Toyokawa Sakiko stepped out of the subway station entrance, and sunlight poured down over her.
She stopped, narrowing her eyes slightly. Her lashes caught the light, edged with fine gold.
Slowly, she raised her right hand and spread her fingers to block the glare.
Light leaked through the gaps, casting broken patches of brightness and shadow across her face.
Sakiko looked up at the sun overhead. Her fingers bent faintly, closing around empty air, as if she wanted to grasp the sun itself.
Around her, people flowed in and out of the subway station.
A tired salaryman in a cheap suit strode past, his tie crooked. A student wearing noise-canceling headphones hurried by, head lowered, fingers tapping rapidly at his phone screen. A housewife carrying an eco-bag trudged forward with heavy steps.
The crowd crossed and interwove, yet not a single person paid the slightest attention to the girl raising her hand in that strange gesture.
Not even a second glance.
In that moment, the warmth and coldness of the real world were laid bare.
To be honest, Sakiko's ability to resist the temptation of power was inseparable from the real world.
Because in the real world, she was still just a powerless girl.
The power she held in the cognitive world could ultimately only be used in the cognitive world.
As for the Potential Avatars that could exert their full strength in reality, they had a strict twenty-four-hour time limit. They were like borrowed power.
Sooner or later, they had to be returned.
Because of that, they did not give Sakiko the feeling that this power truly belonged to her.
It was precisely these undeniable facts that allowed Toyokawa Sakiko to use everyday reality as her anchor.
Footsteps sounded behind her.
Nagasaki Soyo, Kocho Shinobu, and Wakaba Mutsumi walked out from the subway station one after another, climbing the stairs and stepping into the piercing early-autumn sunlight.
Soyo looked at Sakiko, hesitated for a moment, and finally spoke with confusion.
"Xiao Xiang… do we really not need Mutsumi to strengthen herself in the Impression Space?"
Hearing the voice behind her, Sakiko slowly lowered the hand that had been reaching toward the sun.
She turned around, her back to the sunlight and the endless flow of the street. A passing wind lifted the hair near her ear.
She clasped both hands behind her back, leaned forward slightly, and met Soyo's worried gaze with a bright smile.
"For now, let's leave it at that."
Her voice was clear. Her tone was light and casual.
For the time being, Toyokawa Sakiko did not intend to touch the issue of Cursed Spirit Manipulation again.
The two problems before her that required power to solve were her father's Palace and Morinami Minami's Palace.
According to the optimal solution, using Cursed Spirit Manipulation to capture and fuse Shadows in the Impression Space, snowballing their combat power, was undoubtedly the easiest shortcut.
But she wanted to try with their current strength first.
She wanted to see if they could achieve their goals without relying on Cursed Spirit Manipulation.
If she had to find a reason behind that decision, then the reason was fear.
Just now, Sakiko had indeed used reason to resist the temptation of power. She had preserved her clarity and prevented the situation from sliding toward the edge of losing control.
But that had only been this once.
Willpower was a consumable.
And when people faced temptation, they often overestimated their own will.
Even Sakiko herself did not dare swear in her heart that she could, in the future, continue to hold on to this true heart through days and months of temptation that would never stop—and would only grow stronger each time.
It was like an official who had just risen to a high position.
When he had only just taken office, and someone handed him the first envelope stuffed with cash, he might flush with anger, slam the envelope onto the table, and loudly denounce the other party's corruption, refusing the bribe with righteous dignity.
But what did that prove?
It only proved that at that specific point in time, he was an upright person.
Life was not an isolated point.
It was a line stretching across decades.
In the long years that followed, when his power grew greater and greater, when people begging him for favors formed lines, when that envelope appeared again and again, and the stakes inside changed from cash into calligraphy, paintings, real estate, and the futures of his relatives—
When the forms of temptation became more numerous and more hidden, when exchanges of interest made the boundaries of rules increasingly blurry—
Could anyone truly resist every temptation for thirty years without fail?
Perhaps somewhere in this world, saints and great people like that really existed.
But Sakiko understood herself clearly.
She was not such a person.
She had selfishness. She had desires. She knew the flaws of human nature, and she herself was also human.
It was like a bored netizen scrolling through their phone late at night.
When the screen suddenly slid past a video of a scantily dressed, seductive beauty, alarm bells rang in their head. They told themselves they had to get up early tomorrow and could not do anything unnecessary.
They took a deep breath and, with willpower in that one second strong enough to rival the world, forcibly endured the urge to take flight. Gritting their teeth, they swiped to the next video.
At that moment, reason defeated instinct.
They were the victor.
Someone who had escaped vulgar pleasures.
But the algorithm had already calculated their preference from the time they lingered.
What if the next video was another suggestive one?
How should they respond then?
What if ten videos in a row all teased them in different ways?
What if, in the end, they could not hold back and opened the bookmarked webpage while telling themselves, I'll only look once, I definitely won't do anything else?
At the beginning, they had clearly sworn to themselves they absolutely would not take off.
But under constant sensory bombardment, under temptation that kept escalating, could they really keep enduring forever?
It was hard.
Very hard.
At the same time, there was also the issue of one's own position.
Power changed a person's perspective.
Once someone sat in a certain position, the way they looked at the world would warp irreversibly.
Take certain parents in real society.
They might have spent their whole lives at the lower or middle levels of society, ordered around by bosses at work, bowing and scraping before clients and superiors, meek and cautious in public, never tasting even a drop of what was called power.
Before having children, when they saw other parents shouting at their kids, they would feel deep sympathy and swear to their friends and partners:
If I have children in the future, I will absolutely be an enlightened parent. I won't force them. I'll be friends with them. I'll respect their choices.
But after truly having a child, when that life—physically and socially weaker than them, utterly unable to resist—became completely dependent on them, everything changed.
They suddenly discovered that inside this small family, they were the unquestionable absolute ruler.
They could decide the child's schedule, meals, even future.
As long as they glared, raised a hand, or lifted their voice, that tiny life would tremble in fear and submit to their will.
That was the only object in their life over which they could exercise power without obstruction.
So after tasting that power, how many parents did not lose themselves inside that small yet absolute authority?
They began imposing their will in the name of "for your own good."
They controlled their children's friends and hobbies.
They casually looked through diaries.
They used violence and cold violence to suppress resistance.
In the end, they became the very thing they once hated most.
All because they had finally tasted the sweetness of power over someone weaker.
The power Sakiko faced was far greater than control over a child.
Toyokawa Sakiko had always worked hard to nail her anchor firmly into the real world, thinking about problems from the perspective of an ordinary person.
Even if she could resist the temptation of Cursed Spirit Manipulation now, what if she allowed her power to expand without end?
When she truly became stronger and stronger—strong enough to cross the boundary between the cognitive world and the real world, strong enough to reshape the entire real world with her own power—what would happen then?
At that point, how could she guarantee that she would still be the current Toyokawa Sakiko?
How could she guarantee that she would not become like those bottom-level parents who first tasted power, lost in the feeling of control, treating the world kindly instead of doing whatever she wanted?
Human nature could not be tested.
Because human nature could not withstand testing.
That was why she had to cut off this possibility from the source. She decided, at least for now, not to let Wakaba Mutsumi grind endlessly in the Impression Space with Cursed Spirit Manipulation.
She would rather walk more slowly.
She could not casually open Pandora's box and stride into the abyss.
The others reacted differently to Sakiko's decision.
Wakaba Mutsumi stood quietly beside Soyo, merely blinking expressionlessly.
For her, everything followed Toyokawa Sakiko's lead. Naturally, she would not object.
As for Mortis, that carefree little brat had no interest in any of this.
As long as it did not threaten her own existence, she didn't care what Sakiko wanted to do.
Kocho Shinobu, as a Hashira, understood the importance of power.
But she also realized that Sakiko's world was fundamentally different from her Demon Slayer world.
And when she recalled how, for hundreds of years, everyone in the Demon Slayer Corps had devoted themselves single-mindedly to killing demons, like moths flying into a flame—
How, for the sake of killing demons, swordsmen could turn themselves into bait and smile as they walked toward death—
Then recalled herself, wholly consumed by poison, enduring the pain of wisteria toxins day and night—
Now that she had stepped outside and examined it from a bystander's perspective, combining it with what she had experienced these past few days, she could not help wondering:
Is that really normal?
She felt that both she and the entire Demon Slayer Corps had, just as Sakiko said, completely turned into something else.
So she did not suggest that Sakiko make heavy use of Cursed Spirit Manipulation.
Rather, it was Nagasaki Soyo, a pure ordinary person, who had been deeply influenced by the modern law of the jungle and understood the strength and importance of power.
But at the same time, Soyo's eyes had been veiled by the pampered comfort of modern society.
The "law of the jungle" she understood only went as far as grade rankings, business competition, and struggles for speaking power.
She had never truly seen the blood and terror behind that law.
Precisely because she did not understand what Sakiko was afraid of, her practical instincts made her unconsciously wonder why Sakiko would refuse to become stronger.
Even if they used it only in moderation, wouldn't that be fine?
If it could make the coming battle easier, why lock such a trump card away in a drawer?
Soyo opened her mouth, seemingly wanting to persuade her a little more.
But in the end, she swallowed the remaining half of her sentence.
Deep in her heart, she still could not understand Xiao Xiang's self-binding choice at all.
But she respected it.
After clearly expressing that she would not use Cursed Spirit Manipulation, Sakiko turned around.
"Let's go."
She called out lightly.
With her hands behind her back, she walked toward the bus stop not far from the intersection, her steps unhurried and steady.
According to the most efficient plan, she should have entered the seam between the real world and the cognitive world, summoned Gojo Sakiko, and used Limitless and spatial manipulation to take everyone directly to Wakaba Mutsumi's front gate in only a few seconds.
But now, Sakiko intended to use her own feet and public transportation to slowly move toward the target.
She deliberately slowed her pace.
Unlike usual, she did not ignore everything around her. Instead, she lifted her head and let her gaze sweep across the scenery along the way, feeling the life of the city.
The convenience store by the roadside gave a bright ding-dong as its automatic door opened, and the cashier's emotionless "Welcome" drifted out onto the street.
On the wall of a nearby building, a giant electronic screen was playing a seasonal idol group's brainwashing advertisement, the music deafening.
At the crosswalk, dozens of people waited for the glowing green little man to light up.
When they reached the bus stop and waited for several minutes, a bus covered in advertisements stopped before them with a screech of brakes.
The pneumatic doors opened with a long hiss.
Sakiko paid the fare and found a window seat. Soyo, Shinobu, and Mutsumi silently followed, sitting around her.
The bus was packed.
An auntie in the nearby aisle seat carried vegetables she had just bought, the plastic bag rustling with each sway of the vehicle.
An office worker in the front row kept nodding off whenever the bus braked.
Middle schoolers in the back lowered their voices to discuss drop rates in a game.
Sakiko pressed her face lightly against the cool window glass and watched the streetscape slide backward outside.
Feeling the subtle vibration through the glass, the floating sensation in her heart was slowly pulled back down to earth.
What replaced it was a peace she had never felt before.
It was exactly these ordinary, insignificant, even somewhat irritating and trivial things that let her clearly understand who she was.
Even if she had now become a Persona user who had separated from the sea of humanity's collective unconscious, she still could not exist alone outside society.
Because this was what it meant to be human.
A human being was the sum of all social relations.
Once separated from these complicated, trivial everyday things, a person was no longer human, but a wisp of ghostly vapor drifting in the void, destined to be swallowed completely by nothingness.
By the time Toyokawa Sakiko got off the bus, turned through several familiar streets, and once again stood in front of Wakaba Mutsumi's estate, a full forty minutes had passed.
She took a deep breath, then turned to face the three following behind her.
There was still a curve at the corner of her mouth, but the carelessness and ease in her eyes had vanished completely.
What remained was seriousness.
Her gaze swept over each of them in turn.
"Then… we begin."
Nagasaki Soyo hurriedly rummaged through her bag and took out the Will Glasses, quickly setting them on the bridge of her nose.
The instant she put them on, the faint panic and unease on her face were forcibly smoothed away. Her eyes immediately became calm, rational, and serious.
Kocho Shinobu lowered her head in thought for a moment, then also took out the Will Glasses from inside her clothes and put them on, forcibly suppressing the irritation that had been lingering in her heart.
Wakaba Mutsumi looked at Sakiko with a blank, cute expression and nodded.
After confirming that everyone was ready, Toyokawa Sakiko took out her phone, opened the otherworld navigation app, selected Morinami Minami's Palace, and tapped enter.
A ripple-like distortion spread outward from Sakiko's phone.
In an instant, the scene before them twisted violently.
The Wakaba residence, originally filled with modern Japanese style, rapidly expanded and rose. Blue-gray stone bricks grew out of the void, and enormous marble slabs replaced the tiled roof. The hollow iron gate became a heavy, thick brass door.
The walls stretched to both sides. Countless thick Roman columns rose like giant trees, supporting a vast dome.
In only a few breaths, the real-world estate had completely disappeared.
In its place stood a massive museum, filled with eerie extravagance and heavy classical atmosphere.
It crouched silently beneath a dark red sky. Dense and strangely intricate reliefs covered its towering outer walls, so unsettling that a single glance made one physically uncomfortable. The heavy brass doors were tightly shut, emanating a cold aura that rejected all outsiders.
Sakiko lowered her head and checked the otherworld navigation app.
Then her brows lifted slightly.
She noticed that this time, unlike Mutsumi's Palace, the app did not provide a specific name. Nor did it list any rules that needed to be followed.
Instead, just like her father's Palace, it gave no warning before entering the interior.
Toyokawa Sakiko showed no emotional fluctuation. She casually closed the app, darkened the screen, and put the phone back into her pocket.
"Start summoning the avatars."
She spoke softly.
As soon as the words fell, everyone summoned their respective Potential Avatars one after another.
The young Gojo Sakiko, dressed in a black technical-school uniform and round sunglasses, materialized with both hands in her pockets, wearing an arrogant, devil-may-care smile.
Immediately afterward, the fully developed Gojo Sakiko in training clothes appeared as well.
Even standing quietly, both exuded the aura of "throughout heaven and earth, I alone am honored."
Beside Soyo, a horrifying pressure erupted.
Two mature women covered in black curse markings appeared simultaneously. Their faces somewhat resembled Soyo's, yet carried different flavors of older-sister malice.
On the left was Xipi Ryomen Sukuna, wearing a wicked, carefree grin.
On the right was Napi Ryomen Sukuna, with the same expression.
Behind Wakaba Mutsumi, the young Geto Mutsumi with his hair tied in a bun appeared, smiling gently.
Finally came Kocho Shinobu.
However, the instant Shinobu's avatar appeared, the atmosphere fell into a strange pause.
At that moment, as if their hearts were connected, Sakiko's gaze—which had originally been fixed on the door—uncontrollably shifted to the right.
Soyo, who was wearing the Will Glasses and in a state of absolute calm, had the corner of her eye twitch violently.
Even Wakaba Mutsumi, who had remained blank and cute, opened her mouth slightly.
Everyone's gaze gathered, irresistibly, on the newly summoned Stone Hashira Kocho Shinobu.
At the top of a body over two meters tall sat that familiar face: Kocho Shinobu's delicate, petite features and gentle smile. Even the butterfly hair ornament in her hair was perfectly unchanged.
However, beneath that graceful head was an inverted-triangle body comparable to, perhaps even surpassing, that of the Stone Hashira, Himejima Gyomei.
Her shoulders were almost three times wider than a normal person's. Her trapezius muscles rose like two small mountains.
The broad muscles of her back bulged beneath the taut Demon Slayer uniform like a ferocious demon face, seeming to grin with each breath.
Her arms were thicker than buckets, every muscle sharply defined like granite, twisted and brutal. Blue veins bulged beneath the skin, winding like old tree roots.
Her enormous pectoral muscles stretched the uniform as though it might burst at any moment.
Her abdominal muscles were cast like steel. Her waist and legs were as thick and powerful as pillars. Every breath made it feel as though the ground were trembling faintly.
When she stood there silently, the purely physical pressure built from muscle alone almost made it seem like gravity itself had changed.
A single thought flashed through everyone's mind at the same time:
Delicate face.
Tiger back and bear waist.
They had never imagined those two descriptions could exist in such harmony within one person.
Join here to read ahead.
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TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
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Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
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Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 185
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass Volume2/20
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 248
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 230
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 154
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The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 125
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 67
Uma Musume: From Beginner 145
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 85
Uma Musume: I Want All 120
I Can Copy Unique Skills 115
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Supernatural Multiverse 110
My Harem Is Indescribable 100
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 105
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 67
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 105
Still playing traditional Honk 80
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 85
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 78
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 55
Transmigrated as Sukuna 80
Checking In in Demon Slayer 85
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 100
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 85
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 80
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Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 85
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The Gacha Merchant Who Started 80
Honkai's Otherworld? Wait—Who Are You People?! 100
Emiya Shirou, Determined to Slay Every Curse and Evil Spirit 60
The Uma Musume Who Became 60
I'm Definitely Not the King of 80
After Maxing Out Every Class 80
Naruto: I'm Konoha's Local Men 44
Honkai: World Modulation Mode 57
I, the Elden Sword Saint 50
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I, Sakazuki, Won't Go Down Tha 45
From Trilobites to Titans 45
Chainsaw Man: Contracted with 55
DanMachi: My Party Members Are 60
An Anime Heroine Darkened 55
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