Jujutsu Kaisen: I have everything I need now!

Chapter 132 Sword Pointing to the Deep Sea

"Boom!"

Before December 1st could think further, the masked general had already struck with his second palm.

He dodged to the side, flipped over through the opening on the fourth floor, spun halfway in mid-air, and landed on the remaining fire escape ladder on the hospital's outer wall.

The masked general did not chase after them.

It stood on the ruins of the fourth floor, head down, the two narrow slits on its mask sweeping across the ruins beneath its feet, as if trying to discern something.

Then it suddenly turned its head and looked in the direction of the parking lot.

By this time, Itadori and Kugizaki had already run to a much farther location.

But that thing only glanced at it before looking away.

It still stands atop the ruins.

On December 1st, he stood on the railing of the fire escape ladder, looking up at the masked general revealing the upper half of the building.

The afternoon light shone on the dark blue armor plates, where black liquid still lingered in the grooves and pits.

The information from the Shadow Core was clear—this thing was currently in a semi-finished state.

It is not an enemy.

But it wasn't a teammate either; at this moment, it wouldn't obey anyone's commands.

On the first day of December, he took a deep breath.

He climbed to the top of the fire ladder and stood at chest level with the masked general.

He could even see the black droplets seeping from the seams of the armor plates from a distance of only a few meters.

Then, the mask turned around.

The dim light from the narrow crevice gathered on him.

"Fu Hei".

He called out to the inside.

The masked general didn't move. But December noticed something moving inside its breastplate—a human-shaped silhouette undulating slightly beneath the dark blue metal layer.

Still conscious.

On the first day of the twelfth month, he placed his right hand on the breastplate of the masked general.

"Buzz"

The vibration of the nail plate traveled from the palm to the shoulder.

The Shadow Core resonated with the shadow within the Masked General. This was an affirmation from a higher level.

The masked general suddenly stopped at that moment.

Its left arm, which had been slowly raised, froze in mid-air. The black liquid on the surface of the armor plate began to recede, being drawn back layer by layer from the outside in into the gaps on the inside of the breastplate.

On the first day of the twelfth month, one can sense the darkness within.

During the brief window of Shadow Core creation, the person was using their last bit of strength to push their spell imprint into the core of the mask.

"Click."

A crisp sound came from underfoot, but December 1st ignored it.

The masked general's body began to shrink.

In a matter of seconds, the dark blue armor plates gathered, overlapped, and reassembled layer by layer, shrinking from a massive body that exceeded the height of the building back to a size of two people.

A dim light flickered through the two narrow slits on the mask.

Then it goes out.

It knelt down on one knee.

The armor plate splits in the middle, opening to both sides like a door.

Fushiguro Megumi was thrown out of there and landed on the pile of rubble, where she remained motionless.

On the first day of December, he jumped down from the fire ladder and squatted down next to him.

Fu Hei's complexion was terrible, his lips almost bloodless. But his breathing was extremely steady.

On the first day of December, he turned his right hand over.

A new mark appeared on his palm—the pattern of a bronze mask, with rough lines and jagged edges.

The subjugation was successful.

"Polygonum cuspidatum!"

On the first day of the twelfth month, he turned around and called out. Two figures from the parking lot were already running towards them.

"He's fine, but his magical power was depleted."

Tiger Staff ran up to him, glanced at Fu Hei on the ground, then at the dark blue armored figure kneeling beside him, and his throat bobbed.

"That thing—"

"His new shikigami."

Tiger Rod opened his mouth, but in the end said nothing, and bent down to carry Fukuro on his back.

As Fukuro lost consciousness, the masked general transformed into a flat shadow, sliding along the ground into the shadow beneath Fukuro's feet without making a sound.

Kugizaki stood a little distance away, watching the shadow disappear, and frowned.

"Let's go." December 1st stood up, dusted off his hands, and said, "It's time to go back."

three days later.

Tokyo, the main campus of the vocational high school.

The lighting in the underground conference room was rather cold, making everyone's faces appear somewhat pale.

Five people sat on either side of the long table. Gojo Satoru leaned back in his chair, sunglasses perched on his nose, looking like he was dozing off. Mai sat next to December 1st, her fingers unconsciously twirling a bullet casing.

On the monitor opposite the table, Yi Gu's face took up most of the screen.

"The Earth Demon's tracking signal completely disappeared forty hours ago. The last location was in the trench near the west coast of South America, and then there was nothing."

The second bone paused for a moment and then the scene changed.

A deep-sea topographic map appeared on the screen. The blue contour lines were densely packed, with a red dot marking the very center.

"But we've located Bazaar."

There was a two-second silence in the conference room.

"The Mariana Trench," Yigu's voice was calm. "Located about ten kilometers north of the Challenger Deep. Its depth exceeds ten thousand meters."

Gojo Satoru tapped his finger on the table.

"Sure?"

"More than 90%. The original remnants of Basha were extracted from the cocoon remains in Okinawa, and the frequency perfectly matched the abnormal deep water temperature in the direction of the Mariana. The ocean currents in that area have shown an abnormal stasis over the past week—the seawater within a radius of 100 meters is completely still."

"Dead water zone," said the first day of December.

"Yes." Yigu nodded. "She hid herself in the deepest part, using her essence to kill all the surrounding water. There was no flow, no temperature change, and to external monitoring methods, she was no different from a stone. But the remnants of the cocoon gave us an anchor point."

Upon hearing this, Zhenyi placed the bullet casing on the table.

"Ten thousand meters deep."

"The water pressure is probably more than a thousand times that on land," Yigu added. "The maximum depth for conventional submersibles is around that level, but that's without considering combat."

Gojo Satoru pushed his sunglasses back.

"Without a bottom line, it should be able to withstand the water pressure."

"How long can you hold out?" December asked, looking at him.

"It depends. If it's just about enduring pressure, holding out for a few hours shouldn't be a problem. But if it also involves fighting—" He tilted his head, "then it depends on how much trouble the other side can cause."

Yi Gu turned a page of information on the other side of the screen.

"Based on current data, it's estimated that Bazaar's current condition is about 30% of her peak. The area she's been in has also shrunk from several kilometers to a few hundred meters. But in her own domain—"

"Fighting the water demon in the water." Kugizaki's voice came from the doorway. She leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed. "That doesn't sound like a good idea."

"We can't delay."

"She's recovering. Every day, the dead water zone expands a little. Once she's made the entire trench her domain, no one will be able to go down there."

Gojo Satoru turned his chair around, facing the ceiling.

Who is going?

"Too many is actually bad," said Yigu. "The core limitation of deep-sea operations is your lack of limits. The more people you bring, the more energy you have to allocate to stress management, and the less energy you have left for combat. Four people is the upper limit."

"The candidate." Gojo Satoru's chair spun around.

"You, the first day of December."

Gojo Satoru stood up and pushed his chair back.

"OK."

He walked to the screen and drew a circle on the red dot with his finger.

"We're leaving in two days. You'll handle the equipment, route, and tactics."

Yi Gu nodded.

The video feed was cut off.

The lights in the conference room seemed to dim a little more. Zhenyi picked up a bullet casing from the table, held it between her fingertips for a moment, and then stuffed it into her pocket.