The Sword of Promised Victory's radiance shimmered within the cave.
In Eichi's anticipation, this strike should have shattered the earth and broken the dome.
With Yuto's help, the two rushed out from underground and flew into the sky.
But reality was different.
"Gurgle~"
Strange, massive sounds came from all directions.
The tremendous noise forced Eichi to cover his ears with both hands.
The ground vibrated violently.
However, the sensation of the vibration was not the earth crumbling as Eichi had imagined.
It was more like a large ship breaking in the middle and sinking into the sea on both sides.
"Ria."
Yuto flew past Eichi, and Eichi, jumping onto Yuto, pulled Artoria onto Yuto's back as well.
After flying high into the sky, Eichi finally saw the true form of the Cursed Spirit.
It was actually a turtle Cursed Spirit tens of meters large.
"So small?"
One must know that the Dragon Palace Eichi and Artoria had just explored was several hundred meters in diameter; including the cave, the diameter would have been at least two kilometers.
"A barrier that can affect space size? Did it endure Ria's Noble Phantasm by relying on the barrier's characteristics?"
Looking at the turtle Cursed Spirit, whose body had largely disappeared and was struggling to recover, Eichi came to a conclusion.
"If Excalibur had been released from the outside, this Cursed Spirit would have already died."
"Mahoraga!"
Mahoraga appeared from Eichi's shadow.
Mahoraga, falling from a great height, swiftly charged towards the turtle Cursed Spirit's head.
The Sword of Exorcism pierced the turtle Cursed Spirit's head without any obstruction.
The turtle Cursed Spirit's massive body dissipated.
"It only took two hours to finish?"
Eichi found the ease of this mission strange.
Was it not Kenjaku, but truly just an accidental event?
While thinking, Eichi took out his phone.
2:05 PM.
How did the time get ahead?
Did the phone get wet?
Eichi's gaze shifted slightly, and the next moment, Eichi's eyes widened in disbelief.
The date on his phone had already advanced by two days.
The turtle, the Dragon Palace, the goddess within the city, and this unusual flow of time.
Urashima Taro?
At this moment, Eichi finally realized the true nature of this incident.
Urashima Taro is a figure from Japanese mythology.
Legend has it that long ago, a man named Urashima Taro lived by the sea, making a living by fishing.
Urashima Taro had the typical protagonist template: poor yet kind and brave.
One day, returning from fishing, Urashima Taro saw several children teasing a turtle on the shore.
Seeing this, Urashima Taro immediately drove away all the children bullying the turtle.
It's unclear if something had happened between him and the turtle before, but Urashima Taro, who made a living by fishing, did not take the turtle home to make soup; instead, he blessed it and released it.
Years later, this turtle found Urashima Taro while he was out fishing at sea.
Then, the turtle spoke in human language, expressing its desire to repay Urashima Taro's kindness.
And so, the turtle carried the exceptionally gifted Urashima Taro, who could breathe underwater, to the Dragon Palace.
Urashima Taro then lived a dream life in the Dragon Palace, accompanied by a goddess, eating seafood every day, enjoying sea views, and playing with the goddess.
However, not long after, a feeling of homesickness arose in Urashima Taro's heart, and he decided to return to his village to see his mother, whom he hadn't seen in a long time, and to see if the village had changed.
Seeing Urashima Taro's eagerness to return home, the goddess had the sea turtle take him back.
But before he left, the goddess gave Urashima Taro a box.
Crucially, the goddess who gave Urashima Taro the box requested that he never open it, no matter what.
Urashima Taro returned to his village after a long absence.
But upon arriving at the village, Urashima Taro found that everything had changed.
His house was gone, his mother was gone, and the village was unrecognizable.
To learn the truth, Urashima Taro opened the box the goddess had given him, and he instantly transformed into an old man.
It turned out that several hundred years had passed.
This story is very popular in Japan, so upon seeing that turtle, Eichi immediately connected everything.
However, at this moment, Eichi felt no pride in witnessing a legend.
He only had a feeling that something was terribly wrong.
Two days had passed!
Eichi's mind quickly began to search through his memories of the plot.
This is bad, there's no time!
"Ria, hold on tight; we need to go full speed now."
"Don't worry about me, Eichi, I have riding skills."
Artoria also noticed Eichi's anxiety.
The next moment, Yuto began flying at full speed towards the High School.
Meanwhile, outside the High School's barrier.
The holy sword's radiance shone on that nameless island.
The person Kenjaku had arranged to observe Eichi's movements immediately noticed this situation.
After seeing Yuto flying towards the High School, he immediately made a phone call.
On the other side, Kenjaku's previously good mood completely vanished at this moment.
Yesterday morning, Kenjaku received a report from Nagasaki: Heroic Spirit Emiya had successfully killed three Curse Users, exorcised a Special Grade Cursed Spirit, and rescued all the hostages late at night.
Currently, Heroic Spirit Emiya's whereabouts had been out of Kenjaku's sight for a day.
The only fortunate thing was that Heroic Spirit Emiya had not used any transportation and did not possess the ability to fly.
Now, even worse news reached Kenjaku's ears.
Azuma Eichi was already on his way back to the High School.
'Should I give up?'
Kenjaku, who was deeply entrenched in the Dao of caution, began to ponder.
'Will I ever encounter such an opportunity again?'
Kenjaku was very hesitant.
On one hand, if he gave up this opportunity, Kenjaku would have to wait another 500 years.
On the other hand, next time, there might not be a pawn as useful as Toji Fushiguro.
This 'useful' didn't refer to his strength, but rather Toji Fushiguro's complete lack of Cursed Energy.
Heavenly Restriction was not uncommon in the Jujutsu World.
However, most Heavenly Restrictions involved sacrificing one thing to gain another.
The key was "one thing."
Situations like Mechamaru and Kokichi Muta were considered rare among Heavenly Restrictions.
Not to mention an extreme case like Toji Fushiguro's zero Cursed Energy.
It was a power bestowed by the Cursed Energy System, yet it completely broke free from the System's constraints.
Kenjaku could afford to wait 500 years.
But whether he would encounter someone who could break the Karma shackles of the Cursed Energy System next time, Kenjaku didn't know.
'Toji Fushiguro can't be made into a Cursed Object.'
Kenjaku had once turned a large number of ancient powerhouses into Cursed Objects, intending to revive them in the future.
However, an extreme case like Toji Fushiguro simply couldn't be made into a Cursed Object.
'Let's make two preparations.'
Kenjaku made a decision in his heart.
If Toji Fushiguro succeeded, he would at most help him stall for some time; if Toji Fushiguro failed, he would simply flee.
Kenjaku stood up and went to his collection room in Tokyo.
Over a millennium, Kenjaku had collected and created countless Cursed Objects.
This also meant Kenjaku had prepared numerous secret rooms to store his collections.
Even in the Kiko of Tokyo Jujutsu High and the Jujutsu Headquarters, there were many Cursed Objects created by Kenjaku.
Occasionally, when he encountered people with very good compatibility, Kenjaku would even place these Cursed Objects inside them, allowing them to incarnate when the time was right, or retrieving them if the time wasn't.
This time, Kenjaku did not meticulously select from his collection.
Instead, he directly packed a large number of Cursed Objects into his robe.
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