This ancient building, hidden deep within the mountains, was currently brightly lit.
Inside a meeting room thick with the stench of decay, several elders clad in kariginu sat behind folding screens.
Before them, an assistant supervisor responsible for communications knelt on the ground, trembling.
"Reporting, my lords..."
"The cursed energy signatures at the nuclear power plant have vanished."
The assistant supervisor's voice wavered, whether from fear or the sheer weight of the news itself.
"Vanished?"
A raspy, gloomy voice drifted from behind the screen.
It carried a hint of poorly concealed smugness.
"Did those three special grade cursed spirits vanish, or was it that arrogant brat?"
They didn't even need to ask; they already had the answer in their hearts.
Those were three specially mutated special grade cursed spirits! They even possessed an extremely rare composite domain ability!
Let alone a first-year student without any cursed energy—even Satoru Gojo, hailed as the strongest, would likely have to put in some effort if he didn't use Domain Expansion.
Furthermore, that brat had no cursed energy at all, which meant he couldn't use a domain to counter the sure-hit effect.
In such a desperate situation, his death was guaranteed!
"According to data from the monitoring squad..."
The assistant supervisor swallowed hard and spoke with difficulty.
"All cursed energy signatures... dropped to zero in a single instant."
"In other words, they likely took each other down."
"However, considering the regenerative capabilities of those three special grade cursed spirits and the physical limitations of that brat's mortal body..."
"It can be essentially confirmed that the target is dead."
Upon hearing this conclusion.
The elders behind the screen finally stopped suppressing their emotions.
"Hahahaha!"
A chorus of shrill laughter echoed through the meeting room.
"Good! Very good!"
"This is the price for defying the authority of the General Headquarters!"
"Sword Saint? Genius?"
"In the face of absolute rules and political maneuvering, he's nothing more than a slightly stronger ant!"
One of the elders waved his hand dismissively, lost in his triumph.
"Issue an announcement immediately."
"State that Yoru, a first-year student at Tokyo High, encountered a special grade cursed spirit while on a Grade 1 mission. Due to insufficient strength and defying orders, he caused the mission to fail and was killed in action."
"Also, recover that sword of his."
"A cursed tool of that caliber is far too wasteful to leave with a dead man."
Just as these rotten oranges were celebrating and preparing to divide Yoru's legacy...
Boom—!!!
A thunderous explosion suddenly rang out.
The meeting room door, crafted from century-old agarwood and touted to withstand attacks from Grade 2 cursed spirits, was kicked into splinters!
Countless wood chips flew out like bullets, frightening the kneeling assistant supervisor so badly he collapsed onto the floor.
"Who goes there?!"
"Presumptuous! How dare you barge into the General Headquarters!"
The elders behind the screen paled in shock, shouting in anger one after another.
However.
When the dust settled and the figure standing at the entrance became clear...
All the furious shouting cut off instantly, sounding like ducks being strangled.
A deathly silence fell.
Only heavy footsteps echoed through the cavernous meeting room.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
The youth walked in slowly.
Radioactive dust from the nuclear power plant still clung to him, along with a sickening scent of blood.
But he wasn't wounded.
On the contrary, his presence was more terrifying than ever before!
The left side of his body radiated heat as intense as a scorching sun, causing the air around him to warp.
Yet his right side was wreathed in a cold moonlight that felt like falling into an ice cellar.
The sun and moon shone together!
God and demon in one body!
That terrifying pressure was countless times stronger than those three special grade cursed spirits combined!
"You... you..."
One elder pointed at Yoru, his finger trembling violently as if he had seen a ghost.
"How can you still be alive?!"
"Those were three special grades! And they had a sure-hit domain!"
"You clearly have no cursed energy... How could you possibly..."
Yoru ignored their terror.
He merely cast a cold glance over this group of rotten oranges hiding in their dark corners.
That look was like he was staring at a group of dead men.
"What's wrong?"
"Are you disappointed to see me?"
The corners of Yoru's mouth curled up slightly into a chillingly bone-deep sneer.
Step by step, he walked toward the conference table that symbolized the highest authority in the jujutsu world.
Then, he reached into his pocket and pulled out three objects that were still faintly pulsing—the cores of three special grade cursed spirits!
They still bore a nauseating cursed aura along with that incomparably domineering lunar sword intent.
*Thud!*
Yoru tossed them casually.
The three cores were thrown onto the table like trash.
Though the motion was light...
The terrifying power contained within the cores erupted the moment they touched the surface.
*Crack!*
*Boom!*
That priceless mahogany conference table actually disintegrated into powder in an instant!
The higher-ups sitting behind the table were sent tumbling by the shockwave, looking utterly pathetic.
"Is this the 'accident' you so carefully prepared?"
Yoru looked down at the elders sprawling on the floor.
His hand slowly rested on the hilt of the blade at his waist.
With a light nudge of his thumb...
A section of the jet-black blade was revealed.
Even though it wasn't fully unsheathed, that piercing killing intent had already plummeted the temperature of the meeting room to the freezing point!
"You've truly disappointed me."
"If this is all the General Headquarters is capable of..."
"Then I don't think this rotten institution needs to exist anymore."
"Wouldn't you agree?"