Invasion! Special Grade Cursed Spirit Appears

At that thought, Kamo suffered a crushing blow. As one of the Kamo family's key protégés, he had been utterly outclassed by a sorcerer with no family background whatsoever!

Mechamaru, who was seemingly only one rank below him, gave a self-deprecating laugh. "Second place? What a joke."

"The points we fought so desperately for don't even amount to a fraction of someone else's."

"I thought the higher-ups had only released a small number of cursed spirits. Turns out you just killed them all!"

"Exorcising over five hundred cursed spirits alone, including the target cursed spirit... Is that really something people at our level can do?"

Mechamaru decided that even if he advanced to Grade 1, exorcising nearly five hundred cursed spirits in such a short time would still be an impossible task.

Even if all those cursed spirits were gathered in one place, he probably couldn't put out damage that fast!

Besides, if five hundred cursed spirits were gathered together, the first thing he would need to consider would no longer be how to exorcise them.

It would be how to make sure he survived!

Tokyo Jujutsu High was no less shocked than they were. An exchange event centered on teamwork had somehow been turned into a solo speedrun by Lin Mu alone.

They even felt that Lin Mu would have had a good chance of winning even if he had come to this exchange event by himself!

After all, even his clones possessed quasi-Grade 1 strength, far surpassing weaklings like them.

Maki secretly sighed. "Another freak on Okkotsu's level?"

"Or maybe even stronger?"

At that moment, she suddenly understood why Junpei had asked those questions while they were making their plan.

That stuff he had described—blasting through an entire floor in one strike, instantly killing hundreds of cursed spirits—was probably all about that freak Lin Mu.

Comparing the two, she really could not tell who was stronger, Lin Mu or Todo.

After all, both of them were monsters whose strength surpassed their official grades.

"Salmon?"

Inumaki said something to Lin Mu. Knowing that Lin Mu could not understand him, Panda promptly stepped forward to translate. "Lin Mu, he's asking, 'When did you replace your real body with a clone?'"

That question piqued everyone's curiosity as well. In their eyes, Lin Mu's clone was completely indistinguishable from the original.

If Lin Mu himself had not told them, they would definitely have remained in the dark!

The clone Lin Mu slowly spoke. "When I ran into Todo."

Everyone's doubts were dispelled after hearing that. No wonder Lin Mu had suddenly disappeared back then—so that was when he had slipped away to use his Clone Technique.

Still, they had no way of knowing whether Lin Mu was telling the truth. After all, they had no way to determine whether the Lin Mu standing before them was real or fake.

It was even possible that the Lin Mu they had encountered from the very beginning of the exchange event had been a clone.

The more they thought about it, the more terrifying it became. Fortunately, such a freak was their teammate.

They now seemed to understand Kyoto Jujutsu High's feelings as the opposing side a little better.

Facing an opponent like this, there was simply no room to complain about losing.

Forget individual scores—even all of their scores combined did not amount to a fraction of Lin Mu's!

"What a monster." Maki sighed. "Hey, tell the original body this—when he gets that special-grade cursed tool, can he lend it to me for a look?"

The clone Lin Mu nodded. "Sure."

Bang— The two clones before them turned into white smoke in an instant, proving that Lin Mu had not lied to them.

Those two Lin Mus with quasi-Grade 1 strength had really only been clones!

"Alright, let's head back. We won, so why can't I feel happy about it?" Maki frowned as they prepared to return to the Jujutsu High teaching area. Then, an utterly terrifying presence instantly pierced through her entire body!

The horrifying pressure became tangible, making her feel as though she were submerged in an ocean filled with gelatin. Even the slightest movement became incomparably difficult!

"Where do you think you're going?" A voice like the whisper of the Grim Reaper drifted over.

A pure-white cursed spirit whose eyes had been replaced by curved branches silently appeared in the middle of all of them.

It had only one right hand. Its other arm was wrapped tightly in white bandages, yet that discordant appearance only made its oppressive presence even stronger!

Among so many people, including two sorcerers skilled in reconnaissance, not a single one had noticed its arrival!

Its strength was absolutely far beyond everyone present!

Maki struggled to turn her head, cold sweat dripping from her face. She realized that it was not just her—everyone around her was reacting much the same way, their movements visibly stiffened.

Because Mechamaru was a remotely controlled machine, he was less affected. He was the first to break free of the suppression, and the energy cannon in his hand began charging.

Boom—

A tremendous crash rang out, but unfortunately, it was not the sound of Mechamaru firing his energy cannon. Several thick branches that had burst from the ground had pierced through his charging right hand!

The unstable energy exploded, blasting Mechamaru into pieces. His eyes flickered intermittently for a while before dimming unwillingly.

In some unknown, dark room, Mechamaru's frail, festering body was covered in IV tubes. His eyes opened unwillingly, and his fists clenched tight.

That attack had been unbelievably fast. Still under suppression, no one had time to react at all!

Fortunately, Mechamaru had bought them a brief moment. Under the crushing pressure, they forced themselves to move with everything they had!

Fushiguro summoned Nue and dragged the still-dazed Junpei away. As a novice facing such a terrifying cursed spirit for the first time, Junpei's legs simply would not move.

To him, the cursed spirit before them was several times stronger than Mahito, who had nearly become his nightmare!

The instant everyone saw this cursed spirit, they judged its strength: special grade!

And it was the terrifyingly powerful kind of special grade!

Just as Kamo and Maki prepared to direct their teammates to retreat, the sky gradually darkened as a pitch-black "Curtain" descended. It felt as if a Curtain called despair had fallen over everyone's hearts as well.

The enemy had even set up a Curtain in advance. They had clearly come prepared. With only sorcerers of such uneven strength on their side, facing a top-tier special-grade cursed spirit was enough to make them feel powerless just thinking about it.

The strongest among them was only semi-grade 1, and everyone had seen what had just happened. Mechamaru, a semi-grade 1, had been instantly defeated before he even had the chance to fight back.

Though it had been a sneak attack, it still showed the enormous gap in strength between them.

"Where did this cursed spirit come from? Could this be a test from the higher-ups?" Mai asked, her back already soaked with sweat as she trembled.

"Impossible. Unless the higher-ups want us dead. With a cursed spirit this powerful, I'm afraid very few people could defeat it. Taming it would be completely impossible."

"And it even had a Curtain prepared. This is definitely a premeditated attack!" Kamo immediately analyzed the situation with perfect clarity.

"Breaking through the Curtain is impossible. We can only force ourselves to fight!"

"Don't worry too much. The teachers must have noticed something strange here too. We just need to hold on until Gojo-sensei arrives!"

Maki's words were like a shot in the arm, restoring some of everyone's confidence.

But most of them had never faced a special-grade cursed spirit before, much less fought one. They had severely underestimated the gap between themselves and a special-grade cursed spirit!

When Hanami saw that they had not scattered in panic and still had some fighting spirit in their eyes, it became interested.

With a casual wave of its hand, spikes that seemed to emerge from nowhere shot toward the group.

The tips of the thick branches were incredibly sharp, and they could freely change direction in midair, posing an enormous threat to everyone!

When faced with an outside threat, the two schools tacitly joined forces.

With everyone watching out for one another, they narrowly managed to defuse the special-grade cursed spirit's attack.

However, they all knew that the previous attack had merely been it playing around.

Hanami gave a cold smile and raised one hand again. But before it could attack, a stone suddenly streaked past its eyes.

As it wondered what was happening, the pebble suddenly transformed into a bow in midair, followed by Itadori, his right fist surging wildly with cursed energy!

"Get lost, ugly!"