As Tengen recited the incantation to release the seal, a small cube covered in yellow talismans was tossed onto the ground.
Instantly, the four corners of the cube unfurled like a curtain of living flesh. In the center, a single, bloodshot eye—larger than a human head—manifested, staring fixedly into Hasegumo's own.
A crimson iris, a pitch-black pupil, and an aura of dark, ominous foreboding enveloped him.
"This is..." Hasegumo had expected a test of endurance or physical hardness, but he hadn't expected something this sinister to appear before him.
Despite a willpower that far surpassed that of an ordinary man, the moment he was locked in the gaze of this horrific thing, he instinctively fell into a defensive stance.
"Once the Gokumonkyo has expanded, the target must remain in its vicinity for one minute."
"But that is one minute... within the target's mind," Tengen thought, setting down his teacup and slowly standing up.
"Shingen-ryu is indeed a formidable martial arts style."
"The realm of Shindigunken allows one to perceive time at a vastly accelerated rate compared to others. Normally, this is a peerless advantage in combat against any living being."
"However, within the range of the Gokumonkyo, entering that state means you are inevitably doomed to be sealed."
These thoughts swirled in Tengen's head as he secretly rejoiced. He hadn't expected to take his target down so easily.
Suddenly, the giant eye began to weep tears of blood. In the next instant, it shattered into several smaller cubes, each covered in red pupils, which floated around the area. Simultaneously, a blood-red, viscous substance secreted from the cubes, binding Hasegumo in a death grip.
"Huu... It is over." Tengen exhaled a long breath, sounding like a man who had finally fulfilled a lifelong wish. His voice suddenly rose in triumph.
"Hasegumo! You shall—Nani?!"
"What are you shouting for?"
Tengen's words cut off abruptly. Before his eyes, Hasegumo simply exerted a bit of force—as if he were merely performing a morning stretch—and the sealing bindings that Tengen believed were impossible to break were instantly torn asunder.
Clatter.
The Gokumonkyo reverted to a small cube and fell gently to the floor. The talismans that had previously covered it were gone. The red eyes on its surface twitched incessantly, as if searching for something.
"What were you trying to say?" Hasegumo scratched his head and looked down at the floor. One of the red eyes met his gaze for a second; as if spooked, it immediately retracted into the cube, leaving only a smooth, metallic shell behind.
It was almost as if the eyes had been a hallucination.
"No... nothing."
"What the hell is that thing? The aura feels completely wrong."
"The moment it touched me, my Cursed Energy became unusable. My body too—I could barely muster any strength."
"Seriously, could you try not to be so unreliable?" Hasegumo looked away and began to complain to Tengen again. "You didn't even tell me how to test it. Was that enough just now?"
...
Tengen barely managed to keep his expression under control. The corners of his mouth twitched, but fortunately, his aged features masked the micro-expression, preventing Hasegumo from noticing that Tengen's heart had just survived an emotional roller coaster.
...
"Are you... afraid of something?" Hasegumo asked, puzzled.
His casual question seemed to snap Tengen back to reality.
That's right. What am I afraid of? I already made my decision, didn't I?
...
"My throat is just a bit dry."
As a being who had lived for a thousand years, Tengen found an excuse in an instant. Using the opportunity to turn and pour more tea, he regained his composure.
"This is the Special Grade Cursed Object: Gokumonkyo," Tengen said, taking a sip and handing another cup to Hasegumo. "It was formed from the remains of the monk Genshin."
"So that was the sealing process." Hasegumo took the tea and drained it in a single gulp, like a brute swallowing a peony. He smacked his lips afterward. "Way classier than Principal Yaga's tea. But... you should really try Cola sometime. A product of the Industrial Revolution—tastes way better than this stuff. Especially the iced kind."
"I see. I shall try it later."
In a world without you, Tengen added silently in his heart. He didn't know if Hasegumo had realized his true motive; in his guilt, he felt as if every word the man spoke was a double entendre.
But since he had decided to act, there was no turning back. Even if he died in the process, he would have no regrets.
"That was only the first step of the seal."
"Normally, once the Gokumonkyo expands, escape is impossible because the target's Cursed Energy and physical strength are suppressed," Tengen continued to explain. "I did not expect you to be able to break free while the seal was in progress."
"Special Grade Cursed Objects have flaws, too. It didn't make my strength disappear completely," Hasegumo said, setting his cup back on the table. "But it did drop me down to about ten percent. If it weren't me, but any other sorcerer, they would have been sealed. Satoru included."
He even helpfully provided an assessment of the probability of sealing Satoru Gojo.
"I see."
You really are a freak, Tengen thought. Fortunately, you put all your points into strength; your brain isn't quite as sharp. If I tried this same trick on Satoru, I wouldn't have the confidence to pull it off without showing a single opening.
"An independent space exists within the Gokumonkyo. There, your Cursed Energy and strength will return."
"My hope is that after you are fully sealed, you will attempt to break through the Gokumonkyo's constraints from the inside."
Tengen held up a single finger.
"One day. Within the span of one day, if you cannot break the seal on your own, I will open it from the outside."
"Looks like this ten million yen won't be so easy to earn after all." Hasegumo bent over, picked up the silver cube, and tossed it to Tengen. "Let's do it. I won't try to break out this time."
"Gokumonkyo—Open."
...
...
"Is it broken?"
Unlike the first time, after Tengen finished the incantation, the Gokumonkyo didn't react at all. it remained a plain metal box.
Before Tengen could say anything, Hasegumo became annoyed first. That was ten million yen on the line.
He grabbed the cube and started banging on it, muttering under his breath as he struck it.
"Novski said the 'Russian Repair Method' can fix anything."
"If you don't come out, I'm going to hit you for real. Let's see which is harder: you, or my fist."
Watching this, Tengen felt the scene was utterly absurd.
Is there actually something wrong with this guy's head? He's threatening a Cursed Object that has no self-awareness.
"If the plan fails, it is simply fate."
Ten minutes passed. The Gokumonkyo remained a mundane block of iron, no matter how Hasegumo tinkered with it.
Just as Tengen was about to give up in his heart—
Clap!
"I'm advising you not to be ungrateful."
Hasegumo slammed the Gokumonkyo onto the ground, brought his hands together, and delivered a thunderous clap, preparing to let the stubborn Cursed Object taste the 100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva.
Sigh...
Tengen thought he heard a hallucination—a faint sigh echoing in his ears.
Suddenly, the Gokumonkyo expanded, swallowing Hasegumo whole like a bloody maw before snapping shut.
Hasegumo didn't resist. Instead, he had a smirk on his face. "There we go."
The curtain of flesh shrank, pulling Hasegumo into the Gokumonkyo like a vanishing act. After a few slight wobbles, the small cube sat quietly on the ground, with only a single eye flickering on the top surface.
"Finally..."
Tengen had just picked up the cube when a violent gust of wind whistled past his face.
Carrying the force of ten thousand tons and the speed of a thunderbolt, an invisible power suddenly erupted from within the Gokumonkyo.
Cold sweat trickled down Tengen's cheek.
He looked up. On the ceiling above him, a palm print roughly the size of a man was clearly visible in the stone.
"He's truly dangerous, this one." As if to confirm Tengen's words, the crimson eye on the Gokumonkyo's surface stopped moving. Then, like stars in the night sky, hundreds of tiny eyes began to blink rapidly.
"Not good." Tengen remained on high alert. Seeing the Cursed Object's state change again, he threw it far away from him.
Invisible palm strikes began to radiate outward from all six sides of the Gokumonkyo.
The once solemn and mysterious Star Corridor looked as if it were being struck by a natural disaster. Palm prints began to pepper every surface in all directions.
"The Black Coffin... where is the Black Coffin?!" Tengen froze for a second, then sprinted toward one of the doors and threw it open.
Five seconds later, Tengen came running back, clutching a literal coffin. Like a parkour athlete, he dodged the invisible strikes and lunged toward the Gokumonkyo floating in the air.
Click-thud.
With the sound of the coffin latching shut, the endless barrage of palm strikes finally ceased.
"Has his strength actually reached the point where he can threaten the internal space of the Gokumonkyo...?" In the distant past, Tengen had used this thing to seal many entities. He had even tested it himself.
According to his experience, it was a vast, silent space—so quiet it was terrifying. Time within was almost stagnant, and Cursed Energy could not be replenished.
He couldn't imagine anyone being able to influence the outside world from within that environment.
"Fortunately, the released force wasn't that overwhelming. With the double seal of the Black Coffin, even Hasegumo won't be able to escape."
Uttering the classic villainous flag, Tengen tossed the coffin back into the storage room. The smooth execution of the plan left him feeling jubilant.
"For my Freedom, I have no choice but to sacrifice you for a while."
"Once the other side is complete, I can break these shackles and obtain enough power."
Just like the bond between the Six Eyes and the Star Plasma Vessel, a force had been watching and threatening him from the shadows for a thousand years. He could vaguely sense that if he ever left the Star Corridor, death would be his only end.
Though he possessed an immortality technique, if he died, he would evolve into something non-human.
Tengen didn't want to evolve. He only wanted to obtain enough power so that he would no longer be threatened by anyone. He didn't want to huddle in a dark barrier anymore; he wanted to walk the vast earth like a normal person, freely tasting the world's delicacies.
He wanted to sing—to sing the song he had never been able to enjoy, the song called Freedom.
...
"I really do want to see today's world," Tengen muttered. He didn't stop moving, however, as he began filling the palm prints in the walls with cement.
To prevent anyone else from discovering traces of the battle, he would have to spend the whole night renovating the Star Corridor. "If I had Cursed Spirit Manipulation, I could have just let a curse do this for me..."
The moment he entered the seal, Hasegumo expanded his Domain. He immediately discovered that the space, which had seemed boundless, felt as if it had suddenly contracted.
"There's something invisible here, like an air wall." Hasegumo threw an experimental palm strike. At the absolute limit of the Guanyin's reach—fifty meters away—an invisible ripple shimmered. He felt his power hit something, even if his eyes couldn't see it.
"99 Palms!"
The Guanyin delivered a flurry of strikes, and his Cursed Energy began to drain rapidly. However, the invisible barrier in the space acted like the surface of water, absorbing his attacks entirely.
Hasegumo had no idea he had nearly killed Tengen with a single strike. After about six hours of non-stop attacking, he finally stopped.
Because...
"I'm completely out of Cursed Energy."
Lying on the ground like a total slacker, Hasegumo decided to take a nap first.
Exhausting all of one's Cursed Energy was a mistake usually only made by rookie sorcerers. Once it's gone, the body enters a painful state of exhaustion that takes a long time to recover from.
However, Hasegumo's body was unique. Usually, all he needed was a good sleep to fully recover any expenditure.
So, he had no reservations.
...
"Is it not a day yet?"
The space within the Gokumonkyo was... well, simply describing it as "stagnant time" didn't quite capture what Hasegumo was feeling.
Silence. A silence so profound it felt as if all things had ceased to exist.
He didn't know how long he had slept, but judging by the fact that he only had about twenty percent of his Cursed Energy back, something felt wrong.
"I can't replenish Cursed Energy from the surroundings... Can I only rely on what my body naturally produces?" This was the first time he had ever woken up feeling tired.
In the dim sky above, several red eyes were staring at him. They blinked as if mocking him. Hasegumo ignored them and simply stood up.
He began to pray. He began to punch.
An hour passed, followed by meditation.
After that, Hasegumo just started rolling around on the floor.
"I'm so bored..." As a modern person corrupted by "cyber-drugs," the uncertainty of how long he'd be stuck here triggered a sort of withdrawal reaction. A pressure he hadn't even noticed began to weigh on him.
Normally, if a regular person stayed inside the Gokumonkyo for one day of outside time, they would likely emerge as a raving lunatic.
Hasegumo's brain was far more active than that of an average person or sorcerer. Consequently, he realized sooner that he had to find something to do.
"There... seems to be a gap here?" Hasegumo decided his entertainment would be exploring the space with his Cursed Energy. Without expanding his Domain, the invisible air wall didn't seem to exist. As his Cursed Energy spread further into the distance, he realized the space had no boundaries.
However, near the eyes in the sky, he felt his energy pass through a pupil and touch something.
"Let's see what it is... looks like a hand? A human hand?"
Inside the Black Coffin, countless Cursed Objects floated, flowing like water.
Golden Cursed Energy reached out from the Gokumonkyo's crimson eye, poking and prodding the surroundings like a curious child.
Suddenly, the Cursed Energy stopped. It began to coil around a charred, blackened object.
"Big brother...?"
It was a corpse that had been sealed within the Black Coffin many years ago—the corpse of Kiyotaka Kansuuryuu.
The moment it touched Hasegumo's Cursed Energy, it seemed to react. It began to pull on the energy, dragging it into its body.
On the other end, Hasegumo felt his Cursed Energy hitch. Suddenly, the other side began a game of tug-of-war with him.
"What the hell..." Hasegumo didn't know what was over there, but he wasn't about to let his Cursed Energy be sucked dry.
With a thought, Hasegumo's strength proved far superior to the pull from the other side. In an instant, he yanked the carbonized corpse toward the Gokumonkyo.
The moment they collided, the red pupil above contracted violently. Hasegumo felt a massive force shove him upward.
He was getting closer... Blood and tears fell from the iris. The black pupil looked as if it had no physical form.
Hasegumo was squeezed out through the eye of the Gokumonkyo.
"Don't ever come back!"
A roar that seemed to exist only in his mind echoed, followed by a blinding white light that gradually consumed his entire vision.
...
"A gift... for big brother..."
...
Within the Black Coffin, the blackened corpse, having absorbed Hasegumo's Reverse Cursed Energy, actually transformed from a piece of charcoal back into the form of a small boy. Cursed Energy, visible through the skin, surged toward his brain.
Then, the entire body gradually crumbled into dust, leaving behind only a single white light.
The light flashed for a mere instant, swallowing both the Gokumonkyo and Hasegumo.
A second later, silence returned to the Black Coffin. Only countless Cursed Objects remained, floating and flowing quietly in the air.
"What a tall tree."
The first words out of Hasegumo's mouth when he woke up on the ground were a comment on the scenery. Unfortunately, having no literary talent, he could only offer something as profound as "The sea... it sure is wet."
He looked around. He was in a primeval forest that looked as if no human had ever set foot in it. Every tree was a giant, over ten meters tall. Thick snow covered the branches. Several squirrels on the trunks were staring at him, having never seen such a silly-looking creature before.
He picked up the Gokumonkyo beside him and looked toward the sun. Although it was the dead of winter, he felt waves of warmth; the sun seemed much larger than usual.
Crunch, crunch.
The sound of his footsteps on the snow startled the birds in the trees.
"Just how long was I in there?"