Chapter 116 (Patreon)

“What are you standing around for? Follow me.”

Ragnar Kagenou walked out first.

The others looked as if they wanted to follow, but the moment their eyes fell on the man kneeling on the ground, looking as though he had been buried alive, they gave up on the idea.

Ragnar had nothing to say about that.

Killing ordinary people who could no longer resist was beneath him.

Of course, if someone insisted on stepping forward to die, he did not mind sending them on their way.

Airi Suzuki grabbed Tsumiki Fushiguro’s hand and hurried after Ragnar.

“Coming! We’re coming!”

Airi’s enthusiasm was so bright that Tsumiki could barely recognize her.

During the year they had spent in this place, Tsumiki had never known Airi could be this cheerful.

“How are we supposed to get out?” Tsumiki asked, doubt flickering in her clear black eyes. “We searched this whole area a long time ago. There isn’t an exit anywhere.”

Airi nodded as well.

They had explored almost the entire city. Aside from the ruined scenery, all they had found were endless cursed spirits.

“This place is special,” Ragnar said. “There are cursed spirits in the living world, but the amount there is not even one ten-thousandth of what exists here.”

“The negative energy of the entire world couldn’t possibly be limited to the little amount seen on the surface. Even the negative energy produced by a single country would be enough to destroy that country.”

Neither of them fully understood what Ragnar meant.

After all, they were not jujutsu sorcerers.

“Maybe the negative energy from the living world gathers here first,” Ragnar continued. “Only the portion that cannot be absorbed, or the portion that leaks out, appears in the living world and forms curses and cursed energy.”

On top of that foundation, Tengen’s barriers served as an additional layer of insurance.

In other words, the curses that modern jujutsu sorcerers faced were the ones that had managed to stand out from countless others.

They could not necessarily be called the strongest.

But any curse that could appear in the living world was definitely among the luckiest.

“If every curse in this world poured out at once, I honestly don’t know how many living people would be left.”

Ragnar seemed somewhat interested as he glanced at the two girls.

“Do either of you remember how you came to this world?”

Hearing his question, Tsumiki and Airi searched their memories carefully.

Tsumiki murmured, “It should have been… a bridge…”

Airi said, “Yasohachi Bridge.”

When Tsumiki heard the name, she immediately nodded.

“That’s right. Yasohachi Bridge. It was that bridge.”

“I only remember that after I saved Airi, there was something behind me. The air around me suddenly became freezing cold…”

“Then I appeared in this place.”

As she spoke, Tsumiki’s mood gradually sank.

“The thing that brought you here was a cursed spirit,” Ragnar said.

“A cursed spirit?”

“Something born from human negative emotions, with its own thoughts and emotions. You could call it a ghost. Or a yokai, if that makes it easier to understand.”

Ragnar led the two of them toward Yasohachi Bridge.

There was not a single sound around them.

The dead silence hanging over the city naturally stirred fear in the heart.

The two girls clutched the hem of Ragnar’s clothes. They knew he was no ordinary person, but in a place like this, fear still came all too easily.

The surroundings were eerily quiet.

Inside the empty city, only their footsteps echoed.

Nothing seemed to be there on the surface, but countless cursed spirits had already begun emerging around them.

“Are you afraid?”

Airi’s voice trembled, sounding as if she might cry at any moment.

“O-Of course I am…”

It was terrifying.

It felt as though countless eyes were staring at her from every direction. Just imagining that sensation was enough to send goosebumps crawling across her skin.

Tsumiki, on the other hand, did not look well either, but there was no obvious fear on her face.

“It’s all right,” she said softly. “I’ve been living with these cursed spirits around me for so long, after all.”

Ragnar glanced at her.

As expected of Toji Fushiguro’s daughter.

When facing cursed spirits, she was naturally less prone to fear.

Airi was far more cautious. Every tiny movement around her fell within her observation.

That meticulous awareness had practically become instinct.

After all, anyone careless or reckless had already died in this place long ago.

Suddenly, the surrounding cursed spirits began to stir.

In this place, cursed spirits could appear brazenly on the streets.

Because here, they were the true masters.

Countless grotesque and hideous cursed spirits surrounded the three of them. Some of the impatient ones lunged forward without waiting.

“S-So many cursed spirits…”

Whoosh!

The cursed spirit that rushed in was instantly pierced through by a sword fired from the opened Gate of Babylon.

“There are more than a few cockroaches here.”

Ragnar stood where he was as golden ripples spread one after another behind him.

A moment later, the dim world was illuminated by gold.

The ripples of the Gate of Babylon filled the sky in a vast circle.

“Is… is this a miracle?”

Airi looked up at the golden sky, her entire body frozen in place, unable to snap out of it for a long time.

“Light…”

Tsumiki reached out and watched the golden radiance fall across her palm.

“I’d almost forgotten what it feels like to have light shine on me…”

The city, once so cold, seemed to gain a trace of warmth.

Rumble.

Golden Noble Phantasms fell like rain.

Tsumiki quietly gazed at Ragnar, who stood at the center of it all.

The golden Noble Phantasms surrounding him seemed less like weapons and more like ornaments meant to adorn his presence.

Even those dazzling treasures looked dim beside him.

In Tsumiki’s eyes, his back seemed to grow taller and more imposing.

The golden Noble Phantasms continued to descend, forming a barrier that cut off every attack from the cursed spirits.

The two girls, who had been nervous only moments ago, gradually felt an incredible sense of peace beneath that radiant protection.

No matter how the cursed spirits around them roared, their doomed end was already a fact they could not change.

It could only be called—

Gold Experience Requiem.

A moment later, the scarred ground was covered in pits of every size.

Each one had once contained a cursed spirit.

An endless array of golden Noble Phantasms stood embedded in the earth.

“In the end, they’re only masses of energy. Fragile and pathetic.”

Ragnar looked over the ruined street indifferently.

“Though they are rather disgusting.”

Soon after, the Noble Phantasms scattered across the ground began turning into golden particles and returned to the Gate of Babylon.

“…So strong.”

While Tsumiki was still staring blankly at Ragnar, Airi tugged her along and hurried to catch up.

The three continued walking and soon arrived in front of Yasohachi Bridge.

The instant they reached it, a cold, oppressive sensation rushed toward them.

Ragnar did not feel much from it, but Tsumiki and Airi sensed the aura clearly.

It was so heavy that breathing became difficult.

Tap.

Tap.

In front of Yasohachi Bridge, the sound of wood striking the ground rang out.

“Something’s coming.”

Airi tightly gripped Tsumiki’s arm, truly frightened this time.

Tsumiki could only comfort her first.

You were the one who said we should leave.

So why are you the one scared out of your mind now that we’ve actually run into a cursed spirit?

A woman in a red kimono appeared on the fog-covered bridge.

The footsteps from earlier must have come from her.

Ragnar had no intention of indulging the cursed spirit’s theatrics.

Ten golden ripples from the Gate of Babylon opened behind him.

In the next instant, a golden spear shot forward, tearing through the air and erupting with a chain of sonic booms.