Even though Noritoshi Kamo fled at full speed while carrying Megumi Fushiguro, such resistance was insignificant before Mahoraga.
In nearly the blink of an eye, Mahoraga caught up to them.
The Sword of Extermination descended in a swift arc. Thanks to Kamo's desperate evasive maneuver, the blade did not cleave him in two.
However, it severed his left arm, which he had been using to support Megumi. Blood sprayed violently into the air.
"Ugh!"
Kamo understood that if he did nothing, both he and Megumi would die here. There was no time to dwell on the pain.
Gritting his teeth against the agony, he manipulated the blood pouring from his shoulder and severed limb, immediately activating Crimson Binding against Mahoraga.
As a practitioner of Blood Manipulation, Kamo knew better than anyone the precise threshold at which blood loss became fatal.
The fortunate part was that this was Mahoraga's first encounter with Blood Manipulation. As a result, Crimson Binding proved surprisingly effective, restraining it temporarily.
The unfortunate part was that Kamo was not like Choso in his incarnated state, who could generate blood by converting Cursed Energy. This degree of blood loss had already pushed Kamo beyond his limits.
His vision blurred. He collapsed onto the ground, face pale from excessive blood loss, struggling to breathe.
His calculation had been correct. This amount of blood loss would not kill him outright.
But it eliminated every other possibility.
At that critical moment, reinforcements began to arrive.
Drawn by the intense bursts of Cursed Energy emanating from the Storage, Momo Nishimiya flew in swiftly on her broom, with Mai Zenin seated behind her.
Yet something was clearly wrong with Mai. She was curled tightly into herself, and the Cursed Energy radiating from her body surged erratically. Even Momo did not understand what was happening.
In truth, Mai's abnormal state was the result of Maki Zenin's death. As twins, they had been bound by a restriction since birth. With Maki gone, that binding vow had been shattered.
Mai found herself in a dream.
In that dream, Maki simply looked at her silently for a long moment before turning and walking toward a distant, empty horizon.
"Why?" Mai screamed hysterically. "Why are you leaving silently again, just like back then? Why can't you sink down with me? What's wrong with just surviving, even if it means being ordered around? We could have lived muddled lives and died muddled deaths together. Why couldn't you choose to stay with me?"
Even as she shouted, the memory that surfaced in her mind was the promise Maki had once made as a child. She had sworn never to leave her behind.
Though it was only a dream, Mai could already sense the changes occurring within her body. On some instinctive level, she understood what had happened.
Tears streamed uncontrollably down her face.
"You liar. You promised you wouldn't leave me. Were those things really more important than me? Why do you have to leave me behind again, at a time like this? Sister!"
In the dream, Mai fell to her knees, crying toward the empty sky.
Meanwhile, Momo reached the airspace above the Storage and was stunned by the devastation below.
Megumi's shikigami, summoned at the cost of nearly all his Cursed Energy, were being destroyed one after another as if they were made of paper by the white monster that had broken free of Crimson Binding.
Kamo lay on the ground, his arm severed, his condition dire.
Without hesitation, Momo attacked Mahoraga, guiding her broom to unleash compressed wind blades.
Tool Manipulation: Wind Scythe.
Concerned that Mai might fall during the violent maneuvers, Momo gripped her with one hand while controlling the broom and executing her technique with the other.
On the ground, Masamichi Yaga, who had been heading toward the Storage from the outset, arrived as well. While performing emergency hemostasis on Kamo, he directed his Cursed Corpses to assault Mahoraga, attempting to divert its attention.
But before Mahoraga, a being capable of contending with Satoru Gojo himself, such attacks were insignificant. They did little more than postpone the inevitable.
At last, the Veil dissipated completely.
Satoru Gojo immediately soared over the competition grounds. Removing his blindfold, he pushed the Six Eyes to their maximum perception. A brief scan revealed numerous casualties.
There was no time to confirm each one.
He focused instead on tracing the Cursed Residue left by the orchestrator of this chaos.
For an instant, he thought of Yuki Tsukumo again, unable to comprehend how events had spiraled this far with her present within the Veil. Had she chosen to stand aside?
He fell silent.
Then he sensed the disturbance caused by Mahoraga.
After a brief hesitation, Gojo redirected himself and flew toward it.
Under the hopeful gazes of those present, Gojo recognized the shikigami immediately. His voice was calm, yet chillingly detached.
"Leave it to me."
He extended his hand and unleashed a full-power Red at Mahoraga.
To his surprise, Mahoraga's reaction speed kept pace. It swung the Sword of Extermination, striking the incoming Red and dispersing part of its force.
As a result, when Red collided with Mahoraga, the damage was not decisive. Within a single breath, most of the injury had regenerated, and by the next second, it had fully recovered.
Watching Mahoraga leap toward him, Gojo spoke coldly.
"I'm not in the mood to entertain you."
"Hollow Technique: Purple."
At the same time, Mahito and Hanami, already in retreat, encountered Kenjaku, who had arrived to rendezvous with them.
Mahito casually produced Sukuna's Fingers and the Cursed Womb: Death Paintings, grinning as he addressed Kenjaku.
"The mission was completed with ease. If time hadn't been limited, I might have wiped out every Jujutsu Sorcerer inside the Veil."
...
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