Shibuya Station, Fukutoshin Line, B5 platform.
This was the core of the entire Shibuya Incident and the place with the highest concentration of curses.
The air was thick with the suffocating smell of blood and despairing cries.
"Don't push! Help me!"
"Someone save us!"
Thousands of ordinary people had been driven onto the narrow platform, packed together like sardines.
On the other side of the tracks...
Three figures radiating Special Grade cursed energy watched the scene coldly.
Jogo, Hanami, and Choso.
And standing opposite them...
...was the man known as the strongest of the modern era.
He casually stuffed his blindfold into his pocket, his sky-blue eyes reflecting the hellish scene.
"This is really starting to piss me off."
Gojo's voice was soft.
Yet, amidst the chaotic screams, it reached the ears of every curse clearly.
"Using civilians as shields? Do you think that's enough to tie my hands?"
Jogo grinned, revealing a row of yellow teeth.
"Isn't it working, Satoru Gojo?"
"In here, you can't use Blue or Red, let alone Purple."
"If you fully activated your Limitless, these fragile monkeys would be crushed into meat paste, wouldn't they?"
"So, your only choice is to fight us with martial arts and cursed energy manipulation."
Hanami spoke using its unique telepathy.
"Here, you are no longer a god. You are merely a human bound by circumstances."
Gojo tilted his head.
A heart-stopping light swirled within his Six Eyes.
"Bound?"
He suddenly laughed—a wild, uninhibited laugh, as if he had just heard the world's greatest joke.
"Did you guys get the wrong idea?"
"In this confined space, it's true that I'm the one who doesn't want too many civilians to die."
"However..."
*Swish!*
Gojo's figure vanished instantly.
In the next second, he appeared right between Jogo and Hanami.
"When it comes to weeds, I've never been one to show mercy."
"Don't even think about it!"
Hanami roared. Instead of attacking Gojo directly, it injected cursed energy into the ground.
*Rumble!*
Countless thick tree roots burst from beneath the crowd on the platform, coiling around the ankles of the civilians like pythons.
"Aaaaah!"
"Help! What is this thing?!"
The crowd fell into chaos. People tripped and dragged by the roots let out blood-curdling screams.
Hanami was trying to use the frantic crowd to restrict Gojo's movement.
But that wasn't all.
"In this cramped space, you still have to worry about these ants."
"Can you still maintain your composure, Satoru Gojo?"
Jogo also moved with a sinister grin.
He pulled the plug on his head, and several purple Ember Insects flew out with a hiss.
*Buzz buzz buzz—!*
These human-faced insects didn't head for Gojo.
Instead, they scattered, rushing toward the densely packed crowd of terrified people.
Once these insects exploded in this enclosed space, it would inevitably cause a chain reaction, killing hundreds.
"How despicable."
Gojo's eyes grew colder.
Within the vision of his Six Eyes, the growth trajectory of every root and the flight path of every insect was clearly visible.
He couldn't use Blue; it would suck people in.
He couldn't use Red; the shockwave would rupture the internal organs of everyone on this floor.
'I guess I have to use that...'
Gojo's figure vanished again.
This time, it wasn't just a simple teleportation.
To the eyes of the crowd, the white-haired man seemed to have split into countless afterimages.
*Snap!*
An Ember Insect about to detonate inside the crowd was caught between two slender fingers and instantly crushed by cursed energy.
*Thud!*
A root about to strangle a passerby was snapped with a single kick.
A sky-blue afterimage drew a zigzagging line through the crowd at a breathtaking speed.
Within a single second...
Gojo had woven through the crowd dozens of times.
Not only did he precisely pulverize every attack, but he even found the time to pull up several people who were about to be trampled.
*Thud! Thud!*
Two dull impacts sounded almost simultaneously.
No one could see what happened; they only saw the roots that were about to harm people shatter instantly.
The insects flying toward the crowd were also crushed mid-air out of nowhere, not even leaving a spark behind.
Immediately after, Jogo and Hanami were sent flying back like cannonballs.
Jogo slammed hard into the wall, a puff of black smoke venting from his volcano head, while Hanami was kicked deep into the tunnel, snapping several support pillars.
"So fast!"
Jogo crawled out from the pile of rubble, his single eye filled with horror.
"In that chaos, he not only saved everyone but counterattacked us at the same time?"
"Is this... the strongest?"
"Don't just stand there! Stick to the plan!"
Choso shouted, his hands forming a seal.
"Blood Manipulation: Convergence - Piercing Blood!"
A beam of highly compressed blood shot toward Gojo like a laser.
However, an attack powerful enough to pierce a tank...
...halted and dissipated half a meter away from Gojo as if it had hit an invisible wall.
"The Limitless is still active!"
Choso gritted his teeth (though internally he remained calm, observing Gojo's reaction).
'Even in a crowd, he's maintaining a minimum-range automatic defense?'
"Then use Domain Amplification!"
Jogo roared, his body wrapped in a dark red film of cursed energy as he lunged forward again.
Domain Amplification could neutralize Gojo's Limitless.
This was the only solution they had arrived at after countless simulations.
Hanami followed closely behind, its arms transforming into massive wooden spikes, also covered in the glow of Amplification.
"Oh? Amplification, huh?"
Gojo looked at the two Special Grades rushing at him, his expression remaining relaxed and casual.
"While it can neutralize my technique, it also means you can't use your innate techniques."
"In other words..."
He reached out and caught Jogo's incoming punch.
*Crack!*
Jogo's wrist was crushed instantly.
"You want to test your martial arts against mine?"
Gojo backhanded Jogo across the face, sending the one-eyed curse spinning three times in the air.
Then, he sidestepped Hanami's wooden spike and slammed an upper-cut into its hardened abdomen.
*Boom!*
Hanami's massive body doubled over like a shrimp, coughing up a mouthful of purple blood.
"What's wrong? Is that all you've got?"
Gojo stood his ground amidst the terrified crowd.
Yet, he looked as if he were simply taking a stroll in his own backyard.
"Try a little harder, you Special Grades."
This wasn't even a fight.
It was one-sided bullying. Even restricted by thousands of hostages, and even unable to use high-powered techniques...
...even facing the simultaneous assault of three Special Grade Cursed Spirits, Gojo still displayed a despair-inducing level of dominance.
"Damn it... damn it!"
Jogo clutched his regenerating wrist, his heart filled with humiliation and fear.
Was this the gap between them?
Was this the strongest of the modern era, whom even Ryomen Sukuna could not compare to?
"Choso! What are you doing?!"
Jogo barked at Choso, who had been lingering on the outskirts taking potshots.
"Attack together! Use Domain Amplification!"
Choso glanced at Gojo, then at Jogo, thinking to himself:
'Sorry, I'm not like you guys. I'm just here for the show.'
But on the surface, he still feigned effort and charged forward, though his movements were clearly a beat slower than the other two.
Gojo seemed to sense something and glanced at Choso, a hint of amusement flashing in his eyes.
He didn't hit Choso hard, simply giving him a gentle push that sent him flying toward the side with fewer people.
"Now then, who should I finish off first?"
Gojo's gaze drifted between Jogo and Hanami.
Finally, he locked onto Hanami.
"I heard you have high defense?"
Gojo appeared behind Hanami in an instant, grabbing the two fragile branches on its head.
"No!!! Don't—"
Hanami sent out a frantic psychic pulse.
"Goodbye, friend of the forest."
Gojo exerted force with his hands.
In this B5 level filled with death and fear...
Accompanied by the despairing scream of a Special Grade Cursed Spirit, the true deathmatch had only just begun.