"The zombies are coming to eat your brains, Geto."
"I can still get off work on time today."
Kira Nanami showed a calm smile.
He looked around and silently calculated the time.
The bomb had been planted one month ago, at around eight in the evening. Kira Nanami had an excellent sense of time and remembered it clearly.
Eight o'clock sharp.
That was also when he normally got off work.
It was six now.
In other words, two hours remained before time would be reshaped again.
Which meant that during those two hours,
he had nothing left to worry about.
He could use his cursed techniques freely.
Until now, Kira Nanami had still been concealing his abilities.
Silence.
The platform was extraordinarily quiet.
The monsters stared at Kira Nanami with eerie, malicious eyes.
Rather than monsters, they looked more like walking corpses.
Demons and monsters. Bleached bones everywhere. Wreckage and corpses covered the ground while insects buzzed and crawled over every body.
The clouds outside thickened. Lightning rolled within them.
When the first bolt split the sky and the world flashed from dark to white, Kira Nanami had already vanished.
He sprinted along the vaulted roof of Shibuya Station. His coat streamed through the air like a nightingale in flight as he skimmed forward.
"Rooar!"
The Transfigured Humans raised their heads and stared upward blankly.
Boom.
Lightning crashed down from the sky.
Kira Nanami's cursed energy crashed down with it.
The thunder shattered the gloom, while cursed energy shattered bodies.
His speed had already become impossible to follow with the naked eye.
Every Transfigured Human had strength at Grade 2 or above, yet Kira Nanami moved through their ranks as though they were standing still. Wherever he passed, blood sprayed and broken heads flew.
His vision was incomparably clear.
Every Transfigured Human passed through his sight—or rather, physical form had already lost all meaning in Kira Nanami's eyes.
He saw only lines and points.
Thin lines.
Heavy points.
All he had to do was touch those points lightly, and the lines connecting them to life would break.
Ratio Technique: Gara Gara.
In Kira Nanami's hands, it had been pushed to its absolute limit.
"Gara Gara."
Kira Nanami suddenly realized his strike had hit empty air.
It was a strangely shaped Transfigured Human, as though several chunks of corpses had been glued together like Frankenstein's monster.
The Transfigured Human twisted sideways and dodged Kira Nanami's blow.
Its right arm swept across and struck him solidly in the back, launching him away under tremendous wind pressure.
Soul Multiplicity.
Polymorphic Soul Isomer!
By mixing several souls with weak reactions and burning through all of their life force in a single instant, an attack-specialized human form was created.
At a glance, there were nearly five of them.
Kira Nanami twisted in midair like a black butterfly, turning gracefully to disperse the force. After several rolls, he had already shed all the impact from his back.
Using the remaining momentum, Kira Nanami landed against the wall and accelerated.
The Polymorphic Soul Isomer's vision went black.
Its shoulder suddenly felt light.
Its neck felt light too.
Its head flew through the air and watched a streak of pink light flash across its own body, which crumbled into ash bit by bit.
One.
Kira Nanami did not look back as the corpse behind him disintegrated.
His right hand was already pressed against the chest of the next Polymorphic Soul Isomer.
An invisible explosion bloomed.
Two.
Kira Nanami flipped through the air.
The remaining three Polymorphic Soul Isomers collided with one another.
Three enormous masses of cursed energy crashed together and set off a huge explosion. Their massive bodies rolled and tangled into wave after wave of flesh.
A tiny spark suddenly fell from above and landed in the center of those fleshy waves.
Looking closely,
it was a burning Montblanc lighter.
Exquisitely made, set with several diamonds, and worth several million yen.
One could only say that Kira Nanami really was rich.
If Mei Mei were here, she would probably throw herself at it.
Then—
a small pale-blue tank dropped after the flame, seeking out the heat as it plunged into the mass of flesh.
'Look over here.'
The flesh began to swell outward.
It kept swelling.
The Polymorphic Soul Isomers' grotesque, bloated features stretched wider and wider. Their pale, translucent skin now looked like water-injected pork.
Perhaps it finally reached its limit.
The entire mass exploded.
Blood, bone, brain matter—all of it scattered through the air like a riot of flowers.
Amid the blooming blood, Kira Nanami landed on the ground, sank slightly at the knees, then straightened and dusted off his hands.
Five.
All the Polymorphic Soul Isomers had been exorcised.
Kira Nanami blinked.
Only now did the densely overlapping lines and points disappear from his vision, and physical forms returned to his sight.
The corpses before him.
Blood everywhere, coating every tile in the station.
Kira Nanami looked back and discovered that the bodies behind him had already piled two people high, like a mound of harvested wheat.
The entire second level of the subway had been cleared.
Kira checked his watch.
Six ten.
If he moved a little faster, he really might get off work early.
He stepped forward through the sticky pools of blood and headed down toward the lower level of the subway.
"Truly impressive."
"As expected of Mr. Kira Nanami, the man known as 'The Curse Itself.'"
An elderly voice suddenly came from the depths of the station.
Ah.
Now he felt embarrassed.
Only then did Kira Nanami remember that apparently he did have such a nickname in the world of curse users.
The Curse Itself...
Calling him the Empire's Most Ferocious Tiger would have sounded more convincing.
"Kira-kun, did you know? Jujutsu was free in the beginning."
"You could kill whoever you wanted and do whatever you pleased... It was beautiful. Sacred."
An aged face emerged from the darkness, covered in folds and wrinkles, old eyes lowered.
A young man supported her. He had a sturdy body and handsome features.
"Get lost, curse user."
Kira Nanami looked at her calmly and spoke softly.
"But you took away our freedom. Sacred, inviolable freedom."
Granny Ogami spoke in a low voice, eyes still lowered toward the floor. Her aged face was so benevolent and peaceful.
"We must take back the freedom we desire."
Freedom, huh? So jujutsu sorcerers could go around desecrating corpses whenever they pleased...?
"The Transfigured Humans on the second level were only there to buy time. Now the time has come."
Granny Ogami raised her eyes and ordered,
"Grandson."
"Yes, Granny."
The young man took out a lump of flesh and swallowed it.
He pressed his palms together.
A low chant began to sound.
The voice was ancient and drawn out, carrying an indescribable cadence. It seemed to come from a primordial age, like a night wind crossing the wilderness. Within that cold wind, all things seemed to wail, all things seemed to mourn.
"Descend—"
The young man's face split open.
It tore into two halves.
No.
They were two different faces, transforming bit by bit. His eyes bulged wide, filled with crazed blood vessels.
"Heavenly Restriction Tyrant—descend."
Granny Ogami spoke softly.
Her voice was quiet, barely striking the floor, yet when it fell into the heart, it sounded like thunder.
"Zenin Toji!"