"You're going to end the Culling Game?"
"Yes."
To outsiders, the Culling Game was perpetual, and Kenjaku himself had designed it that way.
Faced with Uraume's confusion, Kenjaku explained the price he had to pay.
"Only by imposing an unreasonable binding vow like [ending a perpetual game] on myself could I make a game as absurd as the Culling Game possible."
This was part of the binding vow as well. Having obtained Tengen, Kenjaku now also had the authority to place restrictions on the Culling Game.
"But aren't you the Culling Game's administrator?"
Kenjaku shook his head, rejecting Uraume's assumption.
"The Culling Game has no administrator. If you insist on calling someone that, it would be neither me nor Kogane, but Tengen."
"Of course, I created all of this single-handedly. If Tengen dismantled these barriers outright, the Culling Game would end immediately, and all my plans would come to nothing."
"However, without these barriers, both the ongoing battles between jujutsu sorcerers and cursed spirits and the development of barrier techniques in this world would be set back by about a hundred years."
"A lot of people would inevitably die. So Tengen took a gamble, betting that they would win, that they would defeat me."
Kenjaku extended his right hand, as if to gather all the ancient jujutsu sorcerers into his palm.
"But now Tengen is in my hands. As the original creator of the barriers, destroying them would be child's play."
Uraume frowned. He had no interest in any of this.
"Then hurry up and do it. Why did you come back?"
Kenjaku smiled and waved a hand, signaling for Uraume to be less hostile.
"I'm rather interested in this [Bath]. Besides, I've brought you a gift."
The [Bath] originally referred to a ritual that turned treasured heirloom implements into