A week later, during the exchange event between the Tokyo and Kyoto schools.
Gojo Satoru was on a civilian fishing boat. He lifted his blindfold, and the residual Cursed Energy was clearly reflected in his Six Eyes. However, the owner of that residual energy was long gone. In their place was a strange Shikigami; it hadn't noticed Gojo Satoru and was just mechanically rowing the boat.
Gojo Satoru sighed. "As expected, they came prepared. Tsukumo, this time even if I Wanted to, I can't keep up with you."
He hadn't expected the Six Eyes to be countered like this; Gojo Satoru felt quite conflicted.
His strength was beyond question, and because of that, he never hid his abilities. The whole world knew of his Six Eyes and Limitless, but how many people in the world dared to challenge him? Since his debut, all who challenged him had died, including the fully armed Heavenly Restriction.
But today, his myth was shattered once again.
The first time it was shattered was during his student days, when he hadn't yet perfectly combined the Six Eyes with the Limitless and encountered the Heavenly Restriction; he almost truly died during that mission.
At that time, his brain and Cursed energy core were both destroyed. The brain is where the Innate Technique resides, and the Cursed energy core is the location that generates Cursed Energy. Theoretically, he should have been as dead as could be.
But he still revived on the spot.
In that life-or-death battle, he bypassed the grind of experience and time. In an instant, he perfectly fused the Six Eyes and Limitless, achieving the status of the world's strongest.
After that, he had a satisfying revenge by killing the Heavenly Restriction. And now, this was the second time.
His Six Eyes' tracking ability was unparalleled in the world. Even with spatial transfers, as long as the distance wasn't too great, he could still see the residual spatial traces with his naked eye and give chase immediately. The Curse Users he targeted all died this way.
But Yuki Tsukumo had broken this rule.
Her method was so simple it made Gojo Satoru feel like laughing: she created a Shikigami connected to her Cursed Energy, then concealed her own Cursed Energy fluctuations. Even though Gojo Satoru knew her methods, he still ended up chasing her Shikigami.
Other people's Shikigami, no matter how you look at them, are not the Jujutsu Sorcerers themselves. Their residual Cursed Energy is completely different from the Jujutsu Sorcerers'. It's like Mei Mei's crow Shikigami; even if the crow can share vision and energy with Mei Mei, it's useless. A crow is a crow, and a person is a person. It's clear as day before the Six Eyes.
But Yuki Tsukumo's was different. Her Shikigami could perfectly mimic her own residual Cursed Energy. The degree of similarity was so high that the Shikigami could even use her own Innate Technique.
This was Yuki Tsukumo's unique ultimate Shikigami!
In the entire original work, this was something only Yuki Tsukumo could achieve, and it wasn't even dependent on her Innate Technique. It was simply that her jujutsu skills were so advanced that others couldn't comprehend them. One could say she was the strongest Jujutsu master in the world; in terms of general jujutsu techniques, she was peerless.
"Now, I won't be able to protect you." Gojo Satoru withdrew the smile from his face, put his blindfold back on, and whispered, "Don't die, Tsukumo."
…
"As expected, he didn't catch up," Yuki Tsukumo sighed. "Satoru, the downside of never hiding your abilities is being fully exposed. The result of everyone knowing everything is that everyone is studying how to counter you. Even if they can't counter you in combat, they'll use all sorts of abilities to escape from your hands."
Wasn't she doing exactly that? This was supposed to be a trump card she'd use to resolve things if Gojo Satoru ever went mad like Geto Suguru, but at this moment, she had used it on herself. Under a Binding Vow, she had indeed shaken off Gojo Satoru.
She didn't know whether to be proud or sad.
Deep in the Sahara Desert, in a place where no one could detect her, Yuki Tsukumo walked alone. She wasn't worried about getting lost; the moment she stepped into the desert, she sensed a certain residual Cursed Energy guiding her like a beacon.
This was the battlefield chosen by the King of Curses, and it was even less atmospheric than Yuki Tsukumo had imagined.
In Yuki Tsukumo's mind, a grand figure like the King of Curses should have chosen an ancient coliseum, a nameless island, or a more stylish place like the seaside. No one would have expected him to choose the desert.
But Yuki Tsukumo strangely understood the King of Curses' thoughts.
'Let us have a hearty duel!' Everything he did radiated this sentiment.
Because this was a deserted desert region. If the battlefield were set in a coliseum, a nameless island, or the seaside, the collateral damage from the fight could harm innocents. But here, there was no such worry.
Yuki Tsukumo gladly agreed.
Originally, her Cursed Technique wasn't suited for precise operations. Once she fought with all her might, the scope of the impact was beyond even her own imagination. Sinking Japan was definitely not just a joke.
But if it was here, she could act without any inhibitions.
Suddenly, she stopped advancing. She stood in place and looked around, then raised her hand and reached forward. At the point of contact, layer upon layer of barriers emerged, but these barriers did not reject her at all.
Yuki Tsukumo immediately realized that this was a barrier only she could enter. She had arrived; Yuki Tsukumo had a moment of clarity.
She pushed her perception to the limit, doing her best to cover the entire barrier. Her perception of Cursed Energy wasn't as outstanding as Gojo Satoru's. If it were Gojo Satoru, he could surely do it easily, right? Like in the original work, when Gojo Satoru was still in the car and could sense Jogo's ultra-long-range surprise attack, even stopping the car before Jogo attacked to go out and meet him alone. But Yuki Tsukumo couldn't do that.
Even so, she could sense the presence at each node of the barrier.
"One, two, three... there are seven Cursed Spirits in total," Yuki Tsukumo muttered to herself. "Are these all the Intelligent Cursed Spirits? In other words, as long as I kill the Lord of the Cursed Spirits, these Intelligent Cursed Spirits can be wiped out all at once."
A barrier requires a caster to release it. This wasn't like Japan. In Japan, because there is a great barrier covering the entire country, using Barrier Techniques is much more convenient. Even an assistant supervisor with only a little Cursed Energy and no combat power can perform simple Barrier Techniques. But it's not that convenient abroad.
This meant that all the Intelligent Cursed Spirits possessed high-level Barrier Technique abilities. Aside from the Lord of the Cursed Spirits, the other Cursed Spirits were putting all their effort into maintaining this massive barrier.
However, she didn't sense any residual Cursed Energy from humans.
Yuki Tsukumo could accurately distinguish between the residual Cursed Energy of Cursed Spirits and humans. Therefore, she was certain that only Cursed Spirits were present, with no humans.
In other words, Ashiya Magon is not here? Yuki Tsukumo pondered.
How Intelligent Cursed Spirits were born had become the most noteworthy question in the current Jujutsu World. After all, this was the first instance in a thousand years, and every Jujutsu Sorcerer was completely baffled by it.
Tengen believed that even the Intelligent Cursed Spirits themselves were likely not very clear about it. Only Ashiya Magon, who taught them, would know the truth. Thus, for the Jujutsu World, killing the Lord of the Cursed Spirits and capturing Ashiya Magon were of equal importance.
But now Ashiya Magon wasn't here... where was he?
"...Oh well, that's not my mission then." Yuki Tsukumo took a deep breath and casually tossed aside the white cloth cloak she was wearing. She was still in a black tank top, revealing her navel and arms. The tank top clung to her skin, tracing her graceful figure. She stood tall and gave a long stretch, her body's curves like a roaring wave.
She thought about the information on the King of Curses and the words she heard when she questioned the elderly and weak survivors of the Zenin Family:
["On that night, the wind and rain blew against the doors, and thunder flashed in the sky. All those deemed to have no combat power were hidden in the..."]
["...underground training ground. They didn't know what was happening, but everyone was silent because a certain invisible pressure was weighing down on them. Some children began to cry, but their mothers covered their mouths, not daring to let even a sound escape."]
["Until a world-shaking voice pierced through the ground. Someone was announcing their arrival, coming to kill! The King of Curses gave a divine proclamation to the world:"]
["—A Curse of humans upon humans, Mahito, has arrived!"]
Yuki Tsukumo felt as if she were seeing a swordsman walking out of the Heian period. She could even imagine the King of Curses dressed in samurai attire, with a long blade hanging from his waist and a bamboo hat on his head, walking through a rainy night, accompanied by the wind, the rain, and the thunder.
How elegant.
Yuki Tsukumo thought to herself. Just by thinking about it, she could tell what an elegant man he must be. He must be covered in glory, carrying the weight of all living beings' deaths. If this were any other time, I would certainly Want to get to know such a person.
—Provided that it was a human, and not a Cursed Spirit.
Announcing one's name with dignity and striking from outside the gates of heaven?
Let me show you then, O King of Curses.
Yuki Tsukumo's lips curled into a smile. It wasn't a beautiful smile, but one as fierce as a bloodthirsty wolf. She let out one final voice in her heart:
How a Jujutsu Sorcerer fights!
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