Terror

A deafening sonic boom erupted in the alley!

Yagami Jue's fist slammed into the cursed spirit's largest head, right in the middle!

No cursed energy reinforced it.

Pure physical strength!

Pure kinetic force!

The instant his fist made contact, the cursed spirit's iron-hard flesh tore apart as easily as tofu!

Splat!

Black, foul-smelling blood gushed out!

Yagami Jue's devastating punch blasted the cursed spirit's central head into a cloud of bloody mist!

"Aooooo-!"

The cursed spirit let out an agonized shriek, its massive body convulsing violently.

Its two remaining heads stared at Yagami Jue in terror.

How could an ordinary human without a trace of cursed energy hurt it?!

No! This defied all reason!

"What? Can't take any more already?"

Yagami Jue shook the black slime off his fist, his eyes cold and devoid of any human emotion.

"How'd that 330,000-yen punch feel, you bastard?"

He pushed off the ground and vanished again.

Thud! Thud!

Two dull impacts rang out in succession!

Yagami Jue became a blur, his legs like the Grim Reaper's scythe as he unleashed two sweeping kicks in midair.

He moved so fast that he left afterimages in the air!

The cursed spirit's remaining heads had no time to dodge. Both exploded under his kicks!

The headless cursed spirit's enormous body crashed to the ground, turning into flecks of black ash that dissolved in the rain.

An instant kill!

A Semi-Grade 2 cursed spirit had been obliterated by Yagami Jue's overwhelming brute force!

[Ding!]

[Congratulations on defeating a Semi-Grade 2 cursed spirit above your level!]

[Loot dropped: 500,000 yen!]

[Special item dropped: low-grade cursed tool-Blue Steel Knuckle Dusters (possesses a faint amount of cursed energy; can effectively damage cursed spirits)]

As the notifications sounded in his mind, a faint, satisfied smile finally appeared on Yagami Jue's cold face.

"500,000 yen... Now that's a damn good haul."

In this world, only enough money could give him the strength to protect himself-or even crush everything-before this fucked-up plot began.

Going by the timeline...

There were probably less than two months left before Yuji Itadori swallowed Sukuna's Finger and set the main plot in motion.

Two months.

Within those two months, he had to push the numbers on his physical stats panel to terrifying heights!

He even intended to save up five million yen to buy that [Toji Fushiguro-Heavenly Restriction Trial Card].

Only by experiencing that pinnacle of physical power could he discover the direction of his next evolution.

"Whew..."

Yagami Jue let out a long breath, his taut muscles slowly relaxing.

With the battle over, the icy chill in the alley dissipated as well.

Asakura Yuki, who had been trembling with her eyes squeezed shut, seemed to sense the change around her.

She shakily opened her eyes.

All she saw was Yagami Jue standing in the rain, his back straight as a pine.

Only the unconscious thugs remained on the ground. There was nothing else frightening in sight.

"Yagami..."

Asakura Yuki struggled to her feet against the wall, her voice barely audible.

Her mind was a mess.

Everything that had just happened had completely overturned her understanding of the world.

How had those thugs' legs broken out of nowhere?

Why was Yagami Jue so fast?

And what was that suffocating chill she had felt?

But there was one thing she knew for certain.

Yagami Jue had saved her.

"Thank you... If you hadn't been here, I would've..."

Asakura Yuki bit her lip, tears welling in her eyes again as she bowed deeply to Yagami Jue.

Yagami Jue turned around and looked at the frail girl, who seemed as though a gust of wind could knock her over.

He neither stepped forward to help her nor offered any comfort.

He simply watched her coldly, his gaze indifferent.

"Don't get the wrong idea."

Yagami Jue's voice was utterly flat, cold enough to chill her heart.

"I only saved you because these bastards got in the way of me making money."

"You just happened to be there."

Asakura Yuki froze.

She stared blankly at Yagami Jue's handsome but indifferent face, the gratitude that had just stirred in her heart doused in an instant.

"But..."

"No buts."

Yagami Jue cut her off mercilessly.

"In this world, nobody can protect you forever."

"You're weak, and you've got a face that attracts trouble. You were lucky you ran into me today."

"What about next time?"

Yagami Jue walked up to Asakura Yuki and looked down at her.

The savage aura of his recent slaughter had yet to fade completely, its weight leaving Asakura Yuki barely able to breathe.

"If you don't find a way to get stronger, a way to survive in this cruel world..."

"One day, you'll die without so much as a scrap left."

Yagami Jue's words stabbed into Asakura Yuki's heart like a sharp knife.

He spared her feelings nothing.

Utterly real. Utterly cruel.

This was the world of Jujutsu Kaisen!

The weak had no right to decide their own fate!

Asakura Yuki bit her lip so hard that a trickle of blood seeped from its corner, but she seemed unable to feel the pain.

She didn't argue.

Because she knew Yagami Jue was right.

If she weren't so weak, if she had the strength to fight back, a few petty thugs would never have driven her into a corner!

Watching Asakura Yuki struggle to hold everything in, Yagami Jue felt nothing.

He wasn't a babysitter, and he had no interest in dragging dead weight around.

He had his own path to walk.

A conqueror's path, paved with money and blood!

"Call the police yourself. Let them deal with this trash."

Leaving her with those words, Yagami Jue slipped his hands into his pockets, turned, and walked out of the dark alley.

The rain gradually stopped.

Asakura Yuki stood there alone, staring blankly at Yagami Jue's retreating figure as he disappeared into the night.

At that moment, something seemed to shift subtly in the girl's eyes.

They no longer held only weakness and fear.

There was now a hint of... defiance.

After leaving the backstreet behind Sugisawa High School...

Yagami Jue didn't go straight back to his shabby rented apartment.

Instead, he turned and entered an underground gym that was open twenty-four hours a day.

This was his only "training ground" in this world.

With his [Pay-to-Win Taijutsu System], simply adding stat points felt great. But unless he could fully control this surge in strength, sorcerers with bizarre cursed techniques would still toy with him to death in a truly high-level fight!

He had to train like a madman to make his body adapt to this power.

To make it instinctive for his muscles!

The underground gym reeked of sweat and hormones.

Several muscular men were grunting as they pumped iron.

Yagami Jue walked over to a squat rack in the corner.

He glanced at the weight plates on either side.

"Too light."

He loaded the barbell on the squat rack to a terrifying 300 kilograms!

Even a world-class weightlifter would despair at that weight!

Several burly men resting nearby stared in disbelief at the sight.

"Holy shit! Has that kid lost his mind?"

"Three hundred kilos? With those skinny arms and legs? Does he want to snap his spine?!"

"Someone stop him! If he dies, our gym's going out of business!"

A burly, bald man who looked like a trainer rushed over.

"Hey! Kid! Stop! That's not a weight you can handle!"

However...

The moment he finished speaking...

Yagami Jue had already slipped beneath the barbell, his shoulders firmly supporting the solid steel bar that bowed slightly under its load.

"Up."

Yagami Jue drew a deep breath, his gaze suddenly sharpening!

His terrifying 52 points of strength erupted!

Bang!

Before the horrified eyes of everyone around him...

Yagami Jue stood up effortlessly with the 300-kilogram barbell on his shoulders, without even a wobble in his knees!

Silence!

The entire underground gym fell deathly silent!

Everyone stood with their mouths hanging open, not even noticing when the dumbbells in their hands fell and struck their feet.

"Is... is he even fucking human?!"

The bald trainer sucked in a sharp breath, feeling his entire worldview crumble at that moment.

Yagami Jue ignored the shocked stares around him.

He began to squat.

Then stood.

Squatted.

Then stood.

His form was textbook-perfect. With every descent and rise, his stretching muscles made a taut, resonant sound like bowstrings.

One rep.

Ten reps.

Fifty reps.

One hundred reps!

Ten minutes later, Yagami Jue returned the barbell to the rack, having barely broken a sweat.

"Not enough..."

"Still not enough!"

Yagami Jue frowned deeply at his muscles, which had swelled slightly with the rush of blood.

His strength had reached 52 points, but his speed and constitution hadn't caught up.

Such a severe imbalance would leave fatal openings in combat.

If he encountered a close-combat master like Aoi Todo, or a freak like Toji Fushiguro, whose speed was impossible to track...

All that strength would be useless if he couldn't land a hit!

"Money! I need more money!"

A feverish hunger for money burned in Yagami Jue's eyes.

He opened the system panel.

And glanced at the 500,000 yen that had just dropped.