There were no screams.
No resistance.
Only the nauseating smell of flesh burning beneath the flames.
Yuu smelled that now-familiar stench and dropped to the ground, vomiting.
Li Huizhen, Park Jeong-ho, Jack Kovacs…
One after another, those figures had been burned into charred corpses before his eyes.
Now the same sight was playing out in front of him again.
Sakiko stood completely still, her face deathly pale.
She stared at the two bodies slowly turning black and remained silent for a long time.
Then the system notification sounded beside her ear.
[Ding!
You have killed the Story Characters Hasaba Mimiko and Hasaba Nanako.] [Reward: C-rank Side Mission Token ×2.] [Reward: 20,000 Mission Points.] Makoto checked his own panel as well.
He had received his share of the reward.
However, after being converted through the lie he’d created to share Sakiko’s earnings, the C-rank reward had been reduced to D-rank by the time it reached him.
Makoto didn’t care much about that.
He looked back toward Sakiko.
Her expression had shifted from pain and nausea to a gradually hardening coldness in an astonishingly short time.
Makoto let out a quiet sigh.
Growth was painful, no matter who experienced it.
He was about to say something when Sakiko moved first.
She walked over to the Storage Space where Makoto was hiding and placed a finger directly over the tiny air hole he’d left open.
Makoto’s breathing immediately stopped.
His muffled voice came from inside.
“Sakiko?” “Open it.
Let me in.” Makoto didn’t understand what she meant.
The Storage Space was cramped and pitch-black.
Even he felt suffocated staying inside it.
Why would she want to enter?
“Sakiko, it’s—” “Just let me in.” She interrupted him.
Her voice carried a firmness that allowed no argument.
Makoto stopped asking questions and opened a Spatial Gate.
Sakiko immediately crawled inside.
The Storage Space was completely dark.
She felt around until she found Makoto, then wrapped both arms around him without saying another word.
Makoto froze for a moment.
Then he understood.
After killing someone, Sakiko needed comfort.
The pain had already exceeded what she could endure alone.
Fortunately, she still had Makoto’s warm embrace to rely on.
Makoto wrapped one arm around her waist and gently stroked her head with the other.
He didn’t say anything unnecessary.
Only their breathing could be heard in the darkness.
The coldness that had just begun forming around Sakiko gradually faded.
In its place came a calmer, gentler feeling.
The two remained together in the darkness without speaking.
Neither knew how much time had passed when a terrifying surge of Cursed Energy suddenly erupted in the distance.
It came fast and violently, like something ancient and dormant was being forcibly awakened.
Makoto’s entire body instantly tensed.
Every hair on his body stood on end.
“What is it?” Sakiko raised her head from his chest.
“Jogo…” Makoto’s voice tightened.
“He’s feeding Itadori Yuji Ryomen Sukuna’s fingers.” “Ten of them.” “Ryomen Sukuna is about to wake up.” Jogo had searched for some time but failed to locate the finger Makoto had hidden.
Eventually, he gave up and returned to Yuji.
He took out the fingers he’d previously collected and fed them to Yuji one after another.
Through Makoto’s senses, Yuji’s presence began expanding at an astonishing speed.
The previously mild Cursed Energy quickly twisted and changed.
It became like a savage beast on the verge of awakening.
Finally, the presence transformed completely.
It became Ryomen Sukuna’s.
Even with one finger missing, Ryomen Sukuna’s terrifying Cursed Energy swept across Shibuya like a tsunami.
Despite the distance, Makoto felt a chill run down his back.
“Makoto-nii!” Yuu’s tearful voice came from outside the Storage Space.
“Over there…
There’s a huge Cursed Energy giant in the distance!
It’s terrifying!” Makoto pushed half his body outside and looked in the direction Yuu was pointing.
Beneath the distant sky, an enormous phantom formed from Cursed Energy stretched upward.
Anyone who looked directly at it couldn’t help trembling.
Even Sakiko shuddered and hugged her arms.
“What is that?” “Ryomen Sukuna’s overflowing Cursed Energy.” Makoto took a deep breath.
“We need to leave.” He brought Sakiko out of the Storage Space first, then placed Yuu inside.
Afterward, Makoto repeated his previous method and opened spatial passages one level at a time.
They climbed from underground all the way back to the surface.
By now, the streets of Shibuya had completely changed.
Jogo and Ryomen Sukuna were already fighting.
Every collision between them caused entire buildings to collapse.
Flames and slashing attacks crossed through the city, effortlessly destroying the modern streets humanity took such pride in.
Reinforced concrete was as fragile as paper before these two Disaster-class monsters.
Makoto scooped Sakiko into his arms again and sprinted away from the battlefield.
Only after covering another two hundred meters did he dare slow down slightly and look back.
At the center of the distant battlefield, a crimson figure clashed with another wrapped in overwhelming Cursed Energy.
Flames dyed half the sky orange-red.
Slashes carved bottomless scars through streets and buildings alike.
Jogo.
And Ryomen Sukuna.
Makoto knew that according to the original storyline, most of central Shibuya would be destroyed after this battle.
The farther away he could get, the better.
Just as he prepared to continue running—A chill suddenly ran down his back.
Ryomen Sukuna looked toward him from across the battlefield.
Even through the ruins and the enormous distance between them, that gaze made Makoto’s scalp go numb.
Makoto understood immediately.
Ryomen Sukuna must have seen him and Sakiko healing Itadori Yuji earlier.
Naturally, he’d remembered their faces.
At that moment, Jogo spoke to Ryomen Sukuna.
“Those are the two who stole one of your fingers earlier.” “They even managed to seal it.” “If you defeat me, you can still catch them.” Ryomen Sukuna burst into laughter.
The sound itself seemed to shake the air.
“After I kill you…” His voice rolled across the battlefield.
“I’ll find them and repay their kindness properly.” Makoto couldn’t hear their conversation from this distance.
But his expression still turned ugly.
He didn’t look back again.
Holding Sakiko tightly, he accelerated toward the edge of the Barrier.
The sounds of battle behind them gradually faded.
Yet Ryomen Sukuna’s gaze remained like a massive stone weighing heavily on Makoto’s heart.
Before long, the two reached the edge of the Barrier.
Makoto extended a hand toward it and once again constructed a spatial passage.
One entrance formed inside the Barrier.
The other appeared outside.
Kobayashi Yuu became Makoto’s test subject and crawled through first.
When Makoto saw that it worked, he and Sakiko immediately followed.
They had successfully escaped the Shibuya Barrier!
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