"Ah, it's been so long since I last fought you..."
[Yuji Itadori] gazed at the headless corpse of Sukuna before him and murmured in a low voice: "But now that I've come back here, I realize—you were actually this weak."
"How utterly uninspiring, Ryomen Sukuna... I'll probably forget all about you before long."
Having said this, he turned his head away, finally no longer looking at Ryomen Sukuna.
Instead, he looked toward Satoru Gojo—and toward the black-haired, purple-eyed youth who had appeared at Satoru Gojo's side.
Anthony (Prometheus) bowed slightly toward [Yuji Itadori], then offered him a light, breezy smile. "...Have you come to take me back?"
After seeing Anthony (Prometheus), for some reason, there was even a trace of relief in [Yuji Itadori]'s tone.
He asked Anthony (Prometheus) in the tone of a man letting go. Faced with this question, Anthony (Prometheus) merely gave a slight nod: "You cannot endure forever in this era... I think you understand what I mean."
His tone was leisurely. [Yuji Itadori] raised his head, gazing at this world, seemingly lost in thought.
"I suppose... this isn't really my world, is it?"
Then, all of a sudden, [Yuji Itadori] spoke up like this. Anthony (Prometheus) was momentarily startled, then answered with a smile:
"You're rather more perceptive than I'd thought... Indeed, you come from another possibility. As for the rest, I imagine you can understand it even without my saying so."
As he spoke, he looked toward Itadori and gave a slight nod: "That is—even if you return to your own world... nothing you've done here will change a thing there. Though it's a sorrowful matter... I must still ask you to accept it."
"It's fine."
[Yuji Itadori] shook his head and looked toward Satoru Gojo. Suddenly, a brilliant smile broke across his face.
"At least there's another [me] who won't have to endure all the loneliness I went through afterward...
"That alone is enough."
He spoke calmly, stepping toward Anthony (Prometheus) one pace at a time: "I'm already quite content.
To be able to help another version of myself... even if it means I still have to bear the loneliness that exists within that possibility—would I really have any complaints because of it?
[Yuji Itadori]'s answer was: absolutely not.
If anything, he embraced it gladly!
"Thank you so much for your understanding."
Anthony (Prometheus) inclined his body slightly, then, just as [Yuji Itadori] was about to turn and leave, changed tack and spoke again:
"That said—even so, if one day you'd like to come back for a visit, that's perfectly possible too."
"You'd only need to shine a glass window upon Itadori... and you can return without any trouble."
[Yuji Itadori]'s footsteps stumbled, and for a moment he genuinely didn't know what to say.
Oh come on—couldn't you have mentioned something like this sooner?!
For a moment, [Yuji Itadori] glanced back at Anthony (Prometheus) somewhat resentfully, only to see that same ever-present smile on Anthony (Prometheus)'s face.
"Of course... this isn't your world, and none of it ever belonged to you."
He grew serious and said: "But I believe they'd be glad to welcome you."
"...Thank you."
[Yuji Itadori] turned his face away and said softly.
"It's nothing, no need for thanks. If you really want to thank someone, why not go speak with your teacher first?"
Anthony (Prometheus) said, still smiling: "After all... this isn't the kind of parting where speaking only leaves behind sorrow anymore, is it? There will always come a time to meet again."
"Sometimes, there can be a feast in this world that never ends."
[Yuji Itadori]'s steps paused for a moment, and then his heart gave a small leap.
He turned his head toward Satoru Gojo, seemingly wrestling with something in his heart. But in the next moment, [Yuji Itadori] stepped forward all the same, walking straight toward Satoru Gojo.
One step, two steps—slowly he made his way to Satoru Gojo's side, and at last, he came to a stop.
"Gojo-sensei... I..."
Then [Yuji Itadori] parted his lips slightly, but for a moment he didn't know what to say. In the next instant, he saw Satoru Gojo voluntarily release his Limitless technique, and one hand came to rest on [Yuji Itadori]'s shoulder.
"Ah, Itadori," Satoru Gojo gave a thumbs-up, a smile on his face, "to have grown to this point... that's really wonderful."
"As a teacher, I'm truly glad to see you reach such heights..."
"Sensei..."
"It seems I wasn't really able to teach you much afterward... but this time, I'll make it up to you properly."
As Satoru Gojo spoke, he looked into the distance. After a moment, [Yuji Itadori] understood what Satoru Gojo meant, and looked in the direction Satoru Gojo was gazing.
Over there—that should be his past self...
"Sensei, this time you really have to watch over him as he grows up. Though, for me, this is a somewhat greedy request—"
"Don't worry. As a teacher, how could I ever abandon my student?"
"...Thank you again, Gojo-sensei."
[Yuji Itadori] bowed slightly, pressing his lips together, his eyes filled with a complicated expression.
"Gojo-sensei, until... we meet again."
At the end, [Yuji Itadori] bit down hard on the words "meet again," then stepped back a few paces. And immediately after, Satoru Gojo replied without the slightest hesitation:
"Mm, then it's settled—until we meet again.
"And besides, I'm really curious about everything you've experienced over all those future years... What's the jujutsu world like in the future? What sorts of things have you done? All of it... I'm so curious."
Hearing Satoru Gojo's words, [Yuji Itadori]'s expression suddenly turned strange, and for the first time, his face seemed to convey something like "I want to leave."
Even Anthony (Prometheus)'s expression grew odd.
Hold on—Tiger Emperor, that look on your face...
You didn't really spend all sixty-eight of those years playing pachinko, did you?
"Ahem, I'll be going now. Gojo-sensei, keep it up."
Finally, [Yuji Itadori] waved to Satoru Gojo, bidding farewell in this way, then turned and fell into step behind Anthony (Prometheus), walking forward in silence without a single word.
"Are you ready?"
Once they had put a little distance between themselves and Satoru Gojo, Anthony (Prometheus) turned her head and spoke softly to [Yuji Itadori].
"...Am I allowed to say not yet?"
After a silence, [Yuji Itadori] seemed to let out a soft laugh, but then immediately continued:
"I really don't want it to end... but even so, I have to go back eventually, don't I?"
"This isn't where I belong..."
He lowered his head. After the battle, even the field of ruins seemed able to brim with life once more. A butterfly fluttered over from somewhere and slowly alighted in [Yuji Itadori]'s hand.
The purple butterfly looked exquisitely beautiful. [Yuji Itadori] gazed at it, and after a moment, fell into a slight daze.
"Is it beautiful?"
Anthony (Prometheus) turned his head and asked. After a stretch of silence, [Yuji Itadori] gave a slight nod.
"Legend says this is a butterfly of the Underworld... one that carries a fragment of a person's soul."
Anthony (Prometheus) suddenly broached a new topic, speaking somewhat out of nowhere, which left [Yuji Itadori] briefly puzzled. But Anthony (Prometheus) only looked at the butterfly and softly sighed with feeling:
"It really has been such a long time since I last saw one..."
"When a butterfly of the Underworld falls into the river, the soul enters a new world amid the river's rushing current, and then rises to the surface anew... And so the butterfly carries the will of the dead, as well as the dead's hope for reincarnation."
Anthony (Prometheus) said in a low voice, then gave [Yuji Itadori] a rather brilliant smile.
"So you don't need to worry too much. Who knows—perhaps your Gojo-sensei will one day return to your side as well?"
"Really?"
[Yuji Itadori] was taken aback, and only then did he realize that he still hadn't asked the name of the youth before him.
"I don't know either... but I hope it'll be true."
Anthony (Prometheus) turned his head and gazed into the endless void, as though he could see the Underworld through it.
Within the Underworld, the ghostly envoys, growing ever more numerous, were hard at work. As the power of souls surged, facility after facility slowly rose from the ground... The entire Underworld seemed to be gradually coming back to life, and butterflies, one after another, began to dance through its great halls.
Anthony (Prometheus) watched this scene, then withdrew his gaze and gave [Yuji Itadori] a slight nod.
"I believe that day will surely come."
"...Then I'll believe you too."
[Yuji Itadori] was silent for a moment, then said so in a low voice all the same. At last, he closed his eyes.
"Farewell, [Yuji Itadori]."
"Mm, farewell. I hope that the next time we meet, I'll get to see the scene you described."
[Yuji Itadori] said softly. Then the light in Anthony (Prometheus)'s hand flashed, the supply from the glass window ceased, and the possibility known as [Yuji Itadori] gradually returned to its original direction.
As for Anthony (Prometheus), he continued strolling across the battlefield and opened the chat group.
Sure enough, the moment he opened it, he saw Carmen berating him.
[AAA City Ghost: @Lord of the Pure White Throne, you dog of a capitalist, off chitchatting over there while working me like a slave!]
[AAA City Ghost: Just how long is this overtime supposed to go on? At least give me a number!]
[Lord of the Pure White Throne: Huh? How did you know I was chatting... oh, right, I had my livestream on.]
[Lord of the Pure White Throne: But that doesn't add up—aren't you supposed to be working? How do you have time to watch the stream?]
[AAA City Ghost: ...]
[Lord of the Pure White Throne: All right, just a joke. Thanks for all your hard work, everyone.]
[Let Night City Burn: I don't really mind... Compared to Night City, the workload over here on Mr. Anthony (Prometheus)'s side counts as pretty easy, honestly.]
[Grand Flame Wordsmith: Now that it's over, I'll be heading back. Had quite a lot of fun today.]
[Grand Flame Wordsmith: Oh, right—Little Thirteen, New Year's is almost here, so remember to come back for the New Year's Eve dinner. This is the first year everyone's celebrating together, and Little Yu's been preparing for it since now.]
[Lord of the Pure White Throne: Huh? New Year's Eve dinner already? But isn't it only November over on Terra's side... Never mind, I'll definitely come when the time comes.]
[Lord of the Pure White Throne: I just hope I'll have come back to life by the time New Year's rolls around...]
[Lord of the Pure White Throne: Let me send everyone back to their original worlds first.]
[AAA City Ghost: That fast? You've finished your business?]
[Lord of the Pure White Throne: Mm, that's right. No need to keep working overtime either—I'd say things on the Underworld's side are just about settled.]
Anthony (Prometheus) tossed off a casual reply in the group, then sent his gaze across the barrier between worlds, looking once more toward the Underworld.
There, everything was flourishing and developing upward. All one could say was that the ghostly envoys really were pulling their weight.
This was exactly what Carmen had been busy with all this time—put simply, it was yet another contribution to the cause of the Underworld.
After discovering that he could pull over the future Tiger Emperor, Anthony (Prometheus) was struck by a sudden whim and began to wonder over there: could he pull some other things over as well?
So, after discussing and tallying it up with Carmen—under the capitalist's one-sided exploitation—Carmen discovered that this could actually be done...
In that case, there was nothing more to say. As it happened, Anthony (Prometheus) had already had his eye on cursed spirits for quite some time.
These things might not be much good for anything else, but for filling the toilets of the Eighteen Levels of Hell they ranked first. Many of them could even simply be remodeled outright and turned into ghostly envoys.
On top of that, with the reincarnation-cycle function now nearly repaired, the souls overflowing in reality came pouring into the Underworld in an instant and began to reincarnate. The overflowing soul energy nearly flooded the entire Underworld.
And so, through Carmen's tireless operation, the number of ghostly-envoy employees responsible for guiding souls into reincarnation within the Underworld suddenly increased by a great deal.
My goodness, just what is going on—the staff under my command has suddenly grown so much... A flesh-and-blood factory? I have no idea what you're talking about, don't go spouting nonsense!
And since the staff had grown and soul energy had grown, naturally the repairs to the Underworld could begin...
In short order, a great many functions within the Underworld were fully restored. A large number of functions that Anthony (Prometheus) had felt were just odds and ends, and had therefore left unrepaired for the time being, were now mostly fixed up along the way.
Take, for example, that butterfly from earlier.
It was actually a function of the Underworld, used to collect souls that had shattered beyond repair... And just now, Anthony (Prometheus) discovered that this function actually had other clever uses as well.
In its original world, perhaps it really did nothing more than collect fragments of souls. But it wasn't until just now that Anthony (Prometheus) realized this thing could actually enter other worlds.
And it was definitely not a trait granted by his own Forgemaster powers—it was innately so from the very start.
This left Anthony (Prometheus) feeling somewhat surprised.
Soon after, he discovered that many of the functions within the Underworld seemed to be like this.
He raised his hand, looking at the purple vortex manifesting in his palm and the butterfly within it, and for a moment, he sank into silence.
The distance between himself and the Underworld had grown shorter.
As the Underworld was repaired, he could clearly feel his own power rising—he was drawing ever closer to the essence of the Lord of the Underworld, and as a result, his control over the Underworld had increased.
And so, many functions began to reveal to Anthony (Prometheus) the powers they had possessed all along.
Take, for instance, his own Pure White Throne.
For the first time, Anthony (Prometheus) discovered that this address book could actually reach beyond the world... it was simply that he had never tried before.
The other functions all had similar effects to a greater or lesser degree, and once combined, Anthony (Prometheus) found that these things actually formed a complete, systematic capacity to intervene in other worlds.
And this capacity for intervention had been set to a single keynote from the very beginning.
Samsara. Reincarnation.
The ability to construct the Underworld's cycle of reincarnation within other worlds... Even for worlds where souls did not exist, there was a systematic mechanism of "granting souls, reclaiming souls."
It gave full consideration to the mechanisms of all sorts of different worlds, as though it wished to establish the Underworld's cycle of reincarnation in every world...
No—that wasn't quite the right way to put it.
Anthony (Prometheus) pondered for a while, examining things carefully for a long time, before he finally noticed some clues within the Underworld.
Establishing the Underworld's cycle of reincarnation—this function did indeed exist, but the effort it required was simply too great. Perhaps it was the ultimate goal, but there had to be some nearer-term purpose.
Beneath the Underworld, it was hollow.
Compressed using a unique form of spatial technology... Anthony (Prometheus) was quite familiar with this technology; there were shades of the Forgemaster within it.
And so, for a moment, Anthony (Prometheus) couldn't help but form a suspicion, and the corner of his mouth twitched.
"Hold on—this Underworld... it isn't meant to house an entire new world and then inscribe the function of reincarnation into that world, is it?"
Anthony (Prometheus) felt this suspicion of his was quite reasonable—it was very likely the case.
Of course, he had no way of verifying it...
But just because Anthony (Prometheus) couldn't verify it himself didn't mean no one else knew. After pondering for a moment, Anthony (Prometheus) quickly settled on a candidate—the Pen Immortal.
Even though he still didn't know this one's true identity, Anthony (Prometheus) could tell with even half a thought that she was certainly no ordinary figure. When the chance came, he could go and ask.
As for now, he'd best not dwell on it too much. Anthony (Prometheus) could already clearly sense that the secrets hidden within this Underworld were likely far more numerous than he had imagined—and in all likelihood, they had something to do with him.
The pressing priority right now was still to thoroughly complete the repairs to the Underworld...
At this thought, Anthony (Prometheus) let out a light breath.
The various functions of the Underworld had all begun to be repaired; he reckoned it wouldn't take long before everything was fixed.
But there was one crucial thing still missing.
A [Core] sufficient to sustain the Underworld.
Just like the core of a forging furnace's heart, Anthony (Prometheus) had to choose something worthy of the role. Only by finding the core could the entire Underworld be made into a single, fully interconnected design.
And only after finding this core could the Underworld be truly and fully restored, thereby allowing it to be contained within the Stygian Vessel and raising Anthony (Prometheus)'s Forgemaster rank to level four.
As for where to find this core, after long deliberation, Anthony (Prometheus) finally made a decision.
[Lord of the Pure White Throne: @AAA City Ghost, you still there?]
[AAA City Ghost: ???]
[AAA City Ghost: Come on, I just got back—what are you scheming now?]
[Lord of the Pure White Throne: Don't panic, don't panic! This time I'm here to help you—you've got to believe me!]
[AAA City Ghost: ...Every time you say you're helping me, it ends with a certain someone making me do the work. You're making it really hard to trust you.]
[Lord of the Pure White Throne: No, this time it's for real—this time I'm here to help you launch the Seeds of Light!]
[AAA City Ghost: ...It's my turn now?]
[Lord of the Pure White Throne: Mm, it's your turn.]
For a moment, on the other side of the screen, Carmen's expression was still a little dazed.
Deep within the Smog War, inside a laboratory, Carmen turned her head to glance at Ein, then suddenly, out of nowhere, asked:
"Hey, Ein, if you were able to reach me—would that make you happy?"
"Why are you suddenly asking this?"
Ein was slightly taken aback, then asked in this way.
"It's nothing, just take it as a passing whim of mine... After all, the Smog War is already drawing to its close."
Carmen said softly, then closed her eyes, gazing at the distant aggregations of smog, and fell briefly silent.
At last, she received Ein's answer:
"If that were the case... then of course I'd be happy."
Is that so?
Carmen let out a soft laugh.
If that's so, then that's already enough.
[AAA City Ghost: Fine, I'll grant you a shred of conscience this time.]
And so, Carmen returned to the chat group and typed to Anthony (Prometheus) once more:
[AAA City Ghost: But then what? I don't believe for a second you'd actually do charity on this scale...]
[AAA City Ghost: A guy like you definitely has some other motive. Come clean—what's the catch this time?]
[Lord of the Pure White Throne: You're not wrong about that... I've got my eye on the Seeds of Light.]
[Lord of the Pure White Throne: But you can rest easy on that score—I'm not about to swipe the entire Seeds of Light.]
[Lord of the Pure White Throne: I'll leave the city seven days' worth of light in total; anything beyond that light, I'll take.]
[AAA City Ghost: ...? But where's there light beyond seven days' worth to begin with—where would the emotion even come from?]
[Lord of the Pure White Throne: Why don't you take a look at that whole batch of evil spirits down in the Eighteen Levels of Hell?]
By this point, a large portion of Anthony (Prometheus)'s main points income had already shifted to beneath the Eighteen Levels of Hell...
What could you do—no matter how fast Lobotomy Corp spins, could it ever match the departed souls this one world of mine has accumulated over who knows how many years?
[AAA City Ghost: ...Now that you put it that way, it does seem like there's a chance—the Seeds of Light could even be launched ahead of schedule.]
[AAA City Ghost: It's just that there's still a lot of trouble involved...]
[Lord of the Pure White Throne: Leave that part to me to handle. I'll find a way to increase the total amount of light—after all, my own resurrection is tied to it as well.]
Yes—this was the [Core] Anthony (Prometheus) had chosen.
Or rather, he felt that there was nothing more suitable than the Seeds of Light.
That said, this thing was indeed a bit troublesome to pull off... but for that, Anthony (Prometheus) had long since had a line of thinking in mind.
If it's troublesome to do myself, can't I just call in outside help?!
[Lord of the Pure White Throne: So, @AAA City Ghost, for this run with the Seeds of Light, I need you to make a trip over to my side—come over here to the Underworld.]
[AAA City Ghost: The Underworld?]
[Lord of the Pure White Throne: Mm, that's right. I'll invite a few friends over to help out.]
[Lord of the Pure White Throne: This way, we should be able to accelerate the launch of the Seeds of Light and, at the same time, increase the total volume launched.]
[Lord of the Pure White Throne: When that happens, the Underworld will become the center for launching the Seeds of Light... and then light will spread across the entire city.]
[Lord of the Pure White Throne: Get ready, Carmen. I'm off to prepare as well.]
[AAA City Ghost: ...All right.]
Seeing these words from Carmen, Anthony (Prometheus) drew a deep breath, and the beacon lit up with rainbow light.
Well then, next it was time to go back and seek out those few friends of his over on the Underworld's side...
Thinking of the Great Sage, Erlang Shen, and that Pen Immortal among others, Anthony (Prometheus) began quietly calculating in his heart, while a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
Well then—it was time to begin. Let the Seeds of Light Project raise its curtain!
____
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