Chapter 2500: Chapter 1673: Special Grade Curse (Ate Too Much and Got Overheated, Ahhhh)

"Duanmu Ai, sixteen years old, currently attending Yangdong High School, has acted in several films and won Best Actress awards. She rarely shows up in public, doesn’t even have an INS account, yet she’s a household-name movie star in Japan..."

As the hoarse voice faded, the white-bearded old man sitting in the chair coughed lightly and looked toward the blue‑haired girl standing respectfully in front of him.

"You’re sure you’re not mistaken?"

"Y‑yes, I’m sure!"

Facing the old man’s question, the blue‑haired girl—Mikazuki Mika—hurriedly straightened her back and answered.

"I can say for sure. Her Appearance is extremely distinctive—no one could copy it even if they tried."

"Mm..."

No wonder Mikazuki Mika treated the old man with such respect—because this elderly man was the principal of Kyoto Prefectural Curse High School. In order to deal with Curse Spirits, Curse Masters had established schools to train new Curse Masters, and Mikazuki Mika, gifted in spells, had been selected to join and undergo study and training.

"Is she a Curse Master?"

"That... I don’t think so."

"A Curse Master?"

"I‑I don’t know..."

Under the old man’s rapid‑fire questions, Mikazuki Mika looked a bit nervous.

"Ah, but I feel she shouldn’t be a Curse Master or a Curse Master, because she asked me tons of basic questions—like what a Curse Spirit is, what a spell is, what a Curse Master is... You could tell she really seemed completely ignorant about our existence."

"Then how did she defeat the Curse Spirit? She didn’t use spells?"

Ordinary people can’t see Curse Spirits at all, and even for a Curse Master to defeat one, they either have to use spells or a Curse.

"No... she, she used a Sword."

"A Sword?"

"Yes, a Sword as crimson as fresh blood all over its body..."

"Oh?!"

At this, the old man’s eyebrows suddenly shot up.

"You’re sure?"

"Y‑yes... that Sword even gave off a faint glow, and just looking at it made me feel like I was about to be killed... That was definitely a Level 1... maybe even a Special Grade Curse!"

"A blood‑red Sword... white hair, red eyes..."

"...Principal?"

The burly, muscular man sitting to the side glanced at the silent old man and asked curiously. Besides Mikazuki Mika, there were several other students from Magic High School present—they were Curse Masters as well. They had made a point of coming together just to hear Mikazuki Mika’s report.

The old man stayed silent for a moment, then slowly stood up.

"I’ll show you something."

As he spoke, he walked to the study’s wall, opened the safe there, and took out a booklet that looked extremely old, then slowly opened it.

This wasn’t an ordinary booklet, but a diary that came from the old man’s ancestral line. According to what was written in it, his ancestors had once been members of an organization called the Demon Slayer Team. Back then, that group fought to exterminate Evil Spirits. Although, according to his forebear’s account, with the death of the Lord of Demons, all Evil Spirits had already met Destruction, in the old man’s eyes, what his ancestors had dealt with might have been a type of special Curse Spirit.

However, the family’s ancestor had only been an ordinary Demon Slayer Team logistics member, apparently doing things like medical treatment and cleanup. So the diary didn’t describe the Demon Slayer Team’s combat style, and as for the Breathing Technique used by Demon Slayer Members, the forebear wrote that he himself had no talent for it and couldn’t learn.

A real pity—if the Breathing Technique had been passed down, maybe today’s Curse Masters would have a much easier time facing Curse Spirits.

The old man shook his head, casting aside the thoughts that had surfaced, then flipped open the diary.

"...Found it."

Very quickly, he found the relevant passage in the diary.

On several hunts where they targeted Evil Spirits known as "Upright Ghosts," the ancestor had recorded the appearance of a mysterious girl. She had long, pale hair and bright red eyes, wore extremely unusual clothing, and wielded a blood‑red Sharp Blade. She wasn’t one of the Nine Pillars, yet possessed a terrifying power far surpassing them. Those Evil Spirits that mowed down humans like Sakura, monsters even the Nine Pillars couldn’t match, became like lambs awaiting slaughter in front of her.

The girl called herself Duanmu Ai. After she slew the Lord of Demons, she vanished from before the Demon Slayer Team and was never seen again.

Petite in stature, at first glance she looked like a thirteen- or fourteen‑year‑old child; her fighting style was extremely brutal, to the point that even Evil Spirits trembled and howled before her. Yet when she wasn’t speaking, she gave off a fragile, dreamlike air, as if she might shatter at a touch...

Staring at the diary and the file materials at hand, the old man furrowed his brow.

And then there was that Sword in her hand... his ancestor had once helped her maintain her weapon, and remembered it vividly.

[That wasn’t her own Sun Wheel Blade—she’d gotten it from some deceased Demon Slayer Member—but even so, when I saw that Sword, I was still shocked. They say Sun Wheel Blades change color according to their wielder’s traits, yet I’d never seen a color like that before—red, a crimson like congealed blood, so glaring you almost couldn’t look directly at it. Just seeing that Sword made me feel as if I could hear the wails of the Evil Spirits cut down by it... Even many years later, as I pick up my pen again to record these memories, those wails are still that vivid.]

[It’s as if... all those Evil Spirits’ Souls were imprisoned within that blood‑red blade of the Sword itself.]