Mahito was very happy. So happy that he could finally unleash his emotions freely, instead of being bound by fear and forced to live only in the shadow of Nishida Kagetatsu.
Although he had now become a servant of Demon Head Kijuro and lost absolute freedom, in exchange, Demon Head Kijuro had become his protector, allowing him to escape the confusion of survival and never again feel threatened by others.
Coupled with the mastery of his technique after becoming stronger, Mahito was now confident enough to defeat any human sorcerer except Satoru Gojo and Kagetatsu Nishida. He didn't care if these students suddenly woke up.
More precisely, he wished they would wake up, so the next show would be more interesting.
"Hmm, this is so boring. Should I start by transforming your soul first?"
Mahito was full of boredom and weariness. He grabbed Kugisaki Nobara's wrist with one hand, shaking it as if playing with a lifeless marionette, his fingertips casually stroking the back of her weak, drooping hand.
Suddenly, there was a slight movement behind him. His ears twitched slightly. He casually turned his head, and when he saw the person who had woken up, his eyes instantly lit up, and the loneliness on his face disappeared.
In the next second, he immediately smiled with an exaggerated, bright grin. His voice was as excited as if he had found a new toy, and he waved to greet:
"Hey! Hello~ My name is Mahito! You're Sukuna's vessel, right? I never expected you to wake up first!"
Faced with the noisy, dazzling figure before him, Yuji Itadori slowly rose from the ground, pressing his swollen forehead with one hand, his brows full of chaos and confusion.
Power—an almost infinite amount of cursed energy—surged and roared through his limbs. Along with it came a wave of battle memories, exquisite technique application methods, and strangely familiar fragments, feverishly shattering and intertwining in his consciousness.
What the hell is going on? Why does my head hurt like it's about to explode?
"Hey? Why aren't you saying anything? Let me tell you the good news: Sukuna has disappeared from your body. You don't have to die!"
He had just inherited all the power from his future self, and his heart was filled with surging dull pain and an unfamiliar sense of power. He didn't even bother to look up, let alone pay attention to Mahito before him.
But Mahito didn't mind his coldness. He still stepped forward, chattering meaningless nonsense, his tone full of mockery.
"The only price is that you lost the little finger of your left hand. But don't worry, I'm very kind. Let me help you..."
"Shut up!"
Before Mahito could finish, a low, cold curse erupted from Itadori's throat.
The grinning face before him instantly ignited the undying grief and hostility in his heart like a match. Those despair, regrets, and obsession with protecting everything—all intertwined with uncontrollable rage.
"Your head... is too high."
Faced with Itadori's sudden burst of anger, Mahito was first startled. In the next second, he was overwhelmed by an instinctive fear carved into his bone marrow, and he collapsed to the ground on reflex.
Almost simultaneously, a sharp, piercing sound of tearing wind exploded above his head.
He was so frightened that he didn't even dare to look up. He only dared to suddenly extend an eye from behind, raising his gaze to see a line—thin as a hair, but extremely cold—that had condensed from nowhere at a height of one meter above his head.
Everything above the line was silently severed—the air, the ground, the vegetation, and the majestic mountain behind.
The top of the mountain collapsed. The roar of the landslide and the thunderous sound of crashing, falling trees intertwined into a deafening noise that shattered Mahito's heart, leaving him stiff and cold. His jokes were over.
At this moment, he seemed frozen along with his soul, unable to take a single step. He only dared to scream inwardly:
Are you kidding me?! Isn't this Sukuna's vessel just a worthless piece of trash without any cursed energy? Why is he so strong!
Moreover, this fear, penetrating deep into his bone marrow, carried an extreme sense of oppression that was simply... far more terrifying than Ryomen Sukuna.
What the hell? Could it be that the master just took Yuji Itadori, and now this is Ryomen Sukuna himself?
"Your name is... Mahito, right?"
The question from above was like a whisper of death. Mahito trembled and shakily raised his head. Itadori was still crouching before him, looking at him with an indifferent gaze.
"My head hurts, and my memories are jumbled. But there are things I still remember. You... what did you do to my comrades?"
Facing Yuji Itadori, whose eyes were full of murderous intent, Mahito smiled—more uglily than if he were crying.
"Sigh... can we make peace?"
---
"Phase: Twilight, Eye of Wisdom."
"[Forward Rotation Technique: Cang]."
The blue cursed energy mass attacked the cursed spirits with an infinite gravitational pull. Facing the strongest attack he had seen so far, the Moon cursed spirit used a similar gravity technique to deflect Cang and easily parried the strike.
At the same time, the Wind cursed spirit howled, and the Thunder cursed spirit, Jōso, charged forward with acceleration, engaging Gojo Satoru in close combat. Gojo Satoru easily dismantled their assault.
Using his technique to repel the surrounding cursed spirits, Gojo Satoru formed the Heavenly Seal hand sign again and whispered:
"[Domain Expansion: Infinite Void]."
But just as his domain was about to envelop the two nearest cursed spirits and quickly dispose of them, the Heavenly cursed spirit, Shimo, who had been watching the battle, formed a great Brahma seal and simultaneously shouted:
"[Domain Expansion: Heaven and Earth]."
A rectangular, six-sided domain pressed down from above, crushing Gojo Satoru's Infinite Void. Small Wind and Nishiki realized that the other party was now in a technique fusion period, so they canceled their continued attacks and, straining to maintain their techniques, attacked Gojo Satoru.
The sounds of wind and thunder reached Gojo Satoru's ears. Facing the joint assault of two special-grade cursed spirits, Gojo Satoru didn't feel threatened. Instead, he looked up at Nishiki above.
After three temptations, he now fully understood what the other side was prepared for.
One cursed spirit, similar to his own technique, was responsible for breaking his [Cang] and [He], preventing him from using [Empty Style].
One cursed spirit had flown very high, sacrificing the impact and attack power of its own domain to become a suppressor, specializing in breaking his domain.
The remaining two were responsible for close combat and interference.
This was a routine specifically designed for him. If it had been set up a few months ago, with the cursed spirits' power at that time, these guys would have been unable to block his attacks.
But now, they could even suppress him for a while. If they were allowed to grow, he was afraid even he would be defeated.
And all of this was because of Kagetatsu Nishida.
"Kagetatsu Nishida... that guy... is so damn strong!"
The wind and thunder of and the howling wind attacked with destructive and disintegrating force, approaching directly.
Just as the assault was about to begin, Gojo Satoru's face suddenly bloomed with an almost mad smile. This undisguised ecstasy made the two special-grade cursed spirits beside him inexplicably stunned.
Has this guy gone mad?
But in the next second, the two cursed energies were strangely frozen just a step away from Gojo Satoru.
The more forcefully you pushed the attack forward, the more terrifying the approaching resistance became. It was as if you had plunged headfirst into an infinite, sticky abyss from which you could never escape.
In an instant, the faces of Jōso and Small Wind drastically changed, seized by an incredible terror.
That is—
Gojo Satoru's Limitless technique had been restored in advance, even in the middle of this technique fusion state!
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