Slaying Old Feng Itadori with the Force of Thunder

The timeline turned back slightly, to about five minutes earlier.

While Hajime Kashimo was still locked in a fierce battle with Sukuna, a hunt was playing out at the same time in the Culling Game's Lake Gosho Colony.

An unknown Jujutsu Sorcerer dressed as a maid was fleeing for her life.

She was full of confusion and anger over everything that had happened recently:

What the hell is this supposed to mean?!

Just because this killing game didn't play out the way you expected, you've started doing whatever you want?!

Her face twisted, she turned and roared at the dense forest behind her:

"What the hell are you trying to do, Kenjaku?!"

"You gave Jujutsu Sorcerers a second life by turning them into Cursed Objects and having them reincarnate, and now you're going to take it away yourself?!"

"Isn't that going way too far?!"

The next moment, a translucent Cursed Spirit enveloped her head.

A suffocating sensation struck her. She immediately struggled with all her might, but no matter what she did, her hands couldn't grab hold of it.

The Cursed Spirit's watery body slipped effortlessly through her fingers, all the while cutting off her oxygen completely.

On a branch overhead, Kenjaku spoke equally cold words in a perfectly flat voice:

"If the flavor is weak, add some seasoning; if it's too strong, add more water."

"To me, Jujutsu Sorcerers like you are like seasoning and water. It's hard for you to stir up any emotions in me."

As Kenjaku spoke, the unknown sorcerer did not give up her final struggle.

The ends of her hair, which weren't covered by the Cursed Spirit, continued to coil, finally forming a sharp spike that shot straight at Kenjaku on the branch.

But clearly, an attack like that could never work.

As the branch snapped, Kenjaku's patience finally ran out.

The Cursed Spirit wrapped around her head immediately began to contract, its once-watery body solidifying.

Finally, it became a "boulder" without the slightest gap, completely impervious to light.

Unable to breathe, the unknown sorcerer pounded frantically at the "boulder" completely enclosing her head, her legs flailing nonstop.

But such feeble struggles could hardly stop death from coming.

"Although I didn't invest any feelings, I suppose I do feel a little regret from time to time."

Kenjaku slowly approached and flicked a finger against the "boulder."

The limp body slowly toppled over, and the heavy "boulder" struck a tree trunk, startling a flock of birds into flight.

Looking at the corpse before him, Kenjaku curled his lip, then began a little "performance," asking and answering his own questions:

"How do you know exactly where the players are?"

"The players who reincarnated have Cursed Objects I made inside them, while I placed cursed seals on most of the modern sorcerers who awakened later."

"That makes them very easy to find."

"Even without that..."

"You sure are taking it easy."

Before Kenjaku could finish his "performance," an utterly familiar voice reached his ears from behind him.

It came with immense Cursed Energy and a cold killing intent.

Kenjaku's entire body stiffened instantly, and he turned to look, his face full of astonishment.

Those eyes...

There was no doubt!

"Hey, tell me, it's been over a month. Have you figured out your last words yet?"

Satoru Gojo leaned casually against a tree, playing with his blindfold as he waved to Kenjaku:

"Yo, long time no see~"

Kenjaku was instantly gripped by a suffocating sensation, as though a python were coiling around him.

A few minutes earlier.

After taking Shiratori Gotsu to the chamber where Sukuna's Fingers were sealed, Satoru Gojo, whose brain damage had mostly healed, immediately left Jujutsu High.

Though they were far apart, he had pinpointed Kenjaku's Cursed Energy and followed it all the way here.

With Shiratori Gotsu—that guy whose heart was blacker than a Curtain and who had arranged a whole series of interlocking schemes-backing them up, Sukuna no longer needed much of his attention.

So Satoru Gojo's objective was clear:

Kill Kenjaku, recover Suguru Geto's body, and then find a way to end the Culling Game.

Feeling the cold killing intent radiating from Satoru Gojo, Kenjaku was panicking like crazy, but on the surface he forced himself to stay calm:

"I didn't expect you to come in person... Come to think of it, I haven't checked on the battle over there for a while... Could it be that you've already defeated Sukuna?"

Hearing that, Satoru Gojo scoffed and casually removed his blindfold, stuffing it into his pocket:

"I didn't expect that, even now, you'd still only be willing to spout this kind of crap."

"Don't worry, your daddy Sukuna probably isn't dead yet, but he's probably in a pretty bad spot right now."

"As for the situation here, I think you'd better worry about yourself first."

The instant the words left his mouth, Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue hurtled toward Kenjaku with an overwhelming attractive force.

Damn it!

Cold sweat instantly poured down Kenjaku's face. He could only reinforce his body with Cursed Energy and hurriedly retreat.

At the same time, he raised a hand and released a large number of low-level Cursed Spirits, trying to block Satoru Gojo's view.

Kenjaku knew perfectly well that he couldn't gain even the slightest advantage against Satoru Gojo.

I have to run, now...

"Domain Expansion: Unlimited Void!"

The voice slammed into Kenjaku's ears like the call of death itself.

With no time to think, he immediately formed the interlocked-fingers hand seal:

"Domain Expansion: Womb Profusion!"

Even though Kenjaku immediately expanded his own domain to oppose Satoru Gojo, Gojo's advantage from attacking first still left Kenjaku caught in Unlimited Void for about 0.05 seconds.

While that level of exposure wasn't serious damage to Kenjaku, who had lived for over a thousand years,

even a moment's daze was enough to be fatal when facing Satoru Gojo.

Squelch.

Satoru Gojo's hand sliced cleanly through Kenjaku's neck.

Blood sprayed.

"I'm taking Geto's body back."

Satoru Gojo looked at the head rolling across the ground, then turned his gaze to the body.

Once Cursed Spirit Manipulation lost control, it would go berserk, and all the Cursed Spirits that had been swallowed would be released within a few short seconds.

That was also why Satoru Gojo hadn't immediately dispelled his domain.

Having once killed Suguru Geto with his own hands, he was quite adept at dealing with rampaging Cursed Spirits.

A patch of pure, voidlike black spread from the headless body, and Cursed Spirits of every kind poured out like a tide.

Then, in the next instant, they were affected by Unlimited Void, and Satoru Gojo casually exorcised them one by one.

"Done."

A dozen or so seconds later, Satoru Gojo clapped his hands and dispelled his domain.

He picked up the lifeless head, unscrewed the top of its skull, and pulled out Kenjaku's true form from inside.

"The more I look at you, the more disgusting you get..."

"Cursed Technique Reversal: Red."

A red light flashed, and not even a scrap of Kenjaku remained.

"As for you... tsk, tsk, tsk~"

Tengen, who had taken on the form of an embryo, lay quietly on the ground by Satoru Gojo's feet, encased in a translucent sphere.

"What a sorry sight, Lord Tengen!"

He bent down and picked him up, bouncing him twice in his hand like a ball:

"Hmm... Nice bounce. I'll take you back and leave you to old man Gakuganji."