Beneath the high school, on the path to the Tombs of the Star Corridor.
Heavy footsteps echoed through the empty underground passage.
Suguru Geto's face was grim as he pulled Riko Amanai by the hand, running desperately through the dim corridor.
Misato Kuroi followed closely behind, her face pale, teeth gritted to keep herself from crying out.
"Faster... just a little faster..."
Suguru Geto's heart pounded violently.
Flashes of Satoru Gojo's chest being pierced and blood gushing out flickered through his mind.
His best friend, the one who always claimed to be the 'Honored One' throughout heaven and earth, the Divine Child recognized as the strongest of the modern era.
In just a few seconds, he had been pushed to the brink of death by an ordinary man without a shred of cursed energy!
How was this possible?!
What kind of monster was that man, Toji Fushiguro?!
"Suguru..."
Riko stumbled as Suguru pulled her along. Seeing his shoulders tremble slightly, her tears finally burst forth.
"Gojo... Gojo will be okay, right?"
"That man... he's after me, isn't he?"
Suguru Geto came to a sudden halt and turned around.
He reached out and firmly gripped Riko's shoulders. His eyes, usually gentle, were now bloodshot.
"Listen, Riko."
"Satoru is the strongest. He would never die in a place like this."
"What we need to do now is reach Master Tengen immediately. Once the merger is complete, that assassin won't be able to hurt you anymore!"
As he spoke, Suguru's voice wavered.
He forced himself to look away, unable to bear the despair and fear in Riko's eyes.
Because he knew just how hypocritical his words were.
A merger?
Once the merger was complete, Riko Amanai's soul and body would vanish from this world forever, becoming nothing more than fuel to maintain Master Tengen's barrier.
How was that any different from being killed by an assassin?
They were giving it their all, even at the cost of Satoru Gojo's life—was all of it just to send this innocent girl to her death?
"Let's go."
Suguru gritted his teeth and took Riko's hand once more.
Finally, after passing through a long and oppressive underground gallery.
A massive stone door, carved with ancient incantations and radiating a vast barrier energy, came into view.
The main hall of the Tombs of the Star Corridor.
Master Tengen's resting place.
"We're here."
Suguru let out a long sigh of relief, his frayed nerves relaxing slightly.
Once they stepped through that door, the mission to escort the Star Plasma Vessel would officially end.
"Kuroi, this is as far as you can go."
Suguru turned to the maid who had been silently accompanying Riko.
Misato Kuroi's eyes were red. She stepped forward quickly and pulled Riko into a tight embrace.
"Miss Riko..."
Kuroi's voice choked up, her tears instantly soaking Riko's shoulder.
"Please... please be well..."
Riko didn't speak; she just held Kuroi back tightly, as if trying to transfer all her warmth to the woman who had always cared for her.
After a long while.
Riko gently pushed Kuroi away and turned toward the massive stone door that led to a bottomless abyss.
Her body trembled slightly, but her eyes held a heartbreaking resolve.
"Suguru."
Riko spoke suddenly, her voice so faint it seemed the wind could carry it away.
"Thank you. All of you."
"Thank you, thank Satoru, and thank Instructor Yoru."
"These past few days have been the happiest of my short life."
Looking at the girl's slender back, Suguru felt his heart being squeezed by an invisible hand.
He suddenly remembered the beach in Okinawa, where Riko laughed like any other middle schooler.
He remembered the complex look Instructor Yoru had given the three of them before they set out.
Yoru had said that if this was Riko's final wish, they should help her fulfill it, even if it meant making the entire jujutsu world their enemy.
But now.
He was about to personally push this girl toward her death.
"Riko!"
Just as Riko was about to take a step across that irreversible threshold.
Suguru suddenly shouted.
He lunged forward and grabbed Riko's wrist.
"If you don't want to merge..."
Suguru's chest heaved violently.
His voice echoed through the empty underground palace, carrying a madness and resolve that defied the fundamental laws of the jujutsu world.
"If you still want to live with Kuroi..."
"If you still want to eat delicious sweets and see sights you've never seen before..."
"We can take you back!"
Suguru looked into Riko's wide eyes and spoke every word with deliberate weight.
"This is my decision. Satoru's too."
"And it's Yoru's decision as well!"
"We are the strongest! Even if Master Tengen is enraged, even if the jujutsu higher-ups issue an execution order, we will protect you!"
Riko was stunned.
She stared blankly at Suguru's serious and determined face.
Since childhood, she had been brainwashed with the idea that she was merely a vessel for Master Tengen.
She thought her fate was sealed and that her only option was to accept death quietly.
But now, in the darkness of this underground, at her most desperate hour.
Someone had reached out a hand and told her: You can live.
"I..."
Riko's tears burst forth again.
This time, it wasn't from fear. It was the desire to live, suppressed in her heart for fourteen years, finally erupting like a volcano.
"I want to... I want to live!"
Riko cried, yet she wore a brilliant, beautiful smile.
She turned around and, without hesitation, reached out to Suguru with the hand that was meant to push open the door of death.
"I want to... keep seeing the world with everyone!"
A smile of relief finally appeared on Suguru's face.
He reached out to take Riko's hand and lead her away from this godforsaken place.
However, in the very instant Riko's fingertips were about to brush Suguru's palm...
*BANG!*
A crisp, sudden gunshot shattered the deathly silence of the Tombs of the Star Corridor without warning.
Time seemed to stretch infinitely in that moment.
Suguru watched, helpless.
A golden bullet, howling with death, tore through the air and sped with pinpoint accuracy toward Riko's temple.
And in the dark passage behind Riko...
A burly man had appeared, standing there silently.
Toji Fushiguro.
He held a smoking handgun, his lips curled into a cold, cruel smirk.
"What a touching farewell."
"Too bad. I'm taking the Star Plasma Vessel's life."
The bullet traced a lethal trajectory through the air.
Suguru's pupils shrank to pinpricks. He desperately surged his cursed energy, trying to summon a cursed spirit to block the shot.
But it was too late.
The bullet was less than ten centimeters from Riko's brow.
Was tragedy really going to repeat itself at this very moment?
Was the girl who had just regained her hope of living really going to have everything ruthlessly snatched away by death at her most brilliant moment?
The shadow of despair instantly enveloped the entire Tombs of the Star Corridor!
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