"Tell you all?"
Toho Hiroshi interrupted her. For the first time, his voice carried a trace of almost imperceptible exhaustion and a certain resolution. "And then what? Let Gojo, let Okkotsu, let Itadori, let Fushiguro and the others face a monster that might possess the wisdom of Tengen's millennium of accumulation, a hundred million people's worth of Cursed Energy, and is completely beyond conventional measure while they are totally unprepared?"
"That would just be a pointless sacrifice. Kenjaku's layout is too deep, and Tengen's 'evolution' is inevitable. This is the core rule of the Culling Game, and it cannot be broken from the outside."
"Only from within, at the most critical and vulnerable moment of its birth, can one use power that transcends its growth limit to kill it in one blow!"
"This process requires someone to bear all the sins and attract all the attention—including Kenjaku's, Tengen's, and even Gojo's."
His voice deepened. "Misunderstandings, hatred, confrontation—these are all necessary costs."
He looked into the distance, as if seeing his white-haired sworn friend fighting somewhere.
"I must walk at the very front alone, drawing all potential danger and hostility onto myself. Only in this way can I ensure the purity and absolute nature of that final strike."
Yuki Tsukumo looked at the man before her. He stood at the pinnacle of power, bearing the infamy of destroying the world, yet what he was planning in his heart was a near-suicidal gamble to save the world.
The massive amount of information and emotional shock left her speechless for a moment.
"So, you planned to face all of this alone from the very beginning?"
Her voice was hoarse.
"It is the only choice."
Toho Hiroshi withdrew his gaze, returning to his usual calm, indifferent demeanor. "Now, you understand. Your power, your life, should be saved for that moment."
Toho Hiroshi removed the black rods from Yuki Tsukumo and used Reverse Cursed Technique to heal the heavily injured Yorozu. After waking up, Yorozu expressed her apologies to Toho Hiroshi, claiming she had failed to stop Yuki Tsukumo.
As the black rods were pulled away, Yuki Tsukumo groaned, feeling her sealed Cursed Energy begin to flow within her body again. The sharp pain in her ribs quickly subsided under a gentle green light that Toho Hiroshi swept over her.
She looked at Toho Hiroshi with complex emotions. The truth she had just learned weighed on her heart like a boulder, leaving her at a loss as to how to face this man who carried the name of a savior while performing the deeds of a destroyer.
Toho Hiroshi did not look at her again and turned to walk toward Yorozu, who was struggling to get up not far away.
He crouched down and placed his palm over the chest wound Yorozu had sustained from Yuki Tsukumo. Pure positive energy—a high-level application of Reverse Cursed Technique—poured into Yorozu's body, rapidly repairing her damaged internal organs and bones.
"My lord..."
Yorozu opened her eyes and saw Toho Hiroshi close by. A flush of excitement instantly rose on her pale face, but it was immediately replaced by deep guilt. "I am sorry... I am useless... I failed to stop that woman... and now I have troubled you to heal my wounds..."
She struggled to get up to bow, but was gently held down by Toho Hiroshi.
"It is fine. Her strength is naturally greater than yours; defeat was expected."
Toho Hiroshi's tone was calm, without a hint of reproach. "You have done your best, and that is enough."
This plain acknowledgment instantly caused mist to well up in Yorozu's eyes.
She grabbed Toho Hiroshi's sleeve as if grasping the only piece of driftwood. Her voice was choked with emotion and filled with immense determination: "Yorozu will definitely become stronger."
"I will never again be a burden to you. Next time... next time I will definitely clear all obstacles for you."
Looking at the near-paranoid fanaticism and dependence in her eyes, Toho Hiroshi was silent for a moment, then simply patted her shoulder gently.
"Rest now. The final moment is almost here."
He stood up and cast his gaze downward once more.
The Gedo Statue's tremors became increasingly violent. The eighth eye opened completely, and its scarlet light illuminated nearly half of Shinjuku as if it were a sea of blood.
The Cursed Energy permeating the air was so thick it was almost tangible, and it was being greedily devoured by the statue.
The outline of the final eye on its forehead had already begun to appear.
Yuki Tsukumo also stood up. She walked to Toho Hiroshi's side and looked down with him at this scene that resembled the coming of the apocalypse.
"Is it worth it?"
She suddenly asked softly, "Even if you succeed and annihilate that monster that might be born?"
"But what about after that? Will there still be a place for you in this world? Gojo will never forgive you."
Toho Hiroshi's profile appeared exceptionally cold and hard under the reflection of the blood-red light. The Rinnegan reflected the massive figure of the statue, deep and waveless.
"I have never asked for forgiveness, nor do I need a place to stay."
His voice was low and clear, carrying a resolution that cut off all paths of retreat.
"Success does not require me."
"But success must involve me."
The moment his words fell, the Gedo Statue let out a roar that shook the heavens and the earth.
The final eye snapped open.
Nine gazes, like nine blood moons, hung over the sky of Shinjuku.
The massive roots of the Divine Tree burst from the ground, spreading wildly like living creatures, beginning to envelop the entire Barrier.
The prelude to the descent of the Ten-Tails had already begun!
...
Just as the Gedo Statue fully awakened, its nine eyes opened simultaneously, and the roots of the Divine Tree shrouded the sky over Shinjuku like a nightmare.
In another unknown, dark space within the Barrier, Kenjaku's ritual also entered its most critical stage.
He stood in the center of an ancient altar constructed from countless talismans and bones. The core of the Tomb Chamber, where Tengen had originally resided, had been completely eroded.
The embryo-like body of Tengen, which he had swallowed into his belly, was emitting irregular pulsations, like a twisted heart.
"As expected, you are no longer the pure Tengen from before."
Kenjaku felt the fragments of information transmitted by that ancient soul in its final moments. A smile mixed with realization and greed appeared on his face. "A millennium of assimilation—you yourself have become part of the 'rules' and left this final 'trump card' for yourself. Unfortunately, it all belongs to me now."
He spread his arms, and the complex array beneath his feet suddenly lit up with scarlet light.
Through the connection between Tengen's "authority" and the Culling Game system, the one hundred million humans who had long been marked and screened throughout the Barrier let out shrill wails at the same moment.
Massive, invisible Cursed Energy surged from their bodies, flowing like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, crossing space, and pouring wildly into Kenjaku's body.
This power was so immense that the entire Culling Game Barrier began to shake violently. The sky seemed to be torn apart, revealing distorted light and shadows.
"So they are all Star Plasma Vessels!"
"Hahaha! Come! Complete this final'Super Assimilation' with me!"
Kenjaku's body began to mutate. His Cursed Energy was like a boiling ocean, lifting him up. A huge, blurry halo, seemingly formed from countless suffering souls, slowly condensed behind him.
Boom—
Two terrifying forces of Cursed Energy capable of shaking the foundations of the world—the Gedo Statue controlled by Toho Hiroshi and the Super Assimilation initiated by Kenjaku—were like two giant boulders crashing into a calm lake. The ripples of Cursed Energy they stirred up made all the "players" within the Barrier feel a sense of heart palpitations and suffocation.
"Hahahaha! That's it! That's it!"
Feeling these two distinct yet equally terrifying forces, Ryomen Sukuna, who was strolling through the ruins, could no longer suppress the surging excitement and fighting spirit in his heart.
His four scarlet eyes instantly locked onto the direction with the most potent individual Cursed Energy: the location of Toho Hiroshi.
He exerted force with his feet, and his figure tore through the air like a cannonball, rushing straight toward him with a wild laugh that promised to crush everything.
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