Choso's soul-tearing roar thundered through the ruined underground hall of Shibuya!
These words, filled with infinite shock, pain, and regret, were like a bolt from the blue, instantly shattering the tense atmosphere of the life-and-death struggle.
Yuji Itadori's entire body jolted, and his tightly clenched fists involuntarily loosened slightly.
His eyes widened as he stared at the man who, just a moment ago, had wanted to tear him limb from limb, but was now suddenly clutching his head and screaming like a madman.
He felt as if his brain simply couldn't process what was happening.
"What... what the hell is wrong with you?"
Yuji took a wary step back, the blue cursed energy still flickering on his knuckles, ready for any sudden attack.
"I already told you, I don't know you, and I don't know those guys you called Eso or Kechizu!"
"I'm a human! Not some damn brother you're talking about!"
"No... no!"
Choso abruptly looked up. His eyes, once hollow and lifeless, were now bloodshot with a web of veins, and tears even shimmered at the corners.
It was a complex mix of extreme dread and overwhelming joy.
He stumbled forward a few steps, reaching out with trembling hands as if he wanted to touch Yuji, yet afraid that it was all just a fleeting dream.
"That aura could never lie! That blood resonance belonging to the very source of the Death Paintings that only erupts at death's door!"
"You are a Death Painting! Our unmentioned... Tenth Brother!"
Choso's voice grew hoarse from extreme agitation, even carrying a hint of a sob.
"Kenjaku... that damn, unforgivable demon!"
"Not only did he create us nine brothers and treat us as sacrifices for his insane experiments, he actually kept your existence a secret all this time!"
"What did he do to you?!"
Hearing the unfamiliar name 'Kenjaku,' Yuji's brow furrowed deeply.
'An experiment?'
'A hidden existence?'
These words were like sharp blades, slowly slicing away at Yuji's once-solid worldview.
He thought of his physical abilities that far exceeded normal humans, thought of how he could swallow Sukuna's fingers without issue, and remembered the complicated, hesitant look on his grandfather's face before he died...
"What... what kind of nonsense are you spewing?"
There was a tremor in Yuji's voice that he hadn't even noticed himself.
"My grandfather was a normal person, and I'm just a normal high school student who grew up in Sendai! My parents..."
At this point, Yuji suddenly stopped.
Memories of his parents were almost a complete blank in his mind.
His grandfather had never been willing to mention them, brushing the topic aside with various excuses whenever it came up.
"Your mother... or rather, the one who gave birth to you, was no ordinary human at all!"
Choso stared intently at Yuji, as if trying to see right through him, and spat out the cruel truth through gritted teeth.
"She—or rather, 'he'—is that monster with the stitches on the forehead who occupies the bodies of others: Kenjaku!"
Boom!
Like a multi-ton nuclear bomb, this sentence detonated in Yuji's mind!
'A monster with stitches on the forehead?'
'Occupying the bodies of others?'
Yuji's mind went blank, and the ringing in his ears made it nearly impossible to hear anything else.
Before his eyes, the image of the man occupying Suguru Geto's body—the one with the horrific stitches across his forehead whom he saw before Gojo-sensei was sealed—suddenly flashed.
'Could it be...'
Yuji's pupils contracted violently, and his breathing became incredibly rapid.
"That's right! It's that bastard occupying Suguru Geto's body!"
Choso saw Yuji's shock.
He took a deep breath, forcing down the turmoil in his heart, and began to recount that bloody secret covered up for over a century in a heavy, pained tone.
"Over a hundred and fifty years ago, that demon occupied the body of someone from the Kamo family and conducted a series of inhumane experiments using a woman with a special constitution capable of bearing a cursed spirit's child."
"He made that woman pregnant nine times, and forced nine abortions."
"And we nine brothers were the products of those experiments: the Cursed Womb: Death Paintings!"
"We are half-human and half-curse, abnormalities that the world cannot accept."
Choso's hands clenched into tight fists, his nails digging deep into his palms as blood dripped through his fingers onto the ruins.
"We spent long years in endless darkness and seals, leaning on each other and supporting each other."
"To me, my brothers are my entire reason for living!"
"But I never imagined that bastard would still be conducting even more insane experiments in secret!"
Choso snapped his head up, his bloodshot eyes locked onto Yuji.
"He used some method to occupy your mother's body, and then... gave birth to you!"
"You are a more perfect vessel than the nine of us, the masterpiece that demon carefully crafted to host Ryomen Sukuna!"
"You are the tenth brother of us Death Paintings—Yuji Itadori!"
Silence.
A deathly silence spread through the ruins.
Yuji Itadori stood there dazed, staring blankly at Choso.
His hands hung limply at his sides, and the blue cursed energy that had been burning on his fists faded away.
'I'm... an experiment?'
'My birth was just to be a vessel for that bastard to host Sukuna?'
'My mother... is that monster with the stitches on the forehead?!'
This cruel and absurd truth was like a rusty saw, hacking away at his heart, tearing the identity he had built over seventeen years as a normal human into shreds.
"Why..."
Yuji muttered to himself, his voice terrifyingly hoarse.
"If all of this is true, then what was my grandfather to me?"
"What was my life for the past seventeen years? What about my classmates who were killed because of their involvement with Sukuna?!"
"Was all of this... a setup from the very beginning?!"
Looking at Yuji on the verge of a breakdown, an indescribable pang of pain surged in Choso's heart.
This was his brother, connected by blood.
He could clearly feel Yuji's despair and agony; it felt a hundred times worse than being sliced apart himself.
"Little brother..."
Choso softened his voice, trying to approach Yuji, but afraid of triggering him further.
"I know this is hard to accept, but what I said is the truth."
"No matter what you are, no matter what that demon did to you, you are my brother!"
"As your big brother, I will never allow anyone to harm you again! Not even that demon!"
Yuji remained silent for a long time.
Dust in the ruins drifted slowly between them, as if time had frozen in that moment.
An unknown amount of time passed.
Yuji slowly raised his head.
In his eyes, which had been hollow with shock and despair, a flame was reignited.
It was a flame brighter, more determined, and even more resolute than before.
"So..."
Yuji looked directly into Choso's eyes, his voice hoarse but exceptionally calm.
"Me, you, and those guys Eso and Kechizu... we're all brothers created by that bastard Kenjaku?"
"Yes!"
Choso nodded heavily, a flash of wild joy in his eyes.
"I am your eldest brother! Eso and Kechizu are your brothers too!"
"They are safe right now! They're being protected by Instructor Yoru at Jujutsu High! Once this Shibuya business is over, the four of us can be reunited!"
"Instructor Yoru protected them?"
Hearing that familiar name, a flash of surprise crossed Yuji's eyes, but it was quickly replaced by a sense of understanding.
That's right; if it were the omnipotent Instructor Yoru, who always stood in front of everyone, he would certainly do something like that.
He wouldn't kill indiscriminately just because they were cursed spirits; he always used his unique way to save those who were destined for tragedy.
"Big brother..."
Yuji whispered the unfamiliar title.
Choso's body jolted, his bloodshot eyes widening instantly as tears finally spilled over, uncontrollable.
"Yeah! Little brother! Big brother's here!"
Choso was so excited he was incoherent, not even knowing where to put his hands or feet.
However, Yuji's next words left Choso stunned.
"No matter what conspiracy lies behind my birth."
"No matter what kind of blood flows in my veins, and no matter if I'm an experiment created by that bastard."
Yuji clenched his fists tightly, and blue cursed energy erupted from him once more like an unyielding god of war.
"I am Yuji Itadori!"
"I am a student of Sugisawa Third High School! I am a first-year student at Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical College!"
"I am the comrade of Megumi Fushiguro and Nobara Kugisaki! I am the student of Gojo-sensei and Instructor Yoru!"
"I don't know what that bastard Kenjaku is planning, and I don't care!"
Yuji snapped his head up, his burning eyes fixed on the darkness deeper within the Shibuya underground.
"I only know that I'm going to rescue Gojo-sensei! I'm going to protect the ordinary people in this city! And I'm going to punch the bastard who toys with people's lives into oblivion!"
"Even if I am a monster, I will use this monster's body to protect everything I cherish!"
Looking at the boy before him—bruised and battered, yet standing tall like a towering mountain.
Looking into those pure, unwavering eyes that held not a single trace of impurity.
A warmth and shock like never before surged in Choso's heart.
This was his brother.
Though he possessed the most uniquely dark bloodline, he had a soul purer and brighter than any human's.
In these ruins filled with curses and despair, this boy was like a dazzling sun, dispelling all the confusion and killing intent in Choso's heart.
"Well said!"
Choso abruptly wiped the tears from his eyes. In those eyes that had once been blinded by hatred, there was now only the pride and resolve of an elder brother.
"Since you've made your decision, then as your big brother, my only mission is to sweep away all the obstacles before you!"
"No matter what kind of enemy you face, your big brother will stand in front of you!"
The two figures stood side by side amidst the devastation.
The bond of blood had completely transcended the chasm of race and position in this moment.
Yet just as this brief moment of warmth was established.
Boom!
A terrifying cursed energy, filled with the pungent scent of sulfur and magma, suddenly erupted from the distant tunnel entrance like a volcanic eruption!
"Choso!"
Along with that terrifying heat, a raspy low growl filled with anger and confusion echoed through the hollow underground hall.
"What the hell are you dallying for?!"
"Hurry up and slaughter that brat who's Sukuna's vessel!"
Feeling that familiar and suffocating pressure of a Special Grade Cursed Spirit, Choso and Yuji turned their heads simultaneously.
In the deep darkness of the tunnel, a one-eyed cursed spirit with a head like an active volcano, constantly spewing hot steam, appeared.
It walked with heavy steps, carrying a fury that could incinerate all, slowly entering the battlefield.
Special Grade Cursed Spirit—Jogo!
The footsteps of death were approaching once again!
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