An enormous mass came crashing down.
As the accelerated high-rise collapsed, the asphalt road shook violently beneath it.
Dust surged into the air.
A deafening roar erupted, then everything fell silent.
Mayoru had calculated the entire collapse in advance.
No matter how experienced the ancient sorcerer was, there had been nowhere to escape.
In an instant, he disappeared beneath the ruins.
‘So this is what people mean when they say the dust has settled.’ The thought surfaced in Konoe Mayoru’s mind as he admired the scene before him.
What an exhilarating battle.
He did not even know the sorcerer’s name, but he probably would not forget him for at least ten minutes.
It was not that Mayoru looked down on the man.
However he examined him, the sorcerer was clearly no special grade.
Grade 1 seemed about right.
His cursed energy was not overwhelmingly powerful.
His control was impressive, but Grade 1 had its limits.
Reggie Star, a capable Grade 1 sorcerer whose ultimate move involved dropping a house, had struggled to lift an African elephant weighing only three to six tons.
Therefore, Mayoru had won.
He had not seen the sorcerer’s corpse, but he still could not suppress his pride.
After all, a complete beginner like him had defeated an ancient fossil through nothing but hard work and sweat.
Vector Manipulation demanded far too much skill.
It was hardly an overpowered crutch at all.
Since Mayoru had calculated the area beforehand, the collapsing building had been limited to the ancient sorcerer’s location.
Neither he nor Kei was caught in the destruction.
However, Kei was still staring blankly ahead, unable to process what had happened.
Every player learned the Culling Game’s rules upon entering.
Knowing the rules was one thing.
Properly understanding them was another.
Kei ranked near the top even at Shuchiin’s elite middle-school division, yet she still could not grasp how her ordinary neighbor had transformed overnight into someone who could destroy a building with a touch.
Naturally, she had no idea what to say.
Mayoru understood her reaction.
He cleared his throat and started walking toward her, planning to explain everything along the way.
Then Kei’s expression changed abruptly.
“Konoe-nii, behind you!” “WRYYYYYYYY!” A deafening crash erupted alongside a shriek that no normal human should have been capable of producing.
Mayoru hurriedly looked back.
The ancient sorcerer burst through the reinforced-concrete rubble, his face twisted into a savage expression.
Despite being crushed beneath a building, he seemed completely unharmed.
If anything, he looked even more excited as he lunged toward Mayoru from only a few steps away.
“You fell for it, brat!
This was my surprise attack route!
WRYYYYYYYY!” ‘Are you a vampire?!’ Mayoru could not resist the silent retort before preparing to activate Vector Manipulation and counterattack.
He stood amid a mountain of rubble, so there was no shortage of objects he could manipulate.
Everything should have remained under his control.
However— ‘Damn it.
How is this guy so fast?!’ Mayoru raised an eyebrow as the blurred figure rushed toward him like a storm.
The ancient sorcerer had likely poured everything into this ambush, crossing the remaining distance in an instant.
This was the ability of a true Grade 1 sorcerer forged through countless battles.
Perhaps the later stages of Jujutsu Kaisen had been overcrowded with Grade 1 fighters.
Perhaps Fushiguro Megumi’s battle against Reggie had made that level appear less impressive than it truly was.
Mayoru had failed to remember that Grade 1 was the highest level most sorcerers could ever reach.
Now he finally understood.
Grade 1 sorcerers, especially those from ancient times, were monsters in cursed energy, cursed techniques, and combat experience.
The ancient sorcerer had deliberately chosen this distance.
He knew it was close enough that Mayoru would not have time to calculate an attack or prevent his approach.
All he needed was to close in and kill him with one blow.
The ancient sorcerer was nearly trembling with excitement.
He had lived during the Heian era, the golden age of jujutsu, where powerful sorcerers had been too numerous to count.
He had even seen the so-called King of Curses from afar.
That overwhelming evil had made his entire body tremble from nothing more than a distant glance.
Because of that experience, the ancient sorcerer was certain of one thing.
In terms of potential alone, the boy before him might stand on the same level as the King of Curses.
Mayoru had only just awakened his technique, yet his crude cursed-energy control already produced absurd destructive power.
Given enough time, what kind of monster would he become?
The thought of killing such a genius before he could mature filled the ancient sorcerer with exhilaration.
‘So die!’ ‘Nameless brat, your death will mark the first meaningful battle since my resurrection!’ His blood boiling with excitement, the ancient sorcerer finally activated his innate technique.
The ability itself was simple.
He could detect the vibrational frequency of an object, then force anything he touched to vibrate at that exact same frequency.
Matching vibrations could ignore physical durability and cursed-energy reinforcement, destroying the target from within.
That was why he had chosen the toy katana earlier.
Even a cheap toy could cut through people like vegetables once imbued with his technique.
Unfortunately, a toy was still a toy.
After only a little use, it had crumbled apart.
However, his technique did not require a weapon.
He had survived the collapsing building by using resonance to destroy its mass before it could crush him.
Now, his technique was aimed directly at Mayoru.
There was no need for a flashy attack.
He only needed to touch him.
Even that hideously crude layer of cursed-energy defense would be meaningless.
The sorcerer had already tuned the vibration to match Mayoru’s internal organs.
The instant he made contact, every organ in the boy’s body would rupture.
Without Reverse Cursed Technique, death would be inevitable.
In other words— ‘I win!’ The ancient sorcerer could no longer contain his joy.
Even if this boy never became another Sukuna, he was still a future special-grade candidate.
Killing a genius like that made him feel unbelievably high.
Then he froze.
“Honestly…” At the instant his hand touched Mayoru— No.
It would be more accurate to say just before it touched him— An invisible force erupted.
His hand was naturally thrown backward.
However, it was not only the physical force that had been repelled.
The cursed energy he had gathered and the technique carried within it were reflected back exactly as they had been sent.
The resonant frequency now matched his own internal organs.
In the next instant, his insides began to rupture.
Only his vast battle experience saved him.
Sensing death, the ancient sorcerer forced his technique to distort the vibration at the last possible moment, narrowly preventing his heart from bursting.
Even so, he could not relax.
He jerked his head upward as realization struck him.
His expression twisted in disbelief.
“Your cursed technique…
is reflection?!” …