On the frontline battlefield with Yuji Itadori and Aoi Todo.
"Convergence."
Whoosh—
Yuji clapped his hands together. Scarlet blood compressed between his fingers, gradually forming a walnut-sized blood orb. The terrifying pressure caused white steam to rise in the air.
Jiro Awasaka took a deep breath, trying to calm his frantically beating heart.
Stay calm... I'm not like that piece of trash just now. I've been working as a curse user for hire since my youth. From beginning to end, I've never failed a single mission—except for the one to assassinate Satoru Gojo.
I'm not like these greenhorns. For a full sixty-one years, I've walked with my chest held high.
Jiro Awasaka's innate technique allowed him to be immune to the vast majority of attacks. However, because there was an upper limit to this immunity, he couldn't contend with Satoru Gojo.
Excluding Special Grade sorcerers with absurd cursed energy output, almost no one in the ranks of Grade 1 sorcerers could harm him.
"Piercing Blood."
The moment Yuji spoke, he suddenly changed direction—turning the Piercing Blood originally aimed at Jiro Awasaka toward Aoi Todo.
A slender blood arrow shot out from the blood orb, its speed almost impossible to capture with the naked eye. Aoi Todo, understanding his intention, raised his hands and clapped.
CLAP!
Jiro Awasaka's pupils shrank violently. Due to the mandatory nature of the clapping swap and the close distance, he had absolutely no chance to react. The blood arrow struck him squarely between the eyebrows.
BANG!
Jiro Awasaka stumbled back a few steps, head jerking backward.
Did it work?
Aoi Todo narrowed his eyes.
...No.
Jiro Awasaka quickly stabilized his posture. He raised his hand to his neck, tilted his head, and cracked it.
"Oh my, that hurts. Young people are so energetic—hitting with such force."
He smiled, eyes narrowing, handlebar mustache twitching with his facial muscles.
As expected, these two brats can't deal any effective damage to me. It seems my worry just now was unnecessary.
"...Impossible?"
Aoi Todo frowned. Piercing Blood and Black Flash were the techniques with the highest damage output Yuji could unleash—yet both were ineffective against the old man before them. If Yuji couldn't harm him, let alone Todo, whose innate technique was more support-oriented.
Yuji walked up beside Todo. "Looking at him, his technique probably isn't the 'stacking shields on the body' type, like my blood armor."
He felt this guy looked somewhat familiar.
After all, he'd lived for over eighty years in his past life and had seen countless curse users and cursed spirits. If he had to recall carefully, it was impossible to remember every single opponent he'd fought.
However, relying on his extensive experience, he could analyze the opponent's technique type to the greatest extent.
"Todo, let's do it again."
Yuji raised his right hand, five fingers spread, palm facing up. A scarlet blood orb quickly finished gathering in his palm.
Aoi Todo nodded understandingly. Yuji brought his palm close to Todo's lower abdomen, keeping the blood orb just inches away.
CLAP!
"Supernova."
At the sound of the clap, Aoi Todo's figure disappeared—replaced by Jiro Awasaka.
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG—!
Blood struck Jiro Awasaka's torso like shotgun pellets, but his body only swayed slightly from the impact. He didn't even take a half step back.
"Oh? This move hurts much more than the last one. Young man, you have quite a few tricks up your sleeve."
Jiro Awasaka guessed they were going to play the swapping trick again. Before he even finished speaking, he grabbed his knife and slashed at Yuji's neck!
Yuji quickly leaned back and retreated several steps, feet continuously stepping back on the ground until he put some distance between himself and the old man.
However, the slash had grazed his cheek.
Yuji raised his hand to touch his left cheek. A warm, wet sensation reached his fingertips.
"Oh my, you dodged? Not a bad reaction. I was aiming to slice your throat just now."
Jiro Awasaka grew increasingly confident. "But you should know by now, right? Ordinary attacks are useless against me. Next time you try that swapping attack, I won't let you escape so easily."
"..."
Yuji wiped the wound on his cheek with his fingertip. The shallow scar was immediately healed by the Reverse Cursed Technique.
"I see. I think I understand."
"...?"
"You understand?"
Jiro Awasaka frowned.
He clearly hadn't leaked any information about his technique.
Are you hacking?
No—this guy is clearly bluffing. I can't let him get to me.
Compared to this pink-haired brat, that gorilla is the most troublesome. Every time I attack, he swaps my position, causing my attack to miss. I have to find a chance to deal with him first.
Wait—here they come again!
CLAP!
Aoi Todo clapped again, swapping positions with Jiro Awasaka. He took a few steps back and arrived beside Yuji.
"?"
"I still can't be completely certain, but I know one thing. Our attacks aren't completely ineffective—it's the method of attack that's wrong."
Yuji said.
"The more powerful a technique is, the greater its restrictions."
"For example, the Big Three Families' Limitless Technique requires possessing both the Six Eyes and the Reverse Cursed Technique simultaneously to unleash its maximum power. Otherwise, not only can the technique not be used for long periods—it will also fry the brain. As for the Ten Shadows Technique, the first few shikigami have average strength, and no one has ever successfully subjugated the strongest one, Mahoraga."
"My Blood Manipulation—although its abilities are very balanced and have no apparent weaknesses—must also be paired with the Reverse Cursed Technique to be used. Otherwise, the user faces the risk of blood loss at any time."
Yuji's special constitution allowed him to convert cursed energy into blood, which made up for this flaw.
"Almost all techniques follow this rule. Excluding some simple techniques with minimal effects—the stronger the strengths, the more obvious the weaknesses. The more comprehensive the abilities, the lower the ceiling."
Excluding the techniques of the Big Three Families, the most obvious examples would be Cursed Speech and Construction.
"So, since this guy is only a Grade 1 sorcerer and not a special case like Satoru Gojo, it proves that his technique cannot be immune to all attacks. It follows a certain rule."
Just now, Yuji had tried four combinations: physical attacks, cursed techniques, single-target strikes, and area-of-effect strikes.
Jiro Awasaka currently couldn't pose a fatal threat to them, which was a good thing.
They just needed to try the remaining options one by one.
"Todo!" Yuji said decisively. "Let's do it again. This time, I'll use my full strength—and you hit him with the least amount of force."
Todo was stunned.
"What do you mean by the least amount of force?"
After he asked, Yuji bent down, picked up a small pebble from the ground, and tossed it to Todo.
"Like the force of a snowball hitting someone during a snowball fight in winter."
"...?"
What are these two brats talking about?
Jiro Awasaka's pupils shrank violently.
"You guessed it?! Impossible! I clearly didn't leak any information about my technique!"
Jiro Awasaka's technique effect was "Inverse" within a certain range. Because the technique had upper and lower limits, he could neither withstand Satoru Gojo's attacks nor be harmed by effects akin to a breeze.
The moment he realized his technique was exposed, Jiro Awasaka had the thought of running. He'd lived a carefree life because of this technique—but he'd never met someone like Yuji Itadori who could instantly guess the principle of his technique!
You know perfectly well whether you're hacking or not!
But Yuji and Todo clearly weren't going to give him a chance to escape. Todo infused cursed energy into the stone in his hand and threw it at their feet.
CLAP!
A clap.
Jiro Awasaka didn't expect Aoi Todo's Boogie Woogie could swap with non-living objects, so this time he wasn't prepared.
Yuji's fist was ready to strike. He smashed his fist into Jiro Awasaka's jaw.
BANG!
No effect at all. But at the same time, Aoi Todo's attack followed closely behind. He delivered a light uppercut to Jiro Awasaka's lower abdomen—
The force wasn't great, but Jiro Awasaka's abdomen caved in violently the moment it was hit.
"Pfft!"
Jiro Awasaka violently spat out a large mouthful of blood.
...Impossible...
"Don't get too carried away! You two brats!"
Since he was found out, he would just deactivate his technique and concentrate all his cursed energy on his physical body!
The moment this thought arose in Jiro Awasaka's mind—
Yuji accurately captured the fluctuation of cursed energy in his body and knew his intentions. Since that was the case, he would no longer hold back.
Before Jiro Awasaka could successfully counterattack, the pink-haired boy's fist—wrapped in layers of pitch-black lightning—flew straight at Jiro Awasaka's face!
BANG—!
Jiro Awasaka's body flew backward. After rolling countless times on the ground, his eyes finally rolled back. He lost consciousness. Unable to fight anymore.
Yuji retracted his fist, slightly stained with bloody froth, without the slightest pause.
"Let's go. To Fushiguro."
"Alright!"
Meanwhile, inside Jujutsu High's storehouse.
The door was cracked open from the outside. Light seeped in through the gap.
Jogo crouched on the ground, its back to the sunlight. It held a grayish-white scroll in its hand, bound with black cords containing several blackened fingers.
"A total of six fingers, plus the first three Death Painting Wombs. All collected."
"It should be more than ten minutes before Satoru Gojo breaks the Curtain. That's enough."
"Next—it's time to meet Sukuna's vessel."
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