West Tokyo City, Eishu Juvenile Detention Center.
The black car screeched to a halt outside the police line.
"We're here."
Ijichi Kiyotaka pulled the handbrake, pushed up his reflective glasses, and spoke in a tone as calm as a robot's: "The presence of a Special Grade Cursed Womb ahead has been confirmed. The mission objective has changed to survival and rescue. Once hatching is confirmed, retreat immediately."
"Though I'd like to say 'please don't die'..." He paused, a flash of absolute rationality crossing his eyes. "But in the face of a Special Grade, fear is the only bargaining chip for survival."
Fushiguro Megumi gave Ijichi a deep look. This Assistant Supervisor, who usually broke out in cold sweats, was uncharacteristically unfamiliar today.
But he didn't have time to think much about it.
"Let's go."
The trio crossed the police line. As the pitch-black curtain of the "Veil" fell, the surrounding light was instantly swallowed.
Just as they stepped through the dormitory building's entrance, reality collapsed.
There were no stairs or corridors at all. What appeared before them was a distorted industrial labyrinth. Massive pipes coiled overhead like intestines.
"This is... an Innate Domain."
Fushiguro Megumi heart sank. "That thing has already hatched!"
"The door! The door is gone!" Itadori Yuji turned back in panic; the original entrance had already turned into a wall.
Before they could recover from the shock, Divine Dog (White) suddenly let out a piercing howl.
"Something's coming!"
Fushiguro Megumi whipped his head around, only to see the ground suddenly split open into a massive black maw.
" Nobara!"
Standing at the back, Nobara Kugisaki didn't even manage a scream before she was instantly sucked into the black vortex.
"Nobara!!" Itadori roared, trying to lung forward, but he grabbed only thin air.
Then, that thing appeared.
It hung upside down from the pipes above, pale all over, with no facial features except for two rows of shark-like teeth.
It just gave a light wave of its hand, as if shooing away a fly.
Puchi!!!!
Blood splattered.
Itadori Yuji stared blankly at his left hand—it was gone. The palm and half of his forearm had been cleanly severed, and blood was gushing out like a fountain.
"Ah... Aaaaaah!!"
The intense pain didn't reach his brain until two seconds later.
Too fast. Too strong.
This wasn't a fight at all; it was a one-sided slaughter.
Fushiguro froze in place, his hand gesture for summoning Divine Dogs stalled mid-air. His Divine Dog (White) had its head twisted off by that white monster just a moment ago; it was now embedded in the wall, dissipating into black ink.
It was absolute violence.
"Fushiguro ! Run! Take Kugisaki / Nobara Kugisaki and run!" Itadori clutched his severed arm, veins bulging on his face. "I'll hold it off! If I'm close to death, Sukuna should come out!"
"Don't be ridiculous!" Fushiguro gritted his teeth. "The Divine Dogs have already..."
He immediately formed hand seals, trying to summon a new Shikigami to find an exit, even if it was just to get Kugisaki out first.
However, reality dealt him an even more desperate blow.
"Damn it... we can't get out!"
Fushiguro discovered in horror that the surrounding space was completely sealed off.
Unlike a normal Innate Domain, this Special Grade Cursed Spirit seemed to have undergone some kind of mutation; it had completely severed the connection to the entrance.
The butterfly effect caused by Lynn's transmigration made this Cursed Spirit significantly stronger than it originally was.
"This isn't what Mr. Ijichi said... the strength of this Special Grade is far beyond expectations!"
In that split second of distraction, the Special Grade Cursed Spirit let out a laugh like a baby's cry.
Boom—!
A terrifying shockwave of Cursed Energy struck from behind, sending Fushiguro and Itadori flying over a dozen meters. Fushiguro slammed heavily into a support pillar, while Itadori lay unconscious.
"Cough, cough..."
Fushiguro coughed up a large mouthful of blood; two of his ribs were broken.
He struggled to lift his head. The Special Grade Cursed Spirit was already standing before him.
It's over.
Itadori had lost a hand, Kugisaki was missing, and he was gravely injured.
Despair submerged him like a tide.
At this moment of life and death, a scene from last night suddenly flashed through Fushiguro mind... Time rewinds to early yesterday morning.
Lynn shook his head, silently calculating the details of his deal with Fushiguro in his mind.
Tomorrow, Fushiguro would encounter a life-and-death crisis.
According to the original plot, Itadori would release Sukuna at the critical moment to kill the Special Grade Cursed Spirit.
But Lynn wasn't about to let such a good opportunity to trade with Fushiguro slip away. He planned to save Fushiguro in Exchange for something that would be of great use at a certain point later.
He snapped his fingers, and a pitch-black card appeared in his hand.
[Product Name: Exchange Invitation (Reverse Version)]
[Type: Consumable]
[Effect: Upon tearing, allows the Exchange Master to reverse-teleport to the user's side.]
[Price: 500 points.]
[Note: An invitation processed using the power of the Reverse Cursed Technique. To think it can actually teleport the master to the guest.]
This card was a product Lynn had spent a great deal of effort to purchase after transmigrating.
It was also a preparation made long ago for tomorrow's plan.
So, that evening, after Fushiguro finished training and was on his way back to the dorms.
That mysterious man in the grey vest stood by a vending machine and handed him a black business card.
"When you find that your 'mutual destruction' is meaningless, when you realize that your so-called sacrifice can't save anyone..." "Tear it."
At the time, he thought it was just the nonsense of a charlatan.
He hadn't wanted to pay attention to this ordinary person without Cursed Energy, but that black card gave him a very strange feeling.
As if possessed, he accepted the card.
By the time he snapped out of it, the man was nowhere to be found... Time returns to the present.
Fushiguro trembling hand reached into his pocket, his fingertips touching that hard card.
That man... had he anticipated this moment all along?
Did he know I would plan to use that Shikigami to take the enemy down with me?
The Special Grade Cursed Spirit raised its sharp claws, preparing to deliver the final blow.
Fushiguro Megumi's gaze became resolute. He didn't know if the man named Lynn was a fraud, but he no longer had a choice.
While there was still hope, he didn't want to use that suicidal move.
Fushiguro Megumi suddenly pulled out the business card and, with the last of his strength, tore it in two.
Rip.
At almost the same time, on a treetop outside the Juvenile Detention Center.
Lynn, who had been resting with his eyes closed, suddenly snapped them open. The second hand of the antique pocket watch in his hand had just hit zero.
"Trade request confirmed."
He swallowed the last bite of kikufuku in his mouth and brushed the crumbs off his hands.
"Time to open for business."
In the next second, his figure vanished into thin air.
And before Fushiguro Megumi, the claws that should have fallen stopped mid-air.
On the previously muddy ground, a shallow layer of water had appeared at some point, clear as a mirror.
A figure wearing a dark grey vest stepped slowly out of the void, treading upon the water's surface.
A gentle voice rang out abruptly.
"We meet again, Young Master of the Zenin Family."