[Prev] ~ [TOC] ~ [Next]



II: Lily of the Valley
Chapter 136: Shibuya (3)
Elope!

***

In the blurry darkness, she vaguely heard the ringtone.

The sky was shrouded in a deep blue like haze, and the golden Kagura bells suddenly rang, and the clear sound of the bells like water waves dispersed the chaos.

Under the ancient cherry trees, pure white snow submerged the roots that penetrated into the ground.

She saw the cherry blossoms in full bloom. The heavy flowers bent the branches. The branches were covered with soft white frost and snow. The red silk tied to the branches fluttered in the wind.

The white wrist vibrates, the ringtones fall together, the everlasting sea breeze carried the neighing of seagulls, and the undulating seawater rippled with golden light.

In an instant, all the sounds gathered together, like a curtain that was suddenly torn off on the stage. The deafening roar of the railway tracks sounded in the darkness, and the howling wind tore the air. In the darkness, she slowly opened her lava-like eyes.

The front compartment was disconnected from the body, and the driver who was sitting in the driver's seat at the front of the compartment was also thrown off. The platform on the fifth underground floor was still in a mess.

The dark tunnel suddenly reminded me of the cries of crows. The sharp ax split the air and tore out a fierce wind. The slender woman swung the ax handle in her hand and neatly chopped off the head of the cybernetic who rushed towards him.

Yuji, who arrived at the platform on the fifth underground floor of Meiji-Jingumae Station with Mei Mei, only had time to see the flash of red in the window as the compartment was disconnected.

He recognized the red color as his sister's.

The platform was a mess, with the distorted and fragmented screams of the cyborgs mixed with the stampedes, curses, and cries that erupted from the crowd, like a sandstorm sweeping everything, the howling wind in the dark tunnel and the roar of the rails gradually faded away.

With his fingers drawn together and clenched into a fist, Yuji punched the approaching transformed human off the platform. Looking at the direction in which the subway disappeared, the dark tunnel seemed like the open mouth of a giant beast, spreading endless darkness.

He only had time to call out "sister" before his voice was drowned in the thunderous roar of the explosion in the distance.

Reason told Yuji that the top priority now was to deal with the transformed human left on the platform and rescue the ordinary people here.

"Calm down, Itadori-kun." The woman wielding the ax closed her eyes, but it did not affect the movements of her hand at all. She swung the ax flexibly while speaking to remind Yuji.

"She did it on purpose." Mei Mei ducked sideways to avoid the rushing man, his sharp nails almost grazing the woman's soft face.

The five fingers stretched slightly, and the movements of the hand changed. The afterimage left by the rapidly rotating ax handle disappeared in the air. The sharp ax split the body of the modified person into two. Mei Mei raised her foot and kicked the body off the platform. There was a dull sound of heavy objects falling to the ground under the dark platform.

"The special grade cursed spirit that made these things is probably on that compartment." Mei Mei said while waving her long ax, "As long as he is here, everyone here can be a transformed human. Before he can recreate the transformed humans, take him away so that the people here can survive."

"I know." Yuji took a deep breath, clenched his fists, and like a tiger ready to attack, tensed his back and made preparations.

"Now, we take over here."

The boy's voice was as firm as the hammer struck by a blacksmith when forging a weapon.

Shibuya Subway Station

Tokyo's transportation was very developed. Under the bustling city, there were railroad tracks that look like spider webs, just like the blood vessels flowing in the human body. The intricate transportation lines transport countless people every day.

The Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line was a subway line operated by Tokyo Metro, running from Wako City Station in Wako City, Saitama Prefecture to Shibuya Station in Shibuya District, Tokyo, passing through Meiji-Jingumae Station.

Five floors below the Tokyo Metro, the platforms on both sides of the tracks were crowded with people.

Human beings were keen to celebrate various festivals, and there were too many reasons to gather unrelated people in the same place.

Tonight, October 31st, happened to be the eve of Halloween, the eve of the festival of ghosts and gods coming from the far west, across the ancient mountains and sea rivers. Countless people gathered in Shibuya, and they glanced around roughly from the corner of their eyes. Some people were wearing wizard hats, some were carrying pumpkins, and some were wearing bunny ears hair accessories.

It was said that children like to wear strange clothes and pretend to be various little ghosts on this night, carrying jack-o'-lanterns, knocking on doors and asking for candy from adults. Children who didn't get candy would be angry, and adults who didn't give candy to children would get pranked from angry children.

If this didn't happen, Satoru thought he would have asked Yayoi for candy.

He was twenty-eight years old, and judging by his age alone, he was a serious adult, but there was no rule that said adults couldn't ask their wives for candy on Halloween.

His wife was the best wife in the world, and he was the cutest cat in the world. How could the best wife refuse the cutest cat’s request for candy?

Satoru jumped off the platform.

The sleepers under the rails were spread out neatly, and the long rails slid out of the dark tunnel, like parallel black snakes.

He stood calmly between the two tracks lying side by side, with his hands loosely in his pockets. Under the puzzled eyes of everyone, he faced off against the cursed spirits standing on the other side of the tunnel.

"If you lose again, you won’t have any excuses, right?"
Satoru tilted his head, his eyes lacking interest.

The old acquaintance who was confronting him, the volcano-headed cursed spirit, grinded his teeth, revealing his pitch-black teeth. He wanted to rush forward and bite this guy who was looking at people with his nostrils.

The traditional Western Halloween was on November 1st every year, and October 31st was Halloween Eve. It was also the famous trick-or-treating night in the West. If you didn't give candy, you have to trick-or-treat.

On such a festival, of course, he should ask his wife for candy at home, and his wife would definitely give him candy, instead of going to such a ghostly place at night to talk nonsense with these ugly cursed spirits.

Something was squirming, like a snake twisting its long body and crawling. Satoru looked up and saw huge vines twisting their bodies, like a group of giant snakes entangled each other's bodies. The originally open arc opening above the head was blocked by dense vegetation in the blink of an eye.

At the same time, invisible force pushed the people on both sides of the platform down, and a large piece fell in front of him, like a fish dumped from a fishing boat.

The accident happened so suddenly that the person who fell to the ground stood there in a daze and was worried about the strange thing happening and his own misfortune. At the same time, he ignored the words of the only insider present.

"Stay back, or you will die." Satoru said.

No one listened to his words, everyone was immersed in their own cognition. Without the vision and knowledge of the cursed spirit, no one knew that this was a chess game to target Satoru, using everyone here as a stepping stone.

Everyone here would be pawns and victims.

Satoru was strongest when he was alone. Only when he was "strongest" alone was he truly the strongest. When ordinary people are around, he would inevitably become restrained.

The biggest difference between the cursed spirit and Satoru was that Satoru cared about the lives of ordinary people and could not let go of his hands and feet to fight, but the cursed spirit did not. In their eyes, everyone here was like domestic animals that could be slaughtered at any time.

Kenjaku saw this through from beginning to end.

In a sense, Sukuna, who didn't care about the life and death of humans, was more difficult to deal with than Satoru, who subconsciously cared about the life and death of humans. People who have no weaknesses would not feel wronged because of other people's situations. Everything was about their own happiness. People with weaknesses, no matter how strong they were, could use calculations to limit the other person.

The most convenient and fastest way to exorcise all the cursed spirits here was to open the domain. The domain "Unlimited Void" that could determine victory or defeat with one blow was definitely not something that any cursed spirit here could enter. However, the moment the domain expanded, a large number of ordinary people here would be pinched to death between the field and "curtain" between the cracks.

Jogo, who had fought against Satoru in the domain, knew that as long as this person opens the domain, they would lose everything. But it was different now. Satoru, who cared about the life and death of ordinary people, would not expand his domain, and the threat from the opponent's domain had been eliminated.

The cursed spirit, born from human beings' fear of the earth, grinned, revealing his jet-black teeth, and laughed wildly at Satoru in the crowd that surged like a tide, declaring war on the strongest sorcerer without any scruples.

—Were you trying to save people or get rid of cursed spirits?

Sounds like insects exploding to pulp resounded in the crowd one after another, scarlet flowers exploded, and the splashing blood was drawn into smooth and hearty arcs by the cursed spirit galloping through the crowd.

The smell of rust filled the entire tunnel space, and people around them who sensed danger began to run away subconsciously, with messy footsteps and noisy screams boiling endlessly.

The temperature of the air began to rise silently, and the sharply rising temperature accelerated the flow of air. Bright light burst out, and the compressed flames were like sparks falling from the sky along an arc.

Satoru stood in the crowd, forming a seal with one hand, waving his arm, and the Limitless technique attached to his arm shook off the flame cannonballs thrown by Jogo.

With a "boom", the flame cannonball that was changed in trajectory hit the ceiling. A large piece of the wall peeled off, and rubble and dust mixed with gravel hit the crowd.

Someone finally realized something, and their intuition told them that they would die if they were around Satoru, so they ran away from Satoru like crazy.

The sound of flesh and blood being torn apart exploded in the ears. The strong smell of blood and the reverberating curses and screams made everyone tremble, fearful, and instinctively flee.

No one knew that these reactions were the results that truly meet the expectations of the cursed spirits.

They shuttled among the fleeing crowds, using the frightened humans as shields, like rats escaping at night to avoid the attacks of the strongest sorcerer, restricting his hands and feet.

People around him cried and howled around him, cursed around him, and feared around him.

The world seemed to be cut into several sections by an invisible sharp blade, with murderous curse spirits, fleeing and wailing people, and Satoru standing in the chaos with his hands and feet restrained.

Hanami and Jogo, who were galloping in the chaotic tide, jumped up, like two wild wolves attacking a lion, and pounced on the white-haired man standing in the crowd. The boiling cursed energy instantly enveloped the whole body like armor on a warrior.

A huge roar instantly filled the entire corridor, the smooth road cracked with spiderweb-like cracks, and broken concrete and rubble flew everywhere.

The attacks of the two special grade cursed spirits came to nothing.

Before the attack landed, Satoru had already teleported to the platform.

The man dressed in pitch black looked condescendingly at the two special grade cursed spirits who had learned to use human means, and something became clear in his heart.

"Domain Amplification" and "New Shadow Style" belong to simple domains. If "Domain Expansion" was compared to a cage used to seal off enemies, then "Domain Amplification" was more like water that wrapped oneself in it. Like the armor worn by a samurai in battle, it would neutralize Satoru's technique to a certain extent.

Of course, it was impossible to defeat Satoru with such means.

Whether it was the "Domain Amplification" or the current chess game that was almost like a massacre, they were just delaying time. Everything was to pave the way for a certain purpose.

The longer the delay was, the better it was for them, and the more chaotic the scene, the better it was for them.

The cursed spirits and curse users gathered in Shibuya were all aiming to continue this grand and cruel chaos for the coming moment.

The hoarse cries and howls of humans stimulated Jogo time and time again. The volcano-headed cursed spirit laughed loudly in the scarlet blood, narrowed his huge one eye, raised his hand, tore off the head of the human next to him, and pulled it from the neck. The removed head still had a blank expression, and was burned into pitch-black ashes bit by bit in the flames in the palm of the cursed spirit.

The inhuman creatures that were killing humans were provoking Satoru amidst the cries and howls.

Obviously, Jogo succeeded.

The air was filled with the burnt smell of burnt fat, floating in the snake-like tunnel together with the smell of rust.

In a state of shock, Satoru pulled off the black eye mask. His pale blue pupils were like ancient glaciers. The moment he broke away from the pitch black, a bone-chilling chill eroded everything around him.

As if a mouse was being stared at by a lion, his spine stiffened as if filled with lead, and cold sweat trickled down Jogo's forehead.

He was angry.

The strongest sorcerer stood in front of a bloody platform, with dazzling scarlet on the soles of his feet. He opened his arms and palms, his posture calm and proud, like a spear standing straight under the sky, with a sharp and powerful edge.

"Come here, why aren't you moving?" He smiled.

He took a step forward and strode forward, crossing the track that ran across the ground. The soles of his shoes hit the sleepers. The dull sound that sounded in the corridor was like a heavy hammer falling on his shoulders. The weight was so heavy that it couldn't be described in words, and it almost crushed his shoulders

The cursed spirit widened his huge one eye, and the pupils trembled violently due to the sudden oppression. The instinct hidden deep in the body made Jogo forcefully suppress the trembling in the body.

The strike he swung was forcibly blocked by Satoru in mid-air. The man raised his hand and the back of his hand collided with Jogo's wrist. Hanami, who was following Jogo, aimed at the gap and raised their foot to launch a side kick.

The attack failed again. Satoru grabbed Jogo's arm with his backhand. He jumped into the air and the arm in his hand was twisted beyond the limits of the body's bones. He broke it abruptly in his hand, and blood spurted out from the cut like a pulp.

Satoru almost violently tore off Jogo's arm, turned around and used his broken arm to block Hanami's punch from behind, and kicked Hanami's leg. The knee of the cursed spirit that was kicked in the calf, hit the rubble directly.

An arm was nothing to a cursed spirit. Jogo decisively chose to abandon that arm and turned around to plunge into the fleeing crowd to avoid Satoru.

However, the strongest sorcerer at this time was different from the sluggish person he was at first. He became fierce and violent, like an eagle chasing its prey and refusing to let go. The gaze from his pale blue eyes was as sharp as a knife, which for no reason made Jogo have the urge to run away from here right now.

They completely pissed off Satoru.

The unprovoked and violent killing of human beings completely angered him.

The muscles at the severed part of the torn arm squirmed, and Jogo gritted his teeth. For a moment, Jogo noticed the changing cuse fluctuations in the air, and Hanami released the "Domain Amplification".

Since he could detect it, Satoru must be able to detect it. Jogo was different from Hanami. He had faced Satoru's strength, which was overwhelmingly powerful and decisive.

The strongest sorcerer in mankind would not show mercy to cursed spirits.

"Hanami, don't cancel the domain!" Jogo roared.

However, it was too late. Satoru, who was moving rapidly with his body weight lowered in the corridor, suddenly changed direction, and the curve of his back suddenly tightened. After blinking his eyes and preparing for action, he jumped up like a leopard and grabbed the branch on Hanami's face the moment his body took off.

Sharp lines formed at the corners of his lips, and his pale blue pupils shrank, like a large carnivore that had locked onto its prey, with an almost maniacal smile on his face.

He heard Megumi say—

"I heard that this thing is quite fragile?"
This didn't seem to be a part of someone's body, but the crispy cone on the ice cream.

An indescribable feeling of pleasure swelled in the bottom of his heart. He let the curve of his lips open, the fingers of both hands holding the branch were closed, and the feet and hands that were stepping on Hanami's face were exerted together. Something like a vine was pulled out of the eye socket by its roots, and the blood was pulled out along with it.

Jogo instantly understood that from beginning to end, Satoru had not applied any overly complicated techniques. These were just the basics. For Satoru Gojo, it was a very simple matter, relying solely on the simplest cursed energy manipulation and physical skills.

Hanami couldn't hold on any longer. After the branches were torn off, there were two dark holes on their face, and blood was constantly seeping out of them.

Satoru threw away the two vine-like things in his hands and raised his head. Jogo saw a smile slowly appearing on that delicate and beautiful face, half joyful and half crazy.

The alarm bell in his head was ringing crazily, and Jogo felt as if he knew what he was going to do. He spun a hot flame in his hand and pointed it at the rioting crowd.

"Satoru Gojo! Look here!"

The tall cursed spirit was squeezed into one piece by the Limitless that erupted from the man. It seemed as if a huge force of gravity fell down in an instant. All the bones in the body let out an overwhelmed scream, and blood burst out from the broken blood vessels.

*boom—*

The sudden burst of sound was like a loud noise that tore apart the world. The wall in front of him exploded into a charred hole. The body belonging to the cursed spirit was instantly annihilated in the air. Thick smoke drifted into the corridor with a burning smell.

"Next."
Satoru turned around slowly.

Without thinking, Jogo jumped onto the platform, plunged into the crowded crowd at the subway station, and ran away like crazy. He pushed away the humans one after another in front of him, grabbed a human by the shoulders and threw him in front of Satoru, trying to buy time and distance himself.

However, this was in vain. Satoru threw away the person who was about to hit him with his backhand and continued to move forward.

The crowd gathered in the subway station suddenly became restless.

The longer the time passed, the heart in the chest was beating wildly as if it was breaking through the limit, almost beating out of the heart.

The sudden roar in the tunnel was like rolling thunder, the continuously colliding rails and axles made a deafening knocking sound, and bright sparks lit up the dark tunnel.

Satoru was stunned.

Jogo's heart, which had been beating wildly, was comforted.

Finally come.

According to the previous plan, Mahito would send the subway full of transformed humans into Shibuya at this time.

"The subway is coming!" An enthusiastic shout broke out from the crowd. The man pushed aside the people who were crowding in front of him, and squeezed to the window almost unreasonably, muttering "Get out of the way, I'll get on first."

However, when he saw what was stuck in the car window, he couldn't help but lean back.

Pasted on the car window was an inhuman face.

The man couldn't control himself and let out a funny scream. The next second, the face stuck in the car window twisted and was dragged down. Scarlet blood spots instantly splashed all over the glass window.

The man who was frightened head-on fell into the crowd.

People crowding in front of the subway also noticed that this was not a subway, but a tattered compartment. How a lonely compartment came from the previous station was a huge problem.

The tattered compartment door was violently kicked open from the inside. The steel door was kicked open as easily as if it were made of paper. The moment the car door was blasted open, everyone saw the red-haired woman walking out of the compartment, as well as the shattered corpses inside.

The red-haired woman stood among the piles of corpses, with red dots splashed on her fair cheeks. When the strong smell of rust rushed out of the compartment, those who witnessed everything could not help but tremble all over their bodies. It was like the moment when the door to hell suddenly opened, and the ferocious red-haired ghost behind the door slowly opened his eyes.

What about Mahito?

When he saw Yayoi, Jogo was stunned.

The air was suddenly ripped apart, and the red-haired ghost rushed out of the compartment in an instant. The volcano-headed cursed spirit, who was too focused on Satoru, was caught off guard and stabbed through the chest by a sword thrown at him. The other person grabbed him by the collar and threw him out of the crowd.

Jogo hit the compartment like a meteor impact, and the huge force almost knocked the compartment over.

Like a lion jumping into a sheep, the ordinary people around started to move away from Yayoi in horror. They watched the ghost-like red-haired woman pass through the crowd of people. Her erratic red hair was like blood and fire, stopping in front of the white-haired man who was also behaving strangely.

"Have you ever eloped?"

Satoru saw the smile that appeared on the cheek of the little red-haired woman who suddenly ran in front of him. It was soft, like the sunshine falling from the top of the head through the gaps between the layers of leaves in spring.

There was blood on her face.

"No." Satoru smiled with crooked eyebrows without even realizing it.

"Then I will take you to elope once." Yayoi smiled.

Satoru paused and smiled, "Okay, wait for me."

Satoru stretched out his hand, wiped her cheek with his fingertips, wiped away the blood on her cheek, held up the back of Yayoi's head with one hand, and kissed his wife's forehead in the crowded crowd.

With his raised fingers forming a seal, the expanded domain instantly enveloped the subway station, and majestic cursed energy poured out of his body like a raging ocean tide.

The domain expanded in 0.2 seconds. The originally expanding domain stopped expanding in an instant and disappeared without a trace in an instant. After the domain was lifted, the people around were stunned and the crowd suddenly became quiet.

Generally speaking, if an ordinary person was exposed to "Unlimited Void" head-on, the chance of survival was almost zero. Even if they survived, they would only become mentally retarded. Considering this, Satoru compressed the time for domain expansion to almost an instant of 0.2 seconds. In these 0.2 seconds, the average person's brain would be filled with half a year's worth of information, but it would not pose a threat to people's lives. After two months, they would do whatever they have to do, and everything would be the same.

This resulted in the current situation. After the domain was lifted, everyone present stood like puppets on strings, unconscious on the spot.

Satoru destroyed the cursed spirits hiding in the crowd. These gadgets just now helped Jogo and Hanami. If he hadn't prioritized getting rid of these two special grade cursed spirits, they wouldn't be alive now.

When Jogo, who was thrown into the compartment by Yayoi, he struggled to get up, and what he saw was a large swath of human beings, as well as their kind who were dying.

The volcano-headed cursed spirit instantly realized that this was Satoru's doing. He did not expect that this person would use the domain expansion openly in the presence of such a large number of ordinary people.

Then the special grade cursed spirit saw a scene that made his lungs explode.

The man who was as fierce as an eagle just now was picked up by a familiar red-haired woman, jumped off the platform, and plunged into the corridor.

The tall and powerful man hooked the woman's neck with his strong hand. In the blowing wind, her hair was blown to pieces. She raised her hand and gave him an international friendly gesture. The expression on her face was extremely flat.

"Volcano head, you're no good, ah!!! I eloped with my wife!!!" The joyful voice echoed in circles in the corridor, stimulating the nerves of the special grade cursed spirit.

You're no good!!!

Jogo: "..."
Who the hell were you saying was not good?!

The furious special grade cursed spirit's reason instantly exploded into ashes, followed closely, and plunged into the tunnel.

***

· Genuine translation can be found only in OchatimesBlogspotCom, FanFictionNet, and Wattpad

• Omake •

Gojo the Cat: My sweetheart is the cutest little red-haired girl in the world. One day she will punch the volcano on the head and stamp on the patchy face to come and elope with me! Wife!!!

Jogo: I&@¥#....!!!



[Prev] ~ [TOC] ~ [Next]