That's right.
Mahiru and Satoru Gojo's plan was exactly this.
The reason they still let Satoru Gojo go to face the enemy alone according to the original plan when Sukuna appeared, the reason they made no adjustments whatsoever even as the situation kept turning for the worse—it was all because Mahiru had long since planned every bit of this out.
Wasn't the very reason Kenjaku dragged Sukuna out precisely because he had sensed that his own plan wasn't solid?
In that case, Kenjaku—who believed he had pulled Sukuna out, and who had struck precisely at the timing of Satoru Gojo's Technique Burnout—would, without a doubt, let his guard down.
He couldn't have guessed that Mahiru could repair Technique Burnout.
This was a technique that not even Sukuna had managed to think of.
In the original story, before Satoru Gojo managed to damage his own brain and repair Technique Burnout during the final battle, no one had ever imagined that Technique Burnout could be circumvented at all.
And in fact, Mahiru's efficiency at repairing Technique Burnout was even higher than that method from the original story of using Reverse Cursed Technique to repair the brain—there was no need to damage the brain, nor to endure a long treatment time.
Given complete preparation, Mahiru needed only a single instant of contact to repair the brain damage caused by Technique Burnout.
This was a trap meticulously designed for Kenjaku.
Lure Kenjaku into showing himself before Satoru Gojo; lead Kenjaku into the mistaken belief that Satoru Gojo could be easily suppressed by Sukuna. And then—leave Kenjaku completely exposed within Satoru Gojo's attack range.
Crimson light surged violently, the focused Reverse Limitless converging at his fingertip. Reflected in Satoru Gojo's jewel-like azure pupils was Kenjaku... or rather, the dull, vacant face of Suguru Geto.
His gaze was indifferent, cold, yet it also let slip a trace of complicated emotion.
A flick of the finger.
The terrifying power of [Red] was fully unleashed in an instant, the crimson light tearing through the air and engulfing Kenjaku entirely.
BOOM!!—Although the might of [Red] was inferior to that of [Hollow Purple], its advantage was that it was nearly instantaneous, with an extremely short windup.
Kenjaku had no chance whatsoever to dodge this blow; he could only forcibly resort to Cursed Spirit Manipulation, drawing out a cursed spirit's Cursed Energy to condense a rudimentary [Maelstrom] in front of himself in order to block Satoru Gojo's attack.
But even so, the instant [Red] arrived, that [Maelstrom] meant for defense was swiftly melted away.
Kenjaku was struck squarely in the body by [Red], sent violently flying, and crashed into a distant building.
"Heh," Sukuna laughed. "Now this is interesting."
The white-haired man whirled around abruptly to face Sukuna, his palm overlaid with a hazy azure halo. This was [Blue].
Unlike the repulsion of [Red], Blue was attraction. Satoru Gojo attached Blue to his fist and swung it toward Sukuna.
Meanwhile, Sukuna laughed heartily and raised an arm high. Above them in the night sky, a golden magic circle suddenly appeared.
The magic circle was enormous, stretching a hundred meters across the night sky—even people several blocks away could see those luminous patterns covering the firmament.
The next second, a massive beam of light formed at the center of the magic circle and descended from the heavens, slamming down onto Satoru Gojo like divine punishment piercing the sky.
This was no mere beam of light.
This was clearly an entire ocean of light pouring down from the whole sky.
—Jacob's Ladder.
This was the Angel's Technique, a Technique capable of erasing other Techniques.
Limitless could block Sukuna's slashes, but it could not block Jacob's Ladder.
The judgment of Heaven and the light of condemnation poured down from above, enveloping Satoru Gojo and completely submerging him in the sea of light. Whether it was the Limitless defensive passive that ran constantly over his body, or the Blue-clad fist already fully condensed in his hand, both were destroyed by this radiance, scattering into stray Cursed Energy.
But Satoru Gojo did not retreat.
Instead he laughed, pressing in and charging straight upward, surging up through the sea of holy light, and in a flash he arrived before Sukuna, swinging out a fist wrapped in pure Cursed Energy.
Sukuna laughed too, his arm wreathed in holy light, meeting his fist blow for blow.
The air, compressed by the two enormous forces, burst with shockwaves, and a fierce wind raged in midair.
"Sukuna! What's this, coming to fight me one-on-one and even going out of your way to switch genders?" Satoru Gojo taunted with a laugh. "Don't tell me you think that just because you've turned into a girl, I'll go soft on you?"
"Heh... I see. They all say you're the strongest of the modern age—turns out this 'strongest' is only strong with words." Sukuna grinned too. "I hope you'll put in some effort and not bore me too much!"
Bam! Another fist collided, and the two separated.
Sukuna spread his arms wide, and several magic circles manifested in the sky, multiple pillars of holy light bombarding Satoru Gojo from all directions and angles.
And at the same time, Sukuna unleashed hundreds upon thousands of slashes.
In an instant, the night sky of Tokyo was filled with several flowing rivers of light. Space was continuously carved apart by countless slashes, and several high-rise buildings were sliced into neat cubes that scattered and tumbled to the ground.
The sheer momentum of the battlefield had already become more terrifying than the black hole in the sky—seen from afar, it looked less like a battlefield and more like a churning doomsday storm.
And within this storm of holy light and slashes, Satoru Gojo, his body wrapped in azure Cursed Energy, continuously tore open the curtain of attacks, exchanging blow after blow with Sukuna.
The slashes left countless conspicuous bloody gashes on Satoru Gojo's body. Under the unceasing bombardment of Jacob's Ladder, Satoru Gojo couldn't even use a defensive Technique as simple as Falling Blossom Emotion, and could only defend with pure Cursed Energy.
This kind of defense was more than sufficient against the likes of Ishiryuu, but to completely block Sukuna's slashes was simply impossible.
The wounds on Satoru Gojo's body grew more and more numerous; in just a few seconds, bloody gashes covered his whole body. He fought while simultaneously using Reverse Cursed Technique to heal his wounds.
Under Satoru Gojo's deliberate guidance, the battlefield of the two moved toward the sea.
The buildings across the entire district were reduced to powder in the aftershocks.
This was no longer a battle anyone else could intervene in. Whether it was Ishiryuu, or Itadori, or Fushiguro... they could only watch from afar.
No one could approach. The mere aftershocks of the battle would destroy everything.
"...Cough, cough!"
Midway up a certain skyscraper, Kenjaku pushed aside the rubble of the ruins, coughing, and struggled to his feet.
"Cough..." He coughed up fresh blood, his whole body in a wretched state.
But to be honest, the state he was in now was actually considered pretty good.
The [Red] that Satoru Gojo had unleashed undoubtedly carried absolute killing intent.
Had Sukuna not lent a hand and done something at the very moment [Red] struck his body—even if he had been lucky enough not to die, he absolutely would not have escaped grievous injury.
He didn't know what exactly Sukuna had done.
The clash between Satoru Gojo and Sukuna was not something he could see through.
"Probably... the strength of eighteen, or nineteen fingers." Kenjaku gazed at the imposing battlefield in the distance, roughly estimating Sukuna's current strength.
This was good news.
The strength of somewhere between eighteen and nineteen fingers was, though slightly weaker than Satoru Gojo's, exactly compensated for by the mechanism of the Angel's Technique.
Kenjaku couldn't tell which of Satoru Gojo and Sukuna had the greater chance of winning at this moment.
He felt...
"Cough! Urgh... ugh ahh..." His train of thought was interrupted as Kenjaku retched and coughed in great heaves, coughing up another mouthful of blood.
Damn it... Once again, the figure of Mahiru surfaced in Kenjaku's mind.
Damn it...!
That cursed spirit—how on earth did she do it?
Why... were all of my plans seen through by her?
Kenjaku had once found this girl "very interesting" because of her cleverness and talent. But even so, at this very moment, he couldn't help but want to curse out loud.
How on earth did she know?!
Every single one of Mahiru's countermeasures against him was utterly beyond his comprehension.
"Damn it..."
Kenjaku hurriedly drew out a tree-demon-like cursed spirit from his shadow, using the pollen it emitted to heal his injuries.
And it was just then that the rustling of feet stepping on rubble rang out. Kenjaku realized something, and raised his head with a gritted-teeth smile. "So that's how it is... The way you could enter the black hole had nothing to do with Satoru Gojo's protection at all..."
Before his eyes, the blue-haired girl stood at the edge of a gap in the stairway, with myriad rays of holy light behind her as her backdrop.
Mahiru had not, of course, actually entered the black hole to save Yuki.
After all, as long as they won this battle, there would be plenty of chances to save Yuki Tsukumo afterward. The reason Kenjaku had let his guard down was simply that he didn't believe Mahiru could get out of the black hole on her own at all.
Who would have known that Mahiru had entered the black hole by relying on herself?
She had actually learned the Anti-Gravity Technique.
Kaori Itadori's Anti-Gravity Technique.
"...You even know Kaori Itadori's secret." Kenjaku looked at Mahiru. "How much... exactly have you seen through? When did you come to know all these things? Don't tell me you knew from the very start?"
"More or less. After all, I'm a cursed spirit born from humanity's negative emotions..." Mahiru shrugged indifferently. "Lies, betrayal, scheming... the filthy, ugly side of humanity—I knew all of it from the very moment I was born."
"Is that so?... Ha..." Upon hearing this, Kenjaku first froze for a moment, then, as if suddenly at peace, burst out laughing. "I see, hahaha... So you've known ever since you were born..."
Kenjaku's laughter was loud.
He suddenly felt that all the various schemes he had pursued for so long were so utterly laughable.
It turned out Mahiru had already known what he intended to do from the very first glance she laid on him. Back then he had foolishly assumed that the abnormalities in Mahiru's various behaviors were merely because the girl loved to play, merely because the girl didn't want to be bound.
But as it turned out, the girl had long ago seen through everything about him at a single glance.
It turned out that before he ever deceived Mahiru, Mahiru had already turned the tables and deceived him. Round and round, twist and turn—looking back now, Mahiru was the greatest deceiver of all.
"Hahahaha, truly worthy of being a cursed spirit born from the negativity of humanity!" Kenjaku threw back his head and laughed aloud. "To think she'd learned every bit of humanity's malice and cunning... she really is the most ultimate aggregate of [Human Evil]——"
At this moment, Kenjaku admitted that he had completely underestimated Mahiru.
Indeed, ninety-nine percent of human evil originated from humans' evil toward their own kind, and Mahiru, born as the crystallization of that, how could she possibly be nothing more than a simple, naive, rebellious girl?
Mahiru was the most vicious and most insidious of them all.
And in fact, the Kenjaku of this moment had every reasonable cause to speculate—Mahiru had her own goals and schemes as well.
And that scheme might well be even more terrifying than Kenjaku's own scheme—if someone told him Mahiru's goal was to destroy the entire human world, he would believe it.
What's more, Mahiru was very possibly just making use of the people of Jujutsu High to eliminate Sukuna and Kenjaku.
If the Jujutsu High side were to luck out and win this war, that girl might well, without the slightest hesitation, plunge a backstabbing blade into their chests.
Ha... Look at Satoru Gojo—he actually trusted that girl, trusted her enough to allow her to use Idle Transfiguration to touch his own brain.
Then look at those students of Jujutsu High—after being toyed with in every way by the girl, every single one of them, without exception, still obediently followed her instructions.
To just what degree had her infiltration succeeded?
The people of Jujutsu High had no idea just what a terrifying monster they were placing their trust in. They had already fallen into the abyss without the slightest awareness, yet not one of them perceived the girl's true face.
"Hahahaha..." Kenjaku laughed loudly. "I really didn't expect this... I truly didn't expect it..."
If Kenjaku could finish off Mahiru here, then perhaps, on the contrary, it would be he, Kenjaku, who was saving the world.
He truly hadn't expected that one day he would actually come to see himself as one of the good guys.
Gazing at the indifferent-faced girl before him, Kenjaku could only feel that this world was truly absurd to the point of being laughable.
But—
"But! You cannot defeat me! This is destined! Absolute! Irreversible!" Kenjaku, his emotions running high, spread his arms wide. "I admit, you did indeed succeed in turning the situation around somewhat, but this is still far, far from enough to grant you victory!"
Whether in combat strength, in design, or in the terrain of this battle—they held the advantage in all of them.
Mahiru, the ones who will lose are still you lot! Mahiru paid him no heed.
The girl's gaze sank, and she swept her eyes rapidly around her surroundings, completing her inspection and confirming that the Prison Realm was not here.
Tch. If the Prison Realm wasn't here, then it must be on Sukuna. This was bad.
Still, Mahiru could only choose to finish off the fellow in front of her first.
"I have no interest in listening to your bragging, Kenjaku." The girl raised her finger, the incandescent light of Cursed Energy shining at its tip. "Time's up—you should die now."
"Haha!" Kenjaku spread a grin across his face, and at the very moment Mahiru fired off [Husk], he forcibly accumulated a small burst of [Maelstrom] in his palm.
[Maelstrom] was the [Ultimate Form] of Cursed Spirit Manipulation.
That chaotic color, fused from who-knows-how-many cursed spirits, collided with Mahiru's Husk and exploded in an instant, blanketing the entire surrounding space.
Kenjaku was blasted away, his body smashing through several walls and bursting out of the building.
"Kill!!" Kenjaku roared through gritted teeth, his voice echoing through the night sky. "Kill everyone, all the ordinary people, kill them all!!!"
Kenjaku's words were, of course, meant for Ishiryuu and Urogi and the others to hear.
The battle between Satoru Gojo and Sukuna appeared as though only they themselves could decide its outcome, but in reality that was not the case.
Don't forget, this was Tokyo.
Tokyo was one of the top-ranked super-metropolises in the world.
It was difficult to evacuate here, and the civilians were all crammed into various temporary shelters beyond the districts. As long as Ishiryuu and Urogi and the others charged into those shelters on a killing spree, Satoru Gojo would either have to sit by and watch tens of thousands of people die miserably, or else be forced to take Sukuna's attacks head-on while splitting his attention to save people.
In the original story, the reason Satoru Gojo ended up sealed was, to a large extent, precisely because he had to save people from the hands of the Four Calamities—and now, this same logic still held.
Every sorcerer capable of killing ordinary people would become a sharp blade thrust toward Satoru Gojo.
"Everyone! All of you, go kill!" Kenjaku shouted, swinging his arms, and countless cursed spirits surged like a tide toward the direction where Mahiru had just been.
And the next second, not far away, a round of clapping rang out—a certain cursed spirit in front of Kenjaku suddenly vanished, and in its place appeared the figure of Mahiru.
"!!"
It was Boogie Woogie.
Relying on Todo's swap, Mahiru appeared right in front of Kenjaku. A second Husk was brewing in her palm, which she blasted toward Kenjaku, once again sending him flying with sheer brute force.
"Tch... can't this sort of thing be left to someone else to do?" Hearing Kenjaku's order, Urogi Kyoko couldn't help but click her tongue and grit her teeth in irritation.
The woman was extremely averse to laying a hand on civilians.
But bound by the contract, her body still subconsciously obeyed Kenjaku's order, flying off toward the direction of the shelters.
Yes, Ishiryuu too, and Druv all the more so... whether they wanted to or not, these powerhouses—one in a million across all of history—were at this moment all advancing toward the direction of the shelters.
Ishiryuu leaped between rooftops, and from far away he had already caught sight of the direction of the shelters.
Although he would rather cross blows once more with that blue-haired cursed spirit, the priority of Kenjaku's order was, unfortunately, too high, so he could only aim the cannon above his head toward the direction of the shelters.
"My sincere apologies, everyone..."
Ishiryuu didn't need to get close to the shelters at all to begin the slaughter.
The blue light accumulated to its peak.
But just as that Cursed Energy cannon was about to fire, he suddenly heard Mahiru's voice from far away.
Was it Cursed Speech? No, it wasn't.
Moreover, Kenjaku had equipped everyone with protection against Cursed Speech—Cursed Speech would have no effect, and Mahiru should have understood this as well.
The words the girl spoke were level in tone.
At the same moment Kenjaku issued his order, she too spoke up, making Ishiryuu suddenly feel a sense of danger descending upon him.
That sentence was... "—You can move now."
BOOM!!—Scorching flames came crashing down a second before Ishiryuu could fire his Cursed Energy, completely swallowing him up.
Urogi Kyoko was drawn by that firelight, and just as she was about to turn her head, her vision blurred—Toji Fushiguro, wielding Playful Cloud, appeared before her in an instant, the three-section staff smashing down hard, forcing Urogi Kyoko to pull the canvas and divert the direction of the attack.
Over on Ishiryuu's side, the flames dispersed, and amid the smoke, the man raised his head with a gritted-teeth smile.
Above him, a magical girl with flowing red hair was meeting his gaze with cold eyes.
—It was Jogo.
Such scenes were unfolding in every direction all around: Ishiryuu encountered Jogo, Urogi Kyoko was tangled up by Toji Fushiguro, Druv ran into a pair of twin sisters, and Rime came up against a burly gambler who opened his Domain the moment he raised his hand.
In every direction, those enemies Kenjaku had sent out to slaughter civilians were each intercepted by a different person.
Kenjaku wanted his subordinates to go slaughter civilians, but sorry—Mahiru's side had plenty of people too. Mahiru had earlier had them hide and bide their time; what they had been waiting for was precisely this moment.
"Hold them off... and of course, if you can kill them, all the better." While locking eyes with Kenjaku below, Mahiru sent her words into the communication channel. "As for me, I'll go deal with this fellow... and settle all our scores, new and old, once and for all."
____
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