Mordekaiser

On the steps.

Araki Itsuki slowly descended, watching the leader of the conservatives at Jujutsu Headquarters, the principal of the Kyoto school.

Yoshinobu Gakuganji looked surprised and uneasy. He had never expected Araki Itsuki to appear here.

The moment he and Utahime stepped inside the Curtain, they sensed an immense, terrifying cursed spirit in the distance. There was likely a powerful special grade cursed spirit in the forest.

Instead of fighting the special grade cursed spirit, Araki Itsuki had come here to wait for him. He hardly considered that a good sign.

Yoshinobu Gakuganji turned to look. Utahime had long since vanished, leaving him to face Araki Itsuki alone.

Standing nearby, Juzo Kumiya watched the two silent men, scratched his head, and walked toward Araki Itsuki.

"Are you that old man's helper?"

"A young man's bones are much better than an old geezer's. I'll make a table out of you!"

At those words, Yoshinobu Gakuganji gave him a pitying look.

If Satoru Gojo were here, he could still speak up and have the man spared for interrogation.

With Araki Itsuki, even his own survival was far from certain.

Sure enough.

Araki Itsuki frowned slightly, as though he had spotted an annoying fly.

"Too noisy."

Snap!

He lightly snapped his fingers. As Juzo Kumiya looked on in confusion, the space around his body suddenly darkened.

Countless tiny, twisted purple-black arms resembling those of dead infants appeared around him without warning, enclosing him without a gap.

Then the dark hands swayed, lunging at Juzo Kumiya in their midst from every direction.

They grabbed and pulled, plucked and pressed, yanked and tore.

In an instant, countless tiny dark hands covered Juzo Kumiya's body.

The hands writhed as they sized up his flesh, as though discussing how much each would get to eat.

Rip!

A chunk of flesh was suddenly torn from his right arm, as though some unknown being had bitten him, leaving a bloody crater.

At the sight, the other tiny black hands grew restless, scrambling to claw at and devour Juzo Kumiya's flesh.

They fought to keep the other purple-black arms from stealing their food and leaving them with nothing.

For a moment, a dense chorus of horrifying tearing and chewing sounds rose from Juzo Kumiya's body.

The little dark hands that seized flesh twisted, mutating into mouths lined with vicious fangs that gnawed at their spoils.

Another chunk of flesh was tugged and bitten from Juzo Kumiya's right arm.

A look of horror and madness crossed his face. He was about to swing his axe when his body shuddered and he collapsed to the ground.

Many hands bearing sharp, dark mouths covered his left leg, fighting madly over the flesh of his thigh like sharks scenting blood.

"Aaaaaah!"

Just like that, Juzo Kumiya became food suspended in the air, tugged this way and that as the hands fought to devour him.

His flesh rapidly dwindled until, amid terrified, agonized screams, he disappeared entirely.

Yoshinobu Gakuganji's aged eyes widened. The still-warm blood spattered on the ground was the only proof that the curse user had ever existed.

With a mocking smile on his lips, Araki Itsuki gazed at Yoshinobu Gakuganji.

"Old man, you certainly love getting in my way. But what are you going to do now?"

Yoshinobu Gakuganji forced himself to regain his composure and strummed his electric guitar, preparing to attack.

"An evil brat like you would have harmed countless people if I hadn't kept you in check."

"Besides, Satoru Gojo is the strongest jujutsu sorcerer of the modern age. He won't let you act so recklessly."

Araki Itsuki looked utterly relaxed, a stark contrast to Yoshinobu Gakuganji's tense vigilance.

Step by step, he approached the sanctimonious old man before him.

"All living beings survive by trusting and blindly following those superior to them.

Those trusted buckle under the burden, so they seek those who stand above them,

and those above them seek someone higher still, someone worthy of their trust.

Thus, all kings are born."

Araki Itsuki looked at Yoshinobu Gakuganji. These people clearly regarded Satoru Gojo as an immensely powerful god, a king who could turn the tide.

They plainly relied on their power to maintain their rule, yet still interfered and obstructed them at every turn.

"Do you still not understand?"

"'The strongest' is the curse the world placed on him."

A mace covered in vicious barbs and shimmering with purple-black energy appeared in Araki Itsuki's hand.

Though it was a staff, it looked ready to lash out at any moment.

To shatter his enemies' bones and pulverize their flesh.

At the same time, thick purple-black mist rose from Araki Itsuki's body, spreading its claws to devour everything around him.

A fearsome suit of armor, seemingly forged from the remnants of a star, appeared and encased him completely.

At last, an eight-foot behemoth stood where Araki Itsuki had been, looking coldly down at Yoshinobu Gakuganji.

Death Omen Star Mordekaiser!

"But things will be much easier now. You'll be mine to command!"

Yoshinobu Gakuganji suddenly strummed his guitar. Three sonic waves of cursed energy formed, slicing through the hard floor as they raced toward Araki Itsuki.

"Brat, don't get ahead of yourself!"

Yet Araki Itsuki merely swung his mace, smashing Yoshinobu Gakuganji's attack apart.

The old man could produce piercing sounds without a speaker because he himself was an amplifier.

His cursed technique amplified the melodies he played, then unleashed them as cursed energy.

But to Araki Itsuki, attacks like these barely tickled. They were weaker than an ant's bite.

The imposing, powerfully built armored figure advanced, each step leaving a distinct imprint in the hard floor.

He brushed aside Yoshinobu Gakuganji's sonic attacks as though swatting away mosquitoes.

"I'm curious. When an ant like you tries to control a god, don't you feel afraid?"

Araki Itsuki grasped at the air with his right hand. An Astral Grasp formed from dim starlight reached for Yoshinobu Gakuganji.

"Soul-Severing Choke!"

Startled, Yoshinobu Gakuganji tried to leap aside with his aged body.

Then a terrifying suction pulled at him. The giant astral hand easily broke through his resistance and dragged him toward Araki Itsuki.

Bang!

The mace, flickering with underworld fire, swept sideways and shattered Yoshinobu Gakuganji's defensive cursed energy.

It sent the old man flying. His body landed like a rag in a flower bed, smashing several ceramic pots.

Yoshinobu Gakuganji's left arm was mangled, and blood and dirt covered his body. He climbed out of the crater and glared furiously at Araki Itsuki.

"Looks like that comfortable life has left your old bones rusty!"

Araki Itsuki's mocking voice rang out as he approached the flower bed like a cold, dark reaper.

He intended to plunder Yoshinobu Gakuganji's life and soul.

But just then, three figures descended from above.

Araki Itsuki immediately recognized them as the helpers who had accompanied Yoshinobu Gakuganji when he killed Principal Masamichi Yaga.

Yoshinobu Gakuganji stepped out of the ruined flower bed with icy eyes, joining the other three to surround Araki Itsuki.

"A threat like you must be eliminated, just like Yuji Itadori!"

Araki Itsuki laughed scornfully. "You deluded fool. Did you bring three pieces of trash so you'd have company on the road to the afterlife?"

"No. I brought them to eliminate a threat like you."

"All these years in Kyoto, I've spent so much money supporting so many people. Wasn't it all for a day like this?!"

To the sound of Yoshinobu Gakuganji's electric guitar, the three newcomers lunged at Araki Itsuki in the center.

But Araki Itsuki's patience had run out. Nightfall stirred up dense black mist in his hand before he slammed it into the ground.

"All shall bow to the King of Life and Death!"

In an instant.

The three simultaneous attackers were seized without warning by giant astral hands outlined in dim starlight.

The hands tightened and crushed them. They struggled desperately but could not escape.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Strange sounds like eggs breaking rang out. Before Yoshinobu Gakuganji's shocked eyes, his three helpers were squeezed into pulp that dripped to the ground.

Araki Itsuki strode forward. Nightfall traced a crescent in his hand, hurtling toward Yoshinobu Gakuganji's head with tremendous force and gusts of crushing wind.

Watching the enormous mace descend from above, he knew he was about to die.

Yet Yoshinobu Gakuganji felt anger and scorn.

As long as Araki Itsuki wanted the influence he held, as long as Araki Itsuki wanted to change all this, he would not kill him!

His position and influence were far more useful than his strength.

"If you kill me, you won't be able to command me!"

Yet the terrifying mace did not pause for an instant. It struck his aged, bald head without mercy.

As his eyes widened in disbelief, it effortlessly smashed his skull into splinters, then crushed his entire body into fragments.

Even as he died, Yoshinobu Gakuganji could not understand why Araki Itsuki dared to kill him. Was he trying to make an enemy of the entire Jujutsu Society?

But as Araki Itsuki looked at the four disgusting puddles of flesh on the ground, Nightfall suddenly emitted a cold underworld flame.

A deathly, icy energy began spreading through the surrounding space, as though it could command every dead being and soul in the world.

Gray mist streamed from the staff, Nightfall, like a tide, forcing its way into the four heaps of mangled flesh on the ground.

Under the control of that energy, the bloody pulp that had been Yoshinobu Gakuganji slowly rose into the air and reformed.

At last, an aged man emerged from the gray mist. It was none other than the dead Yoshinobu Gakuganji.

Only now, his body radiated an icy aura and a faint green glow.

He raised a hand. His whole body was cold, without the slightest warmth, and a faint green light emanated from him.

"Did you think death was the end?"

Anger filled Gakuganji's heart, but this body was beyond his control. His knees slowly bent.

"No!"

He resisted with every fiber of his being, wishing he could die right then.

But a mighty force descended, forcibly taking command of his soul and making him kneel.

He and the other three helpers surrounded Araki Itsuki like guards, lowering their heads in respect.

"We await your command!"