The moment the midnight bell tolled twelve, the entire sky over Japan turned into a suffocating crimson without any warning!
There were no dark clouds, nor any thunder.
Only cursed energy—dense to the extreme, nearly condensing into physical substance—erupted from deep underground like a tsunami, instantly sweeping across the island nation.
Under the terrifying pressure of this cursed energy, countless ordinary people jolted awake from their sleep, feeling as though a boulder pressed down on their chests, making even breathing exceedingly difficult.
At the same time, inside a dark underground passageway somewhere in Tokyo.
Occupying the body of an unidentified woman, Kenjaku stood before a pool of indistinct flesh and blood.
A chilling, manic grin curled at the corners of his mouth.
That was the Special Grade Cursed Spirit he had just defeated and absorbed—Mahito.
"Ah, Mahito, let your boundless resentment and your purest malice toward humanity serve as the perfect cornerstone for the new world I am building."
Kenjaku slowly raised his right hand, a vortex of black cursed energy spinning wildly within his palm.
That was Suguru Geto's technique, Maximum: Uzumaki!
Through this technique, Kenjaku forcefully extracted Mahito's core power—Idle Transfiguration.
"The moment has finally arrived."
"I spanned a millennium and endured countless failures, but today, this fruit has at last ripened."
Kenjaku slammed the black vortex containing Idle Transfiguration into his own chest.
Boom!
An unspeakably eerie ripple erupted instantly with him as the epicenter!
Kenjaku closed his eyes, forcibly linking his consciousness with Master Tengen's barrier covering all of Japan.
Treating Tengen's barrier as a massive signal amplifier, he cast the effect of Idle Transfiguration precisely onto the targets he had marked long ago.
"Idle Transfiguration—remote activation!"
As Kenjaku's demon-like whisper fell, the entirety of Japan descended completely into hell.
At that very instant, ten million ordinary people who originally possessed no cursed energy suddenly let out piercing screams!
Their bodies began convulsing violently as the structure of their brains underwent an earth-shattering mutation under the forced intervention of Idle Transfiguration!
These marked ten million individuals fell into two categories.
The first were like Tsumiki Fushiguro, who had unknowingly ingested cursed objects for incarnation left behind by Kenjaku.
Now, with their brain structures altered, the souls of ancient sorcerers slumbering within them were forcibly awakened, completely seizing control of their bodies!
The second were modern humans like Hiromi Higuruma, who inherently possessed innate techniques but lacked the brain structure suited for sorcery.
Remodeled by Idle Transfiguration, their cursed techniques were instantly activated, forcefully bestowing them with the power of jujutsu sorcerers!
"Aaaaargh!"
"My head hurts! Something... something is inside my brain!"
"Power... such incredible power!"
Miserable wails and arrogant laughter erupted one after another in every corner of the cities.
Ten million people were dragged forcibly into this crazed jujutsu world, turned into potential players of the Culling Game.
"Good evening, everyone in Japan."
Kenjaku's amused voice resonated through the barrier, detonating directly inside the minds of those ten million people.
"Welcome to my world."
Yet this was not the end.
To make this slaughter game even more thrilling, Kenjaku threw his arms wide open, releasing the seals on all the cursed spirits he had stored across the world.
Rumble—
The earth began to shake violently.
Tens of millions of cursed spirits surged forth like bursting floodwaters from dark corners, abandoned buildings, and deep sewers!
All at once, chaotic evil ran rampant across Japan, completely turning it into a monsters' playground.
However, the true despair had only just arrived.
Accompanied by deafening rumbles, ten massive, pitch-black pillars of light suddenly descended from the heavens!
These ten light pillars landed precisely in ten core areas, including Shinjuku in Tokyo, the remaining parts of Shibuya, Shinsaibashi in Osaka, Sendai, and Nagoya.
Immediately following, the pillars spread outward like mad, forming indestructible black barrier walls hundreds of meters high!
Interconnecting with one another, these barriers traced an enormous, eerie ritual circle across the map of Japan.
The moment the barriers were completed, all physical transit and electronic signals between the inside and outside were completely severed.
Ten colossal, fully enclosed arenas of slaughter had officially formed!
This was—the Culling Game!
The very next second after the barriers took shape, a cold, mechanical, emotionless voice rang directly in the minds of the ten million awakened.
It was the Culling Game's system broadcast, reading out the eight core rules of this death game.
[RULE 1: UPON AWAKENING A CURSED TECHNIQUE, PLAYERS MUST SWEAR PARTICIPATION IN THE CULLING GAME WITHIN NINETEEN DAYS AT ANY BARRIER.]
[RULE 2: PLAYERS WHO VIOLATE THE PREVIOUS RULE WILL BE SUBJECTED TO CURSED TECHNIQUE REMOVAL (WHICH MEANS DEATH).]
[RULE 3: NON-PLAYERS WHO ENTER A BARRIER WILL AUTOMATICALLY BECOME PLAYERS THE MOMENT THEY DO.]
[RULE 4: PLAYERS MUST ACQUIRE POINTS BY KILLING OTHER PLAYERS.]
[RULE 5: POINTS ARE ASSESSED BY THE GAME MASTER, WITH A SORCERER VALUED AT 5 POINTS AND A NON-SORCERER VALUED AT 1 POINT.]
[RULE 6: PLAYERS MAY EXPEND 100 POINTS TO NEGOTIATE WITH THE GAME MASTER TO ADD A NEW RULE TO THE GAME.]
[RULE 7: THE GAME MASTER MUST ACCEPT A NEW RULE UNLESS IT WOULD DIRECTLY LEAD TO THE TERMINATION OF THE CULLING GAME.]
[RULE 8: PLAYERS WHO DO NOT OBTAIN ANY POINTS WITHIN NINETEEN DAYS OF PARTICIPATION WILL BE SUBJECTED TO CURSED TECHNIQUE REMOVAL (WHICH MEANS DEATH).]
Every word dripped with blood; every line was soaked with murderous intent!
These eight rules offered no loopholes to exploit and knew no mercy.
Their core purpose was single-minded—to force everyone to slaughter one another until only the last person remained!
Either kill, or be killed.
Either seize points in desperation, or have one's body explode nineteen days later due to having zero points.
This was the "evolutionary ritual" Kenjaku had prepared for humanity!
At this moment, atop the roof of Tokyo Jujutsu High.
Facing the crimson night wind, Yoru coldly gazed at the distant black barrier walls that reached into the clouds.
His radar-like perception had already clearly captured the tragic slaughter taking place inside the barriers.
Those newly revived ancient sorcerers and the released special grade cursed spirits were ruthlessly butchering novice players and innocent civilians who had yet to figure out what was happening.
The stench of blood had already drifted to the tip of his nose along the wind.
Standing beside Yoru, Suguru Geto wore an expression so gloomy it seemed water could drip from it.
"What an utterly unhinged game."
"Forcing ten million people into it, compelling them to slaughter each other... that bastard Kenjaku has gone completely mad."
Yoru did not speak.
He merely drew Shiranui from his waist.
Clang—
The crisp sound of drawing the blade sounded exceptionally sharp in the silent night air.
As the blade cleared the sheath, an indescribable, extreme heat erupted instantly, the crimson blade burning like the blazing sun to tear directly through the surrounding darkness!
Flames of Sun Breathing danced wildly along the edge, letting out roars resembling a dragon's cry.
"Kenjaku thinks that by making rules, he can control everything like a god."
Yoru's voice was very calm, yet suppressed beneath that tranquility was a terrifying killing intent capable of destroying heaven and earth.
"But he miscalculated one thing."
Yoru lifted his head, his crimson eyes gleaming with a brilliance even more dazzling than the stars.
"In the face of absolute violence, any rule is nothing more than waste paper!"
"Since he wants to play, we will play with him to the end."
Yoru swung Shiranui sharply, carving a dazzling crimson crescent through the air.
"Let's go, everyone."
"Let's hack this fucking game to pieces, right along with the bastard who made its rules!"
As his words fell, several figures radiating terrifying auras leaped down from the roof of Jujutsu High together, charging toward the black veil shrouding the earth.
The curtain on the Culling Game had risen, and this purge destined to be stained with blood had officially commenced.
In this battleground bound by rules, Yoru and his team would use the most primitive and brutal methods to show those revived ancient sorcerers who the true harvesters of this era were.
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