Ten minutes earlier.
A boy lay on a bed in a room of a residential building, writhing in agony after Kenjaku had forcibly shoved a cursed object for incarnation into his mouth and made him swallow it.
Some time before, Kenjaku had sought out a large number of pawns, transforming their bodies and souls into cursed objects that could seize bodies and return to life through incarnation.
One example was Takako Uro, who had fought Kinji Hakari and could fly through the air, turning space into a cloth she could swing around.
Another was Ryu Ishigori, who had fought Yuta Okkotsu and could fire blasts of cursed energy like a cannon.
Among all these pawns, there was one who pleased Kenjaku the most. Kenjaku even believed that if this man went all out, he would stand no chance against him without sufficient preparations.
He was Hajime Kashimo, a man already in his twilight years when Ryu Ishigori had first reached the height of his power during the Edo period, four hundred years ago.
"Kenjaku, who is the strongest sorcerer you know?"
"Sukuna. Though he lived more than six hundred years ago, he is, without a doubt, the strongest."
On a barren slope littered with corpses, the elderly Hajime Kashimo had made a pact with Kenjaku. Kenjaku had transformed him into a cursed object for incarnation, making him one of his pawns. In exchange, Kenjaku would revive him in the near future and let him fight the strongest jujutsu sorcerer.
Inside the room, Kenjaku recalled that conversation with his "old friend" over four hundred years ago, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
As time passed, the boy writhing on the bed gradually stopped moving. If not for his beating heart, his motionless body would have been indistinguishable from a corpse.