Akira barely managed not to laugh. He said to Gardevoir, “All right. Do whatever you like and wipe out all those ugly Cursed Spirit.”

  “Sha~”

  Gardevoir lifted her snow white neck as if singing. One moment, the water reflected the moon in calm ripples, and the next, the reflection shattered.

  A strike of Psychic Power came down, and the river stalled for an instant. Then the water flowed backward. In the blink of an eye, the river split apart, revealing a stretch of riverbed covered in weeds.

  Some unlucky fish and shrimp were suddenly exposed to the air, staring around in confusion. Kind-hearted Gardevoir quickly sent them back into the water, and a few seconds later they swam away as if nothing had happened. The Cursed Spirit hidden at the bottom were not so lucky, dragged into midair by the raging Psychic Power.

  She wore white, with long black hair spread loose and a slender figure swaying with the water’s light. Faint sobbing reached the ears, sad and lingering. “I am so lonely. I feel so empty. I am so alone. Why does no one come to keep me company?”

  The scene was ruined by the face under the black hair. The swollen cheeks showed signs of drowning, mixed with dark red burn scars, and her mouth hung open with a long tongue drooping out. Compared to the Gardevoir floating nearby, the difference was clear at a glance.

  Then the one above crushed the one below, smashing her directly with Psychic Power. She lasted longer than the rural Cursed Spirit, but it changed nothing. From the moment she was pulled from the water, the outcome was decided.

  She shattered into nothing, leaving no trace. That, however, was only the beginning. After the water ghost was destroyed, the river surface churned again.

  At the boundary between water and sky, a white tide surged forward. It was a tide formed by white-clad female ghosts, all Cursed Spirit. The scene echoed the tragedies of the great fire long ago and could drive an onlooker mad.

  Neither Akira nor Akemi Aki felt surprised. One rule of Cursed Spirit was that the weaker they were, the more they gathered together. A single water ghost was not enough to match the legends of Yoshiwara Shrine.

  Gardevoir remained calm as well, as this level of fodder was meaningless no matter how many came. The psychic queen floated gracefully in the air, extending a slender finger to poke at empty space again and again. Each motion made a water ghost vanish with a soft pop, like a child popping bubbles.

  She needed no other skill, one move was enough everywhere. Psychic Power kept falling, and before the tide could reach the shore, half of the ghosts were already gone. The rest tried to flee but could not break free from Gardevoir’s control.

  Though she was gentle by nature, following a master like Akira meant she understood tactics well. Psychic Power worked best at close range, so she picked them off first, drew the rest in, and wiped them out in one sweep.

  Akira chuckled, then stopped midway. “The situation is under control… no, not yet. Now it finally looks like a century-old spiritual site.” Among the shattered ghosts was one higher-level Cursed Spirit that survived the first wave of Psychic Power and rushed toward the shore while Gardevoir was controlling the others.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Hidden in the group, it had not stood out, but once it broke away, its presence surged. Dark green mist spread under her feet, while flames coiled around her body, holding two disasters feared by humans since ancient times. “What level do you think she is, second grade, or quasi first?” Akira asked with a slight frown.

  “Quasi first,” Akemi Aki said. “But after being hit like this by Little Sha, even I, a third grade Jujutsu Sorcerer, can try to exorcise her.”

  Under the rules of the Jujutsu world, a Jujutsu Sorcerer usually matched a Cursed Spirit one grade higher. A third grade Jujutsu Sorcerer matched a second grade Cursed Spirit, which was the limit of what Akemi Aki could do. Against an injured target, and after seeing Gardevoir’s attack, she had gained confidence.

  “By the way, I never told you. My Jujutsu is ‘Barrier’…” She stopped mid-sentence as she felt a new surge of cursed energy, smaller than a Cursed Spirit but far more focused. Its source was right in front of her, her child, Akira.

  “Orala,” he shouted, throwing a punch. It looked casual, but Akemi Aki felt the air ripple from the impact. The female ghost that had just reached the shore was knocked down at once, her chest caved in, and even the ground beneath cracked like a web.

  Akemi Aki fell silent.

  Akemi Aki was stunned. She had been told this was her turn to act, told that he had no Jujutsu Sorcerer training, and told that he should always put self protection first. What she never expected was that the child long treated as a useless burden could be this strong.

  “Ari, you…”

  Akira waved to Gardevoir first, signaling that she did not need to worry here and should keep clearing the area. He then turned back to his mother with a small smile and said, “I just did not inherit Jujutsu. I still have the most basic Cursed Energy.”

  Cursed Energy was energy, while Jujutsu was how that energy was shaped and used. One was the foundation, the other the structure built on top of it. The structure was better, but that did not mean the foundation itself was useless.

  The way to use it was simple, limited to strengthening the body or injecting it into a target to deal damage. Because it was simple, there was no need for complex choices, just one straight path forward. Back when Akira was still in the Kamo Clan, he had memorized the methods to train Cursed Energy and his body due to his status, and he never stopped after leaving, since this had always been part of his plan.

  It was true that with Gardevoir around, Akira did not need to rush to the front and take risks, and doing so would even split her experience gains. But if the trainer was too weak, that would also hold back Pokémon in battle. Some ill tempered Pokémon would even look down on their trainer and ignore commands, which was not something Akira wanted to see.

  Even putting all that aside, a good body was one of the most important assets in life. Whether earning money, working hard, or even just enjoying yourself, everything felt better with strength. If every time you wanted to do something your back ached, your limbs felt weak, and your body felt hollowed out, how would that feel?

  Looking at her son who had knocked down a near Grade One Cursed Spirit with a single punch, then at Gardevoir who crushed the remaining Cursed Spirit with ease, Akemi Aki sighed from the heart. “Letting you leave was the biggest mistake of the Kamo Clan.”

  Akira only smiled and said nothing. A mistake? On the contrary, it was the most correct decision the Kamo Clan had made.

  As long as the atmosphere of the Jujutsu world did not change, the conflict between him and the Kamo Clan would never end. The longer it dragged on, the sharper it would become. Leaving early and keeping distance at least preserved a bit of dignity.

  The Zenin Clan, one of the Three Great Clans, already had more than one such example. One of them should have arrived in Tokyo by now and entered Tokyo Jujutsu High, and he wondered when they might meet.

  While his thoughts drifted, Gardevoir finished sweeping the remaining Cursed Spirit, including the one barely clinging to life in front of Akira. Her level rose from 30 to the latter half of 31, not far from 32. Akira knew he had made the right choice, since farming experience was faster in high level areas, and once the major spiritual sites of Tokyo were cleared, Gardevoir should be able to contend with the highest ranks.

  “All done. Let’s go home and sleep. Big cities really are better than the countryside, the gains are huge.”