Chapter 120: Stage Entry

The first thing Aleph noticed was his body.

"It's the same… a complete replica."

He didn't hesitate to use his elemental sight. In his chest lay a fragmented crystal. It was pitch-black in color.

The next thing he noticed was his clothes. It was none other than the formal 'Fire MOTH' uniform most personnel wore.

"Hm… Indestructible, huh…"

Aleph tried to peer into its composition, only to find out it was made of ordinary materials.

There was, however, something added into it.

Psshk-!

Aleph easily tore a part of its sleeve. Within a blink, it was restored to its prior state.

"It doesn't have any defensive function, but… it's indestructible."

It was similar to his Ratio Technique. It acted more on rules instead of logic. His clothes couldn't be broken down, but every bit of damage done to it passes through Aleph's body. 

In short, it was a normal set of clothes, but indestructible.

Rumble-!

The ground Aleph was standing shook. He was currently on the rooftop of a high-rise building. The building itself almost fell over due to the impact.

"Hm…"

The world in his eyes turned dark blue. No obstructions blocked Aleph's sight as he began receiving countless information about this city.

'Tokyo, Shibuya Ward.'

'My Japanese will work, alright.'

'Curtain.'

'Two familiar people.'

A dozen seconds later, Aleph's vision turned to normal. He closed his eyes and focused on processing the things he learned.

'Shibuya… There was a familiar aura trapped in another dimension. Was that Satoru Gojo? And…'

Rumble-!

Bam-!

A huge explosion occurred not far away from him. The shockwaves sent strong tremors to the ground. Aleph stood still as his eyes narrowed to the scene of destruction. A significant portion of the Shibuya Ward started to get toasted by crimson flames. Several buildings already collapsed, which triggered a chain reaction and caused a few more to do so.

"Eh. That seems to be his full output if I weren't mistaken."

He crossed his arms while watching the fight between two people from a distance. One of them was the 'Ryoumen Sukuna' that killed Kashimo within a minute. The other one was a volcano-headed curse spirit that could turn his surroundings into molten magma.

Nevertheless…

"He wasn't as destructive as a newborn Herrscher."

One had to know that without Anna's deliberate suppression, more than half of the city would've been turned into glaciers in one go. Jogo's 'maximum' output was limited to several city blocks—a ward at best.

Being 'influenced' by Li Shuwen's teachings, Aleph wanted to test something out.

He didn't hold back.

Hum-!

Buzz-!

The entirety of his cursed energy—nearly reaching 5,000 units—was revealed all in one go. It was extremely potent, to the point space itself froze for a moment. The radius of its influence encompassed the entire enclosed ward (Shibuya).

Naturally, it didn't go unnoticed.

Sensing all sorts of cursed techniques momentarily halt, he lightly exhaled. The intended effect that he wanted took place.

"Let's see, who's the first one…"

*****

It was very sudden. An extremely strong cursed energy emerged out of thin air.

The scarred man took a look at the cube in his grasp. He was very positive that the strongest contemporary sorcerer was still inside the cube.

"...Who is it?"

A thousand years.

That was how long this planning took. The scarred man known as "Kenjaku" was about to put his plans into place.

"A foreign sorcerer..?"

It wasn't just him. Everyone who was fighting momentarily stopped.

"...What the hell was that?!"

"..."

The blonde-hair weirdo stopped in his tracks. His mind was taken by the sudden cursed energy that appeared out of thin air.

"Yuta Okkotsu?! But this wasn't supposed to happen..!"

'That's… no, it shouldn't be him.'

The other person, a young man with black hair, denied the claims inwardly.

'Yuta-senpai should be busy with something. Only sensei was here.'

The mission briefings prior to their entry to the curtain-covered Shibuya appeared in his mind. 

The young man was also forced to stop the ritual he was about to begin. His fisted hands made several gestures as a dark shadow crept onto the weirdo.

A huge elephant emerged from it.

Hoo-!

Bam-!

"Ughk! You—!"

It was a domino effect. Be it the independent sorcerers, foreign sorcerers, or anyone else, the first thought in their mind was to run away.

What was told to them was to simply cause chaos. The man who brought them together was responsible for 'sealing' Satoru Gojo.

With his 'seal', they could do what they wanted without the fear of Satoru Gojo showing up and capturing them with zero effort.

Of course, there were people who weren't intimidated by that.

"Tsk, tsk. I wonder who it was."

The man flashed a cocky smile.

"That kid wasn't here, and so was that woman." He muttered before facing the volcano-headed cursed spirit. "Or is it?"

Numerous emotions came to the cursed spirit, Jogo.

'Damn it! This wasn't part of the plan, Kenjaku..!'

When Satoru was sealed, the cursed spirit, Jogo, came to convince the King of Curses to fight for their cause. 

There weren't any other special-grade sorcerers other than Satoru Gojo in their plan!

"Oh? This—"

Sukuna was the first one to notice something off.

Right as the cursed energy source popped off, it disappeared. His senses could not notice anything, but his intuition built through innumerable battles told him something.

Jogo's widened eye glanced at Sukuna. The former was still stuck at the premise of another special-grade sorcerer interfering in their plans.

Only—

Click-!

A crisp sound of a blade being sheathed rang in their radius. The next thing Sukuna saw was the fragmentation of space.

That was right.

It was as if space itself was cut into pieces…!

Tchk-!

Shatter-!

A strong surge of cursed energy originated from Jogo. His dozen meter radius was turned something akin to a shattered mirror. Light itself was displaced as the space was cut down. It formed an illusion of a distorted broken mirror.

BAM-!

The surge of cursed energy finally took place. All the cuts in space were restored as its impact was spread to the ground. It was also at this moment did the sound of air being cut resound.

"Tsk!"

Sukuna looked at his wounded arms. He was pushed back by several dozen meters. He crashed through three buildings before he stopped.

"This bastard..!"

Amidst Jogo's previous place was a cursed spirit cut into pieces. These bits started to turn into purple lights before disappearing completely. A blue-haired man who wore an eccentric overcoat was seen holding a sheathed katana in his hands.

Flutter-!

Sukuna happened to meet his gaze.

Despite the significant distance between them, he still managed to read the man's lips:

"How would you like this to go down, King of Curses?"