Guys, the next chapter is the last one. This story officially ends in Chapter 141, which is over 9,000 words long.
I could split the content into three more chapters, but I'm not going to pull that kind of trick on you. The last one will be out later this week, probably on Friday.
Do me a favor: I haven't had lunch in four days, and my house is a cardboard box… Just kidding, but check out my Patreon—if you like my other two stories, please help out this poor, unhappy guy.
Joking aside, it's been a great journey—reading your comments and receiving your support is what kept me going. Enjoy this build-up to the finale.
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I hope you enjoy the reading!
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Everything fell silent. The sounds of that battle between monsters had finally ceased completely.
Which meant that one of them had emerged victorious.
Yorozu stared at the open sky above the stadium, trying to hear any indication that the battle was still going on. But she had already sensed far too many fluctuations of cursed energy to mistake this silence for a truce or a pause.
One of them had won.
And feeling the clone's hand still resting on her shoulder...
She already knew who it was.
!
"Good job."
Yorozu froze for a moment, her eyes widening in utter confusion when that voice sounded beside her. She turned her head, not expecting to see Itadori walking toward her as if he had been there all along.
'Too fast... I knew he was faster than me, but isn't this ridiculous?!'
Her lips tightened, her expression filling with resentment as her fingers clenched into fists against her thighs.
Having completed its task, the clone nodded before dissolving into a mass of flesh, flying toward Itadori's hand and merging directly into his body.
He regenerated his missing tooth, then turned his attention back to Yorozu, who was still obediently sitting on the ground and staring at him with obvious irritation.
He barely reacted to it. Yorozu was completely irrelevant to him. If she were not using Tsumiki's body, he would have already incinerated her completely.
Unfortunately, that was not the case. He had a problem in the form of this woman to deal with, and, to be honest, it was a problem he did not know exactly how to solve.
Separating Tsumiki's soul from Yorozu's would be a... complicated process. It shared some similarities with what he had already done when separating Maki and Mai's souls, but it was fundamentally different.
The souls of the two twin sisters had been naturally intertwined from the moment they began existing together in the womb, while Tsumiki and Yorozu had been forcibly made to coexist.
Not symbiotically, but parasitically.
Yorozu had completely imposed her will upon Tsumiki, taking full control in a way that Tsumiki had been unable to resist.
Their souls were connected, but at the same time, they were not.
Itadori had already caught a glimpse of how Sukuna's and his own souls functioned together when the King of Curses resided within his body. Because of that, he knew that separating an arrangement like this would require meticulous work. Any mistake could permanently damage Tsumiki's soul.
But he was confident in his chances of success, and he already had two methods in mind. Megumi was his friend, someone important to him, so his sister was equally important...
'That came out a little weird...'
He sighed and stopped in front of Yorozu, his eyes lowering to her face.
And when Yorozu felt those eyes upon her, she shuddered, a small, forced smile appearing on her lips.
"What exactly do you want with me?"
Itadori did not answer. Instead, he crouched down until he was at her eye level.
This startled Yorozu, who immediately recoiled slightly.
But that did not stop Itadori. He raised his hand, moving it toward her.
"W-Wait!" She moved to push his hand away. "This body belongs only to Sukuna!"
Slap!
But instead of receiving a slap, she received one on the back of her hand, Itadori's cold expression replaced by one of irritation.
"Shut up. I want to check something."
He spoke with authority, and Yorozu reluctantly obeyed despite feeling humiliated.
Itadori's hand continued moving until it stopped in front of her forehead.
Yorozu watched, her curiosity beginning to overcome her irritation.
"..."
Then Itadori touched her forehead.
!
Yorozu felt her soul resonate, every hair on her body standing on end from the sensation.
She swallowed hard, feeling as though those eyes were staring directly into her soul.
Never before had she felt so exposed.
"Good."
Then, abruptly, he pulled his hand away, and the sensation in her soul vanished immediately.
"She's still in there."
Yorozu blinked in confusion.
But Itadori paid her no attention.
Through Uro, and the glimpse he had gained into her soul, he understood that even if he could undo the fusion of souls during reincarnation, doing so would be completely useless in some cases for one simple reason.
The original owners of the bodies were, technically, dead.
Not dead in the literal sense, but in something closer to brain death.
As soon as the ancient sorcerers reincarnated, their souls immediately subdued the original inhabitants, imposing their wills upon them.
Most souls were incapable of resisting this, and although they technically remained inside their bodies, bringing them back would be no different from bringing a vegetable back to life.
That had been the case with Uro, and most likely with the majority of the reincarnated sorcerers.
Fortunately, that was not the case with Tsumiki.
It seemed that the method of reincarnation imposed upon her had not been as violent as the others, which made sense considering that she had been in a coma due to a strange curse.
There was still a will within her soul, and although she was not directly fighting Yorozu for control of the body, she was still there, resisting, even if only weakly.
That was enough.
"The body you're using now belongs to the sister of someone important to me," Itadori explained, despite having no obligation to do so. "I'm going to separate the two of your souls and return control to her."
Yorozu's eyes widened.
"What?!"
And then she nearly exploded.
"No! Impossible! I still need to show Sukuna my love! True love! I can't allow this!"
She tried to argue, to oppose the idea.
But the moment Itadori's cold gaze fell upon her, her mouth fell silent, cold sweat gathering at the back of her neck.
"I think you misunderstood."
His hand moved, resting on her shoulder.
"You don't have a choice here. I didn't ask for your opinion. I only told you what I'm going to do."
Yorozu's mouth fell open, a hint of fear appearing in her eyes, only to soon be replaced by...
Lust?
Itadori froze when he noticed the blush spreading across her cheeks, immediately pulling his hand away as if he had been burned.
'Crazy woman.'
He snorted and stood up.
"Itadori?!"
A familiar voice called his name.
He turned around to see Nobara and Hana carrying an injured Megumi toward him.
"Hey."
He smiled and waved.
Nobara did not hesitate to let go of Megumi, nearly causing Hana to stumble as she was forced to support him alone.
Itadori took a moment to react, his arms opening just in time to catch Nobara in a hug.
He chuckled softly.
"Idiot."
She buried her face in his jacket, her arms tightening around him.
"It feels like an eternity since I last saw your ugly face."
He rolled his eyes with a smile, hugging her back for a few seconds before pulling away enough to see her face.
He noticed the obvious exhaustion, her hair disheveled from all the running, and several scratches across her face.
"Looks like things weren't exactly easy on your end, huh?"
She pulled away with a snort.
"Don't even get me started. We've been running around and fighting for days."
Itadori nodded in understanding, earning a curious look from her.
"And you? You barely have a scratch on you, but we saw what looked like the end of the world from outside."
He smiled, raised his hand, and placed it on top of her head, Reverse Cursed Energy spreading throughout her body.
Nobara immediately felt the relief wash through her body, a satisfied sound escaping her lips.
"Damn, that's cheating."
"I know. I was always jealous of Yuta whenever I saw him using it."
He chuckled softly and pulled his hand away.
Then he turned toward the other two, walking over to them and healing them as well.
Hana was confused for a moment, but soon looked at him gratefully.
"Thank you so much!"
Megumi coughed slightly.
Even after being healed, he was exhausted, especially because he had barely slept or rested.
"Itadori... Did you defeat that shikigami?"
Megumi raised his gaze.
"You mean the over-two-meter-tall white guy with wings where his eyes should be, a wheel on his head, and a rather intimidating sword on his arm...?"
Itadori paused dramatically.
"No, he's right over there."
He pointed, and Megumi, seized by panic, immediately turned around in full alert.
Only to see nothing.
That earned a laugh from Itadori.
"Yeah, I defeated him. You don't have to worry about him anymore."
Megumi sighed in relief, though he still shot Itadori an annoyed look.
"Hey, what exactly are we supposed to do with this one?"
Everyone's attention was drawn toward Nobara, who was pointing at Yorozu, still sitting on the ground.
Yorozu felt somewhat intimidated as the attention of all four of them fell upon her, especially when two of them were glaring at her with murderous intent.
"I have two ideas for dealing with her."
Itadori turned toward Megumi.
"But I need your opinion."
Megumi pressed his lips together.
"Tell me."
Itadori paused, gathering his thoughts.
"My first idea is, naturally, to separate their souls, completely remove Yorozu's control, return it to Tsumiki, and then destroy Yorozu's soul."
He allowed Megumi to absorb his words.
"But there's a problem... This would be my first time doing something like this, and Tsumiki's soul is in a fragile state. There's a considerable chance that something could go wrong and we'd end up with Tsumiki in a vegetative state."
Yorozu shuddered at the mention of her soul being destroyed.
Megumi frowned.
"How likely is that, exactly?"
"I'd say fifty percent."
Megumi nodded, his lips tightening as discouragement threatened to overwhelm him.
Fortunately, there was still a second option.
"And the second option?"
"Turn Tsumiki into a vessel."
Megumi gave him a confused look.
"It's simple. I'll bring Tsumiki back to the forefront and suppress Yorozu to the point where she won't be able to take control unless Tsumiki allows it. She'll basically become a prison vessel, like I was for Sukuna. That will give her soul time to recover, and in the future, Yorozu can be removed completely."
Itadori watched as Megumi fell silent, his mind seemingly running through every possible scenario.
"Is there a chance Yorozu could forcibly take control?"
Itadori shook his head.
"Not with me checking on them from time to time. It could only happen if Tsumiki allowed it. And you don't need to worry about Yorozu trying to manipulate her. I'll suppress her to the point where she won't be able to manifest in any way."
Megumi nodded, some of the tension finally leaving his shoulders.
"Then we'd better play it safe."
And so, the four of them began discussing the details, completely ignoring Yorozu, who could only sit there in silence while they planned to imprison her.
'Save me, Sukuna, my love!'
. . .
Atop the building where Megumi and the others were supposed to meet Tsumiki, Maki stared at the empty surroundings with an expressionless face.
"Where are those idiots?"
.
.
.
At the edge of the colony's barrier, Sukuna emerged from the vast darkness, Uraume following closely beside him.
"This is the place. I can sense that brat's cursed energy."
He said it with a smile, his tongue slipping out to lick his teeth.
"Uraume!"
"Yes, Sukuna-sama?"
His smile widened.
"Let's crush the hopes of this generation of weaklings."