2 YEARS LATER:
December 25, 2004
The Stanley Hotel is a historic 140-room neo-Georgian hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, famous as the inspiration for Stephen King's The Shining.
Opened in 1909, it is renowned for its paranormal activity, particularly in Room 217. The historic Stanley Hotel is fully functional, open year-round, and operates as a popular hotel, wedding venue, and tourist attraction known for its ghost tours… but not currently, as it had been closed after an entire family was found brutally murdered in Room 217—details of which made Ethan's stomach turn.
Ethan stood outside the gloomy-looking hotel on Christmas Day, not for celebration, but because after repeated pestering, the Ancient One had allowed him to hunt Grade 1 cursed spirits on his own. After all, he could exorcise most Grade 1s with one or two passive punches. His was a unique situation.
As for the sorcerers of Kamar Taj, when fighting a Grade 1 cursed spirit, it is not unusual for one or more of them to lose a limb—or even their life. They often engage Grade 3 to Grade 1 cursed spirits in battalions of at least eight to twelve sorcerers.
If a sorcerer ever encounters a special-grade cursed spirit, no matter the battalion's current number or strength, they are mandated to retreat and inform the Ancient One. Only a few have lived after an encounter with a special grade.
There were only three sorcerers—four, if you counted Tora—who knew of Ethan's true prowess. Not that he was hiding his strength, but he often went solo curse hunting, occasionally accompanied by the Ancient One. So apart from the fact that he could use cursed energy, and rumors of his potentially becoming a special grade when he grew up, not much was known about his current abilities.
As for the third sorcerer, it was your not-so-friendly neighborhood librarian, Wong. He was a highly skilled sorcerer capable of casting complex spells, manipulating eldritch magic to form weapons and shields, and creating interdimensional portals without a sling ring. He was also a proficient martial artist and an occult curator. They had bonded over their shared interest in esotericism, magic, witchcraft, the paranormal—and soup-filled Xiao Long Bao from Grandma's Dumpling House.
Ethan had come here to exorcise a Grade 1 cursed spirit at the Ancient One's request—specifically an Imaginary Vengeful Cursed Spirit. These are born from the collective fear of specific concepts, urban legends, or disasters. The special grade he had exorcised two years ago also fell into this category.
He remembered that in The Shining, the Overlook Hotel itself acts as a sentient, malevolent entity that consumes the souls and memories of its guests rather than being haunted by a single ghost. He agreed—this cursed spirit was similar to the one seen in Jujutsu Kaisen (Hidden Inventory Arc), where Mei Mei and Utahime were trapped in a barrier by an unnamed Imaginary Vengeful Cursed Spirit inside a cursed mansion for days, with their sense of time distorted.
Just as he was about to enter the hotel, he paused, recalling a conversation with the Ancient One during his last weekly lesson on the nature of souls.
"Tora is among the most prodigious students of the Mystic Arts I have ever taught," she had said. Coming from someone over 700 years old, that meant a lot. Ethan still remembered the astounded faces of fellow students and Masters of the Mystic Arts when they saw an eight-foot-tall bipedal tiger performing sling ring portals in the training yard. He had been forced to reduce Tora's size to the "default setting" during their time in Kamar Taj so he could fit through doors without breaking them.
Tora had told Ethan how he used to help his previous master with cursed energy consumption so that he never ran out. Primarily, Tora granted his master near-perfect efficiency by reducing cursed energy consumption to nearly zero. This sounded remarkably similar to the Six Eyes of the Gojo clan.
Beyond efficiency, Tora also helped Ethan achieve near-perfect cursed energy control, which allowed him to reach new heights with his two primary offensive techniques: Raiju's Strike and Graphite Blast.
When Tora discovered dimensional energies via the pendant, it was as though a whole new world had opened to him. Following this discovery, he found a unique way to draw power from alternate dimensions to create magic.
In the last two years, Tora studied the Mystic Arts with the enthusiasm of a man dying of thirst who had found an oasis, mastering spells that would normally take decades for others to learn. Tora was the ultimate sorcerer. One of the greatest weaknesses of modern sorcerers was their lack of speed and defensive capability—and Tora ranked among the upper special grades in both.
Some of the spells Ethan had personally seen Tora use during exorcisms included:
Eldritch Constructs: Yellow-orange energy used to create weapons, shields, and whips capable of harming special grades.
Tao Mandalas: Circular defensive shields capable of stopping multiple blows from a special grade.
Portal Generation (Without Sling Ring): Sparks-based portals for instant transportation; after a few months, Tora could generate multiple portals simultaneously.
Astral Projection: Separating the soul from the physical body. While most shikigami lack souls, Ten Shadows summons are exceptions—though rare cases like Rika Orimoto exist.
Mirror Dimension Manipulation: Warping reality within a separate dimension, commonly used against powerful enemies.
Crimson Bands of Cyttorak: Red binding energy drawn from the Cyttorak dimension.
Icy Tendrils of Ikthalon: Frozen restraints capable of reaching absolute zero.
Images of Ikonn: Highly realistic illusions capable of fooling even seasoned sorcerers.
Mist of Morpheus: Sleep-inducing mist used for crowd control or paralysis.
Winds of Watoomb: Gusts powerful enough to disperse an EF5 tornado.
Flames of the Faltine: Magical fire for offense, defense, banishment, and high-level healing—especially potent when combined with Round Deer's RCT.
Shield of the Seraphim: A scalable barrier capable of blocking ultimate techniques.
The Montesi Formula: A spell to destroy vampires and undead—one of many mystical threats Kamar Taj regularly faces.
Summoning his loyal tiger shikigami—now towering at fifteen feet of pure muscle—Ethan smiled inwardly.
"Go on, Tora. Entertain me. And don't worry about property damage—go all out."
"Ethan…" Tora said. It had taken a long time for him to grow accustomed to using his master's name. Foolish old traditions. "From the cursed energy signature, it appears to be a recently born Grade 1 Imaginary Vengeful Spirit. If I have to get even a little serious against this insect, then I wouldn't be your greatest warrior, would I?"
Tora had once been proud of what he accomplished for his previous master—but it paled in comparison to what he could now do for Ethan. Through partial summoning at all times, he reduced Ethan's cursed energy consumption to nearly zero.
Much like Gojo Satoru kept Neutral Infinity active 24/7 using Six Eyes and RCT, Ethan achieved something similar through constant partial summoning of all his shikigami. This allowed near-instant coordination and summoning without elaborate hand signs.
Ethan watched from a distance as Tora one-shot the Imaginary Vengeful Spirit that had plagued the Stanley Hotel.
His Motorola RAZR V3 buzzed.
MESSAGE FROM THE ANCIENT ONE:
A special-grade cursed spirit has been spotted by a battalion of sorcerers during an expedition near the Indian Ocean. RSVP?
HELL YEAH.
Finally, he would be able to deploy his Domain Expansion—
against a special-grade cursed spirit.
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