December 24th, 4:30 PM.
In the sky, heavy snow fell over Tokyo like shredded cotton.
The frigid wind howled with a bone-chilling cold, screaming through the gaps between skyscrapers like a chorus of mourning ghosts.
The entire world seemed enveloped in a suffocating gray haze, as if heaven and earth were trembling in anticipation of the coming catastrophe.
Inside Tokyo Jujutsu High.
The atmosphere had reached a breaking point.
A heavy tension saturated the air, making even the simple act of breathing feel like a luxury.
Students and teachers alike were fully armed, gathered on the central training grounds for their final preparations before the battle.
Yuta Okkotsu sat quietly on the cold stone steps.
In his hand was a pristine white cloth, which he used to meticulously polish a katana that glinted with a cold light.
With every stroke, he could feel the sharp sword intent awakening within the blade and his own heart beating faster in his chest.
"Yuta."
A cool, somewhat defiant voice drifted over from his side.
Maki Zenin, her hair tied in a high ponytail and wearing a form-fitting black combat suit, walked over with a heavy polearm slung over her shoulder.
"Your hands are shaking. What, getting nervous?"
Seeing Yuta's slightly pale face, Maki arched an eyebrow, her tone carrying its usual hint of teasing.
"A little."
Yuta stopped what he was doing and looked up.
Those eyes, which used to be filled with timidity and gentleness, now flickered with an unprecedented resolve and determination.
"But I won't back down."
"To protect everyone, and to live up to Instructor Yoru's teachings and Gojo-sensei's expectations, I must fight."
Behind him, a massive shadow only he could perceive—the Special Grade Vengeful Cursed Spirit, Rika Orimoto.
Feeling Yuta's resolve, she let out a low, terrifying hiss, as if declaring her presence to the world.
"Tch, stop trying to act like a hero."
Maki snorted, though a confident smile played at the corners of her lips.
"If you're scared, just hide behind me."
"I'm pretty strong these days."
Gripping her weapon tightly, memories of the hellish training Instructor Yoru put her through naturally surfaced in her mind.
Although she was still trapped in a halfway-state of Heavenly Restriction and required glasses to see curses.
But Yoru had told her that a terrifying power capable of overturning the entire jujutsu world lay dormant within her.
'Don't pursue illusory cursed energy, Maki. Feel the flow of the wind, the breath of all things.'
Yoru's words still rang in her ears.
After several months of intensive training, Maki's physical skills and reaction speeds had reached the level of a Semi-Grade 1 sorcerer.
Against a standard Grade 1 Cursed Spirit, she now had the confidence to go head-to-head.
"Salmon!"
Toge Inumaki pulled up his high collar to hide the cursed speech markings at the corners of his mouth. With a cold gaze, he stepped forward and clapped Yuta firmly on the shoulder.
Panda swung his furry fists—which contained terrifying monstrous strength—letting out a gruff, war-ready roar.
They didn't know Suguru Geto's true goal.
All they knew was that the man once called the 'Most Evil Curse User,' whose very name had become a taboo in the jujutsu world.
He intended to massacre countless ordinary people at sunset and destroy everything they held dear.
For their comrades, for this school that held all their bonds.
They had to fight to the death, even if it meant spilling every last drop of their blood!
While everyone at Jujutsu High was on high alert, preparing for the impending carnage.
A slender figure wearing a black trench coat, carrying a long object wrapped tightly in black cloth, quietly left the Jujutsu High barrier.
Yoru.
This man, hailed by the entire jujutsu world as the 'Cursed-Energy-Less Sword Saint,' whom even Satoru Gojo couldn't fully read, and who struck fear into the hearts of those rotten oranges in the high-ups.
He was now walking alone into the swirling blizzard.
"Instructor Yoru!"
Seeing Yoru's solitary and determined back, Yuta Okkotsu couldn't help but stand up and shout.
"Aren't you coming with us to Shinjuku?!"
Hearing Yuta's voice, Yoru paused.
He didn't turn around, only slightly tilting his head. In his deep, blood-abyss-red eyes, a flash of reassuring warmth and unfathomable sharpness flickered.
"Satoru is enough for Shinjuku."
"As for you all..."
Yoru's gaze swept over Maki, Toge, and Panda before finally resting on Yuta. A faint smile played on his lips.
"Remember what I taught you."
"No matter what enemy you face, no matter what desperate situation you fall into, do not fear, and do not retreat."
"Use the weapons in your hands to cut down every obstacle!"
With that, Yoru walked into the vast white snow without looking back.
His steps were light, leaving barely a footprint on the snow, and he soon vanished completely.
Watching the direction Yoru had gone, everyone from the school felt a wave of confusion.
Where exactly was Instructor Yoru going?
Shinjuku and Kyoto were the main battlefields of the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons, where Japan's most terrifying armies of cursed spirits were gathering.
Was there really a place more dangerous or more important than those two battlefields?
What they didn't know.
Was that Yoru was heading neither to the slaughterhouse of Shinjuku nor the peril-filled Kyoto.
He was heading to the third hidden stronghold that Suguru Geto had spent ten years of hardship investigating—the place where that thousand-year-old fox was most likely lurking!
'Brain...'
In the blizzard, Yoru tightened his grip on a black reconnaissance bead that emitted a faint ripple of cursed energy.
The curve of his lips turned ice-cold, radiating a piercing killing intent that seemed to look down upon all living things.
"This ten-year-long game of hide-and-seek... it's time to end it once and for all."
"Today, I will not only sever your millennium-old evil plot."
"I will ensure that not even a speck of your ash remains in this world!"
As time passed.
The pale, dismal winter sun finally sank below the horizon amidst a hopeless silence.
5:00 PM, sunset.
[VMMMM—!!!]
Accompanied by a terrifying roar that seemed to come from the deepest depths of hell.
Above Shinjuku and Kyoto, a massive, sickening amount of residual cursed energy suddenly erupted!
The residuals were so thick that even ordinary people could see them clearly with the naked eye!
The originally gray sky was forcibly stained a bizarre, bloody purplish-red!
Countless black cracks spread frantically across the void like spiderwebs.
Immediately after, hundreds of cursed spirits of all shapes and sizes, radiating pure malice, surged out of those cracks like a burst dam!
"Wooooooo—!"
The shrill wail of air-raid sirens instantly tore through the city's tranquility.
The Night Parade of a Hundred Demons.
This maddening catastrophe, viewed by the entire jujutsu world as an apocalypse.
At this moment, it officially began!
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