The descent was like entering a different world.
Kai's feet splashed down into ankle-deep runoff water. The tunnel yawned ahead like a throat lined with brick, grime, and decay. The glow from the sewer grates above was gone—sealed off completely by the Curtain.
Only the faint blue hum of his cursed energy and the soft crunch of his boots on wet concrete accompanied him now.
He was utterly alone.
And that was the plan.
Down here, beneath Gotham's forgotten bones, the cursed nest pulsed like a second heart for the city—one that fed on grief, crime, and despair. The deeper he went, the more the cursed pressure built. His Six Eyes adjusted constantly, analyzing fluctuations, tracking hidden nodes, calculating cursed flow density.
So far, it's all holding steady, he thought. But I'm not here to fight scouts. I'm here for the source.
Still, he wasn't careless.
As he moved, he tagged the walls with glowing talismans—small paper slips he infused with slow-burning cursed energy. Each one left a trail behind him, an exit route he could follow in the dark. He mentally marked their placement and counted every turn.
Left. Right. Left. Straight.
The nest was close.
And it knew he was coming.
The first cursed spirit appeared near a collapsed support beam. It slithered along the wall like a humanoid eel, whispering in a voice that sounded like torn paper.
Kai didn't flinch.
The spirit lunged.
Blue Fang flashed.
One clean arc. One burst of cursed energy. The creature evaporated midair.
No delay. No hesitation.
Kai kept walking.
He encountered three more in quick succession — malformed shades of children with blackened eyes and broken limbs. He dispatched them without pause. Each one left behind a haze of spiritual residue, clinging to the walls like fog.
They weren't meant to stop him.
They were warnings.
As he passed the third chamber, the tunnels shifted.
The ground trembled. Water rippled.
Then came the howl — deep, echoing, unnatural.
Kai stopped, senses sharpening.
From the far end of the tunnel came something bigger. A mass of muscle and jagged bone, hunched over like a beast, crawling on its forearms. Its face was a vertical gash, and its arms were covered in glyphs that pulsed red.
This one had intelligence.
It stopped when it saw him. Tilted its head.
"Not… human…" it gurgled.
Kai raised Blue Fang and answered with a smirk. "Neither are you."
The creature leapt.
Kai activated Blue.
The cursed spirit blinked out of its trajectory midair, pulled sideways into the wall with a sickening crack.
Kai didn't let up. He dashed forward, slammed Blue Fang into its spine, and flooded the blade with cursed energy.
But the spirit screamed — not in pain, but in rage — and its body expanded, flinging Kai backward into a pillar.
CRACK!
His ribs. He couldn't breathe.
He rolled just in time to dodge a fist the size of a tire smashing into the floor.
Too reckless, he thought. It's faster than I expected.
The cursed spirit didn't give him time to think. It pressed the attack, swiping through air with blade-like claws and crashing through stone to corner him.
Kai deflected one blow with Blue, but the second caught him in the chest, sending him sprawling across the ground.
He coughed — blood this time.
The taste was sharp.
Retreat?
No. The Curtain was active. The nest sealed. If he ran now, the spirits would evolve, reorganize. This was his only window.
He forced himself up, legs trembling.
The spirit growled and flexed. It wasn't just strong — it was anchored to the nest. Feeding off its core.
Which meant if he didn't kill it, he'd never reach the heart.
Kai channeled more cursed energy into Blue Fang.
The blade glowed faintly—then cracked.
Overused it already? No… not now…
He dodged another swipe, narrowly escaping a claw to the throat. His cursed energy flared, creating a weak Infinity buffer, but it flickered under pressure.
His stamina was draining. His limit was near.
The spirit slammed him against the wall.
His vision blurred.
The world tilted.
Pain screamed through his entire body.
Bones fractured. Skin tore. His arm didn't move right.
And the cursed spirit loomed over him, preparing to crush his chest with one final strike.
I miscalculated, he thought. Too early.
The hand dropped.
Kai didn't move.
Then—something snapped inside him.
Not a bone.
A door.
Cursed energy flowed upward—not outward. Inward. Focused. Alive.
A warm light flooded his core. His injuries began stitching themselves shut. Bones realigned. Bruised muscle smoothed.
Reverse Cursed Technique.
It didn't come from memory.
It came from instinct.
He stood.
The cursed spirit froze mid-motion.
Kai opened his eyes — and they burned sapphire.
"You had your shot," he said softly. "Now it's mine."
He moved.
Faster. Smoother. Precision.
Every step was measured. Every movement controlled.
He slipped past the spirit's swing and drove Blue Fang upward, directly through its cursed core. Then he flared the blade with excess cursed energy until it exploded in the creature's chest.
The cursed spirit howled—and imploded.
Silence returned.
Kai stood among the mist, chest heaving, Blue Fang steaming in his hand.
He stared at the blade — now cracked, chipped, and humming weakly.
No more mistakes.
He reached into his jacket and pulled out a fresh talisman. He whispered a few stabilizing lines, then slapped it against his chest. It flared and stuck — a passive ward to monitor his vitals.
He looked ahead — down the final corridor.
Where the heart of the nest waited.
His Reverse Cursed Technique faded as the spiritual toll settled into his bones. He wasn't fully healed — just operational. But that was enough.
He bent down, opened the food bag, and pulled out an energy drink with Japanese characters on the side. It was labeled "GojuCharge." A joke from his past life.
He cracked it open and drank.
It tasted like static and citrus.
He laughed bitterly and wiped his mouth. "Now I'm ready."
At the tunnel's end, the cursed pressure deepened into a spiritual gravity.
Something massive stirred.
And Gojo Satoru — reborn, bloodied, and smiling — took his first step toward the heart of the nest.