Even after taking on a flesh body, there was one worry that never went away.
A worry he had never been able to tell anyone.
"Am I human?"
He had three parents.
A human mother. A special-grade vengeful spirit that impregnated her. And Kenjaku, who mixed his own blood into the middle of it all.
He joked that he was half human and half curse, but if you were being exact, that was a little off.
Two humans and one curse—so maybe his essence was a little closer to the human side.
"Brother, what do you want to do after taking on a body?"
"I would like to go on a picnic with you all."
"That sounds nice, big brother!"
One hundred and fifty years spent living as fetuses, relying on one another.
Within that time, it wasn’t as though he had no desire to live as a human.
Who would like being sealed away and treated like a curse when they hadn’t even chosen to be born that way?
I can live normally too, mingling with my younger brothers and with humans.
I’m the kind of person who has human feelings like that, and my brothers are human too.
He had once thought that way.
"Are ‘we’ human?"
When his brothers took on flesh bodies, that question came back to him.
"So this is what we look like?"
"Ah, my back keeps rotting away... Brother. Do you have any other clothes?"
He had been lucky enough to gain a fully human form, but his brothers had not.
Eso was more or less no different from him except for his back, but Kechizu had a form that could never be called human.
When he saw his brothers with those inhuman bodies, he made a decision.
Humans would not accept them.
He would not be able to allow Eso and Kechizu to live alongside them.
Just thinking about the rejection and the wounds they would suffer in the future made his chest feel like it was being torn apart.
If it had only been him, he might have managed to live as a human, but Choso could never abandon his brothers.
There was only one place for the three of them, who could not become complete humans.
To live as a curse.
So he sided with the curses.
He killed many people in Shibuya.
Without any conviction.
There was nothing left on the road he looked back on.
What he had thought was the path he chose was actually a board laid out by Kenjaku, and there was no meaning given to his life.
Only the corpses of his brothers, used by trash parents and killed like dogs, welcomed him.
At first, he thought Yoshino Junpei had killed them.
There had been a time when he had resolved to burn his life away just to kill him, but that wasn’t it.
Yoshino Junpei had only done what he had to do to protect "humans."
Like a jujutsushi who kills curses.
Then who killed his brothers?
Who pushed his brothers into a life as curses and created the situation that led to their deaths?
"I killed them."
It was Choso who killed his brothers.
If he had chosen to live as a "human," even if it was painful, then his brothers would never have had to fight jujutsushi.
When he realized that, Choso was buried in grief and cried.
Why?
Why, back then... did I...
Why....
"...choose the easy path."
Because I didn’t want to see my brothers suffering as "humans."
Just to make my own heart feel better, I made my brothers die.
They weren’t that weak, either.
Was that why heaven’s punishment came down?
The last brother he met, like a miracle, was suffering as a "human."
"Why was I born?"
"Yuji. I will always be on your side."
That was all Choso could say to his suffering brother.
He had no right to speak of hope to the one he had kicked away from the future where the brothers would walk together.
Yuji, born as a "human." Us, who chose "curses."
We were surely destined to fight together, the four of us.
I ruined everything.
I chose the easy path and left Yuji alone.
I am a "curse." Yuji is a "human."
We cannot live together.
I, who killed people without any conviction, cannot live alongside my brother with a warm heart.
There is nowhere for me to belong.
There is nothing this worthless life can be used for except avenging our mother and securing my brother’s future.
And so, when my brother burns his life away, it should be
on top of my own bones and ash.
"Brother."
Elegantly, like Eso.
"Big brother."
Freely, like Kechizu.
"Choso."
Powerfully, like Yuji.
"Do your best."
Yes.
If I alone am not enough,
then I’ll think of my brothers pushing me from behind.
"Yeah, leave it to me...."
So that even someone like me can atone to you.
Lend me your strength for the sake of your future.
Eso, Kechizu, Yuji....!!!
"Blood brothers, fireeeeeee!!!"
We are
invincible!
-Thwack!
[Piercing Blood]
A compressed beam of blood fired from Choso’s hand.
The target was Uraume’s head.
At that speed, which surpassed the speed of sound, Uraume had no time to react and instinctively raised a hand to block it.
-Zzzzzzt!
"This is [Piercing Blood]! Fast!"
He had expected it, but the speed was even greater than he’d imagined, and he was thrown off.
The water pressure sharp enough to cut through rock punched a hole through his palm, and just before the blood beam could drive into his head, Uraume shoved his hand upward and slipped out of [Piercing Blood]’s trajectory.
And before he could dodge, the tip of [Piercing Blood], which had been flying straight ahead, split into several branches and pursued Uraume.
-Thunk!
When he raised an ice wall to block it, the blood beam wriggled like a living thing and slipped around to the side.
Uraume frowned at that flexibility, the way it moved freely as though it had a will of its own.
"That isn’t [Piercing Blood]. Its power and speed are mediocre, but the tracking is a pain!"
[Frost Calm]
As Uraume swiftly skated across the ground, freezing it as he slid, cold gathered in his palm.
Choso gave up on [Crimson Scale Dance].
If he took that hit, he wouldn’t be able to melt through it and escape like before...
-Clang!
"!"
Instead of freezing Choso, the supercooled cursed energy struck the blood barrier surrounding him and burst apart.
The ice shattered, unable to touch his body and only freezing useless blood.
When his second idea worked, Choso grinned.
"Once you know it only activates on impact, it isn’t so scary."
"You bastard!"
If he got close and froze him whole, there would be no helping it, but [Frost Calm] could be shut down like this.
Now was the time for Crimson Blood Manipulation’s mid- and long-range abilities to shine.
[Blood Blade]
Choso gathered blood in his hand and created a spinning disc, then hurled it at Uraume.
A pincer situation, with [Shiwang] aiming from behind and [Blood Blade] flying from the front.
Uraume hurriedly slammed the ground, and vicious icicles burst up around him.
-Crash!
He blocked [Blood Blade], but he couldn’t avoid [Shiwang], which slipped through the gap.
In an instant Uraume was bound by blood ropes, and Choso brought the airborne body crashing down to the ground.
-Boom!
It wasn’t a clean hit.
He had frozen the blood and shattered it just before being slammed down...
-Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Through the thick dust, more than ten ice spears flew in.
Every one of them aimed for a fatal weak point: the eyes, throat, heart, liver.
[Shiwang], which had stretched out behind him, gathered to the front and solidified.
[Purification]
-Ping! Ping! Ping!
The ice spears bounced off the blood shield, and behind them Uraume could be seen charging straight at him atop a chunk of ice.
The previous attack had been a feint.
He was definitely planning to get close and freeze him whole.
"In that case, I should prepare a gift too!"
-Shrrrk
As the hardening of [Purification] was released, compressed blood beads floated up into the air.
[Hundred Compression], which gathers and compresses a hundred units of blood. Above it, both hands clap together, ready to fire.
Uraume, who had caught the preliminary stage of [Piercing Blood], felt alarm rise in his chest.
"[Piercing Blood] is fastest right after it’s fired. If I dodge the first shot, it won’t be hard."
If you can’t hit me, that will be your end.
The instant you miss, I’ll freeze you and smash your whole body to pieces.
Thinking that, Uraume accelerated into an acrobatic flight—and what appeared in Choso’s eyes was—
"...?"
"Did you fall for it? How naive."
He still hadn’t fired [Piercing Blood].
"Why!"
"Now it’s my turn."
He had borrowed his brothers’ strength, so now it was time to show something as the older brother.
[Piercing Blood] was a feint. The key was buying time until the enemy entered range.
Compressed blood beads were carried along the spread blood beams, and before long Uraume was surrounded by a curtain of red bullets.
An original technique completed by staring into his own technique for 150 years.
The culmination of his life, carrying the responsibility of the eldest brother.
[Supernova]
-Bububububoom!
The blood shotgun blast exploded, sweeping away Uraume and the chunk of ice he was riding.
"Graaahhh!!"
Uraume, his whole body pierced and turned into a rag, fell from the sky.
The intuition of defeat flashed through his eyes, and Choso, who had seized the advantage, clenched his fist.
"Why! How can that guy fight this hard!"
In Shibuya, the situation had been reversed.
He remembered the guy who had been crushed by a single casually thrown [Frost Calm], unable to do anything but scream.
His experience and skill were both superior. The gap was not so shallow that it could be easily overtaken.
And yet why. Why am I, again, losing to some nobody like this.....
"We’ll meet again."
That figure, which had remained in Uraume’s memory as a humiliating nightmare, rose up again.
The brat who had landed an unexpected blow on him in Shibuya, prepared to stake his life on it.
The arrogant gaze of the one he had looked down on, only to fail to kill that day, who had grown so much by now that he was looking down on him instead.
The monster who had, in just two hours, risen to stand shoulder to shoulder with his master, overlapped with Choso’s image.
"I won’t let that happen again!"
Grinding his teeth, Uraume drew out maximum output and prepared the final strike.
He would overwhelm him with ice that would sweep away everything inside this barrier.
[Direct Burst]
Choso also gathered blood to face it.
He couldn’t match Uraume in area. If the enemy was going to sweep this entire space, then he had to counter with a technique worthy of it.
Following the guidance of the hand he pressed to the ground, the blood scattered there began to gather beneath the earth.
[Exploding Blood Orb]
The two of them, each preparing their strongest technique, unleashed their cursed energy at the same time without hesitation.
"Die!"
Icicles shot up as if they would freeze every inch of ground they touched.
The beautifully rising ice, as though it would fill the sky, poured down all at once toward Choso.
"Watch me!!"
From beneath the frozen earth, the blood sphere that had been holding its breath burst forth with its latent power.
Like newborn life breaking through the ground, the liquid pulsing with red vitality exploded in all directions and shook the earth.
Their techniques crossed—
-KWAaaang!!!
and the outcome of the battle was decided.
"Haa....."
Choso, trapped in ice and trembling, squeezed out the last of his strength to control the blood within his body.
[Crimson Scale Dance]
In an instant, the ice melted as his body warmed, and he slumped weakly through the gaps.
"Agh...a-ga-gah...."
He had used every last bit of cursed energy and strength.
The delayed rebound from [Crimson Scale Dance] crashed over him, leaving his whole body aching.
Dragging his half-dead body along and bracing himself with one arm, Choso saw Uraume, who looked even worse than he did.
"Kkh...krrrgh...gurgle...."
Uraume, collapsed and soaked in blood all over, was convulsing with foam at the mouth.
The injuries were severe, but they alone wouldn’t have done that.
At the final moment, what decided the nearly even clash between them was the single strand of [Piercing Blood] that Uraume had blocked with his hand without thinking.
Choso’s blood, as a half-blood of a curse, was especially toxic to humans.
If it had only been [Piercing Blood], the poison would have been slow to spread and dangerous, but the blood that entered further when he was directly hit by [Supernova] accelerated the poisoning.
By the time Uraume noticed something was wrong without having used [Cursed technique reversal] earlier, it was already too late.
Not only had he taken the direct aftermath of [Supernova] and [Exploding Blood Orb], but with the poison in his body, there was no chance he would survive.
"S...Sukuna...sama..."
Until the light left his eyes, Uraume searched for Sukuna.
He only regretted that he would not be able to witness his master’s resurrection with his own eyes.
"How bitter."
I shouldn’t have played along with Kenjaku’s clown show.
I should have killed Yoshino Junpei back then.
I should have stopped looking down on him and gone all out from the start.
All kinds of regrets surged up, but it was too late.
The trembling hand fell limp, and his breathing grew faint.
-Thud
The retainer who had longed for the king’s resurrection across a thousand years died like that.
"How does it taste, you piece of trash. This is the power of our brothers."
He had avenged his grudge more than enough. He had also overcome his own limits.
It was a magnificent strike achieved by his own strength, without sacrificing his life.
Laughing heartily, Choso’s eyes also rolled back from the extreme exhaustion and pain, and he collapsed unconscious on the spot.
"Those two are still fighting, though."
He was a little disappointed that he hadn’t been able to land a hit on the trash parents waiting for him ahead...
But they’d probably manage fine on their own.
I did my part.
So for now, just a little...
Just sleep a little.....
-Snore....
Choso vs. Uraume.
Uraume, dead.
Choso, alive.
A bizarre sight: 150 years of brotherly love defeating 1,000 years of loyalty.
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