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Cough!
Completely unprepared, Sukuna—pierced through the chest by Brynhildr—violently coughed up a massive mouthful of blood.
Forget Sukuna himself—even Megumi and Nobara watching from the sidelines hadn't expected Bokue to suddenly pull something like this. They couldn't help standing up from the table in shock.
Even Gojo Satoru's mouth fell open slightly, his sunglasses sliding down to reveal his azure Six Eyes beneath.
"What... what are you doing?!"
At this point, even Megumi couldn't maintain his composure, demanding loudly.
"Don't forget that's Yuji's body! If you do this, then Yuji will also..."
"Wouldn't that be perfect?"
Bokue glanced at him sideways.
"At the end of the day, wasn't this your Jujutsu Association's original plan anyway? Have Yuji Itadori consume all the fingers, then eliminate him along with Sukuna. I just accelerated the process a bit... Alright, just kidding."
Seeing his joke had gone a bit too far in scaring them, Bokue shrugged.
"Relax. I know what I'm doing. Your beloved jock won't die."
"Huh?"
Though completely unable to understand why the other party could still say "won't die" in this situation, those three words did genuinely calm Megumi down somewhat.
While they hadn't interacted much, he could tell the guy wasn't that crazy.
Could there really be some method...?
Just as Megumi reached this thought, Bokue's voice came again.
"Remember how I promised you all I'd eliminate all of Sukuna's fingers? Now's when I deliver results. Oh, and remember to have the Jujutsu Association transfer payment after you get back. Hmm... deposit it in Yura's bank account. Don't put it in the Keikain family's main account—this has nothing to do with them."
With that, he prepared to pull the demon sword from Sukuna's body.
But just then—
"Why... did... you..."
Even with his soul completely torn apart by the demon sword and death imminent, Sukuna still struggled bit by bit to turn his head, letting out the dying man's final words.
Bokue looked down at him.
"Why? Because I don't like you, okay? Seriously, so much pointless chatter..."
With that, he gave a light shake and pulled out the blade. The instant the sword tip left his body, the wound healed over, even restoring the ruined clothes completely.
Sukuna collapsed, then closed his eyes forever.
After about four or five seconds, Yuji Itadori slowly opened his eyes. Both pupils reflected the azure sky and golden blazing sun high above.
He instinctively raised one hand to block the sunlight.
"Huh? How'd we swap back? What's the situation now? Is it over?"
"Not quite, but almost."
Bokue glanced toward Abe no Seimei slowly descending from the sky back to the ground in the distance.
"Oh, and incidentally, I also sent off that neighbor inside you. From now on, you can do whatever you want."
"Oh... eh?!"
Taking a full second to process before snapping back to awareness, Yuji scrambled up from the ground with his mouth hanging open in shock, pointing at himself.
"You're saying Sukuna's already dead?"
"That's the situation."
Bokue waved his hand in a shooing motion.
"Alright, go do whatever. You can reunite with your teacher and classmates now."
"Oh, okay..."
Though he couldn't shake the weird feeling from how Bokue phrased that, Yuji didn't overthink it. He turned and walked toward Gojo and the others.
Bokue withdrew his gaze, turning it toward Abe no Seimei—who'd been kneeling on one knee in a submissive posture before him ever since landing.
As the Dark Lord from a thousand years ago, Abe no Seimei wasn't just empty pride and arrogance. He'd also learned how to play along and be diplomatic during his youth before reaching his peak.
So Abe no Seimei understood clearly that he was to Bokue what Sukuna was to him—possibly with an even greater gap, one so large he couldn't even imagine it in his current state.
As they say, a wise man knows when to bow his head. Kneeling before someone countless times stronger wasn't shameful in Abe no Seimei's view.
Hmph~
Bokue raised an eyebrow.
Hand up, blade down.
BANG!
The six-pointed star barrier that lit up didn't even last a blink before shattering before the demon sword Brynhildr. The falling soul-cutting slash sliced through like a hot knife through butter, cleanly splitting the founder of Onmyōji before him in two.
In an instant, flesh tore and blood gushed. Abe no Seimei didn't even have time to change his expression before toppling backward.
He opened his mouth as if trying to say something.
"Don't bother asking. Let's just say I don't like you either."
Bokue casually flicked his blade to shake off the blood.
"You put Hagoromo-Gitsune in chains, causing my Yasaka a thousand years of heartache. So I'll give you one slash to completely obliterate your soul, never to reincarnate."
"...So it was her."
A flash of realization crossed Abe no Seimei's gradually fading eyes.
"One more question... I exhausted the way of Onmyōdō, reached the pinnacle of both humans and demons, yet why can you..."
"If hard work was all that mattered, what would be the point of talent?"
Not bothering to look at this dying man whose soul was about to scatter, Bokue waved dismissively, left that line, then turned and walked away directly.
At the same time, the last remaining base in the sky began gradually collapsing.
❁❁❁❁
One minute later, inside the bustling tea house in downtown Kyoto—
"Alright, brought you all back. Do whatever you need to do next. I've got other business, so I'm heading out."
Waving to Gojo and the others—who'd been teleported back along with people, table, chairs, teapot, cups, and tray—Bokue vanished into thin air once more.
This time, when he reappeared, he'd arrived at the entrance to Yasaka Shrine.
Yasaka and the others should already be back...
With that thought, Bokue climbed the steps and pushed open the door.
Just like when he'd arrived earlier, when he pushed open the shrine's main door, a certain blonde beauty inside was already waiting for him in advance. Seeing the young man finally arrive, she couldn't help showing that familiar gentle smile.
"Bokue, you're here."
"Yeah, all settled. About Hagoromo-Gitsune, she..."
"She's fine. Already recovered."
Yasaka pointed toward the familiar Japanese-style room in the back.
"She's waiting for you inside right now. Go in and see her?"
"Oh."
Though he didn't know what there was to see, since Yasaka said so, Bokue naturally had no objections.
So the young man crossed the corridor to the room's entrance, slid open the door to look inside. Hagoromo-Gitsune sat quietly seiza-style on the tatami, still wearing that familiar black sailor uniform.
Noticing Bokue's arrival, she turned her head with a slight smile—her expression carrying the brightness and gentleness of yamabuki flowers. She raised her hand, pointing at the tatami beside her.
"Come in. Sit."
"..."
Bokue obligingly entered, closing the door behind him, then came to sit beside her.
However, the very next second after he sat down, a soft, supple body settled smoothly into Bokue's embrace. Nine fluffy white fox tails surrounded them tightly like petals around a flower's pistil.
"You've finally come, my most beloved child..."
???
Watching Hagoromo-Gitsune before him—who'd completely activated "corrupted maternal love mode"—Bokue couldn't help falling into deep thought.
He'd only removed Abe no Seimei's technique, right? He hadn't added any new techniques, had he?
Is this... right?
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