"Domain Expansion: Malevolent Shrine."
It was a miraculous skill, like creating flowers without roots or painting on air without a canvas.
An open Domain without the constraints of a barrier shell!
A fantastical creation existing only in myth—a demonic shrine adorned with skulls—grew wildly into reality amidst the skyscrapers of Shibuya.
Standing beneath the shrine, Sukuna appeared in the middle of the street.
BOOM!
With a single step out of a deep pit, Mahoraga approached at lightning speed, as if it had teleported!
Silently sensing the distance of the surrounding presences, Sukuna adjusted the Domain's casting range to a radius of exactly 100 meters, limiting it to the surface of the earth.
—BOOM!!!
Countless invisible blades radiated outward from Sukuna as the center.
Within the scope of the Domain, the rules were absolute.
Anything with Cursed Energy was relentlessly attacked by Cleave.
Anything without the slightest trace of Cursed Energy—cell phones, skyscrapers, ordinary humans—was relentlessly attacked by Dismantle.
With the guaranteed "sure-hit" effect active, it worked simultaneously on both people and objects.
In that instant, everything within 100 meters encountered endless, overlapping slashes!
Concrete, steel, and flesh were cut into powder so fine it was indistinguishable to the naked eye. As the aftershocks swept by, the humans dismembered into countless fragments drifted away with the wind like bloody mist.
Yet, having adapted to the slashing attacks, Mahoraga still stood firm!
Despite being attacked by billions of slashes, the Divine General continued to walk toward Sukuna. The damage from the slashes was negated instantly by its regeneration, though the sheer kinetic force greatly reduced its movement speed.
A terrifying Shikigami, Sukuna thought.
Sukuna had already deduced the way to deal with it.
He couldn't give Mahoraga time to adapt to a new attack. He had to kill it in one fell swoop using a technique it had never seen before. A protracted war would only allow the beast to grow stronger.
Sukuna chanted unfamiliar, difficult-to-understand incantations. Flames, shaped like blooming flowers, spread from his fingers to his entire body.
"Open (Fuga)."
The ultimate power of sixteen fingers shone brilliantly at this moment!
The massive amount of Cursed Energy poured out, blooming into a dazzling, arrow-shaped inferno in the center of the Shibuya street!
Suddenly, Sukuna's face turned extremely gloomy.
Damn it!
In the exact millisecond the flames swept forward... that terrifying Shikigami was suddenly covered by a thick layer of pitch-black shadows!
Before the flames could burn even half of its body, Mahoraga disappeared from the spot, sinking into the ink!
...
BOOM!!!
A deafening roar soared into the sky!
The entire Shibuya area shook violently, as if a massive earthquake had struck.
A quarter of Shibuya was transformed into a terrifying hell.
The ground looked like a drawing erased by a giant eraser. There was absolutely no trace of any architecture, roads, or human presence.
A patch of charcoal-black, perfectly flat earth with a radius of 100 meters faintly glowed with embers.
In the center of the devastation, only Sukuna remained. He wore a ferocious expression, staring intently in a certain direction.
He had witnessed Megumi Fushiguro's display of the Ten Shadows Technique earlier.
The instant Mahoraga was enveloped in shadow, Sukuna realized the truth.
I've been tricked!
"Ha. That's quite a clever plan," Sukuna spoke coldly, his face like ice.
"I was just taking the dog out for a walk," a calm voice echoed. "I'm really sorry I forgot to leash it."
Zenin Mirai appeared out of nowhere, standing on the edge of the crater opposite Sukuna.
"How was it?" Mirai raised an eyebrow. "The mighty King of Curses... you weren't scared by a stray dog, were you?"
His contemptuous tone carried a heavy hint of mockery.
Sukuna was deeply irritated by that indifferent gaze. Mirai looked at him with absolute confidence—the look of someone who truly believed their strength far surpassed their opponent's.
"Brat, I am really looking forward to your dying screams," Sukuna responded with undisguised, overwhelming malice.
Excluding the enhancement of Domain effects, Sukuna estimated that a fully adapted Mahoraga possessed combat strength roughly equivalent to 18 of his fingers.
He withdrew it right before I could destroy it, Sukuna calculated. The wheel needs more spins to adapt to my flames. I only have two more chances to deal with that thing before it becomes completely immune to fire as well.
If I could recover to my peak condition—twenty fingers... the advantage lies with me!
Feeling the sudden awakening of Yuji Itadori's consciousness within him, Sukuna looked toward Mirai with a cold smile.
"I've made a Binding Vow with this brat," Sukuna said arrogantly. "You didn't destroy his body when you had the chance. Death and destruction will return to you."
"Wait for me, Zenin Mirai," Sukuna sneered, acting as if an adult were watching a child throw a tantrum. "To me, you are just a different kind of feast than Gojo Satoru."
Mirai did not refute the threat.
A slight smile appeared on his lips—a look of pure mockery!
"We'll see each other again soon!" Sukuna launched a final verbal counterattack, and his consciousness sank directly into the innate domain.
...
Thump!
Yuji Itadori took back control of his body and immediately collapsed to his knees.
Ignoring the searing heat of the ground that burned his skin, ignoring the man standing nearby who had sealed Gojo-sensei... Yuji curled up like a shrimp.
Overwhelming memories flashed before his eyes.
Die. Die. Die.
The scenes of thousands of people being sliced to bloody dust by Malevolent Shrine flashed through his mind like a tidal wave.
He couldn't refuse the memories. He couldn't forget them. He felt the sensation of doing it.
"—VOMIT!!!"
Yuji retched violently, acting as if he were trying to vomit his own heart and liver out of his body.
He pounded his fist against the charred ground, tears streaming down his face!
With Sukuna's help, his physical body had recovered to its full strength... but his spirit was completely broken.
He recalled his grandfather's last words: "Go and help others, so you can die surrounded by people."
At this moment, all Yuji could hear were the screams of the dying. His mind was filled with hatred for himself.
Why didn't I just die?!
Why did I eat that finger?! Why did I join Jujutsu High?!
Mirai stood silently to the side, watching like an audience member at a tragedy.
His right eye switched to the Rinnegan.
In the ninja world, the Rinnegan was known as the eye that controlled life and death.
While Mirai had not yet mastered the divine skills of reincarnation or forced soul extraction... he could use the eye to observe a soul directly through the physical body.
He looked closely at the sobbing boy.
"Just as I expected..." Mirai uttered a vague statement, confirming a theory he had about Yuji's true nature as Kenjaku's creation.
Then, Mirai disappeared from the spot via Kamui.
There was no comfort. No conversation.
To Zenin Mirai, Yuji Itadori wasn't a person. He was merely the protagonist of a manga he had once read. A stepping stone on the path to godhood.
At best, Yuji was just one of the bricks paving the way to the throne.
The Strongest Sorcerer of the Modern Era, Gojo Satoru?
The King of Curses, the Strongest in History, Ryomen Sukuna?
To borrow Sukuna's own phrasing...
To Zenin Mirai, those two were merely appetizers served before the main course.
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