Séance (Part One)

Before Satoru Gojo was born, cursed spirits and jujutsu sorcerers had maintained a delicate balance.

That balance kept jujutsu sorcerers just busy enough dealing with cursed spirits that they had no time to spare for the shady profession of curse users.

Murder, curses, raising cursed spirits, founding cults to rake in money...

All kinds of curse users made fortunes in every walk of life, venturing ever further down the path of using their cursed techniques to wring pleasure and money out of life...

But all of that ended with Satoru Gojo's birth.

At an age when other children were only starting elementary school, the oppressive presence Satoru Gojo exuded already terrified the vast majority of curse users.

By high school, he and Suguru Geto, who fought at his side, had earned the name "the strongest duo," suppressing the curse user organizations harboring sinister intentions.

Years of lying low had left these curse users, whose hands had once been drenched in blood, ravenous.

So when they learned that Gojo's former companion, "Suguru Geto," had a plan to seal him, many curse users willingly joined Kenjaku's ranks, hoping to return to the days when they could do whatever they pleased...

And the three people currently guarding the Curtain that prevented sorcerers from entering were among them.

[Ogami] [Kuriban Jiro].

Both had already reached old age, and both had personally experienced the deadly pressure Satoru Gojo exuded as a child.

They both yearned to return to those days of "freedom."

Thus, they had chosen to cooperate with cursed spirits, guarding the cornerstone at the heart of the Veil atop this tower.

Although the tower stood out conspicuously outside the entire Curtain, as the saying went-the most dangerous place was the safest.

Moreover, the tower's unusual structure meant that reaching the top floor required taking an elevator from the bottom.

To counter any searches or attacks Jujutsu High might launch, they had long since gathered a large number of transfigured humans to guard the tower's ground floor.

Besides providing cover, this was also meant to stop their opponents from even considering taking the elevator straight to the top.

If nothing unexpected happened, they only needed to spend a night in the cool breeze before returning to the curse user lives they had dreamed of...

Unfortunately for them.

"Unexpected" was one thing Jujutsu Society never lacked.

A giant owl abruptly appeared behind Kurizaka Jiro, delivering no fewer than three people to the rooftop with the aid of high-tensile steel wire-

"Got you!"

Hajime Kashimo and Ino quickly broke away and landed, while Itadori seized the steel wire with quick reflexes, leaping up and binding the three curse users who had gathered to talk tightly together.

Surprise showed openly on all three faces. They truly had not expected anyone other than Satoru Gojo to launch an attack from the air.

"Oh-ho~"

Surprised though they were, Itadori's intentions could not have been more obvious. Kurizaka Jiro, the strongest of the three, simply tore through the steel wire and broke free.

Turning sideways, he kicked Ogami's grandson in the back as the young man clung tightly to his grandmother. Using the force of the kick to propel himself toward Itadori, Kurizaka Jiro split the battlefield in two.

"I'll find the cornerstone. You handle these two."

Hajime Kashimo called out to Ino, who had already landed on the helipad. Strictly speaking, the fight up here was one-on-one, so he had no intention of interfering.

Although he knew what would happen next, before that, he needed to observe from the shadows and confirm something...

[Auspicious Beast Summon]

Even in Hajime Kashimo's era, a "séance" technique like this had been exceedingly rare.

"Qilin," "Xiezhi," "Spirit Turtle," "Dragon."

By putting on a mask and using himself as a medium, Ino could let these four auspicious beasts possess him, gaining the enhanced abilities of the corresponding beast.

Although Auspicious Beast Summon gave Ino enough offensive power to kill a Grade 2 Cursed Spirit instantly, his enemies were curse users, so he did not rush to unleash a killing move the moment they met.

Unlike fights against cursed spirits, battles between sorcerers could never be won through cursed energy output efficiency and combat intelligence alone.

Humans were extraordinarily complex, difficult creatures to understand. With incomplete information, the outcome of a fight between people could easily be overturned by the slightest opening.

His physical strength isn't that high. Just as I expected.

His hand-to-hand skills are worse than mine, and his cursed energy output is only at the level of a Grade 3 Sorcerer...

But my attacks can't get past his defense to hit the old woman. This is a pain...

Over several exchanges, Ino used Xiezhi's pointed horn and Spirit Turtle's cursed energy water droplets to repeatedly injure Ogami's grandson.

But unlike every opponent he had faced before, this young man's tactics clearly revolved around the grandmother behind him:

He did not attack, only defend. Whenever an attack was impossible to dodge or block, the expressionless young man simply took the damage with his body.

"The time has come."

Ino put some distance between them. As he considered how to break the deadlock, Ogami, who had kept her eyes closed while chanting some incantation, suddenly opened them.

The aura of cursed energy pouring from her multiplied several times over. Even more than ten meters away, Ino felt an immense pressure.

"Not a chance!"

He gathered cursed energy in both palms and switched to auspicious beast number one, Xiezhi.

As a spiraled horn formed and spun in his palm, a drill attack several times more powerful shot straight toward Ogami's face.

He could no longer afford to worry about the ethics of killing.

Ino knew he absolutely could not let her unleash her cursed technique!

Unfortunately, just as in the proper timeline-

He was too slow.

Or rather.

His opponent was too fast.

Her grandson swallowed a glass container holding an unidentified object. The instant Ogami recited the information of the person being summoned, time seemed to stand still:

"Toji Zenin!"

A powerful hand seized Xiezhi's pointed horn as it hurtled toward Ogami's face. Unlike the bloodshed before, this time it did not even scrape the dead skin on his palm-

A face different from his own occupied half his features. This was a séance technique of the same type as Ino's, yet entirely different-

[Information Possession]

"So that's how it works. No wonder..."

The powerful figure stood firm in the wind. Ino retreated several steps. He did not recognize the man...

But Hajime Kashimo knew.

The Zenin Clan's eldest son, the "monkey" born without cursed energy.

The man who had "killed" Satoru Gojo, defeated Suguru Geto, and carried out the "Star Plasma Vessel assassination"-

The strongest heavenly restriction-[Heavenly Restriction Tyrant · Toji Zenin]

Standing before Ino now was a "replica" that had summoned the man's body and gained his physical abilities...