The death of Jin'ichi Zen'in finally detonated the rage of the remaining squad members. The entire Zen'in clan only boasted four Special Grade 1 Sorcerers: the Clan Head, the Captain of the Hei, Jin'ichi Zen'in, and Ogi Zen'in. Yet, right before their eyes, Mahito had just halved that number. For the Zen'in family, this was tantamount to snapping their very spine; from this moment on, their prestigious standing in the Jujutsu world was perilously crumbling.
The squad members roared in a frenzy, yet they did not attack blindly. They began to run, circling Mahito! Mahito stepped over Jin'ichi's corpse and strolled into the center of the Zen'in courtyard. The remaining members completely surrounded him, maintaining a cautious distance. Everyone was waiting for the perfect opportunity—a window for a guaranteed one-hit kill.
Every sorcerer began running through Mahito's intel in their minds. Despite their fury, they hadn't lost their heads. Quite the opposite: they carried the weight of the dead upon their shoulders. The heavy burden of those lost lives forced them to think desperately, to analyze, and to formulate the exact method to murder Mahito!
Mahito hid half his face beneath his bamboo hat, listening to the guttural roars of the squad. But he didn't even spare them a glance. Instead, his entire focus was fixed on the man standing at the entrance of the Zen'in residential corridor.
"Aren't you coming over, Naoya Zen'in?" Mahito asked.
"You really do know all of our intel," the man at the doorway muttered, his voice dripping with malice. "Just who is it... who dares to use your hands to cripple the Zen'in clan?"
"Even now, you haven't laid your eyes on me. That is the sheer arrogance of the Zen'in clan," Mahito said lightly.
"You're just a mere Cursed Spirit. What gives you the right to demand the Zen'in clan's gaze?" Naoya Zen'in said coldly. "Though our losses are catastrophic, if we secure the merit of executing the legendary Lord of Curses, the Zen'in clan will not fall. To actually dare to waltz through the front gates of the Zen'in estate alone... King of Curses, don't get it twisted. You're the arrogant one!"
Naoya fiercely threw his hand down!
The torrential downpour abruptly shifted, plunging everything into pitch blackness. Shadow Crocodile! A massive expanse of shadows began to expand infinitely, spreading out in the blink of an eye to swallow the entire plaza. The squad members dove into the depths of the shadows. The user of Shadow Crocodile knew that Mahito could reflect direct-attack Cursed Techniques. Instead of using shadow blades directly, he expanded the domain of the shadows entirely, turning his comrades into unseen assassins in the dark.
Mahito's vision was completely robbed. Feeling the vibrations of the heavy raindrops smashing against his hat, he took a leisurely stroll through the empty void. He imagined what kind of attacks would manifest from the darkness, his heart utterly devoid of fear.
Suddenly, his lumbar spine was forced down against his will. A colossal pressure plummeted from the sky, slamming into him like a falling mountain. Heavy Pressure! Mahito strained with everything he had to stand upright, but he couldn't. He felt every muscle and bone in his body groaning and cracking. With every passing second, it felt as though an untamed, rampaging dragon was tearing through his insides, trying to force him to his knees!
Darkness, heavy pressure, and finally... the killing blow!
The raging wind and rain halted for a fraction of a second. Then, the atmosphere began to violently compress, shuddering with the strain. Mahito could tangibly feel the world crying out as something massive took shape. The storm couldn't stop it; lightning shrieked through the black clouds. The infinitely compressed atmosphere, dragging the curtain of rain along with it, forged an invisible blade. A direct-attack Cursed Technique: Ame-no-Habakiri!
The darkness had blinded Mahito, but in that moment, his perception transcended his vision, detecting the terrifying formation of the attack. This invisible blade, carrying the colossal weight of the wind and rain, came crashing down toward his face. Mahito felt as though a heaven-piercing giant was swinging a gargantuan sword—the tip scraping the sky, the hilt buried deep within the earth. The blade's edge covered the entire world.
Ame-no-Habakiri was a blade of Japanese myth, and the Cursed Technique bearing its name unleashed legendary devastation. Mahito faced the tempestuous strike head-on: a high-speed, compressed wind blade nearly thirty meters in diameter!
The domineering blade surged forward, cleaving apart everything in its path. Mahito couldn't help but crack a wide smile, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Now this... this is a true Jujutsu Kaisen!"
Even in the face of lethal danger, Mahito felt an inexplicable, soaring euphoria. Before this, he never knew he possessed the traits of a battle maniac. He reached out his hand. Tool Manipulation! A flash of bright silver abruptly pierced the darkness. Mirokuji Kirigiri snapped back into his grip. Though crushing gravity still weighed him down, he slowly forced himself up, straightening his spine, standing tall like a lone pine against the storm.
Ame-no-Habakiri crashed down. At the final possible microsecond, Mahito swung Kirara.
—Cleaving! Line!
A sharp, ear-piercing screech ripped through the air. A blinding, tangible cut line abruptly manifested upon the massive, invisible blade of compressed atmosphere. At long last, Mirokuji Kirigiri was "complete." She could carve physical, tangible lines onto the formless and the invisible. Nothing could stop her now; she could brand her cleaving lines upon all of creation and slice it apart.
Even though he was facing an invisible blade, when Mahito swung Kirara, he distinctly felt the physical feedback of cutting into something solid. The sensation wasn't like steel against steel; it felt more like hacking into a solid wall. He felt a cascade of sparks erupt as Kirara clashed with Ame-no-Habakiri. Astonishingly, using the cursed sword, he actually cleaved the formless blade in two, using the immense recoil to launch himself backward and escape the area of Heavy Pressure.
Only then did he realize those weren't sparks—it was the condensed rain trapped within the shattering invisible blade. The severed wind blade detonated in a catastrophic explosion, blasting literal tons of water outward in every direction, like a multi-ton firework suddenly going off. Except instead of fire, this firework erupted with violent, crushing water.
Suddenly, a figure appeared soundlessly by Mahito's side, a ferocious fist hurtling toward him. Mahito raised Kirara and violently slashed back, but the attacker vanished into thin air before the blade connected. Mahito only felt a sudden, crushing impact against his spine, the sheer kinetic force sending him flying forward.
—Cursed Technique Release: Utsusemi Leap!
Utsusemi was a traditional Japanese ninja art, utilizing misdirection to achieve something akin to teleportation. The Cursed Technique bearing this name allowed the sorcerer to perform feats far more absurd than any traditional ninja. The user could freely set a starting point and an endpoint, instantaneously folding space between them right before an attack landed. Exploiting this mechanic, the Utsusemi user had appeared at Mahito's side, only to instantly teleport behind him and mercilessly batter his spine.
Mahito stomped hard against the ground to arrest his momentum. His Cursed Energy perception expanded infinitely. The darkness still blinded his eyes, but now, he completely mapped out the movement trajectories of everyone around him. The moment the Utsusemi user reappeared beside him, Kirara swept out in a vicious diagonal slash. But the user vanished again just a hair before contact. The sorcerer repeated the trick, but this time, Mahito didn't take the bait. He hadn't put his full strength into the initial swing; riding the momentum, he violently shifted his grip and slashed backward!
The Mahito of right now could clearly perceive even the trajectories of spatial teleportation!
"Got. You." A sweet, feminine voice suddenly rang out. Mahito's slashing motion froze mid-air.
Strands of silk materialized out of the void, wrapping tightly around Mahito's forearms, biceps, and fingers. Even the hilt of the descending Kirara was tightly bound by layer upon layer of threads. Mahito's perception was pushed to its absolute limits; he could feel practically every single raindrop in the storm. Even swallowed by the abyss, he precisely knew everyone's location and movements. When he got serious, even the Utsusemi user couldn't hide from him. Yet, somehow, he hadn't detected the silk creeping over his own body!
The darkness finally receded. This signaled that the Zen'in sorcerers believed the battle was definitively won. A stunningly beautiful woman materialized outside the main gates of the Zen'in estate—an area of absolute safety. She stood amidst the corpses of the Kukuru Unit, smiling radiantly at Mahito.
"Cursed Technique Release: Fatal Crimson Spider Silk." The woman exhaled softly. "Anything entangled by my spider silk—be it a Jujutsu Sorcerer, a Cursed Spirit, or anything else—will dissolve in venom, just like a man caught by the mythical Jorogumo. The bound prey can only watch helplessly as their own body melts away, leaving not even ash behind... Lord of Curses, even if you can resurrect from the dead, bound by my Fatal Crimson Spider Silk, you're going straight to the shores of the underworld."
True to her word, Mahito realized he couldn't exert any strength in his fingers. He quickly noticed that it wasn't just his sword arm; his waist, neck, forehead, cheeks, chest, hips, and legs were completely wrapped in layer after layer of spider silk. The first things to melt weren't his flesh, but his clothes. His bamboo hat silently slipped off, dissolving into grey ash in mid-air before it even hit the ground.
Mahito couldn't help but marvel out loud. "Controlling shadows to form blades or widely obscure vision. Heavy pressure capable of crushing the human body. Compressing the atmosphere into a massive, invisible blade. Spatial teleportation with free control over the transit path. And spider silk stealthy enough to evade my peak perception, potent enough to melt all creation."
"Add to that Earth and Stone Manipulation, boasting a massive attack range and extreme activation speed. A brawler who mastered the Big Three Families' secret art 'Falling Blossom Emotion' combined with an Iai slash. Blazing fire capable of tearing the earth apart in one strike. And a martial arts technique that chains continuous, unyielding blows to beat an enemy to death without a chance to counter."
"And finally, a Captain who wields the exact same technique as the Head of the Zen'in clan—'Projection Sorcery,' lauded as the fastest Cursed Technique outside of Satoru Gojo."
"Truly worthy of the Hei, the elite sorcerer unit that commands respect throughout the Jujutsu world."
The woman's smile slowly vanished, replaced by a deep frown. "By now, my silk should have dissolved through your skin, flesh, and organs. Before the external silk even showed, your internal organs should have completely melted away. How are you still speaking with so much vitality? Right now... you shouldn't even be able to whimper."
Idle Transfiguration had silently activated. The spider silk had indeed dissolved Mahito's internal organs, but the very second they melted, Idle Transfiguration began simultaneously stitching them back together. Mahito possessed an overwhelming advantage over human sorcerers: he was a Half-Cursed Spirit. While he was human, he was also a Curse. If a human's internal organs were melted, even if healed, it would leave catastrophic lingering damage. But not him. A human couldn't simultaneously dissolve and heal at the exact same time. But he could!
"You shouldn't have dispelled the darkness so early, and you certainly shouldn't have triumphantly declared victory just because you saw your silk wrap around me," Mahito said lightly. "If you want to kill me, you need to wait until the silk has thoroughly melted me down to nothing, leaving absolutely zero trace, before making your little announcements."
The woman's face contorted in horror. "Impossible... your internal organs weren't dissolved at all—!"
"Too late to notice now," Mahito smiled.
—Soul Creation · Kirara Hoshi · Love Rendezvous.
Shadow Crocodile, Heavy Pressure, Ame-no-Habakiri, Utsusemi Leap, and Fatal Crimson Spider Silk. Exactly five. And Mahito had taken every single one of these attacks head-on. All of their Cursed Energy had been recorded, and then—
—Cursed Technique Release!
The spider silk tightly binding Mahito violently snapped. All the threads shot explosively outward from within Mahito's body. These threads, brimming with the woman's Cursed Energy, vanished from Mahito's form in a fraction of a second, homing in on a single unified target: the caster herself!
But the woman didn't panic. She spoke coldly: "Useless."
The spider silk quietly vanished into thin air. If she hadn't known, it would be a different story. But since she was fully aware that Mahito possessed the ability to reflect direct-attack Cursed Energy, she had naturally made preparations. And right now, those preparations paid off. Before the reflection could reach her, she commanded her own silk to auto-dissolve—a feat only the original caster could perform.
Mahito suddenly remembered the conclusion of the Ame-no-Habakiri strike. That high-speed, colossal compressed wind blade didn't maintain its original form to the bitter end; it exploded at the last second. This meant the sorcerer had primed Ame-no-Habakiri to self-destruct the moment it was fired. If Mahito had blindly tried to reflect Ame-no-Habakiri with Love Rendezvous, the caster would have simply detonated the technique prematurely, forcing him to tank the point-blank explosive damage.
...These guys really are carefully observing me. They've been studying me.
"While maintaining your Cursed Reflection technique, you can't use your other abilities, can you? That technique that neutralized Lord Jin'ichi's punches—you can't use it right now, can you?" a squad member suddenly said coldly. "Your intel... we have it completely figured out! Cursed Spirit, as of right now, you have nowhere left to run!"
A crisp sound of footsteps echoed beside Mahito. It was the Utsusemi user. This time, he wasn't using his fists. He drew a shinobi tantō from his kimono sleeve. The moment he materialized, the blade was already thrusting forward!
Mahito violently spun around, Kirara already sweeping out before his rotation was complete. But there was no one in front of him. Utsusemi Leap! Before Mahito even turned, the phantom-like sorcerer had vanished again, and a shinobi tantō viciously pierced right through Mahito's spine.
"Just as we thought. You can only use one technique at a time," the Utsusemi sorcerer loudly declared, broadcasting his analysis. "If you could still use Tool Manipulation, you would have blocked this with that Cursed Tool in your hand. If you still had the defensive technique you used against Lord Jin'ichi, this blade wouldn't have pierced your body. But right now, you are forced to maintain the Cursed Reflection technique to prevent the Fatal Crimson Spider Silk from binding you again."
In the next instant, the Utsusemi sorcerer vanished from Mahito's back and reappeared directly in front of him. He looked up at Mahito, his face plastered with the sheer arrogance of a god looking down on a mortal.
"The match is decided," he coldly decreed the end of the battle.
The remaining members of the Zen'in squad stared at Mahito with icy glares, simultaneously weaving hand signs, ready to unleash hell at a moment's notice.
Mahito took a deep breath. With a single inhalation, the gaping stab wound in his spine completely regenerated at a visible rate. He slowly lowered his stance, drawing all of his perceptive abilities back to his immediate surroundings. He brought Kirara down to his waist. One hand loosely gripped the blade as if holding an invisible scabbard, while his other hand rested lightly on the hilt. Because his grip was so incredibly relaxed, the tip of Kirara had to rest against the ground to support its own weight.
Mahito wasn't using Tool Manipulation. He was perfectly replicating an Iai stance through his own pure physical understanding.
Just as the Utsusemi sorcerer said, right now, he had to rely on Soul Creation to channel other techniques. Although he was getting increasingly adept at hot-swapping techniques mid-combat, the absolute rule remained: he could only use one innate technique at a time. He hadn't broken through that ceiling yet.
They had seen right through it.
They pressed their advance. Even though they had sacrificed the entire Kukuru Unit, two Special Grade 1 Sorcerers, and a Grade 1 Sorcerer—a casualty rate that would have utterly shattered normal soldiers—they did not break. A quiet, burning fury raged in their hearts, but it did not cloud their judgment. They marched forward over the corpses of their comrades, completely devoid of fear.
*Time to retreat.* Anyone with half a brain would think so. But Mahito didn't.
In this very moment, he was wholly submerged in the ecstasy of this Jujutsu Kaisen. His blood was boiling, but the lake of his mind was dead calm, like magma flowing beneath the ocean floor.
Of course he still had a winning hand.
He hadn't explained the true function of Love Rendezvous to a single soul. To everyone here, Love Rendezvous was just a simple direct-attack reflection technique. He did that on purpose. Love Rendezvous utilized five different markers. By taking every single one of their attacks head-on with his own body, he had naturally stamped a marker onto every single one of them.
This meant that these sorcerers could no longer cooperate.
The reason he didn't mark himself was simple—from this moment on, he could force any of them into a one-on-one duel! Was this a 1v5?
No. It was five 1v1s!
Mahito suddenly recalled the sensation of when he first crossed over and became 'Mahito.' When he opened his eyes, he was in a sewer. Filthy water flowed past his feet, the stench of absolute excrement burning his nostrils. He turned his head and looked around; black sludge dripped down the sewer walls. A rat scurried out from the depths of the darkness, and swarms of nameless insects buzzed endlessly over the stagnant water, producing a maddening drone.
He was born from absolute filth.
And now, he was finally going to smash his way out of that sewer.
*Come on, Zen'in clan. Let's use your blood to show the whole world...*
*—I am not some filthy stain for you to wipe away as you please.*
*—I am human!*
Mahito slowly closed his eyes. The roar of the torrential rain faded, eventually vanishing entirely into the void of time. He sank into absolute darkness. Suddenly, a deep, ghostly-blue core materialized within the lake of his mind. Jujutsu Sorcerers did indeed possess something akin to an organ called a Cursed Energy Core. Typically, this resided in a person's dantian. All sorcerers relied on this core to extract Cursed Energy. Only when the Cursed Energy Core perfectly resonated with the sorcerer's mental state could they unleash the legendary Black Flash.
And now, Mahito, as a "Half-Cursed Spirit," had finally laid eyes upon this legendary Cursed Energy Core.
It drifted within the dark expanse of Mahito's mind, emitting a gentle, pulsating glow. Mahito began to sync his breathing. Every time the Cursed Energy Core pulsed, he took a breath. At first, he was forcefully trying to match his breathing to the core's rhythm. But before he knew it, the core's pulse inverted, naturally syncing with Mahito's breath.
In the exact millisecond his breathing and the core's pulse aligned in perfect harmony—Mahito drew his blade.
When Mirokuji Kirigiri was swung, she usually sang with a crisp, clear chime. Normally quiet and demure as a maiden, she roared like a tiger descending the mountain when carving through creation. Yet, in this singular moment, she made absolutely no sound. A faint, almost imperceptible sliver of silver light materialized through the curtain of rain.
A figure abruptly appeared right in front of that imperceptible silver light. The Utsusemi sorcerer's shinobi tantō, meant for a sneak attack, was still tucked inside his sleeve. Without a single sound, his body split into two perfect halves, the cut running diagonally from his left shoulder to his right waist.
"Falling... Blossom Emotion?" the Utsusemi sorcerer uttered blankly, leaving his final words to the world.
His upper half slid off, crashing into the rain-slicked floorboards, while his lower half fell to its knees before finally collapsing.
"How is that possible?! That's Lord Ogi's auto-intercept Iai slash!" the Ame-no-Habakiri user roared, stunned and entirely in disbelief. "Just by seeing it once, this Cursed Spirit managed to learn it?!"
An auto-intercept Iai slash technique. This wasn't an innate technique. It was a universal Cursed Technique application that any sorcerer could potentially master! Right now, Mahito indeed couldn't switch his innate technique, but he could absolutely still use universal Jujutsu. It didn't conflict with his Soul Creation in the slightest.
Mahito slowly turned around, but by the time his body completed the rotation, he was already standing right next to the spider-silk woman. He lightly flicked Kirara. The woman stood perfectly still, like a broken puppet. It wasn't because she didn't react; to her perception, she wasn't even in danger yet.
"I've been waiting for you!" the Shadow Crocodile user bellowed. A pitch-black shadow expanded infinitely, surging to engulf Mahito—or at least, it should have.
The shadow had barely erupted from beneath the user's feet before it slammed into an invisible wall and stopped dead. Love Rendezvous! The marker on the Shadow Crocodile user was incompatible with the marker on the woman; his shadow literally could not approach her vicinity.
The tip of Kirara lightly brushed past the woman's throat. Her eyes widened. She tried to speak, but those words would never leave her lips. She opened her mouth in a daze, fresh blood spilling over her lips. Mahito reached out, wrapped an arm around her waist, and gently lowered her to the ground. The heavy rain washed over her body, soaking her through.
Mahito swung Kirara for the third time. This time, his target was the Heavy Pressure user. The man's reaction speed was phenomenal. Though he didn't understand why the shadow hadn't expanded, he didn't just stand there waiting to die. The moment Mahito materialized before him, he instantly triggered his technique—
"Idiot, don't use your technique! He completely copied Lord Ogi's auto-intercept Iai slash!" the Ame-no-Habakiri user screamed.
But it was too late.
Mahito brushed past the Heavy Pressure user. A thin crimson line bloomed across the man's waist. Only in this final moment did he remember the core mechanic of Ogi Zen'in's Iai slash:
If you engaged in pure, powerless hand-to-hand combat, you might stand a chance. But if you used a Cursed Technique attack, the combination of 'Falling Blossom Emotion' and the Iai slash would strike you down before your attack even manifested. It was the ultimate pre-emptive strike. As long as you were within striking range, no sorcerer could possibly survive.
*I see... So this is why Lord Ogi's innate technique was just a mediocre burst of flames, yet he was still ranked as a Special Grade 1 Sorcerer. Truly formidable, Lord Ogi.* The Heavy Pressure user thought with deep regret. *What a pity... Lord Ogi's very strength became the nourishment for the King of Curses, forging the very blade that will massacre the Zen'in clan.*
The Heavy Pressure user's body split in two, collapsing to the ground, his blood instantly washed away by the heavy rain.
Mahito took a single step. The Shadow Crocodile user's pupils dilated in terror as Mahito bypassed space entirely, appearing directly in front of him. Mahito flicked his wrist. Kirara descended for the fourth time.
By a hair's breadth, the Shadow Crocodile user twisted his body sideways. The tip of Kirara merely grazed his clothes, slicing through his kimono. Mahito's eyes narrowed slightly. The Shadow Crocodile user gasped for air and let out a mocking laugh: "Since I know you copied Lord Ogi's auto-intercept Iai slash, why the hell would I use Cursed Energy to fight you?! Don't make me laugh! Did you think I couldn't fight without Cursed Energy? The sorcerers of the Zen'in clan are masters of both long and close-range combat!"
He whipped out a short blade from his sleeve, dropping into a combat stance. In the very next millisecond, a fist caved his face in. The colossal kinetic impact flattened his features, turning his face into a crater. The overwhelming force launched his body backward like a cannonball, smashing into the courtyard wall of the Zen'in estate with a deafening boom.
"Who said I have to use a sword to kill someone?" Mahito let Kirara hang loosely by his side, turning to face the final sorcerer with a bright smile. "Well? Are you going to run?"
The Ame-no-Habakiri user unconsciously swallowed hard, his eyes darting toward the corridor of the main estate. Naoya Zen'in was standing right there, glaring at the massacre with a pitch-black expression. The very second the Ame-no-Habakiri user looked over, he locked eyes with Naoya's terrifying, murderous glare.
He whipped his head back to face Mahito, letting out a roar of absolute fury. "I would never—"
A flash of silver radiance pierced his vision, blowing right through his brain in a microsecond. In that brief moment when fear caused his focus to drift toward Naoya, Mahito hadn't hesitated for a second; he hurled Kirara like a javelin. The sound of the blade tearing through the torrential storm was completely masked by the rain. The moment the Ame-no-Habakiri user's gaze snapped back, Kirara was already buried between his eyes. He died with his brain pierced before he could even finish his sentence.
Mahito hot-swapped his Soul Creation technique, shifting back to Tool Manipulation. He reached out his hand. Kirara emitted a crisp, chiming ring, almost as if she were annoyed as she pulled herself out of the dead man's skull, lazily flying back into Mahito's grip. Mahito flicked the blade, letting the heavy rain wash away the gore.
He looked up at the final man standing in the Zen'in courtyard and smiled. "Naoya Zen'in... who is the arrogant one now?"
Naoya Zen'in took a deep breath, dropping his stance low into a sprinter's starting position. His face twisted in pure, unadulterated rage as he roared:
"Captain of the Hei!"
"Special Grade 1 Sorcerer!"
"Naoya Zen'in!"
"Coming to claim your head—!!!"