"Don't even think about escaping!"
Toji's expression turned icy as he hurled his dagger with precision, piercing straight through the bird-like cursed spirit and obliterating it into nothingness.
Geto Suguru's head was left suspended in midair for a brief moment before plummeting toward the ground.
Toji immediately moved to pursue, but before he could, the cursed spirits within Suguru Geto's corpse broke free en masse, screeching and scattering in all directions.
"Divine Dogs: White!"
A sharp command rang out.
Countless white rabbits with glowing red eyes surged from the shadows like a tide, swarming toward the horde of cursed spirits, forming a net-like barrier to block their escape.
Toji paused, momentarily stunned.
A faint trace of awkwardness flickered across his face.
Quietly, he turned around, preparing to slip away unnoticed.
"Bocchi, are you okay?"
Megumi leaped onto the scene from a distance, landing beside Bocchi with concern.
"Megumi, I'm fine…" Bocchi replied, snapping out of her daze, though her face was still tense as she stared at the overwhelming number of cursed spirits. "But this situation is anything but fine!"
"Let's work together to deal with these cursed spirits first!" Megumi nodded before forming another hand seal. "Nue!"
A massive serpent erupted from the shadows, its jaws clamping down on one of the cursed spirits entangled by the white rabbits.
The cursed spirits within Suguru Geto's body—his Special Grade ones—had already been exhausted. Even Kuro, the cursed spirit he had recently reclaimed while traveling across the country to recover cursed objects, was gone.
What remained were weaker cursed spirits, though even among them, Grade 1 and Semi-Grade 1 curses were far from few.
Megumi tensed up.
Summoning two shikigami at once was already his limit. Against so many cursed spirits, suppression was impossible, and Bocchi's strength was too unreliable.
His gaze shifted to the other side.
The direction where that man had been.
There was no one there now.
Did he take the chance to run away?
"Hey, whoever you were, if you haven't gone far, come back and help!"
Megumi clicked his tongue in annoyance, shouting into the empty air at the man whose whereabouts were unknown, then turned his focus to clearing out the cursed spirits left behind by Kenjaku.
"I-I'll help too!"
Bocchi-chan, though her heart pounded at the sight of the grotesque cursed spirits, mustered her courage and charged at the remaining ones.
She had just taken down two Special Grade cursed spirits in such a cool way—how could she let herself be scared by a bunch of low-level ones now?
"Ah, Ryo-senpai, did you get footage of my cool moment?"
But before dealing with the cursed spirits, Bocchi-chan suddenly remembered something very important.
She quickly turned to Yamada Ryo, her eyes sparkling with anticipation.
Yamada Ryo took out her phone and checked.
"Ah, it's dead."
"...Huh?"
Bocchi-chan froze.
"In other words, it wasn't recorded."
Yamada Ryo nodded, delivering the confirmation with absolute certainty.
"Ryo, you dropped the ball too… That was such a cool moment just now…"
Nijika couldn't help but shoot her an exasperated look.
"Honestly, I just thought there was no other way. Remembering what that guy said about Bocchi-chan's strength being tied to her mindset, I just threw out some chuunibyou anime lines to hype her up. Didn't expect it to actually work."
Ryo pocketed her phone, her expression unchanged—even smiling faintly, as if proud of her own cleverness.
"..."
Bocchi-chan's mouth hung open, her face etched with sorrow.
"Phone's dead… just hyping me up… Hah, of course… I'm just an outsider anyway… Hah, you three went out for Halloween without even inviting me… I'm always the one left out…"
Bocchi-chan crumbled into dust, collapsing into a pile on the ground, lost in her sorrow, unable to snap out of it.
"Bocchi-chan?!"
Nijika quickly handed Kita Ikuyo over to Yamada Ryo and rushed to her side.
The pile of dust had a simple face drawn on it, as if sketched with just a few strokes, with two large teardrops rolling down.
"Hah… I'm being excluded again… Someone like me shouldn't have been born in the first place… I'm sorry for existing without permission…"
This was bad.
Bocchi-chan had reverted to her initial nihilistic state.
Megumi, still fighting the cursed spirits, glanced over and felt a headache coming on.
"You're Bocchi's friends, right? Get her out of here, now!"
In this state, Bocchi-chan wasn't just useless in a fight—she couldn't even run away.
A complete liability!
"I'm so sorry!"
Nijika hastily swept up the pile of Bocchi-dust into her hands, bowing apologetically to Megumi.
Yamada Ryo hoisted Kita Ikuyo onto her back.
The two exchanged a glance.
They knew staying here would only bring endless danger, forcing others to protect them. The best course of action was to leave as quickly as possible.
Regrouping, each carrying Bocchi-chan and Kita-chan, they hurried away.
Soon, they were out of sight.
"Ugh!"
Megumi grunted as he was sent flying backward.
Struggling to steady himself, another cursed spirit lunged at him, baring its fangs to tear into him.
"Damn it!"
Left with no choice, Megumi dismissed Orochi and summoned Divine Dogs to shield himself.
"Thud!"
At that moment, a gleaming cleaver was hurled over, its blade sinking deep into the cursed spirit, killing it instantly.
The next second, the black-haired man who had turned away earlier rushed back, yanking the cleaver free.
He didn't turn around, standing with his back to Megumi as he faced the cursed spirits.
"Let me make this clear—I didn't leave. I went to retrieve this cursed tool."
The cleaver in his hand unmistakably radiated cursed energy.
When ambushing Kenjaku, a cursed tool infused with energy might have been detected, exposing him. So, he had left it elsewhere, using an ordinary blade for the initial strike.
But now that these cursed spirits had gone berserk, Fushiguro Toji, lacking cursed energy himself, had no choice but to retrieve the cursed tool to deal with them.
Perfect reasoning, right?
"Hmph, whether you left or not has nothing to do with me!"
Megumi snorted, his tone icy and indifferent, showing no interest in Toji's explanation.
Yet, the corners of his lips curled up slightly.
"Hmph."
Toji let out a light scoff.
Whether he had seen through Megumi's thoughts or not, his voice carried a hint of amusement.
"Kid, stay close. We're wiping out every last one of these cursed spirits."
"I don't need your protection!"
The two moved in unison.
One wielded a cleaver, spinning through the battlefield like a whirlwind, beheading cursed spirits with each swing.
The other summoned shikigami, ensnaring any spirits that tried to flee.
"Not a single one gets away!"
Every cursed spirit here was formidable. If even one escaped, it could lead to a massacre.
"Max Elephant!"
"Piercing Ox!"
"Tiger Funeral!"
Megumi summoned shikigami one after another, cycling through them to maintain their offensive momentum.
Over the past few months, with Roy-sensei's guidance, he had mastered all his remaining shikigami and solidified his foundation.
"Not enough!"
Toji shouted over his shoulder.
Kenjaku had stockpiled too many cursed spirits—nearly a hundred, each no pushover. Even Toji couldn't slaughter them all quickly.
"Leave it to me!"
Megumi immediately dashed forward, dismissing all his shikigami.
Clenching his hands, he formed his final hand seal.
"—Domain Expansion: Chimera Shadow Garden!"
Darkness spread from his feet.
In one swift motion, it enveloped all the cursed spirits originating from Geto Suguru's corpse, the black sphere once again towering over the street.
Toji blinked, stunned.
He's already mastered a Domain at this age?
Did that guy Roy teach him that well?
No—more like, that's my son for you!
Minutes later.
The Domain dissipated naturally.
Megumi gasped for breath, his chest heaving like bellows as he collapsed to the ground, drenched in sweat.
Toji stood beside him, his blade dripping with blood.
They scanned their surroundings.
Not a single enemy remained—every cursed spirit had been eradicated.
"Not bad at all!"
A faint smile spread across Toji's face.
Truly outstanding.
Completely unlike him.
Even if he were to return to hell, Megumi would live on just fine as a jujutsu sorcerer in this world.
"Hmph."
Megumi let out a light snort, ignoring Toji's praise, only managing a weary twitch of his lips.
Then—
Toji's ears suddenly perked up.
His expression sharpened instantly, and without hesitation, he kicked Megumi away.
Before Megumi could react, he was sent flying.
"You bastard, what the hell are you doing?!"
Megumi scrambled up from the ground, glaring furiously at the man, only to realize he didn't feel any pain—Toji had clearly pulled his punch.
But in the next moment—
A massive wave of frigid air surged forth like a tidal wave, engulfing the entire street in an inescapable, bone-chilling cold.
The icy torrent crashed over Toji, swallowing him whole.
"Lord Sukuna, his body is incredibly resilient. My ice can only temporarily immobilize him."
Uraume stepped out from the shadows, their gaze fixed on the towering glacier now standing in the middle of the street.
Trapped within the ice, Toji raged, smashing his fists against the frozen prison.
"That's enough."
"Itadori Yuji" stepped forward, his face twisted into a grin that was nothing like his usual self.
"Yuji…?"
Megumi froze, his blood running cold the moment he recognized him.