“Yuji, you’re strong.
Go and save people.
Within what you’re capable of, save as many as you can.
It’s fine if you feel lost.
It’s fine if no one ever thanks you.
Just do your best to save them, no matter what.
And when your time comes, make sure you die surrounded by people — don’t end up like me.”
Under the setting sun, the flowers by the window swayed in the breeze.
Yuji set down the phone after calling the nurses’ station, his grandfather’s dying words echoing through his head.
If it weren’t for the chat group, he probably wouldn’t have felt the weight of it, not really, not yet.
But after going through little Amiya’s crisis, in that moment when he’d sized up his own strength and thought about signing up to help—
that was when it hit him.
Saving someone was nothing like grabbing a drink for a classmate, helping a senior with training, or walking an old lady across the street.
It was the weight of an entire human life — something even the strength he was so proud of might not be enough to carry.
Yuji rubbed at his eyes, which had gone a little red:
“Gramps really laid one hell of a curse on me.”
And it was exactly because of that, when Megumi Fushiguro came looking for him, that Yuji instantly sensed the danger.
After letting the group know, he grabbed the guy and bolted straight for the high school without another word.
He’d made up his mind to try solving it himself first.
As it turned out, his instincts were right — they managed to save his two senpai before the curse could do any further damage to them.
He and Megumi’s shikigami charged in ahead of the rest, exorcising quite a few smaller curses along the way — things were looking great!
And then…
and then everything went south, fast.
The ceiling rippled like the surface of water, and a huge hand slapped Megumi clean out of the school building.
His Divine Dog melted away right along with him — dream crushed by a mere Grade 2 curse.
Downstairs, the moment Yuji snatched the finger, the curse grabbed hold of him, while Megumi struggled to get back up, wobbling on his feet.
Recalling the explanation Megumi had given him on the way over, Yuji’s head filled with nothing but question marks.
In the end, he chose to open the group chat:
[The Tiger of West Junior High]: Why can’t a Grade 2 sorcerer beat a Grade 2 curse??
[Viltrum’s Top Student]: That kind of thing doesn’t really matter.
Forget about it.
[The Tiger of West Junior High]: ?
At the same time, a new quest announcement popped up.
[Emergency Quest — Group member Yuji Itadori’s life is in danger.]
[Chanced upon a Grade 2 curse, monstrously powerful enough to melt a Grade 2 sorcerer down with one hand.
Give it everything you’ve got and defeat it!]
[Quest Requirement: Yuji Itadori survives.
Members who can participate: 0/1]
[Quest Reward: 1000 points.
Participating members may receive a special reward from this world.]
By this point, Leon’s hand was already hovering over the join button, but out of respect, he let the group discuss it first.
Yuji laid out roughly what had happened, then sent over a few screenshots of the curse.
[Orange-Haired, Gold-Eyed Menace to Humanity]: Are you actually becoming an exorcist, Yuji?
Is Mr.
Yuji’s world actually really dangerous?
[Not-a-God Yellow Weasel]: Power condensed out of negative emotion — sounds pretty familiar.
I’d genuinely love to go study the mechanics behind it.
Shame I can’t.
[Kansas Farm Boy]: This stuff looks like it could get tricky.
Low-magic-resistance boy’s instincts were kicking in.
But Leon figured Superman was just being oversensitive — that place was crawling with elbow-drop enthusiasts anyway.
[Not-a-God Yellow Weasel]: In that case, let’s still send Leon.
If I had to guess, he’s probably already got his finger halfway to that join button.
[Viltrum’s Top Student]: Wise words, Nyos.
[Group member Viltrum’s Top Student has accepted the quest.
Establishing a connection between the two worlds…]
[Special entrance method detected.
Selecting this option will produce unexpected effects.]
“Now that’s interesting.”
Seeing something a little different for once, Leon picked it without a second thought, and vanished from the office.
Back in the sorcerer world, maybe because of Yuji’s interference, Megumi had come out of it with lighter injuries than expected.
Just a knock to the head, leaving him a little dizzy.
Watching Yuji, finger clenched between his teeth and clearly itching to do something reckless, Megumi propped himself up out of a pile of rubble.
“Don’t you dare get any ideas about that thing!
Whether you die or get possessed, neither one ends well!”
“But if I eat it, I’ll get cursed energy, right?!”
“Just wait, let me summon a shikigami!
Let me think…”
He wiped the blood off his lips, meaning to summon Nue.
But between the System’s fate-bending interference and a little bit of muscle memory, he suddenly found himself striking the single strongest final-battle pose of his life.
Left fist clenched on top, right fist clenched below.
“What am I—Furube, Yura Yura.”
All at once, the school grounds went dark, as if someone had flipped an off switch on the moon itself.
On either side of Megumi, black-shadowed howling wolves alternated with white-shadowed frogs, and at the far end, a presence bound by countless ropes and wrapped in white cloth came into being.
“Eight-Handled Sword, Divergent Sila Divine General — Mahoraga.”
A violent shudder followed, and a hand-blade burst straight out from within the white cloth, slicing vertically to tear every last binding apart!
Megumi’s vision was nearly swallowed by blood, but out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of that arm.
White, just like the records said — only smaller than he’d imagined.
Had past accounts exaggerated it?
No, wait — wasn’t he supposed to be summoning—
When he turned to look again, though, it wasn’t some winged-eyed monstrosity at all — it was a rather good-looking young man.
“…Eh?”
For some reason, that man’s hand gave a small twitch, and the next second, Megumi’s consciousness went dark.
“Now that’s a pretty cool way to make an entrance.”
Summoned into the sorcerer world in place of Mahoraga, Leon caught the scent of the curse right away.
It was a hard feeling to put into words.
At least to a Viltrumite’s nose, it smelled like every foul odor imaginable, all mixed together at once.
He frowned and looked over at the kid hovering in midair, just about to swallow that finger all on his own.
“Yo, Yuji.”
Leon, you’re already here?
Good evening!”
Still had the composure to say hello — that steel nerve of his, as reliable as ever.
“Let me get you out of there first.”
Leon shot into the air instantly, chopping through the invisible arm with a hand-blade.
The debris scattered across the ground seemed to only just catch up with what had happened, flying backward on a sudden burst of wind.
It was true — people without cursed energy couldn’t see curses.
But in a Viltrumite’s array of superhuman senses, there were plenty of ways to detect something without relying on sight at all.
He grabbed Yuji by the hood, and the two of them retreated together.
“Something feels off.
Yuji, help me out — check how that thing’s doing.”
“The part you cut off…
it’s regenerating fast!”
“Not falling for physical attacks, huh?
Give me a second.”
Leon let go of the hood and drifted slowly toward the curse.
In Yuji’s field of view, the curse kept throwing punch after punch, without budging Leon even a fraction of an inch.
Instead, it kept breaking its own hand over and over, blood spraying everywhere.
And right as it threw yet another useless punch, Leon felt his way to its head.
Fwip!
A blast of displaced air suddenly erupted around the two of them, sending Yuji and Megumi both flying back several meters.
Within seconds, Leon had carried the curse straight through the atmosphere.
He accelerated further after that, the heat from friction burning off every last drop of curse blood clinging to him.
By the time he came to a stop in space, there was hardly anything left of the curse in his grip.
“Can’t think of a solution just yet.
You stay put out here for now.”
He let go, gave the remains a little wave goodbye, and headed back to Earth.
“Mr.
Leon can fly that high?!”
Standing right where he was, Yuji craned his neck up at the jarring hole punched through the clouds, gasping in amazement.
Replaying what he’d just seen in his head, he couldn’t even begin to imagine how strong someone would have to be to pull off a scene like that.
By comparison, his own ability to punch through a wall suddenly felt a little unimpressive.
Could it be that Mr.
Leon was actually the strongest athlete around?
“Man, I really wanna get that strong someday…”
In the blink of an eye, Yuji saw Leon drifting back toward him, gaze fixed on the finger still in his hand.
“You just…
dumped that thing in space?”
“Pretty much.”
Leon nodded.
“Now, let’s talk about that finger.
You still planning on eating it?”
To be continued…