The stitches across his forehead seemed to pulse with excitement.
He dropped to one knee and placed both hands against the cold floor of the platform.
If that monster on the surface wanted to overturn the chessboard...
Then he would simply turn the world into an inescapable slaughterhouse.
Using Tengen's barriers as an amplifier, Kenjaku channelled the Idle Transfiguration technique he had just stolen through the network of barriers spanning the nation.
For the first time in history, he performed a long-distance activation across the entirety of Japan.
"Awaken."
"Awaken, those ordinary people who have consumed cursed objects."
"Awaken, those non-sorcerers whose innate techniques still lie dormant within them."
"The Culling Game begins now."
Vrrrrm—!!
At that moment, hundreds of barriers rose simultaneously throughout Japan.
Thousands of people sleeping peacefully had the structures of their brains forcibly altered by Idle Transfiguration.
Cursed energy awakened within their bodies.
Ancient sorcerers and newly awakened modern sorcerers alike were thrust into a brutal killing game.
Points were the currency.
Death was the inevitable outcome.
After completing everything, a fanatical smile spread across Kenjaku's face.
"The stage is finally set."
"Even if you possess the power of a god..."
"Can you kill every single sorcerer rampaging across Japan?"
He turned around.
The Prison Realm lying on the floor had finally stabilised.
Its impossible weight had returned to normal.
Kenjaku reached down and picked it up.
He was preparing to summon a curse capable of tearing through space and escaping.
Then—CRACK—BOOM!!!
The entire ceiling of B5F suddenly let out an agonised groan.
It sounded as though the structure itself was about to collapse.
No external force had struck it.
Instead, an unimaginably terrifying gravitational force was acting directly upon the dozens of metres of reinforced concrete and steel overhead.
The ceiling overhead was ripped open as though an invisible hand had torn a hole dozens of metres wide through it.
A torrent of rubble, soil, and twisted steel reinforcement bars poured down like a storm, punching countless holes through the platform below.
Amid the collapsing ruins..
A slender figure dressed in a black trench coat stepped onto a falling slab of concrete and slowly descended into the underground station like a god of death passing judgment.
His boots touched the ground.
The moment the dust drifted within three feet of him, it was forcibly repelled by an invisible force.
Rin stood with one hand in his trench coat pocket and the other resting on the hilt of the Kusanagi Sword.
Within the depths of the underground station, the Six-Tomoe Rinnegan in his left eye and the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan in his right emitted an eerie glow that sent chills through the soul.
"You run pretty fast."
"You even used your own comrades as nourishment."
"For a brain, you've certainly made full use of yourself."
Rin looked at Kenjaku, who was holding the Prison Realm in the distance.
His tone was as calm as if he were commenting on a spoiled meal.
The moment Rin landed, Kenjaku's breathing stopped.
Too strong.
Standing before this man at such close range, the overwhelming pressure felt almost tangible.
Even this body, one that had belonged to a Special Grade sorcerer, instinctively wanted to kneel.
This was not a monster the jujutsu world should have been capable of producing.
"You're one step too late."
Suppressing the fear rising in his heart, Kenjaku tightened his grip on the Prison Realm and slowly retreated toward the shadows.
"The Culling Game has already begun."
"All of world has become my hunting ground."
"Even if you kill me here, the awakened ancient sorcerers and reincarnated cursed spirits will be enough to drag this country into hell."
"Oh?"
"The Culling Game?"
Rather than stopping him immediately, Rin raised an eyebrow with mild interest.
"A cage for raising venomous insects."
"A game where everyone inside kills each other."
"And you think this childish amusement can cause me any trouble?"
The Kusanagi Sword slowly slid from its sheath.
Purple-black lightning danced wildly along the blade, casting strange shadows throughout the dim station.
"I've kept you alive this long for one reason."
"So that you'd dig every rat hiding underground out into the open."
"Now that you've finished setting the stage..."
Rin raised the sword.
The tip pointed directly at Kenjaku from across the platform.
Six Truth-Seeking Balls silently appeared behind Rin.
They revolved slowly around him, radiating an aura of absolute authority that seemed capable of erasing all things.
"Then I'll be the one who burns this stage to ashes."
"Along with every self-righteous actor standing on it."
"Maximum: Uzumaki!"
Kenjaku knew there would be no peaceful resolution today.
Without hesitation, he unleashed every curse he had accumulated over the centuries.
Thousands of curses merged into a colossal torrent of black cursed energy that roared toward Rin like a force capable of destroying the world.
At the same time, using the attack as cover, Kenjaku turned and fled.
He intended to reach a teleportation array he had prepared in advance and escape.
Facing a blast of Special Grade cursed energy powerful enough to flatten a mountain—
Rin didn't even bother to move.
The glow of the Six-Tomoe Rinnegan intensified.
"Shinra Tensei."
BOOM—!!!
An overwhelming wave of repulsive force erupted outward.
The instant Maximum: Uzumaki collided with Shinra Tensei, the attack was violently reflected back in the direction it had come from.
Not only the cursed energy itself.
The surrounding space.
The collapsing debris.
Everything within the area was forced outward by the irresistible repulsive force.
"No!"
Kenjaku had barely taken a few steps when he let out a desperate roar.
His own attack slammed directly into his back, amplified by the devastating power of Shinra Tensei.
Geto's Special Grade body, honed to its peak, exploded into a spray of blood.
Most of the flesh covering his back was torn away, exposing white bone beneath.
Screaming in agony, Kenjaku crashed into the rubble.
The Prison Realm slipped from his grasp and rolled across the floor.
Rin walked forward at an unhurried pace.
He stopped before the fallen mastermind and looked down at the schemer who had spent a thousand years manipulating the world from the shadows.
"Your pathetic thousand-year plan..."
"In my eyes, it isn't even worthy of being called a joke."
The Kusanagi Sword slowly rose.
Purple lightning crackled along the blade, illuminating Kenjaku's face, now twisted by terror.
___
Read 12 Chapters ahead:
Patreon.com/slept01