Outside the sphere, a tentacle wrapped around a tree trunk and swung it down at a boy.
A single blow easily smashed a deep crater into the solid ground, shattering half the trunk in the process.
Amid the shower of leaves, the boy rolled rather awkwardly out of range.
It was Yuji Itadori!
Facing Junpei Yoshino's relentless assault, he endured the anguish of his close friend's betrayal while also worrying about his teacher, Amanai.
This was Yuji Itadori's first mission alongside Riko Amanai. Though he knew his teacher had expanded her domain, Choso's abilities remained unknown.
He dared not get cocky. He had to give it everything and end this quickly.
"But that's easier said than done..."
Itadori looked at Junpei Yoshino a short distance away, his shikigami draped over his body. The overwhelming mass of pale blue tentacles almost completely filled the space behind him.
Especially those densely packed venomous barbs at their tips... Just looking at them made Itadori's scalp crawl.
Fortunately, Eso was in terrible shape, and [Decay and Corrosion Technique · Rot] had stopped working at some point.
Itadori wiped the stain from the tip of his nose and spat out the blood flowing into his mouth.
Now isn't the time to think about that. Move!
Charge. Keep charging without stopping!
Remember Kamo Uncle's training. That was ten thousand times more hopeless than this!
Driving off the ground, Itadori raced straight toward Junpei Yoshino with an aggressively forward-leaning stride. The cursed energy enveloping his fists resembled blazing blue flames, stretching into long trails as he ran.
Junpei Yoshino's response was much simpler.
Without any real armor-piercing ability, Itadori could not even break through his shikigami's outer skin. His blunt-force fighting style could not fundamentally hurt him.
In other words, he was the natural counter to sorcerers