Beneath Shibuya, the dim subway tunnels resembled a massive concrete labyrinth.
The alarms had long since fallen silent, replaced by severed limbs and dried bloodstains scattered everywhere.
Emergency lights flickered overhead, accompanied by the hissing crackle of electrical leaks.
Itadori Yuji sprinted through the maze-like passageways.
The news from Mechamaru that "Gojo Satoru has been sealed" weighed on him like a mountain, but he had no time to fear it. Under the support of Total Concentration: Constant, the muscles in his legs erupted with explosive force, turning him into a blur as he rapidly approached the Fukutoshin Line platform on the fifth basement floor.
He had to inform the other Jujutsu Sorcerers.
He had to bring Gojo-sensei back.
As he rounded a corner, the gate leading to the connecting passage on the third basement floor came into view.
But Yuji's footsteps abruptly stopped.
A man stood directly in the only path forward.
He wore a turtleneck sweater beneath a pale vest, with two short braids sticking upward and a striking black bloodstain running across the bridge of his nose.
Standing quietly in the center of the passage with his hands hanging at his sides, his eyes radiated deathly coldness.
The eldest of the Cursed Womb: Death Paintings.
Choso.
"So, you are Itadori Yuji."
Choso slowly raised his head, his emotionless eyes locking onto the heavily breathing pink-haired boy.
A thick scent of blood spread through the air as terrifying Cursed Energy pulsed from his body.
"Kechizu and Eso... my younger brothers. You killed them."
Yuji's gaze sharpened as he clenched his fists.
He remembered the two Special Grade Cursed Spirit brothers from the Yasohachi Bridge mission.
"They killed innocent people. As a Jujutsu Sorcerer, it was my duty to exorcise them!" Yuji declared without backing down, Cursed Energy rapidly gathering around his fists.
"Duty? I don't care about such things."
Choso's eyes instantly turned icy.
He slammed his palms together before his chest. Thick blood overflowed from his hands, compressed by Cursed Energy into a razor-thin stream.
"I only know that you killed my family. Therefore, you will die here alongside them."
"Blood Manipulation: Piercing Blood!"
Boom!
The compressed jet of blood broke the sound barrier, screaming through the air straight toward Yuji's face.
It was far too fast.
Its speed even surpassed that of a sniper rifle bullet.
Yuji's pupils contracted violently.
The combat instincts drilled into him through Rin's hellish training saved his life at that moment.
Instead of blocking, he twisted his body sharply to the side.
Ssh!
The high-pressure blood beam grazed his cheek, leaving behind a spray of blood before blasting into the concrete support wall behind him.
The reinforced wall was pierced like tofu, leaving behind a deep hole.
"What terrifying penetration power! I absolutely can't take that head-on!"
Yuji was horrified, but he did not retreat.
He knew very well that against a long-range opponent like Choso, widening the distance meant certain death.
He had to force close combat.
Bang!
The floor beneath Yuji's feet shattered as he burst forward at full speed, weaving through multiple consecutive Piercing Blood attacks.
"Divergent Fist!"
His Cursed Energy-coated fist smashed toward Choso's chest.
But Choso reacted just as quickly.
Abandoning ranged combat, he crossed his arms before himself as blood instantly hardened across them into crimson armor.
"Blood Manipulation: Flowing Red Scale!"
A heavy impact echoed through the passage.
Yuji felt as though he had punched solid steel, the recoil making his knuckles ache.
After blocking the attack, Choso did not retreat. Instead, he used the momentum to sweep a kick into Yuji's abdomen, blasting him backward through a row of vending machines.
"Your hand-to-hand combat is impressive, but before my blood, it means nothing."
Choso steadily advanced, blood forming two sharp blades in his hands.
"Kechizu and Eso must have suffered terribly when they died. I'll repay that pain to you tenfold... no, a hundredfold."
A brutal close-quarters battle erupted throughout the narrow subway station.
Relying on his monstrous physical abilities and precise Cursed Energy control, Yuji fought Choso in a desperate life-or-death struggle.
Pipes burst apart. Walls collapsed.
Their figures continuously clashed beneath the dim emergency lights.
But Choso's Blood Manipulation technique was simply too versatile.
Piercing Blood for long-range sniping.
Blood blades for close combat.
Flowing Red Scale for overwhelming physical enhancement.
Yuji gradually began losing ground.
Puchi!
A blood blade slashed across Yuji's shoulder, sending blood spraying outward.
Grinding his teeth, Yuji ignored the pain and forced himself inside Choso's guard, smashing his forehead into the bridge of Choso's nose.
Choso let out a muffled grunt as his vision blurred momentarily.
But his combat instincts were terrifying.
The moment his balance shifted, he seized Yuji's arms. Blood burst from his pores like venomous snakes, piercing directly into Yuji's liver at point-blank range.
"Supernova!"
"AAARGHH!"
The agonizing pain of his liver being pierced forced a miserable scream from Yuji's throat.
His vision darkened, strength draining rapidly from his body as he collapsed heavily onto the flooded floor.
Blood quickly dyed the water red beneath him.
"It's over."
Choso clutched his bleeding nose and slowly walked toward the dying Yuji.
Raising his right hand, he condensed another Piercing Blood attack, aiming directly at Yuji's forehead.
"Go apologize to my brothers."
Just as Choso was about to deliver the finishing blow—
Hum—!
An incomparably strange ripple suddenly exploded deep within his mind.
It was a forbidden memory buried within the depths of his bloodline, hidden at the bottom of his soul, forcibly awakened.
The scenery before Choso instantly distorted.
The subway station disappeared.
In its place was a sunlit meadow.
Within a false memory that had never existed, he, Kechizu, and Eso sat together on a picnic blanket, while the smiling young man between them handing out food...
Was actually Itadori Yuji.
"Big brother, hurry up and eat."
The Yuji in the memory smiled brilliantly.
"This... what is this?!"
Back in reality, Choso's pupils trembled violently as the Piercing Blood in his hand instantly dissipated.
He clutched his head tightly, fingernails digging bloody marks into his scalp as he let out a roar filled with confusion and despair.
"Memories that never existed... why?! Why would he call me big brother?! He's obviously the enemy who killed Kechizu and Eso! Then why is my soul rejecting the idea of killing him?!"
The violent clash between his logic and bloodline instincts completely shattered Choso's mental defenses.
Staggering backward, he glanced once at the unconscious Yuji lying in a pool of blood. Unable to withstand the pain tearing through his brain, he suddenly turned and fled into the darkness of the subway tunnels like a madman.
Silence returned.
Only the dripping of leaking pipes echoed across the empty platform, along with Itadori Yuji's increasingly faint breathing.
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