Obstinacy

Yagami Jue kicked Mahito out the window as if he were a ball of trash.

"Junpei! Come with me!"

He grabbed the stunned Junpei, smashed through the window, and leaped toward the building opposite.

Behind them.

With a thunderous crash, the entire abandoned complex collapsed.

On the rooftop.

Yagami Jue casually tossed Junpei to the ground and gulped down air.

He hadn't managed to kill Mahito, but that beating had knocked at least tens of millions of yen out of him.

"System, settle up."

[Ding! Severely wounded special grade cursed spirit Mahito. Reward obtained: 80 million yen!]

[Current balance: 80 million yen!]

"Not bad. Enough to buy a skin."

Yagami Jue wiped away his sweat and looked down at Junpei, who knelt before him.

The awe in Junpei's eyes had turned into fanatical worship.

"Yagami... I... I've figured it out."

"I don't want that disgusting jujutsu."

"I want power like yours... power that can smash anything!"

Yagami Jue crouched down, patted his shoulder, and flashed a sinister smile.

"Good. Glad you've figured it out."

"Starting tomorrow, your training doubles."

"Also, your mom should still have a fair bit of money stashed away, right?"

"If you want to get stronger, you can't stop paying tuition."

Junpei nodded vigorously. "Yes! I'll bring it on time!"

Beneath the moonlight.

Yagami Jue raised his head and gazed into the distance.

The plot had gone off the rails, but as long as the money kept coming, he was invincible.

"Mahito, we'll settle our score at the Goodwill Event."

"Next time, I'll squeeze your soul into a thick stack of banknotes!"

He clenched his fists, a domineering gleam flashing in his eyes.

In the end, fists and money ruled this world!

Early morning.

The mountain behind Tokyo Jujutsu High.

The mist between the trees hadn't fully dispersed, and the air carried the raw smell of earth and wild grass.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Dull impacts echoed through the valley, startling a handful of scattered crows into flight.

Junpei Yoshino stood bare-chested. A thin layer of bruised, purplish muscle now covered his once-scrawny ribs.

Facing an ancient tree thick enough to encircle with both arms, he mechanically swung his fists, which were wrapped in blood-soaked bandages.

With every impact, the trunk shook violently, shedding showers of leaves.

"Eleven thousand two hundred and one..."

"Eleven thousand two hundred and two..."

Junpei's voice was terribly hoarse, his eyes bloodshot, and dried blood still clung to the corners of his mouth.

All that remained in his mind was Yagami Jue's icy command: "If you can't smash this tree, don't bother coming down the mountain today. Just dig a hole here and bury yourself."

Not far from Junpei.

Asakura Yuki held a one-handed handstand.

In her other hand, she actually held a heavy, solid-iron sledgehammer, repeatedly pressing it upward.

Sweat dripped from her delicate chin, soaking a large patch of earth.

The girl's eyes no longer held that frail, aggrieved look from before. Instead, they burned with an almost obstinate madness.

"Yuki, you're slowing down. Add another ten kilos of iron."

Up in the treetop, Yagami Jue sat with his legs crossed and a freshly picked wild fruit between his lips, his tone languid.

He glanced at the two "disciples" desperately torturing themselves below and couldn't help grumbling inwardly. Fuck, have I led these two astray? Why is each one more obsessed with outdoing the other?

Still, that makes sense. How can they get stronger without pushing themselves? And if they aren't strong, how can they work for me and make me money?

Yagami Jue opened his system panel and checked his stats, each of which had broken a hundred thousand.

[Host: Yagami Jue]

[Title: Ultimate Heavenly Tyrant]

[Strength: 125610]

[Speed: 126552]

[Constitution: 110538]

[Account balance: 80 million yen]

"Poor. So fucking poor."

Looking at his eighty-million-yen balance, Yagami Jue felt angry enough to smash a phone.

To an ordinary person, it was an astronomical sum, but for him, it wasn't even enough for a down payment on opening the fourth gate.

Eight Gates Formation, Fourth Gate: Gate of Pain.

The cost of opening it had actually risen to a staggering five billion yen!

Five billion!

How many special grade cursed spirits would he have to kill, and how many ancestral homes of the Three Great Families would he have to demolish to save that much?

Just as Yagami Jue was considering where to rob and plunder... no, where to go maintain world peace.

Rustle-

Steady, arrogant footsteps sounded along the path leading down the mountain.

Yagami Jue narrowed his eyes, his sensory field instantly locking onto the arrivals.

Five people in total.

Their presences were steady, with cursed energy fluctuations ranging from intermediate to advanced-the standard lineup of Jujutsu High elites.

But he could sense an irritating air of bureaucracy about them.

"Which one of you is Yagami Jue?"

A man in a crisp suit and gold-rimmed glasses stepped forward.

He held a document bearing a red official seal, with four cold-faced jujutsu sorcerers in black following behind him.

The bespectacled man frowned deeply at the devastation covering the mountainside and held a handkerchief over his nose.

"Such barbaric training methods are an absolute disgrace to Jujutsu High."

He cast a disgusted glance at the blood-covered Junpei and the sweat-drenched Asakura Yuki.

"You're the untrained amateur who caused all that trouble in Roppongi?"

Yagami Jue said nothing and jumped straight down from the tree.

Boom!

The instant he landed, the terrifying momentum of his weight drove two craters into the mountainside, hard as marble.

The shock wave whipped up the tails of the bespectacled man's suit, frightening him into stumbling back two steps.

"I fucking hate people howling for me while I'm sleeping."

Yagami Jue tilted his head, undisguised brutality lurking in his eyes.

"Spit it out or fuck off. Don't dirty my training grounds."

The bespectacled man steadied himself and adjusted his glasses, regaining his lofty demeanor.

"I am Okubo, a special investigator dispatched by Jujutsu Headquarters."

"The higher authorities require you to come with us for questioning regarding your assault on direct-line members of the Zenin Clan and your illegal seizure of a special grade cursed object."

Okubo waved the document in his hand and sneered.

"Don't think you can do whatever you please just because Satoru Gojo is protecting you."

"Under the law, dangerous individuals like you must submit to supervision!"

"The law?"

As if he had heard the funniest joke in the world, Yagami Jue suddenly burst into wild laughter.

"Hahahaha! That's fucking hilarious!"

"Those higher-ups cowering in the shadows think they're qualified to lecture me about the law?"

Yagami Jue abruptly stopped laughing, his gaze instantly turning colder than the ice of the far north.

"Go back and tell them I'll come in for questioning. Sure."

"First, bring me the remaining one and a half billion the Zenin Clan owes me, with interest."

"If you're even one cent short, I'll twist your head off and mail it to them to kick around."

"How dare you!"

The four black-clad jujutsu sorcerers behind Okubo stepped forward in unison.

They all belonged to the Punishment Squad under the direct command of Jujutsu Headquarters, tasked specifically with capturing disobedient curse users.

"Yagami Jue, don't mistake our courtesy for weakness!"

One of the sorcerers, a one-eyed man, abruptly drew the long sword at his waist.

"Do you really think a slightly stronger body makes you invincible? Against a cursed technique, you're nothing but a walking punching bag!"