"How are things inside?"
Naobito looked at the captain of the intelligence squad behind him.
"It's been confirmed that there are indeed a large number of Cursed Spirits and unidentified powerful individuals within the barrier. The intel reporting one million Cursed Spirits and ancient powerhouses revived through Incarnation is largely accurate."
The captain reported with a grave expression.
Having worked in intelligence for many years, he naturally understood what this meant.
"Thank you for your hard work. Prepare to retreat."
After speaking, Naobito took out his phone and sent a message.
The barrier entrance opened.
Dhruv and Takako were the first to rush out.
Ryu Ishigori and the others followed closely behind.
"Damn it, it's that brat again."
Takako, flying in the sky, was the first to clearly spot the retreating group in the distance.
Eichi was among them.
"Let them go."
Tamamo-no-Mae's voice rang out, and those who were about to pursue halted in their tracks.
"We're just letting them leave?" Takako asked, clearly unwilling.
"The decisive battle is approaching. There's no need to waste energy on small tricks. Guard the barrier well. Tomorrow, I'll lead you all to crush every last one of them."
"You're going up against the entire Jujutsu World, and even the whole country. Do you really think you can win?" Takako looked at Tamamo-no-Mae with a serious expression.
"I will win."
Tamamo-no-Mae's expression brimmed with confidence.
Takako's expression didn't change much.
But the people behind her looked visibly excited.
In their eyes, Tamamo-no-Mae's army of a million Cursed Spirits was an unstoppable force...
At the same time, Jujutsu Headquarters.
"The Zen'in Family Head just sent word. Azuma Eichi's report is accurate."
The meeting fell silent for a moment.
This was the outcome they had most hoped to avoid.
"How much strength can we currently mobilize?"
A voice finally broke the silence.
"Latest report: we can gather around a thousand Jujutsu Sorcerers in a short time, but most are Grade 3 Sorcerers and Assistant Supervisors with limited combat power..."
"No need to worry. Among the enemy Cursed Spirits, there are also many Grade 3 and Grade 4 types. How long until we can deploy?"
"Based on current estimates, the fastest we can gather everyone is within 20 hours."
"Twenty hours is too long. Get the normal world to cooperate. This concerns their survival too. Have them dispatch helicopters, planes, anything that can help. Move everyone to Sendai and build a defensive line as quickly as possible."
"Understood."
The order received unanimous approval.
This alone showed how seriously the Jujutsu Headquarters viewed the situation.
After all, if handled poorly, their authority itself could be shaken.
When it came to preserving their own power, they hadn't moved this decisively in a long time.
"What about the six Special Grade enemies, including Tamamo-no-Mae? We can only dispatch four Special Grades on our side. That puts us at a numerical disadvantage."
"Don't worry about that."
An elder from the Gojo Family spoke with confidence.
"There are differences even among Special Grades. How could an ordinary Special Grade compare to the Six Eyes User?"
His confidence had an infectious effect.
"Indeed, no need to worry. After all, the Six Eyes User with the Ten Shadows Technique once exorcised the Special Grade Cursed Spirit Kuroi Bokusatsu, even when attacked by five other Special Grades, and walked away unharmed."
The Zen'in Family's representative wasn't to be outdone.
"Heh, that's debatable. The root of this entire mess might be..." an elder from the Kamo Family sneered sarcastically.
Everyone immediately understood the implication.
There had long been a saying in the Jujutsu World—
Satoru's birth disrupted the world's balance, leading to the strengthening of curses.
In recent years, Eichi, who could match Satoru, had also appeared.
What the Kamo elder meant was that the very cause of this disaster was those two disrupting the original balance.
That was why Tamamo-no-Mae's revival and the million Cursed Spirits had emerged.
No one responded.
The meeting ended quickly.
Afterward, the Kamo elder let out a long sigh, disappointment on his face.
In the report sent by the intelligence team, Ootengu had been identified as a Special Grade hypothetical vengeful spirit.
It was a Cursed Spirit born from the collective fear of the yokai Ootengu.
Not, as they had hoped, one of Japan's three great vengeful spirits—Emperor Sutoku, incarnated after death.
After all, their ancestor, Emperor Sutoku, had deep ties to Tamamo-no-Mae before his death and had become the Special Grade Cursed Vengeful Spirit, Ootengu.
So when they heard that Tamamo-no-Mae had Ootengu at her side, they clung to that hope.
This misconception had also been fueled by the vague reporting from the Jujutsu department in Hokkaido and the chaos caused by Tamamo-no-Mae's appearance.
The Jujutsu Headquarters hadn't had the time to investigate Hokkaido thoroughly, which led to this misunderstanding.
The Kamo Family had the earliest prominence among the Big Three Families, yet was the last to truly form.
They were the earliest because they were once of imperial lineage.
They were the latest because their Technique originated from Emperor Sutoku, who was the last of the three great vengeful spirits to manifest.
Emperor Sutoku and Tamamo-no-Mae were contemporaries.
In recent years, the Kamo Family had suffered the most.
The Gojo Family had the Six Eyes, the Zen'in Family had the Ten Shadows Technique.
But the Kamo Family had only inherited blame.
Kenjaku once joked: Wasn't it right for the younger generation to bear some of the burden for me?
So they had truly hoped that Emperor Sutoku could return and support them.
Even if he couldn't beat those two monsters—the Six Eyes and the Ten Shadows Technique—he would still be a top-tier Special Grade, one of the three great vengeful spirits, whose reputation was second only to the King of Curses.
His presence alone would elevate the Kamo Family's standing.
But in the end, it wasn't him.
In the end, it was still suffering for the Kamo Family.
As power gathered in Sendai, the full strength of the Jujutsu World and the nation was mobilized.
The next day, both sides refrained from launching major offensives.
However, surveillance and reconnaissance efforts intensified.
The Jujutsu Headquarters, in an unprecedented show of force, mobilized a large number of Jujutsu Sorcerers toward Sendai.
The Big Three Families also broke from their usual passivity and dispatched many Sorcerers to join the battle.
They arrived quickly and were split into four units to surround northern Sendai.
The tension grew.
Northern Sendai.
Groups of Cursed Spirits rushed out of the barrier in droves.
Forming hundreds of dense swarms.
As the Cursed Spirits continued to pour out, Tengen, who had been monitoring everything, finally acted.
The long-prepared power was unleashed.
A barrier, over ten kilometers in diameter, enclosed the entire area where the Cursed Spirits were located.
This was the Sendai Barrier, set up by Tengen after concentrating all the barrier techniques in the Tohoku region.
Its strength far surpassed that of the Sendai Barrier used during the Culling Game.
After it was activated, four gates appeared at the perimeter, each facing one of the four Jujutsu Sorcerer teams.
"What a massive barrier. So this is the legendary power of Tengen?" Dhruv exclaimed.
Over the past thousand years, Tengen's name had echoed across the Jujutsu World. Few were unaware of it.
"It's just a barrier, Ishigori."
Tamamo-no-Mae gestured to Ryu Ishigori.
Without hesitation, Ishigori approached the barrier and unleashed several blasts of Cursed Energy.
"Granite Blast."
Even blasts powerful enough to level a villa had no effect.
"Interesting."
He fired another Cursed Energy blast at full power.
The barrier only rippled slightly.
Elsewhere, Cursed Spirits attacked the edges of the barrier, but none of their attacks left a mark.
"This barrier seems completely fused with the land, and it's constantly receiving new energy."
A hunched elder with blood-red eyes approached Tamamo-no-Mae.
"That's not all."
Takako looked down from the sky at the Jujutsu Sorcerers stationed at the four gates in the distance.
"They sacrificed some of the barrier's overall strength to create gates for entry and exit."
"The key point about the gates," Tamamo-no-Mae added, "isn't that they make the barrier stronger, but that they allow the defenders to designate a battlefield advantageous to them."
"Their message is clear: if we want to leave, we must defeat them head-on."
Tamamo-no-Mae smiled charmingly.
"In that case, let them taste my army."
...Meanwhile, Eichi, Satoru, and Suguru were reunited for the first time in a long while.
Emiya, who had been cooking at Tokyo Jujutsu High, also arrived with the Sorcerer forces.
"You guys got here fast."
"Of course. How could I miss out on something like this? If Yaga-sensei hadn't told me to wait, I would've come even earlier."
Satoru, previously sprawled out lazily, suddenly teleported next to Eichi.
"Hey, hey, Eichi, any fun enemies this time? Introduce a few to me."
Satoru leaned against Eichi, his long fingers poking Eichi's cheek nonstop.
Without a word, Suguru reached under Satoru's armpits and lifted the big cat draped over Eichi's shoulder high into the air.
"Alright, that's enough."
Satoru tilted his head back like a cat.
Their eyes met.
"Eichi's been busy lately. Let him rest a bit."
After saying that, Suguru placed the Gojo cat back on the chair.
'Why does it feel like Suguru's gotten gentler? No wonder so many people ship Gojo and Geto.'
"It's fine. I'll take care of the rest of them."
Eichi stood up, walked forward, and gave Suguru a light punch on the chest.
"You guys made it pretty quick."
"Satoru said a rare fun event like this couldn't be missed, so he had to be first."
"Fun, huh. That's just like you."
Eichi rolled his eyes.
Because of him, those old geezers at Jujutsu Headquarters were practically losing their minds.
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)