The underground sewers were dark, damp, and cold.
This was the city's intestines, a convergence of all things filthy and abandoned.
"Drip."
Yoshino Junpei sat on a "chair" made of stacked discarded wooden crates, his hands gripping the fabric of his pants over his knees tightly.
Despite his efforts to maintain an outward appearance of calm, the trembling deep within his pupils betrayed his current fear.
Sitting opposite him was the man with long, grayish-blue hair and a face covered in stitches—Mahito.
Mahito held a freshly caught rat in his hand, casually kneading it into various bizarre shapes while speaking in a lighthearted tone that sent shivers down one's spine:
"Junpei, do you think things like 'hearts' really exist?"
"Humans always like to talk about the 'heart' or the'soul,' imbuing them with sacred meaning."
"But in my view..."
"Squelch."
Mahito applied a bit of pressure with his fingers, and the rat, which had been turned into a sphere, instantly burst into a bloody mess.
"It's nothing more than a byproduct of physical metabolism."
"It has no weight."
"It has no value."
"Therefore, whether it's killing someone or saving someone, it's essentially no different from squashing a bug."
Mahito looked up, his heterochromatic eyes gazing at Junpei with malicious inducement.
"This is the truth of the world."
"Only by accepting this 'indifference' can you obtain true freedom."
Junpei looked at the bloodstain, his stomach churning. If it were the him from the day before yesterday, he might have agreed with this nihilism out of despair.
But now.
He touched the cold badge beneath his collar, and the deep gaze behind Boss Lynn's gold-rimmed glasses surfaced in his mind.
"No."
Junpei took a deep breath. His voice was faint, yet exceptionally firm.
"I don't think so."
"If life truly has no weight..."
Junpei looked up, staring directly into Mahito's eyes.
"Then why are you so obsessed with playing with it?"
"Is it because... you're jealous?"
The air suddenly froze.
Mahito's movements stagnated for a moment. Then, his mouth split open, revealing that signature, pure, and cruel smile.
"Hahahaha!"
"Well said! Very well said!"
Mahito suddenly jumped down from the pile of junk and walked over to Junpei in a few steps. The pressure of a Special Grade Cursed Spirit instantly enveloped the boy.
"You really are interesting. It seems that although your brain hasn't connected to the circuits of jujutsu yet, the sensitivity of your soul is already quite high."
"However..."
Mahito reached out with his stitched hand, his fingertips shimmering with the blue-purple light of Cursed Energy.
"Sensitivity alone isn't enough."
"Don't you want to see with your own eyes what a soul actually looks like?"
"If I just fiddle with your brain a little and help you flip the'switch'..."
Mahito leaned down, his patchwork face almost touching the tip of Junpei's nose.
"You'll be able to see that new world full of Cursed Energy."
"Come on, Junpei. Let me give you a gift... of evolution."
Junpei looked at the hand drawing closer. It was the same hand that had just crushed a rat.
He closed his eyes, forcibly suppressing his instinct to flee.
"I'll trouble you then... Mr. Mahito."
"You're very welcome."
Mahito's palm pressed gently against Junpei's forehead.
Cursed Technique activated.
Idle Transfiguration.
Mahito's soul tentacles reached into Junpei's mental world without any defense, preparing to modify his brain structure.
However.
At the moment of intrusion.
The malice reflection mirror emitted a brilliant light.
Even though Mahito only intended to activate Junpei's technique, he still harbored malice toward Junpei in his heart.
Mahito froze.
Before his fingers could even touch the core of Junpei's soul, it felt as if he had reached into a high-speed meat grinder.
"Wha...?!"
Mahito's pupils suddenly constricted.
"This is... a Cursed Tool?!"
Before he could react.
A terrifying counter-shock force surged from his fingertips, frantically pouring back into his body.
"BOOM—!!!"
A dull thud sounded.
Mahito's right palm, along with half of his forearm, exploded into a mist of blood in an instant!
Blue-purple Cursed Spirit blood splattered onto the damp ground, making a sizzling corrosive sound.
"AAAAAAAAAH!!!"
Mahito let out a shrill scream.
The agonizing pain of his soul being forcibly torn and crushed far exceeded the limits of physical damage.
His entire body was sent flying by the massive impact, slamming heavily into the sewer wall and creating a deep crater.
"It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!!"
Mahito clutched his severed arm, rolling on the ground. At the wound, his soul was writhing frantically, trying to regenerate, but the residual "vibration" rule acted like a maggot in his bones, continuously destroying the newly formed tissue.
Junpei was also knocked to the ground by the counter-force.
After enduring this attack, the malice reflection mirror also lost its luster.
He touched his forehead.
He was okay?
He really was okay!
The monster's hand had exploded, yet he was completely unharmed!
"Success..."
Junpei was about to speak.
"BOOM!!!"
The manhole cover above was suddenly blown away by brute force. Blinding sunlight pierced the darkness.
Immediately after.
Two figures descended like divine soldiers, landing heavily on either side of Mahito, cutting off his retreat.
On the left.
Was a boy in a pink hoodie, his fists glowing with red Cursed Energy, his eyes as resolute as iron.
Itadori Yuji.
On the right.
Was a blonde man in a beige suit wearing goggles, holding a short sword wrapped in bandages, exuding the aura of a reliable adult.
Kento Nanami.
"So it really is here."
Nanami adjusted his goggles and glanced at the slip of paper in his hand with the coordinates written on it.
"The intelligence was accurate."
Itadori took a fighting stance, staring fixedly at Mahito on the ground.
"Nanamin! Is this the guy?"
"The monster that turns people into jelly?"
"Yeah."
Nanami stared coldly at Mahito on the ground and his bleeding severed arm.
"It seems someone beat us to it."
"Itadori-kun, let's finish this quickly."
"It's now... overtime."
Mahito scrambled up from the ground.
He looked at Junpei, then at the two powerful Jujutsu Sorcerers who had suddenly appeared.
"Haha..."
Mahito suddenly laughed.
His laughter was distorted, the stitches on his face snapping and leaking body fluids.
"I see."
"This was a setup."
He had been played!
"Since you're here, don't even think about leaving."
A cold voice came from deep within the shadows.
Lynn, holding a black umbrella, slowly walked out.
He didn't stay behind the scenes as usual. This time, he folded the umbrella and leaned it against the wall.
Then, his hand reached for his waist.
There was a well-crafted small black leather pouch hanging there, its opening faintly shimmering with the faint light of Cursed Energy.
He then pulled out a jet-black, ancient-looking Kunai from the leather pouch.
A system panel for this Cursed Tool appeared before Lynn's eyes:
[Cursed Tool Name: Infinite Blade · Kunai Pouch (Grade 2)]
[Origin: Exchange No. 8 System Mall]
[Attributes: Regeneration, Conduction.]
[Description: A Kunai bag connected to an imaginary space, containing 5 specially made Kunai.]
[Special Effect: After throwing, if there are fewer than 5 Kunai in the bag, a new Kunai will automatically be generated every 10 minutes. The Kunai can carry Cursed Technique effects.]
[Price: 8,000 points.]
"This item plus that little mirror cost me a lot of money."
"I hope your corpse can help me break even."
Lynn spun the Kunai on his fingertip, the edge shimmering with the black light unique to the ratio technique Technique.
"You..."
Mahito stared fixedly at Lynn.
"You're the one who set the trap?"
"Bingo."
Lynn pushed up his glasses, a cold glint flashing across the lenses.
"Your reward is death."
Before his voice finished echoing.
"Move!"
Nanami Kento was the first to strike, his short sword drawing an afterimage as it aimed straight for Mahito's side.
Itadori followed closely behind, his Divergent Fist carrying a red flash as it slammed toward Mahito's face.
"Tch!"
Mahito was forced to engage.
His body twisted, sprouting countless bone spurs in an attempt to force the two back.
But at the moment he dodged Nanami's attack.
Lynn moved.
He didn't rush into melee combat like a traditional Jujutsu Sorcerer. Instead, he stood his ground and flicked his wrist sharply.
"Whoosh!"
The Kunai turned into a streak of black lightning, accurately flying toward the blind spot where Mahito was dodging.
During flight, red dots representing "7:3" appeared on the Kunai's surface.
"Pfft!"
"Ugh!!"
Mahito's left leg buckled as a wound deep enough to see bone exploded at the knee. The Kunai was deeply embedded in his bone, and the resulting "soul vibration" caused his movements to instantly stiffen.
[Kunai Remaining: 4/5]
"Now's our chance!"
Experienced as they were, Nanami and Itadori instantly seized this moment of stiffness.
"Collapse!"
Nanami's short sword slashed heavily across Mahito's chest.
"Divergent Fist!"
Itadori's heavy punch landed directly on Mahito's face.
"Bang! Bang!"
Mahito was sent flying like a broken sandbag, crashing through a wall and becoming deeply embedded in it.
"Cough, cough..."
Mahito slid down from the debris, covered in blood.
He looked at Itadori (his soul's natural enemy), looked at Nanami (a First-Grade Sorcerer), and finally looked at Lynn, who was pulling a second Kunai from his waist.
Fear.
Since his birth, he had tasted the flavor of "death" for the first time.
The coordination of these three was too disgusting.
One hit the soul, one hit critical points, and another threw hidden weapons with crowd control from a distance, specifically targeting his weaknesses.
"If I don't go all out here..."
"I really will die!"
Mahito's gaze changed.
Craziness, a desperate gamble.
It was the resolve of someone pushed to a dead end.
"Since you want to kill me so badly..."
"Then come at me!!"
Mahito's hands suddenly formed a bizarre hand seal.
Several small hands even grew out of his mouth, forming part of the seal.
Immense Cursed Energy erupted instantly, and the surrounding space began to warp and turn black.
Nanami Kento's pupils suddenly constricted.
"This is... Not good! Get back!!"
As a First-Grade Sorcerer, he knew exactly what this was.
The pinnacle of jujutsu battles.
Domain Expansion.
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