Kenzo walked down some stairs with Yuta following behind him.
"How do you know this is the right way?" Yuta asked, to which Kenzo replied, "I left my shadow soldiers on basically everyone, and they're currently leading me to them." He said it nonchalantly, as if it were a routine.
"That seems very useful," Yuta added, and Kenzo just nodded, saying, "Yeah, just like a majority of my abilities."
"Anyway, how was your training overseas?" Kenzo inquired. Yuta responded, "It was decent, nothing to brag about."
"What about the food?" Kenzo asked, to which Yuta replied with a smile, "It was fantastic."
Kenzo arrived in front of a door, which he opened. Stepping inside, he found Yuki sitting on the couch and Maki looking a bit burned, but nothing too severe. Yuki greeted them with a nod as they entered the room.
"Hey, Kenzo, Yuta. Took you guys long enough," Yuki said, her tone a mix of nonchalance and amusement.
"What happened to you?" Kenzo asked as he approached Maki, inspecting the burns on her skin.
"I had worse," Maki replied, her demeanor reflecting a resilient spirit.
"She's pretty tough. Her resilience is the reason she survived; even reverse curse techniques wouldn't fully heal that. It will leave a scar," Yuki added, offering an explanation.
"I can fix that if you want, really. It's just a burn," Kenzo said, reaching out and gently holding Maki's cheek. The room fell into a brief silence as Maki considered the offer, her expression thoughtful.
"Actually, I would rather keep the scars. It would be a reminder for me not to let my guard down," Maki added. Kenzo smiled in response, saying, "It's your decision."
Yuta stood there in the room, looking rather stunned. Wait, what? Was Maki-senpai dating Kenzo? Did he miss an episode or something?
Kenzo turned towards Yuki and asked, "Where's Yuji?"
"He's with that brown-haired girl," Yuki replied with a smile on her face.
"Oh yeah, last time we met, you talked about something... Tengen. So when do you plan on actually meeting him?" Kenzo asked nonchalantly.
"I don't know," Yuki replied.
Kenzo stood in silence for a moment, absorbing her words. "Tengen made this place to be a maze, so he can't be found unless he wants to be found," Yuki added, shrugging her shoulders.
Unfazed, Kenzo spread his senses far and wide, locating the hivemind, and then teleported everyone in the room along with him to a white space that seemed devoid of anything.
"Oh, neat. You can teleport," Yuki remarked nonchalantly.
"I can. So where is he? I teleported past all the traps straight to the source," Kenzo stated.
"Actually its a she but Tengen is rejecting us. I may have been a bit too optimistic," Yuki admitted.
"Then let's head back," Yuta suggested.
Suddenly, a voice echoed in the room, saying, "Leaving so soon? It's a pleasure to meet you all—Child of the Zenin, Michizane descendant, and shadow monarch."
Kenzo turned his head to locate the source of the voice, only to be met by what seemed to be an overgrown thumb. Was this Tengen? and how was this a woman...the heck.
"Don't I get a hello, Tengen?" Yuki said, looking at the overgrown thumb.
"This isn't the first time we've met, Yuki Tsukumo," the thumb replied.
While Yuki and the thumb engaged in conversation, Kenzo found himself mentally asking how Tengen had become a thumb. The unusual situation didn't seem to faze Yuki, who continued to interact with Tengen.
Tengen then revealed a crucial piece of information – the name of the sorcerer who took over Geto's body was a man named Kenjaku.
"So, Tengen, do you know how to get Satoru out of his seal?" Kenzo asked nonchalantly, hands in his pockets.
"Yes, I do, and I'll reveal it under one condition," Tengen responded. "Kenzo Tatsuo, Yuki Tsukumo, Yuta Okkotsu, I need two of you to become my guards."
"We aren't immortal," Yuta added.
"No fair. You haven't told us why we must guard you and for how long," Yuki chimed in, expressing her discontent with the arrangement.
Tengen then dropped the bombshell of Kenjaku wanting to use her to create the merger.....
"Alright from the small knowledge Gojo gave me...arent you only able to fuse with a certain type of people..star plasma vessel or something"Kenzo added with a curious expression to which Tengen opened his mouth and said "Under normal circumstances yes,i would only be able to fuse with one person at a time but due to what happened 12 year ago,its has become possible to fuse me with more than one person"
"Wasnt the issue fixed,didnt another star plasma vessel show up"Yuki added to which Tengen replied.
"No...."
"So..i am guessing that the reason that you like an overgrown thumb is because of you failing to fuse with a star plasma"Kenzo said nonchantly which seemed to earn a laugh from Yuki and restrainined smile from everyone else.
"Yes due to not having merged with Riko, I have evolved into this, a thumb as you so generously described"Tengen added to which Kenzo added
"That still doesnt explain why you need protection"
"Due to the failing of the fusion,i am now more curse than human meaning that i am a target for curse manipulation"Tengen added and those words seem to get everyone under the room under some pressure.
"Considering Kenjaku sorcerer ability,he might just seize me as soon as he see me,that is the reason my main body is refusing to let anyone get close to me"Tengen said to which Yuta replied
"So that why you need guards"
"Yes,after me Kenjaku is the most powerful barrier user in the whole word"Tengen said seriously to which Yuki reply
"Why now"
Tengen then went on huge yapping session about how he and the six eyes are connected by fate but that was until 12 years ago when a man that had broken free from curse energy appear and broke them from destiny and around that time a boy with curse manipulation was also alive.
Then she went on a rampant about the culling game and how everything will be going.....frankly Kenzo was getting bored of this whole spiel.
"So long story short,crazy scientist want to use you for a merger,you dont want that, hunger game happen and if the participant refuse to participate they die in 10 day,did i miss any detail"Kenzo added looking at Tengen.
"No,you have gotten everything"Tengen reply to which Kenzo just from his shadow release,release Mahito.
"I can give you him to guard you,and before you say he is curse and can be targeted by curse manipulation,he is under my control so unless Kenjaku want to see how hot hell is,he cant use his technique on him"Kenzo said with a hand in his pocket.
"Then i volunteer" Yuki said with a smile.
Tengen seem like she wanted to argue but Kenzo,"worse case scenario i teleport to him,i can basically swap with my shadows so is that alright with ya"
"I understand"Tengen added before pulling out something from what seemed to be a black void.
"This is the back of the prison realm,in the only way to open it is by using tools that negate curse energy"Tengen added as he tossed the prison realm at Kenzo who put it in what seemed to be a pocket dimension.
"There is another way right"Yuki said to which Tengen nodded before speaking about a player with that ability.....
Tengen then told us about the rules....
1. Once a player has awakened their cursed technique, they must declare their participation in the Culling Game at the colony of their choice within 19 days.
Players were awakened by Kenjaku at around Midnight on October 31st. This gives players until roughly November 19th to declare their participation.
2. Any player who breaks the previous rule will be subject to cursed technique removal.
Players without cursed techniques aren't at risk of dying from this rule.
3. Non-players who enter a colony become players at the moment of entry and will be considered to have declared participation in the Culling Game.
Civilians already inside a barrier at the start of the game will be given at least one chance to exit safely.
4. Players score points by ending the lives of other players.
5. The point value of a player's life is decided by the game master. As a general rule, sorcerers are worth 5 points and non-sorcerers are worth one point.
Cursed Spirit participants are worth 5 points as well.
6. Excluding the point value of the player's own life, a player can expend 100 points to negotiate with the game master and add a new rule to the game.
Rules cannot be subtracted.
7. In accordance with rule 6, the game master must accept any proposed new rule as long as it doesn't have a long-lasting effect on the game.
8. If a player's score remains the same for 19 days, they will be subject to cursed technique removal.