"You know, if you wanted to let me out right now, these few people couldn't stop you." Sukuna laughed. "What do you want to trade for? Why don't you go ahead and say it?"
"I'll pass." Mahiru waved a hand, her eyes glazed over like a dead fish's.
Her goal was to kill Kenjaku, and since Sukuna and Kenjaku were on good terms, there was no way he'd help her. So she couldn't even be bothered to bring it up.
It was plain to see that Sukuna really was bored out of his skull.
Yuji Itadori was special. Anyone else who ate a finger would either die or be easily controlled by Sukuna. But not Yuji Itadori.
To Sukuna, Yuji Itadori was a cage he couldn't break out of.
To control Yuji Itadori's body, either Yuji Itadori himself had to consent and then lose consciousness afterward, or Mahiru had to step in, suppress Yuji Itadori's soul, and let Sukuna out.
Oh, there was one more way—cramming a whole bunch of Sukuna's fingers into Yuji Itadori all at once.
In a short span, Yuji Itadori would be controlled by Sukuna, because he wouldn't be able to adapt to the sudden surge in the amount of Sukuna's soul.
Now let's tally up the number of fingers inside Yuji Itadori... Yuji Itadori had originally eaten one, Gojo fed Yuji Itadori one, Mahiru gave Yuji Itadori one to eat at the Juvenile Detention Center...
Earlier, Kenjaku had hijacked Jujutsu High's convoy; they had roughly 13 to 16 of Sukuna's fingers on hand. Stuff them all into Yuji Itadori's mouth at once, and Yuji Itadori would absolutely lose control.
But with Mahiru keeping watch, there was no way they could sneak the fingers to Yuji Itadori without anyone noticing.
Oh, by the way—because Kenjaku and his lot had obtained the Prison Realm by robbing the convoy, Mahiru had already found time to secretly fill Satoru Gojo in about the whole Prison Realm matter.
Although no one had noticed... Satoru Gojo actually had a "clone" on him that Mahiru had secretly given him. They could be in contact at any time.
"You'd best just sit tight." Mahiru pursed her lips. "Heh, how boring." Sukuna let out a sneering snort, and the mouth on Yuji Itadori's forehead vanished.
Yuji Itadori breathed a sigh of relief and let go—only for a mouth to appear on his hand and chomp down the grilled meat off the grill in a single bite.
"—! You bastard!" Yuji Itadori yelped.
"Cursed Spirit, you've made the wrong decision." Sukuna swallowed the beef and laughed again. "You may be amusing, but to me you're still far too weak... I'll kill you." A threat. Mahiru rolled her eyes, making it clear she wasn't buying it.
Sukuna felt even more bored and shrank back, no longer looking outside. "Mm..." Now what to do?
Sukuna brooded within the dark Domain, his brows slightly furrowed.
Trapped inside Yuji Itadori's body all this time, no matter how interesting the things he saw, he couldn't help feeling a little bored.
How to get out...?
Sukuna stroked his chin, mulling over a plan.
And it was right at this moment.
Gyaaah!!!—— Shrill, explosive, brimming with hostility.
Appearing at the same time was the blurred sound of scripture being chanted.
——It came from overhead. "Huh?" Nobara Kugisaki jerked her head up.
"...Oh?" Mahiru narrowed her eyes slightly and looked up. "Cursed Spirits?"
It was a Special Grade Cursed Spirit, along with several Grade One Cursed Spirits.
The leading Special Grade Cursed Spirit was a monstrous bird with an enormous wingspan; standing on the bird's back was a ferocious-faced demon monk who appeared to be chanting scripture—but what he chanted was utter chaos, not any language Mahiru knew.
It was a Special Grade Cursed Spirit that hadn't appeared in the original work.
These Cursed Spirits had a clear objective: they'd come to attack them.
Was it Kenjaku? But this attack ought to be utterly pointless... because how could a single Special Grade Cursed Spirit possibly beat her? Wasn't this just throwing them away for free?
But would Kenjaku launch an attack with no purpose? Mahiru knit her brows tightly. "Mahiru!" Nobara shouted at her side, very loudly. "A lot of Cursed Spirits have shown up! All over Tokyo!" Hm? Could it be Kenjaku was about to make his move on Satoru Gojo?
Indeed, Satoru Gojo opening his Domain to deal with the black hole, and the Technique-burnout phase after the Domain ended, was the best moment to seal Satoru Gojo. But the next second, Mahiru felt something was off. If they wanted to make a move on Satoru Gojo, then these Cursed Spirits shouldn't be coming for them.
And the best moment wasn't now—it should be when Satoru Gojo had completely dismantled the black hole and Mahiru simultaneously went into the black hole to rescue Yuki Tsukumo; at that point Satoru Gojo would burn out, and Mahiru wouldn't even be there.
So now Kenjaku... wasn't targeting Satoru Gojo? Was he simply creating chaos?
"You, get downstairs!" Fushiguro Maki gritted her teeth, shielding Tsumiki as she moved toward the safety exit while forming a seal; a bird of lightning took shape beside her. "Nobara! You go with her too! Leave this place to me!" Not right. Mahiru abruptly felt that something was wrong.
She suddenly had an ominous premonition. "...Mm?"
And far, far away, Kenjaku—who was sharing vision with the Cursed Spirits—let out a puzzled sound through his nose as well.
He had seen Mahiru.
He parted his lips slightly, astonished.
No way... "How are you here again?"
How was Mahiru here again? How was she everywhere?
And that girl with the cursed object of "Yorozu" inside her body—how was she here too? And conscious, no less?
Was this Mahiru's doing yet again?
Kenjaku was dumbfounded too. With Satoru Gojo busy dismantling the black hole, the opportunity was rare, so he'd directly called out a two-pronged plan.
One prong was sending Hajime Kashimo to find Tsumiki Fushiguro.
And the other—he'd gathered a host of Cursed Spirits and "death soldiers" to disrupt the order, and had one squad equipped with a Special Grade Cursed Spirit go find Yuji Itadori.
...So why was Mahiru on both sides?
Seeing the lively, energetic Tsumiki Fushiguro, Kenjaku should have realized that the cursed object of "Yorozu" was already in Mahiru's hands. Sending Hajime Kashimo to look for it was already meaningless. "...That works too, I suppose." Kenjaku suddenly broke into a smile.
Although Mahiru was present, Kenjaku's purpose wasn't to kill Yuji Itadori either.
His purpose... was something else.
The way Kenjaku's Technique operated changed all at once.
He issued a command, and the Special Grade Cursed Spirit that received it—the demon monk atop the great bird's back—grew larger as he chanted the scripture.
There was Cursed Energy in that scripture. But no lethality. Mahiru and Yuji Itadori were on their guard.
But the Cursed Energy in that scripture really seemed... its sole reason for existing was just to make the sound carry farther.
"What does this mean?" The ominous premonition in Mahiru's heart grew stronger and stronger.
Clearly nothing at all had happened, but precisely because of that, she felt as though something were secretly happening.
She didn't know it, and Yuji Itadori himself didn't know it either, but inside Yuji Itadori's body, within that dark Innate Domain where Sukuna resided, the King of Curses had also heard this chanting of scripture.
In the darkness, Sukuna's eyes snapped open. "...This is..."
Sukuna murmured, then suddenly burst into laughter up at the sky. "Hahahaha...."
Excited, manic laughter, as if he'd witnessed some grand spectacle that thrilled him to no end.
"So you had this kind of preparation up your sleeve! You bastard!... Not bad! This isn't bad at all! I admit things are getting more and more interesting!" "——Kenjaku!"
The Innate Domain wasn't something Yuji Itadori could peer into at will. Under Sukuna's deliberate concealment, the boy had no idea Sukuna was laughing wildly.
The boy didn't know.
And there was even less chance Mahiru knew.
"The teachers and the seniors have all started fighting back!" Nobara Kugisaki shouted. "And word is there've even appeared... beings similar to the [Spirit-Channeled]!"
There was no longer any need to say much. Because some had shown up on their side too.
Several enemies dropped from the sky, their bodies all deformed—some strong on one side and frail on the other, and some with a head that was one person on top and another person below.
Their states were all very much like the Spirit-Channeled. But... each had only been half spirit-channeled.
And most importantly... "That guy's Cursed Energy signature??"
What's going on? This is Kenjaku's Cursed Energy signature?!
How is the Spirit-Channeling Technique on Kenjaku's body? Wasn't it the Spirit-Calling Granny's? "Could it be that guy..." Mahiru seemed to understand.
Kenjaku's Technique was body-snatching. By snatching a person's body, he could use that person's Technique. According to what Kenjaku says in the original work, he could retain the Technique of the body he was "currently snatching" and the Technique of the "previously snatched" body.
The "previous one" was Yuji Itadori's mother, and the "current one" was Suguru Geto.
If Kenjaku temporarily gave up Suguru Geto's body to snatch the Spirit-Calling Granny, then returned to Suguru Geto's body—then the Techniques he possessed would become "Spirit-Channeling + Cursed Spirit Manipulation." Yuki Tsukumo was still "dead" at the moment, so the Anti-Gravity Technique really was useless now.
"So the Spirit-Calling Granny is dead, then?" Mahiru murmured.
What she'd been waiting for was the Spirit-Calling Granny's death; once she died, Mahiru could use a Spirit-Channeling nesting-doll trick to fully master the Spirit-Channeling Technique. Even though she wasn't the one who killed her, the effect was the same.
But now clearly wasn't a good time to learn the Spirit-Channeling Technique.
"Gyaah!!——" The great bird in the sky let out a shrill screech and dove down.
The spirit-channeled walking corpses also began rushing toward Mahiru and the others, roaring, Cursed Energy surging up from their bodies.
"Ugh, what a pain." Mahiru muttered, raising her arm, Cursed Energy stirring to life in her palm. "So much trash—guess I'll just have to do a bit of cleaning up..."
The attacks breaking out all over the city... though for the moment she didn't know how Kenjaku was using the Spirit-Channeling Technique, so many people had clearly been forcibly body-snatched, which meant they could still be saved.
Saving them took far more effort than killing them.
Hopefully it could be settled quickly.
Meanwhile, on the other side—the medical clinic. "Mr. Nanami, we're under attack over here too, we need your support..."
The voice on the phone was still shouting frantically.
And the man had already set down his phone with a grave expression, his eyes fixed on the figure slowly approaching outside. "Leave this place," Nanami said.
"What?" The jujutsu assistant beside him was stunned. "You mean..."
"Leave this place!" Nanami raised his voice, repeating himself. "As far away as possible!"
Attacks had broken out in many parts of Tokyo.
Signals for aid, alarms of enemy contact... his colleagues had long since relayed the news to Nanami, but right now, Nanami couldn't spare a single thought for any of it.
The figure slowly approaching outside the clinic walked with a casual gait, yet it filled him with immense pressure. Step after step—with each step closer, Nanami felt as if a great mountain were pressing down ever harder on his shoulders. Creak— The glass door was gently pushed open.
A slender youth with bluish hair, a long staff slung over his shoulder, walked in, sized up the blond man before him, and suddenly raised an eyebrow. "You're not bad... Do you know Tsumiki Fushiguro?"
Magnificent Cursed Energy poured out of the youth like a tsunami, utterly unconcealed. Sorcerers who normally fought to the death would generally hide their Cursed Energy fluctuations so that enemies couldn't gauge their strength—this was a winning strategy.
But this youth before him was different.
He didn't conceal his power in the slightest. It was a kind of pride that seemed to look down on all things.
"I'm asking you!" Hajime Kashimo flashed an unbridled grin. "Why won't you answer?! Don't answer and you'll die!" Boom!!!——
The jujutsu assistant hurried to flee, and the surrounding medical staff scattered at a run as well.
A massive surge of Cursed Energy erupted from Hajime Kashimo, turning into a wild gale that shattered every pane of glass in the entire lobby.
"Tsumiki Fushiguro isn't here." Nanami drew his blunt blade, Cursed Energy pouring out of him as well. "If you're looking for her, please search elsewhere."
"That's not the answer I want." Hajime Kashimo's smile turned cruel. "You're going to die." Boom——
The one who moved first wasn't Hajime Kashimo, but Nanami.
The opponent had come on aggressively, and the name he was after was Tsumiki Fushiguro—so without a doubt he was an enemy. Moreover, the opponent was far stronger than him.
Striking preemptively was the best policy. And when facing an enemy stronger than oneself, all the more reason to seize the moment. Take him down! Strike first—take him down!
The opponent's terrifying aura was like dark clouds blanketing the heavens, and behind him there were many defenseless colleagues who needed protecting.
If he lost, the others would die.
He couldn't lose... he could only win! "Ratio Technique!..." Black lightning flickered out from within Nanami's Cursed Energy. "——Technique Expansion!" "...Oh?" Hajime Kashimo's eyes widened slightly.
This was—Black Flash! In fact, even to this day, Nanami was still the record-holder for the most "consecutive Black Flashes."
The pressure of a formidable foe, the responsibility to protect others... at this very moment, the all-out Nanami once again reawakened the black lightning.
The man's attack roared forth.
It even struck dead-center, squarely on Hajime Kashimo's front.
"...?" Nanami's eyes went wide.
His Black Flash... an attack with power increased to the 2.5th power, had actually dealt no damage at all.
"Lightning? Not bad." Hajime Kashimo, who had blocked Nanami's attack with an iron staff, smiled wider. "But lightning... is supposed to look like THIS!!!——"
Rrrumble-rumble-rumble!!——
The black lightning was instantly swallowed up by an even more dazzling thunderbolt; terrifying thunder spread across heaven and earth in an instant. The Cursed Energy on Hajime Kashimo surged skyward, and the thunder turned into a colossal pillar reaching the heavens, towering between sky and earth.
"Lightning like yours—how could it possibly be worth watching?!——"
A wild bolt struck down. There was nowhere to flee.
Only at this moment did Nanami come to grasp just how terrifying the person before him truly was. Crack-boom— And in the next instant, the lightning fell, and the entire clinic was pierced clean through from top to bottom, a great hole punched in it, smoke and dust billowing everywhere.
"...Mm?" In the smoke, lingering traces of lightning still flickered, and Hajime Kashimo had already sensed something. He raised an eyebrow slightly. "You predicted my attack?"
The smoke and dust settled a little, and Nanami's figure appeared in the distance. Though the man was disheveled, sitting with his back against a wall, he hadn't been directly hit by Hajime Kashimo's attack.
In the instant the lightning was generated, something had grabbed Nanami from behind and pulled him out of the range of Hajime Kashimo's attack in the nick of time.
As the smoke cleared, Hajime Kashimo could finally see clearly. That thing—was a rabbit with wings.
"Shikigami?" Hajime Kashimo guessed.
"It's me... Didn't the person behind you mention me?" Mahiru's voice came from within the rabbit. "Tsumiki Fushiguro is in my hands... What is it you want?"
It was Mahiru. As mentioned before, Mahiru had placed a clone in this medical clinic.
Although Mahiru had enemies to fight on her own end too, with a battle this loud and large breaking out here, how could the girl fail to notice?
So Mahiru made her move and saved Nanami.
And now, the girl's tone was extremely unfriendly. Clearly, she was already angry.
____
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🔥 New history: COTE: Counterattack System
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