Let's have a tug-of-war!!

When someone mocked you, you naturally had to mock them right back-and give them twice as much.

That was Lu Yun's way as a jujutsu sorcerer.

Not expecting her jab to come flying back at her, Yuki Tsukumo froze, then narrowed her eyes with a smile.

"Lu Yun, girls don't like petty men, you know."

"No need to worry about that, Oba-san (auntie)."

The smile on her face abruptly froze. The corner of her eye twitched as Yuki Tsukumo pointed at her own face in disbelief.

"I don't look that old, do I?"

She clearly looked about the same age as Lu Yun. Calling her an auntie was going too far.

Lu Yun answered with a chuckle.

"Heh, don't make your big bro Yun laugh."

"You really are infuriating!"

Her cheeks puffed out, and a vein throbbed on Yuki Tsukumo's forehead. She clenched her fist and gave Lu Yun a friendly smile.

"You little brat, let me teach you a proper lesson in respecting your elders and caring for your juniors!"

Garuda lashed out as a long whip, swinging straight at Lu Yun's hateful grin.

"She's right about that. Lu Yun really does need a good lesson."

Inside Lu Yun, Hajime Kashimo wholeheartedly agreed with that assessment and sneakily switched off Lu Yun's Thunder Beast form.

The Thunder Beast Cloak covering his body abruptly vanished. Lu Yun, who had intended to keep toying with Yuki Tsukumo using his incredible speed, jolted in surprise and leaned sharply backward to dodge the vicious lash.

The howling gust brushed past the tip of his nose. Lu Yun narrowly avoided the blow, then hastily retreated until he was completely outside the whip's range.

Knowing perfectly well who was responsible, Lu Yun hurriedly called out to Hajime Kashimo.

"Hey, little deer, what are you doing~?"

Hajime Kashimo snorted.

"It's my cursed technique. I'll use it however I want."

With that, he fell silent.

"Little deer? Bro Kashimo? Deer God! Come on, big brother, I'm sorry, okay?"

No matter how Lu Yun called to him, Hajime Kashimo gave no further response, and his cursed technique, [Mythical Beast Amber], remained unusable.

"Fine, I won't use it! I can still win without a cursed technique."

He was a beta tester and a cheater, after all. The abilities he had acquired through his golden finger worked just fine without a cursed technique.

Electric arcs burst in his palm. Lu Yun sidestepped another lash, then seized the shikigami whip in his hand.

Electricity converted from cursed energy raced along the shikigami whip, heading straight toward Yuki Tsukumo, who held its other end.

"You think this will make me let go? How naïve!"

Enduring Lu Yun's relentless electric shocks, Tsukumo kept her grip tight, refusing to loosen it in the slightest. At the same time, she continued adding mass to Garuda, forcing Lu Yun to let go first.

Sensing Yuki Tsukumo's fierce refusal to lose, Lu Yun felt a fire ignite in his own eyes. He wrapped Garuda around his arm several times, then gripped the whip with both hands.

Garuda's mass kept increasing, as though an entire mountain were pressing down on Lu Yun's shoulders, yet he still refused to let go.

"Then let's have a tug-of-war!!"

An immense surge of cursed energy erupted. Combined with physical abilities surpassing Yuji Itadori's, it actually allowed Lu Yun to withstand that mountainlike pressure for the moment. The training ground cracked under Garuda's overwhelming mass. Lu Yun's legs sank deep into the ground, and he heaved with both hands, determined to drag the whip toward himself.

That intense desire from another world, that ravenous yet fervent gaze, moved Yuki Tsukumo, who saw no meaning in tug-of-war itself.

"I really don't know what to do with you. Just this once."

Yuki Tsukumo grinned, refusing to be outdone. Cursed energy erupted from within her. Though not as astonishing as Lu Yun's, it was still nothing to scoff at. As long as it remained within certain limits, the added mass did not affect Yuki Tsukumo herself, so she had an easier time than Lu Yun, who had to resist its weight.

Recognizing Lu Yun's fierce determination to have a tug-of-war, she likewise gripped Garuda with both hands. Her full Special Grade strength erupted in that instant. Her leather boots crushed the ground as she pulled Garuda away from Lu Yun with everything she had.

"Aaaah!!!"

"Yaaah!!!"

Their blood seemed to ignite with wild passion. Faces flushed red, Lu Yun and Yuki Tsukumo roared together, pulling the shikigami whip toward themselves with all their might. Neither would be the first to concede this tug-of-war.

Their roars echoed throughout the training ground. The fierce passion radiating from them even crossed the distance to infect Itadori and the others watching from the stands.

"Oh! Oh!"

Swept up in their passion, Yuji Itadori couldn't help waving his arms and shouting along with the two on the training ground, cheering Lu Yun on.

"You can do it, anime-loving big brother!!"

Beside him, Panda cheered for Tsukumo instead.

"Don't lose to that outsider, Miss Tsukumo!!"

Even Megumi Fushiguro, who normally refused to cave under pressure, felt somewhat moved as he thought of his own weight-bearing domain, which worked along similar lines.

Settling the match with a tug-of-war-a contest of such pure strength. How sacred it was!

Only Maki Zenin wore a strange expression as she looked around at the others.

Was there something wrong with these guys' heads?

And those two out there-how had their fight suddenly turned into a tug-of-war?

Maki couldn't understand. Was something wrong with her, or had the world gone wrong??

Ah~ So fighting could be this moving?

Lu Yun clenched his teeth. His shoulders bore an unimaginable weight, yet the hot blood within him boiled fiercely.

Aizō, aizō, uzumai te~

Daitō QQ, sō uta te~

The stirring melody of "AIZO" seemed to ring in his ears. Lu Yun's blood boiled even hotter, and a faint cloud of blood-red steam rose from his body as he roared, dredging up every last ounce of strength within him.

This time, he seemed to be pushing himself even harder than he had during his fight with Yuta Okkotsu on the streets of Tokyo.

Even Hajime Kashimo, hidden deep within his body, was moved by Lu Yun's astonishing willpower.

"Lu Yun, you actually had it in you to go this far?"

His surging cursed energy transformed into violent lightning, and Lu Yun's presence abruptly intensified. Countless bolts erupted from within his body, crackling wildly like his fiercely blazing resolve.

With lightning dancing around him and blood-red steam shrouding his body, Lu Yun looked like a demon god who had suddenly descended upon the world.

The lightning surging along Garuda grew increasingly powerful. Together with Lu Yun's sudden burst of strength, an enormous force traveled from the other end of the whip. Yuki Tsukumo instantly lost her footing and began sliding uncontrollably toward Lu Yun.

Was this some kind of joke?

Yuki Tsukumo couldn't believe she would lose to Lu Yun like this. He was still bearing a mass far greater than that of an adult African elephant.

Crack. Garuda finally failed to withstand the frenzied pulling of two Special Grade powerhouses. Cracks gradually appeared in the middle segment of the shikigami's body.

Noticing Garuda's condition, Yuki Tsukumo let her guard slip for an instant. In the next moment, she sensed disaster.

No!!!