《War Spirit》 Prologue The year is 2018. Current day: the 31st of October, otherwise known as Halloween. The news of the disastrous Shibuya Incident roars out throughout the entirety of Japan, the country of jujutsu sorcery, like wildfire. News stations have reported the destruction of the city as a form of terrorism, not knowing the true cause of the entire incident. Of course, they had no clue that the nefarious disaster curses, Jogo, Mahito, Hanami, Dagon, as well as the King of Curses himself, Ryomen Sukuna, seeked to create mayhem. However, the destruction at the hands of the disaster curses were for the sole purpose of reviving Ryomen Sukuna and attempting to win him over to the side of the curses. This was also accompanied by a secondary intention: The sealing of famous and strongest sorcerer of the modern age, Satoru Gojo of the Gojo Clan. Such a large incident made the masses fear for another future attack at the hand of these so called terrorists. This fear of war and destruction, as well as the future of the country, begins to build and bubble up slowly. What occurs next will completely cause this new sensation to boil¡­ and birth a new kind of cursed spirit. One that the world has never before experienced. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Birth of Destruction 1 The Prime Minister and several other government officials looks up from their work and look at the mysterious monk man. The monk man greets everyone with a soft smile and begins to speak. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Birth of Destruction 2 This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Birth of Destruction 3 Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Birth of Destruction 4 This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Birth of Destruction 5 The grotesque cursed spirit begins to bubble up its breath and spews out the toxic foam from its mouth. Waldo dodges it completely, given the slow speed of the attack. The foam misses Waldo, but it completely disintegrates the cemented ground below him in a few seconds. If that were to hit Waldo, he wonders what would have happened to him. He looks back at the cursed spirit and sees that its mouth is finally free of its toxic liberation. ¡°This is my place¡­ my kitchen! You¡¯re not eating my humans here!,¡± the cursed spirit says in a somewhat slurred and bubbly voice. Waldo chuckles at the cursed spirit¡¯s voice. ¡°I have no use for the humans here. I¡¯m more interested in beating the rest of your stuffing out. Now, let¡¯s end these conversations and continue,¡± Waldo replies. Waldo immediately charges towards the cursed spirit. The cursed spirit prepares to defend, but Waldo throws a feint punch that makes the spirit flinch instead. He flanks to the right, places his palm on the cursed spirit¡¯s back, and blasts it away with a shockwave. Even just touching him felt off putting. The cursed spirit uses a wave of water to slow down its fall and then sends a torrent of water towards Waldo. Waldo dodges the water with ease, having seen this torrent of water already. (This is just the same attack as last time. Does it have any skill?) Suddenly, the water shapes itself into several different blades. Waldo gets caught off guard and attempts to guard against the blades of water. However, to Waldo¡¯s surprise, they cut through him with a thick sharpness. Waldo backs off, staring at the blood gushing out from his injured arms. (This is pain? What a phenomenal sensation¡­ It¡¯s invigorating¡­) Waldo¡¯s smile slowly reaches the corners of his face. The prospect of finally being injured causes him to gradually grow ecstatic at this development. He has come across someone that is actually capable of hurting him. He quickly circulates his cursed energy to heal his wounds and laughs. ¡°You hurt me! You actually did it! I knew you were a good find! Now, you will suffer death at the hands of the War Spirit!¡± Waldo suddenly moves so fast it seems like he teleported. He grabs and slams the cursed spirit against the ground several times. He then lifts it up and kicks it up in the air, blasts it with multiple shockwaves, and then blasts it back down to the ground. The cursed spirit grumbles in agony and begins to build up even more toxic foam in its mouth. As Waldo flies back down to it, the cursed spirit shoots its foam at Waldo, who purposely goes through it. He can feel his body ever so slowly decaying, his cursed energy slowly being eaten away by the toxicity. That makes things even more thrilling. Waldo crashes into the cursed spirit and drags it across the ground. He throws the cursed spirit towards a building and then gets shot with several compressed water blasts. Waldo chuckles to himself, collects all of the nearby debris, and chucks the large ball of debris at the cursed spirit. The cursed spirit puts its hands up and the debris immediately rusts away and explodes. It then jumps down and stares angrily at Waldo, who¡¯s simply enjoying himself like a child. ¡°You insidious, annoying, brat! How dare you come in here and make such a ruckus! (gurgle) I¡¯ll kill you! I¡¯ll kill you! I¡¯ll kill you! You little fucking rat!¡± ¡°I deeply apologize. I can¡¯t understand what you¡¯re saying behind all of that repulsive odor. Perhaps you should use some of the water to cleanse yourself instead of creating baths for others. With that hideous aura, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if the humans here died by your presence alone.¡± The cursed spirit grows furious at Waldo¡¯s mockery. It¡¯s never had to endure such words from anyone before. Especially not from a brat. It stamps its foot on the ground repeatedly, the ground slowly crumbling. ¡°That isn¡¯t funny! That¡¯s not funny! You¡¯ll pay for that! You¡¯ll learn what happens when you mess with a pollution curse!¡± The pollution curse grunts and launches out several poisonous needles and blasts of water. Waldo purposely runs through them, getting hit by it all, and gets up close to the pollution curse. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, did you believe that pollution was greater than war?¡± Waldo gut punches the pollution curse, causing it to cough up some weird colored blood. Waldo nearly wrinkles his nose in disgust and kicks the curse onto the ground. ¡°In the face of war, everything falls! Nothing will survive! Not you, not this world, not the humans, nothing will prevail! Thinking that you¡¯re above war is pure arrogance. It¡¯s absolutely unthinkable¡­¡± Waldo gets his foot off of the cursed spirit and kicks it again, causing it to fly further away into a destroyed building. Waldo smiles to himself. ¡°You¡¯re not finished already, are you? We¡¯re similar, you and I. Other cursed spirits aren¡¯t even able to communicate property. They are truly just beasts. You¡¯re still far uglier than them, but at least you have some kind of intelligence. So¡­ how about you come out of your little comfort zone and face me like a curse? Or are you just chicken?¡± Suddenly, a low and ferocious growl can be heard coming from inside the building. Waldo hears squelching sounds around him and looks around. The human cocoons that were hanging across the city begin to tear open, releasing a slimy purple substance from within. Once the cocoons burst open, repulsive and transformed humans fall down to the ground. They stand up like disgruntled zombies and stare at the enemy ahead of them. Waldo watches as about a hundred human cocoons burst open and give birth to ugly monstrosities. They don¡¯t have very significant power, so they shouldn¡¯t post much of a threat. It¡¯s just a large amount of them, that¡¯s all. ¡°Hey, you have competition at last. Perhaps you¡¯re no longer the ugliest one here,¡± Waldo says as he looks into the building. For some reason, the curse hasn¡¯t come out of the building yet. It simply stays in there, growling deeply and quietly. Is it controlling these modified humans? Whatever the case, they won¡¯t be a problem for Waldo. And so, Waldo charges up a shockwave in his hand, staring at the modified humans. Suddenly, they all launch a wave of acidic foam from their mouths. Waldo chuckles at this futile attack and shoots the compressed shockwave from his hand. The shockwave neutralizes all of the toxic foam that was shot at Waldo, as well as destroying half of the modified humans. They¡¯re now a pile of blood and liquid on the ground. Their organs and brain don¡¯t even look appetizing. ¡°Hah! Is this supposed to be frightening? Not even 500, nay, a thousand of you could stand a chance at besting me! Now go and die!¡± Waldo continues to launch shockwaves at the rest of the modified humans. The shockwaves instantly kill the modified humans on impact. They fall back down into piles of flesh and purple liquid as well. Waldo smirks, satisfied that everything went away so easily. Then, the fleshy remains of the modified humans begin to slightly move around. Suddenly, the bits of flesh and blood begin to jump up and collectively move into one spot, growing back into the shape the modified humans were in before. In short, their guts and blood have completely regenerated. Waldo¡¯s eye glows a bit at the sight of this. This was something that he wasn¡¯t expecting. (Instant regeneration. I¡¯m assuming if even one small part of them remains they will continue to constantly regenerate until they run out of cursed energy. It¡¯s more convenient to erase them entirely than to waste cursed energy on both sides.) Waldo stands there as he watches all of the modified humans regenerate. They all seem to collectively share a sense of anger towards Waldo and make their way towards him, sprinting at full power. ¡°If that is all I must do, then I¡¯ll simply blast you with everything I have.¡± Waldo generates numerous shockwaves in his hands and shoots them up into the air. The shockwaves fly up and begin to shape into several different figures. The shockwaves morph into blue clones of Waldo, and they land back onto the ground. With all of the Waldos nodding to each other, they rush out in different directions towards the modified humans. 127 modified humans versus 9 Waldos. Such an outcome is quite predictable. The original Waldo speed blitzes several of the modified humans, blasting away their entire structure with compressed shockwaves. The shockwave clones replicate the original¡¯s techniques and repeatedly beat up the modified humans, causing them to drain cursed energy until they can no longer regenerate. However, some of the modified humans begin to combine their flesh together. Their powers and cursed energy are becoming one, and they grow into a much stronger force. Waldo laughs, recalling his shockwave clones, and stands tall to face the hideous creature in front of it. ¡°I must say, you¡¯ve grown even more repulsive. Your disgusting appearance alone might be stronger than a full powered punch.¡± Suddenly, the hand of the merged modified humans slams down onto Waldo. But Waldo manages to catch the hand and stop it. Using his shockwaves, Waldo blows away the merged modified human¡¯s legs, causing it to fall face first. He then severs the merged modified human¡¯s arm and punches it further into the ground. ¡°All you did was make yourself a larger flesh sack. It didn¡¯t matter whether you combined your power or not. After all, I am the War Spirit.¡± Waldo lifts his arm up and the ground below the merged modified human erupts, allowing numerous shockwaves to completely annihilate its entire body. Now that the modified humans have been taken care of, Waldo looks back to the building in which he sent the cursed spirit flying into. ¡°Are you finished hiding behind your dolls, or did you also undergo a transformation? You must be so very shy to reveal what ugly form you¡¯ve turned into. Come out, let¡¯s settle this.¡± Suddenly, Waldo quickly turns around and sees the cursed spirit. However, its form has indeed undergone a transformation. The cursed spirit now has a very burly body, and its appearance is somewhat easier to look at now. It glares at Waldo as it puts its hands together and recites the following words. ¡±Domain Expansion¡± Birth of Destruction 6 ¡±Domain Expansion: Garden of Limitless Decay¡± Waldo watches as the two of them become entrapped inside of some sort of black veil. He¡¯s never seen something like this before from any sorcerer or curse. Also, what the hell is a domain expansion? Suddenly, the entire environment around him becomes a desolate and dead garden. Waldo looks down, seeing several shriveled up and dead plants, carcasses of animals, and watching as the murky skies and water pour their way into everything. They¡¯re no longer inside of the city. It¡¯s as if he was teleported into a brand-new location. ¡°You have mocked my power and I far too much, little spirit. I am Gensui, the curse of pollution and decay. I was born from the substantial loss of the world from its pollution and needless habitual suffering. You have ventured into my territory and caused your petty destruction. And now I, Gensui, will see to it that you suffer a slow, decaying, and painful end,¡± Gensui says in a normal and non-gurgling manner. ¡°Hmph, congratulations for finally having a clear voice. Should I give you a gift or kneel?¡± The plants that lay at Waldo¡¯s feet suddenly spring up and bind his legs together. Waldo attempts to shake off the plants. When that doesn¡¯t work, he generates a shockwave in his hand and shoots at the plants. However, the shockwave doesn¡¯t work, simply disappearing and converting itself into energy for Gensui. Did it just get decayed by the domain? ¡°Your attacks have been rendered useless. They will quickly decay inside of my domain. Attempting to destroy your surroundings with your technique is no longer possible.¡± ¡°Is that so? So, this is what a Domain Expansion is, eh? I must say, it¡¯s rather annoying to deal with if I have to say so myself.¡± ¡°You continue to run your mouth rampantly. You won¡¯t ever speak such insolent language once I¡¯m through with you, little curse.¡± Gensui pushes its arm forward and Waldo is suddenly hit with a large wave of unknown force. He can feel his cursed energy being syphoned away as it decays and converts itself back to Gensui. The more that Waldo struggles, the harder the environment and plants grips his body so he cannot escape. Gensui walks forward, treading over the dead bodies and flora, and stands before the bound Waldo. Waldo continues to frantically move around as he glares up at it. ¡°It¡¯s time you taste the suffering you¡¯ve inflicted upon others.¡± Gensui proceeds to punch Waldo square in the face. With its transformation and the buffs from the Domain Expansion, the punch does a good amount of damage. Gensui continues to strike at Waldo rapidly and repeatedly. With each punch, more and more cursed energy is syphoned from Waldo, lowering his power. The plants restraining him continue to increase their grip, as if they¡¯re threatened to pull his limbs off. Suddenly, Waldo¡¯s eye glows furiously and he roars, escaping its bind with its cursed energy pressure. In a fit of rage, Waldo managed to concentrate his cursed energy together and multiply it, winning back the power that he had lost ¡°You¡¯re in for it now! I won¡¯t allow you to walk away from this humiliation alive! Die!¡± Waldo steps forward and throws a swift punch at Gensui, striking it in the chest and knocking it away. ¡°I¡¯m aware that this so-called Domain Expansion grants you some power and some petty tricks, but it will never prevail against the likes of me. After all, I am the War Spirit! I am the ultimate curse!¡± Waldo appears in front of Gensui and throws a powerful combination of kicks at it. Even without being able to use his technique, the cursed energy that resides within Waldo is more than enough to take down Gensui in hand-to-hand combat. That is, if Gensui continues to fight hand to hand. Gensui counters one of Waldo¡¯s kicks by grabbing his leg and slamming his body onto the ground. It then grips both of the legs and throws Waldo up into the sky. The musky water that is present inside of the domain suddenly becomes still and is faced in the direction of Waldo. Gensui points its arm up at the sky with an exerting grunt and the water quickly blasts off into several beams towards Waldo. Waldo spots the several beams of water coming towards him and scans his surroundings for a way out. However, before he can think of a solution, his body suddenly commands itself on instinct to vault over all of the water beams and safely land back on the ground. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Gensui grunts in frustration and recalls the water, changing its direction and sending it back to Waldo. Waldo multiplies his cursed energy again and begins to sprint towards Gensui, dodging and weaving through the water with ease. ¡°Your time is over, meat sack! You better hit me harder, or you¡¯ll be forced to bite the curb! Come on!¡± ¡°Silence, you insolent brat! I will not take this sitting down! Haaa! Hydra¡¯s Waterfall!¡± The sky inside the domain expansion begins to grow darker with ominous black clouds. These clouds then release a downpour of severely toxic water. Waldo assumes that enough exposure to this water will cause total paralysis. In order to avoid such a problem, Waldo dodges, weaves, and pushes through the rain. Although he still comes into contact with some of the water, it isn¡¯t enough to completely paralyze him. Gensui sees that Waldo is getting closer and searches for a desperate last struggle. It stomps the ground, causing it to instantly decay and crumble away. The mass decay creates a large divide between Gensui and Waldo, creating a cliff of substantial distance. Waldo makes a last-ditch effort and charges a giant jump, leaping across the large cliff that divided the two curses. The two of them clench their fists, come towards one another, and the two powers collide. When two curses become enveloped in a fight, one of the curses must die no matter what. Now, whenever a Domain Expansion occurs in the battle, that statement becomes undeniably, 100% guaranteed. And that is exactly what has happened here. The Domain Expansion¡¯s barrier instantly crumbles away. Whatever was inside is now free. Within the domain¡¯s remains, Waldo marches out holding Gensui¡¯s body by its head. Waldo lets go of Gensui¡¯s head and puts his boot on the head, smirking with glee. ¡°In the end, you failed to best me. You were an amazing curse, but you fought the wrong opponent. However, because of you, I have learned much more about my abilities and technique, as well as what to expect from others. For that, I thank you. Now, good riddance.¡± Gensui stares up weakly at Waldo. It¡¯s unable to say anything and can only watch as Waldo looks down upon it. Waldo slightly lifts his hand up and charges up a shockwave in his hand. Then, the shockwave is released, destroying the city plaza and exorcising Gensui along with it. Waldo looks up at the sky, in a slight sadness. For as much fun as it had, everything must come to an end. Waldo looks at the destroyed city once again. He should figure out more about these new abilities before he ventures out again. Waldo was most curious about this new multiplying application and that instinctual vaulting. His body never moved like that before, and he wasn¡¯t even aware it could in the first place. The multiplying application seems to be too good to be true. Skyrocketing his power in the middle of a battle would be incredible useful ¡°What fascinating abilities. If I can further develop these abilities, or discover more of them, I will become even stronger.¡± With this newfound knowledge, Waldo turns around and faces a building. He charges up a shockwave in his hand and releases it. Then, using the new ability, he multiplies the shockwave by 3 to create duplicates of the shockwave, causing the building to be erased. Waldo checks the amount of damage that the shockwaves did and laughs to himself. This battle was indeed useful. (I can multiply both my cursed energy reserves and my abilities. Now, to find out how much I can multiply¡­ I¡¯ll experiment with that some other day.) Waldo straightens himself up and sighs. While he stares back at the contaminated city grounds, he thinks about several things. What caused the world to fall to such a state? Who was the grand mastermind behind it all? How will the world continue to change moving forward? Questions like this race through his mind like an endless sea. Once Waldo finishes recovering, he gets up and leaves the city. Now that Waldo finished his fight against Gensui, he continues to explore, looking for more worthy opponents. (Perhaps if there are areas that contain survivors, that would be most helpful. Those sorcerers I fought from before must have come from some refuge. If I can find a refuge like that, there will be no shortage of opponents. No shortage of warriors.) In the hopes of finding a sorcerer refuge nearby, Waldo does a search around the center of New Mexico. He launches shockwaves from the soles of his feet and takes to the air. After flying around in a 10-mile diameter and finding nothing, Waldo decides that he must extend his search, as annoying as that is. And so, going north towards Albuquerque, he continues to fly around in search of opponents. 15 minutes into his flight, Waldo sees something down on the ground below. It appears to be the remains of a camp or hideout. Perfect (This must be it. At the very least, if I do not manage to encounter anyone I can search for clues.) Waldo flies down to the ground towards the camp. He lands close by and dusts off his clothes. He quickly scans the area and looks around. Upon seeing that the area is clear of any threats or potential hiding spots for enemies, Waldo walks towards the camp site in search of clues.