Chapter 134 (Patreon)

Between Meiji-Jingumae Station and Shibuya Station

Huns packed the underground passage, forming a suffocating wall of twisted bodies.

Mei Mei, Ui Ui, and Riko Amanai stood before the horde.

“My, they’ve certainly gone to a great deal of trouble for us,” Mei Mei remarked.

At the head of the cursed spirits stood a muscular, half-naked man wearing what appeared to be a green frog’s head as a hood.

Niji Ebina.

“So, you’re Mei Mei.”

Mei Mei calmly drew her enormous battle-axe, its intimidating weight resting effortlessly in her hands.

“Do as you please,” she told Riko. “Ui Ui and I will adjust to your movements.”

“Understood.”

Riko slammed both hands against the ground.

The concrete beneath the cursed spirits exploded apart as an enormous mass of tree roots surged through the passageway.

“That was close!”

Niji Ebina leapt onto the heads of the cursed spirits a moment before the roots erupted. From above, he watched countless curses get caught between the twisting roots and torn apart in an instant.

Riko immediately scattered several Cursed Buds towards him.

Sensing the incoming attack, Ebina instinctively concentrated cursed energy throughout his body.

That was exactly what the buds had been waiting for.

Drawn to his cursed energy, they swarmed over him and burrowed into his flesh.

“What the hell is this?!”

Ebina’s expression twisted in alarm.

“My cursed energy isn’t stopping them!”

The buds continued taking root inside his body, feeding on the energy he had gathered.

“Damn it! They’re draining my cursed energy too!”

A voice suddenly came from behind him.

“It’s over.”

Ebina spun around.

Ui Ui had appeared directly behind him.

Ignoring the Cursed Buds spreading across his body, Ebina gathered cursed energy into both hands.

He only needed to kill one of them.

Once he eliminated the weakest member of the group, he could create an opening and turn the situation around.

“Black Bird Manipulation: Bird Strike.”

Ebina narrowed his eyes at Ui Ui.

He never noticed the true threat approaching him.

“What is—”

Before he could identify the black speck rushing towards him, the crow struck.

His chest vanished in an explosion of blood and shattered flesh.

“Cough...!”

Ebina stared down at the gaping hole through his torso, his wide eyes trembling in disbelief.

“What... was that?”

Mei Mei lowered her hand.

“Your death.”

Ebina’s body collapsed among the cursed spirits below.

“Mei Mei, there are still so many of them.”

Riko looked towards the creatures forcing their way through the mass of tree roots.

She felt her scalp prickle at the sight.

Even though they were weak individually, the sheer number of cursed spirits crowding the passageway was enough to make anyone uneasy.

“Where are they all coming from?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Mei Mei replied calmly. “They’re only low-grade cursed spirits.”

She rested her axe against her shoulder.

“Think of it as a little exercise.”

“This is quite the situation.”

Suguru Geto stared at Tengen standing before him as a bead of cold sweat slid down his temple.

I’m supposed to fight Tengen? Is this really happening?

There was no one else nearby.

He would have to deal with Tengen on his own.

Tengen remained motionless, silently observing him without making the first move.

Damn it.

Geto’s expression darkened.

I used almost all of my cursed spirits during the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons. Even after recovering my cursed energy, I never had the opportunity to replenish them.

At present, the only major technique still available to him was his Domain Expansion.

However, attempting to use a domain against Tengen—the greatest barrier user in the jujutsu world—bordered on arrogance.

More importantly, all of Tokyo was currently enclosed within Tengen’s barriers.

The moment Geto expanded his domain, Tengen might dismantle it entirely.

Should I rely on hand-to-hand combat instead?

From Tengen’s appearance alone, he did not seem particularly skilled in close-quarters combat.

Geto made his decision.

He had to act.

If Tengen was preparing some enormous technique while he stood there hesitating, he would lose any chance to fight back.

Geto lunged forward.

Bang!

His fist connected with something soft and rotten.

“What?!”

Disgusting blood sprayed across his face and clothes.

He had not struck Tengen.

A cursed spirit now stood between them.

Its swollen, diseased body emitted a nauseating stench, resembling a plague given physical form.

A disease-type special grade cursed spirit—

The Smallpox Deity.

“That’s an impressive cursed spirit...”

Red rashes suddenly appeared across Geto’s arm.

He immediately activated Reverse Cursed Technique.

Positive energy flowed through his body, and the rashes rapidly vanished from his skin.

Fortunately, the disease is formed from cursed energy. If it were an ordinary biological infection, this would be far more troublesome.

While Geto concentrated on healing himself, the Smallpox Deity spread its hands.

The surrounding space distorted.

Geto was pulled directly into its domain.

“This is... a Domain Expansion?”

The world around him transformed into an endless graveyard.

Countless weathered gravestones stretched into the darkness.

Thud!

Before Geto could move, he found himself trapped inside a coffin.

The walls pressed tightly against his body, leaving him almost no room to move.

So this is how its cursed technique activates.

The Smallpox Deity raised one hand.

“Grave.”

A massive gravestone materialised above the coffin.

Boom!

The gravestone crashed down, driving the coffin—and Geto along with it—deep beneath the earth.

The Smallpox Deity began its countdown.

“Three...”

“Two...”

Inside the coffin, Geto brought his hands together.

“Domain Expansion!”

His domain erupted.

The coffin and gravestone shattered simultaneously as a torrent of black liquid burst out from beneath the ground.

Like a surging tide, the darkness flooded across the Smallpox Deity’s domain and swallowed the endless graveyard.

What a terrifying technique.

Geto emerged from the shattered coffin and exhaled slowly.

Had I remained trapped for even one more second, I really would have died inside it.

His gaze settled on the Smallpox Deity.

“Very good.”

A faint smile appeared on his face.

“You’re quite an exceptional special grade cursed spirit.”

He extended one hand towards it.

“You’ll become the first cursed spirit in my new collection.”

Kenjaku’s imprint still remained on the Smallpox Deity, but removing it would only require a little more time.

The black mist filling the domain instantly twisted around the curse.

“Stop resisting.”

The darkness tightened around the Smallpox Deity.

“Behave yourself and become my cursed spirit.”

Outside the domain, Tengen looked down at the black sphere resting against the ground.

Just as Tengen prepared to act, cracks appeared across its surface.

“So, you’re coming out...”

The sphere shattered.

Suguru Geto stepped out from within the broken domain.

The Smallpox Deity followed obediently at his side.

“He subdued the Smallpox Deity.”

Tengen’s eyes narrowed as they studied Geto.

“An open-barrier Domain Expansion... I believed no sorcerer of the modern era was capable of such a feat.”

“Is that so?”

Geto smiled.

“One is standing right in front of you.”

At his command, the cursed spirits surrounding him surged towards Tengen.

22:10 — Yuji Itadori entered the subway station.

The underground passage was unnaturally silent.

“Didn’t they say a lot of people were trapped down here?”

Yuji continued descending the stairs, glancing around the deserted station.

“So why is the entire place empty...?”

When he reached the lower level, he finally found someone.

Two figures stood in the empty station.

Jogo and Choso.

Both of them had been transported out of Tengen’s barrier.

The three stared at one another.

Jogo’s single eye widened with delight.

They had found Sukuna’s vessel.

Choso’s reaction was entirely different.

The moment he saw Yuji, he remembered what Kenjaku had told him.

Yuji Itadori had played a part in the deaths of his brothers.

Yuji tensed.

Two special grade cursed spirits stood before him.

Pretending he was not nervous would have been pointless.

Choso moved first.

“Blood Manipulation: Flowing Red Scale—Stack.”

The markings across his face sharpened as his physical abilities rose dramatically.

He immediately brought his hands together.

“Piercing Blood!”

The compressed stream of blood tore through the station.

Choso showed no hesitation.

His opening attack was intended to kill.

Yuji Itadori had to die.

He would avenge his brothers.

Jogo immediately sensed Choso’s killing intent.

“You cannot kill him. He is Sukuna’s vessel.”

“He helped murder my brothers.”

Choso’s expression did not change.

“I will not let him live.”

He offered no further explanation.

Blood continued surging around him as he launched one attack after another, each aimed at killing Yuji.

However, Yuji had no intention of simply allowing himself to be overwhelmed.

This technique...

He narrowly avoided another high-speed blood projectile.

It’s the Kamo family’s Blood Manipulation.

Yuji raised his hand.

“Dismantle.”

Splat!

Choso’s left hand was severed before he could even react.

“What?!”

Blood sprayed through the air as the detached hand struck the ground.

Jogo was the first to understand what had happened.

His eye widened in shock.

“Yuji Itadori used... Sukuna’s cursed technique!”

Choso grabbed the remains of his arm and immediately activated Reverse Cursed Technique.

Flesh, muscle, and bone rapidly regenerated until his severed hand was completely restored.

He stared at Yuji with newfound caution.

Invisible slashes...

His expression hardened.

And they’re even faster than Blood Manipulation.