What's One Thousand Minus Seven!

"BOOM!"

Frenzied cursed energy surged out like a tidal wave, blasting rings of transparent ripples through the air.

A dense barrage of explosions tore from the third floor down to the crater beneath the first, throwing up clouds of dust more than ten meters high.

Lightning-shaped fractures crawled across the building's outer walls, covering them in cracks.

In the crater beneath the first floor, a puddle of slime-like matter slowly writhed.

After a while, the writhing slime extended a fresh set of pale limbs.

The head that had been punched inward regained its shape like a soccer ball being inflated.

Mahito lay on his back in the crater, staring at the gloomy sky as he muttered, "A fist that shatters space... was it called Hao Flash?"

"An impressive move. It felt like getting hit in the head by a speeding train on the highway."

"So this is your real strength. It really is ridiculously powerful."

"But... ordinary cursed techniques and cursed energy attacks don't work on me."

"Didn't that jujutsu sorcerer with the seven-three part tell you?"

"Heh, hahaha!"

Mahito's shoulders shook as he laughed with the wild joy of someone who had narrowly escaped death.

After a good while, Mahito turned toward the figure at the edge of the crater. "No joke, that punch really scared the piss out of me!"

"I thought you could actually blow my soul apart with one punch and send me off to reincarnate!"

Seeing the expressionless Jiahao approach step by step, the completely naked Mahito smiled fearlessly. "Don't waste your effort!"

"As long as your cursed technique can't hurt my soul, even chopping my body into pieces is just a waste of time!"

To Mahito, his soul was his true self. His body was merely decoration.

As long as his soul remained unharmed, he could recover even if he was chopped into mince.

That was also what gave Mahito the confidence to ignore Kenjaku's warning and attack Jiahao.

Mahito tried moving his arm, but could only shift it a few centimeters.

His soul was unharmed, but repairing his bodily organs required a considerable amount of cursed energy.

Cursed spirits were different from humans. They could regenerate missing flesh simply by releasing cursed energy.

But the terrifying cursed energy from Jiahao's locomotive-like Hao Flash, which had pulverized Mahito's entire body, was still rampaging inside him!

Mahito decided not to struggle. Resigned, he looked at Jiahao. "Teach me, Dimensional Sorcerer. That punch of yours-"

"BAM!"

No blood spilled out. At the break in Mahito's neck, a second, brand-new head swelled out like rising dough.

As for the old one...

Jiahao had stomped it apart.

"I already told you it doesn't-"

"BAM!"

"BAM, BAM! BAM, BAM, BAM!"

Jiahao fired off a succession of kicks from different angles, bursting ten soccer-ball heads in total.

Eleven times!

The speed at which Mahito's head grew back visibly slowed, and his body gradually shrank from an adult's to a little boy's.

"Wait, wait!"

Having grown another new head, Mahito hurriedly shouted, "Stop kicking! I surrender!"

"I was wrong to provoke you, but bursting ten of my heads should've let you blow off some steam!"

"We can play head soccer another time, somewhere else. If you don't let me go now, the people from Jujutsu High will be here."

At that, Jiahao stopped, briefly taken aback. "You're threatening me with the people from Jujutsu High?"

"Don't they say a fresh brain works better? How come yours gets dumber with every new one?"

"Which of us is the cursed spirit here, you or me?"

Mahito's expression darkened. "Don't pretend you don't understand, Dimensional Sorcerer."

"If you let the people from Jujutsu High take me away, I won't keep your partnership with Geto-with us cursed spirits-a secret."

"Oh, you mean that?"

Understanding dawned on Jiahao, then he said indifferently, "Say whatever you like. We'll see whether anyone at Jujutsu High believes you."

As far as Jiahao was concerned, not a single jujutsu sorcerer at Jujutsu High was normal.

Likewise, their image of Jiahao had absolutely nothing in common with a normal person.

Never mind that Mahito had no evidence and only his word to offer.

Even if Mahito had photos and videos...

Wait.

That night we watched the moon...

"Geto took photos that night! He has audio and video recordings of you, too!"

Mahito sold Kenjaku out without hesitation.

"Tch, that scheming old bastard!"

Looking thoroughly annoyed, Jiahao kicked upward, blasting Mahito's head apart!

Headless Mahito: "..."

The twelfth time.

Now another size smaller, Mahito sounded increasingly frantic. "I can sense that all the transfigured humans I sent to lure away the seven-three sorcerer are dead! Sukuna's vessel has also rescued the injured students from the auditorium and taken them outside the barrier!"

"If we delay any longer, they'll really be back!"

"If I'm taken back to Jujutsu High, Geto will definitely release those recordings!"

"You're threatening me?"

"Surely you're not stupid enough to think I can't do anything to you?"

Jiahao lifted his foot. This time, he aimed not at Mahito's head, but at his left forearm.

"CRACK!"

"I told you it doesn't... work?"

Looking at the blood pouring from his severed left arm, Mahito's pupils trembled wildly. "...What's going on?!"

"CRACK!"

His right arm, left leg, right leg!

Thick crimson blood gushed from Mahito's severed limbs, staining the ground red.

Pain he had not felt in so long flooded his soul, and Mahito let out an uncontrollable scream. "AAAH!!!"

"AAH!! AAAH!!!"

"Impossible, impossible!!"

"How?! None of your earlier attacks could hurt my soul!"

Reduced to a limbless torso, Mahito wailed in disbelief, desperately craning his neck as he wriggled away to escape.

Only now did Mahito realize that his soul's initial warning of death had been right.

Everything Jiahao had done before had merely been to toy with him.

This guy had possessed a way to hurt souls from the very beginning.

Damn it, damn it!!!

What do I do? What do I do?!

If he stomps my head apart this time, I really will die!

Jogo, Hanami, Dagon, come save me!

Like a fish stranded out of water, Mahito flipped over and plowed his chin into the ground, crawling faster toward the edge of the crater.

"There's no such thing as an invincible cursed technique. Only an invincible sorcerer."

"Is a mere soul technique really worth getting so smug about?"

"Your body couldn't be hurt, so that gave you the courage to provoke me?"

Jiahao walked forward at an unhurried pace and lightly nudged Mahito over with the tip of his foot.

"You're so weak, Mahito."

"You're Special Grade only because you barely meet the threshold."

"But I..."

Jiahao paused, only then remembering that he had turned down his promotion to Special Grade Sorcerer. "Hmm... I'm a Grade 4 Sorcerer who specializes in bullying Special Grades!"

"Don't kill me! Don't kill me!!"

"I was wrong! I was wrong!!"

Mahito kept begging for mercy, pressing the back of his head against fallen rubble as he struggled to crawl out.

Jiahao planted a foot on Mahito's abdomen and smiled. "Don't rush. Itadori and the others won't be here for a few minutes. We still have time to chat."

"Want to know why I can attack your soul?"

"Answer one question, and I'll tell you."

Experiencing fear of death for the first time, Mahito nodded furiously. "Ask, ask! I'll tell you anything!"

Jiahao moved the tip of his foot upward, hovering between Mahito's legs.

Do cursed spirits even have a little QQ down there? I'm kind of curious.

"CRACK!"

Slipping into the role of Kaneki, Jiahao pressed his thumb against his index finger, producing a crisp crack.

His left eye flashed with the scarlet of a ghoul, and a cruel, villainous smile curled across his lips. "Now, then..."

"What's one thousand minus seven?"

"CRACK!"