As the death knell of the Culling Game echoed over the Sendai Colony, far away in the ruins of the Tokyo Colony, a pair of golden eyes snapped open!
These eyes belonged to no human; they were cold, divine, and radiated an aloof detachment looking down upon all living beings.
Their owner was none other than the thousand-year-old symbiotic entity residing within the young girl Hana Kurusu—
Angel.
"This presence... this sacred pulsation capable of scorching even the soul..."
Angel's ethereal form trembled violently deep within Hana Kurusu's consciousness.
"There is no mistake! It can't be wrong!"
"This is... that light!"
A thousand years ago, during the Heian era, curses ran rampant, and jujutsu sorcerers were slaughtered like weeds at the whim of Ryomen Sukuna in an age of utter despair.
All sorcerers cowered before that four-armed, two-faced monster, lacking even the courage to look up at him.
Until that day.
A man wearing a black kimono and hanafuda earrings walked into that battlefield of blood and fire, like the sun descending upon the mortal realm.
That man used no cursed energy whatsoever, merely wielding a blade blazing with crimson flames.
With a single slash, he sundered the sky, split the earth, and even left a permanent, unhealable wound upon the body of the ostensibly invincible King of Curses!
That was the most brilliant and pure light Angel had ever witnessed throughout its long life.
That was the divine breath!
"Hey, what's wrong with you?"
Sensing the abnormal turmoil within Angel, Hana Kurusu halted her cautious creeping through the ruins and asked in her mind with some bewilderment.
"I sense it... I sense the hope that can bring an end to this Culling Game!"
Angel's voice carried an unprecedented fervor.
"Hana, change of plans. We are no longer searching for that boy named Megumi Fushiguro."
"Turn around immediately and search for the one radiating crimson light!"
"Only he can truly stand against that Fallen reincarnated sorcerer Sukuna, and only he can utterly crush Kenjaku's plot!"
Hana Kurusu froze for a moment, then gritted her teeth as the clothing on her back abruptly tore open, unfurling a pair of pure white wings.
Whoosh!
Carried by a gale, this Player endowed with the heaven-defying power to extinguish all cursed techniques transformed into a streak of white light, hurtling swiftly toward Yoru's location!
...
A few hours later.
Yoru and Yuta Okkotsu had already departed the thoroughly devastated Sendai Colony, arriving at a relatively quiet suburban area.
The two were seated on the rooftop of an abandoned building, sorting through the massive stockpile of points acquired from the Four Heavenly Kings.
"Adding what we collected before, our current points are enough to establish two new rules."
Yuta Okkotsu looked at the light screen projected by Kogane, his tone laced with a hint of relief.
"As long as we implement the rules to allow players to freely transfer points and to allow players to spend points to withdraw from the Culling Game, most of the ordinary people trapped in the colonies can be saved."
"Not only that."
Yoru gazed toward the dark red sky in the distance, a profound light flickering within his crimson eyes.
"Once these two rules take effect, Kenjaku's scheme to harvest cursed energy by forcing ordinary people to slaughter one another will completely fall apart."
"Right now, he must be stamping his feet in panic somewhere in the shadows."
Just as the two were speaking,
Yoru's gaze suddenly shifted slightly, the perception of his Transparent World instantly locking onto a certain direction in the sky.
"It looks like we have a guest."
Yoru slowly stood up, resting his hand against the hilt of Shiranui.
"And what's more, a guest bearing a grand gift."
Yuta Okkotsu had sensed that peculiar fluctuation of cursed energy as well. He immediately drew his katana, stepping forward to shield Yoru.
"This feeling of cursed energy... it doesn't seem like an ordinary reincarnated sorcerer; rather, it carries a pure purifying attribute."
"Rika, prepare for battle!"
"No need to be nervous, Yuta."
Yoru placed a hand on Yuta's shoulder, a faint smile curling at the corner of his lips.
"She isn't an enemy."
"Or rather, she is the person we need the most right now."
Swish!
Accompanied by the whistle of rushing wind, a white figure descended from the sky, landing steadily upon the rooftop's edge.
It was a short-haired girl dressed in a sailor uniform, a pair of pure white wings sprouting from her back.
It was Hana Kurusu!
And across her right cheek, an eerie mouth suddenly split open.
"At last... I have found you."
Angel's voice resounded from Hana Kurusu's cheek, dripping with undisguised excitement.
"That light from a thousand years ago, the blade of God that sundered the darkness."
"Though your appearance differs from that man's, the flame deep within your soul can never be disguised."
Hearing Angel's words, Yuta Okkotsu looked at Yoru and then at the winged girl with an expression full of shock.
"A thousand years ago? Blade of God?"
Countless question marks flashed through Yuta Okkotsu's mind.
'Isn't Senior Yoru a traveler from another world? How did he get tied up with the Heian era from a thousand years ago?'
Facing Angel's excitement, Yoru's expression remained tranquil.
He knew this was likely some background lore automatically filled in by the system within the underlying rules of this world upon fusing the Yoriichi Tsugikuni template,
allowing Yoriichi Tsugikuni's power to logically embed itself into the history of this curse-ridden world.
"What happened a thousand years ago is in the past,"
Yoru said in a mild tone, looking at Hana Kurusu.
"You went out of your way to find me, surely not just to reminisce about the old days?"
Hearing Yoru's question, Hana Kurusu took a deep breath, folded the wings behind her, and stepped forward.
"I am Hana Kurusu, and the fellow inside me is called Angel."
Hana Kurusu looked at Yoru, her eyes turning utterly resolute.
"I know what you want to do. You want to bring an absolute end to this Culling Game, right?"
"I can help you!"
"My cursed technique, Jacob's Ladder, can extinguish all cursed techniques, barriers, and even special grade cursed objects."
"Which means..."
Hana Kurusu paused, speaking each word deliberately:
"I can help you undo the seal on the Prison Realm and rescue Satoru Gojo!"
Hearing this, Yuta Okkotsu's body jolted, his eyes bursting with an ecstatic gleam.
"Is that true?! Can you really unseal the Prison Realm?!"
To unseal Satoru Gojo, they had exhausted nearly every method imaginable, even searching for the Black Rope as far away as Africa, but all had ended in failure.
And now, the key to the seal had delivered itself right to their doorstep!
Confronted with news significant enough to drive the entire jujutsu world wild, Yoru's expression still barely shifted.
He merely looked calmly at Hana Kurusu, his crimson eyes appearing capable of seeing through everything.
"There is no such thing as a free lunch."
Yoru's voice was soft, yet it bore an indisputable authority.
"Since you sought us out on your own initiative and are willing to employ such a powerful cursed technique,"
"then tell me:"
"what do you need me to do for you?"
Hearing Yoru cut straight to the core, the mouth on Hana Kurusu's cheek opened once more.
Angel's voice turned gravely solemn and chillingly murderous.
"There is only one condition."
"And that is to help me kill that reincarnated sorcerer known as the Fallen!"
"Kill... Ryomen Sukuna!"
The moment those words were spoken, the air on the rooftop froze.
Meanwhile, within Yoru's crimson eyes, a blazing flame ignited fiercely at that very moment!
The key to unsealing Satoru Gojo had appeared.
So, how far away could it be from that pinnacle showdown between the Strongest of the Modern Era and the Strongest in History, the moment he completely shattered the myth of Sukuna?
Just how much farther?