"What?!"
"Intruders in Yorknew City? And they're a First Kill Squad like us?"
Xiang Nan didn't hesitate—he yanked out his phone and called Beishi.
"Wait, you're telling me it's Jogo and Hanami? For real?"
He put the phone on speaker. Beishi's voice came through, full of disbelief.
Yorknew City getting hit by intruders wasn't that surprising.
What was surprising… was that they were storyline characters. Actual cursed spirits.
And what's more—their team had already scored a First Kill Armband.
That alone said a lot. It meant the enemy players weren't pushovers. Just like Xiang Nan's team, they had managed to take down a protagonist in their first round of the Reincarnation Dimension.
In other words—they were extremely dangerous.
"Let's skip the emotions," Xiang Nan cut in coldly. "I know Jujutsu Kaisen, but only some of the characters. I don't fully understand how its power system works. So give me everything—Jogo and Hanami's abilities, their fighting styles, weaknesses, all of it. The more detailed the better."
"Got it."
Beishi pulled himself together, realizing just how serious this was.
Then he began carefully explaining everything he knew about the Jujutsu Kaisen world and its power mechanics, line by line.
After listening for a while, Xiang Nan ended the call.
He looked out toward the burning city, where Jogo was still wreaking havoc. Every second brought more destruction and death. Xiang Nan's eyes were ice-cold.
In terms of sheer firepower, Jogo—being a special-grade cursed spirit—might even be more devastating than Netero.
And that wasn't even a joke.
He hadn't even used Domain Expansion yet, or gone full throttle with his cursed energy. According to Beishi, the damage he caused in the original series—especially during his fight with Sukuna—basically flattened the Shibuya battlefield.
Cursed energy worked a lot like Nen—technical, layered, and complex.
But Xiang Nan wasn't saying Jogo was stronger than Netero. Only that…
Destruction-wise? Jogo was a monster.
"His power," Xiang Nan muttered, "comes from pure spiritual origin. Just like my teammate said—curses born from negative human emotions. That makes their energy simple, even one-dimensional. It doesn't compare to Nen, which combines body and spirit into a much more sophisticated system. If we're talking energy hierarchy, Nen sits above cursed energy. But the real issue is..."
"They're curses," Ilumi interrupted calmly, "manifestations of society's darkness. While we draw from individual willpower. You can't really compare a single person to the entire weight of a world's hatred. Even if cursed energy is technically inferior, the volume they can draw on is ridiculous. That's why their output is so absurd."
Xiang Nan stared at Ilumi, surprised.
Until now, he'd always worked with players—entering world-hopping battles or the Extinction Games with allies.
Even in the chaos at Zaban City, Hisoka never really fought beside him.
But with Ilumi?
This felt like real teamwork.
The difference between players and story characters had never been clearer.
Ilumi had just listened to a phone call—no reincarnator knowledge, no past-world experience—and yet he'd already pieced together the big picture.
If Xiang Nan didn't know better, he'd think Ilumi was another Earth-born player.
"Did I say something wrong?" Ilumi asked when he caught Xiang Nan's look.
"No," Xiang Nan said with a grin. "You nailed it."
For the first time, Xiang Nan felt like he could count on a teammate.
"Even if cursed energy is lower-tier than Nen," he continued, "it's more pure. And they've got sorcerers in their world—some crazy strong ones—who can handle special-grade curses..."
Gojo Satoru came to mind.
"Interesting," Ilumi replied. "Probably just a different environment. Maybe it's a genetic thing. Or maybe their energy system is completely different from Nen's."
He wasn't wrong.
It was a mix of bloodline and raw talent.
Six Eyes.
The reason they hadn't rushed in yet, despite the destruction, was simple—they were still observing.
Watching how cursed energy worked. How it moved. How it reacted.
And Ilumi didn't need explanations. His instincts were already dissecting everything.
This was what traveling across multiverses taught you—how to judge power scaling and energy exchange rates between systems.
"So, bottom line..." Xiang Nan asked, "since you mentioned assimilation earlier—means we can actually hurt them physically, right?"
"Yep."
"Then based on what we've seen, their fire attacks are pretty basic. No technique. They suck at close combat too. I'd bet anything they'd lose to us in hand-to-hand." Ilumi rubbed his chin. "My suggestion? Call the Association's other Hunters. Give them the intel, let them engage, and see what tricks the enemy's hiding."
Xiang Nan had to admit—Ilumi was already fully in the zone.
No hesitation. No rust.
What Ilumi meant was simple—Nen, as a system, was way more detailed and refined than cursed energy.
Nen was versatile. Full of hidden rules and setups.
"From what I can tell," Ilumi added, "the most dangerous one is definitely that fire curse. His energy pool is massive, and the destruction he causes is next-level. And I'm pretty sure this isn't even his final form—he hasn't used Domain Expansion yet."
"Yeah, he's strong," Xiang Nan agreed. "From a Nen-user perspective, his power's nuts. But… he's also weak. He's arrogant, reckless—and worst of all, he doesn't understand how Nen works at all."
He smiled faintly, watching Jogo blaze through the city.
Because Nen isn't just about power or technique.
It's about effects—some of which are absolute. They ignore everything else.
That's what gives Nen the edge.
Cursed energy has similar abilities, sure—but it doesn't match the complexity or brutality of things like Vows and Limitations.
Different systems create different combat mindsets.
Nen users are used to fighting with versatility and caution.
But Jujutsu Kaisen characters aren't used to that level of power variety, so their style and battlefield sense are very different.
It's a background thing.
And Xiang Nan was certain—there were players among the enemy. There had to be.
Normally, info gaps depend on how much each side knows about the other's world. No one should have a total advantage.
But judging by how loud and reckless Jogo was acting—like he didn't even care about staying hidden—it was clear…
Either he and Hanami ignored the main-world intel, or the players never told them anything in the first place.
Then Xiang Nan called the Yorknew team.
The Association Hunters were nearby. They'd seen the cursed spirits already.
But they hadn't moved—because they were waiting.
Chairman Netero had told them to stand by… until Xiang Nan gave the signal.
After all, Xiang Nan was the one from the Nameless Town.
The call connected instantly.
And without missing a beat, Xiang Nan relayed everything he knew about the cursed spirits—Jogo, Hanami, and the entire threat they were about to face.