Chapter 39: The Battlefield of Destiny
Tatsuro felt a swell of gratitude toward his teacher of fourteen days. Their encounter was by chance, but their bond had been built by effort. Though he didn't know how best to thank this "cheaply earned master," he knew he had to bid him farewell tonight.
They might never meet again, but these memories would live on in his heart.
And so would the twenty-five people standing before him.
"Alright, I understand. Please tell Master Shuichi that I'll visit tonight to say goodbye."
After speaking, Tatsuro took the cake from Nagato's hands and walked toward the main gate, waving back as he said, "I'm taking this cake. You all return to your posts. I'm heading out for a bit."
"Yes, Vice-Captain!"
Tatsuro didn't respond. He just carried the cake and exited the compound. It was time to scout out a battlefield for the final showdown.
Although the area was remote, many elderly people had settled here for retirement. It had clean air, minimal traffic, and lots of greenery. Developers had clearly designed it as a retirement paradise—which meant, of course, that any battle here could seriously endanger lives.
As for deploying a veil, he didn't even consider it. It wasn't like he could set up anything advanced—no barriers to trap curses or restrict entry. Wasting cursed energy on that was pointless. He'd rather spend it on a proper Fire Style attack.
Munching on cake, Tatsuro strolled around. Surprisingly, these big guys had good taste—fruit cake, no less. Did they think he was still a kid?
After half an hour, Tatsuro locked in on a battlefield—a graveyard. Sure, fighting atop graves was disrespectful, but he didn't have many options.
Touching the ring didn't trigger the curse, but trying to remove it from Yuto Mi's hand would be difficult. If the curse awakened during the process, all hell would break loose.
And he had only one shot at this. It wasn't like he was some pervert who could sneak into her room every night. As for a key, that wasn't hard—he had already memorized the model with his Sharingan.
Give him a sturdy stick and he could carve out a copy easily. Now it was time to familiarize himself with the route.
Opening his phone's map, Tatsuro checked the location. The graveyard was three kilometers from the villa, a secluded area. If he ran at full cursed-energy speed, it'd take about eight minutes.
Still too long. Too risky if the curse went berserk. Maybe he'd need a better location.
Then he spotted something odd on the map: a black marker to the west, two kilometers away—a half-finished construction site.
Intrigued, he zoomed in. It was in a forested area, much like where he was staying, and he had never taken Yuto Mi there before. After all, he'd spent all his time bonding with the ring's curse or training. Who had time to take strolls?
"Let's check it out."
Tatsuro memorized the route, shut his phone, and headed over.
Fifteen minutes later, he arrived. Outside the site stood a blue sign:
"Construction Incomplete—Do Not Enter. Enter at your own risk."
He gave it a quick glance, then walked right in.
There were four three-story buildings in skeletal form. No walls or decorations—just bare frames. A dug-out pit hinted at an abandoned pool. The weeds on the ground were nearly a meter tall.
Maybe some rich guy had planned a retirement villa here, then changed his mind.
Whatever the reason, this place was far better than the graveyard.
Best of all, it had a clear road leading in. A straight shot—two kilometers—reachable in two to three minutes if he ran full speed.
"Perfect," Tatsuro said, nodding. "I'll even help the owner by clearing out some weeds. Sure, we might damage some buildings, but that's fine—so long as no one dies."
He wasn't sure how that fog-like curse body functioned or if it was some technique, but one thing was certain—curses were made of cursed energy. That meant techniques infused with cursed energy would hurt it.
This battle? 40-60 odds. He's the 40.
But after fourteen days of training under Shuichi, Tatsuro's reflexes and combat sense had evolved. Even if his taijutsu didn't work on the curse, it would be enough to survive.
He hadn't trained in taijutsu just for this curse—it was meant to deal with enemies like Aoi Todo. Battles between sorcerers were far more dangerous than against brainless curses.
Well, excluding those special-grade intelligent curses. If he ran into one of those, he'd be lucky to even run.
After circling the area twice to study the layout, Tatsuro turned to leave.
It was now 6:50 AM. Yuto Mi should be waking up soon. And he still had a mission to complete as her bodyguard. After that, he could return to the principal and collect his reward—ten million yen.
Glorious.
Ten million yen. Back in his previous life, that kind of money was unimaginable. He could probably live carefree for over a decade.
Sure, it wouldn't buy him a house, but he could rent, cook for himself, and chill.
A modern young man's dream: slack if you can, forget marriage and kids, maybe adopt one someday. Or go full grind mode and out-hustle everyone.
Tatsuro was firmly in camp two—grind till you drop. Maybe next year he'd chill. Become a chef, live a slow life.
But this year?
This year, he would reach Special Grade—not necessarily to catch up with Gojo, but at least to stand on par with Yuta Okkotsu.
For Gojo and Yuta, ascending to Special Grade was inevitable. For Tatsuro?
Only through grinding system quests and clawing for every bit of strength.
No inherited techniques. No secret scrolls. Taijutsu all copied by eye. Sharingan that guzzled cursed energy like crazy. A frail body. Barely any cursed energy.
He had… nothing.
Maybe he was smart. But brains alone weren't enough to survive in this world.
The Kyoto Exchange Event was just over a month away.
If the system dropped a mission like "Defeat Aoi Todo in a 1v1"...
Heh…
Yeah right. As if the system even saw him as human.
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