"Yo? It's been a few years, and you've grown a pair?"
Shinsuke Zenin looked surprised.
Had this kid forgotten his own name after a few years as the Sorcerer Killer?
He was just rehashing things Shinsuke had already done back in the day.
"Come on. Let's see what you can do."
Shinsuke Zenin stepped back and beckoned Toji over.
If being nice didn't work, they'd have to do this the hard way. He wanted to know what had given his foolish little brother the nerve to say that.
"Heh. You said it, so don't blame me for not going easy on you."
Toji had plenty of resentment toward the brother who'd disappeared for years. There was no settling a feud between men without a fight.
Today, he'd find out whether the brother who'd always had the edge over him could still beat him.
Toji's eyes sharpened in an instant. He reached into the mouth of the Cursed Spirit wrapped around his body and pulled out a red three-section staff.
Play Cloud, a Special Grade Cursed Tool said to be worth five hundred million!
Toji gripped Play Cloud in both hands, bent his knees, and grinned savagely. "Try not to lose too badly!"
Boom!
In the next instant, Toji became a blur and swung Play Cloud sideways at Shinsuke Zenin. The red staff whistled through the air.
Shinsuke Zenin paused briefly as a wave of heat surged around him. His muscles bulged, and veins stood out across his body.
Smack!
He reached out one hand and caught Play Cloud as it came crashing down.
A powerful force traveled through the staff, leaving Shinsuke Zenin's arm numb.
The only Special Grade Cursed Tool without a Technique effect, Play Cloud possessed extraordinarily violent power.
The stronger its user, the greater the power it unleashed. It was a weapon for the strong.
With Play Cloud in hand, Toji was strong enough to hunt down most Special Grade Cursed Spirits.
Though the blow had numbed Shinsuke Zenin's arm, his expression didn't change.
He suddenly exerted his strength. A terrifying force surged through Play Cloud and into Toji's hands. In an instant, Shinsuke Zenin snatched the weapon away and said with a grin,
"This thing's mine now."
He liked violent weapons like this, too.
"Hmph!"
Toji snorted, looking displeased, then reached into the Cursed Spirit's mouth again and pulled out a broad-bladed dragon-whisker sword.
The Soul Liberation Blade, another Special Grade Cursed Tool!
It could bypass physical and Cursed Energy defenses to strike directly at the soul, and any wound it inflicted could not be healed.
"..."
They stared at each other in silence. Shinsuke Zenin looked at the Soul Liberation Blade in Toji's hand and swallowed.
All good stuff. Toji was going to get it all.
Seeing this, Toji silently tightened his grip on the hilt and blurred forward to attack again.
Shinsuke Zenin swung Play Cloud one-handed, using its power to perfection. A three-section staff against a greatsword? Easy.
Clang! Clang!!
As if taking a leisurely stroll, Shinsuke Zenin casually blocked every one of Toji's attacks.
"Toji, your attacks are still so easy to read."
Shinsuke Zenin raised Play Cloud and slammed it down at Toji as he charged in.
Toji's eyes narrowed. He raised the Soul Liberation Blade to block Play Cloud's attack.
Thud!
But with resentment clouding his mind, Toji had forgotten how Play Cloud was constructed.
He blocked the second section, but the third swung around with the momentum and smacked him right in the head. The violent impact made his head ring.
"Yikes—!"
Seeing blood run down Toji's head, even Shinsuke Zenin couldn't help sucking in a sharp breath.
Taking a hit from a Special Grade Cursed Tool with his head? Toji was a true warrior.
Toji staggered twice, his mind growing hazy.
Thump!
The next second, Toji collapsed heavily to the ground, knocked unconscious.
"Uh..."
Shinsuke Zenin's eyes flashed with helplessness. He could only step forward and lift his unconscious brother.
He knew his little brother like the back of his hand. Toji looked calm and collected, and he was organized and careful.
But certain things could still get him worked up, making him overlook a lot.
Like being so eager to beat Shinsuke that he lost some of his composure.
Or letting his pride lead him astray again when he faced an awakened Satoru Gojo.
"Guess I was a lot like that back then."
Shinsuke Zenin smiled and shook his head.
He'd been just like that in his day. How could he criticize Toji?
He hadn't carried Toji far when an unwelcome visitor appeared ahead.
"Yo, long time no see~ There are two of you now?"
Satoru Gojo, covered in blood, appeared before Shinsuke Zenin.
"..."
Shinsuke Zenin looked at Satoru Gojo, speechless.
Couldn't he have waited until they'd left?
Though even if they had, Satoru Gojo might still have found them.
"You've got the wrong person."
Shinsuke Zenin pretended not to know Satoru Gojo. Beside him, Toji was beginning to regain consciousness.
The powerful body and recovery ability granted by Heaven's Restriction meant that even after taking a hit from Play Cloud with his head, he could recover in a short time.
"You? How is that possible?"
Toji pushed Shinsuke Zenin aside, disbelief in his eyes.
How could someone who'd died appear again?
"I'm the real deal. I feel great right now."
Satoru Gojo pushed his hair back, revealing a healed-over wound on his forehead.
"Reverse Cursed Technique?"
"Correct!"
A look of fascination came over Satoru Gojo. He spread his arms and tilted his head toward the sky.
The moment his throat was pierced, he'd abandoned every means of defense and focused all his attention on trying to use Reverse Cursed Technique.
Cursed Energy was a collection of negative energy. No matter how powerful it was, it couldn't regenerate the body. Reverse Cursed Technique, on the other hand, used the principle that two negatives made a positive, converting Cursed Energy into positive energy to regenerate the body!
In the instant between life and death, Satoru Gojo had successfully cheated the system and grasped the core of Jujutsu: Reverse Cursed Technique.
Satoru Gojo floated in midair, basking in the sunset as he rapturously recounted how he'd discovered Reverse Cursed Technique.
Toji had already run out of patience. He shook his head, pulled Heavenly Spin from the Cursed Spirit's mouth, and blurred forward to assassinate Satoru Gojo.
But Satoru Gojo dodged with ease, still lost in this marvelous state.
Toji swung a backhanded dragon-turning slash, but Satoru Gojo dodged again.
Satoru Gojo lay in midair, his eyes unfocused, as if he'd entered a state of sagehood.
He felt... as if nothing that happened could stir his emotions.
This world made him feel indescribably free.
He even felt...
"Throughout heaven and earth, I alone am the honored one!"
"Reverse Cursed Technique—Red!"
Satoru Gojo hung upside down, forming a sword sign with one hand. A sphere of compressed red Cursed Energy shot toward Toji, its terrifying repulsive force slamming into Heavenly Spin.
The attack, at least twice as powerful as Blue, blasted Toji into the ruins.
Toji climbed out of the rubble without a care. The Cursed Spirit spat out a chain, which he attached to the hilt of Heavenly Spin.
He swung Ten Thousand Mile Lock, sending Heavenly Spin spinning rapidly above his head.
A savage grin spread across Toji's face as he looked at the man before him. A fierce fighting spirit surged within him, and even his resentment toward Shinsuke faded.
He knew full well that the man before him might already be the strongest sorcerer alive!
He had only one thought: defeat him!
He'd make every bastard who had ever mocked the brothers watch as the strongest sorcerer alive was killed by a monkey with no Cursed Energy.
He'd make them regret everything they'd done.
The suppressive force inherent to Limitless had no effect on him.
The pull of the Lapse Technique, Blue, could be resisted from a distance with a Cursed Tool—or avoided outright.
The repulsive force of the Reversal Technique, Red, could be blocked with Heavenly Spin.
Everything was under his control!
"That's enough."
Shinsuke Zenin appeared between the two.
Knowing everything about Satoru Gojo, he couldn't just let Toji charge in and fight him head-on.
There was no need for this battle to continue.
Before you continue