'Equivalence'

Tengen's main body couldn't move. It remained hidden and fixed in place inside the Main Hall of the Tombs of the Star Corridor.

Otherwise...

He would have taken it himself.

Before long...

After setting up a new barrier, Tengen removed an arm from her main body.

Okkotsu didn't want it.

It wouldn't have been any use to him anyway.

Once Kaneki received it, he turned his back and swallowed the arm.

He had asked beforehand. Tengen's evolved main body was merely closer to a cursed spirit, not the same as one.

So...

This arm wasn't poisonous.

Her existence was probably somewhat similar to the god the Aliens would speak of sixty-eight years later.

After finishing it...

Kaneki ripped off his own arm, sending blood pouring out.

However...

The very next second!

A regenerative power unrelated to Reverse Cursed Technique made his severed arm grow back.

Then...

Using his newly regrown left hand, Kaneki tore his own heart out right in front of everyone.

At the sight...

Everyone looked horrified.

None of them had expected Kaneki to be this hardcore.

Kaneki held his still-beating heart in his left hand. "I really didn't die."

With that...

He crushed the heart in his hand, splattering blood and flesh.

Then he looked at the utterly calm Tengen and said, "I want to go to the Flying Spirit Mountain Pure Realm."

He wanted Sukuna's Sokushinbutsu!

Now that Kaneki had the [Immortality] cursed technique, he didn't ask anyone to accompany him. He went alone.

As he was now...

He could ignore a great many threats.

Even Kenjaku wouldn't be able to kill him.

Still, just to be safe, he avoided Kenjaku on his way out, lest anything unexpected happen.

Caution was the name of the game!

He also told Yū Shinji and the others to gather at the Tombs of the Star Corridor, and to stay apart from Itadori for the time being once they arrived.

Before long...

He reached the Flying Spirit Mountain Pure Realm.

Tengen's main body couldn't move, but she could sense Kaneki's arrival and use a barrier technique to sustain a new avatar.

Under Tengen's guidance, he reached the place where Sukuna's Sokushinbutsu was kept. He stashed it in his shadow, then returned the way he had come.

Along the way...

Nothing unexpected happened.

It was nearly dawn, and the sky was already beginning to brighten by the time he returned to the Tombs of the Star Corridor and met the group from Jujutsu High.

Itadori had been placed in a separate Emptiness Barrier.

Choso was with him.

Choso had already fully incarnated and taken complete control of his flesh, so he couldn't share a body with Sukuna.

Therefore...

There was no need to worry about Sukuna incarnating in him.

With [Contract] in place, there was no need to worry about Sukuna killing him either.

In front of everyone, Kaneki pulled Sukuna's Sokushinbutsu, dressed in monk's robes, out of his shadow.

At the sight...

Everyone crowded around. After examining it closely, they all started commenting.

"So this is Sukuna..."

"So ugly!"

"Salmon..."

Once everyone had finished looking, Kaneki ripped the Sokushinbutsu's head off and tossed it into his shadow to save for later.

Okkotsu froze for a moment.

He had thought Kaneki would give him the head.

Kaneki tore off one of Sukuna's arms as well, then signaled that Okkotsu could begin using [Copy].

"Rika."

Okkotsu called softly.

Black Rika appeared, grabbed the Sokushinbutsu, and began eating.

Holding Sukuna's left arm, Kaneki looked at Tengen and asked, "This arm... isn't poisonous, is it?"

Even someone who had awakened Reverse Cursed Technique...

Still had to fear poison.

That was the fundamental reason Kaneki had asked whether it was poisonous.

"It isn't poisonous."

Tengen explained.

Hearing that...

Kaneki's eyes glowed blood-red. He reinforced his mouth with cursed energy, turned his back to the others, and started eating.

"Urgh-"

He forced himself to finish it, then immediately wanted to throw up.

Kaneki clamped a hand over his mouth to keep it down. It took him quite a while to barely suppress the nausea.

This Sokushinbutsu...

Tasted even worse than a normal arm!

"Want a smoke...?"

Shoko offered him a cigarette.

Only after taking a few drags did Kaneki feel the discomfort in his stomach ease somewhat.

"Eating limbs only grants you cursed techniques for a limited time?" Tengen asked, having seen through the conditions of Kaneki's cursed technique.

"Yeah."

Leaning against Black Dog, Kaneki answered weakly.

Then...

He looked at her and explained for everyone present, "I named my cursed technique [Brain Devouring]. Only by devouring a sorcerer's brain can I fully acquire their cursed technique without a time limit."

This time...

He hid nothing.

Keeping the brain of Sukuna's Sokushinbutsu had already revealed his intentions.

Though there was a time limit...

He could use it freely within that time.

Those words also exposed a weakness in his cursed technique: he had to wait a while between uses.

The Sokushinbutsu falling into their hands also indirectly weakened Sukuna's fighting strength.

It was only a minor cut to his power.

It wouldn't affect Sukuna much.

The original story had mentioned that the Sokushinbutsu could only make up for one finger's worth of cursed energy.

A difference of one finger's cursed energy...

Wasn't much of a loss to Sukuna, who possessed the greatest reserves of cursed energy in history.

Just then...

Kaneki looked at the two sisters from the Zenin Clan. "Did Okkotsu tell you?"

"That the twin curse can be broken?"

"He did."

Maki Zenin answered.

Kaneki stubbed out his cigarette. The discomfort in his stomach had faded, and he looked at the two of them. "Then come here..."

As the cursed energy inside him began circulating, his eyes once again turned into kakugan.

As he spoke...

The two walked up to him.

A scroll materialized in Kaneki's hand as he activated his cursed technique.

Then...

He looked at Maki Zenin. "Maki Zenin, are you willing to offer up your potential to develop a cursed technique in exchange for a fully realized Heavenly Restriction?"

As soon as he spoke...

Kaneki's words began appearing one after another on the sangpi premium mulberry paper.

Everyone around them froze.

Because...

This was completely different from the method they had originally discussed.

Maki Zenin was only stunned for an instant before nodding. "I am!"

The moment her words fell...

A square Gilt Bronze Seal appeared in Kaneki's hand.

He pressed it onto the paper.

Then...

He looked at Mai Zenin. "Mai Zenin, are you willing to accept Maki Zenin's request?"

"I am!"

Mai Zenin nodded.

Kaneki stamped it again.

Then the Gilt Bronze Seal disappeared, and the scroll turned into two streams of spiritual light that sank into their bodies.

The cursed technique took effect.

Everyone noticed that the auras of the two sisters, Maki Zenin and Mai Zenin, had changed.

Maki Zenin had become someone with absolutely zero cursed energy.

The only one who paid a cost was Kaneki.

He bore the cost of this contract ritual, which consumed more than half his cursed energy.

Moreover...

He also discovered...

Perhaps because it had come from an incarnated vessel, the time he could use this cursed technique was drastically shorter, less than half the time granted by eating a limb containing a cursed technique.

"That actually works?"

Okkotsu looked stunned.

"I was just trying it out." Kaneki couldn't hide his smile. "I didn't expect it to actually work either."

'Equivalence'.

It was merely a concept.

The statue had also proved that loopholes could be exploited.

What truly mattered was that both parties agreed.

If either party refused the contract, it would automatically be canceled, and the sorcerer would suffer a backlash.

Another thing...

Without enormous reserves of cursed energy, there was no way to make this cursed technique work.

"Congratulations."

Kaneki offered his congratulations.

"Thank you," Maki Zenin and Mai Zenin said in unison, their gratitude sincere.

Under the original plan, Maki Zenin would have paid a price in exchange.

Now...

There was no price at all.

After all...

She didn't have a cursed technique.

The potential to develop a cursed technique was useless to her anyway. She might as well give it to her younger sister.

"You're welcome."

Kaneki waved a hand.

As he spoke, he looked at Maki Zenin, who was still wearing her Jujutsu High uniform. "Although you now have the same physique as Toji Fushiguro..."

"But..."

"You still have a way to go before you're like him."

Maki Zenin froze.

Not just her-everyone else looked confused too. How could she still have a way to go?

Didn't they both have [Heavenly Restriction]?

How could there still be a difference?

"Your physical capabilities are probably about the same."

As he spoke, Kaneki pointed to his eyes. "The only difference lies in 'Perception.'"

"Perception?"

Maki Zenin began to think.

Kaneki said, "That means seeing with your eyes. There are things only someone like you, who has awakened [Heavenly Restriction], can see."

"That might be hard for you to understand."

Kaneki added, "Think of it as air. Differences in temperature and density give rise to different [Facets] in the air."

"Only you..."

"Can see and grasp those [Facets]!"

Maki Zenin tried reaching out to grab them, but she failed to catch any of the supposed [Facets].

But...

With Kaneki's guidance...

It probably wouldn't be long before she could see the [Facets] that only she and Toji Fushiguro could see!

And become the second Heavenly Tyrant.

As for...

Mai Zenin...

Kaneki said nothing. Uro's ability, which had been recorded in the notebook, was already the best model for her.