The scene shifted, and the tables turned completely.
Mahito frowned, his expression darkening slightly.
Sukuna went silent, his cursed energy dissipating outright.
Only Jiahao was still laughing.
"Haha, hahahahaha!"
"Haha, cough, cough, cough!"
Seizing the moment when Jiahao laughed himself into a coughing fit, the anxious Itadori finally cut in. "Jiahao, help me save Junpei!"
"He's not an ordinary person. He's a newly awakened jujutsu sorcerer. You should be able to heal him, right?"
"It's a bit of a hassle..."
Meeting Itadori's intensely hopeful gaze, Jiahao paused out of habit, then nodded. "I can heal him."
At a critical moment like this, Jiahao wasn't in the mood to tease Itadori too much.
He jumped down from the windowsill and landed beside Itadori, unwrapping the bandages on his left hand before pressing it against the transfigured Junpei's head.
Although Junpei had only recently awakened as a sorcerer, his soul was already far more resilient than it had been when he was an ordinary person.
The Strength of a Hundred Technique activated, and Junpei's deformed brain began to glow a vivid green.
"Say, does this count as making him wear a cuckold's green hat?"
Itadori had no idea how to answer.
What puzzled Itadori, however, was that the stitched-faced cursed spirit opposite them merely watched without reacting.
Before long, Junpei's huge, distorted body shrank back to its normal size.
He was simply unconscious and stark naked, with mosaic censorship covering him.
Itadori scooped the unconscious Junpei into his arms and glared viciously at Mahito. "I'll take Junpei somewhere safe, then come right back!"
"I'm counting on you, Jiahao..."
"Don't kill this guy too quickly!"
With that, Itadori leaped out through the shattered window with Junpei in his arms.
Watching him go, Mahito couldn't help laughing. "Looks like Sukuna's vessel has a lot of faith in your strength."
Jiahao said, "Of course he does."
"After all, no matter how hard I try, I can't imagine myself losing."
Mahito sneered. "Heh. Aren't you underestimating me a little too much?"
Clang!
Mahito's dangling left arm transformed into several spiked iron whips in an instant.
By using his cursed technique to alter the shape of his own soul, he could transform his flesh into forms more finely honed for slaughter.
The reason he had held off until now was that he had been observing Jiahao's soul.
Thanks to his cursed technique, Mahito could faintly perceive the shape of other people's souls even without touching their bodies.
With ordinary non-sorcerers, for instance, Mahito could see the outlines of their souls, steeped in lies and deceit, at a glance from far away.
Even within Yuji Itadori, who housed the King of Curses, he could vaguely make out that indifferent gaze seated atop countless corpses.
But the strange thing was...
Jiahao stood before him, his hair snow-white and his clothes black.
Mahito couldn't see his soul at all.
He couldn't see its underlying hue or its outline. All he could see was... a void.
An endless, boundless void!
This was the first time Mahito had encountered anything like it since his birth.
Seeing how eager Mahito was to try his hand, Kaneki Hao smiled faintly. "Just to ask, did Ken... Suguru Geto tell you guys about me?"
"Geto did mention you."
Mahito casually waved his spiked arm, his tone flippant. "He said you were a mentally ill jujutsu sorcerer who could imitate Sun Goku and fire a Kamehameha."
"He also said you weren't an enemy for now, and that if we ran into you, we should get away quickly unless we wanted to be dragged into watching the moon all night."
Jiahao said, "Then why aren't you running away with your tail between your legs?"
Mahito tilted his head and looked out the window. "Because it's daytime now. There's no moon."
"Besides, this is the first time I've encountered someone like you. I can't resist feeling that empty soul of yours with my own hands."
"I don't mind you dropping dead."
Kaneki Hao flexed his fingers lightly, a cruel smile curling his lips. "Since Suguru Geto told you about me, that makes things easy. Otherwise, I'd have to come up with some lousy excuse to play dirty with you."
Mahito said, "Ha!"
"Is this what they call great minds thinking alike?"
Jiahao said, "More like a great mind meeting a great beast."
"Obviously, I'm the great mind, and you're the beast."
At those words, Mahito grew even more excited. He raised his iron-whip arm and brought it crashing down on Jiahao!
Boom!!
The iron whips passed through Jiahao's flesh, leaving countless densely packed, horrifying marks on the surrounding walls.
"It's true! The untouchable cursed technique, Kamui!"
Mahito flashed an innocent, childlike smile and raised his free left arm, aiming at Jiahao.
He drew his fingers slightly together, and sharp bone bullets shot from his fingertips.
Bang, bang, bang!
The sharp finger bones erupted with power more terrifying than gunpowder, burying themselves deep inside the shattered walls!
The ferocious barrage, comparable to machine-gun fire, swept over the motionless Jiahao from head to toe.
"No blind spots... Physical damage doesn't work. What about true damage to the soul?"
After a moment's thought, Mahito retracted his extended arm.
Maintaining his basic human form, Mahito suddenly conjured a flickering blue flame in his palm.
Bang!
His fist passed through Jiahao's chest, without the slightest sensation of striking anything solid.
"Is my cursed technique not powerful enough?"
Mahito stopped and frowned at the expressionless Jiahao before him. "My cursed technique touches the soul and changes the shape of its existence."
"But there's one troublesome detail. While using Idle Transfiguration, I have to maintain my original human form."
As he revealed information about his own cursed technique, Mahito could clearly feel its power increase significantly.
Mahito clenched his fist and grinned, then reached forward with his palm, cursed energy flickering around it.
"Kamui's complete immunity to physical attacks really is impressive, but its cursed energy consumption must be outrageous too!"
Mahito's palm drifted through Jiahao's chest, then stopped at his heart, his fingers curling into a claw.
"I'm really curious. The moment you exhaust your cursed energy and become tangible..."
"Will you die from being transfigured by my cursed technique, or from having your heart crushed by me?"
He waited and waited, but Jiahao never replied, nor did the terrified expression he had hoped for appear.
Looking somewhat troubled, Mahito waved a hand at Jiahao. "Hey, hey, Dimensional Copy sorcerer?"
"You haven't said a word this whole time. What's your deal?"
"Playing the strong, silent type?"
As it turned out, even cursed spirits couldn't stand the silent treatment.
Only after a long while did Jiahao lift his eyes and look Mahito squarely in the face, letting out a soft sigh. "Ah, have you burned yourself out already?"
The three-digit Valor Points from the beginning had gradually dwindled to single digits.
The initial excited, all-out bombardment had become a dull battle of attrition.
Mahito's highest contribution in a single attempt had been 444 Valor Points, while his lowest was a mere four.
Jiahao had let Mahito try attacking him purely to farm Valor Points.
And now...
"Hey, what did you mean by that?"
Seeing the regret on Jiahao's face, Mahito suddenly felt a sense of foreboding rise within him.
Jiahao raised his clenched right fist by just an inch, and Mahito involuntarily took a step back.
As Jiahao slowly raised his right fist, Mahito's soul trembled wildly, sounding an alarm.
The air grew thick, and breathing became labored.
Cold sweat slid from Mahito's forehead, striking the cracked floor with a crisp sound.
Whoosh!
Mahito abruptly pulled his arm out of Jiahao's chest. His legs transformed into hooves, crushing the floor with a single step as he shot backward to create distance!
I'm going to die!
I'm going to die!!
I'm going to die!!!
The word "death," dripping with blood, swelled endlessly in Mahito's mind!
Flesh-colored wings sprouted from his back and beat furiously as he flailed his arms, transforming them into layer upon layer of densely woven blades that engulfed the space around Jiahao!
The next second...
"Done fooling around?"
Mahito's pupils shuddered violently, the terror freezing on his face.
The white-haired grim reaper had somehow passed through the dense mesh of blades and was now right in his face, looking down at him. The utterly mocking smile on his lips was nastier than any villain's!
"If you're done, it's my turn..."
"Hao Flash!!"
Boom!!!
Before you continue