By the time Yuta Okkotsu and the other two arrived, the matter had already been settled.
"Zenin Mirai..." Yuta Okkotsu muttered the name of the culprit, his fists clenched tightly in absolute fury.
After examining the Cursed Objects—the Nine Cursed Womb: Death Paintings—left behind by Mirai, Shoko Ieiri shook her head solemnly.
"There are no signs of alteration inside."
Would Zenin Mirai really be so kind?
Looking at the Cursed Objects that Choso solemnly, tearfully put back into his robes, Shoko ultimately remained silent.
In her view, these Cursed Objects that theoretically needed to be destroyed or buried were the younger brothers whom Choso cherished dearly. She couldn't bring herself to say such cruel things to the grieving man.
Shoko's dazed, exhausted gaze drifted toward the ruins of Shibuya.
If that idiot Satoru were still around... things might not be so bad.
...
November 14th.
The thirteenth day of the Culling Game.
There is only one last ritual to be set up for the massive barrier.
Emerging from the Kamui void, Mirai appeared at the entrance to Tokyo Colony 1.
"Kogane, broadcast the latest general rules."
While he had been fully immersed in setting up the ritual across the country over the last few days, Mirai had intentionally blocked Kogane's broadcast notifications to avoid distractions.
Upon hearing this, the little golden beetle suddenly opened its scarlet eyes.
"Broadcasting..."
The first ten rules remained the same as before.
"Rule 11: Players may transfer points between each other!"
"Rule 12: Communication blockades within the colonies are canceled! Players may now use electronic devices."
"Additional rules added by Players: Hajime Kashimo, Hiromi Higuruma."
A faint smile appeared on Mirai's lips as he scanned the names of the Players who had added the rules.
Those Players who just meet the gatekeeper standard are the only hope for Itadori and the others to turn the tide. They did well, Mirai thought.
He flipped through the holographic panel in the void.
After more than ten days of fierce, brutal fighting, only a little over three hundred Players remained alive in Tokyo Colony 1.
"Naobito. Notify the Zenin Sorcerers to begin the operation."
After finishing his statement, Mirai stepped directly into the barrier.
Naobito Zenin, who had been waiting respectfully at the entrance, immediately took out his phone to send the notification to the Hei squad.
Previously, when Mirai was in the Sendai Colony, he had added Rule 10, allowing free entry and exit from the barriers. Meanwhile, the elite Sorcerers of the Zenin clan had scattered and were now guarding the exits of the various barriers, thoroughly extinguishing the weaker Players' hopes of escaping alive.
Stepping into the barrier of death, Mirai fell from the sky.
The raging wind whipped his long, ink-black hair, and his spotless white kasaya robes fluttered in the wind.
Looking down at the towering buildings of Ikebukuro below, he noted the streets were completely deserted and desolate.
BOOM!
The roar of jet engines came from a distant building!
A female Player, wearing a literal fire-breathing aircraft propulsion system on her back and aviator sunglasses on her face, crashed violently toward Mirai while he was in mid-air.
Points were a Player's only guarantee of survival within the death barrier. To gain points, however, one must kill.
New Players were randomly teleported when they entered, but there were only nine specific entrances to each colony. Therefore, some veteran Players deliberately lingered at the nine entrances, becoming "Rookie Killers" to easily farm points.
They mistook Mirai, who had just entered, for a newly joined, helpless Player.
The sudden, impactful attack was accompanied by the faint, mocking voice of the female Sorcerer echoing through the air.
"Not bad! Another five points saved!" she yelled. "Newcomer, your luck is a bit off today!"
Mirai appeared perfectly calm, with absolutely no intention of even verbally responding.
Just before the physical contact was about to happen, the arrogant grin on the Rookie Killer's face froze in place.
BANG!
Blood-red fireworks burst in the sky for a fleeting moment.
Until her death, Mirai never even gave her a single glance. She was crushed by a casual flex of his Cursed Energy.
The explosion of blood mist instantly made her partner—a Player hiding nearby—realize that this newcomer was no ordinary person.
He had no intention of seeking revenge whatsoever. As the husband of the female Player who just died, the Sorcerer with a literal propeller mechanism on his head immediately turned and ran away in the opposite direction!
Pity.
BANG!
Thumb-sized fragments of bone, mixed with blood mist, drifted through the air.
"Ding! Con—"
Just as the little golden beetle was about to congratulate him on the score, it was once again forcibly blocked by Mirai.
...
Located deep inside Tokyo Colony 1, in a luxury penthouse suite of an abandoned five-star hotel.
Hiromi Higuruma looked at the people beside him and pointed to the leaderboard where the Players' scores were rapidly changing on his Kogane panel.
"Is this the person you were talking about?"
Yuji Itadori, Megumi Fushiguro, and Nobara Kugisaki suddenly summoned their little golden beetles to check the Player's information.
"That's right... Zenin Mirai is also in Tokyo Colony 1!" Megumi's voice was extremely solemn, and there was a faint trace of deep-seated fear in his eyes.
As a fellow master of the Ten Shadows Technique, Megumi understood the horrors of Mirai better than the others.
Yuji and Nobara were silent for a moment, then their eyes flashed with raw hatred.
They already knew the horrific outcome of the battle at the Tomb of the Star more than ten days ago.
Principal Yaga... Nanami... Ino... Yuki Tsukumo...
And there was also Aoi Todo before that in Shibuya.
Their brutal deaths led Yuji to view Zenin Mirai as someone he absolutely had to kill!
But... there was nothing they could do.
Unable to take revenge personally, they even had to actively hide from their opponent. Yuji clenched his fists so hard his knuckles turned white, and Nobara pursed her lips, feeling incredibly frustrated and powerless.
"I don't care about Zenin Mirai. As long as you agree to my conditions, I will help you break the seal on the Prison Realm."
Sitting directly opposite the three Jujutsu High students was a female Player with a golden halo hovering above her head and pure white wings on her back. Hana Kurusu. She sat comfortably in the center of the hotel sofa.
However, the voice did not come from Hana, but from the incarnated Sorcerer with whom she shared a symbiotic relationship: Angel.
A mouth formed on Hana's cheek, speaking exactly the same way Sukuna used Yuji's body to make sounds.
"Resurrecting someone by incarnating into a physical body is tantamount to killing the soul of the original owner of that vessel," Angel proclaimed. "Whether it was intentional or not, these incarnated Sorcerers must be judged!"
"They have defied the laws of God!"
Noticing the strange glances directed at him, Angel added, "Don't worry about it. The so-called 'God' is just my personal belief system, not a real, physical being."
Even if Choso had personally confirmed Kenjaku's death, Yuji and the others were still trapped.
The Culling Game was not over yet, and unsealing Gojo Satoru remained everyone's primary, desperate goal. Now that Zenin Mirai had personally entered their colony, everyone felt a rapidly increasing sense of urgency.
Megumi stared intently at Hana Kurusu's face and said in a deep voice, "Your conditions are too difficult!"
Angel had already revealed her innate technique to the group: Jacob's Ladder (Technique Extinguishment/Nullification).
In addition to breaking the back of the Prison Realm to unseal Gojo Satoru, she could also completely neutralize the barriers of the Culling Game. Even without the Rule 10 proposed by Mirai, she could freely move between multiple barriers by extinguishing them.
She could strip away the chaotic soul of an incarnated Sorcerer, strip away the fused flesh and body, and completely sever the seal between a person and a Cursed Object.
Angel's technique had a powerful, absolute purifying effect!
If that were all, Megumi and his two companions wouldn't be having such a headache.
However, during the process of Angel cleaning up the flesh and separating the Cursed Object, the soul of the human vessel itself also faced a mortality rate as high as 99%!
Not to mention the many resurrected Players within the barrier... Yuji Itadori also possessed an incarnated vessel constitution!
In order to unseal Gojo Satoru, they would essentially be forcing Yuji to go and die during the purification process.
Megumi and Nobara could not accept this!
Despite the crack in the mouth below the corner of Hana's eye, Angel began to explain a compromise regarding the conditions for unsealing the Cursed Object.
"My ultimate goal is to eliminate all those who have been subjected to the incarnation technique, but I'm not that greedy right now..." Angel stated.
"The Fallen!"
When Angel uttered the title "The Fallen," her tone seemed to transform into a tangible, overwhelming killing intent!
"If you can help me kill this specific Player, I will cooperate with you wholeheartedly to unseal Gojo!"
If it's just killing one person...
Just as a sense of relief rose in the eyes of Megumi and Nobara, Yuji suddenly froze on the spot! His eyes widened in horror.
Inside his Innate Domain.
A blood-red shrine filled with skulls and corpses, within Ryomen Sukuna's realm of existence.
"I still feel annoyed no matter how many times I see your disgusting face," Sukuna crossed his arms and spoke coldly, sitting atop his throne of skulls.
Faced with Yuji's undisguised malice, Sukuna sneered.
"Kid, let me give you a heads-up," Sukuna stated mockingly.
"I am The Fallen."
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