The Battle Plan and Anxiu's Worries / Makima's Plan; The Exchange Event Between the Two Schools Begins

"Seele, come over too."

"Huh?"

Seele, who had been secretly watching ever since Makima entered, covered her mouth in surprise.

"Seele is joining too?"

"Of course. If we're talking about rewards, Seele should be the first one to receive one."

Hearing An Xiu's words, Seele approached him with flushed cheeks and hesitant steps, only to be pulled into his arms as well.

Feeling the large hand on her body gradually move toward more private areas, Seele tried awkwardly to adjust her posture, but An Xiu immediately turned and pressed her down onto the sofa.

Makima, beside them, stepped in at just the right time and helped her master remove the obstructive clothing.

"Nicely done."

An Xiu gave Makima a thumbs-up. Not wanting to play favorites, he also reached out to pull at Makima's clothing, only to discover that beneath her collar, a leather collar had somehow appeared around her slender, pale neck. A thin metal chain hung from its clasp, having previously been hidden beneath her clothes.

"Did you prepare this specially?"

"I thought Master would like it."

Makima answered with a smile. The composed, proper smile and her sharp women's suit stood in striking contrast to the collar around her neck, further heightening the atmosphere in the villa.

There was no doubt that this would be a long battle.

Several hours later, inside the villa.

A phone rang. A jade-like arm reached out, picked it up, and pressed the answer button.

"Lady Makima, did something happen? Why haven't you returned to the Director's Office all afternoon?"

The secretary's voice came through from the other end.

"I ran into something that needs to be handled first. Don't worry. Everything at the Director's Council will continue as usual. Any problems can wait until I return."

"I understand, Lady Makima."

Although the secretary had no idea why Makima sounded so exhausted, she still ended the call and began carrying out Makima's instructions.

Meanwhile, inside the villa, on the chaotic battlefield.

Makima had already straightened her clothes and was preparing to return to the Director's Office.

After all, she really was busy. Between advancing her master's plans and finding time to attend to certain needs of his, her schedule had become even more packed.

"Recently, I have been controlling birds and various animals to observe the course of this world's story. At present, it can be confirmed that because of Master's frequent interference, the plot has undergone subtle changes."

Before leaving, Makima reminded An Xiu.

"Yes, I noticed that as well. The timeline has nearly reached the Inter-school Exchange Event, but Gojo Satoru wasn't attacked by Leaking Pot shortly after the Cursed Womb incident as he was in the original story. Mahito also hasn't appeared as he did in the original."

"Fortunately, in order to obtain more of Sukuna's fingers, the Disaster Cursed Spirits and Kenjaku will still make their move during the Inter-school Exchange Event. When that happens, I'll be counting on you, Makima."

PS: The author previously remembered the exact range of the Restraint Barrier incorrectly. After checking the information again, it has been changed to a radius of one hundred kilometers at maximum expansion. It will be visible after the chapter refreshes.

Kenjaku's Pre-Battle Plan, An Xiu's Troubles

Tokyo, inside an unknown apartment building.

Within the domain, Kenjaku, who had taken over Geto Suguru's body, was carrying out his final preparations before the battle.

Standing before Kenjaku was a lineup far more powerful than the one from the original Inter-school Exchange Event.

Aside from the four Disaster Cursed Spirits—Mahito, Leaking Pot, Hanami, and Dagon—there were also the three Cursed Womb Death Painting brothers whom Kenjaku had temporarily awakened: Eso, Kechizu, and Choso.

The reason he had been able to obtain the three brothers at this point was because he had deliberately replaced his body with that of a Jujutsu World higher-up during this period, allowing him to acquire the three Cursed Wombs.

Although the three Cursed Womb Death Painting brothers were weaker than the four Disaster Cursed Spirits, each of them was still comparable to a Special Grade Curse.

In other words, there were seven Special Grade cursed spirits and curses, plus Kenjaku himself. On the field, they possessed the equivalent of eight Special Grade combatants.

The reason he had assembled such a lineup for a mere Inter-school Exchange Event was that the pressure Kenjaku had been under lately was simply too great.

Because An Xiu was in Tokyo, Seele, who had recently become a Special Grade sorcerer, had not gone overseas or disappeared without a trace like the other two Special Grade sorcerers of the Jujutsu World besides Gojo Satoru.

On the contrary, her activities had always remained around Tokyo. This alone was completely different from the original story.

In the original plot, even when Tokyo had only Gojo Satoru as a Special Grade sorcerer, Kenjaku had gone through painstaking calculations and restricted Gojo's movements before the cursed spirits finally managed to firmly draw Gojo's attention to the Inter-school Exchange Event, allowing Mahito to successfully infiltrate the Director's Council and steal a large number of Sukuna's fingers.

Even under those circumstances, Hanami had nearly died at Gojo's hands before retreating.

Now, however, the sorcerers had Seele, a Special Grade sorcerer who remained active around Tokyo and possessed a technique capable of spatial movement. Continuing with the original plan was clearly no longer viable.

For one thing, even if Kenjaku set up a barrier as in the original plan that only prevented Gojo Satoru from entering, as long as Seele reached the scene and entered the barrier, how long could Hanami hold her off alone?

Hanami would probably be killed before long, drawing the Jujutsu High School sorcerers' attention away and exposing Mahito's infiltration of the Director's Council.

That possibility was far from impossible. The support speed of a Special Grade sorcerer with spatial movement was beyond imagination.

Assuming the worst-case scenario, she might even appear at the Inter-school Exchange Event with Gojo Satoru from the very beginning. After all, the event was being held at Tokyo Jujutsu High School, so inviting a Special Grade sorcerer who had always been active in Tokyo to watch was perfectly reasonable.

At that point, there would be two Special Grade sorcerers at the scene. One was Gojo Satoru, the man explicitly recognized by the Jujutsu World as its strongest sorcerer, a monster even in the eyes of Kenjaku, a curse user who had existed for a thousand years. The other was Seele, a newly promoted Special Grade sorcerer with an unknown technique that included spatial movement, immunity to attacks, and possibly even more abilities, as well as a record that seemed to include defeating Gojo Satoru.

With two exceptionally troublesome enemies standing on the opposing side, Kenjaku would have to be out of his mind to remain indifferent.

Therefore, Hanami, who had originally been meant to infiltrate the Jujutsu High School barrier alone and secretly head to the Inter-school Exchange Event to create chaos, would now infiltrate alongside Leaking Pot and the three Cursed Womb Death Painting brothers.

With Hanami's abilities and Kenjaku's assistance, even with four additional people compared to the original story, simply sneaking inside would not pose too much of a problem.

Mahito would still infiltrate the Director's Council and steal Sukuna's fingers while everyone else's attention was drawn away.

Unfortunately, the number of fingers that needed to be taken was too large. Otherwise, Kenjaku could have used the identity of a higher-up to obtain them just as he had obtained the Cursed Womb Death Paintings, and there would have been no need to take such a risk.

In addition, Kenjaku would secretly go to the Inter-school Exchange Event site to coordinate things. Together with a group of Curse Users he had specially gathered to cause trouble, they should be able to draw attention away for a while.

They should...

To be honest, even with the current lineup, Kenjaku was still uneasy. But there was no way to make any further arrangements.

If either Gojo Satoru or Seele, the two Special Grade sorcerers currently in Tokyo, had been absent, the situation would not have become so troublesome.

A Special Grade sorcerer with spatial movement could bring far too many variables to the table. Not to mention that spatial movement and the ability to evade attacks might only be the tip of the iceberg when it came to her strength.

Meanwhile, while Kenjaku made his final preparations for the battle, An Xiu was facing some troubles of his own.

Logically speaking, with Seele and Makima around, there was nothing left in the entire Jujutsu World that could trouble An Xiu in terms of strength.

The reason for An Xiu's current frustration was the matter of system points.

An Xiu discovered that the speed at which he had been obtaining system points had slowed recently.

It was not because Seele and Makima had been slacking off. On the contrary, Makima's appearance seemed to have created a certain degree of competition with Seele, and Seele had actually been hunting Cursed Spirits more frequently lately.

Meanwhile, Makima had begun controlling the Jujutsu World higher-ups in Kyoto. At the same time, she had secretly used the Dominator Devil's power to control a large number of Cursed Spirits and place them around Kyoto, allowing those Cursed Spirits to hunt other Cursed Spirits while she worked and earn points for An Xiu around the clock.

So why had An Xiu's Point acquisition rate decreased despite Seele and Makima working so hard to earn points for him?

The main reason was that the high-quality Cursed Spirits seemed to have all been killed by the two of them.

Cursed Spirits were almost impossible to kill off completely. As long as negative emotions continued to exist within human society, these monsters would continue to be born endlessly. The issue was that while Cursed Spirits as a whole could not be exterminated, powerful Cursed Spirits required time to form.

That was the current problem. It had not been obvious when only Seele was around, but after Makima was manifested by An Xiu and began using controlled Cursed Spirits to hunt other Cursed Spirits, nearly all the powerful Cursed Spirits in both Tokyo and Kyoto had been wiped out. The ones left were mostly Grade Three and Grade Four Cursed Spirits. They provided barely any points and were spread thinly across the area.

According to the original setting, the highest-quality Cursed Spirits in the entire Jujutsu World were concentrated in Tokyo and Kyoto. Gojo Satoru had even stated in the original work that the Cursed Spirits in rural areas were on a completely different level from those in the two major cities.

Therefore, even if they expanded their Cursed Spirit hunting range beyond Tokyo and Kyoto, the situation would not change much. If An Xiu wanted to increase the rate at which he obtained system points, he could only wait for Makima to slowly expand the size of her Cursed Spirit army and gradually extend the hunting range across all of Japan.

As a result, aside from the initial period when An Xiu had earned a large number of points, the speed of Point acquisition had become ordinary again due to the overall decline in Cursed Spirit quality.

Although Makima's controlled army of Cursed Spirits could still provide An Xiu with several hundred points a day even by hunting low-grade Cursed Spirits, after experiencing a period when huge amounts of points came in every day, An Xiu still found the current pace too slow.

As for Seele... now that even Makima could only provide several hundred points per day with an army of Cursed Spirits, Seele's Point-earning speed could only be described as miserable. Therefore, Seele no longer went out to hunt Cursed Spirits and instead stayed by An Xiu's side around the clock to protect him.

"So, given this situation, I hope we can find a solution. For example, researching how to rapidly produce a large number of high-grade Cursed Spirits."

Inside the villa, An Xiu rested his chin on his hands and spoke to Seele and Makima in the same pose as a certain commander.

Makima's Plan, the Inter-school Exchange Event Begins

"Given this situation, I hope we can find a solution, preferably one that can rapidly produce a large number of high-grade Cursed Spirits."

Inside the villa, An Xiu spoke to Seele and Makima in the same pose as a certain Commander Ikari.

As for An Xiu himself, he had no intention of thinking about it at all.

After all, with the memories of original characters, clones like Makima undoubtedly possessed greater intelligence than An Xiu, the original body. For the same matter, letting Makima think about it was naturally better than having An Xiu think about it himself.

In this situation, An Xiu only needed to raise the problem and wait for his clone to solve the rest. Thus, the person he was mainly asking was Makima.

As for Seele, Seele from the Honkai Impact 3rd world was not a character skilled in making plans according to her setting. This kind of question was clearly a little difficult for the girl before him.

"A method of raising the overall quality of Cursed Spirits?"

Faced with An Xiu's question, Makima fell into thought.

Increasing the quality of Cursed Spirits was not particularly difficult. Cursed Spirits were, at their core, creatures born from cursed energy produced by humanity's negative emotions. As long as the overall negative emotions in human society were raised, the Cursed Spirits born under those conditions would naturally undergo a tremendous increase in both quality and quantity.

Raising the overall negative emotions of human society was also easy. The simplest method was to start a war. By controlling high-ranking politicians in various countries, Makima could easily trigger a Third World War in this Jujutsu World and plunge every nation on Earth into a state of tension.

Under such circumstances, the scale of negative emotions generated by human society could increase dozens of times in an instant, and all kinds of high-grade Cursed Spirits would emerge throughout the world at a terrifying rate.

Of course, by then, human society as a whole would likely descend into chaos.

Based on Makima's understanding of her master, although he was not some morally noble saint, he would most likely not permit such an extreme method.

The act of stirring up humanity's negative emotions had to be controlled within an acceptable range. It would be best to proceed gradually, increasing the scale of negative emotions without plunging the entirety of human society into excessive disorder.

As for making sacrifices, that was certainly impossible to avoid. Simply increasing humanity's negative emotions and creating more Cursed Spirits meant that more people would die because of Cursed Spirits. Makima understood An Xiu's intentions. All she needed to do was offer a feasible plan and minimize the cost required by that plan as much as possible for her master.

So, was there a way to expand humanity's overall negative emotions while effectively controlling the resulting chaos and avoiding massive casualties?

Plans to stir up negative emotions in human society flashed through her mind one after another as she calculated their feasibility.

At last, Makima opened her eyes, her dark golden pupils turning toward An Xiu.

"There is indeed a method that can be carried out to expand the overall scale and quality of Cursed Spirits. However, implementing this idea requires some preliminary preparations, so... please wait a little longer, Master."

Hearing that, An Xiu nodded.

"I don't mind waiting a while, but what preparations are you talking about?"

"To carry out my plan, I will need the assistance of a sorcerer with deep research into jujutsu. At the same time, it would be best to find another sorcerer proficient in all kinds of barriers."

A sorcerer with deep research into jujutsu, and another proficient in all kinds of barriers?

Thinking through the characters in the entire Jujutsu Kaisen story who fit Makima's description, An Xiu quickly understood her targets.

"Kenjaku and Tengen?"

When it came to the character with the deepest research into jujutsu in all of Jujutsu Kaisen, it had to be Kenjaku. Having lived for more than a thousand years and being able to continuously change bodies, no one could say how many techniques he had researched. Even if Gojo Satoru and Sukuna from the original work might have surpassed him in raw strength, when it came to understanding and researching various techniques, the two of them combined might not equal a tenth of Kenjaku.

As for barrier techniques, excluding Kenjaku, the one with the deepest mastery in all of Jujutsu Kaisen was Tengen. Many of the barriers in the modern Jujutsu World existed only because of Tengen. It could be said that if something happened to Tengen and the barriers developed problems, the Jujutsu World would immediately fall into a precarious situation.

So what kind of plan required controlling those two in order to complete the preliminary preparations?

An Xiu glanced at Makima. Though he was curious, he ultimately chose not to ask.

After all, both Seele and Makima held absolute loyalty toward him. An Xiu did not need to ask anything. He only needed to wait for Makima to present him with the final result.

And so, the day of the Inter-school Exchange Event arrived.

Tokyo Jujutsu High School.

In one of the school's corridors, Itadori Yuji and the other students from Tokyo Jujutsu High School had gathered together. Facing them were the students from Kyoto Jujutsu High School.

When students from the two Jujutsu High Schools met, there naturally would not be any warm scene of laughter and friendly conversation. At this moment, the atmosphere between both sides could only be described as tense.

"Students these days really are full of energy. But don't start fighting among yourselves, okay?"

Utahime Iori, the lead teacher from Kyoto Jujutsu High School, stood not far away and sighed helplessly.

"By the way, shouldn't everyone from both schools be here already? Why hasn't Principal Yaga announced the start yet?"

"Of course, it's because our side still has a guest who hasn't arrived yet, Utahime."