"How is this possible? Even if he used Reverse Cursed Technique on himself, the effect shouldn't be this strong!"
Sukuna's breathing hitched, his eyes filled with shock.
The effectiveness of Reverse Cursed Technique varies from person to person. Using it on oneself is certainly more effective than using it on others, but at best, it can only repair shattered internal organs. A bisection injury like this—it's impossible to heal with just Reverse Cursed Technique!
If he can heal someone else's bisection injury, he can definitely heal his own even better!
"This guy..."
He might be far more troublesome than Sukuna had imagined!
This guy might just be the natural counter to his slashing techniques!
Even Sukuna was stunned, and Yuta was utterly dumbfounded. His own mastery of Reverse Cursed Technique was already high—he could even heal others, making him as rare as Shoko Ieiri. That was why he understood just how incredible Roy's feat was.
"Yuta! Thank goodness!"
Rika clung to Yuta, crying uncontrollably.
"Teacher Roy is so much stronger than I thought!"
Yuta was awestruck, completely convinced.
"Thank you so much, Roy-sensei, for saving my life. I'd only be a burden if I stayed here, so I'll take my leave now. But before I go, Teacher Roy, there are two things I must tell you..."
Sukuna's barrierless Domain, and the fact that he doesn't experience a burnout period after his Domain ends.
These two abilities were utterly absurd.
If not for Sukuna's defiance of common sense with these abilities, Yuta wouldn't have lost so quickly—bisected in less than five minutes.
"I'll remember that."
Roy nodded, committing the intel Yuta had risked his life to obtain.
"Sensei, you have to win!"
Maki gave Roy a once-over, her eyes flashing with relief.
She patted Yuta on the shoulder and strode off the battlefield first.
"You're so decisive, Maki..."
Yuta blinked, then smiled wryly, recalling Rika into his ring before following Maki.
"Maki, you could probably stay and help, right? You could block Sukuna's attendant..."
As they walked away, Yuta quickened his pace to catch up with Maki.
Maki thought about it and found Yuta's suggestion reasonable.
But after further consideration, she shook her head.
"Since Roy-sensei told us to leave, let's leave everything else to him."
"Yuta, who do you think is the strongest sorcerer in Japan?"
"Well... I still think it's Gojō-sensei?"
Yuta hesitated, glancing nervously at Maki.
Was it wrong to say that?
Maki seemed to be in the camp that believed Roy was the strongest. Would his answer come off as rude?
"I think Roy-sensei is stronger than Gojo Satoru!"
Sure enough, the next moment, Maki said exactly what Yuta had expected.
"What's with that look?"
Maki shot him a glare, her eyes full of exasperation.
"I'm not trying to argue about who's the strongest, so you can drop the nervous act. Seriously, a whole year has passed, and you haven't grown at all?"
"What I'm asking is—who do you think would win if Gojo Satoru fought Sukuna?"
"I completely think it's Gojo-sensei."
Yuta answered without hesitation, his response straightforward.
"That's exactly what I meant."
Maki wore an expression that said she'd seen this coming, a knowing smile spreading across her face.
"I trust Roy-sensei just as much as you trust Gojo Satoru! The teacher said it himself, didn't he? That we just need to believe in him. I think that's all we need to do—just believe!"
Wow!
That was some serious fangirl talk, Maki!
Yuta couldn't help but silently complain in his mind. He'd only been gone for a few months—how had Maki turned into Roy-sensei's die-hard fan?
Your trust in Roy-sensei definitely surpasses mine in Gojo-sensei, you know?
At least I don't unconditionally trust Gojo-sensei!
"Besides, Gojo Satoru is totally unreliable, right? The moment he thinks he's got the upper hand, there's an 80% chance he'll just go wild!"
"Well… I can't exactly deny that…"
Faced with Maki's sharp criticism, Yuta broke out in a cold sweat.
"Let's split up here!"
As they reached a crossroads, Maki glanced left and right, her willow-leaf brows furrowing slightly.
Chaos was everywhere!
The enemy had far too many sorcerers on their side. With only a small portion of their own forces hastily deployed due to the urgency, the Kamo family's reinforcements had been forced to hold the line against the bulk of the enemy sorcerers, suffering heavy casualties.
"There are too many enemy sorcerers. From here on out, let's focus on hunting them down. Want to make it a competition—see who takes down the most by the end?"
Maki turned to Yuta, her eyes gleaming with challenge.
"You really love competing, don't you, Maki? I'm fine with it, though."
Yuta agreed readily.
Maki nodded in satisfaction.
But they couldn't miss Roy-sensei's ultimate showdown with Sukuna either!
She looked up at the sky, spotted a brass bird, and waved at it. Noticing her gesture, the bird descended willingly and, at Maki's direction, projected an image in front of her.
So convenient!
Yuta watched with keen interest and promptly summoned another brass bird for himself.
The two birds projected identical images—clearly showing the battlefield where Roy and Sukuna were clashing. The distance was vast, given the sheer destructive power of the two combatants, and even the brass birds didn't dare get too close.
The moment the images appeared, both of them gasped in shock.
"Maki, I think your claim about Gojo-sensei being unreliable might be a bit biased!"
"…Yeah, I can't argue with that now…"
Maki stared at the scene unfolding in the projection, her entire body stiffening, her face practically screaming "What the hell?!"
On the screen, Roy had somehow pulled out two of Sukuna's fingers.
And then—whoosh!—he tossed them straight at Sukuna!
Sukuna was already overwhelmingly powerful as it was. If you had two of his fingers, why wouldn't you try to use them to weaken him instead of making him even stronger?!
...
Back on the battlefield, after Yuta and Zen'in Maki had left, only Roy and Sukuna remained, locked in a standoff. Uraume watched from a distance in the rear.
"Your cursed energy… it's increasing?"
Sukuna set aside his concerns about Roy's Reverse Cursed Technique for the moment, focusing instead on another matter.
His narrow eyes narrowed further, disbelief flickering in their depths.
In his perception, Roy's cursed energy after healing Yuta had not decreased compared to when he first appeared half a minute ago—instead, it had actually increased!
No matter how you look at it, Reverse Cursed Technique is still cursed energy. Healing should only consume it; there's absolutely no way it could restore cursed energy!
"Is it because of that thing in his hand?"
Sukuna's gaze fell on Roy's left hand.
From the moment Roy appeared, he had been holding a golden, radiant cup in his left hand.
The cup's head was as large as a washbasin, its entire body forged from gold, shimmering with dazzling light. From it emanated a peculiar, pulsating energy.
Sukuna didn't know what that energy was, but Roy's cursed energy recovery was undoubtedly linked to that object.
"After fighting Jogo and the others, my cursed energy was nearly depleted."
Roy glanced at the golden cup in his left hand, a faint smile appearing on his face.
What golden cup? That was none other than the Holy Grail!
Once Okita Souji had incarnated into a physical body, she no longer needed the Holy Grail as a magical core. Roy had reclaimed it to restore his own magical energy.
"To recover my cursed energy, I had to lay low for a while. I didn't expect Maki and the others to lose patience so quickly. You've probably never seen something like this before, have you?"
Roy raised the Holy Grail and shook it slightly, grinning as if showing off.
"Judging by the look in your eyes, you're itching to snatch it, aren't you?"
Just this single Holy Grail had completely shattered Jogo's efforts.
The Holy Grail functioned differently for mages and Servants. Servants, lacking physical bodies, could directly use it as a magical core. Mages, however, had to first extract the magical energy from the Holy Grail—either to cast spells or to absorb it into their bodies. The process took time, making it unsuitable for use mid-battle.
What he hadn't expected was for Yuta and Maki to emerge and confront Sukuna, attempting to rescue Megumi. Seeing Yuta on the brink of death and Maki challenging Sukuna—likely soon to meet the same fate—Roy couldn't just stand by and watch. That was why he had stepped in to save them.
"Once I kill you, that thing will be mine!"
Sukuna laughed heartily, not bothering to hide his covetous gaze toward the Holy Grail.
Still, this was truly astonishing!
Something like this—Sukuna had never even heard of it in all his years!
He had drifted through the world for over a millennium in the form of cursed objects, all twenty fingers scattered. Yet even then, he had never come across any treasure capable of restoring cursed energy.
"First that unbelievable Reverse Cursed Technique, now this golden cup… Could it really be as he said—that today, I'll witness things I've never seen before in my life?"
As this thought crossed Sukuna's mind, a flicker of unease suddenly arose within him.
Could Roy possess other things he had never encountered?
And if so, how many?
Fear often stems from the unknown.
And the unknown, in turn, breeds fear!
"No, impossible! What am I thinking? I am Ryomen Sukuna, the strongest jujutsu sorcerer in history, unrivaled by any! I fear nothing!"
Sukuna was startled by his own moment of unease. Shaking it off, he scoffed at himself, as if ashamed, and reaffirmed his arrogance and pride.
"Hey, catch!"
At that moment, two objects suddenly came flying toward him.
Sukuna tensed up, thinking Roy was about to strike. Just as he prepared to counter, he sensed a familiar cursed energy emanating from the objects. His movements faltered for a split second before he caught them with a snap.
They were two crimson fingers, grotesque as demon claws!
His last two fingers!
This guy... actually handed over his last two fingers willingly?
"You bastard..."
What the hell was he thinking?
Sukuna looked up, about to voice the question aloud.
But when he glanced across, the space before him was empty.
Roy's figure had vanished without a trace!
"Where did he go?"
Sukuna focused his senses, scanning the area for cursed energy.
Almost immediately, he detected a familiar signature.
Far behind him.
What was he doing back there? From such a distance, there was no way he could launch a sneak attack—the gap was too wide for Sukuna to miss any hostile energy.
Then his expression twisted in alarm.
He spun around and roared toward the distance.
"Uraume! Get out of the way!"
Uraume stood far off, observing the battlefield from afar.
This was a fight Sukuna-sama had long awaited—a feast to savor, one that would satisfy his very existence. Uraume wouldn't interfere, nor would he allow anyone else to.
He stood guard, radiating killing intent as he scanned the surroundings, ensuring no one could approach the battleground.
The moment the two fingers were tossed out, Uraume's attention was involuntarily drawn.
The last two fingers!
With those, Sukuna-sama could fully revive!
"Uraume! Get out of the way!"
Then, Sukuna-sama's furious shout reached him from afar.
It carried a wrath so intense, as if provoked beyond measure.
What had happened?
The question flashed through his mind.
Before he could even assess the anomaly, an overwhelming force crashed into him from behind like a collapsing mountain.
"BOOM!"
The earth shattered like a spiderweb under the impact.
Roy, clad in crystalline blue-purple cursed armor, appeared behind Uraume. His fist descended like a falling mountain, slamming Uraume into the ground.
Uraume's eyes bulged, veins bursting across the whites as excruciating pain erupted from his back. For a moment, he couldn't even feel his body—every nerve screamed in agony!
"Roy! You bastard!"
Sukuna's voice was no longer just angry—it was a shrill, unhinged shriek.
Without hesitation, he kicked off the ground, charging at Roy at full speed.
"Hmph!"
Roy sneered, delivering a kick that sent Uraume flying before casually stowing the Holy Grail back into his imaginary pocket.
Then, raising his fist, he met Sukuna head-on, utterly fearless.
Sukuna didn't dodge either, throwing a punch of his own.
"BOOOOM—!!!"
The deafening impact was like thunder exploding in their ears.
A shockwave rippled outward, churning the air and sinking the concrete beneath their feet as if it were soft mud. A violent gale whipped up dust and debris, shrouding the area in a blinding haze.
Sukuna's punch landed—yet Roy didn't budge an inch.
Seeing this, Sukuna's eyes hardened. He immediately sprang into the air, driving a devastating kick straight toward Roy's face.
Roy reacted swiftly, sidestepping to avoid Sukuna's frontal kick. With both arms working in unison like iron pincers, he grabbed Sukuna's ankle and slammed him into the ground like a hammer.
A dull thud echoed as Sukuna pushed off the ground with his arms, flipping midair and driving his other foot like a nail toward Roy's neck.
Roy, quick-eyed and sharp-handed, raised his left arm to block the strike while simultaneously pinning Sukuna's other leg under his armpit.
Before Sukuna could counter, Roy seized both his legs and hurled him away, sending him crashing into a nearby building.
Sukuna channeled cursed energy into his feet, kicking off the wall to rebound with the force of the impact, landing back on the main road.
"Is this all the King of Curses is capable of?"
Roy clenched his fists, shifting his stance with one foot forward, his body taut like a drawn bow. He smirked disdainfully at Sukuna.
"Just a warm-up, and you already think you've won?"
Sukuna sneered, adopting his own stance. His posture bore no trace of any martial school—it was purely bestial, baring fangs and claws like a beast in a frenzy.
"Even so… in that brief exchange, he actually matched me?"