This was the city's gut, where all the filth and discarded things collected.
"Drip... drop."
Yoshino Junpei sat on a "chair" made from stacked wooden crates, his hands gripping the fabric of his trousers over his knees.
Although he tried his best to maintain a calm exterior, the trembling deep in his pupils betrayed his fear.
Sitting across from him was the man with long, grey-blue hair and a face covered in stitches—Mahito.
Mahito held a freshly caught rat in his hand, absentmindedly kneading it into various bizarre shapes while speaking in a light tone that made one's skin crawl.
"Junpei, do you think things like 'hearts' really exist?"
"Humans always love to talk about 'hearts' or 'souls,' giving them some sort of sacred meaning."
"But from where I'm standing..."
"Squelch."
Mahito applied a bit of pressure with his fingers, and the rat, which had been shaped into a ball, instantly burst into a bloody mess.
"It's nothing more than a byproduct of physical metabolism."
"No weight."
"No value."
"So, whether you kill someone or save them, it's essentially no different from crushing a bug."
Mahito looked up, his heterochromatic eyes fixed on Junpei with malicious persuasion.
"That is the truth of this world."
"Only by accepting this 'indifference' can you achieve true freedom."
Junpei stared at the bloodstain, his stomach churning. If it had been the version of himself from two days ago, he might have agreed with this nihilism out of despair.
But now.
He touched the cold badge beneath his collar, the profound gaze behind Hayashi En's gold-rimmed glasses surfacing in his mind.
"No."
Junpei took a deep breath. His voice was weak, yet remarkably steady.
"I don't think so."
"If life truly has no weight..."
Junpei looked up, meeting Mahito's eyes directly.
"...then why are you so obsessed with toying with it?"
"Is it because... you're jealous?"
The air suddenly froze.
Mahito's movements stalled for a split second. Then, his mouth split into that signature grin—pure and cruel.
"Hahahaha!"
"Well said! Wonderfully said!"
Mahito leapt down from the pile of junk and stepped toward Junpei, the oppressive aura of a Special Grade Cursed Spirit instantly enveloping the boy.
"You really are interesting. It seems that even though your brain hasn't been wired for jujutsu yet, the sensitivity of your soul is already quite high."
"However..."
Mahito reached out with his stitched hand, the tips of his fingers flickering with blue-purple cursed energy.
"Sensitivity alone isn't enough."
"Don't you want to see with your own eyes what a soul actually looks like?"
"If I just tinker with your brain a little and help flip the 'switch'..."
Mahito leaned down, his patchwork face nearly touching the tip of Junpei's nose.
"You'll be able to see that new world filled with cursed energy."
"Come, Junpei. Let me give you... a gift of evolution."
Junpei watched the hand get closer. It was the same hand that had just crushed the rat.
He closed his eyes, forcibly suppressing his instinct to flee.
"I'm in your hands... Mr. Mahito."
"Don't mention it."
Mahito's palm pressed gently against Junpei's forehead.
Cursed energy surged.
[SYSTEM: Idle Transfiguration]
Mahito's soul tentacles probed into Junpei's mental world without precaution, prepared to modify his brain structure.
However.
The very moment he intruded.
[SYSTEM: Malice Reflection Mirror] emitted a blinding light.
Even though Mahito only intended to activate Junpei's technique, he still harbored malice in his heart toward the boy.
Mahito froze.
Before his fingers could even touch the core of Junpei's soul, it felt as if he had reached into a high-speed meat grinder.
"Wha...?!"
Mahito's pupils contracted sharply.
"Is this... a cursed tool?!"
Before he could react.
A terrifying repulsive force surged back through his fingertips, flooding into his body.
"BOOM!!!"
A muffled explosion rang out.
In an instant, Mahito's right hand and half his forearm exploded into a mist of blood!
Blue-purple cursed spirit blood splattered across the damp floor, sizzling with a corrosive sound.
"AAAAAAAGH!!!"
Mahito let out a shrill scream.
The agonizing pain of his soul being forcibly torn and crushed far exceeded the limits of mere physical damage.
The massive impact sent him flying, slamming him into the sewer wall and creating a deep crater.
"It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts!!"
Mahito clutched his severed arm, rolling on the ground. At the wound, his soul writhed frantically in an attempt to regenerate, but the residual vibration rule acted like a maggot in his bones, constantly destroying the newly formed tissue.
Junpei was also pushed to the ground by the recoil.
The Malice Reflection Mirror lost its luster after enduring the attack.
He touched his own forehead.
Was he okay?
He really was fine!
The monster's hand had exploded, yet he remained unscathed!
"It worked..."
Junpei had just started to speak.
"CRASH!!!"
The manhole cover above was violently blown away. Blinding sunlight poured into the darkness.
Immediately after.
Two figures descended like divine warriors, landing heavily on either side of Mahito and cutting off his path of retreat.
To the left.
A boy in a pink hoodie, his fists glowing with red cursed energy and his eyes as steady as iron.
Itadori Yuji.
To the right.
A blonde man in a beige suit wearing goggles, holding a short blade wrapped in bandages, exuding the aura of a reliable adult.
Nanami Kento.
"He really is here."
Nanami adjusted his goggles and glanced at the slip of paper in his hand containing the coordinates.
"The intel was accurate."
Yuji took a combat stance, staring fixedly at Mahito on the ground.
"Nanaming! Is this the guy?"
"The monster that turns people into jelly?"
"Yes."
Nanami stared coldly at Mahito and his bleeding, severed arm.
"It seems someone got to him before we did."
"Itadori-kun, let's finish this quickly."
"We are now... on overtime."
Mahito crawled up from the ground.
He looked at Junpei, then at the two powerful sorcerers who had suddenly appeared.
"Haha..."
Mahito suddenly laughed.
His face twisted as he laughed, the stitches on his face splitting and leaking bodily fluids.
"I see."
"This was a setup."
He'd been played!
"Since you're here, don't even think about leaving."
A cold voice drifted from the depths of the shadows.
Hayashi En walked out slowly, holding his black umbrella.
He didn't stand in the background as usual. This time, he closed his umbrella and leaned it against the wall.
Then, his hand reached for his waist.
Tucked there was a well-crafted black leather pouch, its opening faintly shimmering with the light of cursed energy.
He then pulled a pitch-black, ancient-looking kunai from the leather pouch.
The system panel for this cursed tool appeared before En's eyes:
[SYSTEM: Cursed Tool: Infinite Blade: Kunai Pouch (Grade 2)]
[SYSTEM: Origin: No. 8 Exchange System Mall]
[SYSTEM: Attributes: Regeneration, Transmission]
[SYSTEM: Description: A kunai pouch connected to imaginary space, containing 5 specialized kunai.]
[SYSTEM: Special Effect: After throwing, if the pouch contains fewer than 5 kunai, a new one will automatically generate every 10 minutes. Kunai can carry the effects of cursed techniques.]
[SYSTEM: Price: 8,000 points]
"This item plus that little mirror cost me quite a bit of money."
"I hope your corpse helps me break even."
En spun the kunai on his fingertip, the blade shimmering with the characteristic black light of the Ratio Technique.
"You..."
Mahito stared intently at En.
"You're the one who set this trap?"
"Correct."
En adjusted his glasses, a cold glint flashing across the lenses.
"Your reward is death."
Before the words had even faded.
"Do it!"
Nanami Kento attacked first, his short blade carving an afterimage as it aimed for Mahito's waist.
Yuji followed immediately after, his Divergent Fist booming toward Mahito's face with a red flash.
"Tch!"
Mahito was forced to defend.
His body contorted, sprouting countless bone spikes in an attempt to drive the two back.
But the moment he shifted to avoid Nanami's attack...
En moved.
He didn't rush in for a melee like a traditional sorcerer. Instead, standing where he was, he snapped his wrist.
"Whoosh!"
The kunai transformed into a bolt of black lightning, accurately striking the blind spot where Mahito was dodging.
As it flew, red dots representing a 7:3 ratio appeared on the kunai's surface.
"Thwack!"
"Argh!!"
Mahito's left leg buckled as a wound deep enough to see bone exploded at his knee. The kunai lodged deep within his bone, and the following soul vibration caused his movements to instantly stiffen.
[SYSTEM: Kunai Remaining: 4/5]
"Now's our chance!"
Nanami and Yuji were incredibly experienced; they seized that moment of paralysis instantly.
"Ratio Technique: Collapse!"
Nanami's short blade slashed heavily across Mahito's chest.
"Divergent Fist!"
Yuji's heavy punch slammed directly into Mahito's face.
"Bang! Bang!"
Mahito was sent flying like a tattered sandbag, collapsing a wall as he was embedded deep within it.
"Cough... cough..."
Mahito slid down from the rubble, covered in blood.
He looked at Yuji, his soul's natural enemy; he looked at Nanami, a Grade 1 sorcerer; and finally, he looked at En, who was currently drawing a second kunai from his waist.
Fear.
For the first time since his birth, he tasted the flavor of death.
The coordination between these three was disgusting.
One attacked the soul, one hit with critical bursts, and the last threw controlled projectiles from a distance, specifically targeting his weaknesses.
'If I don't put my life on the line here...'
'...I'm really going to die!'
Mahito's eyes changed.
It was madness, a desperate gamble.
It was the resolve of one driven into a corner.
"Since you all want to kill me so badly..."
"Then come and get it!!"
Mahito's hands suddenly formed a bizarre hand seal.
Small hands even sprouted from inside his mouth as part of the seal.
A massive amount of cursed energy erupted instantly, and the surrounding space began to warp and turn black.
Nanami Kento's pupils shrank suddenly.
"This is... No! Get back!!"
As a Grade 1 sorcerer, he knew all too well what this was.
The pinnacle of jujutsu sorcery.
Domain Expansion.
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