English Translation:

The white chamber stays completely silent.

Then the strange figure finally speaks.

Yuki steps forward first, studying the being carefully.

“So… you will not even greet me?”

The creature looks at them calmly.

Everyone immediately realizes who it is.

Master Tengen.

Tengen answers in a quiet voice.

“This is not the first time we have met.”

Yuki narrows her eyes.

“Then why did you seal the Tomb of the Star Corridor earlier?”

Tengen gives a simple answer.

“At that time… I believed you might be working with Kenjaku.”

He pauses briefly.

“I cannot read the human heart.”

Yuki nods slowly.

“Kenjaku…”

She explains to the others.

“The sorcerer who once lived as Noritoshi Kamo… and now controls Geto’s body.”

Yuji suddenly asks something that has been bothering him.

“Tengen-sama… why do you look like this?”

Tengen’s appearance is far from human.

The figure barely resembles a person anymore.

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Tengen explains.

“I may be immortal… but my body still continues to age.”

“After five hundred years, anyone would look like this.”

Then he reveals the real reason.

“Eleven years ago… I failed to merge with the Star Plasma Vessel.”

“That failure accelerated my evolution.”

Now his existence is different.

“My consciousness has spread much further.”

“In a sense… the entire world has become my body.”

Megumi immediately reacts.

“Was there no second Star Plasma Vessel?”

Before Tengen answers, Yuta steps forward.

“More importantly… we want to understand Kenjaku’s objective.”

“And we need to know how to open the Prison Realm.”

Tengen studies them carefully.

“I can explain.”

“But I have one condition.”

He looks at the group.

“Two of you must remain here… and guard my body.”

Maki immediately questions it.

“Guard you?”

“You are immortal. Why would you need protection?”

Yuki crosses her arms.

“You should explain the reason first.”

Tengen nods.

“Very well.”

“Let us start with Kenjaku.”

He explains Kenjaku’s ultimate goal.

“Kenjaku wants the evolution of all people in Japan.”

Megumi responds quickly.

“We have heard that before.”

“But what does it actually mean?”

Tengen explains the problem.

Kenjaku could have tried turning everyone into sorcerers.

But that method required far too much cursed energy.

The energy created by non-sorcerers does not return to sorcerers efficiently.

So Kenjaku chose a different path.

“A far more dangerous method.”

He plans to merge humanity with Tengen.

Yuji looks confused.

“But that should be impossible.”

“You can only merge with the Star Plasma Vessel.”

Tengen nods.

“That was true eleven years ago.”

“But since then… I have evolved.”

Now the situation is different.

“I can potentially merge with other humans as well.”

Choso speaks up.

“But you are only one being.”

“How can you merge with millions?”

Tengen answers calmly.

“My current form is not what it appears.”

“My soul exists everywhere around you.”

“As I said before… the world itself has become my body.”

Anyone who merges with him would become something entirely new.

“A being that is neither human… nor curse.”

But the danger is enormous.

Tengen continues.

“I maintain control through my barrier techniques.”

“But if even one person loses control after merging…”

“The result would be catastrophic.”

Yuki understands immediately.

“Because there would be no limits.”

“Human corruption would spread everywhere.”

The scale becomes terrifying.

The impurity of nearly one hundred million people would spread across the world.

The disaster that happened in Tokyo…

Would happen everywhere.

Yuji asks the obvious question.

“Why would Kenjaku want that?”

Tengen shakes his head slowly.

“I told you before.”

“I cannot read the human heart.”

Maki raises another point.

“Then just refuse the merge.”

But Tengen reveals the real problem.

“My evolution has changed my nature.”

“I am now closer to a cursed spirit than a human.”

That makes him vulnerable to a specific ability.

Cursed Spirit Manipulation.

The same technique Kenjaku currently possesses.

Everyone understands the danger instantly.

Kenjaku could control Tengen.

And once that happens… the world changes forever.

Tengen explains why he needs protection.

“My true body is hidden inside the Tomb of the Star Corridor.”

“My barrier is preventing most people from reaching it.”

But if Kenjaku breaks that barrier…

The result will be immediate.

Yuta realizes something.

“That is why you need guards.”

Tengen nods.

“Yes.”

“Among barrier users… Kenjaku is second only to me.”

“I do not know when he will break the seal.”

Yuki begins thinking about the timeline.

“If Kenjaku planned all this…”

“Why is he acting now?”

Tengen explains the strange connection between fate and sorcerers.

The Star Plasma Vessel.

The Six Eyes.

And Tengen himself.

These three are linked by fate.

In the past, Kenjaku tried interfering with that fate twice.

Both times he lost to a Six Eyes sorcerer.

Then he tried something extreme.

He killed both the Six Eyes user and the Star Plasma Vessel… when they were only one month old.

Yet fate still corrected itself.

On the day of the merging ceremony…

Both appeared again.

Kenjaku realized something.

He could not defeat fate directly.

So he changed his strategy.

Instead of killing them…

He would seal them.

Because two Six Eyes users cannot exist at the same time.

But eleven years ago something unexpected happened.

Toji Fushiguro appeared.

Megumi’s eyes widen at the name.

Toji was different from everyone else.

A man with Heavenly Restriction.

A body with zero cursed energy.

Someone who existed outside fate itself.

He broke the system.

And that event changed everything.

Later, another piece appeared on Kenjaku’s board.

A sorcerer with Cursed Spirit Manipulation.

The body Kenjaku now controls.

With that power… Kenjaku finally had the pieces he needed.

Megumi now understands the purpose of the Culling Game.

“So the Culling Game…”

“It prepares people for the merging.”

Tengen nods.

“That is very likely.”

The ritual uses the cursed energy of players.

And that energy will eventually open the path to the entire world.

Once the ritual reaches its final stage…

Kenjaku will begin the merging with Tengen.

But the ritual also has strict rules.

Kenjaku placed binding vows on the system.

The Culling Game cannot be easily stopped.

Even if Kenjaku dies… the game continues.

The game only ends when every player dies.

Or when players refuse to continue and eventually perish.

Another rule limits interference.

Players can add new rules using one hundred points.

But those rules cannot cause long-term damage to the system.

Megumi immediately realizes the implication.

Yuta finishes the thought.

“Then we have only one option.”

“We must participate.”

They need to collect points.

And create a rule that allows players like Tsumiki to leave the game safely.

But another goal is even more important.

Megumi says it clearly.

“We must free Gojo-sensei.”

“He is the only one who can handle this alone.”

Yuji then asks the immediate question.

“Who will stay here to guard Tengen?”

Two voices answer at once.

“I will stay.”

Yuki.

“And me.”

Choso.

Choso looks directly at Yuji.

“You will need the others during the Culling Game.”

“And if Noritoshi Kamo comes here…”

His eyes harden.

“I will destroy him.”

“For my brothers.”

Yuki also has her own reason.

“I still need to discuss several things with Tengen.”

Tengen accepts their decision.

Then Yuta asks the final question.

“How do we free Gojo Satoru?”

Tengen answers.

“You need the back gate of the Prison Realm.”

Yuki looks surprised.

“I have never heard of that.”

Tengen explains.

“It functions like a secondary entrance.”

Originally, the Prison Realm existed outside his barrier.

Possibly even outside Japan.

To hide its assistant gate, Tengen sealed the back entrance.

But that solution was incomplete.

The gate was still sealed from the inside.

Yuji asks the obvious question.

“If we open it…”

Tengen stops him.

“That is impossible.”

“The back gate can only be opened by someone who holds the front gate.”

Breaking it requires special cursed tools.

One of them was the Inverted Spear of Heaven.

A weapon capable of erasing cursed techniques.

But that weapon was destroyed years ago.

Another option was the Black Rope.

A tool that could disrupt cursed techniques.

But that rope was also destroyed recently.

Megumi looks confused.

“Why would Gojo destroy them?”

Yuta explains quietly.

“I tried searching for the remaining fragments of the Black Rope.”

“But I found nothing.”

For a moment… it seems hopeless.

Then Yuki speaks again.

“But there is another way… right?”

Tengen nods.

“Yes.”

Among the players of the Culling Game…

There is a sorcerer from one thousand years ago.

Someone who calls herself Angel.

Her cursed technique has a special property.

It can extinguish other cursed techniques.

If they find her…

She might be able to open the Prison Realm.

Her name is Hana Kurusu.

And suddenly…

The entire mission becomes clear.