"Boom—!!!!!"
Just as Kokichi Muta was about to say the words 'I like you,' a bone-chilling, terrifying surge of cursed energy erupted.
Like a monstrous hurricane, it swept out from the heart of Shibuya!
This cursed energy was so massive and malevolent that even the air was stained a nauseating dark crimson!
"Vroom!"
The entire abandoned underground parking garage began to shake violently, as if an 8.0 magnitude earthquake had struck.
The long-neglected light fixtures overhead shattered instantly, emitting a piercing crackle of electricity.
Countless dust particles and stone fragments fell like rain, clattering against Ultimate Mechamaru's heavy metal armor with a sharp metallic din.
"What is this feeling?!"
Kasumi Miwa clutched her chest, her face turning paler than a sheet in an instant.
She felt as if her heart were being squeezed by an icy claw; even breathing became incredibly difficult.
Her legs shook uncontrollably. If she hadn't braced herself against a nearby abandoned car, she wouldn't even have been able to stand.
It was the primal fear etched into her genes when a living being faces the absolute pinnacle of the food chain—a mythological monster beyond comprehension.
"Damn it!"
The tenderness on Kokichi Muta's face vanished instantly, replaced by unprecedented gravity and horror.
He snapped his head around, his gaze seemingly piercing through the thick concrete walls to stare fixedly toward the center of Shibuya.
Although his ability to sense cursed energy was inferior to top-tier sorcerers due to his Heavenly Restriction, there was no mistaking that terrifying pressure that felt as if it would drag the entire world into hell!
"Cursed energy of this level..."
Kokichi Muta gritted his teeth, cold sweat beading on his forehead.
"Compared to the volcano-headed cursed spirit, Jogo, who went on a rampage in Shibuya Station earlier, this is even more violent and unfathomable!"
"That malice unique to those above Special Grade, as if it could cut through all rules..."
"It's Ryomen Sukuna!"
Kokichi Muta's pupils constricted violently.
As a former 'mole' who had traded with Mahito and secretly gathered vast amounts of intelligence, he knew better than anyone what that name represented.
The King of Curses sealed within Yuji Itadori, the ultimate nightmare who had turned the entire jujutsu world into a bloodbath a thousand years ago...
Had he fully awakened at a time like this, the worst possible moment when Satoru Gojo was sealed?!
"It seems now is definitely not the time for this."
Kokichi Muta took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his inner fear and the slight regret of his failed confession.
He turned his head and gave the still-shivering Kasumi Miwa a deep look.
Kokichi Muta's voice turned low once again.
"I'm sorry. I'll have to tell you the rest later."
Without hesitation, his hands slammed down on the control buttons inside the cockpit.
*Click... hiss—*
Accompanied by the sound of air valves sealing, the heavy metal helmet he had just removed was fitted back onto his head perfectly once more.
The moment the helmet closed, the gentle youth Kokichi Muta vanished.
In his place was the cold, ruthless Special Grade war machine born to protect: Ultimate Mechamaru!
"Kokichi-kun... where are you going?!"
Watching Mechamaru put his helmet back on and even start his engines, Kasumi Miwa finally snapped out of her fear.
She ran forward a few steps regardless of everything and shouted anxiously.
Though she didn't know exactly what was happening, her intuition told her that the place Kokichi was heading was an absolute slaughterhouse where death was almost certain!
"To fulfill my duty."
Mechamaru did not look back, leaving Kasumi Miwa with only his cold, steel silhouette.
"The direction of this war has completely exceeded everyone's expectations."
"Since Satoru Gojo is sealed, and since even the King of Curses has awakened..."
"Then, the only one who can stop this catastrophe is that man."
The image of Yoru holding Shiranui, descending like a god, surfaced in Mechamaru's mind once more.
"As someone whose life was saved by Lord Yoru, I must go and witness it with my own eyes..."
"Witness this peak confrontation that will decide the fate of Shibuya, and perhaps all of Japan!"
"Boom—!!!"
The thrusters on Mechamaru's back instantly ignited with a spectral blue flame, the powerful thrust kicking up debris from the ground.
"Stay alive, Kasumi."
Mechamaru's voice echoed through the external speakers one last time in the underground parking garage.
"Don't go near the central area. Stay as far away from here as you can."
"When all of this is over, if I'm still alive..."
"I will definitely return to Kyoto and tell you everything I didn't finish saying just now!"
"Whoosh—!"
With the roar of the engine, Mechamaru turned into a streak of blue light, instantly bursting out of the underground parking garage and racing toward the central battlefield that represented death and destruction.
"Kokichi-kun—!!!"
Watching the direction where Mechamaru disappeared, Kasumi Miwa clutched her chest tightly, tears finally bursting forth uncontrollably.
She slumped onto the dusty ground, her vision blurred by tears.
"You big liar..."
"You didn't even have the courage to finish your confession..."
"And yet you run off to your death like that..."
Kasumi Miwa bit her lip hard, forcing herself not to cry out loud.
She knew she couldn't chase after him.
With her meager strength, she wouldn't just be unable to help; she would become a burden to Kokichi, potentially causing his death by distracting him.
"You have to survive..."
"Kokichi-kun..."
Kasumi Miwa clasped her hands together and prayed silently toward the direction Mechamaru had left.
Meanwhile, above Shibuya.
Mechamaru was flying at full speed toward the center of the cursed energy eruption at a terrifying pace that broke the sound barrier.
"Warning! Warning!"
"Ultra-high concentration of cursed energy detected ahead! The energy levels have exceeded the sensor's limits!"
Inside the cockpit, a piercing alarm blared frantically, and the tactical screen was almost completely filled with a glaring red light signifying extreme danger.
"Shut up!"
Kokichi Muta slammed a fist into the control panel, forcibly shutting down the alarm system.
He stared fixedly through the tactical screen at the ruins ahead that had been completely leveled.
There, a surge of dark crimson cursed energy, almost tangible in its density, was shooting into the sky like a volcanic eruption.
"Ryomen Sukuna..."
A mad light flickered in Mechamaru's electronic eyes.
"Let me see if you, a monster from a thousand years ago, can still be as arrogant as the legends say when facing Lord Yoru's absolute violence!"
A peak confrontation that would decide the fate of everyone was about to ignite completely under the night sky of Shibuya!
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