Humiliation.
That was the appropriate word to describe what The Smallpox Deity endured during the following minute at Jin's hands.
The spirit's cursed technique no longer worked.
Neither did the effects of its Domain.
Physical strength was not an option.
Nor was speed.
Jin spent his time crushing it, thanks to the overwhelming gap that his self-imposed vow had created between him and the cursed spirit.
After about ten minutes, The Smallpox Deity's Domain deactivated automatically.
Clear proof that the exorcism was over.
"… I-I did it," Jin muttered in a hoarse voice at the end of the fight against the cursed spirit.
Even though he had dominated the confrontation without letting anything show on his face, Jin had pushed his body far beyond its limits.
The battle against a Special Grade was well beyond what he could currently handle.
His body was now making him pay the price.
"I-I need to call an ambulance…" he said before losing consciousness for the first time on a mission.
[Hello, this is emergency services.]
[Hello…?]
As the female voice on the other end of the line began to lose patience, a pale hand grabbed the phone and brought it to her ear.
"Sorry for the disturbance, it's a false alarm," Kaori declared in a calm voice before hanging up without the slightest hesitation.
The housewife's eyes had never left Jin since the deactivation of the cursed spirit's Domain Expansion.
Even though she had left the family home because of her husband's unusually prolonged delay, Kenjaku was not worried about Jin's fate.
If he died? Too bad~
Kenjaku neither hated Jin nor felt ordinary emotions toward her husband… any more than toward Yuji, who still rested in her womb.
Claud would describe Kenjaku as a twisted person.
The sorceress had clearly saved Yuko Ozawa because she knew about her special relationship with Yuji.
She had even observed her son from the shadows when he met Junpei.
These two elements showed that Kenjaku had been monitoring Yuji Itadori ever since his old high school in Sendai.
Claud had even speculated that Kenjaku was the reason behind Yuji's chance encounter with Sukuna's finger, which was supposed to be protected by a barrier.
Yet Kenjaku had never helped Yuji or intervened to assist him during a fight.
Instead, she occupied a role similar to that of an eagle mother watching her chick on the edge of a cliff.
Inhuman?
Yes.
But Kenjaku had probably judged herself reasonable, believing she had already fulfilled her role as a mother toward Yuji Itadori.
At least, that was Claud's analysis.
The two other reasons supporting Claud's speculations about his wife were her actions toward Takaba and Yuta.
She had genuinely enjoyed herself with the comedian and truly regretted nothing about his death.
He had lived "fully."
So yes.
Kenjaku was not absolute evil.
She simply possessed a twisted curiosity that Claud could compare to Echidna's in Re:Zero.
"You really went overboard this time," she muttered while stroking Jin's face.
Her usually empty eyes showed a strange warmth before Kenjaku applied Reverse Cursed Technique to Jin's body.
Shortly afterward, she frowned slightly.
"Was he already this strong before?" she thought.
While sending positive energy into Jin's body, Kaori noticed an anomaly.
Jin Itadori had become much stronger.
Jin's power had been acceptable by current sorcerer standards, but it didn't really match Kenjaku's criteria.
However, things had changed.
Jin had progressed.
Against the serpentine cursed spirit, he had barely been level 3 on his adventurer guild card.
After that episode in his life, he had hunted several Grade 1 and Grade 2 spirits thanks to his homemade bombs and skills.
He had reached level 14 during his encounter with Yaga.
That power had given him the confidence to fight a Grade 1 sorcerer, but Jin desired even greater strength.
That was how he had been forced to keep hunting in order to fulfill the necessary conditions to learn Yaga's cursed technique.
This quest for power, along with his battle against a cursed spirit that Mei Mei had needed help to defeat, had allowed him to reach a far higher level of strength.
And all of this in just a few months since his arrival in this world.
Kenjaku licked her lips, her eyes shining with impatience as she observed the unconscious Jin.
"I still don't know the reasons behind your late awakening, but one thing is certain…" she said, pausing.
She picked Jin up and gently carried him on her back.
"I was right to wait this entire century," she murmured before leaving the place at astonishing speed.
Kenjaku had already had contact with reincarnations of Sukuna's brother, but none had ever satisfied her for her projects.
Even Jin's father had not been spared in her search for the perfect partner for her experiment.
Finally, she had come across Jin Itadori.
He had nothing special about him, and yet Kenjaku had allowed herself a little whim.
She tried to create the being who would later be known as Yuji with this man.
Jin was neither powerful
nor special.
But it was the calm that Kenjaku had been seeking after a long period of frustration in her fruitless searches.
The current situation was merely an unexpected bonus for her, because the spirit of the millennium-old sorceress had not anticipated success for her experiment born of a whim.
In her heart, Jin immediately gained a new status beyond that of mere "husband."
He became a "subject" of interest and anticipation.
Was it a promotion?
No one could answer except Kenjaku herself.
…
[Sorry again, big guy.]
"Okay, but just avoid bringing me suspicious clients next time," he said before hanging up on Gong.
Three days had passed since Jin was admitted to the Sendai hospital. For now, nothing exceptional was happening in his life.
Because of the battle against the Special Grade cursed spirit, Jin had had to give everything.
This incident had allowed him to evolve enormously, but also to "fool" Kaori thanks to a pseudo-assault justifying his presence outside after midnight.
The poor housewife had been worried about him, and Jin was able to enjoy being pampered by his devoted wife.
'Still, I still wonder who the mysterious benefactor was who brought me here,' he thought while taking a peeled apple from Kaori.
"Hm~ having a wife has its perks sometimes," he muttered while pulling out his guild card.
Unconsciously, he had forgotten that he would never have said such madness on Earth about Kenjaku.
Claud was lowering his guard a bit too much, but what hardened single salaryman could resist the good home-cooked meals of a beautiful housewife for long?
"Good grief… Am I officially on par with the best Grade 1 sorcerers now?" he blurted out while reading the information on his guild card for the first time in three days.
Name: Jin Itadori
Species: Human?
Age: 28 years old
Class: Adventurer
Level: 31
• Strength: 39
• Agility: 40
• Dexterity: 30
• Intelligence: 15
• Luck: 3
• Magic Power: 37
• Cursed Energy: 39
• Health: 61
Available skill points: 33
Skills:
• Lurk: lvl 2 (new)
• Forge: lvl 4
• Flee: lvl 5
• One-Handed Sword: lvl 3
• Poison Resistance: lvl 4
• Magic: none
• Cursed Technique: none
• Cursed Energy Manipulation: lvl 4
• Vow: lvl 3 (new)
Items: Vanir mask, Chunchunmaru, Bow, Silver Flesh, Megumin's Amulet, and Dynamite
[Skill pending learning: Artificial Cursed Corpse Creation.]
…
Author's Note: Jin is officially considered a high-rank adventurer in the Konosuba world.
If you think he's progressing too fast, then yes, but I have "severely weakened him"… and I own it lol.
To explain why I say he's weakened: he evolves alone, so all experience points are attributed exclusively to him!
Unlike Kazuma, who had a whole team, but who was able to face a Demon King general after only a few months (2 at most from my memory, because Kazuma's overall adventure in the other world doesn't exceed 365 days).
And yes, Kazuma wasn't even a confirmed adventurer at the time (lvl 21), nor a high-rank adventurer (lvl 30 above).
If a Demon King general existed in Jujutsu Kaisen, it would be on the level of a Special Grade cursed spirit (no joke).
Why do I say that? Even the weakest could literally curse you to die in a week (here I'm talking about Beldia) and ignore most of your attacks if the level gap is high.
Some generals are even capable of creating craters larger than an airstrike.
I'm not exaggerating: Wiz > Megumin with her Explosion magic at the beginning of the work (light novel).
I compared the diameter of Megumin's explosion in the light novel to that of an airstrike: Megumin surpasses in damage, but she admits that Wiz is superior to her.
Note: Wiz is a Demon King general (not the strongest).
In short, Jin = high-rank adventurer in Konosuba. Here, you can see him as the peak of Grade 1 in Jujutsu Kaisen, but still inferior to Special Grades (he couldn't conquer a country alone like Yuki or Geto).
Small bonus: we have reached the elements required for the ranking (except the vote), but I couldn't edit this chapter to include a full explanation of Jin's self-imposed vow.
(Ps: this chapter exceeds 1,300 words excluding the author's note, so don't complain about it; I like keeping the word count above the 1,200 mark.)