77 Start of the Culling Games
"Hm... I think its time to put up the rules." Kenjaku said as he looked at the shikigami in front of him.
It is a small light blue colored shikigami with skull-shaped heads, cylinder-shaped bodies, and wings while having black tail with stitches on its forehead like Kenjaku. The shikigami was Kogane. Unlike the other shikigamis, this one was had a network of other selves and each one could transform its shape to its desires. Though not a combat type, they are useful to gather information and relay it.
But this time, it was summoned for one purpose.
"Put up the rules now, Kogane."
"Okay, okay!" The shikigami said as a pannel of light appeared before it and showed the information to Kenjaku.
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.
2. Any player who breaks the previous rule will be subject to cursed technique removal.
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.
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.
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.
"What a truly beautiful masterpiece I have made." Kenjaku said as he stood up looking outside. He was at the top of Tokyo Tower looking down as wind hit his face.
He suddenly started laughing and covered his mouth. "Kekeke! I bet this wind came from Arai in the afterlife. Man I wish I could see your reaction, Geto. Maybe if I killed Miss Mei then you would have awakened and strangle me again. I always did find people's reaction to losing someone they care about amusing. What a shame."
His gaze wandered to the streets where hundreds of people were dying every minute. Now with no Gojo, the cursed spirits were running rampant and with no Isao Arai, the pact he made for the Culling Games could not change for the worst.
The world was now enshrouded with chaos.
"With Gojo sealed and Isao gone, a new age greater than the Heian era. A new age of sorcerer will now begin." His thoughts wandered to the vessel of Sukuna... no, not the vessel, but a living creature he himself had created.
"What are you going to do now, son?"
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Inside one of the houses at Kagoshima, there was a girl who with her classmate had a sleepover at her house. It was nighttime and the girls were all about to go to bed.
"Hey, Eino." The girl said gaining Haibara's attention.
"What is it?" Haibara said as she continued studying.
"I just wanted to ask why you live in such a big house by yourself. Ah, of course you don't need to answer. I was just curious." Her friend noticed halfway that it might of been a rude comment and tried to reassure Haibara of her intention.
Silence was the only thing that they could hear as her friend noticeably gulped in nervousness, but finally Eino dropped her pen and sighed. "My parents died when I was young and my brother had died when I was 10 so I didn't really have the possibility to own a house or live in one by myself. My guardian was the one who brought me here out of Tokyo and bought me this house."
"Your guardian? Where is he? I didn't see him in the house."
"He's always busy. I see him only about two to three times a month." Haibara replied as she smiled softly.
"It's good to see someone who was nice enough to take you in."
"Yeah, yeah it really is."
*Urgh!*
Suddenly, an immense pain came from her head. She grabbed her desk to hold herself and frowned at the pain, but it wasn't going away. This was a pain she had never felt before. It felt like her mind was being split apart, like a part of her was dying.
"Eino?"
"Don't worry, just a little headache." She said before going to the bathroom leaving her concerned friend behind. Eino entered the bathroom and closed the door while hanging on the sink, coughing and vomiting what she had eaten for dinner.
Her eyes turned a glowing green and she saw it in her mirror.
"Arai?" She muttered his name knowing this color of eyes but as soon as she said his name. The glow in her eyes disappeared leaving her baffled at what just happened.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
She was sure that Arai had a hand at what just happened, but she felt a part of herself cut off. As if she had lost a limb. His technique made it so that the two can connect themselves like they were the same person and he would be able to use her technique. This also meant that she would be able to feel the state he was in.
'Don't tell me...' She realized what had just happened.
"Arai... you're not dead, are you?" She muttered as her face lost all color.
Eino could not help but tremble knowing this, she refused to accept it. Someone so strong was now dead, it made her not only sad but frightened. Saddened because he was someone who took care of her and told her the truth about her brother. He was someone that she could call a friend. Frightened because someone so reliable and confident now dead made her unsure of what was to come.
Her frightened state would prove to be in reason as Eino heard screaming outside her house. She ran to her window only to cover her mouth in shock. She saw curse spirits running down the street gobbling up everyone they can see. Devouring any human they could get their nasty hands on.
'Curse spirits?! What is going on? Isn't Jujutsu Tech supposed to take care of this?' She thought and was about to go outside to take care of them but she felt the pull of her shirt and saw her friend putting a finger over their mouth.
"Eino, what are those?" She whispered and pointed to the curse spirits.
"You can see them?" Eino muttered in surprise.
"Of course I can. What are you talking about?"
"Never mind that, stay hidden and don't make any move. I'll be right back." She said before taking a bag and putting it on her back.
Her friend was scared out of her mind and wanted nothing more than go outside. Having her friend with her would be safer but Eino shook off the hold she had on her and opened the door. "Don't tell me you want to go outside! It's too dangerous, just look at the people being eaten. It's the apocalypse."
Eino could only shake her head with a smile and hugged her friend before going. "Don't worry, I'm pretty strong myself."
Clay Manipulation, a technique that utilizes the already existing clay in ones surrounding to their advantage. Their shape, size and firmness can change by the user to their advantage. It is a well rounded technique that is applicable in both long and close range.
But unlike its cousin, Blood Manipulation, this one was much harder to control. Unlike the liquid that is blood, clay is much harder and mostly in the state of solid. Its speed is nowhere near that of piercing blood which is why it isn't that efficient in taking down opponents but restricting their movements.
A user experienced in this like Arai is a great example of what a master can do.
And Eino, who was the original owner of it, held great mastery of it.
She skillfully manipulated the clay that she always held in her clothes and shaped it into a spear.
"Always remember to never show this type of power to the public." She closed her eyes and remembered Arai's words.
'Can't really do that now with so many people dying.' Eino thought before jumping into the battlefield. She twirled the clay spear before stabbing one of the cursed spirits in the head instantly exorcising it.
The cursed spirits surrounding her gained her attention and they stopped their rampage and aimed at her. She dashed to them and started stabbing their bodies with the spear. She may not be strong but these curse spirits were not enough to threaten a sorcerer. They were all low grades and could barely talk.
Still she remained focused and continued exorcising them all.
All had died and the once buffet for curse spirits now turned to a graveyard for them. Though soon their bodies started disappearing and everything was gone.
'That was 10 cursed spirits running in the streets... what is going on? I don't think they are shikigami's due to them not having the same cursed energy. Could they just really be a random event that happened?' She thought suspicious about everything that happened.
Just then as if to answer her thoughts, a new creature appeared before her and floated in the air.
"Heya! I'm Kogane, your personnel servant that'll do everything you want. Well at least to the degree that I am allowed to."
Eino immediately attacked with her spear and thrust it at Kogane who dodged it and appeared behind her.
"Wow be careful! I'm your ally, I'm the one who's keeping track of everything for you."
"A cursed spirit being my ally? It'd be more believable if you said that you were a god." Though now, Eino stopped attacking for a moment wanting to hear out the cursed spirit.
"Welp I'm not really your ally! Just a someone who's monitoring you and keeping track of the points you'll earn to the game that you are in."
"A game?" Eino asked curiously.
Kogane nodded. "Yep, the Culling games. A game where sorcerers from the present and incarnated past sorcerers fight each other in their distinct colonies. You are in the colony of Kagoshima."
Eino was shocked hearing this. Sorcerers from the past now appeared in the present to fight them for a game? This seemed almost like a fantasy like setting. Whoever came up with this idea was cruel and sadistic.
"Are there any rules to this 'game'?" Eino asked.
Kogane answered her by displaying a screen in front of her. This displayed all the rules that were in the Culling Games.
'The hell? I have to kill to get points and if I don't then I'll lose my technique. If I get my technique taken then that's pretty much an automatic death sentence in this environment.'
"Oh and by that way, you have 0 points." Kogane said as he displayed her information showing the 0 points that she had.
"So Cursed Spirits aren't players?" Eino frowned at this new piece of info.
"Nope! They are, just some of them are." Kogane said before disappearing.
"Eino! Are you alright?" Her friend came out of the house and rush over to her.
"I'm fine! Don't worry about me. More importantly, you need to get out of here. Staying here will put you in danger, there are killers running around in this place."
"What are you talking about? I'm just so confused about all of this. What is even going on?"
Eino sighed listening to her friend, people say that ignorance is bliss but now she thanked herself for accepting Arai's deal to let her know the Jujutsu world.
"Look all you need to do is-"
At that moment, Eino felt a disturbance and quickly reacted by using the clay she had to form a shield above her that blocked a projectile nailed into her shield of clay. Upon closer inspection, she found the projectile to be hair formed into a drill.
"So you're capable of using a cursed technique." She heard a voice behind her and saw a blonde woman with black eyes wearing a white and black dress with a skirt. Her outfit seemed more western than Japanese in Eino's eyes.
"Which are you?" The unknown woman asked as she stood still in front of Eino.
"You talking about the era I'm from?" Eino asked nervous about this encounter.
"You asking that gives me my answer. Oh well, sorcerers from this age have all been disappointments and I doubt you'd fare better."
Eino scoffed forming the clay she had into a pair of shortswords. "What is with you people looking down on others, is that some kind of fetish from sorcerers or what."
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{AN: Wait one more chapter.}
