Frieren: — Chapter 98 - A Real Man Lasts Ten Minutes

"Still no contact with Himmel?"

Tap tap tap.

Dressed entirely in black, Gojo Satoru moved at a swift, heavy clip. The handful of people behind him kept pace at a careful distance.

The group cut through the corridors of Jujutsu High.

"What was his last transmission point?"

"Shibuya."

"Shibuya?"

The black blindfold covered most of his expression, but anyone watching could still catch the subtle furrow at his brow.

"...A place that crowded. Just as I thought — cursed spirits always pick somewhere like that to start a fight."

"According to the intel, the cursed spirit called [Mahito] should be heading there."

"Any sign of that volcano-head?"

"No, not yet. However, some Assistant Directors have confirmed more than one Special Grade-level cursed energy fluctuation in Shibuya. The exact number can't be determined."

Gojo fell silent, thinking.

Jujutsu High's top combat power came down to two cards: Himmel and Gojo Satoru. Either one played alone was a trump card, provided there were no restrictions.

Shibuya was too crowded. Neither of them could go all out.

The former could cleave an entire forest with a single slash. The latter could blast through half of Shibuya with one technique.

And the worse part, they couldn't afford not to go.

Sorcerers who stood in the light had no right to choose their battlefield. They had to operate under constraints at every turn.

Himmel was already in combat.

And Okkotsu's side...

Click.

Gojo recalled the scene from barely 10 minutes ago, Zenin Maki sprinting back to Jujutsu High, out of breath, her expression tight as she gave her report.

Okkotsu was tied down too. Location: Sendai City.

They had anticipated this. With Himmel away, the enemy might move on Okkotsu, which was precisely why Gojo had stayed behind at Jujutsu High.

Two trump cards. Keep at least one stationed at headquarters. Then no matter where trouble broke out, either Himmel or Gojo could reach it in time.

Gojo's presence at base was the very reason Himmel had been allowed to go out and play bait.

But...

He arrived at the Jujutsu High rooftop and interlocked his fingers.

The ground shattered with a deep boom. Gojo and the several Assistant Directors beside him vanished from the spot.

The next instant, their coordinates jumped directly to Sendai City.

PAK.

Space flickered. Figures materialized in midair.

They landed on the tallest building within one kilometer of the middle school where Okkotsu and Itadori were located.

Tap.

Beneath their feet: a triangular concrete ridge, narrow and steep. The hem of Gojo's clothes snapped in the hard wind. Around him, the Assistant Directors clutched the building structure in barely-concealed panic, fighting not to slide off.

Gojo ignored all of them. He raised his hands and let the [Six Eyes] sweep carefully over the [Veil] blanketing the school perimeter.

That is...

He lifted his hands facing each other, index fingers and thumbs locked at right angles, leaving an empty frame between them.

"Hmm... taking a close look at this thing..." He studied it. "This [Veil] is set to [refuse entry specifically to Gojo Satoru while letting everyone else pass freely]... Using a [Binding Vow] this narrow to generate a technique effect that counters me specifically..." A pause. "Kenjaku again, huh. That guy's barrier work is genuinely impressive."

They had been played completely.

With both Gojo Satoru and Himmel on the board, the jujutsu world should have been unassailable. And yet Kenjaku, through barrier techniques he had kept quietly hidden until now, had found the single correct path through it all. Hostage tactics and barrier work, layered together.

Step One: Lure Himmel out.

Mahito's Idle Transfiguration meant the cursed spirit side could keep expanding its hostage count indefinitely. Jujutsu High had no room to stall, the enemy had to be captured immediately.

Pursuing Mahito meant charging directly into enemy territory. That meant the assignment could only go to Gojo Satoru or Himmel.

No, in truth, it could only be Himmel.

Himmel's Reversal Output and Priest Mode made him clearly better suited for the mission. More importantly, it wasn't hard to imagine Mahito churning out transfigured humans throughout the fight.

If Gojo went instead, he had no way to heal them. He would have to kill every transfigured human. And the moment he learned a cure existed, he would become hesitant.

In other words, [Himmel being forced out to capture Mahito] was never a contingency. It was always an inevitability.

Step Two: That alone wasn't enough. To keep Jujutsu High perpetually on the run, a second front had to be opened.

Even knowing the enemy's intentions, Jujutsu High couldn't halt all missions. All the enemy needed to do was grab any Jujutsu High student.

As long as it was one of theirs, neither Gojo nor Himmel would ignore it.

Then, at exactly that moment, Kenjaku set up the [Veil that only Gojo Satoru cannot enter].

That single, brutal Binding Vow accomplished two things at once: it barred Gojo from entry, and it forced him into a dilemma while the clock ran down.

The barrier's strength was such that only Tengen, Himmel, or Gojo Satoru could break it.

Tengen couldn't leave freely.

Himmel was tied up.

That left only Gojo himself.

Breaking it through standard barrier technique methods, Gojo estimated roughly half an hour, minimum.

So the options in front of him were as follows.

Option One: [Abandon the barrier here and move to Shibuya, eliminate the enemy and protect civilians as quickly as possible.]

Option Two: [Break the barrier, spending half an hour completely pinned here, while also dispatching other personnel inside to delay whatever Kenjaku was planning.]

Option One would pacify Shibuya fast and cut civilian casualties. It would also let Kenjaku's plan proceed without interference.

Option Two put the outcome in the students' hands, and Gojo, Jujutsu High's top combatant, would be sitting here doing barrier work for 30 minutes.

And Shibuya's crowds would already cap his destructive output; he wasn't sure how long a fight there would even hold him. If the cursed spirits committed fully to the strategy of use transfigured humans to slaughter civilians, force sorcerers to save them, Jujutsu High would drown in that quagmire with no way out.

"What a pain..."

In a way, Himmel's [Priest Mode] had become a blade turned directly against Jujutsu High. Being able to save too many people was itself a weight.

Though, no point singling out Himmel.

Gojo was exactly the same.

If he threw caution out completely, there was always Option Three.

Option Three: [Teleport directly to Shibuya, kill everything that moves, teleport back to Sendai.]

Satisfying in theory. Problem in practice.

Gojo's long-distance teleportation would pulverize everything in its path. Even launching from high altitude didn't solve it, aircraft, high-rise buildings, active flight corridors. All of it was a factor.

For familiar routes, Jujutsu High, the jujutsu prison, relay points he had mapped over 9 years, he had reduced the collateral to nearly zero. But a round trip between Sendai and Shibuya, on the fly, with no established route?

That was a genuine safety hazard.

It would inevitably require a full risk-benefit assessment. One more thing grinding down on his mental reserves.

(That line of thinking just now... something feels off. Did I miss something?)

(Can't pin it down... Damn it. Too many variables.)

Thinking. Thinking. Thinking.

All that power, immeasurable, unmatched, and he was growing more and more constrained by it.

(...Have you always walked this path?)

A flash of something in his eyes. A water-blue silhouette.

(Getting older and I'm starting to actually understand that old man. How irritating.)

(No. Focus.)

Gojo tilted his head back slightly, drew a breath, and let his body relax.

The core problem, stripped down to its bones, was this,

Information.

Straight-line distance between Shibuya and Sendai: approximately 300 kilometers.

He shelved the teleportation question for now.

Leave Shibuya and civilians die in droves. Leave Sendai and Yuta was in danger.

Damn Kenjaku... does he think he's Heath Ledger? We didn't buy the rights.

"Heh."

And then.

The irritation, the pressure, got flicked aside in a single instant.

Gojo smiled. Just a little wild.

, You think this distance is enough to stop me?

[Gojo Satoru. The strongest jujutsu sorcerer of the modern era. The most powerful user the [Six Eyes] have ever had.]

[His observation range,]

[Far exceeds 300 kilometers.]

(Quick scan. Shibuya side: three Special Grade cursed spirits, multiple curse users, mostly small fry.)

(Sendai side: Special Grades... setting aside whatever's inside the Veil, outside there are almost none.)

(There it is.)

Full-power [Six Eyes]. And just like that, Gojo Satoru read Kenjaku's entire hand.

Well then,

He pulled out his phone. Opened the pinned contact at the top of his chat list. Several lines of messages already logged for today.

(This side is set. So,)

"Send everyone to Shibuya."

"Huh?! But Mr. Gojo — didn't you just say this Veil is specifically set against you?"

"Exactly." Gojo smiled. "Because it's designed specifically to restrict me, it has almost no shielding function whatsoever. Even electrical signals pass through normally. Intel exchange will be easy and the security holds." He paused. "The conventional play is to commit manpower here."

But he was going to do the exact opposite.

Playing it conventional meant playing straight into Kenjaku's hands.

He wasn't going to do that.

He was Jujutsu High's strongest. If some convoluted barrier scheme was enough to neutralize him, he'd never be able to look anyone in the eye again.

Himmel would absolutely laugh at him when he got back.

"I'll make sure that idiot patchwork freak understands he underestimated Mr. Gojo." Gojo's grin sharpened. "Ten minutes to tear this thing down. You all head to Shibuya and back up Himmel. Zero civilian casualties — keep it clean."

Dispatch people into the [Veil] to slow down Kenjaku's scheming?

No.

No need.

If Kenjaku was bold enough to deploy this Veil right here on the spot, he had already accounted for the possibility of others entering. He had prepared to stall anyone who wasn't Gojo Satoru.

Which meant,

Gojo made his call.

[Time for Gojo Satoru alone to dismantle the barrier and break through Kenjaku's setup.]

[Time for students to enter the barrier and fight through Kenjaku's setup.]

The former was shorter.

"Alright — no dawdling!"

"Go go go!"

He clapped his hands twice. The Assistant Directors dropped to the base of the building.

Gojo didn't waste a second. He flashed back to the face of the [Veil] and raised his palm to its surface.

FZZT!,

Heat and crackling current exploded outward in an instant, repelling him. Gojo barely paused, arm checking slightly, then pressed forward again.

HSSSSS!

A powerful repulsive force hammered into the body of the modern era's strongest sorcerer.

And yet.

Even that repulsion was locked down completely.

The thick [Veil] shuddered like a living thing, and Gojo's foot moved forward another half-step,

Until,

"Hey hey."

A voice from behind. An enemy's voice.

"Ha. Figured you'd show up around now."

Gojo turned his neck slowly, eyes sweeping back, an easy grin pulling at his face.

Miguel was already there, that fitted foreign attire, standing still on the corner of the rooftop above Gojo's head, a coil of pitch-black rope whip in his hand.

(This guy's the curse user who stalled Himmel for a stretch once... And that thing in his hand...)

"Sorry, 'Strongest.'" Miguel's voice dropped low. "I'm stopping you here. Didn't think you'd be this reckless — you're really planning to brute-force the barrier with your technique?... With me in the equation, it's not going to be that easy."

"...No." Gojo's hand lifted away from the [Veil], easy and unhurried. "I think you've misunderstood something."

He turned to face Miguel fully. That handsome face wore nothing but amusement and absolute calm.

"The ten minutes I said I needed."

A beat.

"That already includes the time it takes to deal with you."

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