Chapter 141 - A Barrier Only the Strongest May Enter

"Human, are you smart?"

The Locust Cursed Spirit's abdominal carapace scraped violently, producing a teeth-grinding noise. It looked down condescendingly at the green-clad boy with barely any Cursed Energy.

BOOM!

That was its answer — a sonic boom. The asphalt beneath Yuji Itadori's feet exploded into a half-meter-deep crater, and his figure vanished in an instant. Too noisy. His mind still held the image of that modified human clutching a train ticket. The thought of that stitched-head bastard hiding underground, grinning at the show, made Yuji's stomach burn like he'd swallowed a red-hot knife.

Kill him. He had to rip that bastard's head off at top speed! The Locust Cursed Spirit's compound eyes hadn't tracked the target's trajectory before its abdomen caved inward.

"Urk!"

A green afterimage slammed straight into its chest. Yuji's right fist embedded solidly into its steel-hard carapace.

"Eight Gates, Kyoteiken Fist!"

CRACK!

The exoskeleton shattered on impact, dark green fluids gushing from the fissures. The Locust Cursed Spirit's body left the ground, lifted by sheer brute force.

"I'm not smart."

Yuji looked up, his eyes terrifyingly cold. He bent his knees slightly, muscles tensing.

BOOM!

He launched himself skyward, instantly catching up to the locust in midair. His right hand splayed open, fingers clamping down on the mass of razor-sharp mandibles.

"But I know that disgusting things like you shouldn't exist!"

His core twisted, veins bulging on his arms. In midair, Yuji executed a ferocious over-the-shoulder slam, gripping the locust's head and hurtling it skull-first toward the ground. Like a meteor strike. The commercial street's surface jumped. Every glass shop window within three blocks pulverized simultaneously.

Most of the Locust Cursed Spirit's body was driven into the earth, only two thick hind legs twitching in the air before going still.

Yuji landed, straightened his back, and released the "Gate of Opening" state.

He shook mucus and fading green steam from his knuckles, the motion crisp and brutal.

"Magnificent destructive power." Mei Mei brushed her hair aside, her mouth lifting in a merchant's smile. "But time is tight."

She glanced at her wristwatch.

"Move faster. There's plenty more bounty waiting for us up ahead."

Yuji didn't reply. He shook his sore wrist, his gaze passing over the ruins to lock onto Shibuya Station. Can't stop. Absolutely cannot let those disgusting rats keep hiding underground.

Shibuya Dogenzaka, a secluded underground alley. Atsuya Kusakabe leaned against the cold wall, biting his lollipop irritably. This damn assignment. Shit, why did I have to take this cursed mission? The sky outside was black as an overturned iron pot, the Cursed Energy concentration so high it made his throat itch. Any fool could see that Kenjaku had laid out a ridiculously massive trap in Shibuya.

The smartest move at a time like this was to hide in the back and play dead.

But instead, he'd been thrown to the front lines by that rigid bastard Masamichi Yaga, with orders to "locate and destroy the barrier cornerstone targeting Toji Fushiguro."

Wasn't this just forcing him to go fight the enemy to the death?!

"Kusakabe-sensei." A nearby Grade 2 Jujutsu Sorcerer pointed ahead, his voice tight. "It's a dead end up ahead."

Kusakabe bit clean through his candy and looked up. At the end of the dead-end alley stood a two-meter-tall obsidian boundary marker. The stele's surface was densely carved with dark red incantations. The characters writhed like living things, emitting a nauseating repulsive force.

"That's the thing." Kusakabe gripped his sword hilt.

Masamichi Yaga's intel was on the mark. This was the object keeping that muscle-bound green monster, the one who could tear apart Special Grades with his bare hands — locked outside. Once he smashed it, that terrifying man could charge in and take over the match, and he wouldn't have to be on edge here anymore. Finish the job and clock out.

Kusakabe had just drawn his longsword when his footsteps halted abruptly. In the dark alley entrance, three figures had appeared at some point. A bald middle-aged man in a gaudy shirt, tossing a short blade in his hand. A hunched, shriveled old woman, muttering something under her breath. And beside them stood a young man with a vacant stare.

Niji Ebina bared his yellow teeth in a grin.

"The High School's lapdogs have quite the sharp noses."

The Séance Granny cackled darkly. "Lord Kenjaku said that anyone who touches this cornerstone gets their skin peeled off for a cushion."

Shit. Kusakabe swore viciously in his mind. Watchdogs, just as expected. And judging by the Cursed Energy fluctuations from these three, they were all veterans of the underground black market.

"Hey, look." Kusakabe sighed, lowering his sword tip. "If we fight, everyone gets hurt, and medical bills aren't cheap. How about you do me a solid and pretend you didn't see anything?"

"Go to hell!" The possessed grandson suddenly attacked, grabbing a handful of poisoned kunai and hurling them.

Kusakabe tilted his head half an inch. The kunai embedded themselves in the wall. He wearily adjusted his goggles. No helping it. Naoya was still in the back cleaning up the riffraff. If he wanted to clock out early, he'd have to personally send these idiots to hell himself.

Underground Level 2 passage. The floor was littered with shredded flesh and severed limbs. A dozen Grade 2 Cursed Spirit corpses were slowly turning to ash against the walls. Suguru Geto dusted off his sleeves. Too quiet. They'd bulldozed their way through, and all they'd encountered were harmless small fry. This was absolutely abnormal.

The two reached the stairway leading down to the Underground Level 4 Fukutoshin Line platform, and their footsteps stopped simultaneously. A skin of dark red barrier sealed the entire entrance.

"Another curtain." Suguru Geto's brow furrowed tightly.

He raised his hand, a trace of Cursed Energy spilling from his fingertips and coalescing into a low-grade Cursed Spirit.

"Go."

The Cursed Spirit buzzed toward the dark red barrier.

SSSS!

The instant it made contact, the Cursed Spirit was annihilated in the red light. Suguru Geto's eye twitched. A slender hand reached out from beside him. Satoru Gojo casually inserted his right hand into the dark red barrier. No red light flashed. Satoru Gojo's hand waved around inside the barrier for a moment and then withdrew, completely unharmed.

"Oh?" Satoru Gojo raised an eyebrow. "Interesting."

Suguru Geto's expression sank completely. Excludes everyone else. Yet opens its doors completely to Satoru Gojo alone.

"Satoru." Suguru Geto grabbed Satoru Gojo's shoulder firmly, his voice heavy. "You can't go in."

"Kenjaku has staked all his chips down there, which means there's definitely a killing formation down there specifically designed to counter the Six Eyes." Suguru Geto stared intently at the layer of red light. "He's forcing you to walk into a solo ambush. Once you're inside, I can't help you, and the main force outside can't get in either. You'll be completely isolated."

"So what?"

Satoru Gojo shot back. His fingers hooked onto the edge of his black blindfold and gave it a light tug. The blindfold slipped off. An overwhelming, suffocating pressure of Cursed Energy instantly flooded out from this man's body. Every light tube in the passage overloaded and exploded at that moment, glass shards raining down in a chaotic downpour.

Satoru Gojo shoved his hands into his pockets and stepped forward with his long legs.

"Since they went out of their way to leave me a VIP lane, wouldn't it be rude not to use it?"

He laughed, a sound carrying pure arrogance and absolute contempt for every scheme and trap laid against him.

"But..." Suguru Geto still tried to pull him back.

"Suguru."

Satoru Gojo turned his face slightly, his pale blue eyes piercing through the darkness to look at his best friend.

"Are you worried that I might lose to a bunch of rats who only dare to pull cheap tricks in the sewers?"

Suguru Geto froze.

"I am, after all, the strongest."

Before he could answer, Satoru Gojo had already turned and strolled casually into the dark red barrier. Underground Level 5, platform. Jogo bared his teeth, a plume of scorching white smoke jetting from the fissure on his head.

"You finally came, Satoru Gojo."

➤ Next: Satoru Gojo, Subway Showdown