Chapter 260: Satoru Gojo... is Dead?
On a barren, desolate plain, a pink magic circle manifested out of thin air, and Emiya himself appeared within it the very next instant.
As he regained control of his body and struggled to overcome the intense vertigo in his mind, he looked up at his surroundings. The familiar scene immediately triggered a memory.
"Cough, cough... Is this... Shibuya?!"
Since arriving in the Jujutsu world, Emiya had dedicated himself to various tasks. Even though the Tokyo Jujutsu High was not far from the city center, he had never truly wandered around the area for leisure.
Consequently, he was entirely unfamiliar with the bustling commercial district of Shibuya and didn't even know its landmarks.
However, this didn't mean Emiya wouldn't recognize the massive crater left behind after his battle with Ryomen Sukuna.
The pit was currently filled with black ash—the remains of things burned to nothingness. The lava that once flowed everywhere had long since cooled, indicating that a significant amount of time had passed.
While he was somewhat curious about how the Jujutsu world explained such an occurrence to the public, now was clearly not the time to fret over it.
"But to actually be able to send me directly back to the Jujutsu world, even if there were clear spatial coordinates remaining on me, it's still a bit...
..A bit too exaggerated, isn't it?"
To easily allow someone to achieve true world-traveling transit—it was no wonder the "Second Magic" was hailed as a miracle known as [Magic], while other magecraft, no matter how powerful, remained merely [Magecraft].
Emiya wasn't sure what Kenjaku had relied on to repel him to another world, but he could imagine how painstakingly the man must have plotted. Yet, for the [Second Magician], it was something easily accomplished using just two Mystic Codes. The difference in level was stark.
Magic of that caliber was something someone like Emiya—who arguably had no talent for magecraft research—couldn't figure out in a thousand years, even if all the knowledge were laid out directly in front of him.
Some people struggle to understand even shallow knowledge; how much more so for a subject like magecraft, where the depth is a hundred times greater and there are almost no regular patterns to summarize?
Human-made rules don't apply to true geniuses; those rules are merely the ways geniuses allow the world to keep up with and understand them.
But inability to learn is one thing; based on the existence of [Unlimited Blade Works], Emiya was also a genius far beyond the comprehension of ordinary magi, and geniuses have their own unique ways of solving problems.
Emiya couldn't study or research that miraculous magic, but Ruby and Sapphire—weren't they Mystic Codes created by the [Second Magician]?
He couldn't learn Magic, but Tracing Mystic Codes was what Emiya did best.
They weren't "swords" and couldn't be used as conventional weapons for long periods, but all Emiya needed was that world-traveling capability. If he could truly attempt to project them as Mystic Codes, Emiya would have the ability to return to the previous world on his own.
Even though he hadn't seen her with his own eyes yet, Emiya was certain that the "Miyu-sama" Sapphire spoke of was indeed his sister.
Emiya wanted to see the sister he thought of day and night immediately, but with so much left to do, it was clearly not yet time for a reunion.
He wanted to thoroughly settle everything in the Jujutsu world so that when he saw his sister again, nothing would ever be able to separate them. He would deal with all the "enemies" of the Jujutsu world with maximum speed before attempting to return to that world.
Having made this silent vow, Emiya turned his gaze toward the city area hundreds of meters away.
Not a single sound came from the clusters of tall buildings; clearly, no one was living there. It made sense. After the previous battle, even if there were lighthearted people who dared to stay nearby, the government would never allow it.
"Barring any accidents, there should still be sorcerers stationed on the outskirts... I'll go check the situation first."
With a goal in mind, Emiya's figure blurred. In a matter of seconds, he stood at the edge of the crater, not sparing a single glance at the storm of dust behind him.
But as soon as he returned to the city, his brow furrowed slightly at the sight before him.
"No presence of living humans. And if the residual energy in the surroundings is this severe..."
"Trace on!"
THUD!
Emiya, who had been staring forward, suddenly spun around and threw a projected blade, pinning a Cursed Spirit that had been attempting a sneak attack from behind firmly to the ground.
"If that's the case, there's no way there's only one Cursed Spirit hiding in the city.
No... perhaps 'hiding' is an inappropriate description."
Emiya walked up quickly and swung his blade to completely end the Cursed Spirit, which was still struggling despite the fatal wound.
To be precise, the curses flowing out from the [Magari-no-Ume] had likely completely occupied the entire city. The situation was worse than imagined, but perhaps not the absolute worst.
At least since the dawn of the modern era, Cursed Spirits had not appeared in the sight of ordinary people. Unlike the people of ancient times who lived almost constantly in fear of monsters like Cursed Spirits. If it weren't so, why would the overall quality of Cursed Spirits have decreased rather than increased in the modern age, where the population has multiplied geometrically?
Allowing Cursed Spirits to completely occupy large swathes of the city—in the information age, this was a disastrous piece of news that would be hard to suppress. And once the existence of Cursed Spirits was "made public," the explosive growth of curses would be even harder to avoid.
Emiya had no confidence in the Jujutsu Headquarters' ability to handle such a thing, but given their previous track record, he felt he shouldn't harbor any expectations for them at all.
"Setting that problem aside for now, the curses that should be highly dense... are they gathered in... this direction?"
After a moment of silence, Emiya quickly fixed his gaze on a certain part of the city.
Indeed, when curses and residual energy are mixed together, it becomes difficult for a sorcerer to judge the true information they need. But for the current Emiya, this wasn't a difficult point.
The surrounding information was indeed vast and complex, but he didn't need to distinguish it carefully; he only needed to judge where the majority of it was headed.
Once he confirmed the direction of his target, Emiya immediately rushed toward that location. He soon saw a large gathering of Cursed Spirits, as well as the person who had brought this all about...
"Nanami-san?!"
Seeing Nanami Kento, whom he was familiar with, and realizing the man was currently surrounded by a large number of Cursed Spirits and looking somewhat overwhelmed, Emiya didn't even have time to analyze what the situation was. Without a word, he charged into the battlefield.
Multiple Grade 1, or even near-Special Grade Cursed Spirits, were undoubtedly a devastating blow to any sorcerer. But for the current Emiya, dealing with these enemies who only had the advantage of numbers was merely a matter of time.
After just a few minutes, Emiya successfully helped the other man out of his predicament and began to ask about the current state of affairs.
And after a brief exchange of intelligence, Emiya received a fact that he found completely incomprehensible and unacceptable—
"What did you say?
Gojo-san... is dead?!"
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