Bzzzt... bzzzt...
Toji Fushiguro walked along the stone path outside the Tombs of the Star, his phone vibrating in his pocket.
"Hello."
A familiar cold voice came from the other end. "Where is the Star Plasma Vessel? Is it done?"
"She ran."
"What?!"
The voice turned furious. "Zen... Toji Fushiguro! We agreed on the assassination of the Star Plasma Vessel. If you don't complete the job, we won't pay!"
"Yeah, yeah~"
Toji rolled his eyes. "The Six Eyes Twins and the Cursed Spirit Manipulation user are dealt with. Getting the girl is just a matter of time."
"Your goal is to prevent the merger anyway. Now that she's not at the Tombs of the Star, waiting a bit longer won't hurt."
"You better hurry. Remember, if we don't see a body, we don't pay... Hello? Hello! Toji Fushiguro, are you listening?"
Toji stared blankly at the figure in front of him, forgetting to respond to the phone entirely.
"Hello! Toji Fushiguro! Can you hear me? Hello!"
Toji snapped the flip phone shut and shoved it into his pocket, staring in disbelief.
Satoru Gojo!
Under the blinding sunlight, the figure looked slightly frail, white hair stained with patches of red.
Satoru looked up. His uniform was soaked in blood, but his messy face wore a smile he had never shown before.
"Yo! Long time no see!"
Toji's pupils constricted, revealing a look of shock he had never shown before.
"For real?"
"Of course it's real!"
Satoru swept his bangs aside, revealing a forehead without a scratch. "I'm alive and kicking!"
Toji frowned.
Resurrection from the dead. This kind of bizarre phenomenon meant only one thing...
"Reverse Cursed Technique?"
"Correct!"
Satoru spread his arms wide, looking like an excited elementary schooler who got the right answer.
"Tch!"
Toji pulled out the Inverted Spear of Heaven, dropping into a combat stance with a savage grin. "Looks like the real fight starts now!"
"No. The fight is already over!"
A familiar voice came from behind him.
Toji spun around as if he'd seen a ghost. A blood-soaked Souma Gojo was walking slowly toward him, wearing a manic grin.
"Thanks a lot, Toji!"
Satoru saw Souma and smiled knowingly. "I knew it, Big Bro. There's no way I could do it and you couldn't!"
"Thank me?"
Toji was confused.
Souma explained, "Yeah. Before this, we couldn't learn Reverse Cursed Technique no matter how hard we tried!"
"Turns out, only by tasting death, by having a near-perverted thirst for life, can one find the key to unlock it!"
"Negative energy multiplied by negative energy equals positive energy! Ah~ Toji, you really should have chopped our heads off. You would have won!"
At this moment, Souma wore the exact same crazed expression as Satoru.
"Only by approaching death can one realize the true meaning of existence. You told me that, Souma!"
A sudden third voice stunned everyone.
Suguru Geto walked slowly out of the Tombs of the Star.
With every step, his cursed energy overflowed so violently that the surrounding air distorted.
Geto looked at Toji, laughing loudly as he patted his chest. "That stab really hurt!"
Toji was completely baffled.
What the hell? Did everyone just use me as an EXP farm?
Souma and Satoru looked at Geto. Geto looked back at them.
The three shared a knowing, tacit smile.
Souma hadn't expected his casual hypothesis to actually trigger Geto's awakening too.
"Reverse Cursed Technique is still a technique. I just need to shove the Inverted Spear into your brains!"
Toji laughed angrily, connecting the Inverted Spear to the Chain of a Thousand Miles and vanishing from sight.
ZING!!!
A sharp blade flashed. Toji's eyes widened.
"Phase."
"Paramita."
"Pillar of Light."
"Cursed Technique Reversal: Red!"
Souma's voice rang out from behind him.
The Lapse of the Limitless is powerful attraction (Blue). The Reversal is repulsion (Red)!
Toji barely turned around when a black-and-red orb slammed into him, carrying terrifying repulsive force.
BOOM!!!
The ground of the Tombs of the Star was torn apart as if plowed by a giant.
The violent impact left Toji dizzy. Before he could regain his footing, Satoru appeared in front of him.
"My turn. Cursed Technique Reversal: Red!"
"Again?"
Toji hurriedly held the Inverted Spear in front of him.
The spear could nullify techniques, so it acted as a shield.
But even though the spear successfully nullified the Red, the sheer kinetic force of the repulsion still sent him flying.
"Pfft~"
Toji spat out a mouthful of blood and staggered to his feet. The first thing he saw was Geto walking toward him.
Geto smiled, eyes squinted shut. "Don't worry. My technique isn't as crude as theirs."
"Emptiness."
"Bhikkhus."
"Maraga."
"Cursed Technique Reversal: Bestowal!"
As the words fell, a Rainbow Dragon roared and charged.
Toji smirked. "I already killed this thing once. It won't work again!"
Geto didn't speak. He just smiled.
Toji drew the Split Soul Katana and sliced the Grade 1 curse in half with two strokes.
But before he could catch his breath, three more Rainbow Dragons rushed out from behind Geto.
Toji paused. Dealing with three wasn't hard.
But as soon as he thought that, the shadow behind Geto opened like a bottomless black hole. One after another, Rainbow Dragons poured out.
"What the hell?"
Before Toji could react, he was surrounded by a swarm of Rainbow Dragons!
Even if he could easily kill one, or even ten.
There were at least a hundred here!
Rainbow Dragons weren't cabbages. They were top-tier Grade 1 curses.
Toji was dumbfounded. "This... this is Cursed Spirit Manipulation?"
Geto explained with a smile, "The Reversal of Cursed Spirit Manipulation."
"The principle of my technique is converting curses into raw cursed energy to store them, then releasing them for battle."
"Converting curses into energy is the Lapse. I call it 'Subjugation'."
"The Reversal is converting energy back into curses... or rather, acting as a catalyst to accelerate that conversion!"
Geto waved his hand. Dozens of Kuchisake-Onna appeared, identical to the one Toji had killed.
"Now, my cursed energy is nearly infinite. So I can create infinite copies of my curses."
"So... how long can you last?"
At his command, countless curses roared and swarmed Toji, beginning a righteous gang-beating.
While fighting off the horde, Toji watched the three students.
Strangely, Souma, Satoru, and Geto began to float into the air like feathers.
The sunlight cast long shadows behind them.
"This feeling... it's strange."
"Is this what it feels like to be a fish drifting in the ocean?"
"Ah! This world feels incredibly liberating!"
The three drifted erratically in the air, then simultaneously struck the same pose—one hand pointing to the sky, one hand pointing to the ground.
Then, almost instinctively, they spoke in unison:
"Throughout Heaven and Earth, I Alone Am The Honored One!"
Silence followed. The three looked at each other.
"Hey! I thought of that line!"
"Shut up, Suguru! You have no charisma when you say it!"
"Obviously you two are copying me!"
"You two creeps shouldn't use such a cool line!"