Nobara Kugisaki's eyes widened, looking at Yoru as if he were a monster.
The hammer in her hand was still trembling slightly.
"They killed people!"
"They're the Cursed Womb: Death Paintings! They're curses!"
"And you're overflowing with sympathy now?"
"Yoru, are you trying to be a saint?"
Facing his comrade's interrogation, Yoru didn't offer a rebuttal.
He simply turned his head, looking at the two brothers who were supporting each other, shielding one another with their bodies despite being gravely wounded.
Eso's back was torn open, exposing the face that made him so insecure to the open air.
But he didn't run.
Because Kechizu was behind him.
The younger brother, who lacked intelligence and could do little more than spit blood, was shivering as he clutched the corner of his older brother's clothes.
"Brother..."
"It doesn't hurt..."
Kechizu called out slurredly; even with his consciousness fading, he desperately tried to huddle closer to his brother.
Eso grit his teeth, tears streaming down and mixing with the blood.
"Don't be afraid, little brother."
"I'm right here. I'll protect you, no matter what..."
This scene caused Yuji Itadori, who was prepared to unleash another Black Flash, to stop in his tracks.
'This kind of emotion...'
'Is this really something a cursed spirit should possess?'
Yoru walked forward slowly. With every step, the aura around him shifted.
It was no longer that suffocating pressure.
Instead, it was a sense of warmth.
Like the rising sun, it dispelled all the gloom and stench within the forest.
"I'm no saint."
Yoru's voice was as calm as a still well.
"I've slain countless demons."
"But the blade in my hand never strikes down those who possess a human heart."
He walked up to Eso.
Eso tried to fight back in terror, but his body had reached its limit. He could only watch as the pitch-black blade was raised.
"Don't... don't kill my brother!"
Eso roared in despair, throwing himself toward the blade with the last of his strength.
He tried to block the blow with his own body, yet the anticipated pain never came.
Shiranui, the blade rumored to kill even special grade cursed spirits in a single strike, unexpectedly...
Tapped him on the shoulder with its blunt edge.
Vwoom—!
A strange vibration traveled through the blade and resonated through his entire body.
[SYSTEM: Host's will to protect detected. Triggering temporary ability: Breathing Style Reversal (1/1)]
[Description: Mimics the principle of the Reverse Cursed Technique, converting the destructive energy generated by Breathing Style forms into the power of life purification.]
'Breathing Style... Reversal?'
A sudden moment of clarity struck Yoru.
His grip on the sword remained unchanged, but the rhythm of his breathing reversed in an instant.
If Sun Breathing was previously a scorching heat like the blazing sun...
Then now...
"Sun Breathing, Seventh Form: Beneficent Radiance—[REVERSAL]."
Vwoom—!
Golden flames erupted from the tip of the blade, but these flames lacked any heat.
They didn't burn.
Instead, they were like the first rays of winter sun, carrying a gentleness that cleansed all things, instantly enveloping both Eso and Kechizu.
"Aaaaaah—!"
The two brothers screamed.
But it wasn't pain; it was the numbing sensation of the curses within their bodies being forcibly stripped away!
The malice belonging to cursed spirits, the slaughtering directives Kenjaku had forcibly instilled, their distorted physical structures...
Before the pure, ultimate yang essence of Sun Breathing's purification...
They melted rapidly, like snow meeting a blazing sun!
Nobara and Yuji watched in a daze.
They watched as the hideous giant face on Eso's back gradually faded and vanished within the flames.
It was replaced by smooth, healing skin.
As for the frog-like Kechizu...
His originally deformed body rapidly restructured, slowly transforming back into the shape of a slightly hunched youth who at least possessed human limbs.
"Wh... what kind of technique is this?"
The hammer in Nobara's hand fell to the ground.
Such a method was absolutely unheard of!
Not even the Reverse Cursed Technique could reach this level, right? Reversing destructive power into life force...
Was he directly changing the very essence of their species?!
In this moment, a faint realization dawned within Yoru.
Although this was only a temporary boost from the system, the sensation of that energy reversal was deeply etched into his muscle memory.
A few minutes later, the flames dissipated.
Peace returned to the forest.
The originally hideous and terrifying brothers of the Cursed Womb: Death Paintings were gone.
In their place were two men in tattered clothes, naked but possessing human appearances.
Eso touched his smooth back, trembling in disbelief.
It was gone.
The curse was gone, and the malice that had constantly tormented his nerves had vanished.
He looked at his brother beside him.
Though Kechizu still seemed a bit dazed, his eyes were much clearer, no longer filled with bloodlust.
"Big brother..."
The word "brother" was perfectly clear.
Thump!
Without any hesitation, Eso knelt directly before Yoru and bowed his head deeply.
His forehead hit the soil with a heavy thud.
His body was still shaking violently from the recent purification—a mix of fear and gratitude.
Yoru sheathed his blade.
The movement was fluid and natural, as if he had just performed a trivial task.
He didn't turn back, leaving the two brothers with only the sight of his receding figure.
The moonlight spilled over him, casting a long, slender shadow.
At this moment.
In the eyes of Eso and Kechizu, he wasn't just a human.
He was a god.
He was the sun that had granted them a new life.
"Let's go. Back to Jujutsu High," Yoru said calmly to Yuji and Nobara.
"As for them... I'll explain things to Gojo-sensei myself."
...
Meanwhile, in far-off Tokyo.
Inside a certain abandoned basement.
Choso, the eldest of the Cursed Womb: Death Paintings, who had been in a sealed state...
Though still in an embryonic state, a violent throb suddenly surged from the depths of his consciousness.
It was the resonance of their blood connection.
The cursed shackles belonging to Kenjaku that had constantly bound his brothers...
Gone?
"My brothers..."
"What's happening?"
"That feeling... were they exorcised?"
"Or..."
An unprecedented sense of unease washed over him.
He tried desperately to sense more, but the connection became faint and distant, as if obstructed by some warm and powerful force.
"What exactly happened?!"
The embryo trembled violently within the formalin, letting out a silent roar.
"Eso! Kechizu!"
"Answer me!"
Yet, the only response was a deathly silence.
And...
"Oh my, it seems a little cutie has woken up."
Just then, a set of light, malicious footsteps echoed from the end of the corridor.
Mahito, the patchwork-faced cursed spirit, pushed open the door and stepped inside.
In his hand, he held a photograph showing Yoru during his battle at the nuclear power plant.
"Don't be in such a hurry, Choso."
Mahito looked at the violently trembling embryo, a manipulative smile hanging on his lips.
"Your brothers aren't dead."
"They were simply... 'saved' by that human named Yoru."
"Do you want to know what becomes of a curse that has been saved by a human?"
"Heh heh..."
Mahito's laughter echoed in the dark basement, dripping with twisted malice.
He was preparing to use this unease and misunderstanding to lure Choso completely into the abyss of revenge.
And in this moment, the fate of the Cursed Womb: Death Painting brothers was drawn into an even more complex vortex.