There was a deathly silence.
After that purple beam finally faded away, it was as if the world had gone silent
Everyone just stared blankly at the enormous void that had been gouged straight out of reality. Their brains, having taken a blow far beyond what their minds could handle, simply stopped working.
Yet the one who had caused all of this, Natsume, only looked calmly at his own fingertips, as if he had done nothing more than finish some trivial task.
He slowly lowered his hand, let his gaze sweep across that stretch of nothingness, and spoke lightly.
"It is not over yet."
"Eh?"
Yashiro snapped back to herself. She looked at Natsume in confusion.
In her eyes, the special grade cursed spirit Hanami had clearly been completely erased by that terrifying strike, not even a trace of residual filth left behind. Why would he say "it is not over yet"?
While she was still puzzled, Natsume slowly raised his hand and reached toward the massive hole in space.
In his palm, at some point, a pure, gentle cursed energy had gathered, radiating a soft white light. It was completely different from both Blue and Red.
"Gojo Satoru's Purple is pure destruction, a technique that erases everything it touches."
Natsume's voice rang out calmly. It sounded like he was explaining it to the others, yet also like he was talking to himself.
"And my Purple is what comes after destruction, regeneration."
"That is the greatest difference between him and me."
As his words fell, the cursed energy in his palm suddenly burst into dazzling light.
At the very center of that erased void, a speck of emerald light appeared out of nowhere, brimming with the essence of life itself.
It was the most fundamental concept that remained after Hollow Technique: Purple had deconstructed Hanami.
Natsume's fingers flexed slightly. That green light was drawn by an invisible force, drifting over to hover above his palm.
He began to slowly infuse it with his own refined cursed energy.
The next instant, Yashiro's worldview shattered completely.
That green speck, like a seed finally given rain, began to sprout, grow, and reshape itself at an incredible speed.
Countless green branches and petals wove together out of thin air. Before their stunned eyes, they intertwined, shifted, and finally reformed into a humanoid shape.
A brand new Hanami appeared before Natsume Yuu.
Her frame was much smaller than before, more like a beautiful spirit of the forest. There was no trace of the former evil and savagery on her. In their place was a pure and gentle aura of nature.
"Thank you, my lord, for granting me new life."
The reborn Hanami slowly opened her eyes. After speaking in a clear, pleasant voice, she bent one knee and knelt respectfully before Natsume, showing absolute submission and loyalty.
This scene completely destroyed everything Yashiro thought she knew about the word "jujutsu."
Exorcism could be done like this?
This was no longer in the realm of techniques. This was beyond anything she understood about jujutsu.
In the midst of this almost solidified air, stretched to breaking by sheer shock, a crisp, sudden applause rang out with no warning.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
"Absolutely brilliant, a flawless strike. No, I should say, a flawless recreation."
A voice tinged with playful amusement sounded from behind the group.
Natsume slowly turned around. His Six Eyes had already locked onto the new arrival.
It was a man wearing monk's robes, his hair tied up in a bun. His face was exactly the same as the one in Natsume's memories, the traitorous special grade sorcerer Geto Suguru.
The only difference was the hideous, centipede-like stitch line snaking across his forehead.
This was the mastermind behind everything that had happened.
"You really have surprised me, Natsume," the man said with a smile. His gaze clung to the newly reborn Hanami kneeling before Natsume, deep eyes brimming with greed and extreme wariness.
"I thought that in this world, the only person who possessed the Six Eyes and Limitless was Gojo Satoru. I did not expect a second one to appear, and one who wields a power so godlike even I have never heard of it."
His tone sounded admiring, but deep in those narrowed eyes, a cold, venomous killing intent flashed without the slightest attempt to hide it.
Natsume looked at him, the corner of his mouth lifting in a playful arc. He casually threw out a probing form of address.
"So the Brain Parasite hiding inside someone else's body finally decided to show up? I thought you were planning to hide in the shadows forever."
At that extremely insulting nickname, the man's smile did not falter at all. He even tapped a finger with interest against the stitches on his own forehead.
"Brain Parasite, that is quite an amusing metaphor." He actually acknowledged it. "You may call me Kenjaku. As for this body, it is nothing more than a convenient vessel I borrowed to carry out my plans."
His easy acceptance only confirmed Natsume's guess.
The "Geto Suguru" before him was just a counterfeit, a corpse occupied by an ancient sorcerer named Kenjaku.
"Vessel?"
Natsume's eyes went cold.
"So you are the one hiding in the shadows, feeding cursed spirits with Sukuna's fingers and luring cursed spirits here."
"That would be me."
Kenjaku dipped his head slightly in a polite gesture.
"I originally planned to retrieve that finger and, while I was at it, test the strength of the cursed spirits. I never thought I would be treated to such a spectacular piece of art instead. That technique you used, Hollow Technique: Purple, and the regeneration that followed, I am utterly fascinated."
As he spoke, he took half a step forward, then stopped.
He did not dare go any closer.
As a monster who had lived for more than a thousand years, his sense for danger was unmatched.
He could clearly feel that the space within a twenty meter radius of Natsume Yuu was an absolute domain that allowed no one to enter. If he stepped into that range, Natsume would not even need to use a trump card like Purple. Just a single thought, and Blue or Red would be enough to send him to his grave.
Natsume also saw through his caution. On purpose, he took one step forward.
Sure enough, Kenjaku reacted as if facing a mortal crisis, instantaneously shifting back ten meters, keeping a perfectly safe distance between them at all times.
"Now, now, there is no need to be so tense," Kenjaku said with a dry laugh, waving his hand. "I did not come here today to fight."
To show his "sincerity," he actually took the initiative to point at the Sukuna finger in Natsume's hand.
"Consider that finger my little meeting gift for you," he said with a smile. "Being able to witness such a perfect technique is already worth the price of admission for me."
He was voluntarily giving up a special grade cursed object that could greatly strengthen his own side.
That decisiveness made even Natsume look at him in a slightly different light.
"Oh? Then why are you here?" Natsume asked casually, unhurried.
"I am here to invite you."
Kenjaku's expression shifted into a smile full of fanaticism and temptation.
"Natsume, you and I are actually the same kind of people. We both possess power beyond the reach of ordinary humans, and we both see clearly how rotten and boring this world is. If that is the case, why not join forces and create a more interesting new world?"
He spread his arms, like a fanatic preaching his doctrine.
"My plan is to use jujutsu to forcibly accelerate the evolution of all humanity, to grant every ordinary person a power they were never meant to have. Do you not think that if everyone stands on the same starting line, this world will become more chaotic, more exciting, more… fun?"
"Deranged."
"Chuunibyou. Classic edgy delusion"
Natsume and Yashiro spoke almost in unison, giving their judgment.
In their ears, Kenjaku's plan sounded utterly ridiculous.
Yet there was one more person present who was deeply shaken by those words.
Eiko.
She stared blankly at the robed man radiating boundless charisma. As she listened to his mad yet seductive speech, her heart, which already craved thrills and loved fear and chaos, was instantly set ablaze.
To let everyone obtain power.
Would that not mean that even someone as talentless and ordinary as herself could gain power like Natsume's, a power strong enough to destroy the world?
An unprecedented hunger for power surged up in her chest, blazing like wildfire.
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