Sukuna, a Treasure Trove; the Juvenile Detention Center Incident / A Special-Grade Battle-Another Special-Grade Cursed Spirit Instantly Defeated

Instinctively, he wanted to say his usual catchphrase, but when he turned and saw Seele beside him, Gojo Satoru hesitated.

He was someone who dealt in facts. Just a few days ago, he had lost to the girl before him. Though he had been somewhat careless, until they fought again, the strongest person in the Jujutsu World was probably Seele.

With that in mind, Gojo Satoru changed his wording.

"Don't worry. I'm very strong."

Seeing Gojo Satoru's confident expression, Itadori Yuji could only choose to trust him and stood where he was, closing his eyes.

Moments later, black markings began to emerge across Itadori Yuji's body.

Boom!!!

Under the watchful eyes of An Xiu, Seele, and Fushiguro Megumi nearby, Sukuna, having once again taken control of the body, immediately began fighting Gojo Satoru without another word.

However, anyone could see that Sukuna, with the strength of only one finger, was nothing more than a toy being played with before Gojo Satoru.

Rather than a battle, this was more like Gojo Satoru testing whether Itadori Yuji could truly suppress Sukuna at any time.

"Come to think of it, Special Grade curse incarnations are usually rare even once in years. Why does it feel like we've been running into them so often lately?"

Even while fighting, Gojo Satoru still had the leisure to chat with An Xiu and the others beside him.

"Don't compare the other Seele to that disgusting thing."

Seriously, how could a malformed creature with four eyes, two mouths, and four arms in life possibly compare to Black Seele? Whether in looks or strength, they were not comparable in the slightest.

"You bastard..."

Seeing Gojo Satoru casually chatting with people at the side while fighting him, Sukuna, already being toyed with, was instantly enraged.

That white-haired guy was completely looking down on him!

He admitted that, with only one finger's worth of power, he truly was no match for the man before him. In that case, he would kill these spectators first, as revenge before killing his opponent.

With that thought in mind, after being sent flying by Gojo Satoru in another exchange, Sukuna turned in midair and charged toward An Xiu and the other two.

Not good!

Seeing this, Fushiguro Megumi instinctively assumed the stance to activate his technique and block the attack. Sukuna revealed a triumphant smile, completely failing to notice that Gojo Satoru behind him had no intention of chasing after him. Instead, he wore an expression of eager anticipation.

The next second, Seele appeared in front of An Xiu at some point, blocking Sukuna's path. White cursed energy infused with the Power of Creation erupted from her hand.

Boom!!!

In an instant, Sukuna was blasted back even faster than he had charged in. He crashed through the ground below and flew all the way to the field. The shockwave's gusts sent the hair and clothes of everyone present fluttering wildly.

"That must've hurt. Don't tell me she killed him outright?"

Walking to the edge of the rooftop and looking in the direction Sukuna had been blasted away, Gojo Satoru spoke in a rather worried tone.

"Seele did not harm his life. She merely rendered him unable to resist."

Dissipating the remaining cursed energy in her hand, Seele answered softly.

"Why not go take a look and find out?"

An Xiu stepped forward from behind Seele as he spoke, then looked at her beside him.

Understanding An Xiu's meaning, Seele placed her hand in his. The next second, the two vanished from where they stood and appeared on the field.

"Let's go take a look too."

Patting the somewhat stunned Fushiguro Megumi beside him, Gojo Satoru brought him to the spot where Sukuna had fallen as well.

Just then, the ten seconds had ended. Itadori Yuji once again suppressed Sukuna's consciousness and regained control of his body.

Then, Itadori Yuji felt agonizing pain throughout his entire body, as if he had been torn apart.

"What's going on? Why do I feel like every bone in my body is broken?"

"Is there any chance that isn't just a feeling?"

Walking over to Itadori Yuji and confirming that he had truly regained his body at the agreed time, Gojo Satoru smiled faintly as he spoke in a gloomy tone.

"Huh?! Isn't that way too heavy-handed?!"

Though he had realized that the thing he swallowed was dangerous, surely they did not need to break every bone in his body just for letting it out for ten seconds?

Could fractures this severe even be treated with modern medicine? Was he going to become an invalid confined to a bed for the rest of his life?

"I didn't do this. Miss Seele over there did. But I'll still take responsibility and find someone to heal you. Before that, please take a nap."

Ignoring Gojo Satoru knocking Itadori Yuji unconscious, An Xiu heard the system prompt ringing in his ear.

"Ding! Detected that Seele defeated Sukuna in order to protect the host. Reward: 2500 points."

What was going on? Under normal circumstances, shouldn't points only be awarded for killing Cursed Spirits?

"Ding! Answering the host: what matters is the action, not whether the target is killed. As long as the conditions are met, defeating, repelling, or killing the target can all grant system points. However, each target can only grant points once."

"I see."

Hearing that, An Xiu nodded.

He had not expected that merely coming to confirm whether the plot had begun would bring such an unexpected reward.

A Treasure Trove Called Sukuna, the Eishu Reform School Incident

Whether defeated, repelled, or killed, each target could only trigger a reward once.

However, if An Xiu remembered correctly, Sukuna in the original work seemed to have said that even if the consciousness within the finger fused with Itadori Yuji died along with him, it would not affect the revival of Sukuna's consciousness clones within the other fingers.

Then was there a possibility that each of Sukuna's fingers could count as an independent target, allowing An Xiu to trigger rewards multiple times?

If that was possible... Sukuna had twenty fingers in the original work. At 2500 points per finger, triggering it twenty times would mean 50000 points.

Damn, so the greatest treasure in the Jujutsu World was right here!

At once, the way An Xiu looked at Itadori Yuji—or rather, Sukuna—changed.

Noticing the change in An Xiu's gaze, Gojo Satoru, who had already slung Itadori Yuji over his shoulder, looked over in confusion.

For some reason, he felt that the way An Xiu was looking at Itadori Yuji on his shoulder was like an ordinary person seeing money flying all over the street.

The problem was that aside from having fused with Sukuna's finger and being able to suppress Sukuna's consciousness at any time, Itadori Yuji did not seem to have anything else special about him.

Was An Xiu interested in Sukuna? That was not impossible to understand. After all, he was known as the King of Curses.

Still, as far as Gojo Satoru was concerned, Sukuna was... not even comparable to the curse residing within Miss Seele.

The strongest King of Curses from a thousand years ago? Honestly, after experiencing Black Seele's terrifying cursed energy, which had stripped him of his ability to resist with a single blow, Gojo Satoru felt that title was somewhat exaggerated.

"Then we'll be taking our leave first. What happened here still needs to be reported to the Director's Council."

"I have to see those annoying people again. Just thinking about it gives me a headache."

With Itadori Yuji over one shoulder and Fushiguro Megumi in one hand, Gojo Satoru greeted An Xiu and Seele before flying away.

"We should leave too. There's nothing left to see here."

Though An Xiu coveted Sukuna as an enormous points gift pack, he knew this was not something to rush. Besides, as long as the plot continued as it should, he would soon have a chance to test his theory.

There was no need for him to hurry. He only needed to enjoy the present.

Just like that, because he had not interfered much with the direction of the plot, Itadori Yuji was still sentenced to death by the higher-ups of the Jujutsu World, just as in the original work. Under Gojo Satoru's firm demands, the sentence was changed to a suspended death penalty on the grounds that he would serve as a vessel for collecting Sukuna's fingers.

An Xiu understood Gojo Satoru's plan very well. First, preserve Itadori Yuji's life temporarily using an excuse. Collecting the fingers was a long-term task that would normally take at least several years.

By then, Itadori Yuji would have already grown under his guidance, and the younger generation would also be ready to shoulder important responsibilities. Gojo Satoru, who had long been dissatisfied with the higher-ups and intended to purge them, could then eliminate the rotten upper echelon of the Jujutsu World without concern and let the younger generation take their places. At that point, Itadori Yuji's death sentence would naturally become empty words.

From Gojo Satoru's perspective, this was undoubtedly a perfect and highly feasible plan. As the strongest, he also had the confidence to carry it out. He simply had not anticipated the series of events that followed in the original work.

Just like that, two weeks passed.

Since An Xiu had not interfered with the subsequent plot at all, everything developed just as it had in the original work.

Itadori Yuji joined Tokyo Jujutsu High School as a first-year student, just as in the original work. Together with Fushiguro Megumi and the later-arriving Kugisaki Nobara, he formed the classic two boys and one girl team. They spent half a month exorcising various curses and deepening their bonds, and then...

The Special Grade Cursed Womb incident at the Reform School finally began.

The gloomy sky was filled with dark clouds, and a light drizzle fell from above.

Following the cursed energy, An Xiu and Seele appeared on the street outside Eishu Reform School.

"West Tokyo Eishu Reform School. This is the place."

Feeling the restless cursed energy in the air, An Xiu confirmed that they had not come to the wrong place.

"Does Seele need to go in now?"

Seele asked An Xiu beside her.

"Let's inform the person in charge here first. We aren't rude people, after all."

Though the Reform School incident in the original plot was extremely dangerous, Seele could handle it at any time with her strength.

Thus, An Xiu was in no hurry. He calmly entered the Reform School with Seele and met Ijichi, the supervisor in charge of the scene.

"Y-You are... Miss Seele, the Special Grade sorcerer who was newly promoted half a month ago?"

Since Seele had officially passed the Special Grade assessment half a month ago, the higher-ups of the Jujutsu World had announced the matter through the Director's Council and informed all members of the Jujutsu World of the birth of the fifth Special Grade sorcerer. Ijichi, who had seen her photograph long ago, immediately recognized her.

"I never expected you to appear here. This is wonderful!"

Bowing deeply to Seele and An Xiu, Ijichi immediately informed them of the situation.

"Because of the appearance of a Special Grade Cursed Womb, the Jujutsu World was unable to find suitable sorcerers to resolve the matter on short notice. Therefore, we could only dispatch three first-year students from Tokyo Jujutsu High School who were nearby to enter the Reform School and rescue any survivors who might be inside."

"Now that a Special Grade sorcerer is present, I sincerely ask you to exorcise the Cursed Womb inside and resolve this crisis."

Seele did not answer immediately. Instead, she looked at An Xiu beside her.

"How long have those three first-year Jujutsu High School students been inside?"

An Xiu asked.

"Uh... around four minutes."

Compared to Seele, An Xiu was undoubtedly far less well-known. After all, he had not taken the Grade 1 sorcerer assessment, so there had been no announcement from the Director's Council. Thus, Ijichi did not recognize him at all.

However, although he did not know An Xiu's exact identity, someone who could stand beside a newly promoted Special Grade was clearly no ordinary person. Therefore, Ijichi still answered respectfully.

"Four minutes? Looks like there's still time."

Having received Ijichi's answer, An Xiu gestured to Seele beside him.

"Then An Xiu-ge can wait here for a moment. Seele will be back very soon."

Raising her hand to summon her scythe, Seele lightly tapped the ground with the tip of her foot. Her figure instantly disappeared into the barrier that had been specially deployed ahead to conceal the scene from ordinary people: the Curtain.

The Battle of a Special Grade, Another Instant Kill of a Special Grade Cursed Spirit

Upon entering the barrier, the scene before her instantly changed. The Reform School became a landscape of waste pipes and buildings intertwined together.

Clearly, the Cursed Womb had already fully developed as it had in the original work. This scene before her was its incomplete Domain.

"This way."

After sensing the cursed energy within the Domain and locking onto the target, Seele immediately activated Quantization and rushed in that direction.

Meanwhile, the first-year trio from Tokyo Jujutsu High School had just encountered the Special Grade Cursed Spirit. Kugisaki Nobara, who had not noticed anything, was immediately transferred by the Cursed Spirit into another space and found herself surrounded by a group of low-level Cursed Spirits.

As for Fushiguro Megumi and Itadori Yuji, they did not even dare to move under the pressure of the Special Grade Cursed Spirit.

"So this is... a Special Grade Cursed Spirit? It really is on a completely different level from the curses we exorcised before..."

Itadori Yuji spoke with difficulty.

Though they had been told in advance about the terror of Special Grades before taking on the mission, hearing about it and actually encountering one were clearly two entirely different things.

"Ehehehehe!"

Continuously letting out strange laughter, the pale humanoid Cursed Spirit with four eyes on top of its head raised a hand and waved it. Powerful cursed energy carrying devastating force instantly sent Fushiguro Megumi and Itadori Yuji flying along with a large stretch of ground before them.

They were completely outmatched!

Struggling to rise from the ground, Itadori Yuji tried to swing the blade-shaped cursed tool in his hand and counterattack the Cursed Spirit before him, only for the weapon to be shattered by a single blow.

On the other side, Fushiguro Megumi, half-kneeling on the ground, formed a hand sign as well, attempting to summon shikigami to face the enemy.