Humans induce the birth of Cursed Spirits. Cursed Spirits slaughter humanity.
For animals kept in captivity, eating to survive is an instinctive process. The same applies to Cursed Spirits killing people.
Is it a distinction between "good" and "evil"? Or is it simply a difference in perspective?
If the side that curses represents evil, then the side that exorcises represents justice.
So, what did Zenin Mirai represent?
He put himself at the absolute center. He was an independent third-party faction that would stop at nothing to achieve his goals.
High in the air, his Rinnegan glowing faintly, Mirai watched the performance below.
...
"GIVE ME BACK GOJO-SENSEI!!"
A Sorcerer wearing a kasaya with stitched scars on his forehead stood in the ruins.
Just as Mechamaru had warned, and just as Mei Mei had broadcasted: the magical artifact used to seal Gojo Satoru was in this man's hands.
Yuji Itadori roared and charged toward Kenjaku.
Kenjaku's expression remained calm. He slightly waved his wide sleeve.
A shadow tore through the cracked pavement and shot toward Yuji's feet. Suddenly, an endless abyss devoid of any color opened up beneath him.
Yuji twisted his body, falling to the ground as if he had stepped into thin air.
In Yuji's mind, he felt as if he were in free-fall, plummeting endlessly into an abyss. But the tactile feedback from his body told a different story.
High above, Mirai watched the illusion.
There was no abyss at all. Yuji was just ridiculously tripping and flailing on flat concrete.
"Those who haven't entered the spell's range cannot see the endless darkness," Kenjaku mused softly, stepping toward the flailing boy. "But those who are infected cannot escape the feeling of weightlessness."
"The strongest element of Cursed Spirit Manipulation is not the caster, but the spirits themselves. There is no theoretical limit to my arsenal."
"Every Cursed Spirit can unleash a different effect. I am no longer confined to a single innate technique or a single Domain."
It was a casual reveal of his hand, a pointed reminder to the boy thrashing on the ground.
Yuji, deprived of the concept of gravity, was like someone endlessly falling through the sky, completely unable to stand up.
Even when facing a Special Grade like Mahito, Yuji could still use Black Flash to fight back.
But faced with a monster who had lived for a thousand years... Yuji didn't even have a chance to throw a single punch.
With a feeble effort, Yuji raised his arms to protect his head, desperately trying to brace for an impact he couldn't see.
BOOM!!
Scarlet blood spilled from his mouth. Yuji was slammed backward more than ten meters by a single physical blow from Kenjaku!
Yuji staggered to his feet.
While he was seriously injured, the blow had knocked him out of the Cursed Spirit's area of effect! Gravity returned.
His tense body constantly sent signals of excruciating pain. His flesh, bones, and organs groaned, but Yuji paid them no heed.
He couldn't kill Mahito with his own hands. He couldn't undo the massacre Sukuna had caused using his body.
Rescuing Gojo-sensei was the only remaining belief keeping Yuji's broken mind together!
"GIVE HIM BACK!"
With a blood-stained roar, Yuji lunged forward again, his face contorted in rage! Using lightning speed, he bypassed the strange gravity trap.
"How foolish."
BOOM!!
A wave of Cursed Spirits crashed down from the sky!
Thousands of centipede spirits, each the size of a python, tightly coiled around Yuji.
Experiencing the suffocating crush of the giant insects, Yuji tried to rip them off, only to fall to the ground unexpectedly.
It was that same strange spell again! The abyss opened beneath his feet.
Deprived of gravity and bound by centipedes, Yuji could only lie face down on the ground, glaring angrily at the approaching Sorcerer.
"Rage consumed your reason, and all you knew was to rush forward recklessly," Kenjaku noted, kicking Yuji in the ribs.
"Have you really grown at all?"
High above, Mirai watched this scene without uttering a word.
Despite having countless opportunities to kill Yuji, Kenjaku was holding back. His attacks appeared ruthless, yet not a single blow struck Yuji's vital points.
Was it because he needed Sukuna's vessel alive? Or was it something deeper?
Mirai's Rinnegan relayed precise information to his brain.
Kenjaku was stalling. He was currently digesting Mahito's soul. In just a few minutes, he would initiate the upgraded version of Idle Transfiguration.
...
"Maximum."
It is the most powerful move that pushes the limits of a Cursed Technique outside of a Domain.
Just like Jogo's Maximum: Meteor, it is the ultimate expression of a Sorcerer's innate power.
The same applied to Maximum: Uzumaki, the technique Suguru Geto had used during his lifetime.
But Geto was unaware of the truth before his death.
He believed his ultimate technique was just about condensing all his collected Cursed Spirits into a single, high-density energy blast. He thought it was just a way to recycle weak, useless Curses.
He was wrong.
"Cursed Technique Extraction is the true core ability of Maximum: Uzumaki," Kenjaku smiled, holding a dense, swirling orb of black energy in his palm.
It was a secret technique that Suguru Geto had been unaware of even in his lifetime.
By using Uzumaki on a Semi-Grade 1 or Special Grade Cursed Spirit, the user didn't just fire an energy blast. They permanently extracted that Cursed Spirit's innate technique for their own use!
Yuji lay on the ground, his face covered in blood. Through the thick liquid dripping into his eyes, he saw it.
In the center of the swirling black orb in Kenjaku's hand, a crimson flower—Mahito's true essence—was blooming.
"Sukuna, are you watching?" Kenjaku asked, looking down at Yuji.
"The Golden Age of Sorcery is about to begin."
"Soon, you will be able to meet your old friends from a thousand years ago."
It was a bold declaration.
Before Kenjaku could finish his extraction—
"Piercing Blood!"
BANG! (A sniper rifle fired from the rooftops).
"Wind Scythe!"
Blood arrows, a high-caliber bullet, and magical winds slashed down from the sky!
Faced with a triple ambush from the Kyoto students, Kenjaku merely waved his sleeve.
The three attacks strangely deviated from their trajectory and crashed into the rubble in the distance!
A shower of dust flew everywhere.
Then, a sharp, trembling sound of a katana being drawn echoed from directly behind Kenjaku!
"New Shadow Style: Batto Sword Drawing!"
She only possessed the strength of a Grade 3 Sorcerer and did not have an innate technique of her own.
In order to survive, Kasumi Miwa had practiced her swordsmanship diligently every single day. Facing an opponent far superior to her, she put everything she had—her life, her grief over Kokichi, her absolute limits—into this single, close-range strike!
Snap!
Miwa stood there, dumbfounded.
Kenjaku had easily stopped her full-force swing by pinching the blade between two fingers, shattering the katana to pieces.
The crimson flower of Mahito's technique fully integrated into Kenjaku's palm. The extraction was complete.
Kenjaku coldly looked down at the blue-haired girl in front of him.
With a casual wave of his hand, a concentrated blast of Cursed Energy—enough to pierce through a tank—shot straight toward Miwa's heart!
CLAP!
A crisp clapping sound rang out at the crucial millisecond!
A massive crater was blown into the concrete where Miwa had just been standing.
But Miwa was gone. She inexplicably appeared thirty meters away, safely behind the front lines.
Aoi Todo stood tall on the battlefield, his hands raised.
"We're late to the game, brother."
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