"Well, well… if it isn't our great King of Curses?"
"You're really tucking your tail between your legs and running away like this?"
At the end of the street, White Zetsu approached slowly with an exaggerated swagger.
One hand carried the unconscious Naoya Zenin, while the other held a bootleg bottle of soda he had apparently looted somewhere.
Facing Ryomen Sukuna directly, he grinned arrogantly.
"Hey, Secretary Uro!"
"Take a look at our King of Curses from behind—doesn't he look just like a stray dog?"
Hearing herself called, Takako Uro cautiously glanced at Mirai beside her.
Then she looked toward Sukuna's retreating back and frantically nodded at White Zetsu like a pecking chicken.
Step by step, White Zetsu closed the distance until barely over a meter remained between them.
Seeing Sukuna remain silent, he burst into mocking laughter.
"What's wrong?"
"Who was brave enough to beat our Sukuna-sama into such a miserable state?"
"With that long face, what kind of terrible grievance did you suffer?"
He casually tossed aside the soda bottle.
Then White Zetsu shoved his grinning face right up in front of Sukuna and enunciated every word:
"King. Of. Curses."
"If things are really that bad, why not beg Zetsu-sama here? I'll even help you vent your anger."
The instant stiffness that flashed across Sukuna's face did not escape him.
White Zetsu immediately clutched his stomach and roared with laughter.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
"You're adorable!"
Even from over a hundred meters away, Yuji Itadori and the others could hear the piercing mockery loud and clear.
Having experienced the destructive power of White Zetsu's mouth firsthand, everyone almost felt secondhand embarrassment for Sukuna.
After witnessing part of Zenin Mirai's terrifying strength, Sukuna did not recklessly attack again.
Without saying a word, he picked up the unconscious Uraume.
Then, with a violent stomp against the ground, he shot toward the outside of the barrier.
The weak had no right to argue back.
Sukuna understood that perfectly.
Though murderous intent surged within him, he disdained meaningless verbal disputes like the ones Yuji and the others engaged in.
Words were fragile and worthless.
Action was the only true response.
Once he returned to his peak condition, he would naturally settle today's humiliation.
"Follow him!"
Hidden over a hundred meters away, Yuta Okkotsu made his decision instantly.
The current Zenin Mirai was not someone they could possibly handle.
But Sukuna, whose power had yet to fully recover, represented the best opportunity to defeat him—
and the best chance to save Megumi Fushiguro.
"————RUMBLE!!!"
Just as the Tokyo Jujutsu High group prepared to move, their steps faltered as the ground violently shook beneath them.
"What's going on?!"
It wasn't Mirai attacking this time.
The earth itself—the barriers—were trembling violently!
Ring! Ring! Ring!
"The call's from outside. It's Shoko and the others."
Atsuya Kusakabe immediately put the phone on speaker.
At a moment like this, any sudden call had to mean something serious.
"What's happening inside the barrier?!"
Shoko Ieiri spoke in a grave tone.
"Reports are coming in from all across Japan. The ten Culling Game colonies are beginning to connect to one another!"
Realizing the earthquake was not caused by Mirai, Nobara Kugisaki finally relaxed slightly before muttering blankly:
"Does it even matter if they merge? We still have no way to stop the Culling Game anyway."
"No. There's an enormous difference."
Standing nearby, Hiromi Higuruma instantly understood the terrifying implication behind Shoko's words.
His expression turned serious as he looked toward the others.
"East No.1, East No.2, Sakurajima, Sendai…"
"The locations of all ten colonies are connecting together, practically covering the entire map of Japan."
Still not fully understanding, Nobara blinked.
"What's different about that?"
As a lawyer, Higuruma immediately cut to the heart of the matter.
"Don't forget Rule Three of the Culling Game."
(Rule 3: Any non-player who enters a colony automatically becomes a player.)
"If a barrier on that scale covers the entirety of Japan, then over a hundred million civilians will have nowhere left to escape."
"They'll all be forcibly turned into players."
The moment it clicked, the pupils of Yuji, Nobara, and the others shrank violently.
"Kogane! Display the newly registered players!"
[DING!!]
"Twelve thousand… seventy-six thousand… eighty-eight thousand… four hundred forty thousand… millions… millions… millions…!"
The terrifying increase of hundreds of thousands of new participants every second nearly caused Kogane's voice system to crash.
And on the player list, Yuji and the others quickly spotted familiar names.
Player: Shoko Ieiri — Points: 0
Player: Kirara Hoshi — Points: 0
Player: Kiyotaka Ijichi — Points: 0
Not only Tokyo Jujutsu High—
the Kyoto School personnel appeared as well.
Player: Yoshinobu Gakuganji — Points: 0
Player: Utahime Iori — Points: 0
The common factor among all these zero-point players seemed obvious:
they were sorcerers who had remained outside the colonies until now.
Kusakabe's face turned pale with horror.
"Japan is finished."
Thanks to Higuruma's earlier reminder about the rules, everyone instantly grasped the true horror of the situation.
Once forcibly registered as players, they would also be bound by Rules Four and Eight.
Players gained points by killing other players.
If their score failed to change within nineteen days—
they died.
This system was forcing the entire population of Japan to slaughter one another.
The whole country was about to become a gigantic blood-soaked slaughterhouse.
Higuruma spoke in a low voice.
"This is a real-life battle royale involving over a hundred million people, using the entire country as the game board."
Kusakabe's expression darkened further.
"Ordinary humans don't even have the ability to flee from sorcerers."
"This isn't a battle royale."
"It's a real-life massacre."
"We should head back first. We need to return to Jujutsu High and hold a proper meeting."
Hearing that, Yuta unwillingly sheathed his sword.
As for Sukuna—
he had already vanished without a trace.
"Ten thousand apologies. This subordinate deserves death!"
Beneath the ruins of the former Zenin estate, on the second underground level of the cursed warehouse—
Uraume knelt on both knees with their head lowered to the floor.
Their own injuries meant nothing.
What truly tormented them was being unable to do anything while their master suffered humiliation before their eyes.
Uraume clenched their fists tightly, expression twisted with anguish.
The humiliation pierced their heart like steel needles.
Sukuna, however, appeared unconcerned and casually gestured for Uraume to rise.
"It's fine. This debt will be repaid eventually."
Removing his clothes, Sukuna slowly stepped into the prepared Bath.
The liquid within was thick and purple, filled with chunks of cursed spirit flesh.
Much like White Zetsu soaking his clones, Sukuna's Bath was a demonic ritual designed to sink the vessel's soul into darkness.
"It's time to fully take over this body… although…"
His gaze drifted toward the mummified corpse White Zetsu had prepared beside the pool.
Sukuna frowned slightly.
"Uraume… a thousand years ago—or perhaps even earlier…"
"Did someone like Zenin Mirai ever exist?"
The Zenin cursed warehouse itself still bore traces of the Bath ritual.
And the self-mummified corpse before him—
all of it reminded Sukuna of the same suspicion that had once crossed Kenjaku's mind.
The Bath ritual had only been known to the great clans even a thousand years ago.
Even Kenjaku, that ancient schemer, had lacked access to some of its secrets.
Which meant—
there was a strong possibility that Zenin Mirai was also an ancient sorcerer who had survived by possessing bodies.
Uraume pondered for a long time.
A monster nearly comparable to Sukuna at his peak was not someone they could simply forget.
In order to prepare a Bath worthy of Sukuna's status, Uraume had first investigated the estates of the Three Great Clans.
And when they discovered the dried corpse beneath the Zenin cursed warehouse, even they had been deeply shocked.
Finally, Uraume shook their head.
"My apologies, Sukuna-sama. I have no memory of anyone like that."
"Forget it. Finish the ritual first."
With those words, Sukuna slowly lowered himself deeper into the Bath until his entire body disappeared beneath the surface.
And within the darkness—
the final flicker of Megumi Fushiguro's soul…
gradually faded away.
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