Blinding daylight spilled down in scattered fragments from above.
The barrier, riddled with cracks, was a chaotic tapestry of light and blood.
At the center of the great hall—
that figure stood upon a sea of crimson, completely unscathed, like a god or demon incarnate.
At the edge of the ruined hall, Tengen's projection stood frozen, her expression shaken to the core.
"…What… was that just now?"
Even now, she couldn't comprehend the kind of power Zenin Mirai possessed—power that seemed to transcend dimensions.
As the sole witness to everyone's annihilation, even with a thousand years of experience and having seen countless powerful sorcerers, Tengen found herself at a loss.
Moments earlier, the miniature black hole formed from Yuki Tsukumo's self-destruction—
just as it was about to take shape—
—was swallowed whole by a colossal being that emerged from the void.
Just the head it revealed was enough to blot out the sky.
Energy capable of destroying half of Tokyo… devoured in a single bite?
Tengen even thought she heard the creature let out a satisfied burp.
…Wouldn't that give it a stomachache?
Mirai gazed at the turbulent void left behind and sighed faintly in regret.
A forbidden technique activated at the cost of one's life.
He had deliberately given Yuki time to unleash it.
But she hadn't seized the opportunity—limiting its destructive power to only half of Tokyo.
In the original account, Yuki's self-destruction was a move capable of destroying the entire planet.
If she had pushed it further—expanded it to cover all of Japan—
Mirai shook his head, no longer dwelling on it.
If Yuki had truly been mad enough to destroy the world just to kill him,
then even Kenjaku and the Jujutsu High group might have joined forces to stop her.
Turning to Tengen, Mirai gave a faint smile.
"Well? Not a bad little performance to liven things up, right?"
Coming back to her senses, Tengen's inhuman face revealed no emotion.
Glancing at Choso, who lay unconscious in a corner, she asked:
"To be honest, in the past thousand years, you're the strongest sorcerer I've ever seen."
"Even during the golden age of jujutsu a thousand years ago, no one would have been your match."
"For someone like you… defeating Ryomen Sukuna shouldn't be difficult, right?"
Mirai nodded lightly.
"Correct. That thing is… average at best."
Calling the undefeated King of Curses merely "average"…
Yet Tengen didn't find it arrogant—instead, she nodded in agreement.
"Then why?" she asked.
"Why involve yourself in their game?"
"You entered the Culling Game of your own accord, and even allowed Sukuna's revival…"
"I can somewhat guess that child Kenjaku's motives, but as for you…"
She shook her head.
"You wouldn't understand. That's only natural."
"After all, you've spent all this time obsessing over your master's barrier techniques."
Mirai strolled leisurely deeper into the palace, rare interest sparking as he continued:
"You foresaw everything happening outside, yet never took the initiative to contact Jujutsu High."
"Take Okkotsu, for example—you knew long ago about his Sugawara lineage, yet insisted on letting them investigate it themselves."
"And Kenjaku's Culling Game—you knew how to dismantle it, yet refused to say a word."
Catching the shock in Tengen's four eyes, Mirai's tone turned mocking:
"Have you been in esoteric Buddhism so long your brain's gone rotten?"
"If you had stayed consistent—clinging to that doctrine of fate and causality—"
"If you had remained a detached observer, like always, and only guided them at the very end…"
"Then I might have thought more highly of you."
"But instead, you couldn't let go—of the barrier techniques passed down from Genshin, or of your thousand years of persistence."
Mirai chuckled softly.
"You want to stop Kenjaku… yet you're also greedy enough to preserve that legacy."
"You really are… a mess."
"W-Who exactly are you?!"
Tengen's projection stared at him in disbelief, her four eyes trembling violently.
"A modern sorcerer? No—even among those from a thousand years ago, very few should know any of this!"
What Tengen didn't know was that Mirai had already observed Kenjaku's memories within his domain.
Just as he said—
Tengen knew full well that the Culling Game Kenjaku had constructed relied on the four purification barriers spread across Japan.
Destroy those barriers—and the Culling Game would collapse.
But the consequence…
It wouldn't just be the ten colonies of the Culling Game.
Every barrier across Japan built over the past thousand years—
—including all barrier techniques Tengen had taught—
would completely cease to function.
Because all of it depended on the stable operation of the "pure barriers."
In the past, Tengen had always been like a plant—
a mere observer of events at Jujutsu High.
Only when Kenjaku's terrifying plan neared completion,
only when Japan itself stood on the brink of upheaval—
did she finally intervene, aiding the sorcerers and handing over the Prison Realm.
"A barrier vast enough to envelop all of Japan… I imagine, like your master, you made an extremely strict binding vow to sustain it."
Tengen stared blankly at Mirai, her thoughts in turmoil.
The four purification barriers existed because she had made a binding vow just like Genshin—
Never to leave.
Never.
Tengen's near-immortal existence, strengthened by that harsh vow, allowed the barriers to operate with such overwhelming stability.
Mirai passed through a long corridor, arriving at the center of a forest-like expanse.
There, curled within it, was Tengen's true body.
As Mirai approached, the void beside him rippled.
"Oh, right—about the question you asked earlier."
"Let's just say… I want to shatter the void and ascend to the heavens."
Seeing the bewildered look on Tengen's projection, he smiled faintly.
"Those two will understand later."
"As for me… I'm still just a little short."
The void expanded, gradually swallowing the forest—along with Tengen's true body—into the Kamui dimension.
"Until next time, little girl."
"They're dead…"
"All of them… dead…"
Stepping over ruins and bloodstained ground, Choso, who had only just regained consciousness, muttered in a daze.
Sensing the pull of shared blood, he wandered deeper into the hall.
"This is…"
A relatively intact room.
On a wooden table lay a book… and six medical containers.
The book left behind by Yuki contained notes about the soul.
She had acknowledged Choso as Yuji Itadori's brother.
This was a gift she had prepared in advance—for Yuji.
But Choso's attention was fixed entirely on the six containers.
"My brothers… their remains…"
The remaining cursed objects of the Death Painting Wombs.
These were what he had failed to find during the three days at Star Corridor.
He had even asked Tengen—only to be told they were missing.
Staring at the remains, Choso suddenly realized—
…This had been deliberately left behind by Zenin Mirai.
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