Chapter 85: Nuking Tokyo
[Bat] jammed a syringe into his own vein, and the agonizing pain in his chest immediately subsided. He flicked his wrist, and another javelin shot through the air.
Slice!
Kaito's face twitched. He tilted his head at the last possible second. The javelin grazed his cheekbone, opening a new wound, but the spike of pain was what finally broke him free from the paralysis.
That last attack was a level of power he hadn't felt since leaving the Dragon Ball world. That overwhelming energy hadn't even hit him directly, yet the shockwave alone had been enough to lock up his entire body.
[You have been subjected to an attack. Based on the gap in Spirit, you have obtained the following information:]
[You were affected by an unknown Reincarnator's Hadoken, inflicting Paralysis.]
[You were attacked by Reincarnator CV74471152's thrown weapon. You have broken free from the Paralysis effect.]
"Tsk. A Hadoken. How flashy." In the game, a Hadoken was the size of a soccer ball. This person had launched one over two meters wide. A guy like that was almost certainly beyond the [Mortal]-tier.
Kaito shook his head sharply, dodging two more javelins. He didn't even bother looking at the man throwing them.
"Tsk. It seems your team has some impressive members," Kaito called out to [Bat]. "I'll be leaving now. Feel free to follow me, if you're not afraid to die."
Seeing that the man who threw the Hadoken wasn't immediately giving chase, Kaito guessed he either wasn't built for pursuit, or he was busy fighting Reed's team. With a mocking laugh, Kaito waved goodbye to the scout, turned, and began to run again.
[Bat] held another Amazonian-style javelin. They were useful weapons: decent for stabbing up close and good for mid-range throwing. Though his own stats were low, he had used these weapons, combined with his high-tech targeting, to kill several [Mortal]-tier opponents. But…
He watched his enemy sprint away, and this time, he did not give chase.
"Sorry, Captain. He got away. I'm not his match."
His heart was still pounding. He was certain that if the captain hadn't fired that long-range Hadoken, he would already be dead. That man had been baiting him. And his stats were incredibly high—his speed, his long-distance stamina, the power to shatter his armor, and that terrifyingly sharp perception…
That guy was probably one of those balanced-stat Reincarnators. And... he was fast, with terrifyingly fluid movements. It was a level of technique he had only ever seen on his own captain, who had a master-level combat proficiency. If that man got close, [Bat] had no way to fight back.
"Understood. It's fine. Just come back."
In the underground parking garage, a tall man with messy brown hair hanging over his face, wearing a loose-fitting hoodie, slowly took off his headset and hopped down from the roof of a car. He watched as the corpse of the high-strung sniper Reincarnator slowly vanished, leaving behind a Crimson Drop Card. He lit a cigarette.
"Go clean up," he said to the swordsman wearing a demon mask. "Let's go finish off those other two bugs who ran away. Bat ran into a problem and let one escape."
The swordsman, codenamed [Old Ghost], wore a Hannya mask. His jacket was light, making his tall, slender frame stand out. The tachi in his hand was over 1.2 meters long, its blade gleaming. He flicked the blood off the sword and sheathed it with a clean stroke. He picked up the Crimson Drop Card, not forgetting to mock his teammate. "Ha. That idiot Bat. I told him to invest in himself instead of wasting all his points on that flashy but useless tech. Sooner or later, someone was going to take him out."
[Kai] said nothing. Everyone had their own ideas. He knew [Bat] had his own ambitions and was saving all his resources, likely for some specific, rare ability. He didn't care if his subordinates had conflicts, as long as they got the job done. And… that guy just now really did have some skill. He had nearly instant-killed [Bat] in a single exchange. He wasn't a simple rookie.
As Kaito ran, he guessed that the other two groups probably hadn't fared so well. At the very least, Reed's three-man team, if they had run into the guy who could throw a Hadoken, were almost certainly dead. The cruelty of the Nexus was that even if you made no mistakes, and even if the mission wasn't impossible, you could still be killed simply by being in the same world as an opponent you couldn't possibly defeat.
Kaito smiled. An dark red flame suddenly ignited over his body. His speed increased, and his stamina felt limitless. He ran for dozens of kilometers before finally stopping. Not because he was tired, but because... he was lost.
The main quest was to escape Tokyo within three days. But without a map in a city covering over 2,000 square kilometers, it was easy to lose your bearings. Kaito couldn't see any landmarks, nor was there anyone to ask for directions. He had no choice but to stop and look for a map.
He was near a park. It was completely silent. He had no desire to go deeper into the park, as encountering a Cursed Spirit right now would be... inconvenient. But then, he heard a clear human voice.
"Hey! Are you okay? Hang in there, I'm coming to save you!"
A cheerful, energetic voice. Kaito frowned. In this place? At this time? There are still people here?
He followed the voice and found a pickup truck, its engine still running, parked by the side of a park river. A white-haired old man was leaning against the truck. A pink-haired teenager in a tracksuit was in the river, trying to "save" someone. The boy was in great physical condition. He quickly climbed out of the river, carrying a woman on his back. He blinked a few times, making sure he wasn't seeing things. There was another man standing behind his grandfather.
"Are you here for the rescue, too?" the teenager asked.
Kaito frowned. Yuji Itadori?
"What rescue?" Kaito asked, his nerves instinctively tightening. Yuji Itadori was no simple, hot-blooded protagonist. His very birth was the result of a thousand-year-old monster's plan. Kaito wanted nothing to do with that creature.
At that moment, the old man, hearing his grandson, slowly turned around. "The Tokyo rescue, of course. Aren't you here from outside to help?" His voice was old and kind. "Or, perhaps, did you... run out of that disastrous city?"
Kaito's pupils contracted. On the old man's forehead was a clear, unmistakable line of stitches.
This guy… is Kenjaku!
"Oh?" The smile on Wasuke Itadori's face remained, but his tone changed. "It seems you're not an ordinary person."
The being wearing Yuji's grandfather's body waved at Yuji. "Yuji, go ahead and save those other people. They've probably been in the water for a long time. They must be uncomfortable."
Kaito now noticed that the woman Yuji was carrying was bloated, her skin a deathly pale. She was clearly, unmistakably dead. But Yuji, with a bright and enthusiastic smile, was calling out to the other corpses floating in the river, telling them to "hang on" and that he was coming to save them. The scene was horrifically surreal. Kaito knew this had to be the work of the thousand-year-old sorcerer in front of him. This was a being who had abandoned all humanity, ethics, and common sense in his singular pursuit of "optimizing cursed energy." He had spent a millennium manufacturing conspiracies. He was supposed to be the true final boss of this world, yet here he was...
"You," Kenjaku's voice was light, "are on guard against me." The smile on Wasuke's old face widened, twisting his features. "Which means, you know who I am. But... I don't sense the aura or the cursed energy of any of my old friends on you. The answer can only be one thing…"
"You're one of those... special monkeys, aren't you?"
Kaito slowly raised his left hand. He looked at Kenjaku, an equally cold smile spreading across his own face. "Kenjaku. The Six Eyes, the one you feared most, is dead. And you're still hiding out here, playing these little games. I'm guessing… there must be something you're afraid of. Let's see... is it something in the city, or…?"
Kaito had already activated the curse mark on his left hand, ready to unleash the [Strike of Inari]. Kenjaku had survived for a thousand years by swapping brains. He could master the cursed technique of any body he inhabited. Even if he hadn't yet taken over Geto Suguru, Kaori Itadori's own gravity technique was a massive threat. Against such an enemy, Kaito wouldn't hold back.
The smile on Kenjaku's face vanished. He listened to Yuji hauling the corpses onto the truck bed. He thought for a moment, then spoke. "You must also be afraid of that thing, which is why you fled the city. We... perhaps we have a common enemy."
[Plot Character Kenjaku has invited you to join a Hidden Faction. Do you accept?]
Kaito noted that he seemed to be quite popular with the evil factions. He glanced back at the distant Tokyo, guessing that if he had gone east or north, he would have run into other plot characters and triggered other questlines.
After Yuji had "saved" all the "people" and put them in the truck, he saw his grandfather chatting amicably with the tall stranger. He got back in the driver's seat and waved. "Grandpa! Everyone's safe! Let's get them out of here!"
Kenjaku nodded at his "son" with a look of "pride," then got into the passenger seat.
Kaito looked at the truck. He didn't get in the cab. Instead, he jumped into the open truck bed, taking a seat among the corpses. A thousand-year-old sorcerer was far more dangerous than any corpse.
The pickup truck rumbled to life. Kenjaku's voice carried clearly from the cab. "Those madmen killed the Six Eyes using a forbidden method, but in doing so, they created an unbelievably terrifying King of Cursed Spirits. Heh. And now they're planning to rely on the Americans to nuke Tokyo to clean up their mess. Fools." Kenjaku seemed to be intentionally sharing intel with Kaito.
The truck drove for half the night. Finally, Kaito saw the notification.
[You have successfully escaped the Dead Silent Capital - Tokyo.]
[Main Quest Stage 1 Complete. Reward: 1 E-rank Singularity, 1000 Dimensional Points.]
[Main Quest Stage 2 Initiated.]
[Main Quest 2: Prevent the revival of the King of Cursed Spirits.]
[Reward: All participants will receive 1 C-rank Singularity. Core contributors will receive 1 B-rank Singularity. A solo completion will grant 1 A-rank Singularity.]
[Failure Penalty: Main Quest Stage 3 will be forcibly activated.]
Kaito saw the notification and already guessed what Stage 3 would be. If they failed to prevent the revival, Stage 3 would naturally be: Kill the King of Cursed Spirits. When he factored in the powerhouse from [The Fifth Element] who was already far beyond the [Mortal]-tier, he could see that the difficulty of this mission was astronomical. It was far, far harder than the Demon Slayer world.
Kaito frowned. He had only just entered the [Mortal]-tier. He shouldn't be encountering a mission of this difficulty. There was definitely something wrong. But now was not the time to think about that. Since he understood his own weakness, the priority was to gather intel and find the key factor that could turn the tide.
This Kenjaku in front of him... was one such factor. With his thousand years of experience, he had infiltrated the entire Jujutsu world and possessed the best intelligence and network.
"Lord Kenjaku," Kaito said, "from what you're saying, nuking Tokyo won't kill this King of Cursed Spirits?"
In some stories, a nuclear explosion had the same effect as an artificial sun. While Cursed Spirits weren't weak to sunlight, Kaito asked the question intentionally.
Kenjaku chuckled. "A nuke? Heh. That thing, aside from birthing an even more terrifying Cursed Spirit, will accomplish nothing. Cursed Spirits are beings born of fear and curses. What effect can the fire and explosions of mortals possibly have, other than to create more fear for them to feed on?"
"Cursed energy is the only key to exorcising a Cursed Spirit."
Kenjaku turned his head slightly. "Mercenary Tao. I can feel it. You have the aptitude. The aptitude to wield an immense amount of cursed energy."
After being disdained by Mercenary Tao in his first world for lacking the talent for ki, Kaito now found it ironic that another arch-villain was praising him for his aptitude for cursed energy. In the end, the cursed energy of the Jujutsu Kaisen world was an energy based on negative emotions. The stronger the negative emotion, the purer and more powerful the cursed energy.
Kaito let a grim smile spread across his face. He nodded. "Yes. I can feel it, too."
"After all... my purity... is very high."
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Guys We cross the 900 power stone goal and as promise here the bonus chapter
Next goal 1000 power stone,come on guys you'll can do it, good luck.
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