Whether he had bought those people off or genuinely meddled with their prophecies, no one could say. Either way, the people of the future world already knew that "the Cursed Spirit born from humanity's negative emotions toward humanity" was about to surface among them once more.
And the phantom Kenjaku had even spread the word well in advance that "this Cursed Spirit will disguise itself so that it does not look like a Cursed Spirit." So later, even if they saw and sensed that Mahiru was no longer a Cursed Spirit at all, they would still brand her as one.
For a time, dread ran through the people of the future world.
Opinions on the prophecies split every which way.
Some insisted there was nothing frightening about a blue Cursed Spirit, that those old legends were nothing but embroidery added by later generations.
Others tore through the archives like maniacs, straining to recall the weaknesses they had once found in that Cursed Spirit.
Under all that careful steering and carefully seeded rumor, the jujutsu world, which had once been ravaged by the blue Cursed Spirit, put itself on guard against Mahiru again, braced and waiting.
Mahiru was certain to head for the future world sooner or later. And the moment she set foot there, she would become the enemy of the entire jujutsu world, with little hope of clearing up the misunderstanding quickly.
It was an open scheme.
Still, Mahiru had expected something like this.
She and Kenjaku were old opponents, and she knew exactly how he thought. He held the advantage of reaching the future world first, so of course he had set the board before she arrived.
"So it's a pain, such a pain!" Mahiru slapped the table in front of her, protesting Yuki Tsukumo's uselessness. "Honestly, if only you could come with me! I've taught you so many times, so why can't you get it?"
Yuki Tsukumo traded a glance with Yuta Okkotsu beside her, both of them helpless. She felt entirely wronged. "Could you not make crossing through time sound so simple? Why do you have the exact same problem as Satoru Gojo?"
Geniuses always assumed that whatever they could do, everyone else could do too. How was that supposed to work?
A little self-awareness from the prodigies, please.
"But you're the one most likely to pull it off, since it's your jujutsu to begin with. If I don't count on you, who am I supposed to count on?" Mahiru grumbled. "If you can't do it, I'll have to go alone. The second my identity gets out, the whole jujutsu world will hunt me down, and if I fall in some dark corner, it'll be entirely your fault!"
You, fall? Who do you think you're fooling…
"Didn't you hide your identity just fine back in the past world?" Yuki Tsukumo asked. "Just keep doing that."
Yuki and the others had heard Mahiru describe what she had gotten up to in the past world. She had told them the whole story.
"I hid well in the past because there was no enemy there aiming at me specifically." Mahiru rolled her eyes. "And back then I had no real need to use my Cursed Technique."
The future was another matter. The instant she used Idle Transfiguration, she would be exposed. The administrator of the Culling Game was Kenjaku's consciousness, and he would keep his eyes locked on Mahiru, broadcasting her position in real time. Her situation right now was rather like, well, like storming the future world single-handed.
And the future world's fighting strength was nothing to sneeze at.
Never mind Yuji Itadori, who over there had already become the Tiger Heavenly Emperor.
That one killed Mahito on sight.
So Mahiru had a headache.
"Hahaha… so, Miss Mahiru, what did you call the two of us out here for?" Yuta Okkotsu laughed awkwardly from the side and cut in.
"Oh, I almost forgot the actual business." Mahiru turned her gaze on them. "I called you here so you could take a look at the Mob Spawner I built."
"Mob Spawner?"
"That's right, that thing over there. It's a bit ugly, but never mind that." Mahiru pointed into the distance. "It's only a prototype."
They were on the outskirts of Tokyo.
A white cube of a building fifteen or sixteen stories tall stood in the distance, shaped like a tower.
The three of them walked up to its base.
"What exactly is a Mob Spawner?" Yuta Okkotsu tilted his head back.
"Come in with me." Mahiru beckoned. "You'll understand once you're inside."
Inside was a stairwell, and the group climbed to the topmost floor first. Beyond the entrance at the top lay a spotless white hall, with panes of glass curtain wall standing here and there, enclosing one glass cage after another.
Yuta Okkotsu and Yuki Tsukumo looked around with curiosity.
Mahiru waved a hand.
"What's this?" Yuki Tsukumo blinked.
She felt filthy Cursed Energy welling up from underground.
Twisted shrieks came closer and closer, and a familiar foul stench hit her nose. The scent of Cursed Spirits? Yet it seemed to have been purified and filtered by something on the way up, so it wasn't nearly as sickening.
The noise climbed from below. They watched several Cursed Spirits get shoved up a duct by the swarm beneath them and slam into the glass cages.
Yuta Okkotsu's brows lifted as it dawned on him. "So underneath this tower is… a Passage of the Cursed Spirit Tide?"
"Correct. In the end we still have to solve the points problem. And a small number of Jujutsu Sorcerers with professional combat ability can't generate enough points on their own." Mahiru nodded and pointed at the Cursed Spirits in the glass cages. "So I decided to build factories that produce points."
In other words, an assembly line for killing Cursed Spirits in bulk and harvesting points.
That was not a simple thing.
Building a machine that automatically strangles Cursed Spirits was easy enough. Mahiru could shape one herself, or have Mechamaru make it. The problem was that a machine killing Cursed Spirits produced no points at all. Only a Player of the Culling Game killing a Cursed Spirit earned anything.
So the girl's solution was to erect a facility above the Cursed Spirit Tide, namely this tower.
Layer after layer down its length were Barriers and Cursed Techniques of every kind, all designed to grind away a Cursed Spirit's power and vitality without pause. By the time a spirit was delivered to the top, it had already entered its weakest state.
At that point you only had to hire a few workers, hand them cursed tools, and let them reap points without end.
"It really does feel workable." Yuta Okkotsu rubbed his chin, thinking it over. "But a tower like this has fewer than ten workstations. Isn't the point output a little inefficient?"
To generate enough points you would need many such towers, and then the cost in time, resources and manpower became a problem of its own.
"That's why this is the very first version. It'll definitely get optimized later." Mahiru planted her hands on her hips. "You two should contribute some ideas too, hmm? Aren't you both Special Grade Sorcerers?"
Yuta Okkotsu and Yuki Tsukumo exchanged a look, both smiling bitterly.
"We'll do our best to think of something…" Yuta Okkotsu said. "But please don't expect too much. When it comes to solving problems, we're nowhere near you, Miss Mahiru…"
All three of them had the combat strength of Special Grade Sorcerers. But an ability like Mahiru's, the power to create the impossible, belonged to the girl alone.
Forget the ability. Even her Cursed Technique was something Yuta Okkotsu couldn't copy. They had already run the experiment.
They had tried having Yuta Okkotsu use his own technique, the one that copies another person's Cursed Technique, on Mahiru's.
But because Mahiru's Cursed Technique now rested on her own unique nature as an in-between existence, "neither Cursed Spirit nor human," Yuta Okkotsu couldn't copy a single one of her techniques, not even the simplest, not even Cursed Speech, which he had copied long ago.
The girl's power left them all in the dust.
Meanwhile, somewhere in Japan, troops of the United States were surrounding an abandoned shopping mall.
These were the United States' "6th Unit."
The commander of the 6th Unit, a middle-aged man in military uniform, walked into the dim, derelict building, hemmed in and shielded by his soldiers.
Crunch… Crunch, crunch…
Darkness filled the building, and from deep inside came the spine-chilling sound of solid things breaking apart.
Every soldier advanced with a flashlight raised. The beams swung wildly through the empty corridors.
Muzzles trembled. Hearts hammered. One man swallowed again and again, another glanced back over his shoulder every two steps.
They pressed on.
The lead soldier saw the enormous thing ahead and stopped short, pupils shrinking.
It was a bloated, colossal, malformed monster several meters tall, sprawled on the floor with its belly stretched drum-tight.
From the bulges under its skin you could make out the bodies of many people still struggling inside. The belly squirmed. The sound of cracking bone was coming from in there.
"Mister Blue," the commander said from the center of the formation, his face blank, his tone so flat it carried nothing at all, "could I ask you to stop hurting my soldiers?"
"Oh-ho-ho? Your soldiers?" A mocking voice came from above. "So you're the boss of these guys?"
A figure dropped from overhead and landed cross-legged on the monster's belly.
Long blue hair, a man's build, a bare upper body crisscrossed with stitches, mouth split in a grin, and in his eyes a mirth that held very deep madness.
It was Mahito. The Mahito who had come from the future world.
"Then I'm grateful for those soldiers of yours." He smiled, wholly indifferent to the worth of other people's lives. "They taste good. Not interesting, but they'll do."
The commander's expression darkened. He watched the thing in front of him, all wariness. "Were you sent by Jujutsu High? What's your relationship with the people at Jujutsu High?"
Mahito paused at the question, then laughed with real interest.
"You're kidding. The first thing you think when you see me is whether I'm from Jujutsu High?" He roared with laughter. "Hahahaha, looks like you people who claim in public to be helping Jujutsu High are all doing dirty work in the dark."
The commander didn't answer that. He repeated his question. "Answer me. What exactly is your relationship with Jujutsu High?"
Mahito smiled and spread his arms wide.
"You're asking what my relationship with Jujutsu High is? Hahaha! —
"I'm their enemy. I'm their nightmare. I'm the one they hate most, from another time and space!"
He pulled at the skin of his own face in front of them all, tipped his head back, and produced a smile that was solemn and diseased at once.
"Ahh… honestly, why would you ask me that… aren't you forcing me to daydream? To daydream about all those beautiful things…"
"How wonderful. I can't wait… This time I'm going to kill every single person Yuji Itadori cares about. I'm going to play through all the fun things I played before, every one of them, all over again…" Mahito's voice climbed toward frenzy.
Every soldier watching him broke into a cold sweat at words soaked in such pure malice.
There was no doubt about it. This thing was purest evil, a reasonless, primal aggregate of malice toward humankind.
"You people, you people! You're so boring! Maybe the old me would still have enjoyed wiping you out." He threw his head back and laughed. "But the only thing in my head right now is a reunion with those "friends" of mine from my last life!"
The commander listened to that mad laughter without a word, but his eyes flickered.
Usable.
Yes, this thing could be used.
He had no idea what "another time and space" was supposed to mean, but the creature clearly had a grudge against the Jujutsu High crowd, which meant it could be pointed at Mahiru.
Ever since that girl came back, Jujutsu High had steadied a Japanese situation that had been teetering on the brink.
If this kept up, the United States would lose a major opportunity this time and go home with nothing to show for it.
That was absolutely unacceptable.
And this creature had appeared before them like fuel delivered in a snowstorm.
As for it killing his soldiers?
It didn't matter.
Soldiers' lives were cheap.
The thing had destroyed a great many bases, yet in the commander's eyes that long trail of atrocities was proof of the monster's strength.
This one could be used! This one could be won over!
The commander's blood surged, though he kept his poker face and his composure.
He still had something to confirm. "Your Cursed Technique seems very similar to that of Jujutsu High's blue-haired Cursed Spirit. What's your relationship with her?"
"Her? Ah." Mahito raised an eyebrow and let out a flippant snort. "She's another me… except she's trash."
Mahito's tone was thick with belittlement and contempt, and that contempt came from somewhere genuine. He truly regarded her as weak.
"Trash?"
The commander was honestly baffled.
Was this blue-haired thing strong?
And it sincerely believed Mahiru was trash?
"What, isn't she?" Mahito laughed. "Let me ask you. Is Nanami Kento still alive?"
"…Uh." The commander's mouth worked for a second and he hesitated. "He's alive."
"Is Nobara Kugisaki still alive?"
"Uh… who was that again… right, she's alive."
"Is Aoi Todo still alive? Is Yuji Itadori still alive?" Mahito asked. "Is most of Jujutsu High still not dead?"
"All alive. So?" The commander sensed something was off but couldn't be certain. "Nobody at Jujutsu High has died, so the blue-haired Cursed Spirit is trash?"
Hey… this guy couldn't possibly think…
"Exactly. She hasn't killed a single person, her K/D is zero, so what is that if not trash?" The blue-haired man tipped his head back and sneered, dripping scorn. "Born from the same place as me, carrying the same soul, and she can't accomplish anything… nothing but trash."
The commander fell silent.
"Still, it works out for me. Precisely because she can't do anything, I get the chance to start over and wash away the shame…"
"No, I think you've misunderstood the situation in Japan, and the situation of this other self you keep talking about." The commander cut Mahito off, his face complicated. "I wonder whether you've considered a certain possibility, namely that Mahiru stands on the side of humanity and Jujutsu High."
"…?" Mahito's smile drained away.
For a moment it didn't register. "What?"
"Mahiru, the Calamity Cursed Spirit born from humanity's negative emotions toward humanity… she is the guardian deity of all Japan now, the pillar holding up Jujutsu High's side," the commander answered, genuinely at a loss for words. "The reason Nanami Kento and the others are unharmed is precisely that Mahiru protects them."
He had no idea how this blue thing had gathered its intelligence on Mahiru…
But watching the shock creep across the creature's face until it went slack, the commander was certain. Because "Mahiru shares his origin," it had assumed she was the same kind of killer he was.
"Aaaaah!! Disgusting!! - Impossible! How could something like that ever happen!!"
And so the commander heard the blue thing in front of him break down screaming.
"Another me, loving humanity… impossible!!"
[Author's Note: Plugging a friend's book.]
____
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