West Tokyo City, Eishu Juvenile Detention Center.
A black sedan screeched to a halt outside the police cordon.
"We're here."
Ijichi Kiyotaka pulled the handbrake and adjusted his glasses, his voice as mechanical as a robot's. "A Special Grade Cursed Womb has been confirmed ahead. The mission objective has been changed to survival and rescue. Once a hatching is confirmed, retreat immediately."
"While I would like to say 'Please don't die'..." He paused, a look of absolute logic flashing in his eyes. "But in the face of a Special Grade, fear is your only bargaining chip for survival."
Fushiguro Megumi gave Ijichi a long look. This Assistant Director, who usually broke out in a cold sweat, seemed strangely unfamiliar today.
But he had no time to think.
"Let's go."
The trio crossed the cordon. As the black curtain of the Veil descended, the surrounding light was instantly devoured.
The moment they stepped through the dormitory gates, reality collapsed.
There were no stairs or corridors at all. Stretched before them was a twisted industrial maze. Massive pipes coiled overhead like intestines.
"This is... an Innate Domain."
Fushiguro Megumi's heart sank. "The thing has already hatched!"
"The door! The door is gone!" Itadori Yuji turned back in terror; the original entrance had turned into a solid wall.
Before they could recover from the shock, Divine Dog (White) suddenly let out a piercing howl.
"Something's coming!"
Fushiguro whipped around, only to see a massive black mouth split open in the floor.
"Kugisaki!"
Standing at the rear, Kugisaki Nobara didn't even have time to scream before she was instantly sucked into the black vortex.
"Nobara!!" Itadori roared, lunging forward, but he only caught empty air.
Then, that thing appeared.
It hung upside down from the pipes above, its body a ghostly pale. It had no facial features, only two rows of teeth like a shark's.
It merely waved a hand casually, as if shooing away a fly.
Splurt.
Blood sprayed everywhere.
Itadori Yuji stared blankly at his left hand—it was gone. His palm and half his forearm had been cleanly severed, blood geysering out.
"Ah... AAAAAAHH!!"
The agonizing pain didn't reach his brain until two seconds later.
Too fast. Too strong.
This wasn't a battle at all; it was a one-sided massacre.
Fushiguro froze in place, his hands still forming the sign to summon his shikigami. His Divine Dog (White) had been decapitated by the white monster in an instant; it was currently embedded in the wall, dissipating into black ink.
It was absolute violence.
"Fushiguro! Run! Get Kugisaki and get out of here!" Itadori clutched his stump, veins bulging on his face. "I'll hold it off! If I get close to dying, Sukuna should come out!"
"Don't be stupid!" Fushiguro gritted his teeth. "Divine Dog is already..."
He immediately performed hand signs to summon a new shikigami to find an exit, hoping to at least get Kugisaki out first.
However, reality dealt him an even more desperate blow.
"Damn it... we can't get out!"
Fushiguro realized with horror that the surrounding space was completely sealed off.
Unlike a typical Innate Domain, this Special Grade curse seemed to have undergone some mutation, completely severing the connection point to the entrance.
The butterfly effect caused by Hayashi En's arrival had made this curse far stronger than it was supposed to be.
"This isn't what Mr. Ijichi said... The strength of this Special Grade is far beyond expectations!"
In that moment of distraction, the Special Grade curse let out a laugh like a crying infant.
Boom!
A terrifying shockwave of cursed energy struck from behind, blowing Fushiguro and Itadori back a dozen meters. Fushiguro slammed heavily into a support pillar, while Itadori lay unconscious.
"Cough... cough..."
Fushiguro coughed up a mouthful of blood; at least two of his ribs were broken.
He struggled to lift his head. The Special Grade curse was already standing right in front of him.
It was over.
Itadori had lost a hand, Kugisaki was missing, and he was gravely injured.
Despair washed over him like a tidal wave.
In this life-or-death moment, a scene from the previous night flashed through Fushiguro's mind.
...
Rewind to the early hours of yesterday morning.
Hayashi En shook his head, silently calculating the details of his deal with Fushiguro Megumi.
Tomorrow, Fushiguro would face a lethal crisis.
According to the original plot, Itadori would release Sukuna at the critical moment to kill the Special Grade curse.
But Hayashi En wasn't about to miss such a good opportunity to trade with Fushiguro. He planned to save him in exchange for something that would be very useful later on.
He snapped his fingers, and a pitch-black card appeared in his hand.
[SYSTEM: ITEM NAME: Invitation to the Exchange (Reverse Version)]
[SYSTEM: TYPE: Consumable]
[SYSTEM: EFFECT: Upon tearing, teleports the owner of the Exchange to the user's side.]
[SYSTEM: PRICE: 500 points.]
[SYSTEM: REMARK: An invitation processed with the power of the Reverse Cursed Technique. To think it can actually teleport the master to the guest.]
This card was an item Hayashi En had spent a great deal of effort to buy after transmigrating.
It was a preparation he had made long ago for tomorrow's plan.
Thus, that evening, as Fushiguro Megumi finished training and was heading back to the dorms...
That mysterious man in the dark grey vest stood by a vending machine and handed him a black business card.
"When you realize your 'mutual destruction' is meaningless, and when you understand that your so-called sacrifice won't save anyone..."
"Tear it."
At the time, he thought it was just the nonsensical ramblings of a fraud.
He hadn't wanted to pay any mind to this ordinary person with no cursed energy, but the black card gave him a very strange feeling.
As if possessed, he had accepted the card.
By the time he came to his senses, the man was nowhere to be found.
...
Back to the present.
Fushiguro's trembling hand reached into his pocket, his fingertips touching the hard card.
'That man... had he predicted this moment long ago?'
'Did he know I would plan to use that shikigami to take the enemy down with me?'
The Special Grade curse raised its claws, preparing to deliver the final blow.
Fushiguro's gaze became resolute. He didn't know if the man named Hayashi En was a liar, but he had no other choice.
While there was still hope, he didn't want to use that suicidal technique.
Fushiguro yanked out the business card and, with the last of his strength, tore it in two.
Rip.
At almost the exact same moment, atop a tree branch outside the detention center.
Hayashi En, 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."
The next second, his figure vanished into thin air.
In front of Fushiguro Megumi, the claws that should have fallen remained frozen in mid-air.
Upon the once muddy ground, a shallow layer of water had appeared at some point, clear as a mirror.
A figure wearing a dark grey vest slowly stepped out from the void, treading upon the water's surface.
A gentle voice rang out abruptly.
"We meet again, Young Master of the Zenin clan."