Chapter 152 (Patreon)

Ragnar Kagenou hung above the battlefield like a pitch-black sun.

Gales screamed across the land, shaking the sky as a dark storm coiled around the tip of his lance.

“Rhongomyniad—The Lance That Shines to the Ends of the World!”

The dark-purple storm swallowed Ōtakemaru in an instant.

BOOM!

The blast resounded across the land, its violent energy setting both the sky and the ground trembling.

Seen from above, the dark-purple storm raced across the earth before surging all the way into the ocean.

[Special Grade Imaginary Cursed Spirit, Ōtakemaru, exorcised. Cursed Energy +1,000.]

[Grade 1 Cursed Spirit exorcised. Cursed Energy +100.]

[Grade 1 Cursed Spirit exorcised. Cursed Energy +100.]

[Cursed Energy: 18,800 → 20,840]

[The 20,000-point Cursed Energy threshold has been reached. Authorization to use EX-Rank Noble Phantasms unlocked.]

[The Noble Phantasm rank limit within the Gate of Babylon has been raised to EX.]

[Enkidu: Chains of Heaven has been upgraded to EX Rank. Rhongomyniad: The Lance That Shines to the Ends of the World has been upgraded to EX Rank...]

[A minimum of 10,000 points of Cursed Energy is required to release an EX-Rank Noble Phantasm.]

[The final seal on the Gate of Babylon has been lifted. Treasury Key acquired: Key of the King’s Law.]

Golden light suddenly flowed into Ragnar’s hand.

When the radiance faded, an ornate golden key rested quietly in his palm.

“The key that opens the Gate of Babylon...”

[Transfer of authority over the Gate of Babylon complete. System disconnection will now begin. May fortune favor you in battle.]

Ragnar stared at the dozens of system windows that had appeared before him.

“The system... is going to disconnect from me?”

[The system will fully disconnect in one month, measured in Earth time.]

“I see...”

Takako Uro and Ryu Ishigori stared in disbelief at the enormous section of the city that had been erased.

“Th-That was incredible...”

Ishigori’s lips parted slightly.

“Even if I pushed both my Cursed Technique and my Cursed Energy output to their absolute limits, I could never produce that kind of destructive power.”

The two golden blades in Ragnar’s hands looked surprisingly plain, devoid of any elaborate decoration.

“These feel good in my hands... Enki, the Sword of the End.”

——————

“You’re technically the head of the Zenin Clan now, one of the Three Great Families,” Rika Orimoto said to Megumi Fushiguro as they walked. “Why don’t you make the Zenin Clan withdraw from the Jujutsu Sorcerer Alliance?”

Megumi sighed helplessly.

“Please don’t tease me, senpai. I have no interest in becoming the head of the Zenin Clan...”

“You would be leading one of the Three Great Families of the jujutsu world. There are people who would do anything to claim that position.”

The journey had been quiet, and Rika had apparently decided that discussing Megumi’s situation was the perfect way to pass the time.

“If it weren’t for Maki-senpai, I would have refused the position from the beginning.”

Megumi truly had no interest in becoming the Zenin Clan’s head.

Rika smiled knowingly.

“Oh? Don’t tell me you’re doing all this for Maki.”

Megumi scratched his head, unsure how to answer.

“That’s not it. Maki-senpai only said we could use the Zenin Clan’s influence to gather information...”

“Maki-senpai, huh?”

Rika nodded, deliberately repeating the name.

Megumi’s expression darkened.

“Senpai, were you listening to anything I just said?”

Rika turned her gaze toward the ruined city ahead.

“It really is desolate.”

“This used to be a thriving city. After Kenjaku initiated the Culling Game, at least eighty percent of the civilians here died.”

Rika paused.

“Then what happened to the remaining twenty percent?” Megumi asked.

“They awakened as Jujutsu Sorcerers. Now they’re barely clinging to life in a world that might as well be hell.”

Rika’s assessment was not an exaggeration.

Not everyone possessed the potential to reach Special Grade. Even attaining Grade 2 was beyond what most people could ever hope to accomplish.

Without Satoru Gojo constantly teleporting from one location to another and exorcising Cursed Spirits, the number of survivors would have been even lower.

Gojo dealt with each threat individually, traveling from place to place every day to exorcise Cursed Spirits.

Ragnar had chosen a simpler method with a far greater range—eliminating the danger of Cursed Spirits at its source.

However, his method also came with a price.

Modern structures had almost no chance of surviving the destruction it caused.

After all, All the World’s Evil possessed enough power to annihilate humanity itself.

Yet destruction could also mark the beginning of something new.

“Let’s begin exorcising the Cursed Spirits,” Rika said. “Fushiguro, your current strength should be around Grade 1. If you can complete your Domain Expansion, you might even reach Special Grade.”

Rika watched as Megumi skillfully manipulated the Ten Shadows Technique.

Apart from Mahoraga, he had already tamed every one of its shikigami.

Megumi had once believed he would go his entire life without ever summoning Mahoraga.

Then Ryomen Sukuna, the King of Curses, seized control of Yuji Itadori’s body.

To defeat Sukuna and bring Yuji back, Megumi had no choice but to attempt to summon and tame Mahoraga.

However, summoning Mahoraga without making any preparations guaranteed only one outcome—death.

If Megumi wanted to tame it the first time he summoned it, he would have to prepare for every possible outcome.

“Want to make this a contest, Fushiguro?” Rika asked. “Let’s see which of us can exorcise more Cursed Spirits.”

The monstrous form of a Vengeful Cursed Spirit enveloped Rika’s body.

“Sure. I’ll probably lose, but I want to see exactly how far I can go.”

“Then I’ll go on ahead.”

The instant she finished speaking, Rika vanished in a blur.

A moment later, thunderous crashes erupted from the streets in the distance.

“That’s absurd,” Megumi muttered. “With raw strength alone, she could probably level an entire city.”

His shadow rippled.

Several winged toads emerged behind him and seized both of his legs.

“The Well’s Unknown Abyss!”

The winged toads carried Megumi into the air.

From above, he formed another hand sign and summoned two more shikigami.

“Great Serpent! Divine Dog!”

Even with Great Serpent and Divine Dog hunting alongside him, his exorcism speed was still far too slow.

Megumi had only eliminated a handful of Cursed Spirits when Rika’s count had already passed one hundred.

“Piercing Ox!”

The massive shikigami charged forward.

Every Cursed Spirit standing in its path was crushed instantly.

“Still not enough. Shikigami at this level wouldn’t stand a chance against a Special Grade Cursed Spirit, let alone Sukuna.”

Megumi could feel how limited most of his shikigami were against opponents of that level.

Only Round Deer—with its ability to output positive energy through Reverse Cursed Technique—felt genuinely useful.

The others were still lacking. Their abilities were too limited, and their weaknesses were far too obvious.

“Mahoraga... I need to speed up my preparations.”

Some time later, Megumi had barely managed to exorcise several thousand Cursed Spirits.

Even that number had only been possible because he used his incomplete Domain Expansion, Chimera Shadow Garden.

“Hey, Fushiguro. You did pretty well.”

Rika had already exorcised every one of the tens of thousands of Cursed Spirits infesting the city.

Despite that, she did not look even slightly tired.

“I still have a long way to go.”

——————

Noble Phantasm: Key of the King’s Law

Rank: E–EX

Type: Unknown

Description: The prototypes of the countless treasures that would be created in later ages.

Proof that humanity’s knowledge and wisdom truly exist.

People praised it as the “Gate of the Gods.” And rightly so—the vault that housed all those treasures was itself a Mystery surpassing everything stored within it.

Even now, its catalogue continues to expand. Without the wisdom to comprehend its contents in an instant, the lock to the treasury cannot be opened.