Underground Level Five of Shibuya Station.
Time: shortly after Satoru had just been sealed.
The people who had been hiding on the fifth underground level of Meiji-Jingumae Station had already arrived here by train. However, because of the earlier battle on the tracks, the walls on both sides were completely shattered, and Hanami's vines were now sealing the exits.
"Help! Please save us..."
Inside the train cars, the fleeing passengers desperately slammed on the windows and doors, begging Kenjaku on the platform for help.
"Don't worry. It will be your turn soon."
Kenjaku did not care whether they could hear him. He simply smiled and waved back.
Bang!
A curse user wearing a green hood jumped out from the rear of the train. Previously, he had been the one killing people at Meiji-Jingumae Station and forcing the civilians to flee into the train. Afterward, he destroyed the curtain there.
He had even intentionally left one survivor behind so that the sorcerers coming to exorcise the curse would learn that they were now holding many humans.
At the same time, the door of the front driver's cabin opened.
A blond man with a small ponytail stepped out. Several ribbon-like markings ran beneath his eyes, and in his hand was a katana whose handle looked like a human hand.
He was the curse user Haruta, the one who had hijacked the train and forced the driver to bring it here.
This train was completely part of their plan.
"Good work, everyone."
Kenjaku casually crushed a small fly-head curse he had brought with him.
Inside a curtain, communicating like this was far more reliable than using phones.
"Still, there's something I don't understand."
Beside him, Jogo finally shifted his gaze away from the Spirit-Sheltering Cage and voiced his confusion, "Since Satoru Gojo has already been sealed, why do we still need so many ordinary humans?"
Their goal now should be finding Sukuna's vessel.
Instead of answering, Kenjaku asked another question, "Then tell me, in this situation, do you know where Yuji Itadori is? How would you find him?"
"Hm? Just charge into Jujutsu High and grab him. Those two special grades can't come out now anyway."
When Jogo said this, his eyes briefly glanced toward the Spirit-Sheltering Cage nearby.
His thinking was simple. Since no one could defeat them now, they might as well act directly.
"If we make too big a scene while searching for Yuji Itadori, it will backfire. The best way is to make them come to us," Kenjaku raised a finger and began explaining his plan.
The more obvious their intention to find Yuji became, the more likely the sorcerers would hide him. So they needed another method.
Because Mukuro Fushiguro and Satoru Gojo had both been sealed, Tokyo and Kyoto must already be in chaos.
Especially Tokyo.
By now, the sorcerers already knew that Kenjaku had at least hundreds, possibly thousands, of civilians in his hands.
If Jujutsu High wanted to resolve the Shibuya incident quickly and minimize casualties among their sorcerers, they would have no choice but to send nearly every available sorcerer.
Yuji Itadori would certainly be among them.
To achieve their goal perfectly, the best strategy was to split them apart and make sure Yuji ended up with only one or two sorcerers beside him.
"I see." Jogo nodded with a look of sudden realization.
"But when do we start?"
"Once they break through the curtain I had someone set up."
The fly-head curse from earlier had been used to signal the curse users waiting outside to activate the curtain Kenjaku had prepared beforehand, the one that prevented sorcerers from entering.
Using weak enemies to drain their strength before the real battle would make everything much smoother afterward.
"Shigemo, your task is the same as we discussed before. Move along the edges of the curtains on each level and kill the assistant managers they use to communicate with each other. The ones wearing suits."
Kenjaku looked at the blond man and assigned him the easiest task for now.
"Got it, got it. Bullying weak people suits me perfectly."
Hearing this, he bounced excitedly and began running toward the upper levels.
"As for the rest of you, just adapt to the situation."
Kenjaku had no specific instructions for the others.
He gave the assistant managers to Haruta simply because he was too weak. In a direct fight, he would not be able to contribute anything.
The only reason Kenjaku recruited him was because he valued Haruta's strange luck-based technique.
Regarding the humans trapped inside the train cars, Kenjaku naturally planned to use them to their fullest.
He stretched out his hand and pushed aside Hanami's vines as if he were about to release the people trapped inside.
"Idle Transfiguration."
On that arm were the distinctive stitched seams that once belonged to Mahito.
* * *
Time returned to the present.
Shibuya Station, between the outer curtain and the one that blocked sorcerers from entering.
"Help!"
The humans brought from Meiji-Jingumae Station had all been turned into transfigured humans. They were now crazily chasing the surviving civilians who were hiding inside the barrier.
"Nanami-san, there are too many..."
Looking at the scene that resembled hell itself, even Megumi and Nanami found it difficult to calm down and search for the base of the curtain.
Splash!
Suddenly, a large amount of blood rained down from above.
When the blood touched the transfigured humans, their bodies immediately began to corrode. From the point of contact, the decay spread rapidly across their bodies.
"Wing King!"
Sharp blood like blades poured down from the sky, striking the transfigured humans with perfect precision.
Everyone looked up.
The Death Painting brothers had arrived.
Except for Kechizu, the two older brothers now looked almost no different from ordinary humans in proper clothes.
"That's great... this helps a lot!"
With them here, Megumi and Nanami could hand over the task of protecting the civilians and focus on dealing with the curtain first.
"Monster!"
One of the rescued civilians was about to thank them, but the sight of Kechizu frightened him, and he screamed.
"Say that again!"
Choso's previously calm expression instantly filled with anger. Even the mark across his nose began to bleed.
"It's okay, big brother. Didn't we already prepare ourselves for this? As long as we can be with Yuji..."
The one being feared and rejected, Kechizu, spoke up instead to calm his brother.
"I will protect all of you, because this is also what my little brother has always been doing."
He turned toward the civilians, and his terrifying face tried its best to soften as he spoke.
For the sake of his brothers, the Death Painting Wombs could endure anything.
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