Sendai Colony

"Sendai Colony..."

Yuta Okkotsu walked along a main road in Miyagi Prefecture, looking at the orderly flow of city traffic around him—and, not far away, the towering black shell of the barrier, visible to the naked eye.

"Yuta?"

"Ah, I don't need your help right now, Rika."

Yuji Itadori had been sentenced to death. Masamichi Yaga had been sentenced to death. Satoru Gojo had been branded a traitor.

Yuta realized that he had been having trouble controlling his emotions lately—not because he had a bad temper, but because those higher-ups, who had no grasp of the situation whatsoever, kept putting him in a foul mood.

There had to be civilians inside Sendai Colony who had no way to evacuate. If he wanted to get them out, he still needed to obtain 100 points first.

Damn... Without Kogane, there was no way to confirm the scores.

Right... the headphones Xuan had given him.

He put on the headphones and poured cursed energy into them. Along with the sound effect Xuan had added—"Beep beep beep, connecting to Xuan's exclusive Jujutsu High communication network"—the headphones activated.

"This is Yuta Okkotsu. I've arrived on Honshu Island."

"This is Xuan, loud and clear!"

"Mr. Xuan, don't shout into the comms. Fushiguro, Itadori, have you found Kinji Hakari?"

"We've already confirmed Kinji Hakari's location."

Yuta nodded as he walked.

"Itadori, I need some information."

"Oh? Okkotsu-senpai, go ahead?"

"I need the scores of the people in Sendai Colony... the details. Before I enter the barrier, I need to make a plan."

"Okay, okay, give me a moment!"

Having just received permission to enter the fight club, Yuji and Fushiguro were leaving the underground arena's entrance. They planned to find somewhere to rest, train, and figure out tonight's tactics.

"Kogane, help me search for people in Sendai Colony with more than 50 points."

"Okay~!"

As Kogane appeared, Fushiguro leaned in as well.

"Okkotsu-senpai, has she arrived already?"

"Yeah. She said she needs to make a plan and intends to enter the barrier tonight... Since she doesn't have a Kogane, she needs me to search for her."

Fushiguro nodded. That morning, he had spoken to Maki over the phone, and she had explained the situation with the Zenin Clan.

Because Maki had no cursed energy, she could not use Xuan's communicator in most situations. Once she entered the barrier, she would probably face a long information blackout, so they needed to gather some "intelligence" on Sakurajima Colony beforehand as well.

Back then, they had also used Yuji's Kogane to gather information.

Thinking this, Megumi Fushiguro poured cursed energy into the communicator as well.

"Okkotsu-senpai, are you still there?"

"I'm here. What's wrong, Fushiguro?"

"On the way here, I gave some thought to our next steps."

"Go on."

"When the time comes, we'll go to Tokyo No. 1 Colony to evacuate civilians. If Hakari-senpai joins us too, he can go to Tokyo No. 2 Colony to evacuate civilians. According to Rule Nine, we can move most of the civilians to Sendai Colony, where Okkotsu-senpai can protect them. Civilians don't count as players, so they won't die because of Rule Eight. Then we only need to add a rule allowing points to be transferred, and Tsumiki—as well as anyone else who doesn't want to kill other players in the Culling Game—will be able to survive."

"Mm, that can absolutely work."

After hearing Fushiguro's plan, Yuta fell silent for a moment before immediately agreeing to it.

"All right! I've found them."

Dhruv, current points: 50.

Ryu Ishigori, current points: 76.

Uro Takako, current points: 65.

Dhruv, Ryu Ishigori, Uro Takako.

Yuta committed those names to memory.

"Next, I'm entering the barrier. Since there aren't any players in the colony with 100 points, I'll wait for you to add the rule. Or, if someone in Sendai Colony exceeds 100 points after I enter, I'll add the rule allowing points to be transferred. If someone elsewhere exceeds 100 points after I enter, then you go find that person and add the rule allowing points to be transferred."

"Got it!"

"Understood."

After Yuji and Fushiguro responded, Yuta turned off the communicator as well.

The closer he got to Sendai Colony, the fewer people there were. Outside the colony's black shell, only the people who lived in the area remained—and most of them were probably inside their homes.

"Hi! I'm Kogane!"

As Okkotsu touched the black shell of the barrier, a white shikigami appeared beside him.

"Within this barrier, a killing game known as the Culling Game is underway. If you enter, you will become one of its players~ Even so, do you still wish to join?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Alright! Okkotsu Yuta has joined the game. Would you like to review the general rules?"

"No."

As he spoke, Okkotsu walked toward the barrier's shell. A pulling force swept over him, and his body was sucked inside.

The next moment, he appeared by a river. He looked behind him, but there was no barrier shell there.

Having learned from Tengen beforehand that entrants would be randomly teleported after entering the barrier, Okkotsu did not dwell on it and turned around.

Then—his attention was drawn to the scene in the sky.

Distorted space, accompanied by cannons firing in rapid succession and being reflected back—

"Uro Takako!!! You bastard! You stole my prey again!!!!"

Amid the barrage of cursed energy cannons, Okkotsu heard a rough voice.

Though the two had spread their battlefield over a vast area, Okkotsu could see that the cursed energy blasts had been deflected toward ruins where no people could possibly be.

Even so, there was no guarantee that no one was where they landed. As ancient sorcerers... did they really not care about human lives?

Okkotsu drew his long sword and was just about to charge forward when he heard a ripping sound behind him.

"Miss—did you stumble in here by accident? Or are you a player who entered deliberately?"

Okkotsu turned around. Behind him stood a man dressed in a security guard's uniform.

"...If you entered by accident, please follow me to the gymnasium. It is a gathering place for ordinary people established by Dhruv."

"..."

Dhruv?

That fifty-point guy?

If Dhruv deliberately gathered ordinary people together, was it to kill them?

No, judging by his score, that guy should have only killed sorcerers.

Of course, he might have killed five times as many ordinary people to disguise himself as someone who only killed sorcerers.

If that was the case, then I should kill him first—if not, he could become an ally.

I'll go take a look first...

"Yeah, I stumbled in by accident."

Okkotsu pressed the long sword he had just begun to draw back into place and nodded.

"Then... please follow me."