Deadly Sentencing

"My eyesight isn't very good~ What's the relationship between you two and Yuji Itadori?"

Emerging from the dispersing cursed energy was a woman whose overwhelming cursed energy came into view before all three of them.

Choso retreated to Yuji's side while keeping his eyes fixed on the woman who had suddenly appeared.

"This one... should be 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 driven frantic by news of the Culling Game days ago, looked at them and could not help roaring.

"That kind of thing is happening all over Japan right now, and you can just stand by and do nothing?"

Boom!

The person leaped down from the rooftop and crashed onto the bridge before them, shattering the surface beneath her feet as dust billowed up.

"That thing? What are you referring to?"

The woman swung her long blade. Her long hair hung behind her, then fluttered in the wind stirred up by her surging cursed energy.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey~ I'm an ally!"

Naoya Zenin raised both hands, using a somewhat flamboyant tone to show that he meant no harm.

"If I'm not mistaken... you're Okkotsu, aren't you?"

At the sound of his name, Okkotsu raised his eyes and looked at the man before him. His lifeless gaze, shadowed by deep dark circles, pinned Naoya Zenin down like a sharp knife.

"Don't act like we're familiar. Who are you?"

Though he still looked down on such powerful women in his heart, Naoya knew that if this turned into a three-against-one situation, it would be an absolute disaster for him.

"Naoya Zenin. I'm Maki's cousin. She must have mentioned me to you, right? Like you, I received orders to execute Yuji—"

"Ah... so you're that idle playboy Maki-chan told me about."

This bastard...

A flash of anger appeared on Naoya Zenin's face, only to fade away moments later.

While the two of them were "talking," Choso and Yuji behind them were communicating with their eyes—

Special grade. Satoru Gojo's student. The two quietly exchanged information, until a discordant note emerged between Naoya and Okkotsu.

Choso gave Yuji a look.

"Get ready to run, Yuji. That blond guy is fast. If he catches up to us—I'll hold him back."

"Will you be okay?"

"I'll be fine."

As Choso and Yuji finished their exchange, Naoya and Okkotsu's conversation also drew to a close.

"Don't worry, don't worry, I won't interfere with you~ But I have one request. If you kill him today, could you hold off on reporting it for now? I want to use him to draw someone out."

"..."

Okkotsu's eyes shifted between Naoya before him and the two behind him.

"Sure."

Choso raised a hand and pointed at the person in front of him.

"We'll meet up at the usual place afterward."

"I'll leave that one over there to you."

"Okay!"

As a line of blood shot forth from Choso's hand, Okkotsu and Yuji kicked off the ground at the same time. The razor-sharp bloodline instantly sliced through a distant building. Along with the sound of Naoya landing, the attack somehow failed to harm any of the three before him.

"I saw it."

Naoya tapped the ground with the tip of his foot, then looked at Choso before him.

"You can actually use Blood Manipulation."

Score increased by five points.

With a wave of his hand, Xuan fired a Dismantle, instantly cutting the sorcerer before him in two. Before the man could even speak, Xuan closed in and pressed a hand over his head, and he was swallowed by an erupting Octave.

"Ah, this is so boring..."

Xuan rode Round Deer, whose modulation had already been completed, down the streets of Tokyo No. 1 Colony.

With Takaba gone, Xuan once again felt that Tokyo No. 1 Colony was nothing but a place to crush weaklings.

The strength of incarnated sorcerers truly varied wildly. Not everyone possessed the strength to serve as a pillar, but there were far too many who could not recognize the gap in power.

Xuan had not even gone hunting that many times, yet the stray dogs who saw him gathering cursed energy and rushed at him in a pack, hoping to kill him for points, had already poured out in force.

Modern sorcerers who had awakened cursed techniques, ancient sorcerers reincarnated through incarnation—every last one of them was a stray dog by the roadside.

They were nothing more than fools who could not even utter a proper curse.

"Hah—this is making me sleepy."

Xuan yawned as he rubbed his eyes.

Because of his "memories of a past life," Xuan naturally knew that Hiromi Higuruma was probably in the grand theater within Tokyo No. 1 Colony.

The thing that could threaten him was presumably the Executioner's Sword in Higuruma's hand, right?

Come to think of it, Kenjaku really was something else. Every modern sorcerer he found was a monster, and even quite a few of the ancient sorcerers had bizarre mechanics.

Where on earth had he found them all?

"There are troublesome cursed techniques everywhere in the No. 1 Colony... First there was Takaba, whose cursed energy couldn't be sensed at all, and now this Hiromi Higuruma..."

Xuan did not have any evidence that would guarantee a death sentence if Higuruma got hold of it. Well, perhaps the slaughter he had carried out in the Culling Game so far?

But that had not been Xuan's intention. Those people who practically had "I'm a curse user" written across their faces would only threaten ordinary people if they were allowed to go free. Dealing with them before they could harm civilians was absolutely the right thing to do.

But asking Xuan to go looking for Higuruma?

Impossible. Xuan had no such intention. Right now, he only wanted to quickly earn one hundred points and add the rule allowing those who had added rules to freely enter and leave the colonies.

Then Xuan could go shopping, travel around, find Yuji Itadori, call Sukuna out, and test his own strength.

And, while he was at it, see how strong Megumi Fushiguro had become.

In short, there were far too many things he could do—but he had to leave the colony first.

Perhaps Mahoraga could adapt to the Culling Game's barrier? Then he would be able to enter and leave freely—but without Piercing Ox, subjugating Mahoraga was actually a very difficult process.

Right...

"Kogane."

"I'm here! Your current score is 95 points."

"Not bad. You've even learned to answer before being called."

Xuan rubbed Kogane's head with his palm. As he looked at his Merchant God's Scepter lodged in Kogane's body, he thought for a moment before deciding not to pull it out.

Given the current situation... there did not seem to be anywhere he would need a cursed tool.

"Beep—Player 'Xuan' located."

Kogane's voice rang out. Xuan immediately turned around, and the figure that entered his sight was a man in a suit, holding a gavel, with a resolute expression on his face.

Hiromi Higuruma.

"Even though I didn't go looking for you... you came right to my door."

Xuan looked at Hiromi Higuruma before him, the corners of his lips slowly curling upward.

And the response to his smile was—

"Domain Expansion."

"Deadly Sentencing."