Blood dyed the gavel red, and the scales symbolizing absolute justice tilted violently in this lawless land!
Tokyo Colony No. 1, atop the ruins of the Ikebukuro Supreme Court.
The solemn edifice that once represented modern human society's highest legal authority had its dome crudely sheared away, reduced to an open-air colosseum steeped in an aura of slaughter.
Broken Roman pillars lay collapsed in pools of blood, while fractured stone and crimson remains littered the ground.
And in the dead center of these ruins sat a middle-aged man in a neat suit, gold-rimmed glasses, and somewhat disheveled hair.
Hiromi Higuruma.
This modern defense attorney, whose cursed technique had only awakened after the opening of the Culling Game, now gazed down coldly at the ancient sorcerers kneeling before him with eyes that were utterly exhausted yet razor-sharp.
Behind him floated an enormous, grotesque shikigami condensed from cursed energy.
It was a faceless monstrosity draped in a judge's robe, its eyes blindfolded with black cloth, holding a scale's balance pan in each hand—Judgeman!
"Mercy... Please, have mercy on us!"
"We were forced to kill! Those are the rules of this barrier! If we don't kill, we die!"
Several ancient incarnated sorcerers, who had once dominated the world a thousand years ago but were now reduced to stray dogs, banged their heads frantically against the ground, begging for their lives.
Their ancient garments were soaked through with cold sweat. They trembled violently like winnowing sieves, their foreheads bleeding from the impacts.
Because in the span of just these past few hours...
They had watched this man, using the most absurdly unyielding laws, strip the cursed techniques of more than thirty formidable comrades before ruthlessly severing their heads with a giant sword transformed from a gavel.
Facing their desperate pleas, Higuruma did not even bat an eye.
Expressionless, he simply raised a finger and adjusted his glasses. A cold glint flashed across the lenses.
"Under Article 199 of the Penal Code: murder. Sentence: death penalty."
"Here, no excuse stands above the law."
"Not even the rules of the barrier."
As Higuruma's icy verdict fell, the Judgeman behind him snapped its blindfolded eyes wide open, unleashing a hair-raising screech!
"Guilty! Death penalty! Confiscation!"
Boom!
The colossal gavel came crashing down with overwhelming, destructive might, instantly pulverizing the prostrating ancient sorcerers into mincemeat.
Blood and bone fragments splattered in all directions, tracing crimson arcs across the air, only to be completely repelled three feet from Higuruma's body by an invisible barrier of cursed energy.
He remained seated upright, his crisp suit without a single drop of blood, as if he had merely crushed a few insignificant ants.
"Number thirty-seven."
Higuruma pinched the bridge of his nose in exhaustion and let out a long sigh.
"In this godforsaken barrier, is there really not a single clean soul?"
"Must this broken world truly rely only on primal slaughter to maintain its so-called order?"
Just as he closed his eyes to rest for a moment, hurried footsteps suddenly approached from the edge of the ruins.
The crunch of crushed rubble sounded particularly grating in the desolate expanse.
Higuruma snapped his eyes open. The gavel in his hand transformed instantly into a massive, coldly gleaming greatsword, leveled straight at the source of the sound.
"Halt."
"This is a court of law; unauthorized personnel are forbidden. If you are here seeking prey, you have come to the wrong place."
Stepping out from the shadows was a pink-haired youth in a hoodie.
Yuji Itadori.
Looking at the blood and butchered remains littering the ground, and then up at Higuruma seated on high like a grim reaper holding the power of life and death, Yuji could not help but swallow hard.
That suffocating pressure even reminded him of the despair he felt when facing Special Grade Cursed Spirits in Shibuya.
"Are you the attorney, Hiromi Higuruma?"
Yuji drew a deep breath, suppressing the shock in his chest, and called out loudly.
"I came to ask for your help!"
Higuruma narrowed his eyes slightly, sweeping his gaze across Yuji's youthful yet remarkably resolute face.
"Ask for my help? Amusing."
"Inside this barrier, others run at the mere sight of me, yet you seek me out willingly."
"Speak. What do you need my help with? Winning some absurd divorce dispute, or suing a boss who withheld wages in this hell?"
Faced with Higuruma's slightly mocking probe, Yuji did not flinch in the slightest.
He took a step forward, looking straight into Higuruma's eyes with utter sincerity.
"I want you to help me end this damn Culling Game!"
The moment those words fell, the air across the ruins seemed to freeze solid.
The wind ceased howling; even the thick stench of blood hanging in the air seemed to halt.
The moment he heard those words, Higuruma's nonchalant expression vanished completely, replaced by an unprecedented gravity.
"End the Culling Game?"
He stared intently at Yuji, as if trying to see through his soul.
"Do you understand what you're saying, kid?"
"This barrier is a trap laid by that thousand-year-old monster, Kenjaku. Its rules are so rigid and its power so immense that mortal strength cannot oppose it."
"You want to end it? With what? Your hot-blooded passion, or your laughable naivety?"
Yuji met Higuruma's gaze fearlessly and shouted back.
"It's not just me!"
"I have a senior with absolute, invincible strength! He's fighting on the other side of the barrier right now to protect everyone!"
"We need your power! We need your domain and your understanding of rules to help us exploit the loopholes in this barrier and find a way to break it!"
Listening to Yuji's impassioned words, Higuruma fell into brief silence.
He could tell this boy was not lying. His eyes were crystal clear, devoid of any selfish ambition.
Yet, as an attorney who had waded through the quagmire of human nature for over a decade, he never believed in so-called 'absolute justice.'
In this hell, everyone wore a mask just to survive. So-called alliances were often merely preludes to the next betrayal.
"Your plan sounds grand, and touching as well."
Higuruma slowly stood up, the greatsword shifting back into the compact gavel in his hand.
"However, how do I know you aren't just another group of villains wrapped in the guise of justice?"
"Within this barrier, I trust only my own eyes, and the law held in my hands."
"If you want me as your ally, let me first judge this so-called 'justice' of yours!"
Hum!
Before his words finished, a suffocating surge of terrifying cursed energy erupted from Higuruma's body.
The surrounding space distorted violently as the broken court ruins were engulfed in endless darkness in an instant.
Domain Expansion!
"Deadly Sentencing"!
When Yuji opened his eyes again, he found himself standing inside a solemn, oppressive, enormous courtroom.
Soaring wooden walls surrounded him, and the high ceiling cast down a cold white glow.
He stood in the defendant's dock, firmly hemmed in by railings forged of cursed energy.
Directly before him on the high judge's bench sat Higuruma, who slammed his gavel heavily against the desk.
"Order!"
The massive roar echoed through the court, making Yuji's eardrums ache.
Behind Higuruma, the massive faceless shikigami Judgeman emerged once more, its blindfolded head locked squarely onto Yuji.
"Defendant, Yuji Itadori."
Higuruma pushed his glasses up, eyeing Yuji with a cold stare.
"This court will now conduct an exhaustive trial of your soul, your motives, and this so-called plan of yours."
"Within my domain, no lie can hide, and any concealment will serve as evidence to convict you."
"If there is even a shred of malice in your heart, you will be sentenced to death on the spot, stripped of all power."
"Are you prepared?"
Confronted with this sudden turn of events, Yuji was momentarily taken aback, but then, surprisingly, smiled.
Without the slightest panic or intent to resist, he spread his arms wide, exposing himself entirely to Judgeman's gaze.
"Bring it on!"
"I walk an upright path; I have nothing to hide!"
"If you can truly see through everything, then look closely and see whether I'm worthy of being your ally!"
Seeing Yuji's completely open posture, a flicker of surprise crossed Higuruma's eyes.
Even so, he did not relent, signaling the Judgeman behind him to begin reading the charges.
"The trial begins!"
"Count one: Defendant Yuji Itadori, have you ever murdered an innocent person for your personal desires in this Culling Game?"
Judgeman's eerie voice echoed across the courtroom, and the giant scales began to sway slowly.
Without hesitation, Yuji yelled, "No! I've never killed an innocent person for my own desires!"
The scales ceased swaying, coming to rest at a perfectly even balance.
"Innocent."
Higuruma raised an eyebrow slightly and continued.
"Count two: Defendant Yuji Itadori, is your so-called 'senior' a violent thug who stops at nothing for power and regards human life as worthless?"
At that question, the image of Yoru brandishing his flaming blade, standing alone against endless foes to protect his companions, flashed through Yuji's mind.
His gaze turned resolute, and his voice boomed like a bronze bell.
"Absolutely not!"
"Senior Yoru is the strongest, kindest person I've ever met!"
"His blade strikes only at the most heinous scoundrels! He hates bastards who treat human lives like dirt more than anyone else in the world!"
The scales swayed several times before settling once more into absolute equilibrium.
"Innocent."
Higuruma's breathing grew somewhat ragged.
In this barrier filled with slaughter and despair, he had judged far too many people.
When facing Judgeman, every single one of them had displayed their ugliest traits and spouted endless lies, only to be mercilessly sentenced to death by the scales.
Yet this boy's soul was so pure that even Judgeman's scales could not find the slightest flaw!
"Impossible... How could there be someone in this world with no dark side at all?"
Higuruma gritted his teeth, resolving to deliver the final and most lethal question.
"Count three: Defendant Yuji Itadori..."
He stared fixedly into Yuji's eyes, interrogating him word by word with undeniable pressure.
"Did you once harbor inside your body an utterly evil King of Curses capable of destroying the world? And should you bear full responsibility for the sins he committed?"
The instant the question was uttered, the air in the court plunged to freezing point.
This was the eternal pain in Yuji's heart, and the nightmare he could least bear to face.
During the Shibuya Incident, Sukuna had possessed his body and slaughtered countless civilians. Those shattered city blocks remained the source of his nightmares every single night.
Yuji lowered his head, sinking into an extended silence.
The scales began to tilt violently toward 'guilty,' and Judgeman's blindfolded eyes seemed as though they might weep blood.
Higuruma gripped the gavel tightly. The moment the scales tipped fully, he would execute the death penalty without hesitation.
'As expected, no one in this world is entirely clean...'
Yet just as Higuruma prepared to pronounce the verdict, Yuji suddenly raised his head.
In his eyes, there was no fear, no evasion—only a calm resolve that transcended life and death.
"Yes."
"The King of Curses, Ryomen Sukuna, was indeed housed within my body."
"Even though the tragedy in Shibuya wasn't my intention, it was committed using my body. I can't shift the blame."
Yuji's voice was hoarse, yet infused with an undeniable power.
"If you want to judge me for Sukuna's sins, I have nothing to say in my defense."
"However!"
He snapped his head up, meeting Higuruma's gaze directly as he roared at the top of his lungs.
"It's precisely because I bear that guilt that I have to keep living!"
"I'll use my own hands to save more people! To bring an end to this damn cursed world!"
"If I fall here, then everyone who died because of me truly died for nothing!"
Boom!
At Yuji's soul-stirring cry, the courtroom scales seemed struck by an intense tremor and ground to an abrupt halt mid-tilt!
Immediately after, before Higuruma's disbelieving eyes, Judgeman—the embodiment of absolute rules—slowly retracted its scales.
Its blindfolded head bowed slightly toward Yuji.
As if paying its highest respect to this pure soul, burdened with endless guilt yet facing death to live.
"Innocent..."
Higuruma lowered his gavel dejectedly and dispelled the domain.
The scenery shifted back to the broken court ruins.
Looking at the pink-haired boy gasping for breath yet still holding a firm gaze, Higuruma's eyes flickered with complicated emotion.
"You win, kid."
Higuruma adjusted his glasses, a self-deprecating smirk tugging at his lips.
"In this mad world, I thought the law was the only salvation, and that human nature was rotten to the core."
"Yet you've shown me something purer than the law: one's true heart."
Slipping the gavel back into his sleeve, he straightened his suit jacket and strode over to Yuji.
"You have piqued my interest, and made me curious about this senior of yours."
Higuruma's sharp eyes gazed into the depths of the barrier, his tone carrying unconcealed anticipation.
"Take me to see this Yoru you praise to the heavens."
"I'd like to see what kind of monster could earn the devoted loyalty of a soul as pure as yours... or what kind of shock he might bring me."