"Nanami, save me."
Nanami Kento, covered in wounds, looked terrified. In a daze, Yu Haibara, drenched in blood, appeared before him, clutching his waist tightly. He held on with all his might.
An unknown, spiky tentacle was wrapped around his ankle, pulling him backward.
"Sorry."
From Nanami Kento's perspective, a terrifying monster seemed to be behind the blood-soaked Yu Haibara.
Nanami Kento pulled away the hand that was entangled with him and ran off without looking back.
He only heard Yu Haibara's resentful wail from behind, as if questioning why he had fled.
"Why did you abandon me and run away alone?"
"Nanami!"
"Slap!"
A loud slap echoed through the forest, and the sharp pain on his face instantly jolted the dazed Nanami Kento awake. At the same time, all the illusions before his eyes gradually vanished.
When Nanami Kento saw his familiar Isayama-senpai standing in front of him, he still couldn't quite believe it.
"What happened to Haibara?"
The one who had just slapped him was Kenmyo. There was no other way; this guy didn't respond no matter how he was called, as if his soul had left him.
Although Kenmyo wasn't a student of Jujutsu High, he knew that the High School usually dispatched students for missions in pairs.
This was for safety, so that two people could look out for each other.
Nanami Kento's partner was Yu Haibara; they were the golden duo of the first year.
From the incident with Riko Amanai and their brief time together at the beach BBQ, it was clear that these two first-year students had a very good relationship.
However, Nanami Kento's current state indicated that they had encountered something beyond their capabilities.
Therefore, Kenmyo could only be a little rougher to quickly sober Nanami Kento up and have him report the situation.
When Nanami Kento's collar was grabbed by Kenmyo, he immediately realized that this person in front of him was Isayama-senpai, who had been missing for several days.
"Isayama-senpai."
Nanami Kento, like a drowning man clutching at a lifeline, gripped Kenmyo's hand in return.
He said, trembling forcefully,
"Save, save Haibara."
Kenmyo soothed his emotions, while taking out a bottle of healing potion from his pocket and telling Nanami Kento to drink it.
"Alright, drink this first."
Kenmyo saw that Nanami Kento was covered in injuries, and he himself wasn't in much better shape.
"Tell me the exact location."
Kenmyo patted Nanami Kento's shoulder, who had somewhat calmed down, reassuring him.
He hadn't detected anything unusual in the surroundings at all?
The only thing he perceived was Nanami Kento's Cursed Energy; there was nothing else.
This was also what made Kenmyo quite curious. Nanami had merely walked, indicating the distance was limited.
He indeed hadn't detected anything unusual.
After receiving Kenmyo's assurance, Nanami Kento's panicked mood gradually calmed down, feeling particularly at ease.
He slowly began to recount what he and Yu Haibara had just experienced and why they were now separated.
Kenmyo also knew what had happened.
In short, someone from 'The Window' had misidentified the grade of a Cursed Spirit, assigning a mission that should have been for second-year students to two first-year students.
When Nanami Kento and Yu Haibara arrived at the Cursed Spirit's location and began to exorcise it, they discovered that what was originally reported as a Grade 2 Cursed Spirit had become a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit.
This kind of mistake might not be a big problem for second or third-year students, but it was a huge problem for first-year students who had just enrolled and were doing well to handle Grade 3 Cursed Spirits.
Nanami Kento and Yu Haibara were assigned this mission to clear a Grade 2 Cursed Spirit precisely because of their excellent academic performance.
But they never expected that upon arrival, a slightly challenging elite monster would turn into a big Boss. Who could defeat that?
According to Nanami Kento's account,
There was a village there, and they were the clients. The Villagers were reportedly attacked by an unknown creature. All Villagers had been evacuated, the police reported it, and then the higher-ups gave this incident to the Jujutsu Sorcerer Association.
"There's an entrance to a special barrier three kilometers away. Because of the barrier's influence, it's impossible to sense it."
Knowing the location made things easier. Kenmyo, with the mentally collapsed Nanami Kento, vanished from the spot the next second.
"Nanami, is that it?"
Kenmyo saw an uninhabited village not far away. That place was probably near the ancestral shrine behind the village.
A very inconspicuous small temple was enshrined there, completely dilapidated as if it had endured the ravages of time.
However, it was still evident that someone was maintaining it, as the offering plate had fruits, livestock offerings, and incense sticks that had only been placed there recently.
But that wasn't the main point.
"Isayama-senpai, the entrance is there."
Nanami Kento said with lingering fear.
He pointed to another particularly small, broken shed behind the temple, which looked like it was made of a few stacked stones, very similar to a roadside local deity shrine.
Next to the stone statue, two smiling fox stone statues were bowing.
Yu Haibara had touched it earlier, and then he was sucked in. Nanami Kento followed closely behind.
So he knew that it was probably the entrance to a barrier; only by touching that stone could one enter this secret realm.
And the Cursed Spirits that harmed the Villagers also came out from inside.
"No, this is something similar to a seal."
Kenmyo stopped Nanami Kento from trying to touch that stone.
He looked around. The village was completely enclosed within a valley.
These ancestors were good at finding places, they found such a spot.
Surrounded by mountains on all sides, it's easy not to get sunlight, and without sunlight, impurities are easily bred. It's a particularly suitable place to seal troublesome things.
So, from the beginning, they didn't consider that anyone would live here.
"Haibara is inside here."
"Mm."
Nanami Kento nodded vigorously.
"Okay, I understand."
Kenmyo was also adept at handling such situations; it wasn't the first time he had encountered such a hidden barrier.
"Don't look so grim, leave it to me."
Kenmyo comforted him.
He stretched out his hand and pulled down forcefully on the air.
Suddenly, the seemingly normal void shook violently as if it had suffered a massive earthquake.
It only lasted for less than a second before a sound similar to shattering glass came from the sky above, and many spiderweb-like cracks appeared in the empty environment.
"Crack."
And with the shattering of the entire barrier, the truly hidden things beneath emerged.
An unimaginable stench immediately assailed them, accompanied by an extremely evil Cursed Energy that emanated from the shattered barrier. The roar of some creature seemed faintly audible.
Judging solely from this Cursed Energy, it was definitely not just a Grade 2 Cursed Spirit. How could 'The Window' have mistaken its grade?
The first thing that caught Nanami Kento's eye was massive pillars. Many chains, as thick as arms and embedded with unknown runes, were bound to the tops of these pillars.
The ends of these chains were bound to a worm-like Cursed Spirit covered in stripes.
It had no feet, only scales similar to those found along a path.
It was about three hundred meters long and relatively massive, its body coiled together. The tentacles Nanami Kento had seen earlier were merely the Cursed Spirit's predatory organs.
This was quite astonishing.
"So we didn't even see its true form?"
Nanami Kento and Yu Haibara had fallen into a bitter struggle due to just one tentacle, resulting in one retreating and the other being captured.
Most of the flesh on the worm Cursed Spirit had rotted away, revealing what was inside.
Whether it had consciousness or not was unknown.
When the Cursed Spirit saw the light of day again, all the iron chains instantly tightened, countless years of accumulated dust fell off, and the chains themselves made sounds as if they were about to break.
This thing seemed to have been sealed here by someone for many, many years, so seeing the light of day again made the Cursed Spirit extremely agitated, desperately trying to break free from its restraints.
The movement of such a behemoth created a considerable commotion, its massive body shifting and cracking the stone pillars.
But Kenmyo looked around and clearly knew that they were not stone pillars at all, but giant nails of unknown age, which had been corroded by the Cursed Energy from the Cursed Spirit to resemble stone pillars.
"Where is Yu Haibara?"
Kenmyo was not focusing on the Cursed Spirit; instead, he was searching everywhere for the missing first-year student, Yu Haibara.
The priority was to find the person he needed to save first, otherwise, he might accidentally injure him during the attack.
Finally, Kenmyo spotted Yu Haibara hanging unconscious from a chain in the corner.
He was completely drained of color, likely on the verge of being sucked dry.
In fact, when Kenmyo first saw the Cursed Spirit, his hope for Yu Haibara's survival was slim.
Because the Cursed Spirit was enormous; if it were just one person, it might not even take a bite, not even enough to fill the gaps between its teeth.
Kenmyo opened his hand and lightly squeezed toward Yu Haibara's location, causing the connecting iron chains to snap, and then he pulled him over directly.
As expected, Yu Haibara was extremely cold to the touch. Due to massive blood loss, he was nearly at his last breath.
Kenmyo fed him a bottle of blood-replenishing medicine. Nanami Kento finally breathed a sigh of relief when he saw color return to Yu Haibara's face.
At least his guilt had eased slightly.
The Cursed Spirit was still roaring.
"Silence!"
After rescuing his junior, Kenmyo immediately set about dealing with the Cursed Spirit.
"Since you want to break free from your restraints, I'll give you a hand."
Kenmyo's eyes turned completely azure blue. His Telekinesis Psychic Spells directly forced the deeply embedded nails in the soil to be pulled out one by one.
But before the Cursed Spirit could enjoy freedom for even a second, its body, along with the chains and fixing nails, all together
—were used to tightly bind the Cursed Spirit in the air, one chain at a time, like restraints.
The Cursed Spirit might never have expected that, while still sealed, it would suddenly be bound and hoisted into the sky by someone.
It tried to struggle, but there was no leverage point in the air, so it merely writhed its body.
Kenmyo directly commanded the chains and golden nails to circle the Cursed Spirit, thoroughly restraining it once more.
When these chains touched the Cursed Spirit's muscles, they emitted crackling sounds, like flesh being scorched.
Under this god-like power, the Cursed Spirit was completely helpless, unable to move at all, only letting out mournful cries.
However, all Kenmyo wanted was simply to bind the Cursed Spirit tightly with these chains; he did not intend to kill it completely.
Because he sensed something strange about this type of Cursed Spirit.
Why did it give off a feeling of degradation that was different from typical Cursed Spirits? It seemed to contain traces of something else.
But Kenmyo couldn't quite articulate it.
If he had to describe it, this creature shouldn't have been in this form originally, but was corrupted by some evil force and turned into this.
It was as if the Cursed Spirit's existence was a tragedy, irreversible.
Kenmyo seemed to see a White Dragon that once soared in the sky, receiving worship from Villagers and people across the world.
As well as temples and memorial arches built for it.
Bringing favorable weather.
But when it reappeared, the white giant dragon, which had been revered like a deity, had somehow violated a taboo.
When it reappeared, it looked as if it had been infected by a terrible virus. Its majestic eyes were replaced by scarlet agitation, black blood unconsciously flowed from its mouth, its scales fell off in large patches, and its entire body was covered in horrific sores, transforming it into a rotting Corpse Dragon, bound here by chains, unable to move.
Years had passed in a flash; let alone the Dragon Head, every characteristic of a dragon had completely vanished.
Everything Kenmyo saw appeared before him as if it had truly happened.
"Kenmyo!"
Only when Kenmyo heard his name being shouted loudly did he return from the illusion to reality.
The newcomer was Gojo Satoru, who had rushed over after receiving Nanami Kento's distress signal.
This guy had continuously teleported using Limitless from Tokyo Jujutsu High. When he sensed the familiar Cursed Energy, his already hurried pace quickened even more.
Seeing Nanami Kento and Yu Haibara, who had been rescued, both safe and sound, was truly wonderful.
Of course, the most important thing was that the person who had been missing was also there.
"Where the heck have you been all these days? You scared us half to death."
Gojo Satoru was extremely excited to see Kenmyo.
However, just as Kenmyo recovered his senses, seeing such an "unlucky" face appear before him, he instinctively slapped him.
This slap instantly stunned Gojo Satoru, and a clear red mark appeared on his face.
Gojo Satoru never expected that the first thing his good friend would do after such a long time apart was slap him.
Had he committed some heinous crime?
Did Gojo Satoru do anything wrong?
Why did you have to slap me like that?
"Why did you hit me, Kenmyo?"
Kenmyo suddenly realized that he was not on that Future Timeline, but had returned to his own world.
Which meant he had just slapped the wrong person.
"My apologies."
Kenmyo said sheepishly.
The current Gojo Satoru hasn't made the same mistakes as the future Gojo Satoru. I shouldn't burden him for the sake of his future self.
"I was previously teleported to a place similar to a Secret Realm, and I just got unsealed."
"I might have gotten a little emotional seeing you suddenly."
Hearing his friend's explanation, Gojo Satoru could only secretly make a note of the slap in his heart.
"Regardless, I'm just glad you're okay."
Although Kenmyo also really wanted to know what happened in the Main World during the time he traveled to the future,
But there were still casualties.
"Let's not talk about those things yet. We need to hurry and take both of them to the hospital."
Kenmyo suggested, looking at Yu Haibara, who was still unconscious.
"What about that Cursed Spirit?"
Gojo Satoru asked.
The behemoth in the sky wasn't easy to handle.
Kenmyo said,
"The Kamo Family will take custody of it."
Kenmyo was genuinely curious. Previously, it had clearly received the incense offerings of the populace, equivalent to a high and mighty deity.
Yet, for some unknown reason, it became tainted with an aura of degradation, transforming into that appearance.
Yu Haibara and Nanami Kento were both sent to the hospital. Gojo Satoru and Kenmyo finally had time to talk again outside the hospital entrance.
"How many days passed in total."
Kenmyo had lost track of the days and didn't know what the date was.
"About a week, I remember clearly."
Gojo Satoru replied.
That long?
"The Time Difference Ratio is too troublesome to calculate. Kenmyo clearly remembered only being gone for one night, yet seven days passed in the real world."
The flow rate is truly ridiculous.
After Gojo Satoru's explanation, Kenmyo roughly understood what had happened during the time he was gone.
First, the news of Kenmyo's disappearance was completely sealed off and kept unknown to the outside world.
After all, if something happened to the next head of the Kamo Family, it would cause a huge uproar.
Therefore, his family members were not notified at all.
Hearing this, Kenmyo breathed a sigh of relief.
If Yomi-nee knew he had been missing for a week, she would probably go crazy.
There was also one other matter: Tengen had disappeared.
Gojo Satoru told him everything that had happened during the days he was missing.
"Geto, where is he? Wasn't he in your group?"
Kenmyo did not see Suguru Geto.
"It seems like we're a bit more efficient when we work separately."
Gojo Satoru scratched his head.
After all, Gojo Satoru's strength had increased rapidly, especially after sparring with his ancestor, Gojo Shinyan; he had even successfully mastered the Reverse Cursed Technique.
So the higher-ups split the two of them up, though they also respected their individual opinions.
"Idiot, instead of becoming the head of the Gojo Family, he goes and becomes a dog for the Jujutsu Sorcerer Association."
Kenmyo now understood why the future Gojo Satoru looked like a corporate slave.
Perhaps after splitting up with Suguru Geto, although work efficiency increased, he also got tired.
When a person gets tired, they tend to overthink.
When overthinking increases, psychological problems easily arise.
Therefore, without Gojo Satoru as a partner, the future Suguru Geto became psychologically unhealthy.