Unlike Riko Amanai's battle, things were looking far worse on Yuji Itadori's side.
The wounded Megumi Fushiguro lay on the ground, clutching his pierced thigh and groaning, his forehead drenched in cold sweat.
Nobara Kugisaki held up her hammer, her gaze locked firmly on Eso.
At the same time, she furtively pulled out her nails, thin strands of cursed energy winding around them.
Perhaps because he thought Kugisaki was hardly a threat, whether in combat or in her cursed energy output.
Eso failed to notice the girl secretly preparing a sneak attack, his attention focused entirely on the hooded boy before him, whose physical strength was anything but ordinary.
The boy was anxious...
Eso sized up the unfamiliar boy. Seeing him repeatedly try to get past him, he found it amusing.
But when he looked at the boy's face... he instead buried that contempt and mockery deep inside.
"Easy, kid. Don't be so impatient."
Eso chuckled in midair, folding his arms with a troubled expression. "Honestly, I'm actually pretty fond of you. What a strange feeling... But unfortunately, I can't let you get past me and interfere with that little boy."
"So..."
[Wing King]!
The blood-red appendages behind Eso extended once again, a vast barrage of blood spikes filling almost the entire sky.
But Itadori was no longer the hotheaded boy who only knew how to charge blindly. He reined in his confusion and the restless anxiety in his heart.
After a deep breath, his entire demeanor abruptly changed!
His overflowing youthful energy fell silent in an instant, leaving only the presence unique to the strong.
Steady and restrained...
Itadori's eyes snapped open. He lowered his body and turned slightly sideways, and three blood spikes skimmed past him before plunging into the ground.
He... dodged them?
He dodged them!
"What!"