Dawn Over Shibuya

At the surface exit of Shibuya Station, countless chunks of rubble were violently hurled into the air by raging cursed energy, becoming countless deadly weapons.

"Ha ha ha ha! This is the essence of the soul! This is my true form!"

Mahito's roar echoed through the empty ruins, carrying a chilling sense of dread.

His skin, once covered in stitches, was now coated in a deep-purple shell as hard as obsidian. His body had become lean and explosively powerful, and his long tail smashed a roadside bus stop sign to pieces like a steel whip.

"Instant Spirit Body of Distorted Killing."

Yuji Itadori knelt on one knee amid the ruins, his chest heaving violently. His gaze was locked tightly onto Mahito, his killing intent to completely exorcise the cursed spirit nearly taking tangible form.

"Brother, don't be fooled by his appearance." Aoi Todo stood bare-chested. "He's only changed his shape. Don't underestimate our bond!"

Todo's mind raced. He was calculating Mahito's defensive limits and gauging Yuji's remaining stamina. In his view, Mahito was indeed incomparably dangerous, but he had absolute confidence in himself and the people beside him.

"Trash... should just obediently shatter!"

Mahito vanished from where he stood, moving too fast for the naked eye to follow.

Clap!

Todo clapped his hands swiftly.

Space was instantly swapped. Mahito's heavy punch struck a flying chunk of concrete, reducing it to dust in an instant. Yet Mahito's tail curved around at an unbelievable angle, shooting straight for Todo's throat.

Boom!

An unstable figure surrounded by a dim purple glow staggered out from the shadows at the flank.

It was Shiyue Shuo.

The moment he had been treated, he had rushed back to the battlefield without pause.

"Damn it... everything's thrown into chaos."

Shiyue Shuo sensed his mental sea. Because he had forcibly activated his domain, the talisman powers within him no longer followed their normal cycle of hours, instead falling into a bizarre mirrored state.

It was past two in the morning. It should have been the Ox's hour, but what he could now draw upon was the power of two in the afternoon—the Sheep Talisman.

"Sheep... souls... it's the perfect counter to Mahito."

Shiyue Shuo gritted his teeth as the pale-purple talisman in his mental sea emitted a faint glow.

In that instant, his body almost became an empty shell. A semi-transparent spirit body radiating cold air stepped directly out of it. In this state, he could clearly see the soul core constantly twisting and reforming beneath Mahito's hard shell.

"Hey, Stitchface, remember me?!"

Shiyue Shuo's spirit body folded through the air and charged at Mahito in a posture that ignored physical inertia. Nearly unbound by space in spirit form, he dodged Mahito's blades and drove a devastating punch of vibration directly into his essence, slamming it hard into Mahito's jaw.

"Uwaaaah!"

Mahito's soul let out a shrill scream. His prized hard shell possessed extremely high resistance to physical attacks, but before the Sheep Talisman's dimensional strike against the source of his soul, his movements instantly stiffened.

"Now, Yuji!" Aoi Todo roared, clapping again.

Yuji Itadori did not hesitate. With Todo's cooperation, he instantly appeared before Mahito's chest.

Black Flash, triple burst.

Black sparks exploded one after another across Mahito's chest, forcibly blasting the once-arrogant cursed spirit into a massive crater dozens of meters deep.

"Huff... huff..."

Yuji braced himself against his knees and looked into the pit, where Mahito had reverted to his original form and lay in a wretched state.

"Is it over?"

"No." Shiyue Shuo's spirit body returned to his flesh as he looked toward a figure approaching from afar.

"My, my, what a beautiful creation. To evolve to such a degree in such desperate circumstances, Mahito, you've truly pleased me."

Kenjaku, wearing Suguru Geto's body, emerged from the shadows with a smile. In his hand, he casually toyed with the Prison Realm, covered in eyes and now completely sealing away Satoru Gojo.

"...Save me!" Mahito struggled to crawl upward.

"Save you?" Kenjaku looked down at him, his eyes devoid of emotion, containing only the greed of someone gazing at ripe fruit.

"Cursed Spirit Manipulation: Maximum: Uzumaki."

Black shadows burst from Kenjaku's palm. Before everyone's horrified eyes, Mahito let out one final, despairing wail as his entire body twisted into a tiny black sphere of light. Kenjaku casually popped it into his mouth and swallowed it.

"Mmm... it tastes awful." Kenjaku elegantly wiped the corner of his mouth.

For a moment, the entire area fell silent. The monster that had driven everyone into a desperate battle had been absorbed like a snack.

"Give Gojo-sensei... back!"

Yuji Itadori's fury ignited once more. Dragging his battered body, he charged at Kenjaku. Yet Kenjaku merely waved a hand, and thousands of grotesque Grade 1 cursed spirits poured from beneath his feet like a black flood, instantly filling the entire area.

"Damn it, the time shifted again."

Shiyue Shuo felt the power within his body change once more. The wheel in his mental sea spun madly, jumping from the Sheep to the Monkey Talisman.

"An Agile Monkey lets me transform without end."

Shiyue Shuo followed close behind. He leaped into the air, his body rapidly swelling and stretching amid a cloud of golden smoke.

Roar—!

Under everyone's stunned gazes, Shiyue Shuo transformed into a massive spirit monkey covered in golden fur. This was the ultimate manifestation of the Monkey Talisman's transformation ability: mimicking the traits of a legendary creature capable of suppressing demons and monsters.

He swung his enormous arms, every strike whipping up violent gusts that smashed the tide of cursed spirits rushing at them into black scraps.

"Oh? An ability that changes the body's attributes... The thing inside you, brat, is becoming more and more interesting."

Kenjaku stood atop the pile of cursed spirits, his eyes gleaming.

Using the Monkey Talisman's mimicry, Shiyue Shuo carved a bloody path through the cursed spirits, aiming directly for Kenjaku's head. Yet Kenjaku was too composed. He continuously unleashed various techniques to interfere, as though observing a wild beast trapped in a cage.

"Playtime is over."

The smile faded from Kenjaku's face. He had completed the final analysis of Mahito's technique, Idle Transfiguration.

"Gojo has been sealed. All the pieces are in place." Kenjaku slowly pressed his palms together, and a wave of cursed energy so oppressive that all of Tokyo Metropolis trembled erupted.

"With Shibuya as the center, spread across all of Japan. Those who bear the marks I carved upon them, it is time to awaken."

The Culling Game officially began.

As the incantation fell, countless black pillars of light shot into the sky.

"Farewell, sorcerers living in the old era."

Kenjaku's figure gradually disappeared into the shadows. Choso rushed over from afar, looked at the empty platform and the enemies who had already retreated, then let out a pained roar.

With Kenjaku's departure, the tide of cursed spirits receded.

Shiyue Shuo released the Monkey Talisman's mimicry and dropped from the air into the ruins. His body had not yet fully returned to an ordinary human's strength, and every inch of his muscles was spasming.

He turned and looked east.

At the end of Shibuya Station's shattered ruins, a faint red glow slowly pierced through the dissipating Curtain.

It was the sun of November 1, 2018.

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