The bathhouse reeked of death.
Cursed residue still lingered in the walls — static and blind, like it didn't know what killed the source.
Gojo stood at the center of it all, his blindfold pushed up onto his forehead, his Six Eyes burning as they scanned the scene.
"He didn't even get a chance to scream…"Gojo's voice was unusually quiet.
Megumi crouched nearby, studying the body — or what was left of it.
"Takuma was a Grade 1 sorcerer," he said. "This wasn't a cursed spirit. Look at the entry points—every stab was clean. Precise."
Nobara stood by the shattered talismans.
"He was stabbed. Fourteen times. With fourteen different blades."
Gojo sighed.
"And not a single cursed trace. Not even a fingerprint."
Yuji looked around, clearly disturbed.He'd seen brutal before. This… was clinical.
"So, what the hell did this?"
Gojo glanced down at Takuma's wide, terrified eyes.
"Not what," he said, turning toward the window."Who."
He stepped outside, eyes scanning the rooftops.
Sight Beyond Sight.A technique Gojo had once theorized, but no one had ever mastered it.
"This killer wasn't improvising," he muttered. "He had complete vision. He knew every move, every angle."
He thought of the wounds — the fact that each knife was different, each conjured from thin air. A non-sorcerer, maybe, with something else. Something foreign.
Gojo lowered his blindfold again.
"Whoever did this… isn't playing by our rules."
Back inside, Megumi stood up.
"Sir. Why leave the body intact?"
Gojo smirked.
"Because he wanted us to see it."
"A message?"
"No," Gojo said.
"A demonstration".