As everyone knows, there are four great Natural Disasters—earth, forest, sea, and "Human."
The Curse born from humanity's hatred and fear of its own kind was, according to Jogo, the leader among them.
Humans, too, were one of the natural disasters of this planet.
Sōjun Minamoto looked at the three Cursed Spirits.
He preferred to distinguish them by their essence—or their power.
Jogo was the strongest, wielding flame-based techniques. Hanami had the most robust physical strength and controlled plant life. Dagon, who commanded water currents, was the youngest and still appeared in the form of a Cursed Womb.
All three Cursed Spirits displayed a clear disdain and contempt for humans. Surprisingly, Kenjaku seemed to look down on them as well.
That caught Sōjun Minamoto off guard. Kenjaku had always claimed to be human, after all.
"All right, everyone calm down," Kenjaku said at last, smiling as he leaned against the wall, having silently observed the whole exchange.
The three Cursed Spirits settled down.
Jogo composed himself. "Even if that Satoru Gojo you mentioned is powerful, what about the other one? Who exactly is Sukuna?"
"Sukuna, huh…" Kenjaku paused on purpose. When Jogo visibly lost patience, he smiled and continued, "Even if I told you, you wouldn't believe me. Better to experience it firsthand."
"How about we go check it out together in a few days?" he asked, looking at Jogo.
"..." Jogo shot him a glance. "Then that's it for today."
He accepted the proposal but made no effort to hide his distrust. After speaking, he turned and left without hesitation, the other two Cursed Spirits following close behind.
"Are you going too?"
Kenjaku turned to Sōjun Minamoto.
"No," Sōjun Minamoto shook his head and countered, "What about the ancient sorcerers? Have you picked the right candidates yet?"
"Still early," Kenjaku replied casually.
Sōjun Minamoto fell silent.
He understood Kenjaku's goal—avoid exposure, limit Satoru Gojo, and ensure his arrangements proceed without interference.
Since he had no part in that plan, Kenjaku had turned to the Cursed Spirits for help. But rather than cooperation, it was more accurate to call it mutual exploitation.
Not only could they not work in sync, they had to stay on guard against each other. Naturally, progress was slow.
It looked like Kenjaku wanted the Cursed Spirits to witness the power of Sukuna and Satoru Gojo firsthand, realize the gap, and then slowly come to the table.
It was putting the cart before the horse.
There'd been no visible progress on the earlier plan to spiritualize the battlefield or gather all Cursed Spirits into one ultimate Curse.
Sōjun Minamoto decided to give things a push. He brought it up.
"What about spiritualization? Have you picked a location for the test run?"
"Aren't the Ten Great Barriers the best choice? Unfortunately, Tengen's side is tricky. I had my eye on a sorcerer with Cursed Spirit Manipulation, but that's not going smoothly either," Kenjaku said.
Sōjun Minamoto's thoughts stirred. Could he be talking about Suguru Geto?
Whether or not he was, the Tengen route wasn't viable. Half of the technique had already been assimilated by him, making unpredictable complications likely.
After a moment of thought, Sōjun Minamoto said, "I'll handle Tengen. I'll also set up the Barrier. Once you've successfully sealed Satoru Gojo, we'll lower the Barrier and formally begin the spiritualization?"
Kenjaku looked at him with surprise, then shrugged. "Fine by me."
"Mm." Sōjun Minamoto nodded.
Kenjaku was the type who followed his whims. His plans could shift anytime—as long as it was fun.
He used to be curious about what an ultimate Cursed Spirit would look like, and whether such a thing even existed.
But now...
He looked at Kenjaku.
Now, Kenjaku seemed to have lost interest. And that interest might have shifted toward him.
Kenjaku clearly wanted to study him—especially after the fusion of Cursed Energy and Blessing Energy. That curiosity had only grown stronger, and even the way he looked at him had changed.
Sōjun Minamoto raised an eyebrow. Old sorcerers like this were far too sharp.
He'd need to start guiding Kenjaku toward completing the original plan, while keeping his guard up for any tricks.
Still, this wasn't a bad thing. As long as Kenjaku's attention stayed on him, he could keep him close and act as a check.
Once all his pieces were in place, he'd step out into the open and make himself the center of attention—turning everyone's gaze on him to provoke mutual curses.
Then, once the balance mechanism entered the field, he wouldn't need to do anything else. The jujutsu world would descend into chaos, and all that would be left for him… was balance.
...
After returning home, Sōjun Minamoto began refining his physical capabilities. At this point, his condition was the best it had ever been.
The fusion of powers was now indistinguishable, even to the balance mechanism—so long as he didn't separate them or unleash excessive Cursed Energy.
In other words, his strength now exceeded the limit.
This was what true [Unlimited] meant.
...
A few days later.
Sōjun Minamoto sat cross-legged on the sofa. Beneath his skin, something moved like rats scurrying in every direction, causing his skin to twitch and shift. The golden patterns around his wrists and ankles flashed continuously.
He was calibrating his strength.
After a while, he exhaled through his nose—thick smoke billowed out, followed by a few flickering scarlet embers.
He hadn't used any Cursed Techniques or even Cursed Energy. The sparks came purely from his newly constructed biomimetic organs.
With nothing flammable around, the effect stopped at just sparks.
He hadn't gone so far as to build specialized organs to simulate combustibles. From the beginning, he'd chosen to use Cursed Energy and Blessing Energy as his core power sources.
With that thought, Sōjun Minamoto activated the flame-based technique he had inherited from the Chōchin-obake.
The embers flared as if fanned by the wind, glowing a fresh orange-red. A small gourd-shaped formation began to faintly materialize at his throat, with orange flames twining around the opening, weaving into one another.
"Hoo—"
A thread of flame slipped from his mouth and gathered into a dragon shape, slithering through the air around his nose. Its form grew increasingly intricate, its color deepening to crimson.
The intense heat began to warp the surrounding space. The fire dragon split into nine strands, each twisting and shifting—becoming fire trees, then transforming into forms resembling Cursed Spirits like Garuda and Fly Heads.
Sizzle—
The air turned pitch black around him.
Sōjun Minamoto inhaled gently, drawing the flames back into his body.
This was the combined might of Cursed Techniques, biomimetic adaptation, and Cursed Energy—melting the surrounding space with ease.
He nodded in satisfaction. The sensation of a technique taking form at will felt incredible.
Then he snapped off his index finger and tossed it. Midair, it transformed into a miniature version of himself and landed smoothly on the floor.
The little Sōjun Minamoto hopped twice, clenched its fists, and tested its strength. Its power was nearly identical to the original—only the Cursed Energy reserve was lower.
He casually threw out his forearm next. It turned into a slightly larger copy. Then followed his other limbs, his torso, and his head.
Seven versions of Sōjun Minamoto, each a different size, now stood in the living room. Each one moved differently, testing their respective strengths. After a short while, they gathered, overlapped, and fused back into one.
Immortality...
Unless someone could erase him completely in an instant, killing him was nearly impossible.
"It's done."
Sōjun Minamoto clapped his hands with a smile.
The fused power now had both positive and negative polarities, freely interchangeable at will. There was no longer any need to differentiate between Cursed Technique Lapse and its reverse.
Even a casual move was now a Hollow Technique.
He had spent the past few days fully integrating all his abilities.
All his biomimetic functions were now connected to his Cursed Energy and techniques. He could unleash flames, lightning, or frost purely through his body—or amplify them further by combining with Cursed Techniques and energy.
His five senses had also evolved to inhuman levels, far surpassing the effects of Heavenly Restriction or any Binding Vow.
"Looks like it's time to head back to Jujutsu High."
...
(40 Chapters Ahead)
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