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"Good. Very good..."
"Enchain."
"Cleave."
Three sentences to make a man die for you once.
It was a beautiful bisection at the waist. The last thing Xia Xia saw was his own textbook-perfect anatomical cross section.
Red, yellow, and white mixed together like a fruit-and-vegetable platter, or perhaps a painter's palette.
[Xia Xia was killed and cut in half. Killer: Yuji Itadori (Sukuna).] [Dropped 591 platinum, 60 gold, 15 silver, and 3 copper.] [Conditions fulfilled: 14.] [Rewards pending calculation.] [Revival countdown...]
That breathtaking slash reminded Xia Xia, for the first time in days, what it felt like to have his upper body sent flying.
This was the cursed technique of Sukuna, the King of Curses. It sliced through objects with sheer cursed energy. At its core, it was still a bare-bones ability, but brute force could work miracles, and so there was nothing it couldn't cut.
[Slashing Cursed Technique • Cleave] still produced a slash, but unlike "Dismantle," another slashing cursed technique, "Cleave" required Sukuna to make physical contact when used outside a domain expansion.
Naturally, such a restriction came with a special effect. "Cleave" could adjust the strength of its slash according to the difference in jujutsu strength between the user and the target, ensuring a fatal blow.
Poor Xia had died to this move and been sent back to the Pure White Space before he could even give an acceptance speech.
That alone showed just how worked up Sukuna had been.
"Man, that was pathetic. I put a tiny bit of pressure on him, and Sukuna logged into his account to blow me away. Looks like young Heavenly Emperor Yuji really needs more training."
Flippant as ever, poor Xia had died yet again amid his chatter and laughter, returning to the Pure White Space.
As for what he'd done beforehand...
Nothing as elaborate as you might imagine. He'd just taunted an innocent high school boy for a while, only for a thousand-year-old geezer who spoiled the kid rotten to take over his account and forcibly kill him.
No matter. He didn't care about that little bit of time anyway, and he'd never expected to kill Yuji Itadori on their first encounter. He'd finally managed to get Choso out of the way, only for Sukuna to take over much faster than expected.
Then again, even separating them wouldn't necessarily have kept Choso away, since Choso could sense the danger when a blood-related brother was about to die.
The fact that Choso could sleep soundly outside while Yuji Itadori was inside Xia Xia's Cursed Execution domain meant only one thing-he'd known all along that Yuji Itadori wouldn't be in danger.
"They really underestimated me."
"I bullied Hajime Kashimo for a while thanks to my immunity to lightning-attribute cursed energy, and suddenly I thought I was hot stuff. Stay humble. Stay patient."
He'd come back to explore that area another time.
Now it was time for the delightful harvest.
[Calculation complete. Characters killed: wild Grade 1 Cursed Spirits ×4 (unnamed), wild Grade 2 Cursed Spirits ×10 (unnamed). Low impact on the world.] [Reward count: 14.] [Moderate increase in physical strength.] [Small increase in cursed energy control.] [Small increase in total cursed energy.] [Extremely small increase in talent for concealment skills.] [Extremely small increase in cursed tool control.] [Contact made with important character: Yuji Itadori.] [Contact made with important character: Choso (special grade cursed object • Cursed Womb: Death Paintings).] [Cause-and-Effect Reversal uses: 2.]
A bumper harvest.
The increases in stats and talents were generous, but the most important thing was that he'd made contact with two important characters.
All his painstaking efforts to give Yuji Itadori a coming-of-age experience hadn't gone to waste.
The protagonist of Jujutsu Kaisen and a supporting character with his own special part to play were among the most important components of this world, no matter how you looked at it. Surely the special simulations they brought would give Xia Xia, who'd hit a bottleneck, endless joy and surprises!
Serve it up already. I can't wait.
"Open!"
[Timeline and core character anchored.] [Error 1.]
"?"
[Multiple core characters recorded.] [Please select a core character: Yuji Itadori, Choso.] [A special simulation may revolve around only one core character at a time. Forcibly adding multiple characters may lead to unpredictable consequences.] [Please confirm again.] [Error 2.] [Special character added to this simulation: Yuji Itadori (Sukuna).] [Due to their unique, inseparable nature, their simulated events and side stories may be treated as those of a single character.] [However, unpredictable consequences may occur.] [Please confirm again.] [Error 3.] [Special character added to this simulation: Yuji Itadori. This character's timeline has an extension.] [Warning! Running the simulation has a chance of producing a special simulation environment: the gaze from 68 years in the future.] [Unpredictable consequences may occur.] [Please confirm again.]
Ah, the king of jujutsu had arrived.
That exalted protagonist halo, that unique two-in-one existence-what a beautiful soul. Compared with the Hajime Kashimo simulation, this one was like dragon liver and phoenix marrow next to instant noodles.
No disrespect to poor Kashimo. They simply weren't in the same league. Barring any surprises, even a dozen Hajime Kashimos might not give Sukuna enough work to dice a mango.
Besides, setting aside the issue of treating Sukuna as a side story, at worst he'd just take a trip through Jujutsu Kaisen's main plot. Whether he lived or died was another matter-but what the hell was that special simulation environment, [The Gaze from 68 Years in the Future]?
Sure, Yuji Itadori sixty-eight years into the future could use Black Flash as a basic attack, burn aliens with cigarette butts, and flick little steel balls hard enough to kill special grade sorcerers, but surely he hadn't reached the point where one attainment held across all existence? Even Ryomen Sukuna didn't have that skill set!
"Choose Yuji Itadori as the core character."
"Whatever happens with the rest is fine. Do what you need to do. We'll cross those bridges when we come to them."
"No hurry with the simulation. Let me think over the new rules and take a little break first."
"Also, show me my personal status panel. I want to see whether I can solo Megumi Fushiguro now. This is important."
[Name: Xia Xia.] [Traits: softcore character, Shatter.] [Innate cursed technique: Demon-Repelling Edge.] [Total cursed energy: upper Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer level.] [Cursed energy control: lower Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer level.] [Cursed energy efficiency: upper Grade 2 Jujutsu Sorcerer level.] [Physique: upper Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer level.] [Hand-to-hand combat: strong Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer level.] [Combat intelligence: Grade 2 Jujutsu Sorcerer.] [Advanced techniques: Simple Domain (Hollow Wicker Basket), Domain Expansion, Reverse Cursed Technique.] [Talent slot excluded from assessment.] [Cursed tool slot excluded from assessment.] [Overall combat strength: strong Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer.]
Not bad, right?
To have grown this much in just a few days made Xia Xia a genuine genius. Against the truly strong, however, it merely meant he might get a chance to say his last words.
By Xia Xia's original powerscaling standards, setting aside jujutsu sorcerer grades, Jujutsu Kaisen's characters could be divided into six tiers, from weakest to strongest.
"Ant": ridiculously weak nobodies who didn't even qualify for powerscaling discussions. Utterly irrelevant, collectively known as unnamed supporting characters.
"Roadside nobody": still a weakling, with neither stats nor mechanics to speak of. Broadly covered ordinary Grade 2 Jujutsu Sorcerers and everything beneath them.
"Joke": also known as "comic relief" or "laughingstock." Had a few stats and mechanics, but their plot developments were hilariously bad. Poorly made characters who died without even knowing what hit them, thrown together carelessly and killed off quickly. Specifically applied to certain plot-forced deaths.
"Decent": had either stats or mechanics, with adequate strength, but weak showings in the story and insufficient characterization. These characters played important roles and effectively advanced the main plot. Applied to certain important supporting characters, who had a chance of delivering some spectacularly unhinged final remarks.
"Very strong": had both stats and mechanics, popular subjects of powerscaling debates who had, in a sense, transcended the original story. They had their own devotees in powerscaling circles. Assessments of their strength were highly subjective, but generally fit the characters' established capabilities, with only their reception varying. Applied to those few legendary figures who were debate regulars. Note: these characters were guaranteed to deliver spectacularly unhinged final remarks, and people would mourn at their graves for years.
"Wheelchair": legends who survived, undefeated kings, absolute stats and the mechanics born from them. The ones who taught you to throw your brain away were... those who never lost throughout the story, or couldn't possibly lose in their complete form. There was no room for dispute; you picked them to settle the argument. Specifically applied to overpowered characters and protagonists.
Leaving the wheelchair characters aside, the other five tiers covered almost every character in Jujutsu Kaisen. They corresponded to the Mystery Forum's five sacred words: "classic, bootlicking, seething, hilarious, cracking." Powerscaling meant discarding your brain, abandoning thought, and tearing into anyone who disagreed with you like a feral dog.
Complete strangers attacked each other online like mortal enemies, refusing to stop until one side was dead. Forget fandom pursuits and carving out little spaces for self-indulgence-this was about enjoying the pure thrill of battle, with no turning back before victory in the debate. Gentlemen, I love this atmosphere. I love it more than anything!
Any absolute genius who could dream up a rating system like that could add himself to it. Viewed that way, Xia Xia's transmigration had been foretold by fate, with a certain inevitability to it.
At present, Xia Xia rated himself as an early-stage "joke." With good luck, fragments of his corpse might brush the hem of a strong fighter's clothes. He probably wouldn't get to deliver any spectacularly unhinged last words.
"Even if I die, even if I'm nailed into a coffin, I'll still use my rotting vocal cords to shout..."
"Hajime Kashimo is an amateur, a complete joke. Even going all out, he can't put a dent in Gojo or Sukuna. He even struggles against Kinji Hakari. The special grade gatekeeper, the strongest Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer."
"Hilarious Palworld self-destruct cursed technique. Hilarious Hollow Wicker Basket. Hilarious legendary martial-arts elbow strike."
[Loading Cause-and-Effect Reversal...] [Timeline and core character anchored.] [Background: On March 20, 2003, Yuji Itadori, son of Jin Itadori and Kaori, grandson of Wasuke Itadori, was born. When Kaori Itadori looked at the child in her arms, she was surprised to discover that there were actually twins. For unknown reasons, Kenjaku did not choose to kill the extra child when his plan changed. Instead, he went along with the mistake and raised this child, who theoretically should never have been born, alongside the other. As Yuji Itadori's elder twin brother, the child cursed by fate from birth was named-Itadori Xia Xia.] [As you can see, twins are an ill omen in Jujutsu Society. He not only took a share of his brother's gifts and talents, but also received half of his fate in life.] [Welcome to this cruel and beautiful world, Xia Xia. If you can see this line, I hope you will at least never regret your choice.]
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