c1: Ruins of the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons
The thick smell of blood hung in the air like a suffocating curse, clinging to the lungs like cursed energy gone rampant, tightening around the throat until breathing itself felt like a struggle against death.
"Ugh..."
Lin Ye snapped his eyes open, his body convulsing as nausea surged violently through him, forcing a dry heave. The sensation was far too real, far too vivid, nothing like a dream or hallucination.
As far as the eye could see was a scene straight out of hell, one that rivaled the aftermath of the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons unleashed by Suguru Geto.
A deserted construction site stretched before him, steel bars protruding like skeletal remains. What should have been an unfinished structure of reinforced concrete had instead become a slaughterhouse, littered with severed limbs and mangled corpses.
Fresh blood dripped steadily from fractured slabs above, creating a rhythmic 'drip, drip' that echoed unnaturally in the oppressive silence, each drop striking like a countdown to death.
Where is this? Wasn't I just working overtime on some code?
Clutching his throbbing head, Lin Ye staggered as he forced himself upright, his legs trembling as if rejecting the reality before him. The atmosphere itself felt wrong, heavy, like the dense cursed energy that only gathered where negative emotions had festered for too long.
Just then, a hair-raising chewing sound echoed from the shadows ahead.
"Crunch... crunch..."
It was unmistakable, the grotesque sound of bones being crushed and marrow being devoured. Lin Ye's body stiffened as instinct forced him to turn toward the source.
Under the dim moonlight, the thing revealed itself.
It was a grotesque amalgamation of flesh, a towering mass nearly three meters tall, its body composed of writhing human faces fused together in eternal agony. Each face twisted in silent screams, their expressions frozen in despair. Jagged bone spurs jutted out from its bloated form, resembling a malformed curse born from accumulated hatred, not unlike the grotesque forms described in Jujutsu Kaisen.
In its clawed hand, it held half of a corpse clad in a security uniform, chewing through it with horrifying ease, as if it were nothing more than sugarcane. Blood and flesh dripped from its maw as it fed without restraint.
At the monster's feet, two figures in high school uniforms huddled together.
Clearly a couple who had trespassed here out of curiosity or thrill-seeking, the boy had already lost consciousness, his will shattered by sheer terror.
The girl, however, remained barely awake. Her hands clamped tightly over her mouth in a futile attempt to suppress her sobs, tears soaking her collar. Her trembling pupils reflected the horrific scene before her, her entire being paralyzed by fear.
This was the absolute despair of a human confronting something beyond reason, the instinctive terror prey feels before a predator that exists outside the natural order, much like ordinary humans facing curses without the protection of jujutsu sorcerers such as Satoru Gojo.
"Meat... need... more..."
The curse let out a distorted murmur, its voice layered with countless overlapping tones. Casually, it discarded the half-eaten corpse in its grasp, letting it fall with a wet thud.
Dozens of cloudy, lifeless eyes embedded across its body shifted simultaneously, locking onto the trembling girl.
"No... please no..."
Her sanity finally broke as she screamed, her voice tearing through the silence.
"Help! Someone, please help me!"
Cursed Spirit.
The term exploded into Lin Ye's mind with sudden clarity, as if knowledge buried deep within him had been forcefully awakened. These were beings born from the accumulation of negative emotions, fear, hatred, despair exactly as defined in the world of jujutsu.
At the same time, a cold, mechanical voice echoed within his consciousness.
[Ding! Strongest Role-Playing System activated.]
[Current World: Jujutsu Kaisen.]
[Initial Template loading... Tsugikuni Yoriichi (The absolute pinnacle of combat power in Demon Slayer).]
[Current Synchronization: 1%.]
[Unlocked Ability: Hinokami Kagura (Prototype of Sun Breathing).]
Tsugikuni Yoriichi? The legendary swordsman who cornered Kibutsuji Muzan, the progenitor of all demons?
Before Lin Ye could fully process the overwhelming flood of information, the curse had already reacted.
"More... new... meat..."
The massive claw that had been reaching toward the girl froze mid-air.
Then, slowly, the grotesque entity turned.
Its countless eyes shifted, locking onto Lin Ye instead.
Compared to the half-broken prey cowering in the corner, this newly appeared human, radiating unfamiliar fluctuations, was far more… interesting.
It could sense that this human carried an unusual "flavor" within him, something akin to the flow of cursed energy yet fundamentally different, as if layered with a scorching vitality that didn't belong to this world.
Something far more delicious than mere fear, far richer than the negative emotions that normally gave birth to Cursed Spirits.
Boom!
The massive body lunged forward in an instant, its grotesque form tearing through the air and bringing with it a foul, suffocating gust of stench. The ground beneath its weight cracked slightly, showing strength comparable to a high-level curse.
The speed was terrifying, far beyond what ordinary humans could perceive. The girl squeezed her eyes shut in despair, her mind already accepting the inevitable outcome.
He's dead.
That frail-looking boy would be ripped apart before he could even react, just like all the others who had fallen victim to curses in a world where only jujutsu sorcerers could resist them.
However, at the exact moment those claws were about to tear into Lin Ye's skull, he moved.
Or more accurately, his body moved on its own, as if guided by an ancient instinct etched into his very soul.
Facing this grotesque existence born from human malice, there was not a trace of fear within him. Instead, an unnatural calm settled in his heart, accompanied by a faint, almost sorrowful pity toward the creature that had lost all semblance of life.
"Life should not be trampled upon like this."
Lin Ye's hand instinctively reached down and grasped a rusty iron bar lying beside his foot, its surface corroded and fragile, something that should have been utterly useless against a curse.
His breathing shifted.
Though he had not yet mastered Total Concentration Breathing from Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, his lungs began to rise and fall in a precise, rhythmic pattern, faintly resembling the origin of all Breathing Styles created by Yoriichi Tsugikuni.
At that moment, the world slowed.
The flow of air brushing past his skin, the subtle contraction of the Cursed Spirit's grotesque muscles, even the drifting dust particles suspended in the night—all of it became vividly clear, as if he had stepped into a domain where perception itself was heightened beyond human limits.
[Hinokami Kagura: Circle Dance]
Lin Ye swung the iron bar.
Though it was nothing more than a discarded piece of rusted metal, in that instant, it seemed to resonate with a fragment of the Sun Breathing's origin, carrying a faint yet incomparably pure flame-like energy.
A blazing arc cut through the darkness, its trajectory flawless, embodying a swordsmanship that once cornered Kibutsuji Muzan himself.
Slash!
There was no resistance.
The Cursed Spirit's body, which should have been dense enough to resist conventional weapons due to cursed energy reinforcement as seen in Jujutsu Kaisen, was severed as easily as paper.
Its massive arm was sent flying, followed immediately by its neck.
The dozens of distorted faces embedded within its flesh didn't even have time to register pain before they were swallowed by that searing, sun-like energy.
"ROAR!!!"
A shrill, distorted scream erupted as the Cursed Spirit howled in agony. For the first time since its birth, its regenerative ability something inherent to curses failed completely.
At the wound, it felt as though a scorching flame continued to burn relentlessly, disrupting the flow of cursed energy and preventing any form of regeneration, much like how certain techniques could nullify recovery.
Its enormous body collapsed heavily onto the ground, sending dust and debris into the air.
Then, its presence vanished.
It was as if the curse itself had been completely exorcised.
The girl in the corner stared blankly at the scene, her mind unable to process what had just occurred.
That seemingly ordinary young man had actually destroyed such a terrifying monster… with nothing but a rusted iron bar?
Lin Ye exhaled slowly, his breathing slightly uneven. The iron bar in his hand had bent from the force it had just endured, faint wisps of heat still rising from its surface.
"Is it over..."
He looked at the fallen remains of the Cursed Spirit, the tension in his body easing just a little.
Even at only 1% synchronization, the swordsmanship of Yoriichi Tsugikuni the absolute pinnacle of combat was enough to completely overwhelm a curse of this level.
Just as he was about to step forward to check on the girl's condition…
Swoosh
A sharp, piercing sound suddenly cut through the air from above. Lin Ye's instincts flared, and he immediately looked up.
A dark figure descended rapidly, like a meteor falling from the sky, before landing effortlessly atop a broken concrete pillar within the ruins.
Moonlight cascaded down, illuminating the newcomer.
A black uniform belonging to Tokyo Jujutsu High, a signature black blindfold covering his eyes, and striking silver-white hair that stood out vividly in the night.
The man stood casually with his hands in his pockets, a faintly amused and almost mocking smile playing on his lips, completely at ease despite the aftermath of battle.
Just his presence alone caused the surrounding air to stagnate, as if space itself acknowledged his dominance.
Throughout Heaven and Earth, I alone am the honored one.
The strongest modern jujutsu sorcerer Satoru Gojo
Had arrived.
...