On the rain-soaked grass, beside a scam company that had been turned into a Cursed Spirit base with every staff member slaughtered, Kenjaku sat in a circle with her seven companions, having a "picnic."
"These guys are ridiculously easy to kill. Not only do they build nests in places like this where no one goes, they even like clustering together.
Tsk, tsk. Disgusting. The way they looked when they died was like ants getting smoked out of a nest…"
Jogo, who had taken it upon himself to "clean up" the base, lounged comfortably with a pipe in his mouth, the smoke carrying something like "human wails." Beside him, he swayed along in small motions with Dagon.
"Honestly, I wanted to take you into the city and let you see how humans live these days…
But with all of you gathered together, your Cursed Energy is too messy. We'd be exposed right away."
Kenjaku took a bite of her sandwich, swallowed, then looked at the Cursed Spirits in front of her. Out of this little group, she was probably the only one who actually needed to eat during a picnic like this.
"The human world?"
Mahito lay on the grass, staring up at the gray sky with a faint bluish tint.
"If we go there, we could watch movies, right?"
Jogo shot him a sideways look.
"Movies? What's so interesting about those things where they polish humans up and slap a coat of paint on them?"
"You don't get it. Stuff like that is useful for studying the structure of the human soul."
At the mention of souls, Mahito sneaked a glance at a Cursed Spirit sitting on the other side.
It had no flesh or blood. A pair of wings sprouted from its back, like some strange fusion of a bat and a dragonfly. A pitch-black cube-shaped crystal floated at the center of its chest. Its entire body was made up of twisted, sharp black bones, and from its neck down to its abdomen, four faces grew in a vertical line, each with a different expression: sorrow, wailing grief, emptiness, and a ridiculous face that was upside down.
But in Mahito's eyes, it looked different. Its soul had almost no core at all, formed purely by two things tangled together: "fatigue" and "grief."
A soul like that was rare even among Cursed Spirits. He really wanted it to cooperate so he could study it.
But without a core, even [Idle Transfiguration] might not be able to mold it into another shape…
The Cursed Spirit turned its second face toward Mahito.
"Wuuu… You're thinking about something bad."
The third face said, "It doesn't matter… it doesn't matter…"
The fourth face giggled. "Heeheehee… you can try it, you know~~"
"&#%&%#&%#."
"Hanami, stop talking. My head's going numb!"
Hanami's voice was nothing but a string of meaningless sounds, yet for some reason, anyone who heard it could still understand what it meant in their mind.
Jogo looked toward the four-faced Cursed Spirit.
"Saishū, quit messing with Mahito all the time. He's not a kid anymore. As our future leader, he can't keep thinking about stupid childish crap!"
All four of Saishū's faces turned to Jogo at once.
"Doesn't look like I'm the one messing with him.
It doesn't matter… it doesn't matter…"
Mahito glanced at Jogo, rolled from lying on his back to lying on his side, and stayed quiet.
While the Cursed Spirits bantered, Kenjaku finished the last bite of her sandwich.
"Rein it in. We didn't come out here to fool around…"
Jogo glared at Kenjaku.
"Tch. Are Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerers really that strong? With all seven of us working together, can't we take them apart one by one?"
Kenjaku considered it carefully.
"Remember the 'Loach Sorcerer' who slipped through your fingers a few days ago?"
"Of course!!"
"By today's standards, he wouldn't even qualify as Special Grade."
"Heh… so what? You only said he's stronger than that guy. You never said how much stronger."
"With the right strategy, you might be able to eliminate the youngest Special Grade…
But the more likely outcome is mutual destruction.
And even if you truly manage to kill one, the other Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerers will move in and wipe you out."
"Besides, some Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerers specialize in extreme mobility. If anything, you're the ones more likely to be picked off one by one."
"So what's your plan? Don't tell me you're just here to lecture us again with those baseless ideas of yours."
Seeing not only Jogo but the other Cursed Spirits turn to stare at her, Kenjaku let out a soft chuckle.
"Of course I have a plan…"
"You mean that Ryomen Sukuna you keep bringing up? The one whose body can't even be found? Even if he's revived, so what? He might not even be stronger than me…"
Kenjaku looked at Jogo's inexplicable confidence with a faint, ambiguous smile.
"There are twenty Special Grade Cursed Objects needed to revive Sukuna. Being generous, you'd amount to eight or nine fingers at most.
To make it clearer, let me give you an example. The Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerer, Akira Zenin…"
Jogo narrowed his eyes.
"What about him?"
"According to my information, his Cursed Energy increases dramatically every year. Roughly doubles."
Kenjaku lowered her gaze, recalling the spies who had turned to ash in a certain "Thunderstorm Incident."
"Let's assume that at sixteen, his Cursed Energy was equivalent to one of Sukuna's fingers. Now he's twenty-six. How much Cursed Energy do you think he has?"
Kōkyū, who had been digging nearby, answered immediately:
"Over a thousand…"
Jogo's pupils shrank sharply.
He ran the comparison through his magma-filled head, measuring the gap between them. After a long moment, he finally spoke.
"So… if what you're saying is true, there are four more monsters like that?"
Kenjaku neither nodded nor shook her head. She simply watched him in silence.
Under that steady gaze, Jogo grew irritated.
"If that's really the case, how are we supposed to achieve our goal?"
A strange smile spread across Kenjaku's face.
"Comparing raw strength alone, your objective is indeed impossible. You could even call it a completely one-sided situation.
But within advantage lies disadvantage, and within disadvantage lies advantage.
In the midst of overwhelming odds, there is always a turning point."
Kenjaku stood and began to circle the group of Cursed Spirits slowly.
"You Cursed Spirits have lived in constant battle, your minds always sharp. Many Jujutsu Sorcerers, however, have grown complacent under the protection of Special Grade sorcerers.
My sharpness against their complacency.
That is the first advantage.
You may be Cursed Spirits, but you share a single purpose. The Jujutsu Sorcerers, on the other hand, are divided by personal interests, constantly scheming against one another and draining their own strength.
Our unity against their internal friction.
That is the second advantage.
You gather together for one reason only: to accomplish your goal. The Jujutsu Sorcerers must constantly eliminate curses, stretched thin and unable to disengage.
Our focus against their overextension.
That is the third advantage.
And though the Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerers are immensely powerful, most of their techniques are wide in scope and highly destructive. When they act, collateral damage is almost inevitable.
So we simply choose battlefields crowded with people. That way, they won't be able to fight at full power.
Advance when possible. Withdraw when necessary.
That is the fourth advantage."
Kenjaku came to a stop.
She glanced at Saishū, then at Mahito. Finally, her gaze settled on the Cursed Spirit that resembled a doll adorned with pure white wings.
"With these four advantages, and a few special methods of our own, all we need is some light reconnaissance.
Then we wait, conserve our strength, and strike when the time is right."