The Prison Realm was a living Barrier formed from the corpse of the monk Genshin after his death.
In Kenjaku's hand was exactly this forbidden object—roughly the size of a Rubik's Cube, with six faces like a die, each marked with dots from one to six. But instead of dots, they were represented by eyes.
At that moment, the eyes on the Prison Realm opened and closed, spinning around as its gaze swept over everyone present, including the Cursed Spirits.
Its gaze was gentle, yet carried an indescribable emotion. Three of its faces were sealed with talisman paper.
Sōjun Minamoto studied the runes on the surface.
In the Jujutsu World, there was nothing the Prison Realm couldn't seal. He had researched it before—an alive Barrier like this held immense value as a reference.
The Prison Realm didn't differentiate between ally and enemy.
Kenjaku clearly understood that as well; otherwise, he wouldn't have wrapped it in talisman paper.
It made sense—Genshin had been active a thousand years ago, in the same era as Kenjaku. It was only natural he'd be familiar with it.
"So, by what you're saying, isn't this cursed object basically invincible?" Mahito examined the Prison Realm with curiosity.
"Well, it is a forbidden item," Jogo added, staring at it in awe. He had a fascination for collecting all kinds of cursed objects, and this kind of taboo fit perfectly with his tastes. He had originally wanted to kill Satoru Gojo in exchange for it.
After what had happened, he no longer dared entertain that idea. Still, he couldn't hide his fondness for this cursed item.
"Nothing is truly invincible. The Prison Realm is no exception. It actually has two parts—an outer and an inner. This one," Kenjaku glanced down at the cursed object in his hand, "is the outer part—the front gate. It can seal anything."
"And the other?"
"The inner part is the back gate—it holds the authority to open the seal." Kenjaku kept his eyes on the Prison Realm.
"Where is it then?" Jogo asked. "If the back gate is in Jujutsu High's hands, even if Gojo gets sealed, he'll be freed soon enough, right?"
"Tengen has it." Kenjaku finally lifted his gaze and looked at Sōjun Minamoto. "But right now, it should be with you."
Sōjun Minamoto smiled faintly and took out a similar cube. The difference was that only one side of this cube had a visible crack; the other five faces were smooth and flawless.
"Why don't you let me hold onto it?" Kenjaku asked with a grin.
Sōjun Minamoto gave him a glance, tossed the back gate up, and caught it again.
Tengen, the Star Plasma Vessel, and the Six Eyes were all linked by the law of causality.
If there were a tangible symbol of balance in the Jujutsu World, it would be these three.
Ultimately, humans were the key to maintaining balance. As long as humanity remained stable, Cursed Spirits would naturally rise and fall alongside them.
Sōjun Minamoto had been on both sides and understood this well. The Cursed Spirit side was actually more forgiving—even when pushed to the limit, there was still room to maneuver. On the human side, reaching the limit meant just that—no more room to grow.
So, to maintain the balance of humanity, those three were the core.
If Kenjaku wanted to achieve his goal, he had to destroy that balance. That meant dealing with all three—none could be ignored.
This was the very basis of Sōjun Minamoto's cooperation with him.
Among the three, Kenjaku prioritized the Six Eyes most, Tengen second, and the Star Plasma Vessel least.
He had tried countless times to eliminate the Six Eyes—even successfully killing a child born with it in one generation.
But a new Six Eyes would soon emerge, and the heavy price he paid would end up in vain.
The Six Eyes had become his obsession. In his mind, limiting it was the key to making everything else fall into place.
Sōjun Minamoto paused to think.
Kenjaku wasn't actually that difficult to deal with. He had assimilated Tengen, so to some extent, he could even call himself Tengen. The Star Plasma Vessel was by his side, and ironically, it was the Six Eyes that concerned him the least.
Besides, there was still Yuta Okkotsu as a trump card.
With that thought, he casually tossed the back gate to Kenjaku.
Kenjaku had made a fair point—nothing was truly invincible. The Prison Realm could be broken by other means besides the back gate, like the Inverted Spear of Heaven, which was currently on his person.
So handing it over to Kenjaku didn't really matter.
He hadn't mentioned any price—he gave it away for free.
When the time came to settle accounts, he'd collect what was due.
Kenjaku understood that as well. After some thought, he still considered the Six Eyes to be the top priority, so he accepted the back gate.
Some things weren't easy to say out loud here. His goal and Sōjun Minamoto's was to overturn the balance, while the goal of the calamities was to replace humanity...
"Heh~" At the thought of the latter, he couldn't help but scoff inwardly.
"When will Satoru Gojo be sealed?" Jogo asked.
"By the end of this month, I suppose," Kenjaku replied after a brief pause. "Let's get things ready first."
"So how exactly do you plan to seal him?" Jogo pressed.
"To seal someone with the Prison Realm, certain conditions have to be met. The target must remain within a 4-meter radius of the seal for one full minute."
"What? One minute? That's impossible!" Jogo burst out. Having fought Satoru Gojo before, it knew just how unrealistic that sounded.
It couldn't imagine any way to make that happen.
"Relax. I have a plan."
Jogo finally calmed down a little. The room fell quiet for a moment before it glanced sideways at Sōjun Minamoto again.
"You'll need to cooperate with humans for that plan, won't you?"
More precisely, its eyes drifted to Riko Amanai standing behind Sōjun Minamoto.
The Disaster Cursed Spirits all despised humans. Whether Kenjaku was human was unclear. Sōjun Minamoto's true identity was also uncertain—but Riko Amanai was undeniably, unmistakably human.
That was why Jogo had targeted her the moment they met.
Sōjun Minamoto caught the glance and smirked.
"Haven't you always been working with humans? I am one. So is Noritoshi Kamo."
As he spoke, he gave Kenjaku a side glance. That name he chose... it definitely carried some extra meaning.
Jogo bristled. "Are you kidding me? You call that human?"
"Why not? Just because you can't tell doesn't mean I'm not human. Maybe you just say you hate humans to save face. But when faced with someone powerful, you keep your mouth shut?"
Jogo's glare locked onto Sōjun Minamoto, filled with fury. The air around them visibly heated.
In the next instant, it was ready to strike.
'Perfect timing,' Sōjun Minamoto thought calmly.
He had provoked Jogo on purpose. As long as Jogo was mad at him, all it would see was him.
Almost like a love confession.
But...
"Fire," he murmured silently.
Flames suddenly erupted on Jogo's body. Unlike the molten-orange magma atop its head, these flames were a radiant gold.
Everyone around, cursed spirits included, just assumed it was casting a technique. Lost in their own thoughts, none of them interfered.
But Jogo was starting to panic. Golden flames had appeared out of nowhere. As a fire-based Cursed Spirit, it didn't think much of it at first. The heat wasn't intense.
Its mind, though, kept looping back to that human—infuriating. The angrier it got, the hotter the flames burned. By the time it realized something was off, its rage had spiraled out of control. So had the flames. Even the magma on its head seemed to be melting.
In that moment, it truly felt what its victims must have felt when they burned to death.
Eventually, Hanami sensed something was wrong and said something to Dagon. Dagon summoned seawater and drenched Jogo.
Tsssss—
But the flames didn't go out. In fact, the water seemed to fuel them, and they burned even hotter. The calamities all realized something was wrong and moved into action.
One thickened the seawater into a darker concentration. Another tried to hold Jogo down to stabilize its soul.
Sōjun Minamoto, meanwhile, let a sea of flowers bloom beneath his feet. A faint fragrance wafted from it, calming emotions and dissolving killing intent. Of course, that was intentional—killing intent was just another emotion, one he could control.
It only vanished because he willed it. Hanami's Flower Field Technique had little effect on him.
Still, Hanami had somehow picked up on his method of attack. It was probably a guess, but that alone meant his technique needed refinement.
If he could fully integrate it into a field like that, Jogo might have died with a smile on its face. Even if the others noticed, they'd be unable to act against him.
He withdrew his technique, and the golden flames on Jogo's body died out on their own.
Their second encounter ended just as unpleasantly as the first.
As the disasters left ahead of them, Kenjaku stood by with no discernible expression.
Sōjun Minamoto's thoughts stirred.
There was something Kenjaku might not know: what Mahito took from the Forbidden Vault wasn't just the Prison Realm—it included the first three Death Painting Wombs.
As the vault's overseer, he had seen everything.