Chapter 130 - That Man Is Too Strong!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Burning fist shadows and invisible slashing nets tore into each other inside the domain. Every punch shattered a piece of space. Every punch set the void on fire. The eerie shrine beneath Ryomen Sukuna's feet, built from bones and viscera, didn't last a single second under that meteor-shower barrage. It was pulverized into dust, scattered to nothing. The domain broke.
Malevolent Shrine: Dismantle, the technique capable of decomposing all creation, cracked inch by inch like a mirror hit by a wrecking ball. It dissolved into drifting motes of Cursed Energy and faded into the air. The lingering force of Morning Peacock, carrying the savage power to burn mountains and boil seas, slammed full-force into the King of Curses' chest. Ryomen Sukuna's four scarlet eyes went wide.
How...
He didn't even get a syllable out before that irresistible, brute force launched him airborne. His body hit like a cannonball. It blew through hundreds of ancient trees as thick as a man's full embrace, carved a hundred-meter trench across the ravaged forest floor, and finally stopped with a thunderous crash. Dust swallowed everything. Inside the Jujutsu High monitoring room, dead silence.
Yoshinobu Gakuganji's remote control hit the floor. He didn't notice. He just stood there with his mouth hanging open, staring at the world-ending scene on the screen. Utahime Iori's face had gone bone-white. Both hands were clamped over her mouth, the only thing keeping the scream in. In Naoya Zenin's eyes, something close to madness ignited.
He crushed his fists tight. His whole body trembled with the force of his excitement.
"Did you see that. That's — that's the Heavenly Restriction Tyrant!"
"Invincible. Master Toji!"
At the center of the battlefield. Toji stood bare-chested in the crater he'd punched into the earth, the lines of his muscles carved as clean as an ancient Greek statue. He tilted his head back. Through the shattered canopy of trees, a gray sky stared down at him. He took a long, slow breath.
"Now this is youth!" He threw his arms wide and let out a roar that split the air. "Burn every obstacle to ash, with scalding sweat and iron fists!"
The words weren't even finished before he stomped the ground beneath him.
BANG!
He was gone. A hundred meters away, at the far end of that trench, Ryomen Sukuna lay with every bone in his body shattered. He was fighting to activate Reverse Cursed Technique, trying to force his wrecked form back together. He'd barely lifted his head when a massive shadow swallowed him. Toji Fushiguro was already there. Sukuna's pupils snapped tight.
Before he could react, a hand like an iron clamp locked around his ankle.
"You filthy little—"
The curse didn't finish. A thunderous crash cut it off. Toji swung him like a busted sack of rice and drove him into the ground.
CRACK!
The earth split. A human-shaped crater punched into existence.
"You damned monkey!"
CRACK!
Another heavy slam. A second crater opened right beside the first.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
Toji's face was completely blank. He just held Sukuna by the leg and beat him into the ground, left and right, over and over, no variation, no slowdown. The sheer, brutal simplicity of it sent a chill through the entire group watching from dozens of meters away. They shuddered as one. Aoi Todo's bare arms broke out in goosebumps. This wasn't a fight anymore.
This was one-sided abuse.
This is my best friend's real power?!
Exactly what I expected from the man I chose!
"Dad!" Megumi Fushiguro had been watching the figure of "Itadori" getting slammed repeatedly into the crater until it no longer looked human. He couldn't hold it in anymore. "Stop, stop beating him to death! That's Itadori's body!"
Toji, arm already swinging, went rigid. He blinked. Looked down at the bloodied wreck in his hand. Looked back up at his son's frantic face in the distance.
"Oh. Right."
Like he'd just remembered that detail, he tossed Ryomen Sukuna's body into the pit. Down in the crater, the mangled body twitched twice. The black tattoo markings drained from the skin like a tide going out, fast, then gone. The tyrannical aura of Ryomen Sukuna disappeared completely. What was left was Yuji Itadori, broken and battered, barely breathing.
Toji Fushiguro let the Gate of View state drop. The violent, crushing pressure around him pulled back in an instant. He surveyed the carnage. Scratched the back of his head.
"Ahem. This was, physical conditioning for Itadori. That's all. Yes. Exactly. A youth trial, forged in sweat and willpower."
Everyone: "..."
You're calling this a trial.
Then the air at the center of the field warped. Satoru Gojo blinked in. His hand was still resting on Shoko Ieiri's shoulder. Behind him, a team of medical personnel in white uniforms fanned out. He swept his gaze across the landscape, the forest looked like a meteor strike site. He let out a low whistle.
"Whoa. Looks like while I was out clearing weeds, I missed the whole main event."
Shoko Ieiri came in behind him, took one look at the wreckage and the casualties, and the corner of her mouth twitched.
"What happened here? Why does every single exchange event at Jujutsu High end up looking like a demolition site?"
---
Dozens of kilometers away, somewhere deep in the mountains, a quiet, ancient temple. Hanami leaned in the shadow of a Buddha statue. Its body was shaking. That violent force, the kind that felt like it had split heaven from earth, even at this distance, it had reached Hanami. Reached all the way down to the bottom of its soul and left something there. Fear.
"That man." Its voice came out dry. "He's too strong. The way we are now, we're not even close to being his match."
"Heh heh..."
A soft laugh drifted from the darkness. A sinister monk with suture scars running across his forehead emerged from behind the hall at an unhurried pace, a calm smile settled on his face.
"That's exactly why we need this."
Kenjaku tossed something between his fingers. A palm-sized black cross, radiating a low, ominous energy, spun lazily in his palm.
"What is that?" Hanami asked.
Kenjaku smiled and closed his hand around it. "Something that can help us find some powerful helpers."
His gaze drifted toward the distance, like it was pushing through the dark all the way to somewhere else entirely.
"Some old friends of mine."
At the same time. Underground Cursed Warehouse, Kyoto Jujutsu High.
"Hss—"
The guard on duty snapped upright with a violent shiver. He shook his head, trying to clear it. He rubbed his raw eyes and stared down the dim corridor stretching out in front of him. His stomach dropped.
"Strange... did I actually fall asleep just now?"
He muttered it to himself. Cold sweat soaked through his back before he'd even finished the thought. Losing consciousness on duty in the Cursed Warehouse, where some of the most dangerous Cursed Objects in existence were stored, wasn't just a mistake. It was the kind that got people killed. If there had been an intruder...
He didn't let himself finish that thought. He grabbed his flashlight and started down the corridor, checking each section as he went.
"Seals intact. No sign of barrier activation."
He moved past row after row of display shelves, heart in his throat, checking each Cursed Object bundled in layer upon layer of talismans. Every single one was right where it was supposed to be. Like nothing had come within a mile of this place. He made it all the way to the innermost section. His flashlight beam settled on a specially made sealed wooden box.
The strangely shaped black cross was still there inside the yellow-talisman box, exactly where it always was.
"Phew." He let out a long breath and patted his chest. "Nothing's gone. Looks like I really did just nod off from exhaustion."
He turned around and walked back to his post. What he didn't notice: The cross in the box, its deep, ominous black sheen, had gone a little dimmer than before.
➤ Next: Bosom Friend, Fellow Disciple, Master — This Is Youth!