As Nobara entered the curtain of Tokyo colony #1, she activated the talisman given, or rather taught to her by Yuki, her short-term teacher. Nobara had been equally as surprised as Yuki when she took to her lessons so quickly. It was even a bit refreshing, considering how fast Yuji and Megumi seemed to progress. The sheet of paper about the size of her phone burned with yellow flames before the flames expanded and formed into the shape of an enormous wolf. She'd always been envious of Megumi's divine dogs and had been heartbroken when one was killed in their first real mission together. Thus, it'd been a great template when creating her own shikigami. She smiled as the wolf plopped to the ground, finding it footing quickly, and immediately jumping up on Nobara. She scratched all over his face before pushing him off.
"We gotta focus; no more training. This is the real thing!" Nobara shouted, drawing curiosity from her companions. Yuji and Megumi were still with them and planned to stay unless the fourth general showed up. Nobara felt a bit perturbed at being left out of the discussion of who would fight the fourth should the need arise, though she ultimately curbed her internal cries of outrage. She was, much as she loathed to admit it, a supporting fighter; it was just the nature of her technique.
"So it;s true, you can travel from colony to colony without trouble, from what the reports say however, only those entering the game after it starts can do so, those reincarnated or awakened by Kenjaku;s remote activation of Idle Transfiguration in Shibuya are confined to their starting colony unless they are the last one standing." Megumi said, boring Nobara somewhat. She equipped her hammer and brought out three nails from her pouch of about a hundred, her gaze scanning their surroundings. Her eyes caught something in the reflection of a window, she turned without hesitation and hammered a nail toward it. The nail flew into a door way the things had peaked out of, driving itself to thebase. Nobara snapped her fingers, punching a whole the size of a dinier plate into the wood and destroy every on the other side. The others turned, alert to any possible threats. Yuji rushed to the door and tossed it aside as it slowly fell off its hinges toward him. He scanned the inside of the small shop he now viewed from the rear entrance to find a quickly decaying cursed spirit.
"It's a cursed spirit!" Yuji shouted to the others who stood a few feet away. Megumi nodded, not too surprised.
"Kenjaku released millions of curses all across Japan, it will make things more difficult if we need to distinguish between curse, sorcerer, and regular humans before determining if they're friend or foe," Megumi said.
'Non-sorcerers have a weak cursed energy presence, so we can tell them apart easily. As for the others, we should have Momo scout ahead and try to warn us of any approaching, From there, we can figure it out without being taken by surprise at the very least." Kamo contributed.
"Right. But if we are taken unaware, we'll assume they're hostile. It's more likely we run into a curse, reincarnation, or hostile awakened than for a peaceful sorcerer to make themselves known. Kenjaku wants a battle, so I doubt he rose many friendly faces." Megumi furthered.
He received nods, the others agreeing with his rather rudimentary logic. They looked ahead as Momo flew high into the sky. Their focus fixated on freeing Satoru Gojo.
——
Isamu stalked through the forest, muttering cursed words as he did. His feet made absolutely no noise, even when stomping down on the driest leaves possible. Maya clutched in his hand as he rounded a tree. The Inumaki was there one second and gone the next. The moment after, Maya was embedded in a sorcerer, blood rushing from the nape of his neck.
"Wha-" his two companions didn't have time to react before one of them was cut down as well. Isamu paused in his spree to observe the last man with calculating eyes. They all looked the same, their right eyes the only difference between them. They were colored different, with the last guy having a white pupal. His brothers possessed red and blue respectively.
His jaw tensed as he ground his teeth together, but he didn't speak a word to Isamu's relief. He didn't care for monologues. The reincarnation's body flared with fire, lighting, and ice as he rushed Isamu. His dash left fire, destroyed trees, and a frozen stream in his flight path. Isamu ducked his punch before being his hand up to knock the man on the tip of his chin with the bottom of his right palm.
The man swerved off his trajectory and barreled into a huge oak tree. He groaned, digging himself out of the many splinters and destroyed bark. He found two purple eyes staring back at him when he turned to meet Isamu once more. They were mere inches from his own eyes, as was the blade.
"Tell me everything you know about the monk with the patchwork forehead." The surviving triplet couldn't stop himself from spilling everything he knew about everyone who might've ever fit that description. Much of it was useless, in fact, all of it was. For he found Kenjaku wasn't in the temple at the top of the mountain, nor were his whereabouts known.
Isamu's best guess was Tengen. The back of the prison realm was the biggest threat to Kenjaku at the moment and the death of Tengen herself would be devastating to jujutsu society. But Yuki and the death womb painting was there. He'd have to place his faith in them. For now, Isamu looked toward the canopy and the small clearly in the leaves. A giant, ancient temple sat there, undiscovered by the outside world until the beginning of the culling games. And even then, the barrier techniques surrounding the place were truly next level.
Isamu wiped his blade of blood after slipping it through the man's ribs and into his heart. He'd run into many reincarnations on his way to the big bad boss waiting at the top. Considering he was going against a general, these must've been his soldiers. While the soul's controlling the bodies wouldn't receive a second thought, the souls they'd pushed to the side would be.
All would be paid for with the blood of Kenjaku, of the generals, of everyone who had a hand in this nation wide disaster.
Isamu felt a presence from the temple, drawing a weary but excited smile. It was dense, powerful, but tranquil and… blurry? Isamu couldn't quite pin down what he meant by that last description but he was eager to find out. Isamu disappeared in a flash of speed, moving toward the Vanishing General.
----
Blank, white hexagons flouted in the air around Kenjaku before flowing down to the ground and forming into many overlapping floor pieces. He was left in a blank space, only the floor, a few trees, an expanding white void, and his son to keep him company. He smiled, deciding, for perhaps the first time in a long time, to not mess around with these fodder. He had a big fight coming up, perhaps the biggest of his life. If he's to defeat his experiment and claim his body, he would need a proper warm up at the very least.
"Bring out Yuki Tsukumo, you'll have a better chance together." Kenjaku said, his smile fading as an air of serious permeaded from his being.
"Sorry, she says you're not worth the trouble. I'll have to deal with you on my own." Kenjaku sighed at the death womb painting's answer. Guess it'll be a one on one then.
Not wasting any time, Kenjaku opened dozens of black tears in space crawling out an equal number of cursed spirits. They varied in size, some larger than him by double and others the size of his head. The semi-first grade curses flared their cursed energy, activating their cursed techniques all at once. Choso raised his hands in the classic form of piercing blood. Suddenly, his eyes were white as his senses were cut off temporarily. The technique lasted only 2.2 seconds, yet it was enough to throw off his aim. Another technique slammed into him, a summoned ball the size of a baseball with spikes protruding from every inch of it. A half dozen stuck to Choso as another dozen techniques affected him all at once. Kenjaku summoned a large rift, countless centipede cursed spirits bursting forward to surround Choso and rip into his flesh with their knife-like feet. The monk turned his over, a cat fish falling from his hand and digging into the ground. Choso suddenly appeared right in front of the Kamo clan blacksheep, as if he'd just fallen many tens of meters.
"All curses semi-first grade and above possess cursed techniques which are retained after absorption. While they are not powerful on their own, as their growth stops after absorption, I can summon and activate them all at once without the need to store the cursed technique in my head and without restriction on how many I can use at once like other techniques involving many abilities. I released many of my curses in Shibuya, but I kept most of those with techniques for the battles to come. Perhaps one or two weak cursed techniques would be manageable. But what of ten? Twenty? Do you know anyone that'd be able to handle all 1,853 of my cursed techniques, all activated at once?"
"I could think of one or two." Kenjaku's curses retreated back into their rifts as the Special Grade sorcerer finally made herself known with a burst of hexagons.
"Maybe, but I wouldn't include you on that list."
----
"We should wait, the Jujutsu Sorcerers of this era are bound to come out of the wood work and face them. We can escape then." The mouth on the side of Hana's face said as she flouted above the skyline of Tokyo. Her golden form dimmed intentionally. She employed a simple barrier technique taught to her by the angel inhabiting her body.
"The longer we wait, the more likely they are to find us." Hana said.
"The General's were never very good at tracking, they are General's. The fourth has a good eye but he lacks knowledge of barrier techniques. We'll be fine."
"Why are they even looking for us anyway? Did they not like you back then?"
"It's tough to say, though they were never antagonistic to me or any of the angels. But, as most things, they probably want our power."
"Speaking of, aren't we meant to use our power on the disgraced one? We aren't doing much of that right now."
"Yes, though our lives take priority. Once you see Jujutsu sorcerers engage with the Generals directly, we'll leave and hunt for the disgraced one."
"But the barrier,"
"Is bypassable with our technique."
"Right… so, what do you think of the sorcerers of this era? Think they've got a chance?"
"I haven't seen much, but the Generals are on another level, even among the Heian era. I don't see much hope for them, considering what they're walking into. Hopefully they'll at least be able to die slowly and loudly."
"That's cruel!"
"It's realistic Hana!"