Jujutsu Kaisen: I Can Manipulate Time.

"Kamihara-kun, this is classified information, known only to a few high-ranking officials in the Jujutsu world. Please refrain from casually sharing anything I'm about to tell you. It could cause... unnecessary problems."

Kazuyuki Suzuki walked ahead as he spoke. Kamihara Hajime, walking behind, recalled the charred piece of paper he had seen earlier. A wry smile formed on his lips.

"So it really is about that—Artificial Sorcerers."

For the first time, Kazuyuki Suzuki smiled.

"They're not as powerful as you might think. There are plenty of side effects. One of our former operatives lost control—completely lost his mind. Now he's nothing more than a monster driven by instinct."

Despite being much older than Hajime and clearly his senior in every way, Suzuki used honorifics when speaking to him—calmly, without a hint of arrogance.

But the content of their conversation deeply shocked Hajime: by fusing a Cursed Object or Tool into a Jujutsu Sorcerer with limited potential, an "Artificial Sorcerer" could be created—one that inherited the object's power as their own innate technique.

It was unprecedented.

Even if they weren't giving him the full picture, Hajime knew there had to be strict limitations. Otherwise, wouldn't they be mass-producing Sorcerers?

Why tell him this? Especially when he was openly aligned with Gojo Satoru, who the higher-ups had repeatedly tried to undermine? Was it because this information no longer needed to be hidden? Or had they already created a few of these "Artificial Sorcerers" and failed to control one?

Trying to earn goodwill now, after nearly getting Itadori and his friends killed? Unlikely. Hajime didn't believe in their sudden kindness.

Ahead, Suzuki pointed at an unusual shimmer in the distance.

"That's the barrier. It's keeping the entity contained. The village has already been evacuated. Once the seal is broken, the barrier will start to degrade. The mission is simple—exorcise the target."

Up close, the illusion became clearer. A boundary shimmered like warped glass. Trees, buildings, and the sky appeared normal until you looked closely—then the jagged seams of an artificial illusion became apparent.

Suzuki continued:

"The Cursed Object fused into the entity comes from a legendary Tengu. The target specializes in close-quarters combat. It can imitate and surpass most techniques and movements after brief exposure."

"Zen'in Naoya fought it once. He won the first exchange, but by the second, his technique had already been analyzed and countered. None of our Sorcerers have lasted more than ten exchanges with it."

So, a combat-type curse with adaptive learning. A nightmare for most. Hajime thought of Gojo—if he were here, one 'Purple' would obliterate it.

"One more thing," Suzuki added. "The entity can manipulate wind imbued with Cursed Energy. It's destructive, but it shouldn't be an issue for someone like you."

He handed Hajime a talisman, who pressed it against the barrier. It ignited instantly. The illusion shimmered and a hole the size of a man opened in the field.

Hajime stepped through.

The village beyond was devastated. Mudbrick homes were shredded as if something had torn through them at high speed, leaving gouged scars in the walls and ground.

"Small frame, but wide-area attack potential. The wind carries Cursed Energy. Its body is durable... and it can fly."

Following the residual Cursed Energy, Hajime approached the coast. That's when he saw the figure—over two meters tall, humanoid, black wings folded on its back. It held a katana in one hand and what looked like a feather fan in the other.

Sensing Hajime, the creature turned. Its wings snapped open and wind blasted forward—sharp enough to slice stone. But in the next instant, the figure flew back, embedded deep in the sand, coughing dust into the air.

"He really does look like a Tengu."

Its face was twisted and grotesque, features distorted with bone-like growths. A long, pointed nose, bloodshot red-black eyes... and the feather fan wasn't held, but fused into the palm bone of its hand.

The Cursed aura was unmistakable, but beneath it... was something human. Just like the modified humans Mahito used to create. Like Itadori, when Sukuna emerged.

So this was a human—modified into something else.

Hajime didn't strike immediately. The fan was clearly the cursed object mentioned in the briefing. Killing him now would waste the opportunity to observe its effects.

Let's call him "Tengu" for now.

Tengu rose, hovering midair with just one flap of his massive wings. Yet the wind he stirred up didn't match his size or speed. Hajime observed carefully—the Cursed Energy was lifting him, not his wings.

Then came the attack. The katana raised, the wind swirling into sharp, focused blades, and with it, Tengu became a flying blender of death.

Hajime drew Extermination. No Technique—just pure Cursed Energy compressed into a bow and arrow.

He released it.

The arrow soared like a thunderclap—but Tengu cleaved it in half. Then his feather fan swung, conjuring a spiraling wind pillar that gouged the ground.

Hajime was already gone.

Tengu turned to react but was too slow. Hajime reappeared behind him—calm, surgical.

Feathers and blood scattered in the air.

Tengu fell, riddled with holes, his wing shattered, shoulder torn open. But even with half his wing gone, he stabilized himself midair, then landed and severed the rest of the useless appendage with a single slash.

He retaliated with five sword strikes, each real, deadly, and perfectly placed—but Hajime didn't flinch.

So that's it. Tengu wasn't just a brute. His instincts, reflexes, and adaptability made him a killing machine in close combat. To an average Grade 1 Sorcerer, he would be an unstoppable nightmare.

But Hajime was not average.

He vanished again, reappearing behind Tengu with a new weapon in hand—Totsuka-no-Tsurugi. And in his left hand? The fan. Tengu's severed hand was still attached to it. The first drop of blood fell from the stump.

Even in this broken state, Tengu turned and tried to fight. But his instincts were no match for Hajime's Technique. The gap in their abilities was too wide.

Now separated from the cursed object, Tengu began to show signs of weakening. Though he could still create wind blades, the intensity had dropped. The link to the fan was severed, but not entirely broken.

He continued to fight, more feral than ever. Hajime parried the attacks calmly, analyzing the creature's every move.

"His body is reinforced, his Cursed Energy shaped into bladed wind... but it's not enough. And it seems he never formed a Domain."

Even with his instincts and skill, Tengu couldn't keep up.

His Reverse Cursed Technique tried to repair the damage, but it was too late. In a final rush, he swung wildly, attempting to take Hajime down with him.

A flash of steel.

Blood sprayed across the sand. Tengu froze mid-swing, then his upper body slipped from his legs and hit the ground. His blade shattered beside him.

His body began to fragment. Bones snapped, wings cracked, blood pooled. The grotesque face split apart. The cursed object, fused to him for who knows how long, no longer sustained him.

The light in his eyes faded.

---

Thanks For The Powerstones.

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