"Women and children squirming like larvae—this era is truly... magnificent! So many I can kill!!"
Watching Yuji Itadori, now possessed by the cursed parasite, Megumi Fushiguro was momentarily stunned, then gritted his teeth and complained inwardly:
"Damn it, Gojo Satoru, didn't you say the recent situation was abnormal and you'd come to check it out later? Where the hell are you?!"
"Ah... damn it!"
At that same moment, Gojo Satoru, who was in a remote mountain village in the northeast, seemed to sense Megumi Fushiguro's grievance and subconsciously sneezed.
"How strange. Could one of my wonderful students be missing me?"
Gojo Satoru's frivolous words stood in stark contrast to the tragic battlefield around him, which looked as if it had been bombarded by swarm rockets for three hours.
Beneath him, the majestic remnants of a special-grade cursed spirit, like a hill, slowly dissipated, wrapped in thick black resentment. The face covering the cursed spirit, resembling a white porcelain mask, squeezed out a curse extinguished by a thousand years of venom, each word a bloody scream:
"I curse you—those who live in this world! May you never stay with your loved ones forever, just like us!"
"What nonsense are you spouting?" Gojo Satoru raised his eyes, his tone playful, as if teasing a noisy stray cat by the roadside. "A strong and handsome man like me, worrying about not being able to find a partner? Is that your grudge?"
He even leaned in slightly, pressing his face close to the remnants of the cursed spirit. The blue light of his Six Eyes pierced through the layers of resentment, and he asked curiously three times:
"Hey, I heard you were originally an ancient princess who fell in love with a prince from an enemy country, and in the end, you both died to resolve your grudges. Is that true? Huh? Huh? Huh?"
Gojo Satoru's face enlarged like a thunderbolt, striking the consciousness of the grudge ghosts. Their originally vague memories of their past lives became clear.
Perhaps because of such a powerful existence as Gojo Satoru, and because the legend believed in his origin, the memories of the grudge ghosts—which should not exist—were completed. The moonlight of the deep palace, the smoke of the enemy country, and the determination to die together.
They also remembered the person who had sealed their grudge in stones, making it so they could never be released.
It also allowed those who originally did not exist in this world to be born at the origin of this world through the mechanism of world balance.
"Kagetatsu Nishida!" The cursed spirit's roar shook the surrounding gravel loose, resentment pouring out like a monstrous black wave. "You are as hateful as Kagetatsu Nishida! My beloved and I will never let you go! When the next restoration comes, whether it's a hundred years or a thousand years, we will crush everything you hold dear into powder and destroy it all in one fell swoop!!"
The grudge ghosts finally dissipated between heaven and earth, leaving only those eyes filled with a thousand years of resentment, and a name shouted through gritted teeth.
The wind swept across the chaotic battlefield, carrying away the remnants of curses and resentment, leaving only that name softly echoing in the empty world.
"Kagetatsu Nishida? Next restoration? Was this cursed spirit originally defeated by an ancient sorcerer named Kagetatsu Nishida?"
Gojo Satoru rubbed his chin and began to ponder this question. It seemed he had never heard of this person, nor seen the relevant name in his family's collection.
"Forget it. I'll go back and read the books. He must not be an ordinary person, to be able to defeat a special-grade cursed spirit of this level."
"But he's definitely not as strong as me. Ji... jie... ji—"
"Oh no! I promised Megumi I'd retrieve that special-grade cursed object!"
But this panic lasted only a moment. He casually waved his hand, trying to make amends.
It's just a cursed object. What kind of trouble can it cause? Megumi is careful, his skills aren't bad, he can handle it.
Besides, that love ghost just now was very troublesome. I'll have to deal with it later.
"Forget it. Things aren't too bad right now." The worries in his heart instantly vanished without a trace. He frowned, turned his steps, and his voice was excited as a child about to buy snacks: "It's decided! First, go to Kikusuiya and buy some Kikufuku edamame!"
——————————————————————————————————————————————
And at this moment, Megumi Fushiguro, abandoned by his teacher, looked at the back of the King of Curses, gritted his teeth, and was about to unleash his strongest shikigami. But before he could, Ryomen Sukuna, who was standing before him, suddenly showed a look of self-doubt.
"I advise you not to do that."
A calm voice came from behind Megumi Fushiguro. He turned around and saw that a Sengoku samurai had suddenly appeared behind him, seriously watching Ryomen Sukuna.
"How strange. Why have you fallen into a deep sleep, child? What did you just experience? Why do I feel that Yuji Itadori's soul has sunk into a short slumber?"
Faced with the question from the strange man before him, Megumi Fushiguro was momentarily stunned, then told the truth:
"After the cursed object was unsealed, it attracted a large number of powerful cursed spirits. We were completely outmatched. Knotted was swallowed by a cursed spirit, but he swallowed the special-grade cursed object inside the cursed spirit's stomach and was possessed."
Hearing this, Locke entered his memory palace and began to recall. He realized that Knotted hadn't been swallowed into a stomach at all—he had simply eaten a thousand-year-old dried chicken foot.
Recalling the cursed spirits he had encountered along the way, as well as the changes in the situation, Locke roughly understood.
He was probably being used as a pawn.
(Geto: ? You...)
After simply using the Reverse Cursed Technique to provide emergency treatment to the three severely injured, Locke fully immersed himself in his role, transforming into a warrior-swordsman who killed demons and wandered the world.
"Child, don't be so extreme. Don't summon Mahoraga in a dangerous situation. Even if Sukuna can't defeat Mahoraga with a single finger, you'll be killed by Mahoraga along with him."
Hearing the words "Mahoraga," Megumi Fushiguro was momentarily stunned, then realized that the samurai before him had assumed he possessed the Ten Shadows Technique and was about to summon Mahoraga with his hand sign. But his incantation was rarely recorded in the world of jujutsu—how did this samurai know?
"Wait, how do you know that?"
"In the end, I was once a shadow ninja with the same technique. I fought alongside Mahoraga for so long, how could I not know?"
"?"
What do you mean, you were once a famous shadow ninja and fought alongside Mahoraga? Are you joking? Could it be that you also underwent the Amplitude Adjustment Ritual for Mahoraga?
Intentionally leaving Megumi Fushiguro with endless shock and doubt, Nishida Kagetatsu slowly stepped forward, interrupted the laughing King of Curses, and said, as if greeting an old friend:
"Long time no see, you ghost."
Sukuna's wild laughter suddenly stopped. He turned his head suspiciously, looked at the unremarkable samurai before him, and said:
"Huh? Who are you?"
In the next second, a vast cursed energy appeared from nowhere within his body, and a series of non-existent impressions flashed through his consciousness. Some were of a giant version of himself, wielding swords and wreaking havoc everywhere. Some were of him in his normal form, enjoying "meat" prepared by Rime.
But the final scene froze on a samurai who looked exactly as he did before him. He stared at the scene of himself enjoying the meal, his face covered in a chilling frost. His jet-black hair wildly fluttered from the rising inertia, and his pair of red eyes seemed about to crack, as if he had turned into a ghost begging for mercy.
"Where's the fun? Where's the fun?! What do you think of life... What has it become?!"
The moment the words, etched into his bone marrow and deeply carved into his soul, were finally confirmed, Nishida Kagetatsu drew the saber from his waist, the blade pointing at Sukuna, and said in a deep voice:
"Sukuna, your power is too great. I must... seal you here."