Mutations.
As long as those present had a solid grasp of the basics of Jujutsu, they could sense the shift within the Jujutsu world.
A vague unease stirred in their hearts.
Sure enough, orders came down from the Higher-Ups, urging an immediate retreat.
No one had the will to keep fighting—they were already set on leaving.
Satoru Gojo couldn't do much to stop them. It was rare to see even one Special Grade appear, and now five were on the scene—three of them enemies. One of their two had already been sealed.
There was no chance of a real fight.
A few Grade 1s stayed back to cover the retreat. The rest began falling back toward the exit. Sōjun Minamoto didn't stop them.
His objective had already been achieved.
Only Suguru Geto's group seemed unwilling to leave, a trace of reluctance in their expressions.
They exchanged glances...
Sōjun Minamoto raised his palm. A swirling vortex of gray mist formed there, glowing with specks of fragmented light. A heavy pressure filled the air.
It wasn't Maximum: Uzumaki, but something derived from it—a concentrated beam of purified Cursed Energy.
Stripped of all extraneous function, it was pure, refined power, continuously compressed and purified until it was fired in one high-density blast.
Sōjun Minamoto favored this type of attack. No tricks, no flash—just raw, overwhelming force.
The beam of light burst forth, targeting the black man among Geto's group.
His expression turned grim as he quickly unfurled the Black Rope and raised it in front of him.
The light beam struck, but instead of sparks, the two forces silently dissolved into each other.
The beam only grew more intense. The rope grew shorter and shorter—it had a limit.
The black man braced himself, his weight pressing down hard. Scorch marks streaked the floor beneath his shoes.
"Hurry up and go!" he shouted, glancing back with effort.
His companion looked reluctantly at the moon… and the whirlpool orb beside it.
"I'll bring back Suguru!" he yelled again. "You go ahead!"
With no other choice, the group followed the Jujutsu High team out.
Nanami, Haibara, and Naobito Zenin were at the rear and hadn't made it out yet.
They exchanged a look, nodded slightly, and turned back.
Shing—
A clear metallic clang seemed to echo in everyone's ears.
They all turned around.
The arena dimmed—then flared bright again.
The moon blazed so fiercely it no longer looked like the moon. It looked like a sun.
Daylight flooded the platform.
A vortex of light compressed and formed in a blink.
Around the "sun," space collapsed as black electric arcs flickered and danced.
Pop—
Sōjun Minamoto pressed his palms together. The spinning light suddenly froze. The core flared even brighter—
Shhhhhh—
Everyone squinted instinctively.
A massive light pillar, ringed in crackling black arcs, shot straight toward them.
Nanami recognized the hint of Black Flash within it.
The searing pressure made every sorcerer's expression sink.
The black man unfurled the last of the Black Rope in front of him. It dissolved instantly.
Sweat streamed down his brow. Despair crept in.
The beam was too fast. Raising the rope had already pushed him to his limit.
Just before he was swallowed by the light, Nanami and Haibara—along with other Grade 1s—stepped in.
Ratio Technique, Falling Blossom Emotion, New Shadow Style...
All launched together to counter the beam. They were driven back step by step.
A faint warmth flowed through their bodies, making them tremble inside.
In Sōjun Minamoto's field of vision, Yuki Tsukumo had clearly noticed the crisis.
Power surged through her. Garuda entangled Riko Amanai, forcing her off the battlefield.
Yuki sprinted over, fingers curved tightly—
Forming an incredibly small… black hole!
Riko broke free from Garuda and also rushed over.
Kenjaku had already stopped and begun retreating.
Sōjun Minamoto sensed a trace of danger—and it thrilled him.
He interlocked his fingers, palms flipping outward. The sun blinked, dimmed sharply—The beam vanished.
Just then, Yuki hurled the black hole toward him. It floated slowly, but was deceptively fast.
A second later, an even fiercer light beam surged from the sun and shot straight into the black hole.
Yuki grabbed the others and sprinted through the station, dodging the collision zone. She leapt upward, landing on the skybridge, and burst out from the fifth basement...
During the escape, the black man reached toward the sun.
He caught the last remaining black thread between his fingers. Just as it faded in the sunlight's afterglow, his hand closed around something—
He yanked it back and followed Yuki and the others, leaving the underground.
The beam collided with the black hole. The world lost its sound and color.
Sōjun Minamoto turned around and pulled Riko Amanai into his arms.
The bandages on his forearms unraveled layer by layer, wrapping her tightly.
A silent shockwave rippled outward.
Wherever it passed, it erased existence like an eraser wiping away pencil marks.
When the wave settled, the platform was gone—replaced by a sudden spherical void.
Sōjun let go of Riko. They stood together at the bottom of the sphere.
His bandages were shredded. The seven marks flickered like sparks, beginning to mend.
Half of his back had been erased, but it recovered in an instant.
He was fine.
The bandages rewrapped his arm. He gauged the cost—Roughly one-fifth of the Seven Sins' Cursed Energy.
"That was intense, Tsukumo."
If she had been a second slower, she'd have been erased like the buildings.
The black hole had come for him. There was no escape. He stood at its center—If he hadn't neutralized it, he would've had to endure it head-on.
The thought of testing that flashed through his mind—then quickly vanished.
The sun above returned to its mirror form. The surface flickered occasionally, betraying the unrest in his heart.
Sōjun looked around.
Everyone else was gone, eager to put as much distance as possible between themselves and him.
Only Riko Amanai had foolishly run over.
He studied her closely, then asked,
"You okay?"
"Mm."
Sōjun exhaled in relief.
Yuki and the others had bolted from the underground.
The black man looked down at his empty left palm and scratched his head.
The others rushed up.
"What'd it go, Miguel?"
The black man—Miguel—opened his right hand, revealing an orb inside.
"I got Suguru back."
He didn't sound too thrilled.
His teammates cheered, snatched the orb, and left him standing there, alone and glum.
"We can barely say that we've achieved our goal," the Jujutsu High members consoled each other, simply relieved to have made it out.
The black man scratched his head even harder, prompting everyone to instinctively take a step back. They then heard him muttering to himself,
"Feels like they let me take Suguru on purpose."
"But why hit me first? And they destroyed my precious Black Rope…"
It was a Cursed Tool crafted with the power of their entire nation, only one of its kind, and similar in function to the Inverted Spear of Heaven—capable of negating Cursed Techniques.
Now it was gone. Recreating it would take another hundred years.
"Whatever, Suguru better pay me back for this!"
After turning it over in his mind without coming to any conclusion, he simply gave up.
...
This incident ended with the withdrawal of the Jujutsu Sorcerers.
Aside from the heavy casualties at Jujutsu Headquarters, there were no other fatalities reported for the time being.
Still, the impact on this area was devastating—especially the final clash between the Special Grades.
Kenjaku emerged from somewhere, picked up the Prison Realm, and approached Sōjun Minamoto.
"It's done. Satoru Gojo is completely sealed. There's no way he's getting out now."
He looked Sōjun Minamoto up and down with interest.
"The Barrier's already activated. We can start waking up the ancient sorcerers and sending them in," Sōjun said, ignoring Kenjaku's gaze.
In fact, he welcomed the scrutiny. The more Kenjaku remembered him, the greater the surprise would be later.
The mirror shimmered—Sōjun Minamoto was deliberately reinforcing his impression.
He added, "One reminder—if they don't go in, their techniques will be revoked."
Kenjaku nodded in understanding.
Seeing that he got the message, Sōjun brought up another matter.
"What about Sukuna? What do you plan to do with him?"
"He's no longer needed," Kenjaku replied with a grin. "To me, Sukuna was just a backup plan in case sealing Satoru Gojo failed."
"Focus on the Culling Game."
He jostled the Prison Realm slightly. With the greatest threat now out of the picture and the final phase moving smoothly, he was clearly in a good mood.
"Find a new place to hide this."
Then, he looked down at the Prison Realm and murmured softly,
"See you again in a thousand years."
The Prison Realm swayed gently, as if responding.
Kenjaku's expression stiffened for a moment, but he quickly regained his composure.
"You really are something, Satoru Gojo."
Sōjun Minamoto ignored him and led Riko Amanai out of the wreckage below.
With the Ten Great Barriers now activated, all humans, Cursed Spirits, and Cursed Objects would be drawn into them.
Once everyone had assembled—not just the humans and ancient sorcerers already inside, but also the modern ones represented by the higher-ups—the Culling Game would officially begin.
His rules are simple: everyone can observe each other, and techniques can be acquired or swapped through plunder. Whether it's the Seven Sins, Seven Virtues, Cursed Objects, Heavenly Restrictions, or Innate Techniques—there are many ways.
Negative emotions would intensify, and killing would become the sole theme. The Barrier would enter a positive feedback loop of negative emotions.
A Spirit Realm would then take shape.
The curses within the Barrier would be sealed in and unable to leak out, meaning the interior would be cut off from the outside world.
Any practitioner who entered would have unlimited access to Cursed Energy.
And with the amplification of negative emotions, that Cursed Energy could increase without limit.
There was only one condition: numbers.
As long as enough people entered, anything could be accomplished.
He would make the rules public, then gradually loosen the entry and exit restrictions.
When the time came, even without him forcing life inside, most humans and Cursed Beings would enter on their own.