"Ah." Over on Mahiru's side, Kaori Kenjaku let out a soft laugh. "The other side's getting impatient."
She turned to Mahiru, eyes crinkling into a smile. "So. I have good news and bad news. Which do you want first?"
Mahiru stared at her blankly. Did she really have to choose?
"…The good news?" she tried.
"The good news is that I think I know who's sitting at the other end — it's another me." The woman blinked at her, slow and pleased. "Which means there's nothing he can do about me. He can't delete my account, and he can't stop my intrusion."
"…" Mahiru was quiet for a moment. "And the bad news?"
"The bad news is that he's absolutely furious." The woman smiled. "Also, their Passages have already spread everywhere."
"Huh?" Mahiru hadn't caught up yet.
BOOM!!!
In the next second a colossal roar split heaven and earth. The entire Tomb of the Star Corridor — and the whole Barrier around Jujutsu High with it — began to shake like a mountain coming loose from its roots.
Vile, twisted Cursed Energy welled up out of nothing, surging from beneath the ground, and in the blink of an eye it had flooded everything.
Mahiru froze, then turned to look down at the earth under her feet.
Ah… so that was what "the Passages have spread everywhere" meant.
"Oh?" Over in the world of the future, Sukuna raised an eyebrow slightly and waved a hand. A three-dimensional map took shape in front of him. "He's started early?"
It was a map of that island nation in the world of the past — Japan, the whole of its territory.
On the map, the blue regions marked the surface, the cities standing on that surface.
And beneath the blue, in the zone that in theory represented "underground," a web of red lines ran in threads and veins, a layer of its own laid over everything.
Those were the Passages they had built while eating their way into this world.
The Passages were buried deep below the ground, packed dense as stitching, spreading outward in every direction from the Tomb of the Star Corridor at their center — like a titanic spider's nest coiled under the earth.
That was right. Every last one of them.
All of them were Passages of the Culling Game.
Back when Mahiru and the local Jujutsu High had only found a scattered handful of Passages on the island, the depths beneath their feet had already been riddled with them.
The ones that had broken the surface were nothing but the tip of the iceberg.
The truth was that the phantom Kenjaku's corrosion of this world had already sunk in far, far deeper than anyone guessed.
Their goal had been to accumulate quietly and then take everything in a single stroke.
And in fact, now was not the time to set off those time bombs. The density of the Passages was high, but not yet high enough to blanket the entire world in one blow.
But there was no choice. The phantom Kenjaku had to move early. He detonated every hidden Passage, activated all of them at once.
Mahiru's actions had wrecked his arrangements and his schedule all over again.
So he had to act — to throw the world of the past into chaos, to cause as much trouble as possible for Mahiru and for that unknown Barrier user, to break his opponents' rhythm.
And so the earth shook and the mountains moved.
On Mahiru's side, the whole world was trembling.
Strange phenomena erupted in city after city.
In more than a dozen places at once, tides of Cursed Spirits came gushing out. The ground shuddered without pause under the surging flow of Cursed Energy.
"Help! Earthquake!"
"Why are black monsters crawling up out of the ground?!"
"Run! Run, faster—"
In a matter of moments, every city was filled with the wailing of the wounded.
The citizens of Tokyo fled toward the shelters. Children cried, adults panicked, and ordinary people were driven to the edge of terror by everything crashing down on them at once.
Then came another thunderous roar.
A far more violent tremor rolled through.
The people of Tokyo heard it and stopped where they stood, turning their heads in a daze.
In the distance, in a place plainly visible to anyone who lifted their eyes — Mount Fuji had erupted.
What it spewed was the same tide of Cursed Spirits.
Filthy Cursed Energy mixed and congealed into a kind of glowing, absolute black. That black pillar was thicker than any other Passage that had burst open, and in an instant it swallowed the heavens and stained the entire sky through.
"Don't tell me… today's the end of the world?" On the street, a man who had been staring in shock felt his legs give out, and he dropped to his knees.
With a sharp crack, the Barrier shattered.
Somewhere in the suburbs of Tokyo, Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto climbed up out of a basement and looked up at the enormous black pillar in the direction of Mount Fuji.
"You've got to be kidding me. What is that?" Gojo ground his teeth.
"Someone lured us out here on purpose, and cut off every line of communication in and out." Geto was staring at his phone, at the message that had come through from Jujutsu High, and his face went hard and stunned all at once. "Damn it, Gojo! Someone's invaded Jujutsu High!"
"What?" For a second Gojo thought he'd misheard.
"You heard me! Someone broke through the Barrier around Jujutsu High and went after Riko Amanai!" Geto shouted. "And that Blue Existence got in too — she broke into Lord Tengen's Tomb of the Star Corridor!"
"How is that possible? An assassin actually got through the Jujutsu High Barrier?" Gojo couldn't believe it, his pupils shrinking to points. "Then what about Amanai? What about Miwa Ran?"
Geto clenched his jaw and shook his head. "I don't know…"
They had to get back. Right now.
Meanwhile, on Mahiru's side.
Ring, ring…
A bell was ringing.
Mahiru turned her head and looked at Kenjaku's waist.
A small bell hung there, chiming away.
"Now there's a second piece of bad news," Kenjaku said, smiling.
The bell was a cursed tool. An alarm.
Its ringing now was a warning to Kenjaku: Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto had already torn free of the trap she'd set for them, and they would be back soon.
"So how much longer do you need?" Mahiru asked.
"Mm…" Kenjaku considered it.
Creating an administrator account wasn't the point of this whole operation; it was only the means to rescue — or rather, abduct — Tengen. Getting Tengen out now meant first clearing away all the spider-silk binding her in place, and that took time.
Kenjaku thought it over. "Another half hour to an hour, I'd say. Should we pull back first?"
Half an hour at the very least?
Then Gojo and Geto would definitely make it back in time.
Mahiru sighed, resigned. "Then I'll go out and hold the two of them off."
Kenjaku looked at her. "You'd better be careful, then."
Because Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto were strong.
From where Kenjaku stood right now, those two were genuinely, seriously strong.
That was simple objective fact.
Across a thousand years, Kenjaku had been sickened by the Six Eyes more times than she could count. And Satoru Gojo was the most powerful, most gifted Six Eyes in all of history.
Even if he hadn't grasped Reverse Cursed Technique yet, he was still a monster.
In the original story he did get killed by Toji Fushiguro — but only because Toji had spent a very long time laying the groundwork, and had exploited a gap in information to finally pull it off.
Suguru Geto's Cursed Technique was every bit as formidable, and with the two of them together their strength multiplied.
And Mahiru?
Kenjaku wasn't holding out much hope.
Honestly, since Mahiru had crossed over into this world, she had never once fought anyone with everything she had.
Kenjaku had never seen Mahiru go all out, so she had no real idea what Mahiru was capable of.
Maybe Mahiru was a little stronger than the "Miwa Ran" identity she wore?
But if that was all, she had no way of beating Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto.
"So my suggestion is that we withdraw for now," Kenjaku offered. "You've already got the Inverted Spear of Heaven, after all."
With the Inverted Spear of Heaven in hand, the Barrier around Jujutsu High was no different from a sheet of paper. They could have as many chances as they wanted.
It really was the rational choice.
But to Kenjaku's surprise, she watched the girl shake her head. "No. I'll stall them. You just keep going."
Kenjaku opened her mouth to press the point. "You do realize those two aren't like the ordinary Jujutsu Sorcerers you've dealt with."
Mahiru raised an eyebrow at her and smiled faintly. "What, do you think I'm ordinary too?"
Nope.
I'm strong as well.
And… right now, even I don't know exactly how strong I've become.
Ever since she defeated Mahoraga in the modern world and Devoured a piece of him, Mahiru had never once fought for real.
Add to that everything she'd learned and every scrap of experience she'd accumulated during her time in the past… honestly, facing down two enemies like Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto, Mahiru found herself almost eager.
She wanted to know exactly how far her strength reached now.
Expressions shifted across Kenjaku's face until at last she gave in and laughed softly. "Well, if that's how it is, I'll trust you… just try not to lose. If you lose, I don't get out of here either."
Mahiru waved a hand, said it was fine, and walked out.
Ruins everywhere.
Devastation as far as the eye could see.
As the Culling Game ran wild, more and more Cursed Spirits appeared throughout the cities and began tearing into innocent civilians.
And at the same time, more and more civilians were infected by the Culling Game. A system interface appeared before their eyes, and they became Players in the Culling Game.
Along the way, Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto killed so many Cursed Spirits they had almost stopped feeling it.
It wasn't until they rushed through the Jujutsu High Barrier and saw what lay in front of them that their steps jerked to a halt and something shook in their eyes.
They saw ruins stretching in every direction.
The forest on the hilltop had been razed to bare ground. The school's buildings had collapsed and caved in.
They saw their classmates lying on the ground. They saw Mei Mei and Utahime and the others, unconscious.
"They're all right, they're just knocked out — but that Blue Existence broke in! And the assassin who came after the Star Plasma Vessel came in with her…!"
Ijichi, wounded himself, shouted it at the two of them.
Gojo and Geto pressed him at once about where Miwa Ran was, but Ijichi only opened his mouth and couldn't get a single word out.
And their hearts dropped straight into the pit of their stomachs.
They ran on, deeper in.
Frantic… frantic… Two boys who had been called geniuses from the day they debuted had never imagined that one day they would be this frantic, this ragged.
They pushed themselves to the absolute limit, driving their speed as high as it would go.
As though they were racing something.
That Blue Existence had broken in here to get to Tengen — but that hardly mattered. To the two boys, whatever happened to Tengen had nothing to do with them. They didn't care what became of Tengen.
What they were afraid for was Riko Amanai. Kuroi. Miwa Ran.
If that assassin could break through the Jujutsu High Barrier that neither of them could break, then the assassin had power that couldn't be dismissed — and certainly a meticulous plan, and total confidence in winning.
Against an opponent like that, could Miwa Ran have won?
Had something happened to them?
"Damn it…"
For the first time in his life, Satoru Gojo felt fear, felt his heart slam into a panicked rhythm. But there was nothing for it. All he could do was push his speed higher and higher, and keep running forward.
And then they arrived.
They arrived at the place where Mahiru had fought Toji Fushiguro.
They saw the rubble of collapsed buildings. They saw a stretch of scorched earth burned bare by flame. They saw ground pitted with craters.
And in the middle of the ruins they saw a girl kneeling on the ground, curled in on herself, clutching something and weeping.
Ah…
Gojo understood. Geto understood.
The two boys slowly came to a stop in front of the crying Riko Amanai.
They saw the thing she was holding against her chest.
It was Miwa Ran's jacket.
Most of it had been burned black — the mark of a fierce and brutal fight. And at the chest and over the heart there were two enormous puncture wounds, each one splashed with blood that hurt to look at.
Beside the girl, they also saw the satchel Miwa Ran always carried — the one she used to activate her Cursed Technique in battle, the one packed with all those receipts.
It was the weapon she needed to fight.
It was lying on the ground too.
The satchel had been destroyed, and the receipts and paper scrolls inside it were scattered across the dirt.
Seeing the jacket, seeing the satchel, and then seeing the state Riko Amanai was in — how could they possibly fail to work out what had happened here?
That was it, then.
The worst possibility that had flashed through their minds had come true after all.
Miwa Ran was dead.
Both boys felt their heartbeats stop.
"Amanai…" Gojo began.
He found he could barely produce a sound.
The girl was still crying.
"Ran… Ran, she…" Her voice broke apart into sobs, drowning in despair. "If it weren't for me… Ran never would have died… it's all my fault…"
Riko Amanai believed Mahiru was dead.
She was hollowed out with despair, wrecked by grief.
The blue-haired girl's body wasn't here — you could search the whole area and find no trace of it.
But looking at those two ghastly wounds in the jacket, and then at the satchel Mahiru used both to fight and to heal herself, now smashed apart with its receipts scattered everywhere — anyone could see it. Miwa Ran, the dear friend they had known only a short while but with whom they had already forged a bond that ran deep, had essentially no chance of being alive.
A distant rumble…
Another rumble…
Far away, Mount Fuji was still erupting, tides of Cursed Spirits still rising into the heavens, blotting out the night sky.
They could almost hear people screaming in the distance.
They could almost hear the fires crackling through the city.
And in the middle of all that clamor and upheaval, Riko Amanai knelt on the ground, sobbing as if her heart had been torn in two.
Gojo and Geto stood frozen where they were, watching the weeping girl, unable to say a single word for a long, long time.
"I'm sorry…"
It was a long while before Gojo's lips trembled and those three words came out.
Maybe… maybe if they hadn't been fooled, if they had stayed at Jujutsu High, if they had stayed at Riko Amanai and Miwa Ran's side… things would have turned out differently?
No way to know.
Right now Satoru Gojo only felt like the stupidest person in the world.
Suguru Geto felt exactly the same.
____
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