West Tokyo City, Eishu Detention Center.
A black sedan screeched to a halt just outside the police tape.
"We're here."
Kiyotaka Ijichi pulled the handbrake and pushed up his reflective glasses. His tone was as cold and precise as a machine: "Target confirmed as a Special Grade Cursed Womb. Mission objective has changed to survival and rescue. Once hatching is confirmed, retreat immediately."
"Although I really want 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 currency for survival."
Megumi Fushiguro gave Ijichi a long look. The Assistant Director, usually sweating buckets, was acting uncharacteristically strange today.
But he didn't have time to dwell on 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.
The moment they stepped through the dormitory doors, reality collapsed.
There were no stairs, no hallways. Stretched out before them was a twisted industrial labyrinth. Massive pipes coiled overhead like intestines.
"This is... a Domain Expansion."
Megumi's heart sank. "It's already hatched!"
"The door! The door's gone!" Yuji Itadori looked back in horror. The entrance had been replaced by a solid wall.
Before they could recover from the shock, the white Divine Dog suddenly let out a piercing howl.
"Something's coming!"
Megumi whipped his head around, only to see the ground split open into a giant, gaping black maw.
"Kugisaki!"
Nobara Kugisaki, standing at the rear, didn't even have time to scream. She was instantly sucked into the black vortex.
"Nobara!!" Yuji roared, lunging for her, but he grabbed only empty air.
Then, the thing appeared.
It hung upside down from the pipes overhead, its body deathly pale. Its face had no features, only two rows of shark-like teeth.
It simply waved a hand, as if swatting a fly.
Splutch.
Blood sprayed.
Yuji stared blankly at his left hand—or rather, where his left hand used to be. His palm and half his forearm had been cleanly sheared off. Blood was fountaining out.
"Ah... AHHHHHH!!"
The searing pain took two full seconds to reach his brain.
Too fast. Too strong.
This wasn't a fight; it was a unilateral slaughter.
Megumi froze, his hand sign for summoning the Divine Dog halted in mid-air. His white Divine Dog had been decapitated by the white monster in an instant, its head now embedded in the wall, dissolving into black ink.
It was absolute violence.
"Fushiguro! Run! Find Kugisaki and run!" Yuji clutched his severed stump, veins bulging on his face. "I'll hold it off! If I'm about to die, Sukuna should come out!"
"Don't joke around!" Megumi gritted his teeth. "The Divine Dog is already..."
He immediately formed a seal, trying to summon a new Shikigami to find an exit. Even if he could just get Kugisaki out...
But reality dealt him a more desperate blow.
"Damn it... we can't get out!"
Megumi realized with horror that the surrounding space was completely sealed.
Unlike a typical Domain, this Special Grade curse seemed to have undergone some kind of mutation. It had completely severed the connection point to the entrance.
The butterfly effect caused by Lynn's arrival had made this curse far stronger than it was originally meant to be.
"This isn't what Mr. Ijichi said... This Special Grade's strength is way beyond our estimates!"
In that split second of distraction, the Special Grade curse let out a laugh that sounded like an infant's cry.
BOOM—!
A terrifying shockwave of Cursed Energy hit them from behind. Megumi and Yuji were blasted away, flying over ten meters. Megumi slammed heavily into a support pillar, while Yuji was knocked unconscious.
"Cough... cough..."
Megumi coughed up a mouthful of blood. Two of his ribs were broken.
He struggled to lift his head. The Special Grade curse was already standing in front of him.
It was over.
Yuji had lost a hand, Kugisaki was missing, and he was critically injured.
Despair washed over him like a tide.
In this moment of life and death, a memory from last night suddenly flashed through Megumi's mind.
...
Flashback to yesterday, early morning.
Lynn shook his head, silently calculating the details of his transaction with Megumi Fushiguro.
Tomorrow, Megumi would face a life-or-death crisis.
According to the original plot, Yuji would release Sukuna at the critical moment and kill the Special Grade curse.
But Lynn wasn't about to let such a golden opportunity to trade with Megumi slip away. He planned to save Megumi in exchange for something that would be incredibly useful later on.
He snapped his fingers, and a pitch-black card appeared in his hand.
[Item Name: Exchange Invitation (Reversed)]
[Type: Consumable]
[Effect: Upon tearing, reverse-summons the Exchange Owner to the user's location.]
[Price: 500 Points.]
[Note: An invitation processed with Reverse Cursed Energy. Surprisingly, it can summon the owner to the guest.]
This card was a commodity Lynn had spent a lot of effort to buy after arriving in this world.
It was a preparation made long in advance for tomorrow's plan.
So that night, as Megumi was returning to the dorms after training...
The mysterious man in the gray vest stood by the vending machine and handed him a black business card.
"When you realize your 'mutual destruction' is meaningless, when you realize your so-called sacrifice won't save anyone..."
"Tear it."
At the time, Megumi thought it was the rambling of a con artist.
He hadn't wanted to pay attention to this ordinary person with no Cursed Energy, but the black card gave him a very strange feeling.
Driven by some inexplicable impulse, he took the card.
When he looked back, the man had vanished without a trace.
...
Back to the present.
Megumi's trembling hand reached into his pocket, his fingertips brushing against the hard card.
That man... did he predict this moment?
Did he know I was planning to use that Shikigami to take the enemy down with me?
The Special Grade curse raised its claws, preparing to deliver the final blow.
Megumi's eyes hardened with resolve. He didn't know if the man named Lynn was a fraud, but he had no other choice.
As long as there was hope, he didn't want to use that suicidal technique.
Megumi yanked out the card and, using the last of his strength, tore it in two.
Riiip.
Almost simultaneously, in a tree just outside the detention center.
Lynn, who had been resting with his eyes closed, snapped them open. The second hand on the antique pocket watch in his hand had just hit zero.
"Transaction request confirmed."
He swallowed the last bite of his Kikufuku and brushed the crumbs from his hands.
"Time to open for business."
The next second, his figure vanished into thin air.
And in front of Megumi Fushiguro, the claw that should have descended froze in mid-air.
On the muddy ground, a shallow layer of water had appeared out of nowhere, clear as a mirror.
A figure in a dark gray vest was walking out of the void, stepping elegantly onto the water's surface.
A smooth, gentle voice cut through the air.
"We meet again, Young Master of the Zen'in clan."