On the outskirts of Shibuya, the air was thick with the copper tang of blood and the sterile scent of bandages. Nobara Kugisaki and Kokichi Muta were working with practiced, grim efficiency, binding the wounds of Nanami, Haibara, and Ino.
"Big brother?"
Yuji Itadori stared at Choso, his head tilted in utter confusion. Choso, hearing the word 'brother' leave Yuji's lips, felt a surge of emotion so violent it nearly brought him to his knees. He lunged forward, enveloping Yuji in a crushing embrace.
"That's right! It's me! My dear, sweet little brother!"
As the eldest of the Cursed Womb: Death Paintings, Choso possessed the unique ability to sense his siblings' existence. Though Yuji was not technically one of the nine paintings, Choso felt a resonance in their blood—a shared lineage that transcended biology.
Yuji blinked, pinned against Choso's chest. He was surprised, yes, but he could feel that Choso's affection was raw and genuine. Coupled with his innate "everyone is my brother" charisma and his naturally thick skin, Yuji simply accepted the reality.
"Big brother!"
"Brother!"
"Big brother!!"
"Brother!!"
"BROTHER!!"
Aoi Todo roared, interrupting the family reunion. He held up the locket he usually wore around his neck, his face a mask of tragic despair. "It's gone! Brother! Your photo is gone!"
Inside the locket, the picture of the idol Takada-chan remained, but the photo of Yuji Itadori had vanished.
Yuji blinked. "Maybe it fell out during the fight?"
Without another word, the two of them dropped to their hands and knees, frantically scouring the cracked pavement. Nearby, Choso whistled a nonchalant tune, his right hand hidden behind his back. Clutched in his fingers was a small scrap of paper: a photo of Eso and Kechizu.
And, of course, a photo of Yuji.
A short distance away, Naobito Zenin had his heavy hands resting on Megumi Fushiguro's shoulders.
"Fifteen years old, the Ten Shadows, and you can already expand a domain. Megumi, the seat of the Zenin Clan Head has your name written all over it!"
Megumi looked away, his eyes rolling toward the smoky sky. "No thanks."
Naobito's beard practically bristled as he shook the boy by his shoulders. "Hah? Think carefully, Megumi! This is the head of one of the Three Great Families we're talking about!"
"So what?" Megumi replied, his voice flat. "I have zero interest in that kind of thing. Besides, I'm fifteen and still in high school. Being a clan head is way too far off. Why don't you ask my dad?"
"Your dad?"
Naobito's face froze. "Toji... well, if things hadn't gone the way they did, maybe we could negotiate, but..."
But your father once carved a path of destruction from the Zenin ancestral shrine to the front gates with a giant cleaver, and he didn't even blink. Even if Toji were willing to return—which he wasn't—the rest of the clan would spend every waking moment living in mortal terror.
Sensing the impasse, Megumi offered an alternative. "What about Maki-san?"
"Maki?" Naobito hesitated. "Having a woman as the clan head... personally, I don't care, but the other elders would... and does Maki even have the strength of a Grade 2 yet?"
"Grade 2?" Megumi's expression turned complex, a hint of a smirk playing on his lips. "Maki-san... well, you could say she doesn't exactly fit into the Grade 2 category anymore."
BOOM!!!
A Special Grade curse exploded into a mist of purple gore. Mei Mei, resting her massive axe on her shoulder, watched the scene with a predatory gleam of approval.
"As expected of Souma Gojo's students. Putting aside that monster Yuta Okkotsu, the two of you are quite impressive."
Panda scratched his head, grinning. "You're too kind, Mei Mei-senpai!"
"Salmon! Salmon!" Toge Inumaki hopped excitedly, his right hand pointing frantically toward a nearby intersection.
"Hmm?" Mei Mei didn't speak 'Sushi-language,' but when she followed the direction of Toge's finger, she understood immediately.
CRASH!!!
The ground buckled as if an earthquake had struck. Concrete shattered, and the foundation of a nearby office building groaned before collapsing into the street. Following the destruction, a literal tide of cockroaches—millions of them—surged forward like a living, chittering wave.
Maki Zenin was fighting at the heart of the swarm, parrying the insects as she retreated. Suddenly, the swarm shifted, acting under a singular, malevolent will. The cockroaches coalesced into a massive, writhing tentacle of chitin and legs, lunging at her with sickening speed.
"Tch!"
Maki let out a sharp scoff. She swung her cross-spear, the tip scraping against the pavement. The friction sparked against the ground, and in a burst of cursed energy, the weapon ignited into a roaring pillar of flame.
Holding the spear in a two-handed grip, Maki twisted her wrists. The weapon spun like a propeller, the fire transforming into a crimson fire-tornado that incinerated the oncoming tide.
As the smoke cleared, a grotesque figure rose from the charred remains of the insects. It had the features of a giant cockroach but stood on two long, human-like legs and possessed four powerful arms.
The Special Grade Cursed Spirit: Kurourushi.
Before its previous incarnation had been killed by Yuta, it had laid eggs. After its death, those eggs absorbed its lingering cursed energy and the collective human revulsion toward vermin. The new Kurourushi was born.
Having inherited its mother's memories, it knew it couldn't face Yuta Okkotsu, so it had fled through the city until it encountered Maki Zenin. Driven by an ancestral hatred for sorcerers, it attacked.
Seeing the threat, Panda, Toge, and Mei Mei prepared to move in. However, Maki held up a hand, stopping them in their tracks. Her eyes burned with a fierce, terrifying battle-lust.
"This one's mine," she said, her voice low and steady.
She discarded her burnt cross-spear and reached for the massive, rectangular box she had been carrying on her back since the beginning of the incident. She threw the lid open.
A sword of exaggerated, monstrous proportions was drawn slow and deliberate. The hilt was half a meter long, featuring a thick white tassel at the pommel. The blade was broad and heavy, looking more like a slab of tempered steel than a traditional sword.
This was the weapon Souma Gojo had "convinced" Juzo Kumiya to forge, using Dragon-Bone and the bones of the Heaven-Slayer Sword as materials.
"Special Grade Cursed Tool: True Steel Hou!"
Kurourushi let out a distorted shriek and drew its own weapon—the Festering Life Blade. One scratch from its serrated edge would implant cockroach eggs into the wound, causing them to hatch instantly and devour the victim from the inside.
BANG!
Maki didn't hesitate. She vanished, her speed so great that she left a vacuum in her wake. She leapt high into the air, bringing the massive blade down with the full weight of her momentum.
The sword carved through the air with a sound like a starving beast's roar. Kurourushi scrambled to the side, barely avoiding the vertical cleave.
KABOOM!!!
The blade struck the asphalt, and the entire street split open. A visible shockwave rippled through the air, shattering the windows of the surrounding shops.
Kurourushi seized the opening, lunging from the side to swing the Festering Life Blade. But Maki's strength was unnatural; she manipulated the heavy True Steel Hou as if it were a feather. She twisted her hips, bringing the blade around in a horizontal crescent.
The sword roared again, clashing violently with the Festering Life Blade.
In that instant, Kurourushi's entire body began to vibrate. It wasn't just the impact; it was the property of the True Steel Hou. In addition to ignoring physical hardness to strike the soul—much like the Soul Liberation Blade—the Hou possessed the "Multi-Strike" trait.
As Maki swung, the blade vibrated at a specific frequency, creating the "beast's roar." Upon impact, that kinetic energy was delivered in a series of rapid-fire pulses, like a dozen punches landing in the exact same microsecond.
Kurourushi's internal organs turned to mush. Its brain rattled against its skull. In a desperate move, it used its remaining three arms to grab the flat of Maki's blade, attempting to shove it aside while the fourth arm brought the Festering Life Blade down toward her neck.
It's over! the curse thought.
But Maki didn't flinch. She leaned into the strike, her face contorting into a savage grin. She didn't pull back; she shoved the True Steel Hou forward with everything she had, ignoring the incoming blade.
The curse's arms snapped like dry twigs. The True Steel Hou lanced forward, the tip burying itself in the curse's throat.
Squelch!
With a brutal twist of her wrists, Maki swung the blade upward. Kurourushi's head took flight, spinning into the dark sky.
"Maki!" Panda shouted, his eyes wide as he looked at her left arm.
Maki turned, her breathing heavy but controlled. Her left arm had been grazed by the Festering Life Blade. With a sickening squelch, dozens of tiny cockroaches and eggs began to writhe and swell beneath her skin.
Without a word of complaint or a flicker of pain, Maki raised her blade. With cold, surgical precision, she sliced off the infected chunk of her own shoulder, letting the foul meat drop to the ground.
Then, she crushed it beneath her boot.
Read The Full Story at: Patreon.com/zefyrus