"Gyahahaha! Maki's become the kingpin of a bunch of old farts who look like gorillas! She's the Alpha Gorilla! The Silverback Queen!"
Gojo Satoru roared with laughter, his voice obnoxiously loud as he watched the footage projected on the screen at Jujutsu High, provided by Mei Mei's familiars.
He had originally asked Maki to scout the area as part of his preliminary investigation before moving in. However, after Maki unintentionally ended up leading Miyo and Daido—two eccentrics who were undeniably powerful—Gojo decided to change his assigned colony to Shinagawa.
Beside him, Geto Suguru was doubled over, clutching his stomach in silent, breathless laughter. His own assignment was Kyoto.
In both cases, the two had gotten their wish: they would be the only Jujutsu High sorcerers within their respective colonies. The plan was for them to enter thirty minutes before the grace period for the Culling Game expired.
In short, they were currently bored out of their minds. That was why they were treating Mei Mei's live commentary as a form of entertainment. But their attention soon shifted to another location: Morioka.
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The Culling Game. It was a grand ritual, a massacre between sorcerers from both the past and the present.
However, a group that looked entirely out of place for such a description was currently lining up in formation at the ruins of Morioka Station.
There were approximately six hundred of them. These steel giants, standing three meters tall, were under the command of Kokichi Muta. Deciding there was no point in hiding his true strength during such an emergency, he had been granted permission by his mentor, Yuki Tsukumo, to perform a Technique Release. By taking a page out of Naoya Zen'in's book and placing extreme restrictions on his own technique from childhood until the present day, he had gained a massive boon: his cursed energy output and efficiency in his released state increased in direct proportion to the number of years his technique had been restricted. His current power was terrifying, easily worthy of a Special Grade designation.
Already boasting extraordinary operational efficiency due to his Heavenly Restriction, his Puppet Manipulation had become the single greatest military force in Morioka.
Moving with the mechanical precision of a colony of ants, they salvaged debris from the city, sorted it, processed it, and assembled it to add new Cursed Corpses to their ranks. They were suppressing Morioka through a method that felt more like hacking than combat, beginning their conquest of the Culling Game during the grace period itself. They had even begun constructing a fortified base with their surplus resources. Their efficiency was that of an idealized army.
In a garrison established within the base, Noritoshi Kamo stood checking the mount of a heavy machine gun with a look of satisfaction. Beside him, Shoko Ieiri—in a rare display of combat readiness—shouldered the Cursed Tool known as Express.
It felt as though this colony had moved past the Culling Game and was preparing to ignite World War III. However, to settle the current crisis, a Special Measure for the Suppression of the Culling Game had been enacted. Co-signed by the presidents of both Jujutsu schools and the Jujutsu headquarters, and stamped with the Imperial Seal, the order authorized all sorcerers under the command of the Jujutsu Bureau to requisition, seize, or destroy any and all materials within the colonies. Consequently, there was nothing to stop Kokichi and the others from transforming Morioka into a military base.
If anything were to stand in their way, it would be other players. However, due to the grace period of the Culling Game, they were unable to lay a hand on the Cursed Corpses Kokichi controlled. Faced with such overwhelming military might, some had already chosen the path of total submission.
A prime example was Rin Amai, a young man currently flickering a lighter for Shoko's cigarette with a sycophantic grin.
Amai was a modern-day human who had awakened to sorcery after being exposed to the massive cursed energy of the Culling Game. He possessed a rather interesting technique that allowed him to amplify the sugar in his body and output it externally. Originally from Sendai, he had used the warp function upon entering a colony to flee the devastated city.
He had seen the news of the destruction in Tokyo and Osaka, so he avoided the big cities. Thinking it best to head somewhere he was somewhat familiar with, he chose Morioka—only to fall into despair when he realized it was just as ruined as Sendai.
It was then that he was discovered by a legion of fully armed combat robots. He had promptly waved the white flag and had been serving them ever since.
Meanwhile, Shoko had already spotted a man with a propeller on his head and a woman whose hair functioned as a jetpack scouting them from the sky through the scope of Express.
In response, the production line of Cursed Corpses had been updated to include a new flight-type model equipped with cursed energy jet engines. Around the cleared site of Morioka Station, a takeoff and landing strip was already under construction.
Embodying the battlefield truth that victory belongs to the side with the bigger numbers, Kokichi's army of Cursed Corpses continued their steady march toward conquering the colony.
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