Jujutsu Kaisen: Yearning to Become an Immortal God

He was no longer alone. He was deeply connected to this world, and over the past few months, the traces of him being a transmigrator had nearly vanished. He could no longer treat this place as nothing more than a manga. He truly loved all of it.

"Is that so? Then I'm relieved," Yuki Tsukumo said calmly. "Relieved about what?"

"Relieved that even if I die, even if Satoru Gojo fails, you still won't treat this world cruelly." Yuki Tsukumo breathed slowly and extended her arm, curling her fingers slightly. Something was speeding toward her from afar.

Amid a string of explosions, the snake-like cursed tool shikigami returned to her hand. Yuki Tsukumo gripped Garuda by the head, her palm fitting tightly against its skull. Then she swung Garuda fiercely, turning the serpentine shikigami into a divine whip capable of cleaving the earth apart.

"Then I can fight you to the death without a single reservation!" —Technique Release, Star Rage!

Mahito burst into motion. Within a breath, he sent cursed energy flowing through every limb and every part of his body. This was the most basic form of cursed energy reinforcement. Even without specialized training, any sorcerer with cursed energy could use it instinctively, but the skill behind its use marked the dividing line between the weak and the strong.

Before this, Kenjaku had never specifically taught Mahito the techniques of cursed energy reinforcement, because there had been no need. For Mahito, who possessed Idle Transfiguration, the gains from cursed energy reinforcement were not particularly obvious. Kenjaku's plans for him had never included intensive training in it.

But with Ashiya Sadatsuna's arrival, Mahito's combat system had finally been properly integrated.

Unlike Kenjaku, who radiated malice at every moment, Ashiya Sadatsuna truly treated Mahito as his inheritor. When Mahito brought up the issue of integration, Sadatsuna did not hesitate before telling him to improve his cursed energy reinforcement first and worry about everything else later.

Because no technique could function without it. It was the horse stance of universal cursed techniques.

If he had not even mastered the horse stance, how could he think of training in anything else? And now, he had trained it well.

He had not even entered a state like the Zenin Clan's, yet when Garuda swung toward him, the world in his eyes slowed several times over. He remained perfectly composed. Though Garuda carried world-destroying power, he evaded it with ease.

Mahito now truly understood Satoru Gojo's world. Gojo's Six Eyes could see through every flow of cursed energy in the world. Mahito could not do that, but if he wished, every shift in the currents of air in this world could be seen by him.

In other words, so long as he remained within the atmosphere, no attack coming directly at him could possibly hit him.

Cursed energy reinforcement was not merely an enhancement to the physical abilities of his limbs and body. It also strengthened his eyesight, reflexes, and even the sensation of air brushing against his skin.

The improvement was too comprehensive, just as Ashiya Sadatsuna had said—

—Cursed energy reinforcement was the horse stance of the cursed technique world. No training could do without it, and one could only get better at it. There had never been any so-called—

—limit!

Garuda struck the ground. Before it even landed, the immense pressure unleashed a tremendous sonic boom. For a moment, even sound itself seemed to vanish. The enormous force flung the sand across the desert into the air, forming something like a tidal wave of grit.

Yuki Tsukumo stood before that wave. A fissure stretched out before her, as though Moses had parted the sea. Suddenly, something flew toward Yuki Tsukumo. She focused her eyes and saw that it was a straw hat.

Clap. A crisp sound rang out. —Soul Creation, Aoi Todo. —Boogie Woogie!

Mahito switched places with the straw hat, vaulting over the sea of sand and charging straight toward Yuki Tsukumo. The hat vanished from his head. Under the blazing sun, his white hair seemed to gleam with gold and crimson light. His heterochromatic eyes had opened fully, like the gaze of some sacred, magnificent being looking down upon the world.

—Technique Release, Kamui!

Yuki Tsukumo was about to counterattack when her body suddenly froze! Mahito swung his blade in midair, his white hair seeming to blot out the sun overhead. In the next instant, Mist Cutter traced a graceful arc toward Yuki Tsukumo.

A teleporting assault, Kamui immobilization, and a practiced killing stroke. A guaranteed kill! A severed arm flew high into the sky, its cut smooth as a mirror. Yuki Tsukumo gritted her teeth and retreated. As she did, Garuda followed her will and chased after the severed arm in the air. The snake-like cursed tool shikigami seized the arm and retreated alongside Yuki Tsukumo.

Mahito did not pursue. He landed on the ground as blood trickled from his left eye. That eye had been completely shattered, like a lump of pulp sunken into its socket.

Yuki Tsukumo gritted her teeth and said:

"Zenin Huiyao's Ame-no-Habakiri, Zenin Ranta's Kamui, and my idiot student's Boogie Woogie... I should have realized it sooner. Since you possess the ability to make people evolve, it should also be possible for you to install other people's techniques onto yourself!"

Mahito did not answer at once. He activated Idle Transfiguration. As it took effect, his exploded eye rapidly reassembled and regenerated inside its socket, visible to the naked eye. He blinked, and the destruction caused by Kamui's backlash had returned to normal.

This was Mahito's first time using the Divine Might Eye. In the original work, Zenin Ranta had used it to immobilize even Maki Zenin after she became a Heavenly Restriction monster. Mahito had assumed that if he endured the eye's backlash, even 0.2 seconds would be enough for Mist Cutter to pass through Yuki Tsukumo's neck. Yet he had not even lasted 0.002 seconds.

Star Rage was even stronger than Mahito had imagined. It was simply the ultimate stat-check monster.

The power of a Heavenly Restriction monster was already strong enough, yet Zenin Ranta's cursed energy could still sustain the immobilization for one or two seconds. But when the target was Yuki Tsukumo, she broke free the instant she was restrained and shattered his eyeball.

"My Reverse Cursed Technique is called Soul Creation," Mahito said. "Technique disclosure!"

"As long as I lightly touch the target's skin with my hand, I can immediately learn the target's soul information. By simulating that soul's information and shape, I can use the target's technique. And its power is not fixed—it can continue evolving as my understanding and development of the target's technique deepen."

An unlimited technique, and its conditions for becoming unlimited were even simpler than Yuta Okkotsu's Copy. He only needed to touch their skin. There was not even a restriction requiring a part of the target's body.

Even the technique's power was not fixed and could be trained independently. Even Yuta Okkotsu's Copy could not do that! This was truly unprecedented information.

More terrifyingly, this was a Reverse Cursed Technique, not the normal application of his technique. In other words, for the King of Curses before her, his trump cards had still not been exposed.

Yuki Tsukumo reached out and took the severed arm Garuda had brought back. She pressed it against the stump, then activated Reverse Cursed Technique. Dense positive energy regenerated Yuki Tsukumo's severed arm, and in the blink of an eye, it had been reattached.

She raised her restored hand and clenched her fingers tightly. There was not the slightest abnormality.

"My technique is called Star Rage," she said. "Technique disclosure!"

"My technique grants me imaginary mass. The increase in mass causes my body's toughness to rise by leaps and bounds, giving every strike I make power beyond common sense. As you saw, I can even kick out a nuclear explosion. Yet I myself cannot feel the increase in mass, so my speed is unaffected."

Yuki Tsukumo swung Garuda fiercely. It crashed into the desert with a deafening sound, like thunder striking in broad daylight. Sand erupted along with the roar, and an enormous wave of sand rose where Garuda hit beside Yuki Tsukumo, spreading outward like surging ocean waves.

Mahito breathed slowly and placed Mist Cutter at his waist, taking an iai stance.

His opponent was Yuki Tsukumo, who could endlessly increase her imaginary mass. In the original work, she had indeed used a suicidal Technique Release intended to compress the Earth into a two-centimeter glass sphere. There was no doubt that a single hit would completely pulverize Mahito's body. Even Idle Transfiguration might not be able to save him.

Many techniques were not incapable of affecting the soul; their cursed energy output simply could not reach the far shore where the soul resided. Star Rage was a fine example. She could create a black hole and swallow the Earth, yet he was still hoping she could not harm the soul?

At the same time, the Garuda in her hands was an extremely troublesome weapon. According to the original work, this cursed tool was formed from Yuki Tsukumo's technique. That was why Garuda could also use Yuki Tsukumo's Star Rage.

Originally, Yuki Tsukumo could only activate Star Rage through her limbs and fists. With Garuda, however, she could use it from a distance. Just as when she had ambushed him earlier, she had kicked Garuda, launching it deep into the desert like a cannonball. When it struck the ground, it produced a tremendous explosion.

Yuki Tsukumo with Garuda and Yuki Tsukumo without Garuda were not on the same level!

Without Garuda, Yuki Tsukumo had to use Star Rage carefully, because excessive destructive power could consume even herself. But with Garuda, she could instantly become the world's strongest artillery platform, producing nuclear explosions with casual strikes.

—I have to disable the Garuda in her hands! And I cannot let her fists or kicks touch my body. Otherwise, someone who has only just begun cursed energy reinforcement training like me cannot possibly withstand Star Rage.

Mahito sighed inwardly. Only now did he understand how extraordinary it was that Kenjaku had endured Yuki Tsukumo's Star Rage and lost only an arm in the original work. Kenjaku had held back when teaching him!

Yuki Tsukumo was also thinking about how to fight.

She truly had not expected the King of Curses to possess a method of replicating sorcerers' Innate Techniques. This was equivalent to the King of Curses having limitless potential for growth.

Why had Yuta Okkotsu been rated a special-grade sorcerer? Aside from possessing cursed energy on the level of the world's strongest, his Copy technique had also been indispensable. It could be said that any sorcerer able to use an unlimited technique possessed immeasurable potential.

What was more, the King of Curses' unlimited technique had conditions even simpler than Yuta Okkotsu's. No one knew what techniques the King of Curses could currently use.

The techniques the King of Curses had displayed were Ame-no-Habakiri, Boogie Woogie, and Kamui. Considering the King of Curses' own ability to make people evolve, it must possess exceptionally strong physical capabilities as well. Otherwise, it could not make others evolve. Perhaps that was the normal application of the technique it had kept hidden until now.

Attack, interference, mobility, survival—it was flawless, without a single weakness.

This was a powerful being with considerable physical abilities and an unlimited technique. Jujutsu Society's grading system for cursed spirits meant nothing to it. It was the strongest cursed spirit in centuries. It was the genuine—

—King of Curses.

—I must disable the King of Curses' techniques! And I cannot let his hands touch my skin. If he touches me, that means he can use Star Rage too. That would be... terrible.

What should they do? Mahito and Yuki Tsukumo pondered at the same time.

Yuki Tsukumo suddenly complained loudly, "Aah, this is too troublesome. I never expected the legendary King of Curses to be this powerful. Now I can completely understand how you destroyed the Zenin Clan. You have not even revealed your strongest form yet."

That so-called strongest form was Maximum: Descend. Mahito understood what she meant. Then his scalp suddenly went numb, and his body seemed to stiffen in place.

A massive fluctuation of cursed energy covered the entire sky like dark clouds. They were clearly in a desert under the blazing sun, but at this moment, Mahito felt as though he were in the vacuum beyond the atmosphere. The pressure difference made his blood flow backward, threatening to make him explode to death in an instant.

Yuki Tsukumo formed a hand sign and revealed a cruel smile.

"I'll be direct. I have no confidence in dealing with you through techniques, because I know absolutely nothing about the techniques you possess. Since you can even use my student's technique, it would be reasonable to assume that you have acquired every technique in Kyoto, wouldn't it?"

"You once made a deal with Mei Mei. Mei Mei is a cautious person. If she was willing to meet you, she must have brought Ui Ui with her. During that deal, you probably touched Ui Ui too, right? In other words, you already have Ui Ui's teleportation technique."

"Satoru Gojo does not stay in Tokyo permanently either. He travels around. In other words, apart from students Gojo protects especially well, you likely possess some of Tokyo's techniques too."

"Finally, you destroyed the Zenin Clan. In that battle, you must have obtained all of the Zenin Clan's techniques. In fact, you have already used Ame-no-Habakiri and Kamui. My judgment should not be wrong."

"With so many techniques working together, what kind of terrifying offense could they create? I have no desire to experience it." So, she said:

"When both sides' techniques are so troublesome, there is only one way to secure victory, isn't there?" Boundless darkness spread from beneath Yuki Tsukumo's feet, swallowing Mahito in an instant.

Mahito looked up and saw Yuki Tsukumo standing with her hands in a sign within a dark red cosmic space. Garuda slowly revolved behind her head like the halo of a god or Buddha.

Ripples of gravity flowed across the ground, each pulse resembling the aftershocks of an earthquake. Countless compressed meteorites floated in the air. They hung there from nothing, extending endlessly, like stars descending into the human world right beside Mahito.

"Domain Expansion—"

Behind Yuki Tsukumo, a black void slowly breathed. It was a Simulated Black Hole.

"—Sumeru Vajra Karmic Wheel."

The Stars Descend, Calamity Falls

Mount Sumeru was the central mountain of Buddhism: immense beyond measure, towering into the heavens, indestructible, and the pillar of the world. Vajra referred to something hard, sharp, and impossible to destroy, often a vajra scepter or a symbol of Buddhism's power. The karmic wheel was the wheel of destiny and causality.

This Domain Expansion signified the beginning and end of the cosmic cycle, the place where absolute truth resided.

Mahito recalled the narration of Yuki Tsukumo's thoughts before her death. In Yuki Tsukumo's imagination, the destination of cosmic truth was likely—

—a black hole.

This was Sumeru Vajra Karmic Wheel. Simple Domain!

Mahito's cursed energy extended outward from within his body in accordance with his will, silently forming a four-meter-radius domain centered on himself. He lowered his body, placing one hand on his sword hilt in an iai stance. This was the most standard posture for deploying Simple Domain.

Most sorcerers' Simple Domains had a radius of only 2.25 meters, the farthest range of an iai slash. But Mahito was different. If he gripped Mist Cutter tightly by the hilt, the farthest reach of the blade combined with his arm span gave him an attack range of four meters—precisely the radius of the Simple Domain he had deployed.

He had already mastered Simple Domain, and gone even further!

The troublesome part was that he had only mastered Simple Domain for a short time. While maintaining it, he could not use Soul Creation apart from Idle Transfiguration—in other words, he could not use his unlimited technique.

Yuki Tsukumo had seen through him perfectly. She had indeed seized Mahito's weak point.

Yuki Tsukumo smiled. "Jackpot! When I activated Domain Expansion, you did not activate one at the same time. In other words, you cannot use Domain Expansion at all. King of Curses, do you think a mere Simple Domain can resist my Domain Expansion?"

Mahito did not waver. "Simple Domain appeared because it was needed to deal with the curse users and cursed spirits that emerged endlessly a thousand years ago. Ordinary curse users and cursed spirits were manageable, but those who could use Domain Expansion were deadly. That was why Simple Domain came into being."

"Now, I am walking the ancient path. There is no fear in my heart." Yuki Tsukumo's smile faded as she watched Mahito.

His expression truly did not waver in the slightest. His Simple Domain was extremely stable. He was telling the truth. He walked the ancient path without fear... Yuki Tsukumo silently admired him.

Only at this moment did Yuki Tsukumo have no choice but to admit something, something she found difficult to believe. She said earnestly to Mahito, "I owe you an apology, Mahito."

"What?" Mahito froze. He had not expected her to say such a thing even after activating Domain Expansion. Was this not supposed to be a fight to the death?

"Ever since you destroyed the Zenin Clan, I have been tracking you. From Tengen, I learned what you have done since your appearance."

"You restrained the curse users working with you. You kept the intelligent cursed spirits under your command in check. You actively sought coexistence with human society."

Yuki Tsukumo spoke slowly:

"Gojo once told me that since your appearance, the entire Jujutsu Society seemed to have become much more stable—until the Zenin Clan lured Gojo away in an attempt to monopolize your immortality technique, and you, humiliated by them, emerged in the most brutal manner possible."

Mahito was somewhat bewildered. Is she talking about me?

Of course he restrained the curse users. These curse users were important cannon fodder for overthrowing Jujutsu Society. If he let them expose themselves now, would that not just be feeding them to Satoru Gojo? The entire Jujutsu Society was searching for him, so naturally he worried that these curse users who had contacted him might expose him inadvertently.

Mahito was not being needlessly paranoid. He had been tested by online political debates in his previous life. He knew how easy it was for a country to find someone when it genuinely wanted to. That was also why he rarely used a phone. Ever since Kinji Hakari came to his side, he had not used one at all.

He handed all diplomatic matters over to Kinji Hakari. Naturally, that was partly because he trusted Hakari deeply, but there was another consideration: if a nation ever took action, phone calls could be monitored at all times. It was better for them to monitor Kinji Hakari than Mahito directly.

Of course, Japan did not seem as deranged as the United States, but Mahito did not dare gamble on it!

Of course he kept the intelligent cursed spirits in check. Strictly speaking, although many humans had gathered under him now, he was still the King of Curses. Intelligent cursed spirits were his foundation, the ones he absolutely had to manage seriously.

And as for killing people after being humiliated...

Well, Yuki Tsukumo had gotten that part right. If he had not been humiliated and confirmed that Satoru Gojo would not return, he would never have emerged at that time.

It was precisely because he had been humiliated that he finally figured everything out and embarked upon the proper path of growing through battle.

"I believed your kindness was merely false benevolence adopted for the sake of overturning Jujutsu Society. I believed your identity as a cursed spirit meant you were destined to treat the world brutally. I thought you had simply buried your darkness deeply, waiting until you truly overturned Jujutsu Society for all your cruelty and savagery to reveal themselves."

Yuki Tsukumo raised a hand slightly as if holding something up. Above her palm, a tiny black void slowly rotated. Mahito instantly sensed mortal danger. It was like an office worker being targeted by a wild beast in the wilderness. The chilling sensation nearly swallowed his mind.

"But I was wrong. You seem to truly possess a kindness curses do not have. The education you received later in life overcame your innate nature, making everything you show others so beautiful. I'm starting to understand Hakari's feelings toward you... You truly seem to possess the bearing and charisma to rule the world."

Mahito stared fixedly at the tiny black void in Yuki Tsukumo's hand and licked his lips. "Your current actions seem to contradict what you just said."

"No. I have merely recognized you more clearly," Yuki Tsukumo said solemnly. "It is precisely because you are so wonderful, because even as a cursed spirit you can still earn everyone's love and support, that I have made up my mind."

She spoke the decisive words aloud:

"Mahito, you... must die!" Mahito froze for a moment, then frowned. "Why?"

Though it was based on a misunderstanding, Yuki Tsukumo's praise had been so effusive that Mahito had truly thought her hostility toward him might ease. This battle might have ended in another way.

Yuki Tsukumo bared her teeth, like a tiger or leopard letting out a low growl before attacking. "—Because you are not human."

No matter how kind you were, no matter how fit you were to rule the world, no matter how beautiful the new world you created might be—

—The fact that you were not human negated everything about you! You deserved to die!

Yuki Tsukumo hurled the tiny black void in her hand at Mahito.

Without hesitation, Mahito began to flee. As he moved, the structure of his Simple Domain began to fluctuate. It was possible to move while maintaining a Simple Domain, but doing so required extremely high skill. In the original work, people using Simple Domain had moved on multiple occasions.