Madness

Yagami Jue's laughter stopped abruptly, a light fiercer than any demon flashing in his pitch-black eyes.

"I was just wondering how to make some damn money!"

"If they're lining up to die, I'll turn Sendai City into a slaughterhouse!"

"I'll kill every last one who comes!"

As Butterfly Poison stared into Yagami Jue's crazed eyes,

it felt as though the one standing before Butterfly Poison wasn't human at all.

He was a complete and utter lunatic!

A bloodthirsty demon who treated human lives like dirt!

"You... you lunatic..."

"You talk too much."

Yagami Jue's gaze turned icy, and his right foot slammed down!

Bang!

Blood splattered everywhere.

The Special Grade Curse User Butterfly Poison was dead.

[Ding! Special Grade Curse User killed!]

[Loot dropped: 50 million yen!]

"Not bad. Another fifty million in the bank."

Yagami Jue shook the blood off his sole, in an excellent mood.

Together with the twenty million he had left, he now had a whopping seventy million!

"System!"

"Open the panel!"

[Host: Yagami Jue]

[Current realm: Heavenly Tyrant (initial stage)]

[Account balance: 70 million yen]

[Constitution: 4538]

[Strength: 6610]

[Speed: 4552]

"Put all seventy million into speed!"

Yagami Jue's eyes hardened with resolve.

Since he had to face the entire underworld hunting him down,

absolute speed would be the foundation for crushing everything!

As long as I'm fast enough, your cursed techniques won't even touch my shadow!

[Ding!]

[70 million yen successfully deducted!]

[Speed +7000! Current speed: 11552!]

Boom-!!!!!

At that very instant,

Yagami Jue's body seemed to break through the limits of some law of physics.

His leg muscles didn't grow bulkier. Instead, they took on a perfectly streamlined shape!

A faint current of air began circulating around his body on its own!

11552 points of speed!

This was far beyond merely breaking the sound barrier!

Even from a complete standstill,

the slightest exertion could carry him hundreds of meters in an instant!

His sheer speed could even leave afterimages in the air convincing enough to pass for the real thing!

"Hell yeah!"

Yagami Jue clenched his fists, savoring the terrifying sensation of speed that made him feel as though he could catch light itself.

He glanced at the wreckage strewn across the unfinished building and sneered.

"Now."

"All I have to do is wait for those walking wallets to show up."

Whoosh!

Yagami Jue vanished instantly.

All he left behind was a slowly fading afterimage and a faint sonic boom that lingered long afterward.

Meanwhile,

at Tokyo Metropolitan Jujutsu High School in Tokyo,

inside the principal's office,

Masamichi Yaga studied a stack of reports in his hands, his brow deeply furrowed.

"Gojo, are you certain that boy named Yagami Jue doesn't have even a trace of cursed energy?"

Satoru Gojo sat on the sofa with his legs crossed, happily eating daifuku.

"Absolutely certain."

"Cleaner than a blank sheet of paper."

Satoru Gojo raised his head, a hint of amusement in the eyes hidden beneath his blindfold.

"But his physical strength is so terrifying it's exciting."

"I even suspect his body is already as strong as Toji Fushiguro's was back then."

At the mention of the name "Toji Fushiguro,"

Masamichi Yaga's expression instantly darkened.

The Heavenly Tyrant who had once nearly killed Satoru Gojo and brought disaster upon all of Jujutsu Society!

"If that's really the case..."

"The higher-ups will never allow a monster they can't control to exist."

Masamichi Yaga sighed.

"What's even more troublesome is this."

"According to our intelligence, someone in the underground Black Market has offered five hundred million for his head."

"Now assassins and wandering curse users from across the underworld are pouring into Sendai City like mad."

"I'm afraid Sendai City will soon become a bloodbath."

Satoru Gojo popped the last bite of daifuku into his mouth, dusted off his hands, and stood.

"So."

"As the strongest teacher, of course I have to go save that little lost monster."

"And while I'm at it, test just how strong he is."

A wild grin curled Satoru Gojo's lips.

"If he really has what it takes to become my student,"

"then I couldn't care less what those rotten higher-ups think."

Whoosh!

Satoru Gojo vanished from the office in an instant.

Masamichi Yaga shook his head helplessly.

"This world is in for more trouble..."

Eight that evening.

At the entrance to the underground Black Market in Sendai City,

in a dark, damp alley,

at least a hundred vicious-looking curse users and assassins in bizarre outfits had gathered.

They had all come for the five-hundred-million bounty!

"Who the hell is this kid? How can he be worth five hundred million?!"

"Who cares who he is! This cursed tool of mine is coated in poison potent enough to kill even a special grade cursed spirit!"

"Hands off! This kid's head is mine!"

They clamored among themselves, their eyes filled with greed and murderous intent.

Just then,

"Tap... tap... tap..."

a steady rhythm of footsteps came from the mouth of the alley.

The noisy alley instantly fell silent.

Every gaze turned toward its entrance in unison.

Beneath the dim streetlight,

a boy in a black hoodie walked leisurely toward them, both hands tucked into his pockets.

Yagami Jue.

"Yo."

Yagami Jue looked at the vicious assassins before him, a mocking smile curling his lips.

"You all waiting here for me?"

"How thoughtful. You even gathered in one place to bring me money."

At those words,

the hundred-odd assassins froze for a moment.

Then they erupted in earth-shaking laughter!

"Hahahaha! Did the bounty scare this kid stupid?!"

"He actually came alone to throw his life away right in front of us!"

"Kill him! That five hundred million is mine!"

A dozen or so curse users who couldn't hold back any longer charged first, roaring!

The deadly cursed tools in their hands gleamed with poisonous light in every color, cutting off every avenue of escape for Yagami Jue!

"A bunch of scum."

Yagami Jue stood where he was without even taking his hands out of his pockets.

Facing the barrage of incoming attacks,

he merely lifted his right foot slightly.

Bang!

His toe tapped lightly against the ground.

Boom-!!!!!

Just a single step!

A recoil force too terrifying for words instantly erupted beneath his foot!

The concrete beneath him collapsed like tofu, leaving a deep crater several meters across!

And Yagami Jue himself,

propelled by an astounding 11552 points of speed,

became a bolt of black lightning too fast for the naked eye to follow!

Squelch! Squelch! Squelch!

The dozen or so curse users leading the charge

didn't even catch a glimpse of Yagami Jue's shadow

before a searing pain struck their chests!

They looked down.

At some point, horrific, bloody holes had been punched straight through their chests!

Their hearts were gone!

"Thud... thud..."

More than a dozen bodies fell to the ground one after another like torn sacks.

Dead silence!

The entire alley instantly sank into deathly silence!

The remaining eighty-odd assassins looked as though they had been struck by a paralysis spell.

They stood frozen, their breathing halted!

"What... what happened...?"

"I... I didn't see anything..."

"A monster! This guy isn't human!"

Utter terror instantly spread through the crowd like a plague!

"Too slow."

Yagami Jue's voice seemed to ring out from every direction at once.

The next second,

he appeared out of thin air right in the middle of the crowd.

He casually tossed aside a dagger he had taken from one of the assassins.

"You worthless trash think you can claim five hundred million with that little strength?"

Yagami Jue tilted his head slightly, his gaze ice-cold.

"Since you love money so much..."

"I'll show you some mercy today and send you underground to meet the God of Wealth!"

"Let the slaughter begin."

Whoosh!

Yagami Jue vanished again!

This time.

He held nothing back!

Eight Gates Formation, First Gate! Open!

Boom-!