Meanwhile, on the other side.
Amber weaved through the crowd of humans jostling to leave the subway station now that the barrier was broken, sprinting all the way down into its depths.
There was no expected scent of blood, nor any traces of a battle left behind. When she reached the underground plaza, all she saw was a smiling Gojo Satoru and a figure she hadn't expected to see at all.
"Little Senti?"
The girl hadn't thought she'd be here.
"Well, if it isn't my safe-and-sound, alive-and-kicking junior apprentice. You made it."
The Herrscher of Sentience, Senti, stood with her hands clasped behind her back, her expression calm.
"Junior apprentice?"
Gojo Satoru looked between the two of them, puzzled.
"You're just a human, don't worry about it."
Senti waved a hand, cutting off Gojo's curiosity flatly. Not that it stopped him from speculating, but no matter how he thought about it, he couldn't grasp why such a term was being used.
Besides, one was using 'junior apprentice' and the other 'Little Senti'—weren't they mixing up the generations here?
"Little Senti, just call me Seele."
Amber wasn't in a good position to explain either, so she changed the subject. "Gojo-sensei, Little Senti, what exactly happened here?"
Although Senti found it a bit odd to be calling her own 'junior apprentice' by her name, seeing that face made it easy enough.
"Tch, it's really nothing worth mentioning. Just took care of the final boss that was originally left for you a bit ahead of schedule. Can't be helped, who told him to dare scheme against me, the Herrscher of Sentience?"
"Ah..."
Amber didn't know the details, but she could tell that probably meant Kenjaku was done for.
That was a good thing, anyway. Whether it was her own gentle self or the other one from the shadows, she didn't feel this was bad at all.
She hadn't wanted to keep everyone in the dark, but she also didn't want to expose her own uniqueness.
So she'd always felt like there was a weight on her heart. Now that the plot had thoroughly derailed, she could relax a fair bit.
On a more practical note, while what she needed was approval from key plot characters, those characters were basically all members of the main cast. So, whether Kenjaku lived or died wasn't really a big concern.
It wasn't that his approval rating was low—in fact, it was quite substantial—but she didn't lack his contribution.
However, she remembered there was still one more threat.
"Did Little Senti and Gojo-sensei see the Celestial Cursed Spirit?"
Amber continued asking, "That cursed spirit should be much stronger than Jogo."
"...I am the Celestial Cursed Spirit."
Senti pointed a thumb at herself.
"...Huh?"
"Well, I need a title, don't I? All those humans, earth, ocean, forest ones—how can they compare to me, the big boss upstairs?"
Senti stated this as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "I, the magnificent Herrscher of Sentience, even if I'm playing the part of a cursed spirit, naturally need a name that outshines everyone else's!"
Hearing it put that way, Amber immediately understood.
Jogo's words earlier couldn't just be called nonsense; they were pure fabrication.
Thinking about it carefully, Senti had come here with her, so how could she possibly have had the time to do all those bad things?
"Ah, right!"
Speaking of bad deeds, Amber remembered the recent situation. "Little Senti, Gojo-sensei, Yuji-senpai was just incarnated by Sukuna and is fighting Jogo. The other me should have gone to stop it by now."
She had found it a bit troublesome before, but since Little Senti was appearing so openly now, Amber had no reason not to borrow her strength.
"Sukuna, huh..."
Gojo Satoru frowned. "How's Yuji doing now?"
He didn't know what had happened outside after he entered the barrier, how Yuji suddenly got incarnated, but that didn't stop him from worrying about his student's condition.
"I'm not too sure either, but it's probably not good..."
Thinking of how, in the original story, Yuji could only watch helplessly as Sukuna went on a killing spree, powerless to do anything, completely sinking into self-blame and self-destructive tendencies, Amber made that judgment.
Fortunately, the current situation didn't seem to have reached the worst point. At least Sukuna hadn't had time to kill anyone yet.
"So, you're saying that Ms. Herrscher of Sentience can deal with Sukuna without harming Yuji?"
Gojo looked at the Senti beside him.
"Easy as pie."
Senti stretched lazily, completely unconcerned.
"When it comes to consciousness and soul, you've come to the right person. That Sukuna's just a curse who's lived a thousand years. Dealing with him is as simple as flipping my hand."
Gojo really wanted to say that the King of Curses sounded like a tiny ant in her mouth, but remembering how he himself had been completely in her grasp, he couldn't muster any words of rebuttal.
On the contrary, from the conversation between his student and this Senti, he'd already gleaned a lot.
"So impressive. How about coming to Jujutsu High as a teacher?"
He asked.
"Eh? You've got some nerve, trying to get a two-for-one deal? You're quite the schemer, aren't you?"
Senti laughed. "Want to hire me as a teacher? You can't afford my price!"
"What a shame."
Gojo shrugged, dropping the matter for now. He then said seriously, "Well then, I'm entrusting my precious student to you~ Even if it's just to live up to my cute student's expectations, I hope you'll do your best."
"Don't need you to tell me."
Senti waved a dismissive hand. Even now he was still testing her.
Couldn't be bothered with this guy whose motives were equally complicated, Senti turned to Amber. "Let's go. Since we can't count on that old fossil, let this senior help you solve the problem!"
"Well..."
Amber very much wanted to say that Fu Hua wasn't unreliable, it just wasn't time for her to act yet. But thinking how Little Senti was currently on a roll, she swallowed her words. "Then let's set off now!"
The three of them soon arrived outside the subway station. Taking to the sky, they spotted the battlefield between Dark Seele and Sukuna at a glance.
It was just too conspicuous. Surrounding a certain area, the nearby high-rises had all collapsed.
Thanks to their excellent eyesight, the three could see the two figures at the center of the ruins: one standing, one kneeling.
The one standing was the long-haired girl, while the one half-kneeling was naturally Sukuna, his face dark, blood trickling from his four eyes and the corner of his mouth.
Beside them, a white-haired figure with a bob cut, wearing a kimono, lay on the ground, their face unclear. Shattered ice fragments littered the area around them.
Looks like the situation was completely one-sided.
Gojo Satoru analyzed the scene with interest. Even if Sukuna wasn't at his full power, to overwhelm him so easily to this extent was truly terrifying.
As he pondered, the three of them already landed on the battlefield.
Seeing the sudden arrival of three reinforcements for the jujutsu sorcerer side, Sukuna, already grim-faced, grew even darker.
He had thought that after obtaining so many fingers, he could repay the humiliation of being toyed with before, but he still found himself utterly outmatched, unable to even fight back.
He simply had no way to break the other's Domain. It was like a void that didn't exist in reality, making it impossible for his own Domain to make contact.
While he could use a closed Domain, because he wasn't in his complete form, his Domain was shattered in the very first clash.
"It seems the title 'King of Curses' might be a bit… unearned?"
Gojo Satoru, never one to care about Sukuna's mood, led with a sharp critique.
"…"
Sukuna couldn't be bothered wasting words on this frivolous guy.
Not only because he knew his current disadvantage was too great for tough talk to mean anything, but also because he genuinely didn't have much strength left. Any words he had were reserved for his opponent, not this random who'd just intruded.
"This fight was somewhat satisfying."
Looking at Dark Seele, Sukuna's first words were an attempt to save face. "Even with only fifteen fingers, for you to achieve this much earns a bit of my respect."
"You lose every single time, and you're talking about respect?"
Dark Seele directly punctured his nonsense. "Do you really think if you gathered all your fingers, you'd find a way to break through my technique?"
Sukuna: …
He really had no way.
He gritted his teeth in frustration. Why were the techniques in this era so absurd?
A thousand years ago, his technique could already be called a mechanics nightmare—indiscriminate, invisible slashes that could one-shot anyone.
Others spitting fire or water, summoning a couple of Shikigami? They were all just dishes on his plate.
How did it come to this, where he was the one with outdated mechanics, left with only raw power?
"Bask in your momentary victory."
Sukuna continued maintaining his demeanor of a superior being.
"But don't get too cocky. To me, you're just a fish flopping around a bit more vigorously. When my power is fully restored, I won't mind personally scaling you."
This wasn't entirely empty bravado. He truly believed that with his complete form, possessing ample cursed energy and output, he could find a way to overcome this mysterious technique, unlike now where he was severely wounded and brought to his knees in just a few rounds.
Having said that, he didn't wait for Dark Seele to respond and voluntarily returned control of the body to Yuji.
Yuji, who had been a spectator all along, felt incredibly conflicted.
After receiving the Stigmata from Amber, his power had increased significantly, and he thought he had finally gained the ability to rely on himself and choose his own destiny. But reality had cruelly slapped him in the face.
"Don't make such a bitter face."
Gojo Satoru walked over and patted his shoulder. "This isn't your fault."
He could naturally tell that Yuji's current cursed energy level was completely different from before.
Combined with what Amber had said about Sukuna fighting Jogo, it was easy to deduce that Jogo had force-fed Yuji a large number of fingers at once, leading to this situation.
Strictly speaking, this was a tactical failure on the part of the jujutsu world.
"Sensei… Seele-chan… I…"
Yuji also knew he wasn't the main culprit in this… but… he was truly terrified. After Sukuna took over his body and he witnessed Sukuna's incomprehensible power, he knew that once Sukuna dealt with Jogo, his next targets would be humans.
Luckily, the other Seele-chan had appeared, which had slightly eased his heart.
But the lingering fear from that feeling of powerlessness wouldn't just disappear.
"Relax, Relax~"
Gojo's tone was flippant and full of goofy energy.
He then spun around 360 degrees in an exaggerated motion, stepping back next to Senti. Spreading his hands open like an auctioneer, he dramatically presented Senti's figure to everyone.
"We've brought in an expert, you see~"
His clowning wasn't useless. While it didn't completely alleviate Yuji's mood, it did make him feel a little better.
Moreover, placing someone who seemed capable of solving the problem right before his eyes helped steady Yuji's nerves, like grabbing a life ring while drowning.
"She is?"
Yuji asked, a note of hope in his voice.
"I am the Herrscher of Sentience. You may address me as the Great Ms. Herrscher of Sentience."
Although being used to pacify someone else's emotions, the duo's flattering attitude and treating her like a lifesaver was somewhat agreeable to Senti.
"Uh… Great Ms. Herrscher of Sentience?"
Even having met many strange people, Yuji was momentarily taken aback. "Are you a friend of Gojo-sensei's?"
"Think again. I'm… Seele's senior, you could say her guardian. Because Seele cares a lot about you classmates, I'm making an exception to help out."
Senti maintained her lofty posture, one hand behind her back, the other now holding a folding fan which she placed in front of her, pointing it towards Dark Seele.
"I don't remember you having that kind of status, self-proclaimed Celestial."
Dark Seele smiled, but the expression on her face was clearly resistant.
"I am a bona fide Celestial! You go get Gaia out here! See if it dares to say otherwise!?"
Senti glared at Dark Seele.
"Eh? An acquaintance of both Seele-chans?"
Yuji looked puzzledly at Amber.
"Well…"
Amber scratched the back of her head, unsure how to explain, and simply said, "She's also a very important family member."
"Is that so?"
Yuji could read his kouhai's expressions fairly well, having observed her often. Seeing her look now, he knew that while she was a bit embarrassed saying it, she was utterly serious.
In that case, Yuji naturally stopped doubting Senti.
Even though this Senti felt entirely like a cursed spirit.
Gojo Satoru was getting more and more confused. What was this 'Celestial' about now? Wait… looking carefully, this Senti's attire did have the style of Shenzhou. Did that mean she was actually a curse from over there?
If that were the case, it wouldn't be strange. The population base in a place like Shenzhou was ridiculously large.
For a curse that had lived thousands of years to appear wasn't impossible. And looking at her dismissive attitude towards the thousand-year-old Sukuna, it actually made sense?
[A/N: In the original work, Japanese curses and jujutsu sorcerers are the strongest due to Tengen's barrier. We'll just go with that setting here.]
"Alright, this Celestial doesn't have time to explain too much to you. You, come here. I'll help you deal with this so-called King of Curses."
Senti pointed at Yuji Itadori.
"Ah? Oh."
Yuji walked over curiously. "So, how exactly are you going to deal with it?"
They kept saying 'deal with it,' but he was completely in the dark about the specifics.
"To put it in terms you can understand, my technique allows me to control consciousness and soul. So, I just need to erase the part of Sukuna's consciousness attached to you. As for the soul, I suggest you keep it."
"Since you, kid, don't have a technique, holding onto this soulless husk might let you learn his technique later on."
Senti kindly offered her suggestion.
"Eh!? It can be done like that!?"
Yuji hadn't expected her to make it sound so simple. Sukuna called Dark Seele a fish, and now this Senti was talking about Sukuna like he was a fish too? Just casually deciding his fate?
"Heh heh heh, you can only fool this brat."
Sukuna didn't believe she had such ability either and laughed out loud. "If you can do it, then just try it."
Senti wasn't about to indulge him. She directly reached out and slapped the mouth on Yuji's cheek.
Sukuna, who had been smirking mockingly just moments before, instantly felt an intense sensation of being ripped away.
His consciousness grew increasingly hazy under this feeling of separation. This unprecedented experience sparked a terror he hadn't felt in over a thousand years.
"Laugh now. Why did you stop? Don't you like laughing?"
Now it was Senti's turn to laugh.
"Sukuna, you're just a mortal born in an era without me, without the old fossil, without Seele, without Dark Seele."
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.