Arrogant Nonsense

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The domain was a desolate battlefield ruin.

At the center of the land stood an ancient tree connecting heaven and earth.

White Zetsu lounged half-reclined on a crooked branch, blowing cigar smoke.

Nobara, Maki, and Megumi were bound tightly by pale ribbons.

Only their heads remained exposed so they could breathe.

He wanted to stop the three of them without killing them.

Domain Expansion happened to be perfect.

For other people, opening a domain was an ultimate move that consumed enormous cursed energy.

In White Zetsu's hands, it could almost be used as a normal attack.

"Hey, mama's boy! What the hell are you doing?"

After struggling for a while, Nobara and the others could only give up.

Their hands were bound, and Megumi had only recently opened his own domain.

They had no way to escape.

"Don't be so violent, Lady Thirteen."

White Zetsu took a puff from his cigar and spoke calmly.

"The three of you stay here for a while. Uncle Zetsu will let you out later."

Then he turned toward Maki.

"Leave Jujutsu High, Niece. If you keep walking this path..."

"I'm honestly afraid you will suddenly die by Itsuki's hand one day."

Itsuki would treat Maki and Mai well only so long as they did not interfere with his plan.

White Zetsu saw that very clearly.

Unable to leave and unable to escape, the three could only chat with him for now.

Seeing the sincerity on White Zetsu's face, Maki paused, then asked in a low voice,

"If you want me to leave Jujutsu High, you should at least give me a reason."

"Why is Brother Itsuki targeting that bastard Gojo? What are you two really trying to do?"

After a long pause, White Zetsu shook his head without giving the answer she wanted.

"It won't be long. You'll know soon."

When they faced Jogo earlier, Itsuki had specifically told White Zetsu to watch those three people.

Now White Zetsu had opened his domain and abandoned outside surveillance because the three people who needed attention were about to converge.

And Itsuki had not deliberately avoided White Zetsu's surveillance.

He was high above, looking down coldly at the target.

...

11:07 p.m.

The Kyoto students, arriving late, entered the barrier together after receiving the full intelligence from Yaga.

11:17 p.m.

Panda dug Kusakabe out of a pile of rubble where he had been pretending to be dead to avoid work.

Kusakabe, faking an injury, dragged his feet and tried to head toward the rear medical area.

Panda saw through him and gradually dragged him toward the battlefield where cursed energy was erupting.

11:23 p.m.

On a lonely, ruined street, inside a mostly intact public phone booth, Choso curled up as tears flowed nonstop.

During the earlier battle on the subway platform, after knocking Yuji unconscious, Choso had been about to kill him.

Then a stir from deep within his blood awakened memories that had never existed.

In an intimate family dinner that belonged only to his brothers, Yuji's figure had appeared.

As the eldest brother of the Cursed Womb: Death Paintings, Choso was not only the strongest.

With Blood Manipulation's support, no matter how far away he was, no matter where he stood, he could sense whether his blood-connected younger brothers were alive or dead.

The physical signal that came when Yuji was near death had made Choso feel panic from the bottom of his heart.

"Yuji Itadori... who exactly are you?"

Choso muttered the question to himself, then stood and walked in the direction of the blood connection.

...

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Local time, 10:33 p.m.

In a suite at a local five-star hotel, Mei Mei, freshly bathed and wearing only a robe, walked to the floor-to-ceiling window and dialed a call.

Ui Ui lay on the large bed with a flushed face, staring without blinking at his sister's charming back.

From Japan to Kuala Lumpur was a distance of nearly four thousand kilometers.

That was the absolute limit of Ui Ui's technique after nearly draining all of his cursed energy.

As for the battle on the fifth basement level in Shibuya earlier...

The figure who had stepped out of the darkness.

Fake Geto had nearly killed both siblings in Shibuya.

...

Mahito fled in panic through the streets of Shibuya.

He kept pulling out the few transfigured humans he had left and using them to delay Yuji's steps.

The wound to his soul had been terrifying, but Mahito had not gained nothing.

Black Flash had let him experience the core of cursed energy.

White Zetsu's soul had let him feel strength from another dimension.

At this moment, Mahito had entered a strange state.

The essence of his soul was sublimating.

That hurried glance had allowed Mahito's soul to find the direction of evolution.

Even if he was still far from White Zetsu's soul, Mahito had surpassed the self he had been one second ago.

Mahito gave Yuji an unreadable smile, then pressed both cursed-energy-filled hands to his stitched face.

"Idle Transfiguration: Instant Spirit Body of Distorted Killing!"

Exposed veins and muscle wrapped around Mahito's flesh. One-meter sharp spikes extended from both elbows.

The stitched face was covered by a writhing mask of flesh, eyeless and blind.

A long fleshy tail swung back and forth behind him, stirring violent wind.

"Come celebrate my rebirth, Yuji!"

His crazed laughter echoed through the entire street.

It was not only his body's shape that had changed.

Mahito's soul and cursed energy had both climbed to a higher level.

Yuji's expression was solemn, with no trace of fear or panic on his face.

His eyes, filled with killing intent, did not waver.

The cursed energy surging around his fist was his silent answer.

At that moment, aside from killing Mahito, Yuji had no other thought.

The next second, two fists wrapped in black-red lightning slammed into each other.

Boom!

Seeing Yuji cough blood and fly backward, Mahito grew ecstatic.

"Again! Let us-"

Thud.

The unfinished words stuck in his throat, and the smile on his face froze.

Everything below Mahito's waist had vanished without warning, and he collapsed into a pool of blood.

"What happened?"

In one second, Mahito was knocked out of his evolved form and reverted to his original appearance. His face was blank.

Yuji, rising from the rubble, was just as stunned.

"That should be enough. Hurry up."

The cold voice from high above abruptly woke Mahito.

He looked up and saw an unstained white robe and a figure standing above all others.

Itsuki Zenin.

That invincible existence who could dominate everything.

Just as Mahito fell into despair, Fake Geto slowly emerged from the darkness.

Mahito lifted his head with hope.

"Geto!"

But when Mahito saw the smile at the corner of Kenjaku's mouth and that upward gaze, his heart dropped completely.

"Are you really in such a hurry, old friend?"

"I was planning to watch this stage full of reversals a little longer."

Kenjaku answered with a soft laugh, his gaze sliding past Mahito's miserable condition as if it barely mattered.

"Idle Transfiguration!"

Kenjaku easily avoided Mahito's desperate strike and looked down coldly at the blooming fruit.

Seeing Kenjaku no longer bothering to hide, Mahito lay in the pool of blood and laughed coldly.

"Of course. You never treated us as companions."

"Humans really are disgusting creatures."

Kenjaku did not answer.

After throwing a cursed spirit at the charging Yuji, he silently compressed Mahito into a round ball in his palm.

Then he swallowed it in one bite.

"Companions..."

"A mere cursed spirit. What arrogant nonsense."

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