Plan and Legend

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"Sukuna, if I die, you die too. If you do not want to die, then help me!"

"I refuse."

Inside the innate mental domain, Sukuna watched the scene with interest. After hearing Yuji Itadori's words, the corners of his mouth stretched to the extreme, and his eyes overflowed with pure malice.

"Only two fragments of my soul. Have you misunderstood something? Of course, if you want to switch, I can do that too. But once I come out, I will kill that Fushiguro first. Then that woman... The look on your face when that happens will be very interesting. Hahaha!"

Without Sukuna's help, if things went the way he said, Megumi and Nobara, who probably had not escaped far yet, could genuinely be killed by him. Yuji had to stall a little longer.

That was what his mind told him, but he could not defend against the attack in front of him at all. The cursed spirit's punch was so fast he could not even see it clearly. Yuji was smashed away in an instant, punching through a wall and landing in another, wider space. If this newborn curse had not been toying with him, death would probably have arrived long ago.

'You should help people.'

Like a happy child, the cursed spirit brought its hands together. Terrifying cursed energy condensed between them. Just as the impact descended, his grandfather's words surfaced in Yuji's mind.

'But... this hurts. Am I going to die here? Would dying here count as a "proper death"? If I had not eaten that finger back then... No. I cannot think like that!'

'But... I do not want to die!'

Masamichi Yaga's words from the day Yuji enrolled seemed as clear as if they had just been spoken. They intertwined with his grandfather's final words and floated through his mind. Megumi. Nobara. His senpai at school. That poor mother. Several faces flashed before Yuji Itadori's eyes.

'That old man was right. Jujutsu sorcerers do not die without regrets. If that is true... then at the very end, I just want to be able to say I died the right way. So I will grab all this anger, fear, and regret in my hand and throw it out!'

A mass of blue cursed energy ignited over Yuji's right fist, which had already lost part of its fingers. He slammed it toward the cursed spirit's face. He had successfully drawn out cursed energy, but the difference in strength between the two sides was not something sudden resolve and adrenaline could bridge.

The cursed spirit caught Yuji's attack with ease. Like a child discovering something amusing, the monster made a few strange noises, then waved its hand and smashed Yuji into the floor again.

Broken ground spat shards of stone into the air. Yuji coughed up a large mouthful of blood. His body was astonishingly tough, and Sukuna dwelling inside him also passively gave him some cursed-energy protection. Otherwise, an attack like that would have shattered his organs and killed him outright.

Lying on the ground, his vision blurred. He was already preparing to accept his death. Fushiguro and the others should have escaped, right? But at that moment, he saw dazzling sunlight suddenly pour through the ceiling.

"Where is that light coming from? Oh... the ceiling broke."

The cursed spirit reached down to grab Yuji, but something seemed to strike it. Its body slammed into the ground. Then a figure blocked the light above, and a voice sounded beside Yuji's ear.

"I am not too late, am I? How did you get dragged into this mission?"

Yuji felt himself being lifted from the ground as lightly as a feather. A warm current flowed into his body, and his foggy consciousness recovered quite a bit. With some strength returning, he focused and saw that the person in front of him was the senpai named Ren Kamishiro. Looking a little to the side, he could also see the cursed spirit from earlier lying on the ground, a huge hole in its body already beginning to heal.

Ren had descended from above and pierced the curse with one arrow, then found Yuji lying on the ground in rough shape. Fortunately, all the injuries were physical. He immediately used Reverse Cursed Technique to stabilize him, then patted his shoulder.

"Relax. I will take it from here."

The cursed spirit, which had been treating this like play, had lost its ease. It climbed up from the ground, fully healed the wound, and fixed sharp eyes on Ren. An incomprehensible roar came from its mouth.

"Stop barking."

Ren spoke flatly. He did not even activate his technique. He simply closed the distance in an ordinary instant and kicked the cursed spirit into a blur. With a series of roaring crashes, it flew backward through who knew how many walls, throwing up clouds of dust.

"S-so strong..."

Yuji stared blankly at the scene. Having just had his own attack caught with ease, he understood better than anyone how astonishing the force of that kick was.

Very quickly, the dust was torn apart by a figure rushing out from within it. The cursed spirit opened its sharp claws. Dense cursed energy jumped and collided across its hands. In the blink of an eye, it ripped through the air and reached for Ren's face.

The scene in Yuji's eyes suddenly changed. Ren, who had been standing in front of him, had appeared behind the cursed spirit. Those terrifying claws were now pointed at Yuji, but the attack that should have followed no longer existed.

Standing behind it, Ren reached out and grabbed the cursed spirit by the back of the neck. In an instant that was objectively brief yet seemed stretched long, he drove it into the floor. The solid concrete and rebar shattered at once, and the momentum carried them straight down into the room below.

Yuji, panicked as he fell after them, was caught by a steady hand just before hitting the ground and set down safely. Not far away lay the cursed spirit, its body somewhat deformed.

After putting Yuji down, Ren looked at the cursed spirit with some disappointment. After thinking about it, he felt it made sense. This was only an ordinary, newly born Special Grade cursed spirit. Judging by its state, it probably did not have much intelligence. Sometimes, the gap between Special Grades was even larger than the gap between Special Grade and Grade 1.

Ren stepped on the curse and drove it downward, sinking the ground by several centimeters. Then he gave it one final chance.

"Can you use Domain Expansion? If you can, open one and let me see. Otherwise, you are about to die."

Seeing the cursed spirit under his foot roar and struggle as it tried to stir cursed energy, Ren decided it really could not use Domain Expansion. In that case, it had no value. With that thought, he increased his cursed-energy output. With a crisp burst, the cursed spirit broke apart under his foot like brittle cartilage.

Timewheel: Forward.

The shattered remains of the cursed spirit on the floor skipped past the process of disappearance, leaving only a few handfuls of ash to drift away on the wind, carrying away its final traces.

"Hm? Something is left. Is this Sukuna's finger?"

Ren picked up the Sukuna finger lying quietly on the ground and walked over to Yuji. Seeing Yuji's dazed expression, Ren assumed he was upset about his severed hand. He smiled and comforted him.

"Do not worry about that injury. If it is only physical damage, Reverse Cursed Technique can heal it. I will fix it now. Otherwise, it looks a little strange."

"Oh! Uh... thanks, senpai."

Yuji watched his severed hand and the missing fingers on his other hand. After a short while, everything miraculously grew back. Surprise filled his face. He looked exactly like the lively person he had been before.

"Mission complete. Let's go out."

Yuji hesitated, then spoke. "Senpai, I want to bring one victim's body out to his family. And there are two more people whose status we have not confirmed."

Ren looked at him and sighed. "If you want to, then go. But there is no need to search for survivors anymore. Aside from you and me, there are no other living people in this area now."

Yuji froze for a moment, then nodded. With the cursed spirit exorcised, the innate domain that had altered the area disappeared too, and the detention center returned to its original state. There was no danger in him going.

"Tadashi..."

When Tadashi Okazaki's mother saw the body covered in a white cloth, she collapsed over it and cried in heartbreak. Yuji, who had carried the body out, silently watched the scene.

Seeing him come out unharmed, Megumi and Nobara walked over. Without turning back, Yuji said, "I do not want to think about complicated questions anymore. If I just do what I can within my ability, even if it only brings a little help to someone else, that still has meaning."

Megumi said nothing. Nobara, standing beside him, noticed Yuji's hand. Yuji came back to himself and explained the situation. Nobara looked surprised as well and glanced toward Ren, who was talking with Ijichi.

"Report the mission details to Gojo-sensei later. If I had not made it here, people would have died, right? A mission related to a Special Grade curse, and they still arranged for people to search for several survivors. I did not know the higher-ups were that kindhearted."

Ren sneered. Ijichi wiped sweat from his forehead. Thinking about what would happen after he told Satoru Gojo, he immediately felt the pressure multiply.

"They did not hesitate to waste a precious finger to test Sukuna, but the result was still failure. Sukuna never even appeared. Is this the plan you arranged, Geto?"

On a crowded street, several strange figures walked openly, yet the people around them did not notice anything. The one speaking was a cursed spirit with a volcano-like head. Beside him were two equally bizarre figures that were clearly curses as well. And the man he called Geto was none other than the supposedly dead Special Grade curse user, Suguru Geto.

After they entered a restaurant, a server came over and asked whether it was only him. The answer was yes. One man and three cursed spirits sat down.

Hearing the volcano-headed curse question him, the man with a faint smile and a stitched scar across his forehead spoke lightly.

"Did it not test the other one too? I told you that boy is troublesome, didn't I? Especially his technique. This is advice, Jogo. You and your companions had better not appear in front of him. You will die."

A few sparks burst from the small crater on Jogo's head. "Along with Satoru Gojo, whom you keep emphasizing, are you sure the situation can still be controlled after Sukuna is revived?"

Geto's smile faded. "No plan is ever one hundred percent. People always encounter variables in life. You only have to revise the plan in time. That boy is indeed a significant problem. Satoru Gojo can only be sealed, and the method to seal him can only be used once. If we want to hold that boy back, we need another method."

Jogo's gaze darkened, and the top of his head began to bubble. "Do not tell me you have no method."

Geto laughed softly. "How could that be? Jogo, as a cursed spirit, aside from the few beside you, do you know any other companions?"

Jogo swept his gaze over Hanami, Dagon, and Mahito, who was not here. "No. My 'family' is only them. Considering we have not existed for long, why ask that?"

Geto's smile turned playful. "Strictly speaking, curses do not have the same concept of life and death. Of course, you can understand it that way if you like. Sukuna's fingers have survived until today, and powerful curses can be reborn through incarnation. Are you not curious whether any curses have survived from ancient times until now?"

When it came to intelligence related to their cooperation, Jogo did trust this curse user, who knew many hidden things. As for ancient curses, he truly did not understand that subject especially well.

"Sometimes legends are not merely legends, especially in the jujutsu world. Many named monsters and spirits from history truly existed. Some were sorcerers or curses given the titles of demons or gods, such as Ryomen Sukuna. Others were sorcerers and curses recorded by later generations, becoming familiar legends."

Geto chuckled. "Sometimes it is hard to say whether curses are born from legends, or whether curses leave behind legends. The relationship is rather fascinating. Perhaps you, Jogo, will leave your own legend one day."

More magma sprayed from Jogo's head. The air inside the restaurant heated noticeably, leaving the owner wondering whether the air conditioning was even on.

Hiroyuki looked at the four-person table where only one customer appeared to be sitting. He had always been responsible, using the money from his part-time job to support four younger stepsisters. Yet now, he could not suppress the survival instinct telling him to flee. His heart was warning him that if he approached that table, misfortune would definitely follow.

"Manager, I quit!"

Before the manager could say anything, he ran to the door and burst out. The confused manager had no choice but to find another server to ask that apparently odd customer what he wanted.

Geto raised three fingers. "To win this war, three conditions must be satisfied. First, use the Special Grade cursed object, the Prison Realm, to seal Satoru Gojo. Second, ensure Sukuna's complete revival, with the focus placed on Yuji Itadori. Third, recreate those ancient curses and, when necessary, use them to hold back the boy named Ren Kamishiro so he cannot interfere with the first two conditions."

Jogo's mood instantly rose. "Prison Realm? That taboo object is in your hands? Hahaha!"

The already hot air shot upward again. Sweat instantly appeared on the foreheads of everyone in the restaurant.

Geto helplessly gestured for him to calm down. "Calm down. It is getting hot. Do not make too much commotion."

Jogo raised one finger. Cursed energy rose from it, and his face was filled with a cruel smile. "This should be enough, right?"

The manager, who had intended to serve the customer himself, had just reached their side when he suddenly burst into flames and became a human torch. Then came the server standing nearby, then the other guests. In the end, aside from Geto and the three cursed spirits, every living thing in the restaurant was burned into charcoal by Jogo.

"Roughly how many of Sukuna's fingers am I worth?"

Geto looked up and thought for a moment. "Around eight or nine, I suppose."

Jogo bared his black teeth. "Enough. How about this? Give me the Prison Realm and let me add it to my collection. In exchange, I will go kill Satoru Gojo or that boy."

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