Imposter Geto was perplexed to see the barriers come down almost at the same time.
"It shouldn't have been possible to take them down in this short amount of time, not to mention taking them down at the same time."
But, then again, he remembered what the damn woman said to him.
"Well, I have something to do." That was what she said.
'Did that include destroying my barriers?' Imposter Geto was displeased. She didn't mention about wanting to take down the barriers or what she was planning to do after leaving him with the prison realm.
'This is going to be troublesome. Now that barriers are gone, everyone could just rush in. The timing is also much earlier than what I expected. What is she planning?' He couldn't figure out and that made him even more displeased.
'The prison realm can't be moved yet. If it could, I would've left already.' He thought.
--------------
As Itadori's group walked towards the station, they came across numerous mutated humans killing humans left and right. Without a word, the group started to kill the mutated humans.
Megumi summoned his Shikigamis to swiftly end the mutated humans while Itadori punched them with his fist covered in cursed energy.
A few minutes later, they successfully killed all the mutated humans at the scene. Seeing the performances of Megumi and Itadori, Takuma was impressed.
"Let's move forward." Takuma said, leading the way.
With every step, they could see the corpses of civilians killed by Mahito's mutated humans. Itadori clenched his fists as he could only feel guilt and frustration looking at the bodies. Even Megumi was frowning harder at the reminder of how many lives were lost here.
Civilians getting killed by curses were not uncommon, but hundreds of them getting killed in less than an hour was another thing.
"The curses were not leaving. They were killing humans as they lifted the barriers?" Megumi was confused.
"But why would they do that? If they lift the barriers, it's obvious that Jujutsu sorcerers will rush in to save civilians, right ?" Itadori said.
"Unless...there is a trap." Takuma said.
"A trap?" Itadori blinked in confusion.
"A trap for Jujutsu sorcerers who rush in to save the civilians." Megumi replied.
At that moment, Itadori's phone rang.
"Itadori, where are you?!"
Nobara's shaking voice could be heard over the phone.
"Kugisaki? I'm on my way to Shibuya station. Why?"
"You have to sace civiliand quickly in your area and then leave! There are mutated humans! Like a lot of them! They're chasing Jujutsu sorcerers down and killing them." She said, hurriedly.
"Mutated humans? Yes, we know there are mutated humans. Ijichi san said that mutated humans Mahito made were killing civilians and that's the reason we rush in." Itadori rubbed his head.
"No, not that things that look like curses! The mutated humans here look like humans, you remember Riko right? They're like her and I just saw them kill a Grade-1 Jujutsu sorcerer in less than ten seconds!"
"Wait, they killed a Grade-1 Jujutsu sorcerer?" Itadori's voice attracted the other two's attention.
"That's right , and they are now chasing Nitta san and me." Nobara said, breathless. Itadori assumed it was because she was running.
"Where are you? We'll come and meet up with you." Itadori said.
"Near Exit 13."
"Okay, we'll meet up there."
With that, Itadori hang up the phone and shouted, "We have to go to Exit 13 now!"
He was about to run but then saw Megumi and Takuma looking at him as if they were waiting for answers.
"Right, Kugisaki just said there were also human -like curses like Riko and they were killing Jujutsu sorcerers." He paused before hesitantly adding, "She also said she saw them killing a Grade-1 Jujutsu sorcerer in less than ten seconds."
Megumi and Takuma were visibly shocked at the reveal.
"That is happening in Exit 13?"
Takuma questioned.
"I think so. Kugisaki said she and Nitta san was being chased by them and they are now near Exit 13." Itadori answered.
"Then, let's go meet them first." Takuma said.
"But if we all go to Exit 13 first, what about retrieving the prison realm?" Itadori ask with a frown.
"If the curse user who can unleash curses of that caliber to kill Jujutsu sorcerers is there, we definitely can't go there alone. The more Jujutsu sorcerers we have on our side, the better it is." Takuma explained to Itadori.
"That's true." Megumi agreed with a sigh.
"Let's quickly head to Exit 13 then." Itadori said.
On their way to Exit 13, much to their relief, they only encountered Mahito's mutated humans which they dealt with pretty easily.
However, their relief was short-lived as the next moment, four human-like curses appeared and rushed towards them.
"They are the ones Kugisaki mentioned, right?"
Itadori said but he knew it was most likely the case.
"We have no choice. We either have to deal with them or run away which we can't, not with this number of them blocking us from four directions." Takuma said as he looked at the curses which were now starting to block their exits.
"Let's kill them all then!" Itadori said as he clenched his fists and coveted it with cursed energy.
Megumi also swiftly summoned Great Serpant and Nue.
Takuma also got ready by covering his body with cursed energy.
However, as soon as they engaged in battle, they realized how outmatched they were with Takuma being pushed backwards and slammed to the floor by two curses.
The great serpant held one of the curses targetting Takuma while Nue shocked it with electricity. Although the curse was pushed back, it wasn't enough to kill it. Meanwhile, Itadori tried to use black flash to attack another curse. The other two curses started to ambush Takuma again when Megumi and Itadori were dealing with the two curses.
Takuma got up again, his head bleeding and his left hand broken , but it was the least of his worries when two curses practically charged to kill him. He activated his cursed technique, auspicious beast summon, and summoned Reiki, beast number two.
When he was hit by the curses' attack, the water cushion should've protected him but in less than a few seconds, it was destroyed and Takuma was forced to receive the damage. He could feel several ribs were broken and blood gushed out from his mouth.
"Run, Itadori! Fushiguro!" He yelled, slowly forcing himself to get up again to face with the two curses again.
"Find your classmate... and regroup with Nanami san."
After he said that, he started to attract the attention of the other two curses as he saw more curses coming towards them.
"Ino san... what are you doing?"
Itadori shouted.
"Look, there are even more curses coming here so there's no way we all can make it alive." Takuma said before starting to summon Ryu.
"Leave first, Itadori." Megumi said.
"We can't leave him, Fushiguro!" Itadori shouted.
"No, we can't. That's why..I'm doing it. I'm summoning it.." Megumi said.
"What.."
Before Itadori could say anything else, Takuma let out a scream as he was attacked by the numerous curses surrounding him.
'Well, I wonder what Nanami san will think of me if I died like this.' He thought.
And, that was his last thought before taking his last breath.
Just like that, Ino Takuma died.
"Ino san!"
Both Itadori and Megumi shouted almost at the same time. As the curses moved and started coming towards them, they saw Takuma's lifeless, bloodied body on the floor.
And that was the first time Itadori witnessed the death of an ally with his own eyes.
He was just there but he couldn't do anything when the time came. He just stood there arguing with Fushiguro while Ino san distract all those curses so that he and Fushiguro could get away. In the end, Ino san just died and now the curses were coming for them.
Itadori felt helplessness which most of the time he didn't feel. And he realized just how many times he was saved by Nakamura again and again that he seemed to forget how dangerous it could be and how it was likely to lose one's allies in battles. With Nakamura around, they never actually had to worry about losing their own lives or their classmates' lives because no matter how she said she didn't care about the rest of the world, she saved them, healed them from permanent injuries at the end of the day. So, they forgot.
Forgot how it felt to be worried about and they also forgot about the privilege they were receiving from their classmate because all of those never seemed like a big deal for her and which probably wasn't, but they forgot it was how big of a deal for normal Jujutsu sorcerers.
And he remembered how they all jumped to conclusions and treated her a suspect without talking to her carefully or getting to know the whole story. It was true that everything they found practically pointed towards her but when Fushiguro called Gojo sensei, he reminded them of the curse group that had been targeting her and how they could be the ones framing her. Yet, today, when he found out Mahito was not exorcised yet, the first thing he could think of was the possibility of Nakamura lying to them.
'Have we messed up?' He thought.
But, he couldn't think anymore as the curses were already attacking him. Fortunately, Megumi's Nue shocked them with electricity to stall them.
"Itadori! Let's run first!" Megumi said to him after that. He was also not much different from Itadori, questioning his own actions in the past few days after realizing how much Nakamura's presence changed their lives.
He initially wanted to summon Mahoraga to kill the curses but now, he felt like he had to fix a lot of things or find out a lot of things. He couldn't die here, yet.
"Right," Itadori also subconsciously replied.
So, they ran with guilt in their hearts.