Chapter 250: Kenjaku: Emiya Will Not Be Coming Back
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"What... what... no!!!!"
Bang!
Amidst a pile of collapsed architectural ruins, a roar-like cry suddenly erupted from the bottom. Then, a disheveled figure pushed aside the crushed stones weighing him down, reached out a palm, and strained with all his might to heave the upper half of his body out.
Even though his clothing and physical state were exceptionally pathetic, it was not difficult to see that this was Choso—the one who, not long ago, had been easily dealt with by the Sukuna-possessed Yuji. Perhaps Sukuna felt that a fellow of this level wasn't even qualified to be his opponent—like a disgusting bug that might soil his shoes if stepped on—which is why he hadn't chosen to kill him outright.
In the eyes of the jujutsu world, they were both Special Grade cursed spirits; even their grades as cursed objects were both Special Grade. Yet, the gap between them was truly that gargantuan. To call it the difference between an elephant and an ant would be slightly underestimating the potential for biological interaction and reliance.
After suffering that casual strike from Sukuna at the time, Choso had immediately fallen into a long coma. Even now, having been suddenly awakened by something, his mind had not yet fully regained clarity.
"This is...?"
"No, what on earth happened exactly..."
The things clinging to his messy hair were not just dried bloodstains, but more so the fine beads of sweat that had covered his forehead at some unknown point. With his brain in chaos, Choso couldn't immediately extract useful information. He could only try to piece together the sequence of events by slowly reasoning from the parts of his memory that remained clear.
Originally, because his brothers were being held by the people from Jujutsu High, he had irritably agreed to the plan provided by "Geto Suguru": Geto would separate the students, and Choso would defeat them one by one to use them as leverage to get his brothers back.
But once he successfully caught a stray student, he discovered his brother Kechizu was actually being sat upon by that fellow. Unable to accept the insult, he had immediately attacked, only to realize later that it was all a misunderstanding...
After being "coerced" by a powerhouse named "Emiya Shirou," his brothers decided to defect to the side of humanity. As the eldest brother, he wouldn't deny his brothers' choice, but it was impossible for him to truly trust humans so easily. To ensure no accidents occurred, he had intended to call a temporary truce with the sorcerers and decide what to do based on the
ensuing situation... but the moment he made contact with Itadori Yuji, the accident happened.
The reason "Geto Suguru" had stored Sukuna's fingers on his person was entirely for that moment! When the two made contact, the Ryomen Sukuna residing in Itadori Yuji suddenly erupted, snatching all the fingers from him in the blink of an eye and further seizing control of Yuji's human body.
The terrifying "King of Curses" from a thousand years ago had thus successfully occupied a human body and been resurrected.
Even Choso—someone who had turned into a Special Grade cursed object since birth and had almost never truly "lived"—knew exactly how terrifying the King of Curses' power was. As the eldest brother of the "Cursed Womb: Death Paintings," he had been beaten into a heavy coma the instant they clashed.
Normally, the recollection should have ended at the point where he fell unconscious, but Choso suddenly remembered why he had abruptly woken up from his coma.
It was because of pain—a bone-deep pain that had suddenly pierced into his body just moments ago.
As a half-human, half-spirit hybrid who had clearly endured 150 years of imprisonment in the dark space of a cursed object, Choso's pain tolerance was far beyond that of ordinary people; he could fight without hindrance even if his arm were severed. But that moment just now was far too terrifying. The bone-deep pain had swept through his entire body in an instant. That violent agony reached into his soul, making him feel as if he were being subjected to a thousand cuts.
"But the injuries on my body are clearly nowhere near that serious. Why did I suddenly feel that way... wait?!"
At this moment, Choso truly realized something was wrong and panicked. To him, the possibility of feeling heart-wrenching pain without his body being harmed existed, but only in one form—the actual recipient of that harm was not himself, but his brothers.
As hybrids born from the hands of an evil sorcerer, the nine brothers were the only people in the world sharing a bloodline. It was this unique blood connection that gave them a mysterious, special link. Just as Kechizu could sense his location, Choso could sense the status of his brothers, regardless of the distance between them. It was because of this mysterious induction that Choso hadn't immediately lashed out when his brothers were captured by the High School; instead, he had calmly discussed plans with "Geto Suguru," though he was ultimately deceived by that man.
But if he was having this feeling now, didn't that mean...?!
"Kechizu?!"
The first person Choso thought of was naturally Kechizu, the brother in the same location. After all, he couldn't guarantee that a King of Curses like Ryomen Sukuna—who could be described by any number of vile terms—wouldn't do something after he fell unconscious.
But just as Choso used his [Piercing Blood] to carefully move aside the rubble covering the ground, he found his brother Kechizu lying on his back, "sleeping" in a stable space that had luckily formed a triangle. He looked much more peaceful than Choso.
It wasn't until a breeze blew in and Kechizu realized he was no longer in a closed space that he wiggled his rear and opened his sleepy eyes to look at the oddly-faced Choso.
"What is it, Big Brother? Your expression looks so strange."
Clearly, the newly awakened Kechizu, like Choso moments before, hadn't yet reacted to the situation they were in.
But Choso knew now was not the time to fret over such things. Since Kechizu was unharmed, and the other brothers were still in indestructible cursed object states, the only person who could have met with an accident was...
"Could it be... Eso...?"
Having reached this conclusion, the process was easy for Choso to deduce. Since his brother Eso had defected to the sorcerers' camp and had come to Shibuya to participate in the battle, and Ryomen Sukuna had been intentionally awakened by "Geto Suguru"...
He couldn't imagine a scenario where Geto would cooperate even with the King of Curses from a millennium ago, but Sukuna was someone that man had gone through great pains to resurrect. Choso didn't believe such a sinister and cunning curse user would have no way to utilize him.
Choso still had some confidence in his brother; he believed that Eso wouldn't easily fall behind in a one-on-one fight with any sorcerer, except for someone like Gojo Satoru, who was universally hailed as the "Strongest." But if the opponent was Ryomen Sukuna—the King of Curses who made Choso unable to withstand even a single move—then the outcome would truly be...
Judging by the pain he had just felt, it had to be the kind caused by one's entire body being crushed or severed by external force. Even if his brother had the bloodline and traits of a cursed spirit, could he really withstand such an attack?
They weren't the type of beings who could revive as long as a small piece remained intact after being crushed. Cursed objects originally possessed a "Binding Vow" that prevented death, but that Vow would vanish once they successfully incarnated and broke the "restriction of losing all life activity." Otherwise, why would the higher-ups of the jujutsu world want to eliminate the dangerous cursed object "Sukuna's Finger" by killing Itadori Yuji?
Just imagining that cruel scene caused Choso to feel an irrepressible pang of heartache.
"Wh... what's wrong, Big Brother? Your expression really is strange... you look like you're in a lot of pain?"
Even if Kechizu's child-like, dull mind couldn't realize the gravity of the situation, just seeing Choso in such pain made him start to worry uncontrollably. This had nothing to do with logic; it was entirely a feeling from the heart.
"Can't you feel it, Kechizu? That heart-wrenching pain... it's the agony that only the death of a brother can bring."
"Your brother, my brother... Eso... Eso is already..."
Upon truly realizing this, that bone-deep sorrow was infinitely more profound than any physical sting, causing Choso to almost shed real tears.
However, faced with his older brother's heartache, Kechizu—who was watching all this—looked confused and asked foolishly, "What are you talking about, Big Brother? I can clearly still smell Brother Eso's scent. How could something have happened to him?"
"Ah, he's here!!!"
On such an exceptionally important matter, Kechizu obviously wouldn't play a "Boy Who Cried Wolf" joke on his brother. He truly didn't feel anything wrong and really could smell Eso's scent. As for the claim that he had arrived here—that naturally wasn't a lie either.
When Choso, his eyes already moist, turned around, the first thing he saw was Eso—unscathed except for having very little clothing left—followed by Megumi Fushiguro and Nobara Kugisaki, the two students from the High School.
"...Eso?!"
Choso's own sorrow hadn't even had time to fully brew, so being relieved of it at this time didn't count as too much of a surprise. Compared to joy, the part of his heart that was most occupied remained confusion. Since neither Eso nor Kechizu had met with any accident, then who was the "blood relative" he had sensed? Could it be that another brother had been resurrected without his knowledge?
But that was clearly not very logical. Given their powerful blood connection, if a brother were incarnated and resurrected under special circumstances, they would definitely sense it... yet he had never had that feeling before this. As for whether a numbered cursed object of the "Cursed Womb: Death Paintings" had been destroyed, that was even more impossible.
So... what exactly was going on?!
"Kechizu? Big Brother?"
After seeing Ryomen Sukuna's resurrection in Itadori Yuji, Eso felt some regret for his temporary companion, but his primary concern remained Kechizu, who was supposed to be
with Yuji. Fortunately, it now seemed Kechizu hadn't suffered a single scratch and had even reunited with their eldest brother. The situation was far better than he had imagined.
However, there were some things Eso had to confirm personally: "It looks so chaotic here, what happened? And why did the [Curse] on Itadori Yuji..."
Though his words carried a hint of interrogation, this was something that had to be cleared up. After all, Itadori Yuji had indeed fled with Kechizu in the end. If Eso didn't ask, the matter would become even more complicated if Fushiguro and the others were the ones to ask... If even the High School stopped trusting them, where could these brothers, who were not accepted by humanity, go?
"What happened...?"
Choso looked up, glancing briefly at the two sorcerers behind his brother Eso. After a moment's hesitation, he chose to tell them everything that had happened shortly before. His worries were no different from what was in Eso's heart. Since they had already completely broken with the curse users, they must not also fully fall out with the sorcerers... their brothers might seem powerful, but they had no ability to stand independently against everyone.
The prerequisite for staying aloof and not participating in any conflict is having the strength to crush most enemies. Without such power, a so-called neutral stance is a joke; your death depends entirely on when others decide to end your life.
Take the hundreds of thousands of ordinary people trapped in Shibuya right now—suppose they decided to remain neutral between sorcerers and curse users. Would the cursed spirits and curse users suddenly stop harming them? Don't be ridiculous; such a laughable idea would only be mocked by the bullies before they killed the victims in despair.
There is only one way for the weak not to be bullied: it isn't kindness or compromise, but possessing stronger power and momentum than the bully.
In just a few minutes, Choso successfully explained to Fushiguro and the others what had happened here shortly before, leading to Ryomen Sukuna seizing control of the body and regaining most of his power.
Having established basic trust, Choso immediately asked Fushiguro and the others, "While that fellow isn't yet crazy enough to insist on killing everyone, my suggestion is to leave this area immediately... or does your sorcerer side have a powerhouse who can fight Ryomen Sukuna?"
"Is the rumored modern strongest, Gojo Satoru, also in the battlefield area?"
He was acting according to his position. Since he was now in the sorcerers' camp, he had to push things in the direction most favorable to the High School.
"Gojo-sensei...?"
Hearing this, Megumi Fushiguro and Nobara Kugisaki looked at each other, then Fushiguro replied, "Strictly speaking, Gojo-sensei isn't in Shibuya right now; he's on another battlefield."
"Is that so? Not here? Then my suggestion is still..."
Before Choso could finish his attempt to make Fushiguro and the others retreat, he heard Fushiguro continue: "But there shouldn't be a need to worry about Sukuna. Emiya-sensei has already held that fellow back alone, and until just now, he held the advantage in the fight."
"Even if we can't be of much use in the battle, we have to work hard where we can... protect and evacuate everyone still in Shibuya, and then try to relay the situation here to Gojo-sensei. We have to at least do these things well."
In a few sentences, Fushiguro arranged what everyone should do next. These actions didn't sound like decisive factors, but the students' primary concern should be handling these basics first.
As for Choso, he was still processing the information Fushiguro had revealed: "Emiya... Emiya? Emiya Shirou?"
He couldn't imagine how those cursed spirits and curse users could win this war if the sorcerers had another powerhouse on the same level as Gojo Satoru. It couldn't be that the upper management of the humans and the High School were all moles for the curses, right? That would be too farcical. Why would people already at the top become moles to overthrow an environment favorable to themselves? That assumption made no sense.
Finally, Choso nodded his head sharply.
"Alright, we'll do as you say."
Of course, during this process, he also had to find a way to figure out exactly who it was that had met with an accident just now...
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Meanwhile, at an unknown location, the actions of Fushiguro and the others were being played out within a reflection floating in mid-air like a screen. The person watching this scene unfold was none other than Kenjaku, who had fled the battlefield in a pathetic state not long ago.
The massive insect wrapped around his shoulder to maintain the gruesome wound was still there. Clearly, he hadn't been able to find a way to break Nobara's curse and could only use physical means to ensure his safety as much as possible.
Yet, despite his face being pale from excessive blood loss, a smile still hung uncontrollably on Kenjaku's lips.
"Truly beyond my expectations, Emiya Shirou... not only could you display so many abilities unheard of and incomprehensible to me, but you could even deal with the [King of Curses] who had recovered most of his strength.
But unfortunately, the trouble you can cause me ends here..."
As he spoke, Kenjaku's palm slowly pressed onto his injured shoulder. Under the powerful and oppressive force, the wound that should have been completely clamped shut couldn't help but leak blood that dripped to the floor. It seemed Kenjaku's mood was not nearly as relaxed as he made it out to be.
He whispered while watching the images in the reflection, as if explaining to someone, or perhaps just talking to himself—
"I knew it. When facing an enemy like Ryomen Sukuna, even if you still have the ability to suppress the opponent, you would have to do so under the condition of unfolding that special barrier of yours.
However, the [World] itself possesses consciousness; otherwise, why would special cursed spirits like Mahito have come into being?
The [World's] instinct is to reject [Foreign Objects] that do not belong to it. After being designated by me as the junction between the [Magaritano] (Magaritano/Cursed Realm) and the present world, the space in Shibuya already had a tendency to tilt outward.
Under such a premise, there is only one consequence for daring to unfold that special barrier: to be detached from the established spatial coordinates under the rejection and squeezing of the [World]... Unfortunately, space itself is something difficult to easily understand. I don't know if you, detached from the [World], will be directly obliterated by something.
It doesn't matter anyway. Regardless, I'll never see you again."
Finally letting go of the hand on his shoulder, Kenjaku turned his blood-dripping arm and looked behind him, continuing his narration: "As for Gojo Satoru, there are many ways to solve that trouble... the plan is entering the final wrap-up stage."
"The [World] cannot tolerate external things, yet it possesses the possibility of self-birthed [Evolution]... Simply put, the [World] is also on our side."
In the shadows, Kenjaku's powerful collaborator gradually revealed his form—
"Is that right... [Tengen]-sama?"
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