Kill stealing?

Resentment slammed into the cursed spirit without warning, and the curse terrified it so badly that its swinging attack stopped short.

Now, no matter how ravenous its desires were, they could no longer suppress its fear!

The guy in front of it wasn't food. He was a monster!

A curse more vicious than itself, resentment more chilling than the curses of those who died horribly or were buried alive-all of it gathered within him!

The cursed spirit had only one thought left: run...

But Kamo Xu's hand was already pressed against its body. He was still smiling, his handsome, sunny appearance making that smile seem like a ray of light, warming people's hearts.

Yet his eyes held nothing but the excitement of someone looking at food!

Kamo Xu hungered. Every single cell in his body was telling him!

[Break its limbs]!

[Snap its bones]!!

[Peel back its flesh]!!!

[Rip out its organs]!!!!

[Make it wish it were dead]!!!!!

"Heh heh heh... hahahahahaha!" Kamo Xu laughed. Looking at the hideous cursed spirit was like getting a glimpse of how powerful he would become.

It was exhilarating, utterly intoxicating!

All he had to do was move his fingers, and he could hear them scream!

These scum, these parasites, these bastards who bullied the weak and feared the strong-he would kill them all, one by one, in swathes, without leaving a single one alive!

But...

"No, that won't do. I'd better leave you to Yuji Itadori after all."

If he didn't force Ryomen Sukuna out, how could he devour that greatest of curses?

He wanted to see that lowest piece of scum with his own eyes, and then...

Slaughter him.

"Ora!"

Boom!

A strike from above landed squarely on the cursed spirit's head. Yuji Itadori smashed that huge, hideous head down again, producing a thud as though it were kneeling and bowing!

That blow snapped the stunned cursed spirit awake. It howled, trembling, and tried to flee, only to find cursed energy blocking every direction.

Like an octagonal cage, it imprisoned the spirit inside!

Only Kamo Xu and the cursed spirit knew about this barrier, because they were the two parties involved: the perpetrator and the victim.

Yet there were two people inside it... Yuji Itadori and Kamo Xu.

Its teeth chattered, knocking together with a sound that set one's teeth on edge. Terrified out of its mind, how could it not know it couldn't escape?

But now, fighting back was its only option. It absolutely couldn't let that red-eyed monster get near it!

Then all it could do was...

Roar, roar, roar, roar!

The cursed spirit screamed, its voice laced with fear and rage, along with a delicious emotion called despair.

It released curse-laden cursed energy to affect everyone's bodies while heaving itself upright, swinging its fists at Yuji Itadori, who had charged up beside it!

Kill you! Then eat the finger! Maybe then I can still escape!

Not far away, the fragile Megumi, who had suffered a serious head injury, was shocked. Why had the cursed spirit's cursed energy suddenly become so unstable? And faced with Kamo Xu's terrifying reserves, why hadn't it fled, instead growing increasingly deranged?

No, now wasn't the time to think about that...

"Idiot, run! Only a curse can deal with a curse! You can't exorcise it!"

"Is this really the time for that?!" Yuji Itadori darted up and down like an agile ape, constantly attacking the cursed spirit with both fists while twisting and dodging.

"You and the old guy are in danger too!"

As another attack came, Itadori tried to use his strength to restrain the cursed spirit's arm again.

But he'd gotten lucky last time. This time, the cursed spirit was targeting him alone. What made him think he could repeat that trick of using leverage to fend off its attack?

Its enormous body naturally came with matching strength. The cursed spirit swung its arm and slammed Yuji Itadori, who was hanging from it, into the ground like a rag sack.

The tremendous force instantly cracked the floor, then dragged Itadori onward, pulverizing more stone tiles!

Megumi Fushiguro was so furious he almost laughed. What made Itadori think Kamo Xu needed his help?

The sheer amount of cursed energy that monster was currently unleashing could scare an ordinary cursed spirit to death. The odds of him being in danger were lower than the odds of steel coils falling from the sky!

"You fucking... pfft!"

Blood surged up his throat. Megumi Fushiguro was literally coughing up blood from anger.

"I have a reason I have to do this! I have to do everything I can to help people! If I leave now, my conscience won't let me rest!"

In the end, it all came down to the reckless ignorance of youth.

Megumi Fushiguro thought his current strength was enough to deal with this cursed spirit, misjudging its actual power even while saddled with a burden.

Yuji Itadori, meanwhile, had simply let his hot blood go to his head. That dumbass had nothing in his brain except the curse his family member had placed on him. He didn't care about anything else-he just opened his eyes and charged in.

And besides...

"Itadori, don't get distracted during a fight. You'll die." Kamo Xu cupped one hand beside his mouth like half a megaphone, kindly reminding the boy who was still running his mouth and moving himself with his own words.

Yet instead of taking the fight seriously after hearing that advice, the foolish kid got even more distracted trying to listen to what Kamo Xu was saying...

Then... things went badly.

The cursed spirit seized the opening and threw a punch. Caught off guard, Yuji Itadori was sent flying, along with Sukuna's Finger, which he'd been holding in his hand the whole time.

Shit! The finger! I can't let the cursed spirit eat it!

Itadori tried to reach for it, but the cursed spirit was faster. As it threw that punch, its other hand had already curled to grab him.

The enormous hand shot out like lightning, clamping firmly around the boy's body and squeezing harder and harder!

His internal organs felt as though a dump truck had run over them from every direction. The pain was unbearable.

The cursed spirit, on the other hand, was a little bewildered. What was this guy's body made of? An ordinary person would've been crushed into a puddle of mush by now. Why was he so hard against its palm?

It couldn't crush him at all!

Whatever. The finger came first.

But how could Itadori give it that chance!

He stomped down hard with both feet, planting them against the cursed spirit's face, then used that leverage to leap upward, taking its hand with him!

"Ah, gulp..."

Kamo Xu: (°ο°)?

Megumi Fushiguro: (°Д°)!!!???

He swallowed it!?

Both of them were stunned!

This kid just ate it?

He! Ate! The~thing!

Wasn't he supposed to yap for ages before finally dragging things out and eating that thousand-year-old chicken foot?

But time waited for no one. A wave of cursed resentment erupted within Yuji Itadori, surging through every limb and bone in an instant.

A curse, malice amassed over thousands of years, a monster that had lurked on history's darkest page since ancient times...

Had awakened!

With a ripping sound, the Grade 2 Cursed Spirit began to break apart, starting from the hand gripping "Yuji Itadori," as though something had suddenly sliced it to pieces.

The cursed spirit refused to give up. Unwilling to let this be the end, it scrambled on its four remaining legs and launched a desperate charge...

Boom!

"Yuji Itadori" merely raised a hand, and the pressure of the wind easily tore apart the monster before him.

Eyeballs, teeth, flesh and blood.

They burst from that hand like a ceremonial salute welcoming the arrival of a king.

The boy kept his eyes tightly shut, as though carefully sensing the changes in his body, or savoring the wonder of breathing.

Hah...

The boy exhaled a foul breath, then slowly opened his eyes amid the shredded flesh and blood.

That innocent, youthful air was gone. It was as though a disgusting maggot, a murderous piece of scum, had taken over someone else's body, forcing the boy's delicate features into an ugly expression that didn't belong on his face.

Strangest of all... there were another two balls on his face... uh, eyes, I mean.

Of those four eyes, aside from the two normal ones, the other two darted madly over every part of the surrounding scenery, greedily savoring the beauty of resurrection.

Ryomen Sukuna had returned to life through incarnation!

"Hehehe, heh heh... ahahahaha..."

Sukuna wore an oh-so-intelligent expression, baring his big teeth in a stupid grin. But he didn't get to enjoy himself for long.

With a thunk, a fist slammed viciously into his head, driving the thousand-year-old King of Curses straight into the stone floor and interrupting the first fit of lunacy of his new life.

"What the fuck are you laughing at?"

It was Kamo Xu. His expression was extremely friendly, his smile positively radiant-if not for the veins bulging around his eyes from sheer rage, and his utterly vulgar words.

No one would've thought he was the kind of person who did something like this...

"You fucking animal. How dare you steal my kill?"