Crunchy, chicken-flavored.
He had eaten it!
"Brother, you can't!"
Yuji Itadori's cry came a moment too late. Watching Xia Xia seemingly smack his lips and savor the lingering taste of the Special Grade Cursed Object, he felt dazed for a while.
Oh well. According to that other Yuji's memories, this was theoretically his older brother-and his twin, at that. He ought to have the same constitution, so he probably wouldn't die of poisoning.
"Don't worry. I stripped all the knowledge and information related to Sukuna out of that finger just now. It belongs entirely to me now. Even Sukuna couldn't take it back, and if I died, it would disappear too."
"Eating it now only increases my total cursed energy a little. There won't be any negative effects."
Xia Xia explained it to them casually.
"Unfortunately, this only works when Sukuna takes over someone else's body for a temporary incarnation. Otherwise, I could cut every finger out of Yuji's body and swallow them right now, so that fraud Sukuna would never know what it feels like to be whole again."
If Sukuna still dared to pop out and hiss at him every so often, then sooner or later, Xia Xia would let the famous King of Curses experience having "not a finger in sight"-a fully immersive taste of having the same round little hands as that blue robot cat, Doraemon.
"That's still amazing, big brother."
Yuji Itadori supplied an admiring gaze that did wonders for his ego. Choso, too, looked at his remarkable younger brother with respect. Destroying the King of Curses' fingers-what incredible power.
"It's just that my technique happens to counter him. Doesn't that 'Angel' have a technique that can erase the effects of other techniques and destroy Sukuna's Fingers, too? Those things everyone claims can be sealed but never destroyed? It's nothing special."
What Xia Xia didn't mention was that this move had another requirement.
The opponent had to fear him from the bottom of their heart.
Thanks to the special skill he'd brought back as a reward from his last simulation, that fear existed whether Sukuna showed it or not. The fraud's mouth might deny it, but his body told the truth.
Fear, fear! What a wonderful word. As long as your heart feels fear of me, your soul and your power all belong to me!
This was the ultimate skill Itadori Xia Xia had grasped over all those years, forbidden knowledge he had only obtained by all but sacrificing his body and becoming half human, half cursed spirit.
If he made someone fear him from the bottom of their heart, he could see through their cursed technique and forcibly take a small portion of something from them, apart from their innate cursed technique. It could be cursed energy, life, or even the cursed objects that housed the lives of those reborn through incarnation.
All of this had been done for the sake of destroying Sukuna's Fingers.
No one knew how he had accomplished it.
This miracle had also become the embryonic Domain Expansion of [Innate Cursed Technique: Akashic Records]. Unfortunately, Itadori Xia Xia had been close to death when he acquired this ability, leaving him unable to develop it further.
Yet just now, when Xia Xia took that finger, he had vaguely sensed the bottleneck loosening.
Itadori Xia Xia hadn't known Domain Expansion or Barrier Technique, but he did. The Domain Expansion and knowledge inherited directly from Amabuki Xia Xia could serve perfectly well as a blueprint. Finding a better horse while already riding one was far easier than working blind behind closed doors-he had already mastered the core principles of technique development and Domain Expansion!
"Surely nobody reaches special grade without knowing Domain Expansion, right? Surely not. Isn't that a basic course for Special Grade Sorcerers? Aside from that tyrant with heavenly restriction, nobody gets to special grade and still has to rely on Simple Domain to neutralize sure-hit effects, right?"
Xia Xia effortlessly said something offensive.
Bear in mind, even little Megumi Fushiguro, the Grade 2 Jujutsu Sorcerer constantly brought up in matchup debates, could use Domain Expansion.
Never mind whether it was useful in battle. Megumi Fushiguro's was still a Domain Expansion, even if it had neither a sure-kill nor a sure-hit effect and wasn't even complete.
Wonderful. Another innocent jujutsu sorcerer had been insulted in the course of casual conversation.
In the still of the night, Hajime Kashimo, who had just finished hunting, suddenly felt a chill down his back. He climbed out of bed, ran half a kilometer, and killed an unlucky cursed spirit.
He convinced himself that it was all because this cursed spirit was fairly strong-at least grade one-and had triggered his danger sense. Now that it had been exorcised, all was well.
Hajime Kashimo knew that even without Domain Expansion, his martial prowess and the trump card of Charge Pursuit still made him a powerful jujutsu sorcerer. That boy he'd met before had only beaten him because their techniques were a bad matchup. The ordinary jujutsu sorcerers of this era didn't seem particularly strong.
Next time I see him, I'm definitely having a rematch.
Thinking this, the Thunder God from four hundred years ago became too excited to sleep. But within the Culling Game barrier, he certainly wasn't the only person awake that night.
On the other side of the Culling Game barrier, Megumi Fushiguro opened his bloodshot eyes in a safe hiding place.
His tension and worry over his sister's safety had given him insomnia. It was another sleepless night, and just now, he had inadvertently sensed a faint trace of malice, along with something infuriating... contempt?
Probably another bunch of lowlifes with a death wish. I'll send the Divine Dogs out to search the area again, just in case someone tries to ambush me.
So there really is someone?
[Domain Expansion: Chimera Shadow Garden!]
Darkness shrouded the area, providing Megumi Fushiguro with a reassuring battlefield. This domain might not be particularly useful, but at least it amplified the Ten Shadows Technique, didn't it?
"What do we do next?"
After Xia Xia and Choso took turns treating the small wound on Yuji Itadori's hand with Reverse Cursed Technique and Blood Manipulation, Yuji asked his question.
"No rush. The Culling Game has only just started, so we have plenty of time. First, let's talk about why I came here, and about the goals we might share."
Smiling, Xia Xia led them into the hotel behind him. Brothers were welcomed with fine wine; enemies were greeted with hunting rifles. How could he let them visit without showing them some hospitality?
"You must be hungry after walking around inside the barrier for so long. I might not have much else, brothers, but I've got plenty of supplies. After clearing out the nearby cursed spirits, I haven't had to worry about food or clothing."
Off to the supermarket on the hotel's ground floor for a five-finger shopping spree. Young Master Xia would cover the entire bill! Take whatever you wanted-everyone would get something out of this visit.
"You didn't come just to stop Kenjaku and Sukuna, did you, brother? You're not that reckless..."
Besides, this Xia Xia didn't seem to have quite the same strong sense of justice and responsibility as the brother in his twin's memories.
That was what Yuji Itadori thought.
"That's right. Your big brother doesn't have that many grand ideas. First, I came to solve the problem of Sukuna inside you. Second, I'm here to capture someone."
Xia Xia made no attempt to hide it, stating his intentions openly.
"Who are you looking for, brother? Yuji and I have actually met quite a few people along the way. Tell me who it is, and I'll see if I remember meeting them."
Choso took a sip of bottled beer and answered eagerly. He would naturally do whatever his younger brother asked. That was a duty no older brother could shirk.
"Yeah, Xia Xia, who are you looking for?"
"It's not exactly a stranger."
Xia Xia took a bite of the bread in his hand and pointed at Yuji.
"Your mom."
Perhaps because that sounded rather like an insult, Xia Xia realized what a bombshell he'd dropped and pointed at himself instead.
"My mom."
That still sounded wrong. Looking at the bewildered Yuji, he finally gave their mother's actual name.
"Oh, come on. Kaori Itadori, the mother Yuji and I share. You know Kenjaku, right? Kenjaku."
Choso and Yuji both came back to their senses.
"Kenjaku?"
Through his earlier experiences and the memories Xia Xia had passed to him, Yuji knew that Kenjaku might be his mother, Kaori Itadori. But he still found it difficult to face.
Choso also knew roughly who Kenjaku was: the person currently using Suguru Geto's body, the Kenjaku who had fathered him and his younger brothers. He hated him. Kenjaku was the culprit behind the creation of the Death Painting Wombs. He had toyed with Choso's life and those of his brothers, made them kill one another, and even dared to call the Death Painting Wombs failed creations!
"Brother, I don't know what you're thinking, but that person really does deserve to die."
Choso spoke in a low, muffled voice, gulping down a mouthful of beer with a complicated expression.
"That bastard may have given us life and made us brothers by blood, but he doesn't have the feelings a human being should. He toys with life, and toward his children, all he has is a creator's arrogance and neglect."
As the eldest of the Death Painting Wombs spoke, his mind was filled with the two brothers who had died horribly at human hands because of Kenjaku's instigation.
Eso and Kechizu...
They hadn't needed to die, yet they had still fallen to Yuji and that woman-to their own brother. How could this have happened?
"Of course I know what Kenjaku did. And I know our mother is actually a very cold person. But in my own memories and the life I lived, she really did give me warmth and affection, rare but precious."
Xia Xia looked at Yuji.
"I've already made every necessary preparation. I also recovered the body she used when she was our mother, and engraved a binding vow into it in advance that will strip away her cursed energy and technique, preventing her from reincarnating or escaping again."
"All we have to do is get Kenjaku here and lock her inside Mom Kaori's body. With that body as her prison, she'll be an ordinary person who can never use cursed energy again."
Yuji's calm expression faltered.
"Brother, is that true?"
His expression held a trace of disbelief, but also overwhelming hope and longing.
He had never experienced Kenjaku's maternal love, yet he still yearned for the life that other Yuji had lived.
"Would your brother lie to you? You should know that Mother can actually be very gentle, right? As long as we strip away those dangerous powers, I have plenty of ways to make her a good wife and loving mother again."
Xia Xia raised his glass and clinked it against the other two's.
"To punish this disobedient mother, to make her atone for such terrible sins, let's have her spend the rest of her life repenting in an ordinary person's body."
"Brothers, let's fight side by side once again. Together, we'll kill the evil mastermind 'Kenjaku' and trade her for our Mom Kaori."
Choso and Yuji raised their glasses too.
"All right, count me in!"
"I'll make that person see the error of her ways. I'll do it for my dead younger brothers. I'll make it happen!"
Tears filled all three men's eyes.
The liquor was far too harsh. With a lovely setting and the moment just right, three thoroughly drunk men decided to become sworn brothers.
As it happened, a statue of Lord Guan stood at the hotel's main entrance. Lord Guan had something of a following in Japan, too; both yakuza and merchants had a custom of making offerings to him.
After comparing birthdays, they determined that Yuji was the youngest, making him the third brother. Xia Xia was somewhat older, but counting by his twin's memories, he was the same age as Yuji and would be the second brother. Choso was the oldest, making him the eldest.
There happened to be a peach tree in the hotel courtyard.
They reverently brought over Lord Guan's statue, set out cushions, and offered food and wine.
"Lord Guan above, may Heaven and Earth bear witness!"
"Today, I, Choso..."
"Today, I, Xia Xia..."
"Today, I, Yuji Itadori..."
"Here in this peach garden, we three swear brotherhood. For the rest of our lives, we shall share joy and hardship, honor and disgrace, with loyal hearts, courage, and righteousness reaching the heavens! Our resolve shall remain unchanged in life and death. We ask not to be born on the same day, in the same month, in the same year, but to die on the same day, in the same month, in the same year!"
"We ask not to be born on the same day, in the same month, in the same year, but to die on the same day, in the same month, in the same year!"
"We ask not to be born on the same day, in the same month, in the same year, but to die on the same day, in the same month, in the same year!"
Three resounding kowtows sealed a vow that neither life nor death would change.
"Second brother!" "Third brother!"
"Big brother!" "Third brother!"
"Big brother!" "Second brother!"
An Oath of the Peach Garden, forging a bond to last a lifetime.
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