After inflicting a fatal wound on Yoshino Junpei, Sukuna tried to expand his Domain and slaughter everyone here.
But—
"What is this?"
The Domain.
It wouldn’t expand.
"My cursed energy output is perfect."
When he stole Angel’s body, he had sunk Kurusu Hana’s soul.
And yet why.
"No way."
Angel?
That bastard, not yet fully digested, was interfering....
Then it happened.
"Sukunaaaaaa!!!"
Yuji, who had been thought to be down for the count, lunged at Sukuna.
"You still haven’t go..."
-Bam!
With strength and speed beyond expectation, Sukuna’s head snapped back before he could react.
Eyes bloodshot, Yuji relentlessly launched a ferocious assault at Sukuna.
-Bang!Bang!Bang!
Each time he threw a punch, the ground caved in and ominous sounds rang out.
Moving at a speed even Sukuna couldn’t properly respond to, Yuji pressed him without a moment’s respite.
When Yuji caught the fist Sukuna threw to counterattack and twisted his wrist, there was a sickening crunch and the bone shattered.
"Was this brat always this strong?"
Sukuna’s gaze shifted to Kenjaku behind him.
Kenjaku gave a slight smile and said nothing, simply looking back at Sukuna as usual.
"No way."
Even Kenjaku wouldn’t do something that disgusting.
And even if it were true, he had no interest in this brat who had failed to blossom.
For all the good things he’d stuffed himself with, the only things he could still do were kick and punch.
What a boring bastard.
-Slash!
"Ghk!"
He swept his hand and sent out [Dismantle], carving a line across Yuji’s shoulder.
Thrown back by the force of the slash, Yuji caught himself on the ground.
"Huff, huff..."
Yuji gritted his teeth against the pain and glared at Sukuna with wide eyes.
"It’s because of me."
It felt like all of this was his fault.
Because I was born, because I ate Sukuna’s finger.
In the end, it all came to this.
"Because you’re alive, other people die!"
That’s what Mahito had said.
Thinking about it now, it wasn’t entirely wrong.
More than anyone, he knew that simply being alive could trigger a chain of curses.
And yet....
"Why can’t you!! Just live like a normal person!!"
He poured all the emotions surging through him—self-loathing, grief, rage—
onto the monster in front of him.
"Why do you go around scattering misery everywhere!"
Once Culling Game ended, he had planned to die.
He thought that dying together with Sukuna was the role heaven had assigned him.
"I’d rather ask you that. Why are you all so weak?"
Now that even that role had been stolen from him,
"You miserable things, who’d just die if someone poked you, dare to talk about wanting lasting happiness. How ridiculous."
"You....!"
He wanted to kill Sukuna.
As much as he hated himself, he hated that bastard unbearably.
He loathed the one who had given him a role, only to take that role away.
"You should just stay where you are and chew on your misery like it suits you. Don’t go clawing your way upward."
These things were curses, nothing more.
And I... what am I?
A jujutsushi? Sukuna’s vessel? Or a puppet in some vast scheme?
I am....
I am....!
-A tool.
That’s right.
A tool. A tool!
The me who can’t even die as he pleases has no heat or will left in him.
Since this began because of me, I have to bring it to an end too.
-Clack
"Oh?"
I won’t stop.
No matter how many pits he throws me into, I’ll climb back out again and again.
I’ll become a machine that thinks of nothing but killing curses.
"You chew on it too."
The misery called "me."
"Come at me."
At Yuji’s suddenly changed atmosphere, Sukuna snickered.
Had the brat with flowers for a brain finally found his answer?
Maybe this would get a little interesting now.
"Well, there’s no problem."
Even if he couldn’t use a Domain, there was more than enough here to kill the brat.
Yoshino Junpei had already expanded his Domain in the fight with Kashimo just before this.
As long as he watched out for that brat’s approach, crushing everyone’s hopes here into dust would be easy.
-Step
Yuji came striding toward him with a face full of killing intent.
Sukuna extended his hand to shatter him to pieces.
[Dismantle]
-Slashslashslashslash!
Countless slashes flew in succession and butchered Yuji.
For an ordinary jujutsushi, it would have been strange if he hadn’t already been reduced to minced flesh.
And yet—
"!"
The boy’s steps did not stop.
Instead of being driven back by the slashes, he was taking them all on with his body and charging forward.
For some reason, hundreds of [Dismantles] weren’t cutting Itadori Yuji apart at all, only leaving shallow wounds and bouncing off.
"What...? How is he this hard...?"
An absurd physical toughness.
Even as the thought continued, Yuji kept coming straight at him.
Sukuna immediately withdrew [Dismantle] and charged at him to use [Cleave].
"I’ll cut him apart with my own hands."
Just as he moved in to close the distance, an attack came flying at Sukuna from behind.
[Bullet]
Junpei’s snipe, recovered through reversed cursed technique.
"You little....!"
-Ziiiiing!
Before [Bullet] could land, Sukuna twisted his body and fired [Jacob’s Ladder].
The white light fired, erasing the poisonous thorn—one second, that was all it took.
Enough time for Yuji to fully close in on Sukuna.
-Bam!
The full-force iron fist turned Sukuna’s jaw.
Before he could recover, another blow.
-Pow!
-Slash!
Sukuna’s [Dismantle] and Yuji’s fist crossed, pushing each other back.
At the same time the cross counter exploded, Junpei appeared behind him and slammed both fists into Sukuna’s back.
-Crash!
"Junpei!"
"Let’s fight together, Yuji!"
Now it was two against one.
They would end everything here.
As Sukuna stood back up, he wiped his lips with his tongue.
"Do you think one extra body changes anything?"
"You already lost to me once. Showing that slash that erases techniques so early was a mistake."
"Damn brats."
Yoshino Junpei couldn’t respond to the slash that erased techniques.
The longer the fight dragged on, the more it favored him... but with that name-brand bastard joining in, the weight of the battle had definitely changed.
Still, the other jujutsushi over there, the ones who might get back up at any moment, were a little annoying.
Since there happened to be one bastard playing alone over there, maybe he should leave them to him.
"Hey, Kenjaku. You handle the small fry."
"I’d like to, too, but it looks like there’s already someone ahead of me...."
-Bang!
Before Kenjaku could finish, a gunshot rang out and half his arm was blown away.
"Oops."
"Maki-senpai!"
On the rooftop of a building a little way off, Maki was holding a heavy sniper rifle.
The moment she realized Kenjaku was wary of her presence, she fired.
Clicking her tongue, she tossed the sniper rifle aside and jumped down from the building.
-Thud!
"I was wondering where you’d gone. So you were there?"
"Sorry I’m late...!"
Maki had been hit by the slashes too and was bleeding.
Fortunately, her movements didn’t seem badly affected. She flexed her hand a few times, then drew the sword strapped to her back.
"I’ll take Kenjaku. You guys focus on Sukuna."
"Yes!"
"Got it!"
Kenjaku and Sukuna.
If they could focus on one of the two and throw everything at him, that would be ideal, but neither could be left alone.
If they concentrated on Kenjaku, they’d leave an opening for Sukuna; if they focused on Sukuna, Kenjaku would interfere with gravity. So the best option was to defeat them separately.
Having finished their rational allocation of manpower, they split apart and charged their respective targets.
"Hah! Nice!"
With a twisted grin, Sukuna spread his wings and shot up into the sky.
Junpei and Yuji, riding [Mafari], pursued him fiercely.
"Think you can keep up?"
While flying, Sukuna suddenly twisted around and fired off slashes.
"Dragon scales, repulsion, twin meteors."
[Jacob’s Ladder] + [Dismantle]
-Slash!
Just before the slash landed, Junpei canceled [Mafari]’s summon and grabbed Yuji’s hand as they leaped away.
"To fire the slash that erases techniques, the chant for [Jacob’s Ladder] is essential."
Even Sukuna couldn’t freely mix and apply other people’s techniques, so he had put limitations on it.
As long as they watched the activation, ordinary slashes or [Jacob’s Ladder] could be endured just fine.
Of course, for the sake of the "plan," they had to lure him into using it, but now was still the time to keep it hidden.
If Sukuna noticed, or if things went wrong and Junpei got hit instead of [Mafari], it would be a disaster.
[Hwangpan]
Small rays formed from condensed cursed energy clung to the soles of their shoes with a snap.
Yuji, unused to moving through the air, staggered slightly, but quickly found his balance.
Following Junpei’s control, the boys split into two and surrounded Sukuna from front and back in an instant.
-Bam!Thwack!
The two fists flying in from both sides slammed into Sukuna’s face.
Without even a hint of staggering, Sukuna spun in place and kicked them both away.
Of the two who were pushed apart, Sukuna targeted Junpei. Light flashed at his fingertips.
[Jacob’s Ladder]
He meant to release the technique and make him fall.
The moment the fired light struck Junpei and sent him plunging to the ground, Yuji closed in again and clung to Sukuna’s back.
"Brat!"
"Let’s fall together."
-Crrrk!
As Yuji twisted and ripped out one of the wings, Sukuna’s palm touched Yuji’s abdomen.
[Cleave]
-Dudududududu!
An instant slash that butchered whatever it touched.
But Yuji endured even that and sprayed the blood he vomited into Sukuna’s face.
"Tch!"
-Crash!
While Sukuna’s vision was obscured, Yuji had already flipped himself over and climbed on top of him, unleashing a barrage of punches.
Sukuna and Yuji were tangled together, falling through the air.
Only then did Sukuna realize why his slashes weren’t working on Yuji.
"No way, this brat...."
He’s been soaked in my cursed energy, so he’s being treated as the same category as me.
That’s why he’s taking almost no damage from my cursed energy.
As the words implied, Yuji was in a state like a ritual object soaked in Sukuna’s cursed energy.
Since the source of the cursed energy he possessed came from Sukuna, the two of them had the same cursed energy.
Just as he was less affected by his own cursed energy, Yuji had gained an absurd resistance against Sukuna’s technique.
"Damn brat!"
A natural enemy.
The humiliation of being unable to inflict even a proper wound on the brat he had dismissed as uninteresting.
At that moment, the King of Curses truly grew furious at Itadori Yuji.
"Aaaaaah!"
"Bratttt!!"
-Crash!
Shouting as they fell, the two collided with the ground.
The impact of landing broke Yuji’s leg, and Sukuna tossed him aside, only for Junpei to appear in front of him again, loading [Bullet].
"Again?"
This was getting old.
Sukuna trembled at the sensation, as if insects were crawling all over his body.
The moment he prepared to fire the technique-erasing slash again to counter him, a black shape appeared from somewhere and smashed into Sukuna.
-Thud!
Megumi, who had recovered at some point, summoned [Conjured Night] and joined the fray.
Blue light filled Sukuna’s vision as he was sent flying back.
[Jacob’s Ladder]
-Boom!
He fired [Jacob’s Ladder] just before impact to reduce the force, but that wasn’t enough.
The half-burned Sukuna landed on the ground, and the next instant a streak of blood flew toward him.
[Piercing Blood]
Sukuna twisted his head to dodge it, his expression twisting in irritation.
Because all of it was the jujutsu of the jujutsushi he had already worn down before the fight even began.
"So it was you, bitch."
"Caught me?"
Kugisaki Nobara.
While Junpei and Yuji were fighting, she must have been running around busily healing the jujutsushi who had been badly injured.
It was already 6 to 2 now; he didn’t even want to imagine how annoying it would be if that number increased any further.
Priority target: Kugisaki Nobara.
Before she could pull any more nonsense, he would mince her and crush Yoshino Junpei’s soul too.
[Dismantle]
-Slash!
An invisible slash flew toward Nobara as she reached out to touch Todo while he was defenseless.
But did Nobara really act so carelessly without preparing some way to defend herself?
Just before Sukuna’s slash could land, someone inserted himself between her and the slash.
-Slash!
"Nice one, Teacher Kusakabe!"
"I don’t want to do this, but what can I do? I can’t leave it all to you kids..."
In Kusakabe’s simple domain, Sukuna’s slash weakened and was deflected by the sword he drew.
The furrow between Sukuna’s brows deepened, and Nobara gave him a faint smile as if teasing him.
As if to say this still wasn’t over.
"Who do you think I healed first?"
"....!"
Nobara’s reversed cursed technique was excellent, but she didn’t have that much cursed energy.
There was no way she could have healed both of the badly injured people by herself.
Then the culprit was...!
"Okkotsu Yuta!"
The one who should have been buried in the blood puddle was nowhere to be seen.
Okkotsu, now gripping his sword in reverse, was leaping down behind Sukuna.
-Slash!
Even the remaining wing was severed and fell away by the sword strike.
Fallen Angel. The fallen angel.
A truly fitting epithet for Sukuna, who had lost both wings.
"Now!"
Sukuna could no longer fly away.
They pressed him without giving him time to recover with reversed cursed technique.
The moment Okkotsu gave the order, everyone except Kusakabe and Nobara, who had fallen back, and Maki/Mai, who was fighting fiercely with Kenjaku, charged in.
-Slash!
The instant Choso dodged the [Piercing Blood] he fired, Junpei’s [Bullet] pierced through Sukuna’s stomach.
The claws of [Mafari], flying like an arrow, and Megumi, riding atop it, swept their sword across Sukuna’s shoulder.
In just a few seconds, a damage that could not be ignored had piled up on Sukuna’s body.
He was holding on with his monstrous cursed energy and output, but if he failed to seize the offensive chance here, he would be pushed back.
Cursed energy exploded from Sukuna’s body, and dozens of slashes swept the entire area.
-Slashslashslashslashslash!
And Junpei, the only one who endured the slashes and kept closing in through the opening.
As their hands mixed and they exchanged blows, [Mafari], summoned from the air, slammed fiercely into Sukuna’s body.
-Thud!
Sukuna was sent flying and slammed into a wall.
As he prepared [Jacob’s Ladder] to buy time to use reversed cursed technique, Okkotsu’s cursed speech reached his ears.
Don’t move.
Using it on a powerful opponent like Sukuna would bring backlash, but if it created an opening, that was enough.
Behind Okkotsu, who had collapsed coughing up blood from his throat, a figure sprang out and charged at Sukuna.
It was Itadori Yuji, who had received treatment and returned to the battlefield.
"Brat!"
Yuji’s fierce expression had softened a little.
"Thank you, everyone."
I still can’t forgive myself, but you showed me that I’m not fighting alone.
A tool is fine.
As long as I can fulfill my calling.
"I am...."
A jujutsushi.
"Aaaaaah!!"
The fist Yuji threw with all his strength drove into Sukuna’s solar plexus, pinned against the wall.
And in response to that—
[Black Flash]
Black flames bloomed, and suppressed potential was released.
Sukuna had been the source of Itadori Yuji’s talent, but at the same time he was also the shackle binding him.
Because he lurked within him, Itadori Yuji’s inner world had been structured in a heavily repressed way.
Moreover, part of the talent mixed with that special "soul" had still not seen the light of day because it was treated as "identical" to Sukuna himself.
Now that all of that had truly been shattered—
[Cleave]
Itadori Yuji awakened.
-Slashslashslash!
A slash mixed into the strike.
From the spot struck by [Black Flash], lines spread outward and butchered Sukuna’s body.
Not only Sukuna, but even the awakened Itadori Yuji himself was a little startled.
"I...?"
Yuji, who had been frozen blankly, gradually began to show color in his face.
The jujutsushi who had likewise let out cries of triumph charged at Sukuna with one heart.
And then—
"Dragon scales, repulsion, twin meteors."
The King of Curses also truly acknowledged them as worthy opponents.
The speed of his chant and technique transitions suddenly multiplied several times over.
The output leapt upward.
With no trace of ease left, he poured out everything in earnest.
A [binding vow] to pour all remaining cursed energy into a single attack.
Without thinking about what comes after, he would end the battle with this.
[Jacob’s Ladder] + [Dismantle]
The technique-erasing slashes burst out before anyone could react and scattered death everywhere.
"Ghk....."
When the haze of slashes cleared, Sukuna alone remained standing there.
All the jujutsushi who had faced him were laid low, exposed directly to the technique-erasing slashes.
"That was good entertainment."
Kenjaku and Maki/Mai were still fighting, but that level of trouble was no real issue.
These people could no longer stand against him.
"You...."
The only one still more or less intact was Kugisaki Nobara, protected by Kusakabe throwing himself in front of her.
Sukuna slowly crossed over the fallen mass of jujutsushi and approached her.
"Any last words before you die?"
"....."
"Looks like not."
I’ll especially play with you before killing you painfully.
Just as Sukuna reached out toward Nobara, laughter came from somewhere.
"Kuhuhuhu....."
"You were alive?"
It was Yoshino Junpei, with one arm and one eye blown away.
Despite having lost, he was smiling as if everything had gone exactly as intended.
"Ha, you really are strong. So this is your true power?"
"What are you plotting?"
"Nothing much.... Just a little trick."
What trick?
There shouldn’t be anything else he could do here.
In front of the puzzled Sukuna, Junpei slowly opened his mouth.
"Aren’t you forgetting something?"
"What are you talking about."
"The last clause in the contract with the ‘Angel.’"
Release Gojo Satoru from the Prison Realm.
"!"
Chills ran down Sukuna’s spine.
No way.
"Impossible. I stole Angel’s body to break that promise."
Besides, the back side of the Prison Realm wasn’t with Yoshino Junpei.
It should clearly have been stored in Fushiguro Megumi’s shadow...!
As if he had been aiming for this all along, the fallen Megumi also forced his head up and smiled back.
"Well done, Yoshino."
"Ah, thanks to you... If it weren’t for you, we’d have been in serious trouble."
"This still looks like serious trouble to me... but it doesn’t matter. It’ll be over soon."
The two vessel candidates, resonating with each other as they laughed at Sukuna to their hearts’ content, turned their eyes on him.
"Do you know what Fushiguro told me this morning?"
"You bastard...!"
"He said things couldn’t possibly be going this smoothly, and that something was likely to happen to the ‘Angel.’ He told me to keep it safe since there was no way you’d let it be taken."
And the back side of the Prison Realm I had kept safe was stored inside the [Mafari] you just cut apart with that technique-erasing slash.
"He said he hadn’t told anyone else, just in case. Naturally, you, listening from inside Yuji, wouldn’t have known either!"
"Yoshino Junpei!!"
"Hahahahahaha!"
The moment the enraged Sukuna kicked off the ground, an enormous presence approaching from far away was detected.
Kenjaku, distracted by fighting Maki, noticed it too and burst into a helpless laugh.
We dumped him in the Mariana Trench.
He endured the deep sea’s extreme heat and pressure too, and crossed that vast distance in just a few seconds.
"What the hell are you?"
He had wanted to avoid this situation, but what could he do?
Just as no amount of anger can undo what has already happened, an unstoppable disaster arrived.
Someone with clear blue eyes shining broke through the barrier and arrived here in an instant.
"Yo. You all been doing fine without me?"
New Culling Game player.
[Gojo Satoru - 0 points]
The strongest had returned.
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