After the battle, everyone enjoyed a period of relative peace.
Over the past few days, Eichi occasionally ran errands for Medea and took Artoria shopping.
Everyone else was doing well too.
Utata who was even more ruthless than someone considered ruthless, once again sought Medea for treatment.
Later, Medea swiftly crafted a Cursed Tool that could slow the erosion rate of the Sesshoseki.
This saved Utata from having to teeter on the edge of death every time she fought a strong opponent.
Naraku's body also improved significantly under Medea's care.
At the time, Mei had inflicted numerous wounds on his body to torment him.
Ironically, this gave Medea and Eichi the opportunity to also heal many of Naraku's older injuries.
Now, Naraku felt as though he was breaking through and establishing a new foundation.
The half-crippled, retired Isayama Naraku was gone. The former Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer was back.
Michael wasn't idle either. With the Cursed Objects in place and the Techniques refined,
He and Medea worked together to mimic Shishiou and created a second Cursed Tool capable of controlling Shikigami.
This Cursed Tool could summon a Grade 1-level Shikigami named Hannya.
Hannya is a type of vengeful spirit from Japanese folklore, born of intense female jealousy and resentment.
Michael named the sword Fuma Ichigo.
It became his third Cursed Tool series, following the Air Pressure Exorcism Sword Miku series and the Cup-Breaking (Exorcism Iron Fist) series.
Not only Eichi's group, but even Tamamo-no-Mae had been enjoying some calm and fulfilling days.
She remained hidden inside the barrier, manipulating Cursed Spirits with her Spirit Butterfly Technique.
Takako, Dhruv, and the others searched outside for enough vessels for Incarnation and Special Grade Cursed Spirits—entities that could be converted into combat power.
Ryu on the other hand, was simply thrown out of the barrier by Tamamo-no-Mae and left to do whatever he wanted.
That martial arts maniac always led everything toward a fight.
Tamamo-no-Mae still needed time to hibernate and develop, so she just told Ryu to find a place to stay and not cause trouble.
The last time, he got bored and fought with Kuroi Bokusatsu, a Special Grade Cursed Spirit she had just awakened. They nearly tore down the barrier.
Kuroi Bokusatsu was a Special Grade Cursed Spirit born from human fear of cockroaches. He was one of the sixteen Special Grades registered with Jujutsu Headquarters.
He had voluntarily gone into hibernation, as he wasn't a match for Kenjaku, but Kenjaku still found him and collected him anyway.
Later, after Kenjaku obtained Suguru's body, he awakened and subdued Kuroi Bokusatsu.
When the Culling Game began, Kuroi Bokusatsu was released into the Sendai Barrier.
But happy times never last long. As Tamamo-no-Mae's activity increased, her presence began to leave traces more easily detectable by the outside world.
The peaceful days were about to end.
On the northern coast of Sendai.
Two Assistant Supervisors were searching along a stretch of beach that looked like it had been shelled.
Recently, members of the Window embedded in the police and other agencies had reported a large volume of intelligence suggesting possible Curse User and Cursed Spirit activity.
The Assistant Supervisors had no choice but to work overtime to investigate.
"Do you think this was caused by a Cursed Spirit?"
One of them squatted inside a crater, brushing his palm over the ground.
"Probably, unless a gang decided to have a shootout here using rocket launchers."
The Assistant Supervisor behind him lit a cigarette, glancing around the crater-filled shoreline.
Some of the outermost craters had already been washed away by the tide, leaving no evidence, but further inland, where the seawater didn't reach, many useful traces remained.
"One used a fire-type Technique. The other didn't show any clear Technique traits."
The younger Supervisor stood up, having come to a conclusion.
"How about your side?" he asked his senior.
"There's no trace of residual Cursed Energy, which means at least one of them was a Curse User."
Ordinary Cursed Spirits don't know how to clean up Cursed Energy residue.
If it had been a Jujutsu Sorcerer, the Assistant Supervisors would've received reports through the proper channels.
But recently, no sorcerer had mentioned battling at the beach.
That left only one possibility—Curse Users.
"How are you going to write the report?"
"Strength level: at least Grade 1, suspected Special Grade."
The older Supervisor exhaled a smoke ring and replied.
"Suspected Special Grade? Are you sure?"
The younger one sounded surprised.
"I've worked with Grade 1 sorcerers before, and the damage they caused wasn't nearly this extensive."
The older one glanced around.
Craters were scattered throughout an area over 200 meters wide.
"Grade 1 can do it... right?"
Special Grades were rarer than pandas in the Jujutsu world, and he still didn't want to believe that two Special Grades had fought here.
"Idiot."
The younger Assistant Supervisor got tapped on the head.
"I said suspected. Do you know what suspected means?"
"And don't forget. A few days ago, the Tsuchimiya family was attacked by a Special Grade Curse User who used a fire Technique."
"Huh? So you're saying..."
"Alright, just report it that way. Let the higher-ups deal with the rest. If we dig too deep, we'll just get ourselves killed."
After finishing his cigarette, the older one walked toward the black sedan parked nearby.
"Wait for me, Senpai."
The younger Supervisor quickly followed.
Elsewhere, two other Assistant Supervisors were equally busy at a police station.
They were holding a thick stack of documents—all reports on missing persons from the past few days.
"Whew, finally."
A female Assistant Supervisor stretched and placed down the last sheet of missing persons records.
"Yamada, how's your side?"
"Almost done, Yukimura."
Yamada looked just as exhausted.
Buzz buzz buzz. Beep beep.
The printer's alert sounded as it finished printing the last page in color.
Yamada picked it up and pushed off with her feet.
The wheeled office chair slid directly over to Yukimura.
"Here. These are the police surveillance captures and the suspects identified from tips sent by the public."
Yukimura took the file.
The first page was an image of a blurry woman with pink hair.
The following few pages contained public surveillance photos. Each one showed a suspected female figure.
The clearest photo came from in-store surveillance footage.
It showed Takako dining at a restaurant, and behind her stood an old man in traditional attire.
He also wore strange decorations on his head.
"Any background on these two?"
Yukimura asked.
"Absolutely nothing. These two might as well have popped out of a rock. Also, these are the police interview transcripts."
Yukimura reached out and took them.
"No common sense?"
She raised an eyebrow at the phrase that appeared repeatedly.
"Yeah, they seriously lack it. That woman, someone said she's called Uro-something, nearly scared the cashier to tears when she ordered. She even ate fried chicken bones and all."
Yamada then pointed at Dhruv.
"And that old man stood in front of someone's car for ages, staring at it like he was studying it. The owner thought he was a car thief."
"They're just like those ancient people from historical dramas."
Yamada vented all her frustration from overtime with that complaint.
"...Yamada."
"What?"
"Have you heard of Incarnation?"
(To be continued.)