Under Kenjaku's directives brimming with malice and despair, an unprecedented storm of terror swept wildly toward all of Japan, centered on the Osaka Colony!
When Yoru led his invincible vanguard across the ruins of the Kyoto Colony and arrived at the edge of the Osaka Colony, the surrounding air had grown oppressive in the extreme.
The sky took on a sickly purplish-black hue. Not a breath of wind stirred, and even the surrounding atmosphere was thick with a mingled stench of rot and blood.
Unlike the chaos of Tokyo and Kyoto, the interior of the Osaka Colony was eerily quiet.
This silence was not because no battle had occurred here, but because every single rebel had already been completely slaughtered.
"Boss, the cursed energy residual dregs here... something's off about them."
Kinji Hakari put away his usual cynical smirk, his brows furrowing tight.
Even across the barrier of the colony, he could distinctly sense over a dozen terrifying cursed energy presences sharing an identical origin coiled within the dead city ahead.
The intensity of each individual aura was not in the least inferior to that of Hajime Kashimo, the strongest God of Thunder from four hundred years ago!
"Twelve people."
Hajime Kashimo's lightning-flickering eyes glared fixedly into the depths of the colony, his tone carrying a rare gravity.
"I can feel it. The aura on them is even more ancient than mine."
Hearing Hajime Kashimo's words, Noritoshi Kamo's face instantly drained of color.
"Twelve... beings even more ancient than Senior Kashimo? Could they be..."
"The Twelve Heavenly Generals of the Heian period?!"
Noritoshi Kamo's voice even cracked out of sheer terror.
As the next head of the Kamo clan, one of the Big Three Families, he had once caught fragmentary mentions of this title within his family's oldest secret archives.
Back in the Heian period when jujutsu was at its zenith, they were an organization of absolute violence composed of twelve of the supreme Special Grade Sorcerers!
Legend had it that if the twelve joined forces in a battle formation, their might was enough to directly contend against the King of Curses at fifteen fingers—
Ryomen Sukuna himself!
"That madman Kenjaku... actually dug up legendary monsters like that for incarnation?!"
Kinji Hakari sucked in a sharp breath of cold air.
Twelve Special Grade Sorcerers! What was more, they were ancient Special Grades proficient in joint-attack formations!
If combat power of this caliber were unleashed on the outside world, it could flatten an entire nation within a single day!
"Yoru, this is big trouble."
Maki gripped Shura tight, her muscles tensing once more as she entered combat readiness.
"We have to formulate a detailed strategy to split them up and pick them off one by one. We absolutely cannot let them form a combined formation!"
Just as everyone was bracing as if facing a mortal enemy and preparing to discuss counterplans,
Yoru made a move completely unexpected by all.
"No need for so much trouble."
Yoru slowly drew Shiranui from his waist, its crimson blade glinting with a chilling, heart-stopping gleam beneath the dim sky.
"All of you, wait for me outside the colony."
At those words, dead silence fell over the area.
"Boss, you're kidding, right?!"
Kinji Hakari's eyes went wide, as if he had just heard an absurd fairy tale.
"The opponents are twelve Special Grade monsters! Twelve Special Grades who know how to link up in a formation!"
"No matter how strong you are, taking on twelve alone is just reckless!"
Maki immediately stepped forward, blocking Yoru's path. "I don't agree! Now is definitely not the time to play the hero!"
Faced with their objections, Yoru's expression remained completely unfazed.
Within his deep crimson eyes, the patterns of the Transparent World had begun to slowly revolve, his gaze seeming to pierce across the barrier of space to lock straight onto those twelve terrifying presences deep within the colony.
"I'm not playing the hero, nor am I joking."
Yoru's voice was as calm as if he were discussing a trivial matter.
"The reason I'm having you stay outside is that..."
Yoru paused slightly, an absolute, unquestionable domineering force leaking into his tone.
"If you follow me in, not only will you be unable to help, you'll become burdens to me."
"In a battle of that scale, you wouldn't even be able to withstand the shockwaves."
"I alone am enough."
Arrogant as Yoru's words were in the extreme, not a single person could refute them.
For they all knew that this man possessed the absolute strength to turn such arrogance into reality!
"Still..." Maki wanted to say more.
"This is an order."
Yoru cut her off, offering no further explanation.
He turned, grasped Shiranui, and without hesitation stepped across the barrier of the Osaka Colony, walking alone into that ancient capital shrouded in death.
Watching Yoru's figure gradually vanish into the purplish-black mist, the group exchanged glances, their hearts filled with unspeakable shock and worry.
Meanwhile,
atop a colossal tower at the very center of the Osaka Colony,
twelve figures clad in ancient armor and wearing multicolored demon masks sat cross-legged inside a massive hexagram array.
The cursed energy fluctuations emanating from them caused visible distortions in the surrounding space.
The very moment Yoru set foot into the colony,
these twelve monsters, previously as still as statues, snapped their eyes open nearly at the exact same instant!
Twelve pairs of eyes gleaming with eerie light looked toward the colony's edge at once.
"Interesting."
Seated at the very center of the array, the leader wearing a tengu mask let out a cold laugh as grating as grinding metal.
"Someone actually dares to intrude upon our territory single-handedly."
"Moreover, he's a defective good without a shred of cursed energy."
"Looks like that fellow Kenjaku was right. This era truly has given birth to an interesting anomaly."
The leader slowly rose to his feet, a terrifying pressure surging like a mountain-crushing tsunami across the entire tower.
"Brothers, after a thousand years of slumber, it's time for our blades to taste fresh blood."
"Since the prey has delivered himself to our doorstep..."
"Then let us show him what true despair really is!"
With the leader's command, twelve terrifying pillars of cursed energy shot skyward, dyeing the sky above the entire Osaka Colony in an apocalyptic blood red.
Walking alone down the ruined streets, Yoru looked up at the twelve brilliant pillars of light in the sky; rather than retreating in the least, a cold curl formed at the corner of his lips.
A peak showdown destined to be etched into the annals of the jujutsu world had already sounded the death knell within this cursed city.
One man standing alone against twelve Special Grades.