Living again... I would...

Night had fallen.

But the gloomy sky signified more than the time of day.

It also announced the complete destruction of the juvenile detention center's harsh confines.

Judging by the timeline, it was now July, and the scene before him was precisely where the jujutsu sorcerer Yuji Itadori, who would one day defeat [Sukuna], first encountered a special grade cursed spirit.

"It's raining."

Hajime Kashimo tilted his head slightly. Rain pattered down from the sky, striking his conspicuously out-of-place school uniform and the two buns he had tied his hair into at some point, making crisp tapping sounds.

Though he had been reborn as a [Singularity], Kashimo could clearly sense that this body was hardly any different from the vessel he had occupied immediately after his incarnation...

Guixu Ying had made it sound impressive, but in reality, Kashimo had still descended into this world in a copy of some unknown student's body, rather than one "created out of thin air," as promised.

After all, when he clenched his fists, Kashimo could distinctly feel that this body's total cursed energy was capped at an extremely low level. As he adjusted to it, that limit was slowly lifting, and his reserves were recovering...

"Suppressing my power to make me start over?"

"What a boring, cowardly way of thinking!"

Kashimo shook out his hands and strode toward the detention center's main entrance, where an outbreak was imminent, without sparing a thought for whether this body had enough cursed energy to fight a special grade.

"Stop. This isn't somewhere students should-"

At the entrance, the middle-aged security guard, lounging with his eyes half-closed, was about to shout at the approaching student with the strange hairstyle.

But barely had the words reached his lips when a heavy fist, carrying no cursed energy whatsoever, only brute force, slammed squarely into his face.

"Ugh..."

The guard collapsed beside the security post with a thud. Even without cursed energy, Kashimo's mastery of strength and the skills and experience he had gained through mortal combat let him knock an ordinary person unconscious with a single punch using this body.

"In the way."

Kashimo stepped over the fallen guard and entered the security booth. His alert eyes swept the room before he picked up the restraining fork used to subdue rioting students.

Feeling his cursed energy reserves push slightly beyond their previous limit, Kashimo channeled a little cursed energy into his fingertips and lightly sliced across the restraining fork. With a clang, the top-heavy implement instantly became a spear that fit his hands perfectly...

"Won't last long..."

"But it'll last long enough to kill you."

Kashimo's voice was icy. His gaze shifted slightly, meeting the eyes of a cursed spirit that had just opened the door to the detention block.

It was a muscular cursed spirit with sharply defined muscles all over its burly body and distinctly humanoid features.

From the cursed energy and oppressive aura it emitted, Kashimo drew two conclusions.

First, this thing was not a special grade cursed spirit.

Second-

It was weak.

The blue-green lightning was faint, and the cursed energy Kashimo had infused into the weapon was pitifully scarce.

Yet the instant the sharp, angled tip of the restraining fork touched the cursed spirit's chest, violent electrical arcs took effect inside its body.

Splrrt-!

The non-special-grade humanoid cursed spirit had not even seen how Kashimo had reached it and attacked before a massive gash tore through its body, stretching from its shoulder and neck down to the core of its abdomen.

Purplish-red blood sprayed everywhere, yet not a drop touched the hem of Kashimo's clothes. He was still moving after landing his first blow, immediately thrusting the crackling restraining fork toward the cursed spirit's forehead.

"Gah!!!"

Pain drove the enraged cursed spirit into a burst of brute strength. Blood surged into its arms as it gathered power in an instant and swung at Kashimo, who had moved to its left.

Faced with this sudden, powerful enemy, its survival instincts forced the cursed spirit to stake everything on winning through speed and strength.

But competing with the "God of Lightning" in speed and strength?

That was clearly foolish.

Flickering electrical arcs suddenly emerged from the gash in the cursed spirit's chest-

Without warning, a tremendous current detonated inside its body, blasting its entire left half to pieces!!!

[Charge Manipulation]

After his battle with Sukuna, even though he had died and been reborn, Kashimo had gained an even deeper mastery of his cursed technique.

Against something so many levels beneath him, he now needed only one strike to accumulate enough positive charge inside its body to connect with the negative charge stored in his own, triggering a powerful lightning strike that could not miss.

That was also what gave Kashimo the confidence to challenge a special grade cursed spirit with this newly reborn body.

Blood splattered, and the ruined body collapsed.

The dead cursed spirit dissolved into smoke and flame. Kashimo tightened his grip on the restraining fork, carefully studying the sensation of the lightning strike he had just triggered...

"About twice. I only need to land two hits."

Kashimo clicked his tongue. If this body's cursed energy reserves had not been so pitifully low, he was confident he could fill a special grade cursed spirit with positive charge in a single blow and immediately trigger a devastating sure-hit strike.

Or rather, he would not even need his cursed technique. With the incarnated vessel he had used during the Culling Game, brute strength and cursed energy alone would have let him easily stab that special grade cursed spirit to death with a single thrust...

But judging from the feel of that last exchange, that was clearly beyond him right now...

Tap!!!

The moment his left foot entered the dormitory area, a bone-chilling cold crept up his spine as the scenery around him changed.

Watching his surroundings instantly transform into a dilapidated, split-level loft reeking of rot and rust, the experienced Kashimo immediately recognized the special grade cursed spirit's handiwork.

"An innate domain?"

A faint smile curved his lips. Kashimo did not form the hand sign to activate [Wicker Basket], which countered a domain's sure-hit effect.

According to the information he remembered, this special grade cursed spirit born from Sukuna's Finger-[Cursed Womb Must Die]-was merely an underdeveloped "premature infant," completely incapable of using a cursed technique.

The effects of the domain he deployed were nothing more than a means of suppressing the cursed energy of those within, creating an atmosphere of terror, and preventing them from immediately turning around and fleeing.

For an unnaturally created special grade cursed spirit like this, Kashimo had only one word-

"Weak."

Before the enormous, eyeless, humanoid special grade cursed spirit covered in folds could even react, the restraining fork, wreathed in electrical arcs, came from behind and smashed squarely into his face.

Cursed Womb Must Die, who had been lurking in the shadows waiting for an opening, had never expected to be discovered, much less for his opponent to move so quickly that his eyes could not follow...

But it was too late for anything now.

As he slammed into the ground, smashing a cracked crater into it, the slightly bent restraining fork plunged down from above almost the very next second...

Kashimo had no intention of giving this special grade cursed spirit a chance to attack-

What he wanted was absolute domination!!!