Alliance and Melee

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The center of the Imperial Palace.

The Empty Barrier of the Tombs of the Star Corridor.

Yamakuni Mausoleum in Kyoto.

Sacred Mount Hida.

These were the four foundational barrier sites Tengen had established across Japan.

The four sites connected and layered over one another to form the only true pure barrier in the jujutsu world.

That pure barrier suppressed cursed energy and cursed spirits across Japan on a massive scale, preventing them from spreading across the globe.

The Culling Game Kenjaku had arranged also depended on those four sites.

In other words, the true administrator of the Culling Game was not Kenjaku.

It was Tengen.

Tengen had the ability to shut down the Culling Game at any time.

And had hidden that truth from Jujutsu High.

...

Sacred Mount Hida was the largest of the four foundational sites, cutting between eastern and western Japan.

After leaving the Tombs of the Star Corridor, Itsuki appeared at the entrance to the site.

Police barricades had been set up around the perimeter, and several ordinary barriers blocked the interior.

Ignoring every obstacle, Itsuki led White Zetsu deep into the mountain.

At the end of the barrier site, a corpse in monk robes sat cross-legged at the center.

"Making President Zetsu personally carry a corpse? Seriously-"

White Zetsu sensed Itsuki's gaze and silently closed his mouth, then hoisted the corpse over his shoulder.

"Nothing else for me here, right? After I deliver this, I'm going to have fun."

Itsuki nodded.

White Zetsu truly could not help with what came next.

A black notebook fell from the churning void.

This was the complete essence of barrier techniques Kenjaku had traded away when he took Suguru Geto's body.

After only a year, Itsuki's barrier technique mastery still could not compare to the two thousand-year-old fossils, Kenjaku and Tengen.

But during that year, Itsuki had studied one technique thoroughly.

Ritual linkage.

Using the ten scattered Culling Game colonies as a foundation, he would draw ten hidden lines between them.

Then he would expand and merge the divided barriers until the entirety of Japan was enclosed.

Clink.

Clank.

Dozens of long nails wrapped in cursed markings flew from Itsuki's hand and pinned themselves around the Mount Hida barrier site.

After arranging the ritual, the next step was adding cursed energy.

Four foundational sites.

Ten Culling Game colonies.

Once Itsuki finished setting everything in place, this island nation would face an unknown conclusion.

...

The news of Yuki, Masamichi Yaga, and the others' deaths had not yet spread.

Yuji, Megumi, Nobara, and the rest had already entered the Culling Game colonies.

Itsuki Zenin had last appeared in Sendai, so they split into teams and headed toward the other nine colonies.

Their goals were to collect points and find the Angel.

Because of the rule Itsuki had added, splitting up was the more efficient strategy.

Yuji, Nobara, and Megumi entered Tokyo Colony No. 1.

They were searching for the awakened sorcerer with the highest score there, Hiromi Higuruma.

Panda, Inumaki, and Kinji Hakari entered Tokyo Colony No. 2.

They were searching for the incarnated sorcerer Hajime Kashimo.

The initial players of the Culling Game were divided into two broad types.

One type consisted of incarnated sorcerers who had accepted Kenjaku's aid and seized bodies to revive.

The other consisted of ordinary humans inside the colonies who awakened as sorcerers.

In Tokyo Colony No. 2, two humans and one panda were scattered the moment they entered.

Players who entered a colony would be randomly transported to one of nine different starting points.

This was a hidden clause not written in the official rules.

Back in the Sendai Colony, White Zetsu had not been separated from Itsuki only because he was a clone.

...

A bloodied staff.

A cold gaze.

An open cargo yard.

Hajime Kashimo, who had just killed three sorcerers, suddenly looked up.

"That cursed energy is strong."

Excitement filled Kashimo's bloodthirsty eyes.

Something fell like a meteor and crushed an entire shipping container beneath its feet.

Looking down at Kashimo below, the newcomer grinned with a dazzling smile.

"Yo. Looks like another beauty has been charmed by Lord Zetsu."

Red clouds.

Black robe.

White Zetsu Number Two.

Itsuki was still arranging the ritual at Mount Hida, and Number One was transporting a corpse.

Naturally, Number Two had come looking for entertainment.

"Hi."

Kashimo smiled in return, then bent low and shot forward.

Purple lightning crackled.

Kashimo's body moved like a bolt of lightning as a fist slammed toward White Zetsu's abdomen.

White Zetsu did not dodge.

Instead, he punched toward Kashimo's cheek.

Two different sprays of blood splashed at once.

"You're not bad."

Scarlet blood ran down Kashimo's face, making the heat in his eyes burn even brighter.

The scorched skin across White Zetsu's abdomen oozed faint purple blood.

In an instant, it recovered.

"You've got a temper, sweetheart."

The battle maniac Kashimo and the entertainment-seeking White Zetsu both seemed satisfied with the other.

Kashimo's bloodied staff whistled through the air and slammed toward White Zetsu's side.

Purple lightning shimmered along the weapon, faintly twisting space.

A cursed spirit's special constitution could restore the body with cursed energy.

As for Number Two's physical body...

Number Two still had five thousand years of accumulated cursed energy to burn.

"Ha! Now this is fun!"

White Zetsu laughed and stood firmly in place.

His fist, reinforced with an ocean of cursed energy, swung hard toward Kashimo's face.

"Come on. Whoever dodges is a coward!"

White Zetsu's feet stayed planted as if buried in the ground. Even after Kashimo blasted a bloody hole through his waist, he was not knocked back.

Kashimo, however, took the punch head-on and crashed through several shipping containers, throwing up a cloud of dust.

White Zetsu touched the bloody hole in his waist and grinned.

"Tingly..."

"Not bad, Kashimo."

In the time it took him to speak, the seemingly fatal wound healed completely.

The crushed shipping containers were swept aside by a staff.

Kashimo stepped out, lightning wrapped around him, battle lust surging.

"I am Hajime Kashimo."

"Cursed spirit, what is your name?"

White Zetsu's smile stiffened as he finally placed the name.

"So you're an incarnated player. What a waste of such cool lightning."

White Zetsu did not have a Kogane because he was not a player, so he could not check player information whenever he pleased.

Only now did he realize Kashimo's true nature, and he shook his head in disappointment.

An incarnated corpse could not be converted into one of his own clones.

"What a shame. Those lightning skills look awesome."

White Zetsu sighed helplessly.

Then a scorching glow lit in his palm.

If Kashimo could not be converted, there was no need to preserve the body.

"Great Purification Cannon!"

A cannon of cursed energy powerful enough to twist space and burn through the clouds shot toward Hajime Kashimo.

The attack covered an absurd range.

The blazing current engulfed half the cargo yard, leaving Kashimo no room to evade.

Marveling at the cursed spirit's reserves, Kashimo held his staff across his chest.

Thunder roared.

A boiling heat wave rushed into the sky, and most of the cargo yard became a burning sea of fire.

Brilliant lightning lit the sky.

Kashimo stepped out of the flames with a mad smile.

Human or cursed spirit, it did not matter.

As long as the opponent could give him a satisfying fight, that was enough.

"Not bad," White Zetsu said, seeming interested again after seeing Kashimo take the attack head-on. "Your strength has President Zetsu's approval, Kashimo."

"Hey! Things are pretty heated over here!"

Music arrived before the man did.

From one side of the flames, a man crashed into the battlefield with his own soundtrack.

A blaze of cursed energy no weaker than White Zetsu's rose into the air.

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