Chapter 180 - Angel — Everyone Assembles

A dull throb of pain radiated from the back of his skull. Megumi Fushiguro opened his eyes and focused on the ceiling. Every muscle in his body ached like his old man had ground him into the floor for three straight days. He braced his palms against the bed and pushed himself upright. His last memories were still anchored in that abandoned arena.

Then the encounter with a Special Grade Sorcerer. A fight to the death. And after that, nothing but the darkness of total exhaustion. Where was he? He needed to assess the situation.

"You're awake, my fated one."

Fushiguro turned his head. Sitting on the windowsill was a young woman with short hair, a pair of wings spread behind her back that were unmistakably not human. Looking at him against the light, eyes carrying a warmth that made his skin crawl. What kind of chuuni line was that? The corner of Fushiguro's eye twitched. He pulled his nerves taut and swept his gaze across the room.

"Megumi! You're finally awake!"

Yuji Itadori burst out from a corner, a bowl of instant noodles in his hands. Standing beside him was a man with an incredibly bizarre half-up hairstyle, grinning at Fushiguro with an inflatable hammer in hand.

"How long was I out?"

Fushiguro ignored the woman on the windowsill and fixed his gaze on Itadori. As long as Itadori was here, the situation hadn't completely collapsed.

"About two days?" Itadori slurped a mouthful of noodles and pointed at the strangely dressed man beside him. "This is Fumihiko Takaba. We ran into him on the street. Then we found you passed out nearby. Thanks to Hana Kurusu, we got you carried up to this apartment."

Hana Kurusu hopped down from the windowsill, wings folding back into the body, and walked up to Fushiguro with both hands pressed together, a faint flush on the cheeks.

"Fushiguro-kun, you might not remember me — but when we were small, you saved my life. From that moment on, I knew you were my fated one."

"Oh oh oh! Childhood friends! A fateful reunion!"

Itadori's eyes lit up beside them. Barely keeping hold of the noodle bowl, gossip instincts burning at full flame. Give me a break. Fushiguro rolled his eyes inwardly. Was now really the time to be getting swept up in a shojo manga plot development?

His old man was out there rampaging through some colony, his sister was still unconscious, Gojo-sensei was still locked in that box, who had the time to talk about fate?

"I don't remember anything from when I was a child."

Fushiguro cut through it without ceremony, tone cold as ice. "More to the point, I have one question. You're 'Angel,' aren't you?"

Hana Kurusu froze. A flicker of unmistakable disappointment crossed those eyes. What a completely oblivious guy. Itadori shook his head beside her.

"That would be me."

A voice rang out, clear and ethereal, wholly distinct from Hana Kurusu's own. Fushiguro narrowed his eyes. The skin on Hana Kurusu's right cheek split open, and a mouth grew from the gap.

That mouth moved: "A pleasure to meet you, descendant of the Zenin Clan."

So that's how it is. The tension in Fushiguro's muscles eased a fraction. A coexistence-type Incarnation. Hana Kurusu hadn't been taken over by an ancient sorcerer. Instead, like Itadori and Sukuna, she had reached some kind of balance.

"You're the one Tengen told us about."

Fushiguro kept his eyes fixed on that mouth and got straight to the point. "Your Cursed Technique can destroy all other techniques. Which means you can undo the Prison Realm's seal, and you can also strip the Incarnation from my sister's body. Is that correct?"

"That is natural. My technique, Jacob's Ladder, can strip and annihilate any Cursed Technique and any Cursed Object."

The mouth on the cheek opened and closed, its tone carrying a clear edge of arrogance. "But this is not without conditions. My purpose is to purify every Incarnate who has transgressed against the natural order of this world."

"You want to kill every ancient sorcerer inside the Culling Game?"

Fushiguro asked. If that was all, there was no real conflict. Those people were all here to kill anyway.

"That is not all." Angel's voice turned cold, laced with bone-deep killing intent. "My most important target is the elimination of the Fallen. Help me find and kill the Fallen, and I will fulfill your conditions."

The Fallen? Fushiguro furrowed his brow. A name he had never heard. He was just about to open his mouth and ask who that was.

"Uh — sorry to interrupt."

Itadori suddenly raised a hand, an odd expression settling over his face. "Could I ask, this 'Fallen'... who exactly is it?"

"A Curse User from a thousand years ago." Angel answered.

The room went quiet. Itadori felt cold sweat break out down his back. A Curse User from a thousand years ago? The one being referred to was... Sukuna, wasn't it? Who happened to be sitting right inside his own stomach. If Angel found out Sukuna was here, Angel would flip on them immediately, one blast of that Jacob's Ladder, right then and there.

Itadori frantically shot Fushiguro a look, eyes working overtime, hand waving wildly in front of his body, pointing at his own stomach. This idiot, the movement is way too obvious! At first Fushiguro had no idea what the guy was playing at. He was just about to ask. Itadori twisted his body frantically, then drew a finger across his own throat. Fushiguro thought it over for a moment.

He understood. Without giving anything away, he shifted half a step and planted himself between Itadori and Hana Kurusu. This had to stay hidden. At least until his sister and Gojo-sensei were rescued, he absolutely could not let Angel find out that Itadori was the Fallen. If it came out, not only would they lose an ally, they'd gain a Special Grade enemy on top of it.

Without his old man here, just Itadori and himself, if a fight broke out right now, all their accumulated points would be wasted for nothing.

"Never heard the name."

Fushiguro lied without flinching, voice perfectly even. "But if it's an ancient cursed being, odds are it's somewhere in one of the colonies. We can help you find it."

"Then we have a deal."

The mouth on Hana Kurusu's cheek closed and disappeared. Kurusu regained full control of the body, and the gaze directed at Fushiguro softened once more. "Any request from Fushiguro-kun, I will absolutely help."

"Then let's not waste time."

Fushiguro ignored that look entirely, turned, and grabbed his jacket. "We're going to get my sister."

"Hold on, Fushiguro! Don't run off just yet!"

Itadori grabbed Fushiguro's arm, half a strand of unswallowed noodles still dangling from his mouth. Fushiguro frowned at him.

"The points are already enough. What time is there to waste?"

"I think just the four of us, with Takaba-san and Kurusu, the risk is too high."

Itadori swallowed the noodles, expression unusually serious. "I just checked Kogane's panel."

"Kogane!" Itadori called out.

A small winged shikigami materialized in midair.

"Look."

Itadori pointed at the leaderboard on the glowing panel. "Master Toji and Hakari-senpai's points combined are already over three hundred."

Fushiguro stared at the numbers, mind running at full speed. That his old man could carve a path of slaughter through a colony wasn't surprising. But what did it mean right now?

"I personally just hit exactly one hundred points — picked them up from Hiromi Higuruma."

Itadori rubbed his nose and flashed a grin. "Since we've got the points, why don't I just add a rule: all players within the Culling Game may communicate across colonies using modern devices. Once communications are restored, we call Master Toji over."

Fushiguro looked at Itadori like he was seeing a stranger.

"Since when did you grow a brain?"

"Hey! I did go through special training, you know!" Itadori protested.

"I have a clear grasp of my own capabilities. Sure, I can go toe to toe with a Special Grade now, but against those ancient freaks from a thousand years ago, I can still end up wrecked. Master Toji is the strongest. Of course having him lead us is the safest play."

The tension inside Fushiguro eased a little. True, if his old man was there, Angel wouldn't dare make a move even if it came out that the Fallen was inside Itadori. That green tyrant of a father. Even if Sukuna woke up right now, he'd be in for a brutal beating, let alone Angel. He'd let concern cloud his thinking.

"Add the rule."

Fushiguro gave a nod.

"Kogane, spend one hundred points to add a rule: all players within the Culling Game may communicate across colonies using modern devices such as mobile phones."

Kogane spun a small circle in the air. "Rule received. Preparing to broadcast to all colonies."

The moment the broadcast rang out, Fushiguro pulled out his phone.

He dialed the contact saved as "Green Gorilla."

The call connected almost instantly.

"Megumi! Did you catch the broadcast?! This is the miracle of youth!"

Wind howling and a massive sonic boom blasted through the receiver. Toji's voice boomed so loud it was almost painful. Fushiguro didn't bother explaining anything to the idiot and went straight to his question.

"Old man. Where are you right now?"

"I'm in Tokyo No. 2 Colony! Just finished stuffing a few ancient sorcerers' heads into concrete! Oh, and Hakari's with me. Where are you? I'm heading over right now!"

"A hotel in Ikebukuro. We found 'Angel.' I'll send you the location."

"Got it! Twenty minutes!"

The call ended. Twenty minutes later.

BOOM!

The floor-to-ceiling window of the hotel's fifth-floor suite was blown apart by a savage wall of force. Glass shards scattered across the floor. A green figure slammed down onto the living room carpet and stomped two deep craters straight into it.

"The Fist of Youth — arriving on time!"

Toji Fushiguro let out a booming laugh, green steam rolling off his entire body, that brilliant set of white teeth gleaming wide. Fushiguro exhaled. No matter what the situation, as long as his old man was here, the sky couldn't fall.

➤ Next: Is This Hell?