"Tsk, never-ending."
Satoru casually crushed another Grade 1 Cursed Spirit, his brow slightly furrowed.
This level of consumption was nothing to him, but being on the defensive was by no means his style. He needed to break this stalemate.
Just then, two powerful auras, one on the left and one on the right, blocked his path.
On the left was Jogo, his whole body burning with scorching flames and his single eye wide with rage.
On the right was Hanami, composed of countless withered plants and twisted trees, exuding a sense of natural sorrow and solemnity.
"Gojo! Let's see where you run this time!" Jogo roared, his volcanic head erupting with scorching lava, and the surrounding air instantly distorted.
Hanami said nothing, but the sharp vines spreading from underfoot and the giant flowers emitting an aura of decay already made the stance clear.
"Oh? Finally willing to send out something decent?" Satoru stopped, an interested expression appearing on his face. "Just in time to stretch my muscles a bit."
The battle erupted instantly.
Jogo and Hanami relied on Domain Amplification to pincer Satoru from two directions.
However, even under siege, Satoru remained at ease.
Even without Infinity, Satoru could rank among the Special Grade Sorcerers just by relying on basic Cursed Energy reinforcement techniques. Facing the siege of two Special Grade Cursed Spirits, he still held the upper hand.
While Satoru was in the heat of battle with Jogo and Hanami, through some information transmission mechanism of the Curtain, he "saw" an even more infuriating scene.
In the deeper underground area of the station, a large number of Transfigured Humans, who had lost their human forms and were like the walking dead after being transformed by Mahito's Idle Transfiguration, were surging like a tide toward those trapped, unarmed ordinary citizens.
And Mahito himself was hidden in the shadows, letting out a chuckle.
Using ordinary people as shields and then using Transfigured Humans for indiscriminate slaughter to further force Satoru to be distracted, consume his Cursed Energy, and even impact his spirit.
"Bastards..."
A sharp glint flashed in Satoru's eyes.
He knew this was an open scheme, but he couldn't stand by and watch the massacre happen.
"No other way..."
He took a deep breath and made a decision. Although it would accelerate Cursed Energy consumption and might give the enemies in the shadows an opportunity, clearing those Transfigured Humans and stopping the large-scale massacre was the primary task at hand.
"Domain Expansion: Unlimited Void."
"What!"
The Cursed Spirits hadn't expected Satoru to be so decisive. It wasn't a full Domain Expansion, but rather compressing the domain's effect, range, and time to an extreme 0.2 seconds.
In an instant, with Satoru as the center, a space of absolute darkness rapidly expanded, enveloping the entire fifth underground floor and all the Cursed Spirits, Transfigured Humans, and even some ordinary people who hadn't had time to evacuate.
Within these 0.2 seconds, an endless torrent of meaningless information was forcibly poured into the brains of all "enemies" within range. For Transfigured Humans and low-level Cursed Spirits without complete intelligence, this information overload was fatal—their consciousness was instantly crushed, and their soul functions completely stopped.
After 0.2 seconds, the domain suddenly contracted and disappeared just as it had appeared.
Satoru panted slightly, the continuous high-intensity combat and the brief Domain Expansion had taken a significant toll. But before him, the army of Transfigured Humans that had been surging like a tide now stood frozen in place as if a pause button had been pressed, then fell in rows like puppets with their strings cut, their life force completely extinguished.
One hit, clear the field.
However, in the thousandth of a second after the domain dissipated and Satoru's spirit slightly relaxed—
A voice he could never mistake, with a hint of familiar teasing, rang out from not far behind him.
"Satoru, you're the same as ever, being so reckless."
This voice...
Suguru?!
Satoru's body stiffened abruptly, and almost instinctively, he turned around instantly. The Six Eyes pierced through the dust and darkness, locking onto the figure with hair in a bun, and a visible stitched line across his forehead.
"Suguru?" Satoru's voice carried a hint of trembling he hadn't even noticed himself.
The face of his best friend, the voice of his best friend... but his Cursed Energy was full of incongruity and strangeness, along with a deep malice.
In this moment of his heart and mind being shaken, the cube-shaped special grade cursed object held in "Suguru's" hand—the Prison Realm—suddenly opened all the eyes upon it and locked onto Satoru.
A powerful, targeted sealing force was instantly activated!
But Satoru's reaction was faster. In the instant before the Prison Realm's power fully erupted, he had already recovered from the initial shock. His figure blurred, and he teleported dozens of meters away, narrowly escaping the Prison Realm's initial capture range.
"Tsk, did it fail?"
Kenjaku shook his head regretfully, but there wasn't much surprise on his face.
Satoru stood in the distance, his expression having returned to calm, the Six Eyes coldly watching the face of his former best friend.
"As expected, it's your doing." Satoru spoke, his tone chilling.
"Ever since I saw Itadori at the Juvenile Detention Center, I felt something was wrong. Someone who could withstand Sukuna's finger and is even related to Sukuna's bloodline suddenly appearing—there must be a mastermind behind it."
He paused and continued, "Today's situation, such a large Curtain, a death trap aimed at me, and you... appearing with Suguru's body. It's all too obvious."
"So, you guessed it before you came?" Kenjaku asked with great interest.
"Pretty much."
Satoru pointed to his eyes. "Today's spectacle was clearly aimed at me. So before coming in, I specifically went to pester Tengen for a bit."
Kenjaku asked, "Oh? What did that old fossil say?"
Satoru looked at Kenjaku and said, "He told me that there's a fellow who has lived for a thousand years, is an expert in barrier techniques, and is especially good at playing with souls and bodies, who has been active in the shadows."
"The goal is likely to seal me, and the key item is the special grade cursed object that can seal anything—the Prison Realm."
"He also said you would likely exploit the most unexpected loophole near me... for example, the remains of my deceased best friend."
Satoru's gaze was as sharp as a blade. "When I saw this face of yours, I was certain. You're not Suguru. You're just a... parasite occupying someone else's corpse."
***
40 Advanced Chapters on
patreon.com/alex_1000