Suguru Geto coughed up a mouthful of blood and forced his head up.
Standing directly in front of him, staring down with dead eyes, was Mirokuji Kirigiri. Since the battle began, this was the first moment Geto actually had the chance to properly look at the Tsukumogami-turned-living-girl.
She had long, straight black hair that cascaded down to her calves. Her bangs and the tips of her hair were cut so sharply they looked like a mirror's edge. But the very ends of her hair were stark white—a contrast so violent it looked intentionally dyed. Her eyes were a rare, abyssal black. Those stark, black-and-white eyes contained absolutely zero emotion. Despite possessing a genuinely cute face, she radiated a chilling, inorganic aura. She was undeniably living up to her moniker as the 'Divine Artifact Girl'.
She possessed long, stiff black rabbit ears. The fur at the tips of these ears was also white, matching her hair. She also had normal human ears on the sides of her head, which made the rabbit ears on top look like a decorative headband. But they weren't fake. One could clearly see the subtle biological twitches of the ears emerging from her silky hair.
[Mirokuji Kirigiri]—she had become a true living entity, not just a Tsukumogami. And furthermore—
Geto shifted his gaze. Surrounding him in a perfect circle were six identical copies of Mirokuji Kirigiri. They each held an identical straight-bladed greatsword. And they had driven all six of those swords deep into Geto's body, cleanly piercing his vitals.
Geto opened his mouth, spitting out the intelligence he had purchased with his life: "Ten Shadows Technique... Rabbit Escape?"
The core ability of the Ten Shadows' Rabbit Escape was to generate an endless swarm of white rabbits. These rabbits didn't fear death because their sheer numbers provided infinite tactical utility: blinding the enemy, probing defenses, triggering traps. As long as the summoner had Cursed Energy, they could be summoned infinitely. Therefore, it was practically impossible to exterminate Rabbit Escape.
Mirokuji Kirigiri operated on the exact same principle.
Even if the body in front of him was destroyed, she could instantly spawn another. But these weren't separate consciousnesses. On the contrary, every single Mirokuji Kirigiri shared the exact same mind. The number of clones she could spawn was entirely dependent on how much mental bandwidth her consciousness could handle.
As long as her Cursed Energy held out, she could infinitely replicate herself, just like the rabbits of the Ten Shadows.
But that wasn't the most terrifying part.
The true horror lay in her second and third abilities.
"I never knew... that combining the Ten Shadows' Rabbit Escape with Mahoraga could be so utterly terrifying." Blood spilled from the corner of Geto's mouth, but he forced a bitter smile. "Originally, Mahoraga's only weakness was that it *had* to take a hit to begin adapting. And the more complex the technique, the longer the adaptation process took. If Mahoraga was destroyed before completing the adaptation, the progress was completely reset."
"But if you combine it with the infinite replication of Rabbit Escape, that weakness vanishes entirely. You have an infinite number of disposable bodies to tank hits and adapt to absolutely any attack. And to top it off... you possess the 'Cleaving Line' that can sever all of creation..."
"I never imagined that Principal Yaga's 'Three-Layered Soul Mutation Core' could cultivate such an absolute monster—!"
Infinite replication. Absolute adaptation. Peerless offensive power.
That was the true nature of the girl known as [Mirokuji Kirigiri].
*Schlick.*
Mirokuji Kirigiri expressionlessly yanked the greatsword out of Geto's body. Aside from the original standing in front of him, the other clones dissolved into black shadows, starting from the tips of their hair, before sinking back into the darkness beneath her feet. Ultimately, all the shadows merged back into the singular shadow of the true Mirokuji Kirigiri.
Kirigiri flicked her blade sharply, casting a perfect, fan-shaped splatter of blood onto the sand. "I yield to your skill," she said, her voice devoid of any inflection.
Geto collapsed to his knees, blood heavily fountaining from his severe stab wounds. He was one of the few Special Grade Sorcerers who couldn't use Reverse Cursed Technique. But even if he could, it wouldn't matter. His Cursed Energy reserves were completely depleted. The only reason his body was still in one piece was because Kirigiri had calculated that she didn't need to decapitate him to ensure his death.
"How cruel," Geto rasped, using his final breath to leave behind a voice of bitter regret. "I thought I'd at least get to exchange blows with the King of Cursed Spirits... but I was put down by the bouncer at the front door. Sorry, Yuta, Satoru... this is as far as I go."
*Thud.*
Suguru Geto collapsed face-first onto the white sand. His blood rapidly pooled around him, and he died quietly in his own crimson lake.
Mirokuji Kirigiri confirmed his death, then slowly lifted her head, looking toward the other side of the battlefield.
Yuta Okkotsu was waiting for her in the distance.
Suguru Geto's abilities were actually quite similar to Yuta's. Geto could utilize a near-infinite variety of Cursed Techniques by extracting them from his Cursed Spirits. Furthermore, unlike Yuta, the Cursed Spirits Geto controlled could even deploy their own Domain Expansions. Theoretically, Cursed Spirit Manipulation possessed a higher ceiling than Yuta's Mimicry.
Since Geto had met his end here, logic dictated that Yuta stood no chance against Mirokuji Kirigiri either.
But Yuta possessed one singular ability that Geto did not: the Immortality Technique!
Tengen's Immortality Technique was influenced by its environment to maintain the user's immortality. While Tengen didn't survive in the original timeline, it wasn't because the technique failed. The Immortality Technique simply didn't register 'absorption via Cursed Spirit Manipulation' as 'death'. It was a fatal loophole that allowed Kenjaku to effortlessly absorb her, forcing her to become an unwilling accomplice.
The original story never explicitly explained why Tengen didn't reappear after Kenjaku's death, or whether the Immortality Technique had deactivated. But deducing from the core nature of the technique itself led to an inescapable conclusion:
The Immortality Technique guarantees the sorcerer will not die—even if that immortality manifests in a state the sorcerer finds completely unacceptable.
"No... you did enough, Geto-san." Yuta stared down Mirokuji Kirigiri, his voice chillingly calm. "Thanks to you, my eyes have completely deciphered every single one of Mirokuji Kirigiri's abilities."
Watching from the sidelines, Mahito asked with genuine amusement, "So, what's your plan?"
Yuta took a deep breath. He drew his katana. But he didn't point it at Mirokuji Kirigiri. He pointed it directly at his own stomach.
Then, he violently plunged the blade deep into his abdomen—aiming flawlessly at the location of his Cursed Energy Core.
Even Mahito, who had witnessed countless atrocities, widened his eyes in surprise.
How exactly did the Immortality Technique operate? Ever since Yuta inherited it, he had pondered this question endlessly.
Tengen had once stated that to prevent 'old age' from becoming a cause of death, the Immortality Technique forcefully initiated a continuous state of evolution. To halt this forced evolution, Tengen was forced to merge with a Star Plasma Vessel at regular intervals. This evolution was something even Tengen couldn't control.
But *why* did the Immortality Technique classify 'old age' as a lethal threat? Initially, Yuta didn't see any issue with it. Dying of old age was a natural law; of course the Immortality Technique would recognize it.
But after learning the deeply guarded secrets of the jujutsu world, Yuta realized something crucial: Jujutsu Sorcerers had multiple ways to bypass death by old age. Even if Kenjaku's brain-hopping technique was a unique Black Box anomaly that couldn't be replicated, Ashiya Sadatsuna had achieved functional immortality using nothing but complex Binding Vows. If Ashiya Sadatsuna could do it, there was absolutely no reason Tengen couldn't.
The jujutsu world was not bound by mundane logic. Death by old age was not an insurmountable obstacle. On the contrary, as a millennium-old sorcerer, Tengen should have possessed far more sophisticated methods of extending her lifespan than either Ashiya Sadatsuna or Kenjaku. Merging with the Star Plasma Vessel was arguably the absolute worst option, because it actively contaminated Tengen's ego, forcibly rewriting her personality into a passive guardian of the jujutsu world's balance while erasing her personal desires.
Yet, the Immortality Technique still stubbornly flagged 'old age' as an absolute crisis that needed to be overcome. Why?
The answer was brutally simple. Tengen had witnessed the death of a previous vessel or herself nearing the end of their lifespan with her own eyes. That visual confirmation taught the Immortality Technique that 'death by old age' was a definitive possibility.
Once the Immortality Technique recognized that threat, regardless of what other life-extending countermeasures Tengen possessed, it autonomously activated, forcing Tengen to endlessly evolve into a higher-dimensional entity.
The Immortality Technique's ultimate evolutionary goal... was to become a god.
And right now, Yuta Okkotsu was exploiting that exact same mechanic.
He had mercilessly impaled his own Cursed Energy Core. But he hadn't damaged the prefrontal cortex where his Innate Technique resided. The Immortality Technique was still fully functional. The only reason he had inflicted such a catastrophic, fatal wound on himself was to artificially manufacture a state of absolute, inescapable desperation, thereby forcibly awakening the Immortality Technique's evolutionary protocol.
Through his eyes, Yuta had already confirmed the absolute, apocalyptic threat that Mirokuji Kirigiri posed. By compounding that with his self-inflicted mortal wound, the Immortality Technique would logically trigger a new cycle of evolution. It was the exact same process as when Tengen realized the threat of old age and the technique began evolving her toward godhood.
Yuta spoke slowly, his voice laced with heavy hypnotic suggestion. "A body that cannot be targeted by the 'Cleaving Line'. A regenerative factor that cannot be killed by blades or impalement! A Cursed Technique that cannot be nullified by the opponent's adaptation. And finally—"
"—Hands capable of completely destroying infinite replication."
Could the Immortality Technique expand from simple 'Immortality' to the active 'Subjugation of Others'?
The answer was: Technique Extension.
This was the advanced jujutsu application Ryomen Sukuna had utilized in the original timeline. In fact, Sukuna was the only character in the entire story to explicitly use it. He had used Technique Extension to broaden the target of his slash to the very fabric of space itself. Yuta Okkotsu was doing the exact same thing right now. By utilizing intense psychological suggestion and the imminent threat of death, he was using Technique Extension to forcefully direct the Immortality Technique's evolutionary trajectory into an ability specifically designed to hard-counter his opponent.
Yuta could even theoretically repeat this process indefinitely!
This was exactly why Suguru Geto had stopped Yuta earlier, choosing to act as the sacrificial pawn to draw out Kirigiri's abilities.
Yuta's application of this technique was arguably far more broken than Mahoraga! If Yuta truly mastered this ability, he would be genuinely invincible.
This was Yuta Okkotsu's very own, self-developed ultimate technique—a pinnacle even Tengen had never reached: Maximum: Vajra.
'Vajra' is the mythological, indestructible substance of Buddhism. A Maximum Technique bearing that name made its implications crystal clear. Yuta let out an agonizing, visceral roar. His Cursed Energy erupted entirely in a single instant. The Immortality Technique began to operate at terrifying speed. His body was undergoing a grotesque, uncontrollable metamorphosis. As his Cursed Energy mutated, the very biological information of his flesh was being rewritten.
He was ascending into a higher-dimensional lifeform, right here, right now!
Suddenly, a hand casually appeared right in front of his face.
Mahito had silently materialized directly in front of him.
"I'll admit, the current you could absolutely defeat, and perhaps even kill, Mirokuji Kirigiri," Mahito said softly, his tone conversational. "As expected of a Special Grade Sorcerer. You truly managed to flip the board from a completely unwinnable position, gaining a body exponentially more terrifying than you had a second ago."
Yuta instinctively tried to draw his sword, but his body completely refused to respond. His flesh was compressing. It was contorting.
"A body immune to Cursed Energy effects. Hands that perfectly counter infinite replication. Flesh that absolutely cannot die," Mahito chuckled softly. "Tell me... do you genuinely believe an entity possessing that kind of body... is still human?"
Yuta's mind violently flashed back to how Suguru Geto had absorbed Kenjaku.
Even if Yuta could fully unleash his ultimate power right now, there was one fatal, inescapable reality he could not avoid—he was currently standing inside the Dream Migration.
When his soul was still classified as human, he was exempt from certain rules. But the moment his soul forcibly evolved into an entity lingering somewhere between a god and humanity, his fundamental classification changed.
He had become a—
—'Quasi-Cursed Spirit'.
"Cursed Spirit Manipulation." Mahito abruptly clenched his hand into a fist.
Yuta Okkotsu was violently, uncontrollably compressed into a small, dark orb, floating gently just inches above Mahito's palm.
***
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