Ultimately, the emotion of despair surged uncontrollably from the depths of Nanami's heart, violently shattering his sanity.Nanami could no longer control his thoughts; his mind was filled only with fear and hopelessness.
The body's instinct for self-preservation took over, moving Nanami toward the depths of the sewer not blocked by Mahito. But when Mahito extended his arm again and struck, severing Nanami's legs, even movement became a luxury.
Mahito looked at Nanami, who, missing his legs and crawling with a severed left arm, had no ability to escape or contact Gojo Satoru. Then he began searching the surroundings.
What Mahito sought was something usable as a weapon but containing no Cursed Energy, perfect for delivering the final blow to Nanami.
"Bear with it a little longer, okay? I can't kill you with Cursed Energy. Let me find something suitable to finish you off… hmm… how about this?"
Mahito said, tearing a metal rod from a drainpipe. He slowly approached Nanami, stepping on his back to halt his crawling.
"Sleep well. When you wake up, we'll be the same kind."
Without hesitation, Mahito plunged the metal rod directly into Nanami's brain.
After a moment, Mahito reached out to check Nanami's soul, confirming that the human Jujutsu Sorcerer Kento Nanami was completely dead. He then pulled out the rod and tossed it into a deep pipe nearby.
Next, he partially transformed his right hand using Idle Transfiguration, crushing Nanami's head to create the illusion that Nanami had died from his Cursed Technique.
The reason for this deception was simple: to prevent Kenjaku from noticing the plan Mahito was executing.
At that moment, Kenjaku, dressed entirely in black, arrived in the sewer.
"You've made quite a commotion, haven't you?" Kenjaku said, slowly approaching Mahito.
Kenjaku had come for two main reasons. First, Mahito had informed him of his plan to create a dangerous situation for Itadori Yuji, allowing Sukuna to use it as leverage to establish a more favorable binding vow. Although Kenjaku had other arrangements for Itadori and Sukuna, he had no reason to refuse this, so he came to check the situation.
But the primary reason for his presence was to observe the growth of Mahito's Cursed Technique. As Mahito (Idle Transfiguration) was a crucial asset in Kenjaku's Culling Game plan, he needed to ensure Mahito wouldn't be discovered and eliminated by Gojo Satoru due to making too much of a commotion—a catastrophic scenario.
However, upon seeing Nanami's horrific death, feeling the strong residue of Cursed Energy on Mahito's hand, and recalling the scattered limbs on the ground despite Mahito having no visible injuries, a question formed in Kenjaku's mind: was Mahito's combat level truly that high?
Setting aside the Cursed Technique, among the Four Great Calamities, Jogo was undoubtedly the strongest. A Cursed Spirit like Mahito, newly born, could hardly compare to Jogo, who had far more combat experience. And considering Gojo Satoru had been suppressing all Cursed Spirits single-handedly, Mahito's actual encounters with stronger Jujutsu Sorcerers should have been very few.
Could Mahito, with such limited experience, really be so decisive and precise?
Kento Nanami was certainly not top-tier in Kenjaku's eyes, but his Cursed Technique was still formidable. As long as he could hit the target, no matter the opponent's strength, even Kenjaku himself would take damage if struck.
That Mahito had killed Nanami single-handedly, without injury, exceeded Kenjaku's expectations. Could there have been a breakthrough in his Cursed Technique?
After pondering briefly and finding no clues, Kenjaku simply asked:
"It seems the battle was quite easy, wasn't it?"
Mahito glanced at Kenjaku's expression and, judging from his words, confirmed that Kenjaku had not realized Nanami had been killed without Cursed Energy. After all, Kenjaku's body belonged to the Jujutsu Sorcerer Suguru Geto, not a dog—it was impossible for him to detect a metal rod with no Cursed Spirit reaction.
Wiping the mixture of blood and brain matter from his hand, Mahito smiled and spoke:
"You're here, Geto. Indeed, Jujutsu Sorcerers are far weaker than imagined. Now, the only one we need to worry about is Gojo Satoru, right?"
"It seems you are more talented than I thought. Perhaps your plan can proceed smoothly."
"If nothing goes wrong, that child should be on his way to bring Itadori Yuji here. Are you going to stay?"
"Your purpose in killing this Jujutsu Sorcerer is to enrage Itadori, then suppress him in battle, making him call on Sukuna to establish a powerful contract, right?" Kenjaku roughly understood Mahito's intention.
"Some well-timed despair is always needed to push him into a state of anger and sadness. In that state, his rationality will weaken greatly, which suits our plan, doesn't it?"
"That's true, but if he exchanges Sukuna out, I can't guarantee Sukuna won't attack you because of his promise to Itadori," Kenjaku 'kindly' reminded.
At that moment, both of them simultaneously heard Itadori's shout from outside:
"Wait! We're not bad guys!"
Apparently, he was telling Yoshino Junpei, whose body was controlled by Mahito, to stop.
Although only Itadori and Seto, a non-Jujutsu High assistant officer, had arrived, Kenjaku decided to leave to be safe. Mahito called out to him as he headed deeper:
"Hey, Geto, you still have Sukuna's Fingers, right?"
"What's wrong?"
"Give me one. If things go south, if I hand over the finger, Sukuna should let me go, right?" Mahito said, half-jokingly.
Kenjaku thought for a moment. The fingers were originally meant for Itadori to absorb, but he took a Sukuna's Finger from his pocket and tossed it over.
Mahito toyed with the Sukuna's Finger in his hand, noting that Kenjaku was more straightforward than expected.
As Kenjaku turned to leave, Mahito called out once more:
"Since you're leaving anyway, help me deal with the tag-along behind Itadori. You wouldn't want Gojo Satoru showing up now, would you?"