Chapter 238: Just a Cursed Spirit, Aren't You Thinking Too Much?
No matter how much confidence Emiya had in his students' strength, he couldn't possibly believe that Itadori Yuji—who had been studying jujutsu for barely over a month—could truly face a situation meticulously engineered by Kenjaku.
The premise of "breaking skill with raw power" is that your strength must truly reach a level where the opponent cannot harm you by any possible means. For example, no matter how hard a few small ants try, they can never pose a threat to a tiger, the king of the mountains.
Itadori's growth during this period had indeed been significant, but he was far from reaching his limit. There was still massive room for improvement; he was like a child who hadn't fully grown into his frame.
Under such a premise, Itadori happened to not be the type who excelled at intellectual labor. Therefore, it was perfectly normal for him to be caught in Kenjaku's schemes, leading to an accidental release of Ryomen Sukuna.
Emiya would never blame the boy. Even if he felt emotional, it would only be worry and self-reproach.
In his eyes, since he was the teacher and the parental figure, it was his duty to protect the children in dangerous situations. Yet now, Itadori Yuji had been outmaneuvered by Kenjaku to the point where Ryomen Sukuna had seized control of his body...
It wasn't that Itadori insisted on being controlled by another; it was that Emiya had failed to protect him, allowing him to fall victim to Kenjaku's plotting—how could this not be counted as his own failure?
By comparison, those parents who never truly pay attention to their child's psychological growth, only to blame the child when a problem arises, are the ones who are truly strange.
When a child under their absolute care meets with an accident, the parents clearly cannot escape responsibility. To turn around and interrogate the child instead only proves that their own issues are even greater.
After Kenjaku found a way to steal the six Sukuna fingers from the Jujutsu High [Cursed Warehouse], his intention to resurrect Ryomen Sukuna had become quite obvious. Emiya had actually considered whether keeping Itadori from going out on missions related to Kenjaku would be safer in some sense.
But didn't the theft of the fingers prove that even keeping Itadori at Jujutsu High wasn't as safe as imagined?
Rather than being so timid and cautious, it was better to let Itadori grow rapidly through the constant execution of missions.
There is a saying: "There is a way to catch a thief for a thousand days, but no way to guard against a thief for a thousand days." Thus, rather than shielding Itadori with extreme caution, it
was better to let him experience the storm and grow, so that he would possess the power to deal with danger himself.
What Emiya should do now was absolutely not to blame Itadori for why Sukuna had regained his freedom, but to work hard to help him reclaim control of his body from Sukuna's shadow, incorporating this failure as nutrients for his own growth.
Emiya was truly sincere toward these Jujutsu High students, hoping they would grow into powerhouses who could stand on their own.
Even though the current Ryomen Sukuna had reclaimed more than half of his power with Kenjaku's help—becoming several times stronger than he was at the detention center—what did it matter?
Emiya couldn't just abandon Itadori Yuji. No matter what, he had to defeat Sukuna once again and save Itadori, bringing him back whole and unharmed.
"That said, I hope the current you isn't like you were before."
"Realizing you're no match in a head-on fight, only to turn around and use the body you're occupying as a hostage... that look was a bit too pathetic."
After loosening up his limbs slightly, Emiya spoke to Sukuna with a hint of contempt in his tone.
True strength is never just about superficial power; it should be a specific, "sole-sovereign" mindset of the strong within one's heart.
If, back then, Sukuna could have made an honorable agreement with Emiya, or simply retreated back into Itadori's body after his defeat, Emiya might have thought better of the guy, viewing him as an enemy who still possessed some dignity.
But that business of casually using another's life as a threat was simply too vile.
If one is merely self-centered without any logic or bottom line, how is that different from pure cowardice? He had simply lucked into a bit of strength, but his mindset hadn't grown an inch; stripped of that power, he would still be nothing.
"What do you mean? Are you trying to gain ideological dominance over me before the fight even begins?
There is no 'logic' in this world. Don't use your so-called logic to bind me... all these ideologies are merely established by the strong for the weak.
Unlike those frail non-sorcerers, I believe sorcerers are born with the essence of the strong—different [Innate Techniques] represent different ways they view the world.
And just like the collision of Domains, sorcerers with different worldviews kill each other without needing to understand one another, because the world of the weak should be
dominated by the strong. If there is any reason for them to continue living in this world, then this is it."
Unlike Emiya's understanding, the reason Sukuna did what he did was simply because he thought of it at that moment; that was all. No sense of restraint existed in his heart.
Respecting the elderly? Being polite? Frugality and self-control? These moral concepts refined in later generations did not belong to him. He was purely the kind of "wild beast" in Kenjaku's understanding.
Of course, even in the mindset of a beast, basic trade-offs of interest still exist.
Back at the detention center, there were at most three fingers contained within Itadori's body. Even if they had vanished along with his life, Sukuna—who still had seventeen fingers out in the world—wouldn't have felt much heartache.
Strictly speaking, the cursed energy that vanished with the fingers wasn't permanent. Once he fully resurrected, he could easily recover the lost portion.
But now it was different. The number of fingers merged into Itadori's body exceeded half. Unless it was an absolutely exceptional circumstance, Sukuna would never abandon this much power.
Furthermore, he never believed he would lose.
"Since you put it that way, I can only hope... that when I defeat you, you won't insist on denying your failure again."
Even if he wasn't as sensitive as the cursed spirit Jogo, Emiya certainly had a judgment of just how strong the current Ryomen Sukuna was. Facing an enemy of this caliber, even if he wanted to worry about other things, he would likely lack the spare energy to do so.
However, fighting in the high-density area of Shibuya would inevitably involve ordinary people who could hardly perceive the danger. Thus, he had to find a way to keep Sukuna contained within this range that had already been evacuated once.
Not only that, it would be best to notify the students to evacuate everyone within a sufficient radius without Sukuna knowing, to prevent the accidents that could happen at any moment.
If possible, the best scenario would be to directly pull this dangerous enemy into his [Reality Marble]. That would minimize the possibility of innocent casualties.
Although Emiya himself couldn't guarantee whether he could deploy the [Reality Marble] in his current state, under the pressure of the situation, he had to try.
But just as Emiya was weighing his strategy and preparing to act, he didn't expect someone to move even faster than him—
BOOM!
Lava erupting from deep underground instantly covered the spot where Ryomen Sukuna was standing. With such a highly recognizable attack, one didn't need to think to know who did it.
Knowing full well that the enemy's strength was beyond his reach, Jogo still charged forward without fear. One has to admit that in terms of courage, it might actually be stronger than Sukuna himself.
After completing this fearless attack, Jogo immediately turned toward Emiya and roared: "What are you standing there dazed for?! Go and finish off that guy over there!!!"
In terms of consistency, Jogo truly hit the peak. Having said it would finish Kenjaku, it hadn't changed its goal from start to finish.
Launching an attack on Sukuna now without hesitation was only because it knew it had no way of threatening Kenjaku; it would rather try to buy an opportunity for Emiya.
"...Ah?"
Even Emiya was starting to find the cursed spirit's actions incomprehensible. Perhaps it was because its emotions were so pure—pure enough that nothing remained but hatred for Kenjaku—that it could do this.
Fortunately, Emiya knew his priorities. Being able to resolve Kenjaku here and now would be the ultimate solution, so he immediately turned his gaze toward the direction where Kenjaku had been blasted away.
He saw that the man had already constructed the framework for his escape using barrier techniques. He only stayed a moment longer because he was still somewhat interested in the scene unfolding.
Kenjaku himself hadn't expected Sukuna to arrive at such a coincidental time, providing him with the perfect opportunity to escape...
Perhaps this was proof that fate was on his side?
"If you want to catch me now, there's no chance... Tsk..."
Kenjaku, already inside the barrier, wanted to smile and wave a hand toward Emiya to say goodbye, but he seemed to have completely forgotten the hideous wound remaining on his chest.
The moment he raised his arm, the spot wrapped in centipedes suddenly gushed a large amount of blood, forcing him to abandon his gesture. He was even tormented by the intense pain from the wound to the point of kneeling on one knee, turning all his focus back to stabilizing the injury.
"Just wait. When we meet again, the one who wins in the end will be me... if we have another chance to meet."
After dropping this parting threat to cover the fact that he was fleeing in a pathetic state, Kenjaku's figure vanished instantly through the power of the barrier, transferred either to another part of Shibuya or perhaps directly into the [Magano] to prepare something else.
"How pathetic. Is that guy the one who planned this whole scene? He's even worse than I imagined."
"But as for whether this guy is interesting or not, I'll still have to test it personally to reach a conclusion."
"...What??!"
Jogo didn't notice Kenjaku's escape immediately. It was only after hearing Sukuna's voice right beside it that it finally noticed the other had arrived at its side at some unknown point, even placing a palm on its head.
It hadn't noticed. It had completely failed to notice the movement as Sukuna left the attack range and arrived behind it.
This meant that if the opponent wanted to, he could easily twist its head off at any moment. Jogo had expected a significant power gap, but was it seriously possible that it couldn't even see Sukuna's movements?!
"...!"
Crack!
Just as Jogo was about to try and roar out, the 'volcano' on top of its head made a sound of being over-strained under the immense pressure. Veins bulged on Jogo's face, turning it twisted and hideous.
Any living being in a state of extreme agony will temporarily lose the ability to speak or act.
"Now that you've stopped talking, I almost forgot—you were the one who dared to speak to me in that tone, weren't you?"
"If you want me to respect you, fine, just show corresponding strength. But as for you... just a cursed spirit, aren't you thinking too much?"
Boom!
With a casual toss, Jogo—who had been wreaking havoc just moments ago—was sent flying at extreme speed, smashed directly into a distant crater where it went silent.
As for whether the guy was still alive, Sukuna couldn't be bothered to check. Would you specially go to check on the life or death of a fly after flicking it off your body in the wild?
Don't be ridiculous. Just thinking that thought felt like a waste of energy to him. It was an intelligent cursed spirit; even if it was a bit stupid, it should know to run as far away as possible now.
Having finished this seemingly trivial matter, Sukuna refocused all his attention on Emiya.
"Alright. There should be no more nuisances nearby.
Since it's just the two of us now... are you ready to die?"
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