Frenzy

Mahito crawled out of the rubble. His left arm was completely gone, leaving only a bloody, mangled stump.

But there was no pain on his face.

Instead, he laughed wildly.

"Hahahaha! Incredible! Such pure impact!"

"Your soul must be so much fun!"

"Idle Transfiguration!"

Mahito's severed arm instantly regrew, transforming into an enormous spiked mace that smashed toward Yagami Jue.

Yagami Jue performed an elegant sideways flip in midair and landed steadily atop a streetlight.

"You heal pretty fast, walking vault."

He looked at Mahito with the fervor of someone staring at cold, hard cash.

"System, how much is this guy worth now?"

[Ding! Detected: growing Special Grade Cursed Spirit, Mahito.]

[Kill reward: 300 million Japanese yen!]

[Special item drop chance: 30%!]

"Three hundred million!"

Yagami Jue nearly jumped with excitement.

"That's an even better deal than robbing the Zenin Clan!"

"Mahito, even if Jesus himself shows up today, I'm carving up that rotten flesh of yours and selling it!"

Mahito felt the killing intent radiating from Yagami Jue.

It wasn't the righteous killing intent of a Jujutsu Sorcerer, but an utterly pure malice that sought to take him apart.

"Oh dear, am I being treated as prey?"

Mahito licked his lips, his gaze turning profoundly sinister.

"Then let's see who's really the hunter!"

He slammed both hands against the ground.

"Multiple Changes: Body Repel!"

Dozens of souls compressed into little spheres instantly appeared in the surrounding air.

Then, under Mahito's control, those spheres instantly transformed into humanoid monsters covered in barbs.

They charged at Yagami Jue like rabid beasts.

Yagami Jue snorted.

"You're testing me with these small fry?"

"Who the hell do you think you're looking down on?!"

"Eight Gates Formation, First Gate! Opening Gate! Open!"

Boom!

A shock wave erupted.

Yagami Jue moved like lightning, weaving among the transfigured monsters.

With every punch he threw.

Another monster was reduced to pulp.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Within a few seconds, the ground was covered in viscous liquid of every color.

Hiding by the movie theater entrance, Junpei watched the scene, his entire worldview utterly shattered.

He used to think the thugs who bullied him were a nightmare.

Now, he realized his old world had been as laughable as kindergarten.

Was this the real world?

Filled with violence, bloodshed, and men so powerful they were suffocating?

After clearing out the small fry, Yagami Jue charged at Mahito again.

Mahito chuckled, his body suddenly collapsing like sludge.

He evaded Yagami Jue's lethal punch.

"You can't hurt me. As long as I can maintain the shape of my soul, damage to my body..."

"Shut the hell up!"

Yagami Jue cut his spiel short.

"The shape of your soul, huh?"

"Then I'll pulverize every scrap of flesh on you and see how much cursed energy you have left to keep it together!"

"Eight Gates Formation, Second Gate! Gate of Healing! Open!"

"Third Gate! Gate of Life! OPEN!!!"

BOOOOM!!!!!

Green life energy blazed around Yagami Jue, and his eyes turned completely crimson.

The air began to scream.

Space began to distort.

The smile finally vanished from Mahito's face.

It was replaced by a fear he had never experienced before.

From this boy without any cursed energy, he felt a crushing weight that could bring the entire world crashing down.

"W-wait..."

"Wait, my ass! Turn into money already!"

Yagami Jue's movements had already surpassed the limits of human perception.

"Reverse Lotus!!!"

Yagami Jue became a green afterimage, unleashing a frenzied barrage on Mahito from every direction.

"Bangbangbangbangbangbang!"

Every strike carried the terrifying violence of the Gate of Life.

Mahito's body was battered and twisted like modeling clay, scraps of flesh flying everywhere.

He wanted to fight back, but compared to Yagami Jue, he was as slow as a snail.

"Aaaaaah! My soul is screaming!"

Mahito shrieked as he realized his cursed energy was being depleted at a terrifying rate.

With every punch, he had to expend an enormous amount of cursed energy to keep his form from collapsing completely.

Meanwhile, atop a building several hundred meters away.

A pair of blue eyes, brilliant as stars, quietly watched the battle.

Holding a box of freshly bought Kikufuku, Satoru Gojo let out a soft sigh.

"Good grief. What a brute."

"That's a Special Grade Cursed Spirit, and he's beaten it into that state."

"But that kid's body... after opening the Third Gate, can he actually make space itself resonate?"

Satoru Gojo took a bite of his dessert, a flicker of amusement crossing his eyes.

"Looks like this world really won't be peaceful anymore."

At the center of the battlefield.

Mahito had been beaten into a ball, with only his face still recognizable.

He stared in terror at Yagami Jue, who stood before him wreathed in green vapor.

"You... what the hell are you..."

Yagami Jue slowly raised his right fist.

The surrounding light seemed to be sucked into it.

"I'm your god of death."

"And I'm taking that three hundred million!"

"DIE!!!"

Yagami Jue was about to bring down the fatal punch.

Suddenly.

An ancient, chilling presence intervened.

A small black whirlwind instantly appeared beneath Mahito's feet.

"Yagami, that's quite enough."

Kenjaku's voice came from afar.

Then Mahito's body was instantly swept into the whirlwind, disappearing without a trace.

"What the fuck? It's you again, you forehead-stitched freak!"

Yagami Jue's punch missed its target, blasting a crater fifty meters across into the ground.

Standing at the bottom, he looked around at the empty surroundings and stamped his feet in fury.

"Fuck! My three hundred million! My item drops!"

"Kenjaku, you two-faced bastard! One day, I'll twist your head off and kick it around like a ball!"

Yagami Jue released the Eight Gates and felt a wave of intense weakness.

After all, with the strain of opening all three gates, his current physique could only sustain it for a few minutes.

He turned to look at Junpei Yoshino, who was huddled in a corner, trembling.

"Hey, kid."

Junpei flinched in fright and looked up at him.

"Come take a look."

Yagami Jue pointed at the enormous crater.

"This is the price of what you want."

"If you don't become more ruthless than that stitched-face bastard, you'll end up like that rotten meat I was just batting around."

"Have you thought it through?"

Junpei looked at the seemingly bottomless crater, the initial confusion gradually leaving his eyes.

A frenzied craving for strength took root and sprouted in his heart.

"I... I want to get stronger."

He gritted his teeth and knelt before Yagami Jue.

"Please... please let me follow you!"

Yagami Jue looked at him coldly.

"Follow me? Fine. But I don't take in dead weight."

"Go home first. Meet me behind Jujutsu High tomorrow. Be on time."

"Bring ten million Japanese yen for the initiation fee. One yen short, and I'll bury you in this crater."

Junpei froze.

"T-ten million?"

"No shit. I'm a busy man. Who's going to teach you for free?"

Yagami Jue turned and strode away.

He grumbled inwardly, Fuck, Junpei's family seems pretty rich. If I don't fleece him, that minute I wasted using the Gate of Life today would've been for nothing!

Three hundred million slipped away. I've got to find a way to recoup some of it from this kid.

In the darkness.

Yagami Jue's retreating figure looked exceptionally imposing and cold.

Junpei Yoshino sat on the ground. Though he had been extorted for ten million, he felt a fire in his heart unlike anything he had ever known.

In this world filled with monsters.

At last, he had grasped a lifeline called "despair."