On the brink of death

"Sis!!!"

Satoru Gojo's eyes trembled as he watched Chinatsu get stabbed clean through beside him. As a shout tore from his throat, he raised his hand and instantly fired Blue at Toji Fushiguro behind her.

But Toji Fushiguro was incredibly fast. After pulling his cursed tool out of Chinatsu's chest, he quickly leaped backward, darting back and forth across Jujutsu High's supposedly reliable barrier.

Disbelief spread across Suguru Geto's face at the sight. The barrier that had always worked without fail was now little more than a decoration.

Satoru Gojo hurried to Chinatsu's side and anxiously asked how she was doing. Although Chinatsu tried her best to act as if nothing was wrong, Toji Fushiguro's thrust had been far too vicious.

Chinatsu had good reason to suspect that this blow had been considerably stronger than the one he had used to stab Satoru Gojo in the original story. Do you really hate me that much?

Chinatsu pressed a hand over the wound that pierced her body, panting softly as traces of blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. The sudden change in the original plot had prevented her from responding to Toji Fushiguro's ambush in the best possible way.

Ever since the Star Plasma Vessel arc began, Chinatsu had focused on making herself less noticeable, doing everything she could to avoid disrupting the relatively happy first half of this storyline.

But Chinatsu had still underestimated the effect her presence as a variable would have on the original plot. In the end, the original story could only serve as a reference. If she wanted to save more people in the future, its value as a reference would only continue to diminish.

In the end, I can only rely on myself.

Caution. I have to be even more cautious.

"Geto, take the others inside first. Satoru and I will hold them off here." Chinatsu turned and shouted to Suguru Geto and the others.

Suguru Geto froze for a moment. He had intended to stay and fight too, but after seeing the utter seriousness on Chinatsu's face, he nodded in agreement.

"Just make sure you're careful!"

With that, Suguru Geto led Riko Amanai and her maid, Kuroi, farther into Jujutsu High, while Chinatsu kept her azure eyes fixed on Toji Fushiguro a short distance away.

A black cursed spirit resembling a huge, fleshy worm was wrapped around his body. He held the Soul Liberation Blade in one hand and the Inverted Spear of Heaven, attached to the Chain of a Thousand Miles, in the other.

The Soul Liberation Blade was not too much of a concern. Although its slashes could ignore hardness, Limitless Defense operated on a rule-based principle. It would slow the blade down, preventing it from reaching her body.

The main concern was the Inverted Spear of Heaven. This cursed tool could forcibly nullify any active cursed technique. The moment its blade touched the rule-based barrier of Limitless Defense, the defense would automatically come undone.

The Chain of a Thousand Miles attached to the Inverted Spear of Heaven was also a powerful cursed tool. As long as one of its ends was not being directly observed, the chain could extend indefinitely.

These three cursed tools were wielded by the Heavenly Tyrant, who possessed the strongest human body. The danger was far beyond ordinary, and an overwhelming pressure poured endlessly from him.

Standing beside Chinatsu, Satoru Gojo also watched Toji Fushiguro with a grave look in his eyes. Unlike Chinatsu, he had only met Toji Fushiguro once, at a banquet when he was a child, because he had slept through their last visit to the Cursed Tool Auction House.

Noticing the strange absence of even a trace of cursed energy from Toji Fushiguro's body, Satoru Gojo quickly thought of Heavenly Restriction.

"The physical gifts granted by Heavenly Restriction... are you that guy from the Zenin Clan?" Satoru Gojo murmured with a serious expression. Yet even that quiet mutter reached Toji Fushiguro's keen ears.

He tilted his neck, loosening up his body as he said with a faint smile, "Not Zenin. Fushiguro. I married into the family."

"..."

"Who cares about that?!"

Satoru Gojo locked onto his target, raised both hands, and unleashed Blue at Toji Fushiguro's position. Under its powerful attraction, rocks and even trees were pulled up and hurled toward him.

Toji Fushiguro delivered several sharp slashes with the Soul Liberation Blade, cutting everything flying toward him into fragments.

Another piercing rush of air rang out as Toji Fushiguro charged straight at Satoru Gojo with the Inverted Spear of Heaven in hand.

Satoru Gojo was not about to back down from a head-on duel. He clenched his hand, conjuring several instances of Blue out of thin air and using them like floating cannons to obstruct Toji Fushiguro's approach.

But before the Inverted Spear of Heaven in Toji Fushiguro's hand, those instances of Blue might as well have been empty air. With nothing more than a light jab from the spear, they vanished without a trace.

"What?!"

Startled, Satoru Gojo quickly prepared to engage Toji Fushiguro at close range. But just as Toji reached him, he suddenly planted his foot and changed direction.

Is he going after Riko Amanai?

No, his target is-!

"Sis!!!"

Satoru Gojo spun around and shouted. Chinatsu had naturally noticed Toji Fushiguro's move as well.

But although her mind had reacted, her body had not caught up. With Blue proving ineffective, all Chinatsu could do was clench her hand into a fist and swing hard at Toji Fushiguro's face.

The next instant, Chinatsu's fist struck Toji Fushiguro square in the face. Thanks to his tremendous speed and the principle that forces acted mutually, her punch distorted his face somewhat.

At the same time, however, Toji Fushiguro's Inverted Spear of Heaven had pierced Chinatsu's body once again. In an exchange of injuries, Toji Fushiguro clearly held the advantage.

Toji Fushiguro wrenched the Inverted Spear of Heaven to the side, sending sprays of bright red blood from Chinatsu's body onto the ground.

Wounds similar to-or even worse than-those Satoru Gojo had suffered in the original story now appeared on Chinatsu's body. Her pupils lost focus as a sensation beyond words took hold of her entire body.

Ever since awakening Limitless as a child and mastering Limitless Defense, she had suffered minor injuries, but she had never experienced a serious one.

The strongest... invincible... reversal...

It was as though a surging tide had swallowed her whole. In reality, as Toji Fushiguro pulled the Inverted Spear of Heaven from her body, Chinatsu tipped over and fell to the ground.

Toji Fushiguro let out a breath, a look of easy satisfaction spreading across his face.

He turned toward the stunned Satoru Gojo beside him and took up a fighting stance once more, smiling.

"That's one down. I need to hurry up. If the Star Plasma Vessel really finishes merging with Tengen, I won't get my bounty..."