I'll take on ten

The forest floor was riddled with craters.

Araki Itsuki's physique looked nothing like a hulking brute's, yet he was pounding Todo and Itadori into the dirt.

Yuji Itadori brimmed with fighting spirit. He bent low and charged, his terrifying explosive strength leaving distinct footprints wherever he stepped.

Cursed energy coated his fist, veins bulging along his arm as he swung at Araki Itsuki's head.

Whoosh!

The wind from his punch arrived before the blow itself.

Amid a sharp crack of air, Araki Itsuki's black hair blew back, revealing a face that wore a teasing half-smile.

"Well, well! Going for my face, are you?!"

Araki Itsuki leaned backward, avoiding Itadori's straight punch.

But Itadori immediately followed up, spinning with the momentum to whip a hammer fist toward Araki Itsuki's exposed abdomen.

The blow was about to land.

Then, suddenly-

At some point, Araki Itsuki's right hand had seized Yuji Itadori's wrist, locking it in an iron grip.

Yuji Itadori's finely defined muscles stood out as his arm trembled, straining to break free.

But he couldn't escape Araki Itsuki's right hand at all.

Seeing the teasing half-smile on Araki Itsuki's face, Yuji Itadori felt a flicker of foreboding.

A smile uglier than a grimace spread across his face.

"It's a misunderstanding..."

Before he could finish, the tremendous force yanking him away distorted his mouth, and rushing air poured wildly inside.

The world in his vision seemed to flip upside down in an instant. Then his whole body made intimate contact with the earth.

Bam!

A terrifying web of cracks spread across the ground.

Smiling, Araki Itsuki held Yuji Itadori by the wrist like a whip, swinging him from side to side and repeatedly slamming him into the ground.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Yuji Itadori could only muster his jujutsu to protect his body while deftly using his one free hand to soften the impacts.

At last.

Yuji Itadori, nauseated and ready to vomit, with his insides aching, was granted a reprieve.

Still holding his wrist, Araki Itsuki hurled him at Todo like a bowling ball.

The burly Todo immediately caught his best friend Itadori and set him beside a tree to rest, then charged excitedly at Araki Itsuki.

A concealed iron fist shot up from beside his lower right abdomen, driving toward Araki Itsuki's chest like a wild bull's horn.

But Araki Itsuki was faster. Though he struck second, his iron fist all but brushed past Todo's and reached Todo's chest first.

Bam!

Todo's bull-like fist had barely reached Araki Itsuki's body when the tremendous impact in his own chest sent him reeling backward.

At the same time, Araki Itsuki pivoted and swiftly pursued the retreating Todo, slicing a knife-hand strike toward his neck.

Todo dug his toes deep into the ground, carving two distinct furrows to slow his retreat.

The fearsome muscles in his back swelled, making even his tank top bulge.

His enormous hand, large enough to engulf an ordinary person's head, snatched at Araki Itsuki's knife hand to intercept it.

But a mischievous gleam flashed in Araki Itsuki's eyes, and he suddenly swept a diagonal kick at Todo's legs.

The knife hand that had been slicing toward Todo's neck also slyly changed direction, pressing down toward his chest.

Todo's hand caught nothing as it guarded his neck, while his chest and legs were struck simultaneously.

He instantly lost his balance and toppled toward the ground.

"Crap!"

While still airborne, Todo tried to swing both arms down to brace against the ground, then use his core strength to spring back up.

But Araki Itsuki pressed his advantage with a wicked grin, bringing his right leg down like a battle-axe.

Todo immediately realized that if he kept trying to brace himself with his arms, he would take Araki Itsuki's whipping kick head-on.

The arms he had been reaching toward the ground snapped up across his chest, bracing against each other.

Bam!

Araki Itsuki's right leg drove down mercilessly, stamping onto Todo's arms like a sky-supporting elephant.

The surrounding ground cracked in layers, as though it had been bombarded by artillery.

Tremendous wind pressure and dust shot skyward, scattering countless fragments of stone and dirt.

Pale-faced and buried deep in the cracks, Todo suddenly recalled a famous book, though he wanted to change one word in its title.

The unbearable heaviness of being.

Araki Itsuki looked at Todo in the fissure and was just about to add a few more kicks when an owl wreathed in lightning swooped down from above, clawing at his back.

"Nue!"

Fushiguro lowered the hands with which he had formed his cursed technique and rushed toward Araki Itsuki from a distance.

"Without spending even a moment mourning Todo's defeat, Megumi Fushiguro immediately arrived on the battlefield?"

Araki Itsuki bent down to avoid Nue's talons and tossed out the teasing remark.

He left Todo in the fissure and charged toward the solemn-faced Fushiguro.

Lightning crackled overhead. On the ground, the black-clad Fushiguro swung a powerful straight punch at Araki Itsuki in coordination with the lightning.

Araki Itsuki sidestepped it and tried to seize Fushiguro at close range, intending to introduce him intimately to Mother Earth.

But Nue attacked again from above, diving swiftly from the sky, its talons sweeping toward Araki Itsuki's outstretched right arm with a rush of wind.

Araki Itsuki had to abandon his grab at Fushiguro and redirect his right arm to swat Nue away.

Fushiguro had already seized the opening, bending his knees and sliding into Araki Itsuki's blind spot.

Then he drove a fist toward Araki Itsuki's flank, aiming to smash his liver.

Araki Itsuki darted aside to dodge and praised Fushiguro:

"Fushiguro, you're pretty good. Very few jujutsu sorcerers who use shikigami fight their enemies up close themselves."

"Not only are your fighting skills impressive, but you also coordinate effortlessly with your shikigami. Together, you're more than the sum of your parts."

Kamo Noritoshi, watching from the side, nodded repeatedly. "As expected of someone from the Three Great Families."

But as soon as those words left his mouth, Araki Itsuki seemed to have had enough fun and let Fushiguro punch him squarely in the chest.

Bam!

A blast of air erupted behind him, showing just how powerful Fushiguro's attack was.

Yet Araki Itsuki showed no sign of injury. Instead, he seized the moment Fushiguro struck and reached for his head!

Fushiguro's pupils dilated. It was already too late to retreat.

He could only rely on the highly mobile Nue to rescue him.

Nue arrived just in time. As Araki Itsuki's right hand was about to close around Fushiguro's head, it appeared behind him like lightning, gripping Fushiguro's shoulders with its talons to lift him into the air.

However.

There wasn't a trace of joy on Fushiguro's face despite his imminent rescue, because Araki Itsuki's right hand, already in front of his face, suddenly veered toward his right shoulder at an even greater speed.

That was exactly where Nue's rescuing talon was.

His target was Nue!

By the time Fushiguro realized it, it was too late. Left with no choice, he dismissed Nue.

Araki Itsuki looked down at Nue, twisted and distorted in his right hand before finally dissolving into a pool of shadow.

He pursed his lips in boredom, then kicked Fushiguro away.

Fushiguro crossed his arms over his chest, carving a furrow through the ground as he slid to a stop beside Itadori.

Araki Itsuki surveyed the battlefield, finally fixing his gaze on Kamo Noritoshi, who had been watching.

"You give it a try too!"

Araki Itsuki flashed into view in front of Kamo, launching a swift, vicious cannon punch at his head.

So fast!

Kamo Noritoshi had no time to be shocked. The wind pressure was already stinging his face, and he hurriedly jerked his head to the right to dodge.

When his strike missed, Araki Itsuki turned his fist into a claw and relentlessly pursued Kamo's shifting head.

Thud!

Noritoshi Kamo wedged his arm between his head and Araki Itsuki's grasping hand, blocking the attack.

But before he could counter, Araki Itsuki's knee was already rising toward his chest.

Feeling the pressure coming from below, Kamo Noritoshi tried to pull his arm back to defend.

But Araki Itsuki's halted hand suddenly exerted force again, firmly pinning one of his arms.

With only one hand left free to move, he had no intention of blocking Araki Itsuki's knee head-on.

He didn't want to end up crippled by using one hand to meet someone else's full-force knee strike.

His feet tapped rapidly against the ground as he tried to gain distance and evade the knee.

But Araki Itsuki didn't give him that chance.

The hand pressed against him suddenly twisted at the wrist and clamped around his arm. At the same time, Araki Itsuki extended his raised leg, hooking his foot around Kamo's thigh.

Applying force above and below at once, he flung Kamo Noritoshi away.

"Your hand-to-hand skills leave a lot to be desired. Never mind being worse than Todo and Itadori-you aren't even as good as Fushiguro."

Araki Itsuki delivered his assessment, then turned sideways and extended his right hand toward Kamo Noritoshi, who had only just steadied himself.

"Let's see how your ranged attacks measure up."

Purple-black energy gathered in his palm, finally becoming a beam of black light that roared forth and barreled toward Noritoshi Kamo.

Noritoshi Kamo's narrowed eyes instantly widened, and he tossed two blood bags in front of himself.

"Convergence: Piercing Blood!"

The blood controlled by his cursed energy immediately surged violently, tearing through the bags and forming several blood arrows that raced to collide with the oncoming black beam.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Amid a chain of explosive collisions, the black beam formed from the Death Omen Star easily devoured the cursed energy, kinetic energy, heat, and everything else carried by the blood arrows.

Under Araki Itsuki's control, it merely knocked Kamo Noritoshi away before he could dodge.

Araki Itsuki clapped his hands, dispersed the Death Omen Star energy, and sighed helplessly.

"Your ranged damage isn't up to scratch either."

Just then, a tall, dashing female figure leaped down. It was Maki, who had hurried over.

"When it comes to fighting technique, I have no intention of losing to you."

At Maki's bold declaration, an intrigued smile spread across Araki Itsuki's face.

"Without spending even a moment mourning the defeats of Todo, Itadori, Fushiguro, and Kamo, Maki Zenin immediately arrived on the battlefield!"