A New Enemy

On a barren island in Malaysia, Southeast Asia.

A tall, slender figure dressed in white appeared in the mountains outside a remote Malaysian city.

"Such a dense cursed spirit presence. This must be the place..."

The newcomer was Ze Zenin. He had ridden Nue all the way from Japan to Malaysia.

He had not even applied for a passport, making him an illegal entrant.

"Divine Dogs."

Ze Zenin summoned two enormous wolves, one black and one white, then had them track the cursed spirit presence emanating from the area.

Before long, he arrived at a cave.

But just as he was about to enter, a humanoid creature reached toward him from behind.

"Idle Transfiguration..."

Before he could touch Ze Zenin, Ze Zenin kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying dozens of meters with tremendous force.

"You're Mahito, right?" Ze Zenin casually lowered his foot. "I didn't expect you lot to awaken so soon."

"Just looking at your face makes me sick."

"Human, this is not a place you should be!"

Hanami hurried to the cave entrance and shouted at Ze Zenin. The presence this human gave off-

Was like a towering mountain.

"Can you tell me what's going on with the cursed spirit inside?"

Ze Zenin smiled, speaking with complete nonchalance.

"!!"

Jogo suddenly appeared from up on the mountain, then sent a vast torrent of flames bursting from his hands straight at Ze Zenin.

"Playing with fire against me?" Ze Zenin smiled disdainfully.

"Majestic Destroyer Flame!"

An enormous wave of fire surged from Ze Zenin's mouth like a rising tide.

The two torrents of flame collided, locked in a stalemate.

"Amaterasu."

Soon, Jogo's flames were steadily devoured by black fire, and Amaterasu instantly spread onto his and Hanami's shoulders.

"Hanami!"

Jogo shouted urgently, "Put up your defenses, now!"

Ze Zenin used Amenotejikara to appear beside Jogo. "Getting distracted in battle? That'll get you killed."

With that, Ze Zenin drove his hand through Jogo's heart and squeezed hard. Half the cursed spirit's body was swallowed by black flames.

Seeing that the cursed spirit was all but finished, Ze Zenin casually tossed him aside.

"Jogo!"

Hanami panicked. She had only just escaped by hurriedly severing her right arm where Amaterasu had caught it.

Yet after barely a moment of fighting, almost all three special grade cursed spirits had been gravely wounded.

"You've come too early, Ze Zenin..."

A voice drifted out from inside the cave, and the flames on Jogo's body gradually vanished.

Ze Zenin was startled. Nothing but his own Kagutsuchi should have been able to extinguish Amaterasu.

What on earth was it?

Half of Jogo's body had been nearly burned to a crisp, yet it instantly recovered under the healing effects of that mysterious cursed energy.

Jogo stared gravely at Ze Zenin, gathering flames in his hands again.

A volcanic cone instantly formed beneath Ze Zenin's feet, spewing scorching lava.

"Aah!"

A scream rang out. Jogo was shocked-that was Mahito's voice!

Mahito's entire body was charred black, and all his hair had burned away. The wound in his stomach could no longer heal because of the Reverse Cursed Technique output leaking from Ze Zenin.

"Who exactly are you? Why did you come here?"

"You think you can escape?"

Ze Zenin watched Hanami leave without concern. He did not believe these two cursed spirits could escape right under his nose.

"Hmph, lowly human!"

Jogo sneered, then leaped high into the air. "Die!"

"Maximum Technique: Meteor!"

An enormous, flaming meteor summoned by Jogo descended from the sky, hurtling toward the forest below.

It was nearly comparable to a meteor from outer space, even larger than the Meteor in the original story.

"Trying to attack indiscriminately?"

Ze Zenin suddenly remembered an iconic scene from the movie...

"Then I'll show off a little."

Ze Zenin gazed at the enormous meteor Jogo had conjured in the sky, utterly unperturbed.

"Chidori!"

A streak of lightning appeared in his hand, seemingly weak and harmless.

The intense heat and rushing air had already vaporized the taller trees nearby-

This was the strongest finishing move Jogo had used against Sukuna during the Shibuya Incident!

"Even you won't come out of this unscathed!"

Jogo coldly watched the figure below. Faced with such a natural disaster, an ordinary jujutsu sorcerer would have almost no chance of taking the meteor head-on.

Yet under Jogo's horrified gaze, Ze Zenin charged straight toward it.

"This is bad! Mahito, run!"

Jogo shouted, "This human is anything but ordinary! Go!"

"All right..."

Mahito glanced at Ze Zenin, and a circular black-and-red opening appeared behind him.

As Jogo's meteor shattered, a similar black-and-red opening appeared behind him as well, and he hurried inside.

Moments earlier, Ze Zenin had leaped high into the air and lightly touched the meteor with the Chidori in his left hand. The meteor Jogo had placed such high hopes in instantly shattered and exploded.

Scattered meteor fragments fell around Ze Zenin's face under gravity's pull. He looked back, just about to say-

With that guy gone, I can protect... (Wrong story.)

After easily dealing with Jogo's Maximum Technique, Ze Zenin returned his attention to the way the two had disappeared, and doubts arose in his mind once more.

Space-time?

A teleportation cursed technique?

Ze Zenin quickly entered the cave, but still found no clues.

After emerging from the cave again, he crouched down and looked at the tiny flicker of Amaterasu. A frightening suspicion arose in his mind.

Was it a spatial cursed technique?

The three cursed spirits emerged from the black hole, having now experienced firsthand just how terrifying Ze Zenin was.

"That damned human!"

Jogo's gaze was icy. That man had shattered his meteor with ease...

"To think such a powerful human exists in this world..."

Hanami's voice was filled with worry. "Do we really still have a future?"

"Hey, hey, hey!"

Mahito looked indignant. "You were the ones who dragged me along, saying we'd create a new world!"

He was the most severely injured. His body was charred black, his abdomen could not heal at all, and positive energy was constantly destroying his body.

"Now do you understand how terrifying humans are?"

A voice came from within the embryo. "To save you lowly..."

"Lowly what?" Before the three cursed spirits could finish listening, the embryo fell silent.

They exchanged looks, speechless for a moment.

Jogo looked at the embryo. "There must still be hope, right?"

"Yes..."

Hanami took out the cursed womb hidden in her stomach and looked at the "cursed spirit" about to be born within it. Confidence returned to her face as she declared assuredly:

"Everything will be fine."

"So this is... our leader?"

Mahito leaned closer curiously. "He doesn't look all that impressive."

"No."

Hanami shook her head and slowly said:

"Jogo and I gathered here because he guided us.

He even guided us to where you were born. That was how we found you..."

"Seriously...?" Mahito looked skeptical.

Jogo rubbed his chest and murmured:

"We'll succeed. I believe we'll have new brethren, too."