“My eyesight isn’t very good, you know.
What’s your relationship with Yuji Itadori?”
The person who emerged from the fading Cursed Energy possessed a powerful amount of Cursed Energy in the eyes of all three of them.
Choso retreated to Itadori’s side while keeping his eyes fixed on the woman who had suddenly appeared.
“This person…
is probably here to kill you too…”
Naoya Zenin had just revealed to the two of them that Yuji Itadori had been sentenced to death.
Yuji, who had already been unsettled by the news of the Culling Game a few days earlier, looked at them and could not help shouting.
“With something like that happening all over Japan, how can you just stand by and do nothing?”
Boom!
The person leapt down from the roof and crashed onto the bridge in front of them, shattering the surface as dust billowed up.
“That?
What are you talking about?”
The woman swung her long sword.
Her long hair fell down her back, only to rise with the wind stirred by her surging Cursed Energy.
“Hey, hey, hey, hey.
I’m on your side here!”
Naoya Zenin raised both hands, using a slightly showy tone to indicate that he was not a threat.
“Unless I’m mistaken…
you’re Okkotsu, right?”
Hearing her name, Okkotsu raised her eyes and looked at the man before her.
Those lifeless eyes, framed by deep dark circles, pinned Naoya Zenin in place like sharp blades.
“Don’t act like we know each other.
Who are you?”
Although Naoya still held contempt in his heart toward a woman this strong, he knew that in this situation, if this turned into a three-on-one fight, it would be disastrous for him.
“Naoya Zenin.
I’m Maki’s cousin.
She should’ve told you about me, right?
Just like you, I received orders to execute Itadori.”
“Ah…
so you’re the useless playboy Maki-chan mentioned.”
This woman…
A flash of anger crossed Naoya Zenin’s face, but it quickly faded.
While the two of them were “talking,” Choso and Itadori were exchanging looks behind them.
Special Grade.
Satoru Gojo’s student.
The two quietly exchanged information, until the conversation between Naoya and Okkotsu began to break down.
Choso gave Itadori a look.
“Get ready to run, Yuji.
That blond guy is fast.
If he catches up to you, I’ll hold him back.”
“Will you be okay?”
“I’ll be fine.”
As Choso and Itadori finished their exchange, Naoya and Okkotsu’s conversation was also nearing its end.
“Relax, relax.
I won’t get in your way.
But I do have a request.
If you kill him today, could you hold off on reporting it for now?
I want to use him to lure someone out.”
“…”
Okkotsu’s eyes moved between Naoya in front of her and the two behind her.
“Sure.”
Choso raised his hand and pointed at the person before him.
“We’ll meet at the usual place afterward.”
“I’ll leave that one over there to you.”
“Got it!”
As the line of blood shot from Choso’s hand, Okkotsu and Itadori kicked off the ground at the same time.
The razor-sharp blood line instantly sliced through a distant building, and with the sound of Naoya landing, the attack somehow failed to harm any of the three people before him.
“I saw that.”
Naoya tapped the floor lightly with the tip of his shoe, then looked at Choso.
“So you can use Blood Manipulation.”
…
“Your score has increased by five points.”
With a wave of his hand, Gen fired [Dismantle], instantly cutting the sorcerer in front of him in two.
Before the man could even speak, Gen closed the distance, pressed a hand to his head, and drowned him in the erupting [Cleave].
“Ah, this is so boring…”
Gen rode the fully tuned Round Deer along the roads of Tokyo’s First Barrier.
After Takaba left, Gen once again felt that Tokyo’s First Barrier really was a place for stomping small fry.
The strength of incarnated sorcerers varied wildly.
Not everyone had the strength to be a mainstay, but far too many of them could not even tell how wide the gap in strength was.
Gen had not even gone out hunting all that much on his own.
The moment those wild dogs saw him gather Cursed Energy, they swarmed over, eager to kill him for points.
Modern sorcerers with newly awakened Cursed Techniques, ancient sorcerers incarnated into new bodies.
One after another, they were all nothing but stray dogs on the roadside.
Just trash that could not even say a decent curse.
“Hah…
This is making me sleepy.”
Gen yawned as he rubbed his eyes.
Because of his “memories from a past life,” Gen naturally knew that Hiromi Higuruma was probably in the theater in Tokyo’s First Barrier.
The thing that could threaten him was likely the Executioner’s Sword in Higuruma’s hand, right?
Come to think of it, Kenjaku really was something.
Every modern sorcerer he found was a monster, and even among the ancient sorcerers, plenty of them had ridiculous mechanics.
Where did he even find them?
“Tokyo’s First Barrier is full of troublesome techniques…
First Takaba, whose amount of Cursed Energy was completely impossible to sense, and now Hiromi Higuruma…”
Gen did not have any evidence that would guarantee a death sentence if Hiromi Higuruma got his hands on it.
Well, maybe the massacre he had carried out inside the Culling Game?
But that had never been Gen’s intention.
Those people had “I’m a Curse User” written all over their faces at first glance.
Even if he let them go, they would only threaten ordinary people, so dealing with them before they could harm ordinary people was completely right.
But as for asking Gen to go find Higuruma?
Impossible.
Gen had no intention of doing that.
Right now, he just wanted to reach one hundred points as quickly as possible and add the rule that “Players who have added a rule may freely enter and leave Barriers.”
Then Gen could go out shopping, travel around a bit, find Yuji Itadori, call out Sukuna, and test his own strength.
While he was at it, he could also see how strong Megumi Fushiguro was.
In short, there were far too many things he could do, but he had to get out of the Barrier first.
Maybe Mahoraga could adapt to the Culling Game’s Barrier.
Then he would be able to enter and leave freely.
But without Piercing Ox, subduing Mahoraga would actually be a very difficult process.
Oh, right…
“Kogane.”
“I’m here!
Your current score is 95 points.”
“Not bad.
You’re even answering before I ask now.”
Gen rubbed his palm over Kogane’s head.
He looked at his Caduceus on Kogane’s body, thought about it for a while, and still chose not to pull it out.
At the moment…
there probably was no situation that required a Cursed Tool.
“Beep.
Player ‘Gen’ has been located.”
A voice belonging to Kogane rang out.
Gen immediately turned his head, and the person who appeared in his field of vision was a man in a suit, holding a gavel, his face set with determination.
Hiromi Higuruma.
“I didn’t even go looking for you…
and yet you came to me instead.”
Gen looked at Hiromi Higuruma before him, the corners of his mouth slowly rising.
The answer to his smile was:
“Domain Expansion.”
“Deadly Sentencing.”