Renji stored away the feather and walked onto the dark passageway.
Behind him, the painting of the angel had been torn to shreds, and the black box that once held the feather had been crushed under his foot, turned to wooden dust scattered in the cracks of the floor.
"The Sakurai clan couldn't possibly fail to notice the traces of us staying here. We can't leave them a single thing."
With Murasamemaru held in a reverse grip in his right hand, Renji executed a clean diagonal slash. After that, the stone chamber that had been emitting faint candlelight was completely sealed off by massive boulders.
When Renji breathed the air above ground again, it was already daytime.
Sunlight filtered through the tree canopy, sprinkling onto his body.
The entire domain of the Okkotsu Clan Ruins seemed to have been lifted because Renji took that feather.
"Yo, good morning. Aside from that Cursed Speech User over there, there are no survivors." Satoru was the first to notice Renji's return and greeted him.
[Ding! Character detected whose favorability can be increased: Gojo Satoru (Tier 2, Level 6). Current Favorability: 3]
[This character is the protagonist of this world. Favorability requirements to acquire his abilities are 80/90/100.]
Renji looked in the direction Satoru pointed and saw Suguru holding the masked Cursed Speech User, who had already lost both legs. The wounds on the legs were very clean, as if severed by a blade with immense brute force.
Nearby on the ground lay the mangled corpse of a man, crushed by some kind of Cursed Technique. The corpse held half of a cleaver in its hand.
In the distance, a silk sleeve from a woman's kimono hung in the shadows.
Shoko was idly playing with a black bead she had gotten from who-knows-where.
Renji asked curiously, "Why not kill him?"
Suguru explained, "Cursed Speech Users are extremely unique within the Jujutsu World. We've already negotiated with this guy. He'll produce some Cursed Speech-type Cursed Tools for Jujutsu High. The condition is that we don't kill him now."
"After returning to Jujutsu High, he'll be sent to a specialized interrogation room. There are some sorcerers inside with peculiar abilities who are immune to Cursed Speech."
"I'm hungry. Want to go get something to eat?"
Shoko suddenly pounced on Renji from behind, her two soft mounds pressing firmly against his back.
"Huh? Breakfast? Let me think... I want to eat the famous morning tea sweets in Akihabara. How about you guys?" Satoru put his sunglasses back on and patted the dust off his clothes.
"A normal breakfast is fine. Put the bill on Satoru's tab." Suguru said, putting a Shikigami Bead into his pocket and smiling.
"Why me?!"
"Because we saved you."
"Suguru, you bastard! If I hadn't controlled that Cursed Speech User, you would've gotten your ass kicked."
"If I hadn't controlled that Shikigami User, that guy's cleaver probably wouldn't have landed on the Cursed Speech User."
Satoru and Suguru walked side by side, neither giving an inch in their bickering—their usual style.
Being hugged by a beauty like Shoko was comfortable. However...
"Shoko-san, Gojo and Geto have already walked far ahead. If you don't get down soon..."
Before Renji could finish—
Smack!
Shoko's hand covered Renji's mouth.
"Carry me on your back and catch up to them. I am out of cigarettes and have no energy left."
Shoko's cigarette case had vanished. Who knows what the poor thing had gone through?
"Alright, whatever Shoko-san says, I'll do." Renji lifted Shoko's legs.
Shoko yawned, feeling the sense of security emanating from Renji's back.
Really now. This kid is five years younger than me, yet he's so gentle.
[Ding! Critical hit of security! Shoko's Favorability +5]
[Current Favorability: 50]
[Beginning to draw character ability...]
[Ding! Congratulations, Host. Acquired Reverse Cursed Technique (A)]
[Reverse Cursed Technique (A): A high-level Cursed Energy manipulation technique. It is not an innate technique but a skill that transforms Cursed Energy, a negative energy, into positive energy through a special method. Its core principle involves multiplying two streams of Cursed Energy, thereby producing energy of a completely opposite nature.]
The figures of the four gradually disappeared at the edge of the Okkotsu Clan Ruins.
Not long after the four had left, a head suddenly popped out from the bushes near the clock tower.
"Big brother, they're gone. Aren't we going to kill them?" Sakurai Hiren blinked, then looked at Sakurai Kunikage beside him. His tone didn't match the scar on his face at all.
Sakurai Kunikage, who was massaging his legs that were numb from squatting all night, twitched the corner of his lips slightly. "We're not killing them. Another day."
"Huh? Big brother, do you like men?"
"You motherf—"
"Oh! I get it. Big brother, you like that smoking chick. I'll find someone to arrange it for you."
"I'll arrange you first! Can't you understand words? I'm tired, so we'll let them go this once. Next time we meet, I'll definitely kill them." Sakurai Kunikage was clearly furious, his face ashen, devoid of his previous arrogance.
He was hiding inside watching the whole time.
Forget that Satoru just used two Cursed Energy-infused punches to kill that butcher.
Suguru actually managed to summon one Special Grade Cursed Spirit and seven Grade 1 Cursed Spirits at the same time, literally tearing that half-man-half-woman to pieces.
And that woman!
He was originally planning to sneak up and take her hostage, but the guy who went to kill her got torn into shreds by a suddenly appearing eagle-like Grade 1 Cursed Spirit.
"Big brother, didn't you say you weren't afraid of Gojo Satoru at all? So why aren't we chasing them?" Sakurai Hiren clearly hadn't caught on.
He had been sleepy earlier, found a corner to sleep in, and had just woken up, so he hadn't seen any of those people's methods.
"When did I say that?" Sakurai Kunikage spat.
"Please refer to Chapter 24."
Smack!
Sakurai Kunikage, frustrated by his brother's incompetence, slapped Sakurai Hiren on the head.
"What Chapter 24?! I told you to read less fiction, but you never listen. We're in the middle of a fight here, and you're fooling around?" Sakurai Kunikage gritted his teeth, his gaze inadvertently sweeping towards the direction of the clock tower.
Right!
There was one more person.
The man with golden pupils.
He seemed to have stayed in the clock tower for quite a while.
Thinking of this, Sakurai Kunikage immediately stepped out of the bushes and headed straight for the clock tower.
"There's nothing here." Sakurai Kunikage rubbed his chin, looking around.
Nothing.
"Wait, that guy definitely entered somewhere from around here."
Immediately after, he pressed his palms together and his body instantly transformed into a cloud of white mist.
"Big brother, there's a sound of rubble down here."
Sakurai Hiren stomped on the stone slab beneath his feet. It was a special slab made by the Okkotsu Clan to block Cursed Energy detection, very thick and hard to break.
"Let's go check it out."
"Okay."
Sakurai Hiren's body also turned into mist.
The Okkotsu Clan's design for the secret chamber was excellent. However, they happened to run into the Sakurai duo, who could turn themselves into mist. It was a lucky accident.
The two drifted into the passageway.
"He actually collapsed the passageway too?"
"Damn, he's really bad."
"Big brother, look, there are paper scraps on the ground."
"If we piece them together, it's... an angel?"
"Big brother, doesn't this look like some kind of shikigami?"
"..."