and to their fellow humans. Those feelings were so strong, we gained wisdom before we took form. Until now, we've been in hiding, this is why we were never appeared on the Jujutsu Sorcerers' watch list." His explanation made a lot of sense. With that out of the way, I decided to hear them out. "So, what do you want to talk about?" I asked. Jogo replied, "There's something we need your help with
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Kenjaku."