"You four! New mission from headquarters!"
Masamichi Yaga walked into the classroom with a stern face, holding a mission brief.
But as soon as he stepped inside, he froze.
He saw Souma and Suguru Geto holding Satoru's arms, pinning him down, while Shoko Ieiri was drawing little turtles on Satoru's face with a marker.
The three of them had matching Anya Forger-style smirks, while Satoru looked like a bullied housewife who had given up on life.
"..."
Yaga felt a headache coming on.
After a few months of teaching, he had fully grasped the nature of these four.
Strong. Arrogant. Talented. And... absolute problem children.
Souma was the first to notice Yaga standing at the door. "Oh? When did Yaga-sensei get here?"
Hearing this, Geto and Shoko immediately sat up straight, putting on their best "good student" faces.
Satoru grabbed a wet towel and frantically wiped his face. "Damn it! How could I lose seven hands in a row? You guys were cheating, weren't you?"
"Satoru!"
"Yes!"
Satoru immediately stood up at attention.
Yaga rubbed his temples, took a deep breath, and weakly waved the mission papers.
"New mission. Grade 1 Curse: The Slit-Mouthed Woman. Intelligence suggests its strength far exceeds that of a typical Grade 1."
Satoru took the file, brimming with confidence. "Don't worry, Sensei! Leave it to us!"
"Don't worry?"
Yaga paused, then spoke in a flat tone. "One year ago, the sewer explosion in Shinjuku was your masterpiece, wasn't it, Satoru?"
"Uh..."
Satoru was speechless.
Yaga shifted his gaze. "Ten months ago, the collapse of that abandoned toy factory. Souma, that was you, right?"
Souma scratched his cheek sheepishly. "Well... it was abandoned anyway. I thought I was helping with the demolition."
"Six months ago, Suguru, you released a curse that caused a commotion, and a passing police officer insisted he saw a ghost. He was treated for mental instability afterward."
Geto gave an awkward but polite smile.
Finally, Yaga's eyes landed on Shoko.
Shoko raised both hands in surrender. "Sensei! I'm non-combatant personnel! None of this has anything to do with me!"
"I know that."
A vein popped on Yaga's forehead. "But who stole my three bottles of vintage sake?"
Shoko froze, then let out a dry laugh and scratched her head.
Yaga took a long breath. "I see it now. You are all uniquely talented at causing trouble."
Satoru looked at the ceiling. Geto looked at the floor. Souma looked out the window at a forty-five-degree angle. Shoko stared blankly into space.
The four of them entered "play dumb" mode.
"Sigh..."
Yaga let out a sigh that carried the weight of an exhausted father.
"Just complete the mission properly. Don't cause any extra trouble!"
"Yes! Sensei!" x4
...
In front of an old apartment complex, Souma, Satoru, and Geto were doing stretching exercises.
"It's just one Grade 1 curse. You three can handle it. I'm too lazy to go in."
Shoko lit a cigarette, looking a bit melancholic.
Her technique was the rare Reverse Cursed Technique, capable of healing others. Even if someone was on their last breath, she could bring them back.
The problem was that her three teammates were monsters.
After every mission, let alone getting injured, their clothes were barely even dirty. If they got a scratch, it probably healed naturally before she could even activate her technique.
Well, she enjoyed the downtime anyway.
Shoko brought her fingers together.
"Emerge from darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify that which is impure."
A substance like black sludge rose from the ground, instantly forming a massive dome that covered the entire apartment complex.
"The Curtain is up. The rest is on you guys."
"Let's go."
Souma took the lead, stepping into the gloomy building.
Satoru and Geto followed close behind.
As soon as they entered, the intense resentment and cursed energy felt thick enough to touch, clinging to the walls like slime.
Countless low-level curses roamed the halls.
The three of them swept floor by floor, but even when they reached the top, they hadn't found a trace of the "Slit-Mouthed Woman."
Satoru looked confused. "Ha? What's going on? Is the intelligence wrong?"
Geto shook his head. "The Slit-Mouthed Woman is a powerful curse far above average Grade 1s. The higher-ups wouldn't mistake intelligence this important. Is there anywhere we haven't checked?"
Souma thought for a moment, then looked up. "Right. This building has a basement, doesn't it?"
The three exchanged glances, then quickly descended from the roof to the first floor and found the basement door.
Creeaaaak—
Souma stepped forward and opened the door.
In that instant, a strong sense of dissonance washed over them.
The surrounding environment, even the air itself, seemed to shift fundamentally.
The three of them changed expressions.
"It's a Domain!"
A Domain wasn't necessarily a Domain Expansion.
Some powerful curses couldn't achieve a full expansion but could create an incomplete Domain. Or, like the Cursed Womb the trio would encounter in the future, an Innate Domain.
And slightly weaker ones could use their cursed energy to create a Simple Domain to amplify their techniques.
Neither of these had the sure-hit effect of a true Domain Expansion.
Right now, the entire basement was flooded with cursed energy, transformed by the resident curse into its private territory.
The moment Souma opened the door, they had stepped inside.
"As long as it's not a Domain Expansion, we're fine," Souma muttered, relaxing slightly.
Suddenly, the figure of the Slit-Mouthed Woman appeared before them.
Beneath her matted hair, her face was covered in countless eyes.
She spoke in a voice that scraped against their bones.
"Am I... am I... beautiful?"
"You're ugly as hell!"
Souma retorted without a second of hesitation.
"AAAAAHHHHHHHH..."
The curse exploded with resentment, lunging at the three of them with a massive pair of scissors.
Being called ugly was an insult even a cursed spirit couldn't take.
The sharp blades flashed with cold light.
However, the attack stopped slowly in front of Souma and Satoru, unable to advance an inch.
Splurt—
A cut appeared behind Geto's ear, blood trickling down his neck.
"Tch. That Limitless technique is really convenient."
Geto looked at the twins, who hadn't even moved to block, and felt a pang of envy.
"Rainbow Dragon!"
Seeing the Slit-Mouthed Woman prepare another attack, Geto waved his hand. The Rainbow Dragon roared out, coiling around the curse and pinning it down.
"Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue!"
"Shinbu-ryu: Tiger Pierce!"
The three of them began a righteous gang-beating.
Shocking news: Three young men assault a defenseless woman in a basement!
After a while, the Slit-Mouthed Woman lay on the ground, twitching weakly, completely broken.
Geto rubbed his chin. "This curse has decent strength. It's worth absorbing."
"Cursed Spirit Manipulation!"
A black vortex appeared in Geto's palm. The Slit-Mouthed Woman's body was sucked in, compressed into a small, black sphere that glowed with an eerie light.
"Oh! So that's your technique!"
Satoru leaned in like a curious child.
Even though he knew Geto's technique was Cursed Spirit Manipulation, Geto hadn't found a curse worth taming until now. This was the first time Satoru had seen it in action.
Geto smiled. "It just turns the curse into a ball so I can swallow it."
Souma suddenly spoke up, his voice quiet.
"What does it taste like? It's a curse, after all. It must taste awful, right?"