"You've figured something out, haven't you?"
Noticing the brief flash in Mukuro's eyes, Mei Mei calmly sat down on a nearby stone block and spoke.
They had known each other for over twenty years, and she prided herself on understanding Nanami and Mukuro better than anyone. A tiny shift in his expression was enough for her to guess what was on his mind.
"More or less. Let's test it first."
Mukuro lightly tapped the ground with his right foot and flicked upward. The floor tile shattered at once, and a fragment rose into the air before shooting toward the curtain.
Crackle! Boom!
The moment it touched the barrier, it didn't pass through as Utahime and Mei Mei had expected. Just like when Mukuro touched it earlier, lightning-like cursed energy erupted.
A flash of electricity burst outward, followed by a small explosion, and the fragment was reduced to powder.
"Eh? Then that means…"
Utahime's eyes widened. She already had a guess.
"I see. Our opponent's barrier technique is on another level."
Mei Mei had reached the same conclusion, though her expression grew noticeably more serious.
A curtain normally distinguishes civilians, curses, and sorcerers by identifying cursed energy and the way it leaks. Through that method, it selectively blocks whatever target the caster wants to isolate.
But from what had just happened to that piece of tile, this curtain had clearly been set up in the opposite way.
It recognized every source of cursed energy. That was why everyone could move in and out freely. By allowing all beings that possessed cursed energy to pass through, it gained extremely high durability through its binding condition.
In other words, it reverses the usual rule.
By permitting all cursed-energy-bearing life, it becomes a special curtain that blocks anything without cursed energy.
Choosing a pedestrian-only street had likely been meant to hide this. Even if civilians carried something in their hands, their faint cursed energy constantly leaked, so the object was treated as one with them.
But people like the two men from the Fushiguro family had never existed before.
For hundreds, even thousands of years, no sorcerer had developed a curtain like this. It would have been useless.
Which meant its purpose was obvious.
It targeted only two people.
The infamous Twin Tyrants.
"If it were my brother, he might really fall for this and just wait here for someone to break it."
Even with everything laid out so clearly, Mukuro smiled.
"You're not planning to smash it by force, are you? With such a broad binding condition, the curtain's strength must be ridiculous. Even you—"
Utahime hadn't finished speaking before Mukuro moved.
He did not use brute force.
In his right eye, the scarlet pupil turned into the number "5," and a dense black aura surged from it. His entire presence changed as faint, sinister patterns began to crawl across his face.
Then he simply walked forward.
This time, nothing stopped him.
"He's supposed to be a Heavenly Restriction user. What is that presence…?"
The two women looked at each other, disbelief clear in their eyes.
* * *
Meanwhile, inside the curtain, Mukuro had already dismissed the power of the Fifth Path.
"The power of the Human Realm… still as disgusting as ever."
After stepping in, he found the street still crowded. People moved back and forth as usual. They knew something had happened, but since no one had been hurt, there was no real panic.
Mukuro stood quietly within the barrier, yet he couldn't sense a single curse.
"I'm in a hurry. If you want to fight, get out here now. If you don't show yourselves, I'm heading back to Tokyo to help."
His voice wasn't loud, but he knew someone on the enemy side was watching the entrances to this street.
He didn't try to evacuate the crowd first either. Shouting in a place this big wasn't his style. Once the fight started, they would run on their own.
"What is that guy talking about?"
People nearby frowned in confusion and slowly edged away from him. On the noisy street, others taking part in Kyoto's Halloween event were still cheering and shouting, completely unaware that danger had already arrived.
"You are Mukuro Fushiguro?"
Right in front of him, a streetlamp that looked no different from the others suddenly spoke.
It stood up as its shape shifted, turning into a curse with a head like an upside-down flat mushroom. Its tone was calm, almost as if it were trying to make friends.
"Never seen you before. New here?"
Mukuro frowned slightly at the unfamiliar form. He had never seen a curse like this on record. Perhaps because Suguru hadn't died and had grown stronger than before, a new unregistered special grade had appeared.
And it had a unique transformation ability…
His strength was the source of his fearlessness, but the unknown always brought unpredictable variables.
He didn't like that.
"Humans once had countless dreams and fantasies. But in the face of cruel reality, those things slowly lose their color, until one day they are completely forgotten."
The curse spoke in vague, drifting words.
It was born from regret and unwillingness. No one begins life dreaming only of survival, yet for most people survival becomes the final destination. Those beautiful fantasies buried deep in memory give rise to endless loneliness and self-mockery on certain nights.
Those negative emotions were its origin.
"Sorry. I don't get it."
Seeing that many civilians were still casually shopping nearby, a long blade appeared in Mukuro's hand.
Clang!
The sword struck the cursed spirit's chest and produced the sound of metal colliding.
The curse was blasted away, crashing through more than ten streetlamps before finally stopping beside a tree covered in colorful lights.
Sparks and arcs of electricity burst along the path, and the confused bystanders finally screamed and fled.
"I wasn't finished."
The curse crawled out of the wreckage. Under the half-bright, half-dark lighting, a deep slash had appeared on the thick iron plate on its chest. Yet it looked completely unharmed. Instead, its tone carried a hint of annoyance, as if scolding him for attacking without warning.
"Interesting…"
Mukuro paused for a moment, then smiled.
He hadn't used much strength in that swing, but it should have been enough to seriously injure an ordinary special grade. And yet it had failed to break its defense.
That was rare.
"You can't kill me."
The curse walked toward him with complete confidence.
Endless imagination had given it overwhelming transformation ability, devouring power, and extreme durability.
Because once, it had carried the dreams of countless people.
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