First Meeting with Satoru Gojo

Tokyo had never lacked strange and bizarre incidents.

Like tonight, when a salaryman who had gotten drunk on the streets of Tokyo and missed the last train, unwilling to waste money on an expensive taxi, looked up through bleary eyes and saw a figure on a skateboard flash across the night sky, pursued closely by a swarm of bats.

Or when an eerie gust suddenly swept through the streets, carrying howls that sounded both human and beastly, chilling everyone to the bone while leaving them unable to find the source.

"No wonder it's a finger housing Sukuna's soul. Not one of the Cursed Spirits it attracted is below Grade 2. Suguru Geto, Suguru Geto—you spent ten whole years painstakingly collecting around six thousand Cursed Spirits, while one Sukuna's Finger has handled nearly a tenth of that for you. Cursed Spirit Manipulation really ought to be Kenjaku's toy."

In the night sky, Lin Yi switched into his sorcerer form, riding a flying sword formed from a door panel constructed with cursed energy as he raced freely through the air.

Behind him was the horde of Cursed Spirits drawn in by Sukuna's Finger, relentlessly pursuing him.

Lin Yi glanced at the Cursed Spirit horde behind him before finally taking the Sukuna's Finger from his pocket and examining it closely.

Special-grade cursed object: Ryomen Sukuna.

It was the remains of Ryomen Sukuna, a curse user active during the Heian Era a thousand years ago, when jujutsu was at its most prosperous, who had been bestowed the title King of Curses by the Jujutsu Society of the time.

A freak born with four arms, two mouths, and four eyes, he had also been the strongest sorcerer of that era—powerful beyond all measure.

At the end of his natural lifespan, he had formed a Binding Vow with Kenjaku, a sorcerer of his era, willingly splitting his soul into twenty pieces and placing them within his twenty fingers, turning them into cursed objects while leaving his body for Kenjaku to handle.

Because they could not be destroyed and only decayed with the passage of time, the higher-ups of the Jujutsu Society could only seal the Sukuna's Fingers they found, using them as a kind of poison-against-poison ward to keep the endlessly spawning Cursed Spirits in check.

Based on the story he knew, Lin Yi was well aware that the Japanese Jujutsu Society currently held around twelve Sukuna's Fingers. The one in his hand was not kept by the higher-ups, but belonged to Kenjaku, the sorcerer who had been plotting for a thousand years.

Leaving a Sukuna's Finger in his room just for a test? That took some nerve.

To be honest, Lin Yi admired Kenjaku, that thousand-year-old troublemaker, a little.

Looking at the ever-growing Cursed Spirit horde behind him, Lin Yi smiled.

Since Kenjaku wanted so badly to know whether he was a sorcerer, then Lin Yi would let that peeping creep have his fill.

"Then let's pick a good place to cut loose."

Lin Yi took out his phone and selected the Nishitama District on the Tokyo map, a place ninety minutes away from Shinjuku Ward by car. Then he guided the flying sword beneath his feet along the route indicated by the map and sped off.

The Cursed Spirit horde chasing him closely followed.

Tokyo's Nishitama District lay at the westernmost edge of Tokyo.

It was the largest district in area, with rugged terrain, mountains, forests, and a relatively low population density. On weekdays, tourists were rarely seen there. If he acted there, he would not need to worry about ordinary people noticing, nor would he have to fear harming innocents.

Though Nishitama District normally required a ninety-minute drive, Lin Yi arrived in just fifteen minutes—and that was only because he had slowed down for the Cursed Spirits pursuing him.

Having chosen the location, the flying sword constructed from cursed energy beneath Lin Yi's feet immediately dissolved into cursed energy and returned to his body.

Carried by inertia, Lin Yi continued flying forward for some distance before dropping freely toward the ground.

As Lin Yi slowed and fell downward, the Cursed Spirit horde pursuing him lunged at him with roars, like sharks catching the scent of blood.

Their target had always been only one thing: the Sukuna's Finger in Lin Yi's hand.

Their instincts told them that if they swallowed that finger, they could break through their innate limits and evolve from Grade 2 or Grade 1 Cursed Spirits into Special-Grade Cursed Spirits standing at the pinnacle.

Facing the frenzied Cursed Spirit horde rushing at him, Lin Yi fell headfirst from the sky, held two fingers together like a sword before his chest, and calmly began chanting.

"From the darkness, born in darkness, darker than darkness. Purify all that is impure."

"HenShin!"

The overwhelming Cursed Spirit horde instantly swallowed Lin Yi whole, while the translucent black barrier known as the Curtain descended from above, enclosing Lin Yi and the Cursed Spirits and cutting them off from the outside world.

Inside the barrier, the Cursed Spirits drawn by Sukuna's Finger had already piled into a small mountain. Whether they had swallowed the Sukuna's Finger they desired was unknown, but they had certainly consumed plenty of their own kind's flesh. Devouring that flesh made entirely of cursed energy caused these living Cursed Spirits to begin evolving.

Then Lin Yi's voice rang out from within the mountain of Cursed Spirits.

"Rider Punch!"

Black flashes surged and erupted through the air.

Along with Lin Yi's roar, an incomparably violent shockwave exploded within the mountain formed by the Cursed Spirit horde.

In an instant, Cursed Spirit flesh flew everywhere, splattering wildly across the barrier.

Only around a hundred Cursed Spirits survived Lin Yi's Black Flash Rider Punch. They fell in all directions, surrounding Lin Yi at the center.

Amid the mountain of Cursed Spirit corpses, a black figure stood tall.

The black Kamen Rider Joker suit was bathed in the purple blood of Cursed Spirits, absorbing it at a visible rate and feeding it back to Lin Yi beneath the suit.

Lin Yi could feel slight improvements in his already vast cursed energy, as well as his physical body.

Looking at the hundred or so remaining Cursed Spirits within the barrier, he had become a copy of the Heavenly Tyrant in this form. If the Cursed Spirits did not reveal themselves, he could not see them and could only sense them. Fortunately, the cursed tool that was his permanently constructed Kamen Rider Joker suit made up for that flaw.

The appearance, grade, and position of every Cursed Spirit appeared in Lin Yi's mind.

The next second, Lin Yi vanished from where he stood. The mountain of Cursed Spirit corpses was blasted apart as well, turning into a downpour that fell within the barrier.

"First punch."

Lin Yi suddenly appeared before a humanoid Cursed Spirit and threw a heavy Rider Punch directly into its face.

It did not trigger a Black Flash, but it still shattered the creature completely.

As he sent that Grade 1 Cursed Spirit's flesh flying, the shockwave from his fist spread through the barrier.

"Rider Kick!"

The instant he blew apart a Grade 1 Cursed Spirit with one punch, Lin Yi had already flashed before another Grade 1 Cursed Spirit. A sweeping kick surging with black flashes struck its abdomen. The kick crushed the Grade 1 Cursed Spirit, while the black flashes swirling around his armored boot carried the air forward, becoming a blade-shaped shockwave that continued onward and sliced apart every Cursed Spirit in its path.

That single kick directly erased one-third of all the Cursed Spirits within the barrier.

Feeling the increases to all his attributes flowing back from exorcising the Cursed Spirits, Lin Yi grew even more excited.

"Rider Punch!"

One minute later, the deployed barrier slowly dissipated.

Within it, there were no longer any Cursed Spirits—only severed limbs scattered across the ground. These Cursed Spirits had been driven berserk by Sukuna's Finger, and Lin Yi had absorbed 0.1 percent of all their attributes.

To Lin Yi, the cursed energy feedback from their attributes was insignificant, because his own cursed energy had already reached the special-grade level. What he lacked were the standard abilities of a Special-Grade Sorcerer: Domain Expansion, Reversed Cursed Technique, and Cursed Technique Reversal.

However, the attribute feedback to his physique was exactly what he needed.

Lin Yi could feel his body growing stronger, while his sensitivity and affinity toward cursed energy continued to rise.

This battle of one against a hundred did not even count as a battle in Lin Yi's eyes. It had merely been a simple warm-up.

The Kamen Rider Joker suit on his body transformed into a mass of black fluid and flowed into Lin Yi's body, while dark-blue cursed energy surged from him.

Still not quite satisfied, Lin Yi took Sukuna's Finger from his pocket with a smile on his face.

"Ha, with this thing around, why would I need to painstakingly search the streets for Cursed Spirits? By the way, how many Black Flashes did I land just now?"

"Counting both your fists and feet, five in total. Three punches and two kicks. For an independent sorcerer, your frequency of triggering Black Flash has truly opened my eyes, Mr. Lin Ichiro."

An unfamiliar voice sounded behind Lin Yi.

Without a moment's thought, the cursed energy surging around Lin Yi immediately transformed into blades and swords that shot toward the source of the unfamiliar voice behind him, then exploded.

The shockwave of the cursed energy explosion ravaged the forest.

Lin Yi pulled back and looked at the figure who had emerged unscathed from the cursed energy blast.

Silver spiky hair, bandages covering his eyes, a black uniform, and that ever-present frivolous smile at the corner of his mouth—everything pointed to his identity.

The strongest sorcerer of the modern Jujutsu Kaisen world!

"Satoru Gojo."

"That would be me~"

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