"Hidden cards..." Kenjaku smiled, completely ignoring the horrified, stunned expressions of the Jujutsu High Sorcerers in the distance.
He remained utterly engrossed in his own storytelling.
"Have you forgotten, Choso?"
Kenjaku sneered, his dark eyes locking onto the heavily injured Death Painting Womb.
"You can inherit your brothers' abilities, and even unleash Eso's ultimate, most wicked technique, 'Maximum: Winged King.'"
"That's not just because you are related by blood."
"Instead, it is because my scattered soul, having lost its physical form, actively attached itself to you all."
"The reason you can sense their life and death remotely is simply because the soul fragment I left in your body is the largest one."
At this moment, the ultimate vessel...
Before being swallowed by Yuji Itadori, the six remaining Cursed Wombs had fallen into the hands of Zenin Mirai.
"In order not to arouse Sukuna's suspicion, I did not leave much of my soul essence in Itadori's body at birth."
"But you forced Itadori to swallow those six Cursed Wombs..."
"The sum of seven soul fragments is more than enough for me to completely suppress Itadori's consciousness."
Kenjaku spread his arms wide, reveling in his absolute control over the vessel.
"Only by finally swallowing your three remaining souls will I truly become whole!"
As he spoke.
With a mock-compassionate expression, he looked down at the young man pinned to the ground and said, "Where is the source?"
BANG!!!
"Huh?!!"
The serene silence of the Domain was suddenly broken by a violent tremor from within the vessel!
"Yuji?!!" Choso yelled out.
A glimmer of hope suddenly appeared in Choso's swelling, despairing eyes!
However...
"Subarashii! (Wonderful!)"
Kenjaku forcefully suppressed the internal rebellion, marveling at the sheer resilience and durability of the body's flesh and Cursed Energy. The physical power was deafening!
"This container... is truly amazing!"
In a moment of reflection.
Deep within the dark abyss of the soul, a glimmer of light faintly flickered.
Yuji Itadori, who had listened to the entire horrifying story from within, struggled desperately with his huddled soul.
Swallowing those six Cursed Wombs was an absolute last resort.
Before the final battle, Sukuna and Zenin Mirai had put far too much pressure on the Jujutsu High side.
In order to desperately enhance his strength, Itadori went to great lengths.
Not only consuming Cursed Fetuses...
Shoko Ieiri, Yuta Okkotsu, and the others had brought with them the top-grade Cursed Artifacts from the Gojo clan, as well as the Soul Research Notebook left behind by Yuki Tsukumo after her death.
It was the detailed records about the soul in that book that allowed Itadori to barely remain conscious right now.
During the training before the final battle, Itadori was even able to repeatedly exchange souls with Kusakabe.
But facing the present situation...
That brief burst of energy and resistance just now could only be described as a miracle.
...
"He's really tenacious!"
Kenjaku complained, feeling Itadori's soul continuously clawing at his control.
"I had anticipated this exact situation, and I was even planning to ask Uraume and Sukuna about their 'Bathing' ritual to completely sink his soul."
"A pity..."
Kenjaku sighed, dismissing the thought as he flexed his newly acquired muscles.
"But it's good. Being too perfect is itself a form of imperfection."
PFFT!!!
The crimson stains violently scattered on the ground caused the pupils of Hiromi Higuruma and his companions in the distance to shrink sharply!
"CHOSO?!"
Kenjaku violently tore Choso from the ground, fully intent on consuming the final pieces of his soul.
Then, he began to chew him vigorously!
And Choso's deeply concerned expression towards his younger brother Yuji was violently frozen in time!
Takako Uro, standing safely beside Mirai, was mostly alright, having seen many more perverts and atrocities a thousand years ago.
But it really was truly gruesome...
Looking at Kenjaku swallowing Choso's head whole...
A chill ran through Mai Zenin, forcibly suppressing the strong urge to vomit.
"Well, are you ready?"
The absolute malice emanating from the body of the vessel was growing ever stronger.
Mirai simply said calmly, "I've given you so much time to prepare, so you mustn't let me down."
GULP!
Swallowing the last bloody piece, a confident smile surfaced on Kenjaku's face.
The Merger above pulsed in resonance, feeding the ultimate Cursed Energy directly into his body.
Kenjaku had always marveled at Zenin Mirai and the absolute power he wielded as an individual human being.
But if it were him now...
'I can win!'
He felt the absolute certainty of his victory surging through his veins.
"Then I will win this game."
Spanning a thousand years of plotting, the three-in-one system of the Merger, Tengen, and his soul had finally been established.
"You... have seen me at my peak?"
Mirai put one hand to his forehead, a wild, unrestrained laugh curling at the corner of his mouth. "HAHAHAHA!"
"HAHAHAHA!"
"At your peak..."
"Kenjaku, I truly admire your courage, but it is laughably arrogant!"
A glint of light flashed in Mirai's Rinnegan eyes, and an incomparably terrifying power surged forth!
Like a resurrected god, an invincible aura instantly covered the heavens and the earth!
"Come on! Let me see the confidence behind your words!"
Kenjaku smiled confidently in response, perfectly molding the boundless energy of the Merger.
There was even a hidden trick up his sleeve...
But, it didn't matter anymore!
This was the final curse!
...
BOOM!!!
The heavens and earth trembled for a moment, and then...
The ten or so minutes of conversation and explanation were completely over.
The dilapidated streets were instantly covered by a blood-red earth!
The modern steel skyscrapers that once stood tall in the distance had, in the blink of an eye, aged and shrunk into dilapidated Heian-era mansions and courtyards!
The entire space suddenly exuded an ancient, desolate, and somber feeling!
As Takako Uro surveyed her surroundings, her pupils gradually contracted and dilated!
This inexplicable familiarity was exactly like...
A thousand years ago!
BOOM—!
The ground beneath their feet kept shaking violently!
Countless skeletons buried deep on the ancient battlefield crawled out of the soil one by one!
The crimson Cursed Energy that filled the heavens and earth instantly covered the skeletal bodies!
Flesh, fascia, internal organs, brain!
The bones underwent visible, grotesque changes and growth, and the terrifying Cursed Energy surged ever stronger!
In just a few seconds, hundreds of skeletons transformed into fully-fleshed humans dressed in ancient clothing!
"These are the most powerful Sorcerers stored in my soul's long memory," Kenjaku announced, his voice echoing through the transformed Domain.
"Spanning from a thousand years ago all the way to the modern era!"
"My Domain Expansion is capable of resurrecting the dead!"
They were bound entirely to his will, forming the ultimate army of the Merger.
"This is the Other Shore!"
"Oh right, I almost forgot to remind you."
"They are not ordinary undead. They each possess their own original Cursed Techniques, and..."
"Domain Expansion."
The resurrected army stood silently, their collective Cursed Energy waiting for the command.
Under the horrified gazes of the crowd, the army blinked in unison.
The army of the dead, born from the sea of Cursed Energy, stood menacingly across the battlefield.
Hundreds of millions of blood-red tendrils pierced directly into the bodies of the Sorcerers who were transformed from white bones!
Vast, limitless power continuously surged into their bodies from the Merger above!
Those blurry, resurrected faces solidified one by one.
All of them were...
Yuji Itadori's face!
Groups of figures approached Mirai's location.
The leader among them...
It had the face of Yuji Itadori, compound eyes, four arms, and a gaping mouth on its abdomen!
It was Ryomen Sukuna, who had been resurrected and transformed into a spirit of the dead!
Beside the resurrected Sukuna stood the only one dressed in modern clothing...
A deep blue light still shone brightly in his Six Eyes!
"Welcome to the Heian period, the Golden Age of Sorcery... Zenin Mirai!"