In the same dilapidated apartment building, Kenjaku, Mahito, Hanami, and Dagon gathered to discuss their plans.
The lounge chairs on the beach within the Domain had vanished, leaving only twisted, unrecognizable human bodies scattered across the golden sand.
Some of these people were bloated like balloons, while others were stretched several meters long. Even more tragic were those twisted together in pairs or trios like fried dough twists.
These were all humans Mahito had used to train his Cursed Technique recently, kidnapped from the outside by Kenjaku. To avoid detection by Jujutsu Sorcerers, he specifically sought out the elderly living alone or those who lived in isolation.
After all, he truly needed Mahito's Cursed Technique. Idle Transfiguration was the true core of his future plans. That was why Kenjaku took such great risks to capture humans for Mahito to practice on.
Mahito asked, "Dammit! I'm seriously running low on materials lately. Kenjaku, when exactly can we go out?"
Ever since Sukuna uttered that name last time, the remaining three Cursed Spirits had begun addressing the man with the stitches on his forehead as Kenjaku.
Kenjaku remained calm and unruffled. Although his plan hadn't been fully successful, the most important part of the first phase—the plan to resurrect Sukuna—could be considered a marginal success.
"Don't be in such a hurry, Mahito. Lately, those Jujutsu Sorcerers have been frantically purging Cursed Spirits like they've gone mad. We'll lay low for now and make our move in a month or two once the heat dies down."
"It just so happens I need these next couple of months to set some things in motion. By the way, a batch of humans will arrive shortly. Prepare the cursed objects we retrieved from Tokyo Jujutsu High. I'm going to perform an incarnation ritual to bolster our combat strength."
Where was this batch of humans coming from? Curse Users, of course.
Those Curse Users would brave mountains of blades and seas of fire if there was money involved, let alone Kenjaku simply inviting them here to "discuss" future plans.
Although these Curse Users were decent enough—averaging Grade 2, with one or two even reaching Grade 1—they had no power to resist within Dagon's Domain. They were instantly bound tight by Hanami's roots.
Kenjaku, carrying a large bag of cursed objects, began feeding them to the Curse Users one by one, starting with the first.
"Yuki-onna, Umibozu, Ao-bozu, Kappa, Rokurokubi... Tokyo Jujutsu High has quite a collection of good things. And these..."
Of course, the incarnation ritual for cursed objects wasn't 100% successful. Those Curse Users who failed the incarnation would be twisted by the cursed object's immense Cursed Energy and then corroded into a puddle of slime.
Fortunately, the success rate was over 80%. With only a few extra Curse Users consumed, all the cursed objects were successfully incarnated.
The extra Curse Users were tossed to Mahito to serve as materials. Curse User materials of Grade 2 or higher were rare. Mahito laughed happily, suddenly feeling that staying indoors wasn't such a problem after all.
The revived Cursed Spirits were mostly Special Grade. Naturally, they wouldn't obediently follow Kenjaku's orders. As soon as they woke up, they couldn't wait to launch an attack on him.
Of course, Kenjaku hadn't expected them to be obedient. The Cursed Spirit Manipulation of this body had long been itching for action.
In mid-air, snowflakes, poisonous blood, sharp claws, and water ripples flew toward Kenjaku. He neither dodged nor avoided them, simply activating his technique.
Maximum: Uzumaki!
A beam of high-density Cursed Energy instantly erupted from the pitch-black vortex, piercing through the dozen or so Special Grade Cursed Spirits before him in the blink of an eye.
"Heh... truly overestimating yourselves. You're nothing but a bunch of rabble who have barely touched the level of Special Grade Cursed Spirits. To dare resist instead of obediently accepting my rule."
Kenjaku's strength was firmly in the rank of a Special Grade Sorcerer. He didn't care for ordinary Special Grade Cursed Spirits at all; only Cursed Spirits capable of expanding a Domain would earn a second glance from him before he granted them a Womb Profusion, crushed them into orbs, and swallowed them whole.
Before long, a dozen or so orbs appeared before Kenjaku. Expressionless, he stuffed them into his mouth one by one and nodded with satisfaction.
Supplementing so much Special Grade combat power at once made him feel quite pleased.
'A pity. Once controlled by Cursed Spirit Manipulation, a Cursed Spirit's upper limit is strictly capped. These Special Grades, who barely have a grasp of their Cursed Techniques, are of limited use. They can only serve to stall that group of Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerers.'
His eyes couldn't help but drift back to Mahito, who was practicing his technique incessantly on a Curse User. The smile on his face was impossible to suppress.
'Yes, just like that... practice more. It would be even better if you could learn Domain Expansion. Even if you fail to do so, I will make good use of your Cursed Technique.'
While Mahito, like a child who had just received a new toy, was busy torturing the Curse User, he suddenly felt a chill for no reason. However, he quickly widened his grin again and continued kneading the Curse User before him into various shapes, as if playing with modeling clay.
For a time, the screams of the Curse User and Mahito's eerie laughter echoed incessantly.
(End of Chapter)
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