The city was on fire—literally. A scorching inferno devoured everything in sight. Charred corpses and scattered bones littered the scorched, ruined landscape.
In the distance, beyond the reach of the flames, you could still hear the survivors—screaming, sobbing, wailing in agony.
"Tch… Humans. Doesn't matter where you go, they're all the same."
A single-eyed creature stood on the red-hot, molten ground—once a street, now unrecognizable. His face was nothing like a human's, shaped more like the spout of a watering can. He watched the fleeing silhouettes with a cold, contemptuous gaze, disgust written all over his face.
Despite his monstrous appearance, he wore a yellow half-cape and dressed like a regular person. He casually picked at his ear as he spoke, completely unfazed.
Behind him walked another inhuman figure. His voice was calm—oddly gentle.
"They're still not back? Huh… this place doesn't look much different from our own world."
This one was tall and muscular, his skin deathly pale. He was shirtless, covered in dark markings, and antler-like branches jutted from his empty eye sockets.
"Tch… Don't you think they're being a little too careful? What—are they scared there's another Satoru Gojo here?"
The first one let out a mocking snort.
These two weren't ordinary monsters. No—these were Special Grade Cursed Spirits: Jogo and Hanami, straight out of Jujutsu Kaisen.
Just then, three more strange-looking figures appeared—just as bizarre and clearly not human.
Three in total.
But these weren't natural cursed spirits. They were players—humans who had entered the Jujutsu Kaisen world and taken on cursed spirit forms.
"Didn't we agree—no flashy moves yet? You're making way too much noise. You'll draw the enemy straight to us."
One of them—humanoid in shape with yellowish skin and pitch-black liquid swirling in his hollow eye sockets—glared at Jogo, then glanced around at the burning ruins with visible frustration.
"Huh?"
Jogo's eye flared wide, blood vessels surfacing as his voice dropped low and threatening.
"If the mission's already confirmed, then why waste time? Better to let them come to us. I'm helping you here. Understand? I've got no interest in wandering around this dump. Focus on finding something—anything—that can deal with Gojo. That's what actually matters. Otherwise, with your sorry level of power, what makes you think you're even worthy of tagging along?"
The three cursed spirit players exchanged uneasy looks but said nothing.
"Any leads?" Jogo asked, his tone easing slightly. He knew they were critical to the mission.
"I did some digging. We're in Yorknew City—the world of Hunter × Hunter," one of them replied.
"Hunter × Hunter, huh?"
"Yeah. Timeline-wise, we're right at the end of the Yorknew arc. The month-long underground auction ends today. This is the final day."
"Tch… so we're really in Hunter now? Great. That's gonna be messy…"
"Can you two cut the cryptic talk?" Jogo snapped. "Just tell me—did you find what we need or not?"
"We did."
The yellow-skinned one continued, "This world has quite a few things that could threaten—or even kill—Gojo. One is the power system itself: Nen."
That got Jogo's attention.
"But here's the issue: as cursed spirits, we're not compatible with Nen. Even if we complete the mission, we can't use it. Nen is pure life force, developed through both body and spirit. A jujutsu sorcerer might be able to learn it… but not us."
He saw Jogo's expression darken again, so he quickly added, "However, while we can't learn Nen, we can use things from this world to kill Gojo. First up: the assassin family, Zoldyck. One of them has a rule-based wish ability—meet their conditions, and they can grant literally anything. Then there's this world's governing force—the V5—basically a global council. They've got their hands on a 'catastrophe' from a forbidden zone. Something like that might just do the trick."
Sure enough, Jogo's expression eased.
"Then quit wasting time. Finish the mission. Then go find what you were talking about."
With hands behind his back, Jogo strolled off with Hanami. Only when they were gone did the yellow-skinned player wipe the sweat off his brow.
"…You do realize how dangerous those things are, right?" one of the other cursed spirit players muttered. "Forget bringing them back—if we even see them, we might not survive. The Five Calamities alone… I mean, we're cursed spirits. Our nature's different from humans, so those disasters might not even affect us. But that thing in the Zoldyck family? That thing could wipe us out effortlessly. And the V5 definitely has a ton of powerful Nen users."
This one clearly knew his Hunter lore—and he wasn't feeling confident.
"Now's not the time to think about that," the yellow-skinned one whispered. "We just need to keep Jogo and Hanami under control until the mission's done. After that…"
"…You're thinking of using Hunter × Hunter's power to take them out?"
The other one's eyes lit up. "You think that could work?"
"Worth trying. Kenjaku's not here. He doesn't know what's going on in other worlds. If we keep letting them boss us around, we're nothing but tools. Forget ever being free."
"But knowing Kenjaku and Mahito… even if we pull this off, they won't believe us. And if we screw it up? You know what happens."
"…"
"Hey! What's taking you two so long? Get moving!"
Jogo turned his head and shot them a cold glare. The two cursed spirit players immediately quickened their pace.
…
Oh no… it's really him.
Under the night sky, far away on a rooftop, Xiang Nan finally spotted the intruders.
The guy was walking straight through the ruins like he owned the place—buildings burning, bodies scattered—and still going. No attempt to hide. No stealth. Just raw destruction.
It was like he wanted everyone to know something had gone horribly wrong here.
Xiang Nan made a circle with his fingers and held it to his eye, scanning the scene.
He hadn't watched a lot of anime, but even he recognized those faces. Some of them were iconic—characters he'd seen before, even if only from random videos back in his old life.
Jogo. Hanami. Special Grade Cursed Spirits from Jujutsu Kaisen.
For characters like that to appear in the Hunter universe, there was only one explanation: the enemy squad, like his, was a first-kill team. They had the right to carry story characters between worlds.
"So that means… this invading squad is probably the only one. Five people total," Xiang Nan murmured, narrowing his eyes and lowering his hand. Then he turned to the person beside him—Illumi Zoldyck.
"Can you see them?"
"Yeah. They're not human—more like energy-based entities. But there's definitely something like Nen flowing through them. It's not alive, though—no physical vitality. It's pure spirit. And it feels extremely dangerous," Illumi replied calmly.
Xiang Nan let out a breath. "Good. As long as you can see them."
Because ordinary humans couldn't see cursed spirits.
"Dangerous doesn't even begin to describe it. They're a full-blown disaster."
He took a deep breath. In this multiverse system, when players enter another world, their bodies and powers get partially integrated into the host world. Even if power systems differ, they still affect each other.
But that integration isn't perfect.
Take cursed spirits—if most people can't even see them, then normal armies and firepower won't do a damn thing.
They're practically immune.
Only Nen users stand a chance.
"You're not gonna make a move?" Illumi asked, glancing sideways at Xiang Nan.
One of the cursed spirits was still tearing through Yorknew City, burning everything in his path. Streets, buildings—nothing was safe.
Yeah… this was getting way out of hand.