Jujutsu Kaisen: Yearning to Become an Immortal God

After making so many moves, the only thing he could tell was that Kirara Hoshi seemingly could not move. He could only stand where he was, unable to attack proactively and able to strike only in retaliation. In other words, as long as Jogo did not act, Kirara Hoshi should be unable to mount an effective offensive against him.

But even that barely reached conclusion was full of flaws.

Because their objectives were fundamentally different. Jogo and Hanami wanted to rush over and help Mahito, so they were eager to break through. Kirara Hoshi, on the other hand, merely needed to keep them here. He had no need to waste Cursed Energy attacking them. As long as he maintained the status quo, he would achieve his goal.

One could even say that it was not that Kirara Hoshi could not attack, but that he had no need to.

Ordinarily, if he encountered this sort of enemy, he would simply use Domain Expansion. But now, he needed to preserve enough Cursed Energy to support Mahito, so naturally, he could not use it.

Thus, he easily reached a conclusion—there was nothing he could do.

Jogo looked toward the emergency exit. There was a distinct Cursed Energy marking on the door: [Gacrux].

This should have an actual meaning. As long as he understood that meaning, there might be a way to break through their current predicament. So what exactly did this marking mean?

Jogo closed his eyes, calmed down, and began to think.

Hmm. Mm. Ha.

Jogo's mind was completely blank. "Pfft." A faint laugh suddenly rang out.

Jogo immediately opened his single eye in irritation and glared ahead. Kirara Hoshi was covering his mouth and turning his face aside, his shoulders trembling slightly as though he were holding something back.

Jogo kept a straight face. "If you want to laugh, just laugh—"

"Pwahahahahahaha!" Kirara Hoshi burst into loud laughter.

Flames erupted from the volcano atop Jogo's head as he roared with a twisted expression, "You bastard! I'll burn you to ashes! I'll make sure you die without a whole corpse!"

"Pfft, but, but..." Kirara Hoshi's shoulders shook as he finally managed to suppress his laughter. "That blank look on your face was just too much. Even though we're in the middle of a fierce battle, I'm sorry, really sorry, I just couldn't hold it in. Couldn't hold it in! Pfft, hehehe, hahahaha!"

"Bastard!" Jogo raged helplessly.

[Look carefully, Jogo,] Hanami suddenly said. Jogo froze. "What is it?"

[Observe. Think.] Hanami stared at Kirara Hoshi's entire body and spoke in an unknown language that everyone could somehow understand. [Your cursed technique has not been entirely ineffective.]

Kirara Hoshi's laughter stopped.

Jogo examined him carefully and indeed spotted something different. Tiny burns had appeared on Kirara Hoshi's body.

But that was wrong. Jogo's flame technique had clearly never hit Kirara Hoshi—not even grazed him. Where had those burns come from? He should have been completely unscathed.

Then, all at once, Jogo understood.

"—You can only repel my force in retaliation, but you can do nothing against physical phenomena triggered by my Cursed Energy, right?" Kirara Hoshi sighed. "What a shame. I thought we could stay like this until the end of time."

Jogo fiercely stomped the ground. A chunk of broken flooring shot viciously toward Kirara Hoshi, but he remained expressionless and merely glanced at it. Mid-flight, the rock suddenly changed direction and flew back toward Jogo. Jogo casually caught it in his hand, and in an instant, it melted into golden-red magma.

"Not only Cursed Energy itself, but objects imbued with traces of your Cursed Energy are also affected. If I were human, I could probably throw something physically with a hand containing no Cursed Energy, but I am a Cursed Spirit, a being of Cursed Energy. The moment I touch a tangible object, I inevitably leave traces behind, so I cannot attack you that way. What a troublesome spatial control technique."

Jogo said it was a shame, but a smile spread across his lips, exposing his black teeth. Flame technique, maximum output—release!

"Since physical objects carrying traces of my Cursed Energy do not work, what about energy transmission? Can you control energy with no traces of Cursed Energy at all?!"

Blazing flames suddenly surged up, but this time, he did not launch them. He maintained the flames and let them burn quietly, then raised the temperature. Kirara Hoshi felt his eyelids grow heavy. He blinked softly, and a drop of sweat fell from his eyelashes before evaporating into vapor. His mouth went dry.

His lips were parched. When they lightly pressed together, the skin cracked. As the temperature rose, mist filled the entire corridor. In an instant, Kirara Hoshi saw Jogo's distorted figure—the air had warped from the heat, making the light itself abnormal.

Thermal radiation, a purely physical phenomenon!

When human flesh encountered temperatures over two thousand degrees, it would melt before it even burned. For some reason, that piece of knowledge came to Kirara Hoshi's mind.

His head began to spin. Sweat soaked into his shirt, but he could not even feel the stickiness. Perhaps it was only psychological, but he felt as though even sweat was not permitted to exist now, turning into vapor the moment it appeared.

Silently, he increased his Cursed Energy reinforcement.

But Jogo smiled at that. "It's working," he said.

It really was working, and far faster than expected!

Though he was a Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer, Kirara Hoshi was not actually skilled at physical reinforcement. His technique excelled at skirmishing and support, not direct frontal offense. In the past, Kinji Hakari handled this sort of attack and defense. Kirara Hoshi only needed to limit the enemy's movements or provide support at critical moments.

He was indeed good at skirmishing. If an enemy could not see through his technique, they would rage helplessly like the Cursed Spirits before him, utterly unable to deal with him.

In that case, he had no need for Cursed Energy reinforcement.

But now, the flaw in his weak foundation had driven him into a desperate situation.

He came to a realization.

If this continues, I'll faint from the heat, and my technique will naturally be released. Worse still, even if I force myself to stay conscious, I won't be able to keep up with the rising temperature. My body will spontaneously combust, and I'll be roasted alive!

Kirara Hoshi found it absurd. No enemy had ever broken his technique in this manner. This was the first time he had encountered such a violent method, as though a volcano had erupted and heaven and earth had become an enormous furnace, reducing all things to ash.

"I see," Kirara Hoshi suddenly said. His voice was hoarse, the high heat having already invaded his throat. Every word hurt to the marrow. "You are the curse born from humanity's fear of the earth."

"Want to beg for mercy?" Jogo grinned, exposing his black teeth.

"No. I was merely sighing," Kirara Hoshi said quietly. Then, he suddenly formed a hand sign.

"My Innate Technique is called Love Rendezvous."

Jogo frowned. This was a Technique Reveal, but at this point, what could revealing his technique possibly accomplish?

"I can leave marks on people or objects I touch. There are five kinds of marks, each corresponding to a star in the real Southern Cross. The technique can only activate once all the marks are in place. What I mark is not a specific person or object, but Cursed Energy. So even techniques used by a sorcerer are considered part of the same individual.

That was why Jogo's various Cursed Energy attacks had all been ignored. No matter what kind of attack Jogo used, its fundamental composition was still Jogo's Cursed Energy. As long as it was a technique phenomenon caused by Jogo's Cursed Energy, it was treated as Jogo himself!

Jogo and Hanami both recalled how Kirara Hoshi had lightly touched their bodies while pouring Mahito a drink. Jogo had even glared at him then. That was when the marks had been placed.

So Kirara Hoshi had been prepared for battle from the very beginning!

"A marked person can interact with people and objects that have no mark or an adjacent mark. People and objects with the same mark attract one another, while marked people cannot approach people or objects bearing non-adjacent marks. If they need to get closer, they must first touch a person or object with an adjacent mark.

People and objects with identical marks attract each other. That was also why, whenever Jogo used ranged attacks and they moved a certain distance away, they immediately flowed back.

Kirara Hoshi suddenly pointed at Jogo's waist. "Your mark is on your waist. Your companion's is behind the calf muscle."

Jogo instinctively stopped the high-temperature technique and pulled aside his clothes. Sure enough, he saw a Cursed Energy marking: [Acrux].

Hanami lifted her leg and looked behind her calf, where she saw a Cursed Energy marking: [Imai].

"If you know anything about astronomy, you can probably recognize my marks at a glance." Kirara Hoshi waved away the heat and smiled. "All these marks are named after stars in the Southern Cross. Although constellations seem flat, they naturally have depth. Their distances from Earth vary.

"Look, you and your companion can freely approach each other, right? That is because [Acrux] and [Imai] are adjacent stars, so you can interact however you wish. But once you try to approach a star that is not adjacent to you, such as me—"

Kirara Hoshi displayed his fingernails. There was actually a tiny Cursed Energy marking there. Since he wore colorful nail polish, it was impossible to notice without looking closely.

He had used this tiny trick to toy with all of them in the palm of his hand. The marking on his nail read [Ginan].

"Perhaps you do not know this, but [Acrux] and [Ginan] are not adjacent. So no matter what, you cannot approach me unless you find the intermediate [Mimosa].

"Of course, [Mimosa] has been well hidden and has not been found so far. That is why it is called Love Rendezvous.

"Using constellations as the basis, one can only move along fixed paths. To reach a destination, one must find the correct route and follow it!"

"Finally," Kirara Hoshi said quietly, "even residual traces of Cursed Energy can be treated as the caster himself."

Jogo already knew that. When he had attacked Kirara Hoshi with the rock, it had failed because the rock carried traces of his Cursed Energy. "The thermal radiation filling this corridor is a physical phenomenon formed by your Cursed Energy flames raising the temperature, but traces of Cursed Energy are still mixed within it. They cannot be separated.

"Normally, I could not manipulate such traces because they are too minute and my precision is insufficient. But now that I have revealed my technique, I can!"

Jogo's pupils contracted. He immediately understood what Kirara Hoshi intended to do.

Kirara Hoshi suddenly shouted, "Feel the thermal radiation you caused for yourself! This is my—Love Rendezvous!"

In an instant, countless dense [Acrux] markings appeared in the air. They were traces of Cursed Energy invisible to the naked eye, quietly burning alongside immense heat. Now, Love Rendezvous gathered all of those traces together and sent them surging toward Jogo like a tsunami!

Heat waves, flashes, and explosions erupted simultaneously.

Boom—!!

The shockwave from the excessive explosion sent Kirara Hoshi, who had been standing steadily in place, flying backward. The massive force hit him like a heavy punch. He flew at least two or three meters through the air before hitting the ground, then rolled three or four times like a tumbling gourd before finally stopping.

His head buzzed violently. This was the first time he had attacked this way, and even he had not known the power would be so great. He had never imagined that simply raising the temperature with a flame technique could create such might.

Even the aftershock had injured him. If he had not maintained Cursed Energy reinforcement at all times, that shockwave alone would have sent him straight to the emergency room!

—This Cursed Spirit being classified as a Special Grade Cursed Spirit has to be a mistake, right?!

Though he still could not imagine Jogo fighting a Special Grade-level sorcerer like Kinji Hakari, if the opponent were merely a Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer, they absolutely could not be this Cursed Spirit's match.

Jogo alone had completely changed Kirara Hoshi's impression of all other Special Grade Cursed Spirits.

Kirara Hoshi adjusted his breathing and tried to calm his racing heart. He pushed himself up from the ground, feeling pain all over his body. He did not know whether it was bruising or something else, but he no longer had the strength to judge. He could only force himself to stand.

He stared wide-eyed toward Jogo's position. Black smoke filled that place, and this had entered a realm beyond his knowledge. He could understand massive heat gathering together and exploding, but would it produce black smoke? Was the smoke formed from a Cursed Spirit being ignited? Or was some chemical phenomenon occurring that he did not understand?

Had Jogo been blown to pieces and died? Or was he still barely holding on?

"Impressive." Jogo's voice suddenly emerged from the black smoke. "You really... almost killed me."

Kirara Hoshi's heart sank. He thought his tactic had failed, because Jogo's voice was too calm, without a trace of anger. Based on the personality he had displayed during their conversation, if the attack had worked, he should have immediately started shouting threats about killing him. But he had not. He was as calm as a glacier.

The first thing to emerge was a massive crater.

Kirara Hoshi recalled how Jujutsu Society described Special Grade Cursed Spirits. In simple terms, a Special Grade Cursed Spirit was a cluster bomb. What lay before him now was the aftermath of a cluster bombing. The corridor had been completely blasted through, charred marks everywhere. Heat waves spread endlessly outward, while the backdraft whipped up fierce winds through the empty corridor.

No, there was no longer any corridor. The ceiling and floor had vanished completely, as had the walls on both sides. At the edges, chunks of stone had melted into golden-red liquid. Amid the rising heat, the golden-red glow looked like the manifestation of gods and demons, displaying endless majesty.

But when Jujutsu Society compared Special Grade Cursed Spirits to cluster bombs, it was a comprehensive evaluation, not merely a single burst of output! Jogo had used only one attack—no, more accurately, only the aftershock of one attack—and it was already comparable to a cluster bomb!

Kirara Hoshi's first reaction was relief.

If he had not marked Jogo and Hanami with Cursed Energy at the very start, if this had been an unexpected encounter, then the instant he approached Jogo, he likely would have been burned to a crisp. He had been incredibly lucky.

At last, Jogo emerged from the black smoke. Kirara Hoshi was too shocked for words.

Half of Jogo's body had been blasted away! His left arm and left leg had disappeared entirely. Yet the exposed inner side of his body did not reveal organs or fat, but charred fragments of flesh. Excessive heat had cauterized the wounds, creating the sight before him.

A human would have died long ago. But Jogo was a Cursed Spirit, so he had not died. He remained standing, his expression unexpectedly calm.

But Kirara Hoshi felt only terror, like the stillness before a storm. "You were completely unprepared when you were hit, weren't you?" he asked. By unprepared, he meant Jogo had not reinforced himself with Cursed Energy in time.

Whether Cursed Spirits or sorcerers, they were unexpectedly fragile without Cursed Energy reinforcement. Cursed Spirits were somewhat better off because they were born with Cursed Energy reinforcement, an advantage of being creatures of Cursed Energy. Sorcerers were far worse. Without Cursed Energy reinforcement, their physical abilities were only slightly above those of ordinary people, nowhere near vastly different.

Of course, exceptions like Toji Fushiguro and Ryomen Sukuna could not be judged by the same standard.

"I was indeed unprepared, but my luck... was good." Jogo's lips curled upward. "Do you remember when I lifted my clothes while you explained your technique? I was too curious about it, so I followed your words and looked for the Cursed Energy marking. At that moment, I instinctively stopped raising the temperature further. What a stroke of luck.

It truly had been lucky. If the temperature had continued rising as before, the power would likely have been enough to kill Jogo outright. But that slight difference in power had made all the difference in the world!

Suddenly, a great amount of Cursed Energy burst from half of Jogo's body. Kirara Hoshi's eyes widened. That half of his body was regenerating at high speed! This was a Cursed Spirit's unique ability. As creatures of Cursed Energy, they could regenerate endlessly as long as their Cursed Energy was not exhausted! Even if their Cursed Energy ran dry and only a head remained, they could regenerate their entire bodies within a few months.

Having half his body blown apart simply could not inflict a critical wound on Jogo! With a slap, Jogo's regenerated foot landed on the ground.

"I will admit it, old human... no, Kirara Hoshi." Jogo spoke calmly. "You are a powerful opponent. Against you, I cannot afford any arrogance."

"You only noticed that now?" Kirara Hoshi mocked loudly, preparing to meet his attack.

"One-tenth of my Cursed Energy... has already surpassed the limit," Jogo said with a sigh.

Kirara Hoshi frowned as an ominous feeling suddenly rose within him. "So—"

Jogo formed a hand sign and said slowly, "Let me kill you with my full strength."

Enormous terror exploded in Kirara Hoshi's heart! The immense Cursed Energy rising from Jogo did not form flames. Instead, it spread outward in all directions like a shockwave, rampaging as though it intended to envelop the entire space.

Kirara Hoshi knew what that feeling was, which was why he was so terrified. This was—

"Domain Expansion," Jogo said quietly. "Coffin of the Iron Mountain—"

A tremendous crash interrupted Jogo's Domain Expansion. Something plummeted from above, forcing Jogo's Domain Expansion back. An enormous amount of Cursed Energy was spreading at astonishing speed, the overflowing power surging in all directions like a roaring sea, with a Cursed Energy storm mixed into the smoke.

Kirara Hoshi and Jogo both saw it.

Mahito was in a perfect rider-kick pose, his foot planted in Kinji Hakari's abdomen. Kinji Hakari, like a rag doll, offered no resistance as Mahito kicked him downward. That massive crash had been Mahito kicking Kinji Hakari into the level below, then another level, then another, one floor after another.

They fell all the way from the rooftop until they reached underground!

In the blink of an eye, Mahito and Kinji Hakari disappeared from before Kirara Hoshi and Jogo. Jogo was overjoyed. "Mahito is going to win!"

Kirara Hoshi could not believe it. "How could that be? Kinji... losing?"

Amid the thunderous noise, Mahito and Kinji Hakari crashed into the lowest level. Afterward, a deafening boom rose, as though the entire Multi-story Parking Lot were shaking. Kirara Hoshi wanted to jump down through the massive hole, but Jogo suddenly stepped forward. Kirara Hoshi was left standing in place as though walking on the spot.

Jogo grinned and laughed. "Hahaha! It seems even you yourself are subject to your spatial control! The tables have turned! Now I'm the one holding you here, stopping you from interfering with Mahito's battle against that brat!"

Just as Jogo said, once Love Rendezvous was activated, even the caster himself had to obey its spatial rules! The Cursed Energy mark on Kirara Hoshi and the one on Jogo were not adjacent, so neither of them could reach the other no matter what!

Now, only one method remained to descend through the hole.

Jogo fixed Kirara Hoshi with his single eye. "So, will you release the spatial control?" Should I release it? Kirara Hoshi thought.