Smug

Looks like I'll have to go big in tomorrow's individual matches.

An extremely dangerous red gleam flashed through Yagami Jue's eyes.

"If they want to play, I'll turn this Goodwill Event into my own personal auction house!"

That afternoon, in Jujutsu High's main auditorium.

The first day's team competition had ended inconclusively thanks to Hanami and Mahito's intrusion.

Now, the students from both schools had gathered once again.

An awkward, tense atmosphere hung in the air.

Old man Gakuganji still cradled his guitar as he sat in a high-backed chair.

His cloudy old eyes were fixed on Yagami Jue, who was picking at his nails in the back row.

"Hey, old man, what do you keep staring at me for?"

Yagami Jue looked up in disgust.

"I know I'm handsome, but I'm not into old men. Especially old men holding guitars and pretending to be artsy."

"Pfft!"

Yuji Itadori couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing.

"You...!"

Gakuganji was so furious that his breath caught, and the guitar strings in his arms gave a harsh, low twang.

"Yagami Jue, don't get too smug."

"The higher-ups have already begun investigating what happened last night."

"Even with Satoru Gojo protecting you, you still have to answer for destroying the Special Grade Cursed Tool, the Black Rope!"

"Answer for it? Didn't I give that investigator the broken end of the rope?"

Yagami Jue sneered, his words dripping with venom.

"That piece of junk was so shoddy it snapped with one little tug, and you have the nerve to call it a Special Grade Cursed Tool?"

"If I were you, I'd have crawled into a hole out of shame. Yet here you are, demanding answers?"

"You won't get any money. As for my life..."

Yagami Jue paused, his gaze abruptly turning cold as a tangible wave of murderous intent swept through the room.

"If any of you have what it takes, come and claim it."

"Holy shit... he really doesn't back down!"

Nobara Kugisaki watched from the side, her eyes sparkling.

"He's usually a total creep, but watching him tear into these old geezers feels so damn good!"

Megumi Fushiguro pressed his fingers against his temples helplessly.

He had a feeling that if Yagami Jue kept this up, sooner or later he would drag Jujutsu High into bankruptcy with him.

"All right, all right, stop arguing."

Satoru Gojo teleported onto the stage like a ghost, still holding the container for drawing lots.

"Since yesterday's team competition was interrupted, let's move straight on to tomorrow's main event-the individual matches!"

Satoru Gojo glanced around at everyone, amusement in his eyes.

"There'll be a slight change to tomorrow's rules."

"A change?"

Noritoshi Kamo from Kyoto Jujutsu High frowned.

"Mr. Gojo, what are you up to this time?"

Satoru Gojo chuckled and pulled a metal fragment from his pocket, which radiated an ancient, chilling aura.

It was only the size of a fingernail, but the instant it appeared, the flow of cursed energy throughout the auditorium seemed to halt for a second.

"This is a reward specially approved by the higher-ups-a fragment of the Heaven-Reversing Cloud."

An uproar erupted!

The entire room exploded into commotion.

Every student from Kyoto Jujutsu High stared, wide-eyed.

The Heaven-Reversing Cloud!

It was the legendary god-tier cursed tool that could forcibly nullify any cursed technique!

Even a mere fragment was priceless!

"Whoever takes first place in the individual competition will receive this fragment."

Satoru Gojo looked at Yagami Jue and winked.

"Of course, if you lose, it'll go to Kyoto Jujutsu High."

"Five billion... no, this thing is worth at least six billion!"

Yagami Jue stared fixedly at the fragment, practically drooling.

He screamed inwardly, System! How much would I get for recycling this thing?

[Ding! Special Grade Cursed Tool fragment detected: Heaven-Reversing Cloud.]

[Recycling price: 6.5 billion Japanese yen!]

[Also has an extremely high chance of unlocking a top-tier Taijutsu skill book: Godspeed: Flash!]

"I'm in!"

Yagami Jue slapped his thigh, pulverizing the solid wooden table in front of him in the process.

"That fragment is mine!"

"Anyone who tries to take it gets their bones ripped out and sold for scrap!"

His roar shook dust loose from the auditorium's ceiling.

"Arrogant!"

Aoi Todo rose and tore open his uniform shirt, exposing muscles that looked carved from rock.

"Yagami Jue! Although I've acknowledged you as my best friend!"

"For that fragment, and to elevate my soul through battle, I absolutely will not hold back!"

"Tomorrow, let us fight to the death in the ring!"

A crazed hunger for battle blazed in Aoi Todo's eyes.

"Shut the hell up, you damn freak."

Yagami Jue rolled his eyes at him, then turned toward the row of Kyoto Jujutsu High students.

"And the rest of you."

"When you step into the ring tomorrow, you'd better bring every cursed tool your families have stashed away."

"I've decided. Your weapons will cover tomorrow's admission fee!"

"Damn it... he doesn't take us seriously at all!"

Momo Nishimiya's face went pale with anger as she clutched her new broom.

Kasumi Miwa looked conflicted. Watching Yagami Jue's ridiculously handsome face, she muttered, "He's really rich... but he's so scary..."

The draw results were soon announced.

Yagami Jue's first opponent turned out to be Mai Zenin from Kyoto Jujutsu High.

"Heh. You again."

Yagami Jue coldly regarded the short-haired girl standing nearby.

"Miss Mai, have you set aside money for your medical bills?"

Mai Zenin stared fiercely at Yagami Jue, her nails digging deep into her palms.

"Yagami Jue, you killed my brother and humiliated our family."

"Tomorrow, I'll show you the true terror of the Construction Technique!"

"I'll blow your head off with one shot!"

"I'll be waiting."

Yagami Jue left the auditorium without looking back.

He didn't have time to waste on these brats.

He had to go back and figure out how to squeeze the most value out of them without killing them.

After all, dead people weren't worth anything. Living captives were the ones you could demand ransom for.

Night fell.

Inside the confinement room in the hills behind Jujutsu High.

Yagami Jue sat cross-legged, surrounded by premium wagyu he had swiped from the cafeteria.

He needed vast amounts of calories to sustain his body's consumption.

"System, activate physical condition monitoring."

[Ding! Monitoring activated.]

[Host's current status: Extremely desperate for money.]

[As the host's constitution has exceeded 100,000, passive ability automatically acquired: Violent Intimidation.]

[Violent Intimidation: When you display absolute physical violence, surrounding enemies' cursed energy circulation speed decreases by 10%-30%.]

"Oh? A perk like this, too?"

With his mouth full of steak, Yagami Jue mumbled, "Is this the legendary 'resentment of the broke'?"

"Because I don't have cursed energy, all you bastards who do have to suffer with me?"

"Nice. I like this passive."

He set down his chopsticks and began a strange kind of training.

He wasn't lifting weights or running.

Instead, he was controlling the blood and vitality within his body.

With each breath, his surface temperature rose rapidly, and the surrounding air began to sizzle.

"Evening Elephant is powerful, but the strain is too great."

"If I accidentally blast those little brats to ash tomorrow, who am I supposed to get ransom from?"

"I need to practice reining in my strength."

Yagami Jue abruptly extended a finger and touched the basin of clean water in front of him.

"Bzzzt!"

Not a drop splashed.

Yet the entire basin of water vanished in an instant.

It hadn't evaporated.

Instead, extremely high-frequency physical vibrations had shattered it into atomic nothingness.

"Tsk. Still too violent."

Yagami Jue sighed.

"Looks like I'm destined to spend my life as a one-man demolition crew."

He lay on the floor and stared at the ceiling.

The face of that white-haired Satoru Gojo surfaced in his mind.

"White-hair, since you dared put that fragment up as a prize, don't blame me for taking you up on it."

"Five billion... hehehe."

Early the next morning.

All of Jujutsu High was bustling with activity.

To prevent a repeat of yesterday's attack, Satoru Gojo would watch over the entire event, while the higher-ups had also dispatched several Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerers to provide protection from the shadows.

An enormous fighting ring had been erected in the middle of the grounds.

Representatives from various factions filled the surrounding seats.

"First match: Yagami Jue of Tokyo Jujutsu High versus Mai Zenin of Kyoto Jujutsu High!"

The moment the referee finished announcing, a wave of murmurs rose from the crowd below.

"That's Yagami Jue? The freak who tore the Black Rope apart with his bare hands?"

"I heard he doesn't even have cursed energy. What a disgrace to the Three Great Families."

"Shh! Keep your voice down! Do you want him to send you flying with one punch?"

The spectators were both curious and terrified.

Dressed in a plain black hoodie, Yagami Jue walked slowly into the ring with his hands in his pockets.

His lazy demeanor made the veins bulge on Principal Gakuganji's forehead as he watched from below.

Across from him, Mai Zenin was armed to the teeth.

Not only did she have two custom revolvers at her waist, but she also carried a long wooden case on her back.

Clearly, she had brought some formidable trump card.

"Yagami Jue!"

Mai Zenin stood opposite him, her voice shrill with anger.

"Today, I'll use this gun to wipe away the shame you've brought upon our Zenin Clan!"

"Construction Technique-Manifest!"

Mai Zenin abruptly opened the wooden case on her back.

A long sniper rifle with an unmistakably futuristic design, glowing faintly purple, fell into her hands.

"The Special Grade Cursed Tool, Thunderclap."

Below the ring, Megumi Fushiguro's pupils contracted.

"The Zenin Clan actually brought that thing out?!"

"I heard that rifle doesn't fire bullets, but lightning cursed energy compressed to its absolute limit. It can pierce any defense!"

"Lightning?"