"Huff, huff....!!"
Clap, clap, clap
As Yuji, drained of all strength, slumped to the ground, Kenjaku broke into applause with a broad smile plastered across his face.
"Well done. Want me to stamp your report card or something?"
"You bastard...!"
"A parent should naturally be pleased with their child’s growth."
Even after blowing away one of his prized collections, there wasn’t the slightest trace of regret on his face.
It would be a harder fight than before, but letting that rotten parent walk away obediently wasn’t in his nature.
Yuji and Choso staggered to their feet and prepared to face Kenjaku again.
"Bring it on, Mother. I’m going to smash that smug face of yours."
"Mother? Not father?"
"Mine was a mom."
"....You disgusting little brat! Do you have no pride at all?"
Choso exploded in outrage at the shocking revelation, but Kenjaku only laughed it off.
He’d lived for over a thousand years. Did gender even matter anymore?
"I’d love to play with you myself, but that’ll have to wait."
"Running away again!!"
"Killing you two wouldn’t be a problem, but there’s an annoying guy coming this way. And the thing I was doing earlier is finished, too."
They had no idea what scheme he was plotting, but either way, he meant to flee.
Deciding they couldn’t let him go, the brothers lunged forward with fierce momentum.
"Die!!"
"Here comes the parent-killing phase!!!!!"
"How troublesome, really."
With a sigh, Kenjaku sent a centipede curse flying from his hand, and it coiled around Yuji and Choso.
Shrrrk!
"Ghk?!"
Its sharp legs and antennae tore into their bodies in an instant and slammed them into the ground.
Even if they were too exhausted to react, it was an attack so fast and powerful it was hard to believe it came from a low-grade curse.
Kenjaku looked down at the two collapsed figures with a pitying gaze and clicked his tongue.
"Even a low-grade curse can do this much if I feed it cursed energy and control it myself. You’re still too weak, so come back when you’re bigger."
Boom!!
The moment he finished speaking, the siege barrier that had enveloped the entire Kamo clan mansion shook violently.
Kenjaku glanced up, sensing the presence of the one who had shattered the barrier, and the smile vanished from his face for an instant.
"Looks like I should go."
-Dealing with a natural enemy is a pain.
Leaving behind Yuji and Choso, who were grinding their teeth in fury, Kenjaku surrendered himself to the darkness.
"Take care, my sons."
"Kenjaku!!!!"
KWA-BOOOOM!!!
As Kenjaku disappeared, the siege barrier was completely shattered, and someone fell from above.
The two brothers’ eyes widened when they recognized the familiar face.
"Yuji, are you okay?"
"Junpei? What are you doing here...?"
"I put [Spear] on the place just in case... I never thought something like this would happen."
Junpei swept his angry gaze around the area, realizing he had arrived one step too late.
His face twisted with frustration.
"Where’s Kenjaku?"
"He ran the moment he noticed you were here."
"Damn it."
Junpei bit his lip in frustration and hoisted the two collapsed bodies up.
He summoned [Akasha Yurayura], climbed on top of it, and set off at once.
"For now, good work. Let’s head to Jujutsu High. Nobara should be back soon, and Ieiri Shoko is there too, so you can get treated."
"Wait a second."
"What is it?"
"I think there was one more person...."
Holding his throbbing head, Yuji tried to remember who it was, and soon he could picture one person.
"Ah! That squinty-eyed guy!"
Kamo Noritoshi, who had been subdued by Kenjaku and was probably still lying somewhere inside the mansion.
"Why was he here?"
"Maybe he had the same idea we did."
"Right, he was the next clan head. Let’s take him with us."
Turning back, they arrived at the Kamo clan mansion again, searched the inner quarters thoroughly, and quickly found Kamo Noritoshi lying there in a pitiful heap.
"Is he dead?"
"He’s alive....."
A single tear rolled down Noritoshi’s eye, sad that not only had his position as clan head been stolen, but everyone had also forgotten him.
------------------------------------
At the same time.
In front of the final barrier guarding Hongsung Palace, where Tengen resided, stood a man and a woman.
"What did you do with the kids?"
"I didn’t kill them. They were innocent."
"Hmph. Doesn’t matter."
The tall woman frowned, clearly displeased by something.
The man beside her was none other than Kenjaku, who had just been fighting Yuji and Choso.
"Do you know how long I had to wait for the siege barrier to come down?"
"No need to rush. It would have happened anyway. Good work."
"Just hurry up. I’m not exactly thrilled to be praised."
Though her tone was sullen, Kenjaku looked delighted, as if none of that mattered at all.
The real game was almost ready to begin.
Beyond this door, Tengen’s true body would be waiting.
"Choosing you really was the right call. You had access, and no one suspected you’d betray them."
"It wasn’t betrayal. From the start, I was never on the side of Jujutsu High."
"Fine, let’s say that. Either way, you agreed with me and came all the way here, didn’t you?"
"Don’t get it twisted. I still don’t like you. I just find the vision you’re offering appealing. And I hate Tengen too."
There was long-simmering anger in the woman’s eyes as she said that.
Kenjaku had seen those eyes before.
They were exactly the same as when a toy he had been manipulating from behind suddenly developed a will of its own.
"Is it because of the growth vessel?"
"Shut up."
"Don’t get so worked up. Fighting you is a pain."
He poked at a sore spot, and the woman’s expression turned vicious.
Old, miserable memories must have been surfacing. That worked in his favor, since it meant he’d managed to win her over.
In any case, she wouldn’t betray him before the job was done.
"I want us to have a good relationship until this is over. Let’s not waste our energy, shall we?"
"......."
With a slippery smile, Kenjaku led her along, deactivated the final barrier, and stepped through the door.
At the center of the place where the roots of a massive tree were rooted stood a withered, inhuman body.
The master of the barrier protecting all of Japan, and the founder of Jujutsu High.
Tengen’s true body was there.
"...So this is the end."
"Any last words?"
"Nope. Even if I did, that old fossil would just spend the time rationalizing everything."
"You know him well."
Kenjaku shrugged and looked down at Tengen’s true body with a face full of contempt.
He had plenty he wanted to say if he ever met his old friend again, but there wasn’t much time.
The body wouldn’t respond, so he decided to mock it to his heart’s content instead.
"Tengen... how does it feel? Unlike you, I truly lived. The thousand years we spent were the same in length, but not in density."
To think the end of such a tedious, wretched life would be something this pathetic.
After sharing the same span of time, how could he look so utterly shabby?
Those old sorcerers who practically worshiped this foolish coward were ridiculous.
"Farewell, my friend."
Shrrruuuk
The moment Kenjaku touched it, Tengen’s true body was swallowed up in an instant and transformed into a cursed object.
Smiling in satisfaction, Kenjaku gulped down the cursed object and brushed his hands off as he stood.
"That’s everything?"
"I wanted to retrieve the back side of the Prison Realm too, but it looks like they hid it away in a final act of desperation. Well, thanks to that, the siege barrier came down faster. If we drag this out, a new special-grade will show up, so we need to move quickly."
"Is that kid really that strong? I feel like if you and I joined forces, there’s nothing we couldn’t do."
"Who knows.... The odds are low. You and I have terrible compatibility."
And I don’t want to kill him.
"Why not?"
"Because it’s fun. Irregulars who show up in any era are always worth watching."
The woman shook her head at that madness.
"I hate men like you."
"And I hate women like you."
"Huh?!"
"Let’s just hurry up and go."
Tsukumo Yuki.
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