Another battlefield.
One minute earlier.
Mahito skipped through the doorway, his feet tapping lightly against the stone path.
The Cursed Storage was just ahead. Behind that heavy iron door were seven Sukuna's Fingers. He could feel the Cursed Energy surging inside them, like a fire locked in a cage.
"Found you."
He lifted his foot, ready to take the final step inside.
Then.
The world paused.
As though someone had pressed rewind, Mahito's foot stopped in midair, and he was pulled back to his previous position.
"Huh?!"
He looked down at his foot, then behind him.
At the same time, by the entrance, that twisted lump of flesh was moving in reverse.
Arms retracted, joints returned to place, the mouth on the back of the head closed, and deformed skin sprang back to its original state.
Ijichi climbed off the ground, rubbing his head, his expression blank.
"Huh?"
Mahito froze for a moment.
His foot landed back on the ground. He turned around and looked at the man who had been a Transfigured Human just moments earlier.
He was alive.
Something had undone his Idle Transfiguration.
More precisely, time had reversed it.
"What happened?"
Mahito tilted his head, examining Ijichi's face closely.
Normal human skin, normal muscle tissue, normal bone structure.
The effects of his Cursed Technique had vanished completely.
Ijichi looked at him, his eyes full of fear, but even more confusion.
"Did I die?"
Ijichi looked down at his hands. His fingers were intact, with no extra parts.
"How did I come back to life?"
Mahito looked at him, his expression turning serious for a rare moment.
"You're asking me?"
He withdrew his hand and rubbed his claws against his chin.
"I definitely just turned you into a Transfigured Human, and then I was about to..."
He glanced