Chapter Sixty-Six: Perish, Tsugikuni Ren…
For clarity, this novel is entirely my own work. Constructive criticism is welcome, but please avoid focusing on the early chapters I've already acknowledged as weak. I'm a beginner, and I've improved significantly over time. If possible, judge the story based on the more recent chapters rather than the first nine.
Enjoy~~~
In the endless dark void within Ren's domain of consciousness, a single point of light broke the oppressive blackness.
A small, nostalgic mess of a room floated like an isolated island in a sea of nothingness. It was an exact replica of the apartment Haruto once owned in his previous life.
Shelves stacked with manga volumes—once carefully arranged, now disordered from excessive rereading. Posters of iconic anime characters covered the walls like windows to other worlds. A large high-definition television stood against one side.
On the soft couch in the center of the room, the main. onsciousness of "Yukihara Ren" lay sprawled in suffocating boredom, one arm dangling toward the floor, emerald eyes fixed on the ceiling as if trying to count dust particles.
Ren sighed audibly, then lazily turned toward the desk where Rena sat quietly, staring into the void.
"Rena…" Ren called, stretching his words from sheer boredom. "Can't you update the library? I've memorized the dialogue of One Piece and Naruto by heart. I need something new—something exciting. I'm tired of rereading the same stories again and again."
Rena sighed and lifted her gaze to meet his. Her eyes did not carry their usual sarcasm, but something closer to cold seriousness.
[Rai is in trouble. Do you want to intervene?]
Ren's body froze on the couch. The boredom vanished instantly, replaced by sharp focus. He sat upright, eyes narrowing. "Rai?"
Ren closed his eyes and focused his awareness, connecting to the spiritual link binding him to his counterparts.
His mental vision distorted, then a strange scene emerged—dark in tone, heavy with the scent of blood and despair.
[Jujutsu Kaisen World – Tokyo]
The air was thick with humid night and the metallic scent of rust. Labored, broken breathing filled the room, coming from the chest of a boy wearing the uniform of Tokyo Jujutsu High.
Rai—Ren's counterpart in this world—stood in the middle of a modest living room. Furniture was overturned. The window was shattered, shards glittering across the wooden floor beneath the half-full moonlight.
His body trembled—not from fear, but from a shock that rattled his very existence.
Blood slowly spread beneath his feet, staining the carpet crimson.
Before his eyes lay a sight that would haunt him forever. The corpse of a beautiful woman with short black hair, collapsed unnaturally. The upper half of her body was twisted and folded inward in a grotesque spiral of flesh and bone, as if warped by a cursed technique that violently reshaped her biology.
"Why?"
Rai whispered, voice hoarse and broken. He fell to his knees, ignoring the glass shards piercing his trousers and cutting into his skin.
"Why did this happen? I was watching… I was trying to protect them… How did the curse slip in here?"
Emptiness swallowed him. His driving force—his desire for "justice" and to protect the innocent—was facing its first true and brutal test. This was not a shonen manga where the hero always wins. Reality was a mutilated corpse of an innocent mother, and a boy who would soon return to witness his personal hell.
Rai's blood boiled. Grief turned to cold anger, then to burning hatred.
"You curse… I'll kill you."
—
[Mental Void]
Ren opened his eyes slowly. His expression was eerily calm, hiding a storm of complicated emotions. He said nothing about what he had seen.
He rose from the couch and walked steadily to the manga shelf in the corner. His finger slid across different series until it stopped at Jujutsu Kaisen.
He pulled out volume three.
The cover showed Itadori Yuji screaming in anger, with a faint looming presence behind him. The subtitle read: "For Myself."
Ren stared at the cover for several seconds. He remembered the events. He remembered Mahito—the patch-faced human curse—and his mocking laughter.
Ren exhaled quietly and opened the volume. As he flipped through pages he already knew by heart, he spoke in a calm but commanding tone:
"Rena… contact Ron. Tell him this…"
Ren leaned slightly and whispered a short, heavy, cryptic sentence. Only Rena heard it in the silent void.
Her eyes widened faintly in surprise, then returned to their usual composure.
[Understood… it will be delivered.]
—
Elsewhere, where Ron stood—
In stark contrast to the quiet mental void, the world here was burning.
The earth was torn apart. Ancient trees were uprooted and splintered into flying debris. Even the sky seemed to tremble from the violent collision of energies.
At the center of this devastation stood Tsugikuni Ren—the new Demon King. But the one moving that powerful body was not Ron.
It was Kibutsuji Muzan.
"Hahahahaha! Yoriichi! I'll repay that night's debt a hundredfold!!"
Muzan screamed through Ren's voice, madness dancing in emerald eyes tainted crimson. He exploited Ren's overwhelming physical strength and breathing techniques—but he was restrained.
He had realized the trap too late. Ron had not surrendered the body; he had set a snare. Deep within the consciousness of this vessel were hidden restrictions preventing Muzan from using Domain Expansion or Ren's unique abilities. Even the body's full physical output was being throttled.
Worse still, Muzan could feel Ron's spirit lurking in the background—silent, observing, pressing down on him. Any attempt to directly attack Ron's consciousness would risk awakening that "demon" who had nearly erased Muzan during their fusion.
So Muzan chose the only strategy available: shatter the host's heart.
If he killed Ren's brothers using Ren's own body, Ron's spirit would break from despair. Resistance would vanish. The body would become entirely Muzan's.
Before this raging monster stood two legends.
Yoriichi Tsugikuni—the blazing sun.
Michikatsu Tsugikuni—the cold moon.
Yoriichi's normally tranquil face was twisted with pain and fury. Seeing his beloved younger brother's body used as a vessel for his greatest enemy was unforgivable.
"Perish… Muzan."
Yoriichi's voice was low as he lunged forward.
He became a streak of pure flame. "Sun Breathing: Thirteenth Form!"
His blade clashed against the bone whips sprouting from Ren's back. Shockwaves shattered stone.
For a brief moment, Michikatsu hesitated. His hand gripped his sword until his knuckles whitened.
"Brother…"
Should he truly raise his blade? Participate in killing Ren?
Memories flooded him—Ren as a child chasing him in the garden. Ren's mocking smile while refining Moon Breathing. Ren's proud declaration: "I'll become the strongest to protect you."
And their mother's words: "Take care of your younger brother. He's reckless, but his heart is kind."
Michikatsu exhaled.
If he did not fight now, Ren would live eternally as a monster—an unwilling vessel of Muzan, drowning in endless self-loathing.
As the Moon Hashira. As the elder brother.
His duty was clear.
"I pity you, little brother…" Michikatsu whispered, a single tear vanishing into chaos. "You lost your humanity… so I will free you."
"Moon Breathing: Sixteenth Form!"
He moved.
While Yoriichi overwhelmed Muzan from the front with scorching solar strikes, Michikatsu appeared behind him like a phantom.
"What?!" Muzan roared.
He attempted a spinning kick with Ren's monstrous speed—but the twins' coordination was flawless.
"Sun Breathing: Fourth Form!"
Yoriichi severed Muzan's wrists, halting his motion for a fraction of a second.
"Slash!"
Michikatsu's violet-imbued blade severed Muzan's left arm, while Yoriichi's sword pierced through his torso.
"AAARGH!"
Muzan screamed. The wounds did not regenerate properly.
"What is this?!" he thought in horror. "This body… it's resisting me!"
He leapt backward, landing on a shattered trunk, panting. Bone tendrils writhed around him.
He understood.
"Tsugikuni Ren… you bastard."
Even after surrendering control, Ron still held the reins—limiting energy flow, suppressing regeneration, weighing the body down.
He was trapped.
If he fled, Ron would paralyze him. If he fought, he would die before dawn.
Yoriichi vanished in a crimson flash.
He reappeared before Muzan as Michikatsu manifested behind him.
"End it!" they declared in unison.
Sun and Moon blades converged.
A blinding crimson-violet light tore through the forest night. Hundreds of wounds erupted across Muzan's body in a single instant. His cells burned and ruptured. He collapsed, unable to move.
"Curse you…" Muzan spat blood. "Curse you… Tsugikuni Reeeeen!"
Hatred filled his dying scream.
—
Deep within Ren's consciousness.
In the dark throne hall of the subconscious, Ron sat calmly upon the throne, one leg crossed over the other, cheek resting against his fist. His eyes were closed, yet he saw everything through Muzan's sight. He felt every strike, every agony, every fragment of despair.
A cold smirk curved his lips.
"Who do you think I am, fool?" Ron murmured. "Your death by their hands was decided the moment you entered this body."
He was ready for the end. Death by his brothers was the conclusion he had chosen.
But then—
The air beside the throne rippled.
Rena appeared silently.
[Ron.]
He opened one eye lazily. "What now? Here to say goodbye before Yoriichi cuts off my head?"
She shook her head.
[Check on Rai.]
And vanished.
Ron blinked.
"Rai?"
Curiosity and sudden unease stirred. He closed his eyes and reached through the spiritual link.
He saw the shattered room. The blood. The corpse.
And he felt it.
Not noble grief.
Hatred.
Cold. Viscous. Absolute.
A desire to tear the world apart.
Ron's eyes snapped open in the throne hall.
His emerald pupils narrowed to needles.
"Rai…"
The shock on his face lasted only a second before transforming into something else. Rai's fury flowed through the link, merging with Ron's pride and power.
He exhaled slowly.
"I see…"
He leaned back on the throne and shifted his focus outward—where Yoriichi raised his sword for the finishing blow.
Ron no longer cared about Muzan.
He no longer cared about drama.
He only wanted this life to end—so he could return to Zenin Ren as soon as possible.
Through Muzan's eyes, he watched Yoriichi's blazing blade descend.
He whispered words no one else could hear:
"Perish quickly… Tsugikuni Ren."
It was an order. A farewell. And a promise of hell yet to come in another world.
"Shing!"
The blade fell.
—
End of Chapter 66.
You'll be longing for Rai… but you won't see him for a while. That's rather amusing. 😈