Haruka Itadori's point of view
All this time, all this time... I had been waiting for this moment.
I snatched the square, cubic box that had sealed Gojo-sensei-the Prison Realm-and tossed it into my mouth. The instant it entered, it tore into the inside of my mouth, filling it with pain and the taste of blood.
But that wasn't enough. I still had to swallow it.
I fought back the tears threatening to spill. Fought back the nausea churning inside me. I practically forced it deep into my throat.
Don't choke. Don't throw it up. Swallow it. Absorb it.
"...Urgh, guh, ngh..."
It lodged against every part of my throat. The suffocation made my body want to vomit it back up.
"Urgh."
I pressed a hand against my throat and forced it down. Gulp.
At last, I swallowed it.
"You've gone mad... What are you doing?"
As I turned my gaze toward Suguru Geto, who was staring at me in bewilderment.
The thing passed through my throat and dropped into my stomach. Scalding cursed energy spilled out of it, and I experienced the sensation of my body burning to a crisp.
"...Here it comes."
Crackle.
I heard my skin split. Agony like thick needles piercing me shot through every part of my body. It felt as though something was remaking me from within, filling me with revulsion and discomfort as if my organs were being churned around.
I swallowed it all, every bit of it, and forcibly held it down.
I grabbed a weapon hanging at my waist.
Then stabbed myself.
"Ngh... urgh."
The familiar red liquid dripped down. Dazed, I watched it splatter onto the platform floor as though it were happening to someone else.
"Wh... what? What the hell are you doing?"
The stitched cursed spirit I should have killed long ago spoke in confusion.
I ignored him and resolved to finish what I had to do.
"Prison Realm, remove the restrictions.
There shall be no restrictions on targets possessing cursed energy. In exchange, release the seals on cursed energy and cursed techniques within the Prison Realm.
From this moment onward, the Prison Realm shall enact sentient sealing as a living cursed object: Haruka Itadori."
"I don't understand. What are you doing?"
I shut out every sound from outside and focused solely on altering what was inside me.
"Change the method of unsealing. Those within the Prison Realm shall slaughter one another, and only the victor may break the seal.
Transform the nature of the Prison Realm into cursed gu."
I worked to alter the very nature of the Prison Realm.
All the while, pain continued to assault my body. My skin split, and several eyeball-like objects surfaced like black markings. Curse-like script crawled over my entire body, filling me with nothing but a creeping sense of revulsion.
"Did Yuji feel this too when he swallowed our older brother's finger...?"
In the haze of pain, the image of my twin brother came to mind.
"If he did, I should never have let Yuji eat something like that."
I coughed, spat out bloody phlegm... and glared ahead.
Even facing the cursed spirits and Suguru Geto as they readied themselves for battle, I felt no hint of defeat. Whatever Maximum Technique they had, I had the strongest of them all in my stomach now.
I tore away the irritating bandage over my right eye and wove those words.
"Shallow... shallow... vast, vast.
Domain Expansion: Clear Mirror, Still Water."
To lead this nightmare into hell... that had to be my duty.
Mahito's point of view
"Maximum Technique: Uzumaki."
In time with Geto's words, I formed a hand sign inside my mouth... and chanted the words for Domain Expansion.
"Domain Expansion: Self-Embodiment of Perfection."
Beside me, Jogo was forming a hand sign too.
That was precisely why Haruka Itadori was dangerous. Someone we could barely suppress even with all of us fighting together.
...Besides, the strange things he had done after swallowing the Prison Realm bothered me.
No ordinary person would ever think of swallowing the Prison Realm. Not only had he done it, he seemed to have accomplished something as horrifying as modifying it.
And now that man stood before us, coughing up blood and barely able to remain on his feet, yet still glaring at us.
A smile appeared on his lips. He tore away the bandage wrapped over his right eye... revealing an iris the color of dawn.
Without hesitation, he exposed his deepest scar... and shed tears for someone I couldn't name.
"Shallow, shallow."
The tears hit the ground with a soft patter.
Tiny droplets splashed and scattered... and cursed energy spread.
"Vast, vast."
Clear air swept past us.
I was supposed to have been careful not to blink.
Yet before I knew it, a thin sheet of water had spread across the ground. It rose past my ankles.
Unlike before, the gently rippling water reflected a sunset-colored sky, crimson from edge to edge.
"Domain Expansion: Clear Mirror, Still Water."
The instant he wove those words, a powerful sense of revulsion shot up my spine. It felt far worse than last time, utterly sickening.
My gaze wandered as I tried to find its source.
"Ah...?"
The gently rippling surface reflected me... and many small things.
I whipped around to look behind me, but there was nothing there. Beside me, Jogo had turned to look back in the same way.
Our gazes shifted at the same time, briefly met... then returned to the water.
"Urgh!"
At the several things reflected in the water, I let out a silent cry.
...They were eyes.
Not eyes like the ones on the Prison Realm. Countless red eyes like Haruka Itadori's were reflected in the water. With those unreadable pupils looking down on me, an indescribable revulsion welled up inside me.
"...Prison Realm, open."
Just then, the man who had become a cursed tool spoke.
I looked up to see curse markings crawling all over Haruka Itadori's body. The nature of his cursed energy had changed completely, and ominous cursed energy surged from him.
"The targets are all cursed spirits in Japan."
Before I could hear those words and digest their meaning.
With a soft "hah," an immense force sucked me toward it.
Some kind of cursed energy extended from those eyes, coiled around me, and dragged me into pitch-black darkness.
When I was released from that absolute darkness and opened my eyes.
What greeted me was a hellish vista of cursed spirit remains. Everything was crimson. And a lone silver figure stood amid it all.
"I need to hurry and get Haruka."
With those words, sky-blue eyes suddenly peered out through gaps in bloodstained silver hair.
I understood then that, no matter what, there could only be hell.
Mahito was sealed by Satoru Gojo in 0.9 seconds.
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