Chapter 128: Cursed Energy Transfer Link

After parting ways with Suguru Geto, Sōjun Minamoto returned to Jujutsu High.

As always, he used Black Flash to open a spatial passage—now that he'd applied it to space manipulation, the process was smooth as silk.

He left the Fly Head behind at the Church of the Stars for now, tasked with maintaining its "holy" image. It would make frequent appearances among the ordinary members of the church, laying the groundwork in advance.

How that played out, however, depended on his next steps.

Sōjun made his way beneath the White Bone Tree and entered the Shrine Domain.

The sanctuary was calm and serene. Every item within it held symbolic meaning—thorned flowers, broken swords, the stone murals along the walls, a golden carpet, the starry dome above... and—

The stone throne.

He walked along the carpet, ascended nine steps, and stood before the plain-looking throne. Then he turned and sat down.

Truth be told, it wasn't as comfortable as a sofa.

But this place was more than symbolic—it was the physical manifestation of his Domain. A fusion of techniques: one that rewrote dreams, one inspired by the Aragami's emotion-based faith Domain, and one grounded in Cursed Energy's expansion.

Sōjun had always treated it as a hidden space, but that didn't mean it was limited to that role...

He leaned back lazily in the throne, elbow on the armrest, propping up his head. Eyes half-closed, hovering between wakefulness and sleep.

The Domain activated.

He began to consider how to distribute power—and more importantly, how to extract "faith."

The human instinct to loathe and avoid flies was deeply ingrained. That kind of emotion—natural, intuitive, and automatic—was tied to the Fly Head, and not something he could extract.

Nor would he try to take something that rightfully belonged to the Fly Head.

But emotions that were guided, cultivated rather than innate—those were less stable. That was where his window opened.

The Fly Head would serve as an intermediary. Not the source, not the end. Just a medium. One that could be swapped out with anything else, so long as it qualified as a cursed object.

But for now, the Fly Head remained the ideal choice.

The logic was simple: the Fly Head was his creation, his proxy, intrinsically tied to him. And whenever he directly controlled it, it became a true extension of himself. That meant any emotion directed toward the Fly Head… was essentially directed toward him.

The biggest hurdle was the world's natural equilibrium mechanism. But it couldn't distinguish that both entities—Sōjun and the Fly Head—came from the same source.

That gave him a loophole to work with.

The rest wasn't even worth worrying about.

As the thought settled, Sōjun sat upright on the throne. Before him appeared a vision—the Fly Head suspended in the air, beneath which knelt clusters of ordinary people. Hands clasped in prayer, foreheads to the floor. But there was no sincerity in their worship; only shadowed, downcast faces clouded with resentment and gloom.

A spectral curse was born from the crowd, channeled through the Fly Head, and poured into Sōjun himself.

The swirling emotions—tangled, raw, unstable—clashed violently with the purity of his own Cursed Energy.

"He" exploded instantly...

Faith is poisonous.

Sōjun Minamoto remained slouched on the throne, his closed eyelids trembling slightly. He opened his eyes, frowning—another failure.

He rubbed his brow. Aside from a faint ripple in his soul, there was no other damage. And with how stable his soul was, that ripple was practically negligible.

That was the effect of the Shrine Domain: a dream-rewriting technique that could be cast on himself, simulating reality.

What had exploded was his dream self.

Most early experiments could be conducted within dreams. If they succeeded there, they were likely to succeed in reality too.

It saved him a lot of trial-and-error costs.

Sōjun Minamoto closed his eyes again, slipping into a half-asleep state. In his own Domain, he had perfect control, and the dream could be rewritten however he wished.

The scenario replayed. A new cycle of evolution began.

This time, when the curse came through the Fly Head, he didn't absorb it directly. Instead, he transferred it to the throne.

Surrounded by thorns and broken blades, the throne also had the function of containing and purifying "faith."

Thanks to his connection to the throne, he could transfer the curse onto it, allowing it to accumulate and be gradually purified...

Sōjun Minamoto had known faith was impure, but he didn't expect it to be this chaotic. His initial plan to purify it directly through the body had failed. That meant he'd have to add another layer of purification.

...

During this time, the Fly Head was reveling in the spotlight at the Church of the Stars.

After taking over the body of an ordinary human, its strange appearance, formidable power, and bizarre speaking style captivated the crowd, making it wildly popular.

Suguru Geto had never cared about ordinary people, and since it was for Sōjun Minamoto's sake, he let the creature act freely.

With no restraints, the Fly Head grew even more unbridled, fully embracing its over-the-top persona. Only Sōjun Minamoto's commands echoing in its mind kept it from stepping out of line.

Looking down at the crowd that worshipped it, it felt smug—but still restrained itself, maintaining a saintly image...

It was just carrying out its master's orders.

Mingling with the non-sorcerer community, where both sides had something to gain, the mission had gone smoothly. It wasn't in any hurry, nor was Sōjun Minamoto. Only those with ulterior motives were feeling anxious.

Meanwhile, at Jujutsu High, Sōjun Minamoto's figure could be seen in multiple places at once, just like always.

Training the three-man squad, checking on Haibara's sister's technique, and continuing his own training plan—none of it was neglected.

Inside the Shrine Domain, one version of Sōjun Minamoto still reclined on the throne, propping his head up with a hand, running another round of dream simulations.

He had already figured out the method but was still optimizing it, trying to perfect it in one go and avoid future hassle.

His eyelids fluttered slightly as he slowly opened his eyes—this time, without frowning. He stood up, left the throne, stretched, and felt as if an eternity had passed in the dream.

He walked to the back of the throne, paused in thought, then pulled an eyeball from his socket and pressed it into the chair's back. The eyeball fused in, soon forming an abstract eye pattern.

He extended the curse transfer chain: from human to the Fly Head, then to the throne, which would purify it and pass it to the eyeball. The eyeball would then refine, purify, and compress the curse, finally directing it back to Sōjun Minamoto.

This link was now fully established.

The other part of the system was on the Fly Head's end—how to grant power so people would willingly offer emotional value.

He had already worked that out.

By using Cursed Energy Sigils, he could attach external cursed energy to those with "faith." The deeper the faith, the more energy they would receive.

If someone gifted came along, he didn't mind granting them a technique. In fact, that suited Sōjun Minamoto perfectly—it meant helping him develop more techniques.

The concept came from things like spirit possession and divine invocation, but he found those methods troublesome. So, he went with Cursed Energy Sigils instead.

Sigils were curses made manifest—power in physical form. Easy to access, simple to use.

With the plan complete, Sōjun Minamoto no longer hesitated.

The next moment, he appeared at the Church of the Stars. This time, Suguru Geto was away, off on a trip with the two young girls.

The Fly Head immediately rushed over to greet him, looking sycophantic.

Sōjun Minamoto glanced at it, frowned, and said nothing as he walked straight toward the upper-level office.

The Fly Head followed nervously, trailing behind him. Whenever they passed someone, it would strike poses that matched its holy persona.

Seeing that it still knew its place, Sōjun Minamoto didn't bother intervening. Once they entered the office, he sat down on the main sofa. After a moment of silence, he turned to the Fly Head and said,

"Bring me the most devout one."

The most devout—those who yearn the most. Their emotions are always the strongest.

...

(40 Chapters Ahead)

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