[December 24.
Afternoon.
Outer perimeter of Jujutsu High’s barrier.] Maki stood on the slope with her longsword gripped tightly in her hand, glaring fiercely at the silent street in the distance.
“Makoto, are you sure you want to leave me out here?” she asked through the earpiece, her voice edged with impatience.
“They need combat power inside Jujutsu High more, don’t they?
If Suguru’s target is Yuta, then I should be guarding Yuta!” “Maki-chan~ what Jujutsu High needs inside isn’t ‘honest’ combat power.
It needs ‘dirty-minded’ combat power.” Makoto was sprawled across a bench on the training grounds, fiddling with a phone that didn’t even have a signal.
“Your job is more important than fighting.
Remember, the moment you see a Curtain rise above Jujutsu High, immediately send a signal to Gojo-sensei.
My little life is in your hands, okay?” ‘I know Geto Suguru is a meticulous lunatic.
Since he dared to choose this day to make his move, he must have placed a piece in Shinjuku powerful enough to hold Gojo back—Miguel, that black mamba.’ He was a dangerous man capable of using the special-grade cursed tool Black Rope to hold Gojo Satoru back for a full twenty minutes, especially when Gojo couldn’t unleash his full firepower in a crowded urban area—things like Unlimited Void, or large-scale Blue, Red, and Hollow Purple.
And Makoto, inside Jujutsu High, had to fight a duel against Miguel called a “race against time.” Would their little “semi-Grade 1 group” hold Geto Suguru back longer, or would Miguel hold Gojo Satoru back longer?
Makoto took a deep breath.
‘Miguel, why the hell did you have to get involved in the rotten mess between those doomed lovebirds?
Now you’re getting elbowed by Gojo Satoru in Shinjuku, while I’m here at Jujutsu High preparing to block Geto Suguru’s Playful Cloud with my skull!’ Although Makoto had freeloaded Gojo-sensei’s power through [Limitless], he wasn’t the man blessed with the cheat code known as the Six Eyes.
Maintaining Infinity at all times?
Automatically adjusting cursed energy output?
What a joke.
If Makoto dared attempt an operation of that level even once, his brain would explode like an overloaded microwave.
At present, Makoto’s limit was this: within one hour, he could use Limitless defense “three times,” each time lasting three seconds.
Three seconds was enough for a Special Grade sorcerer to kill him a hundred times over.
As for his total cursed energy, it was roughly enough to use three downgraded versions of Blue or Red.
Three defenses.
Three attacks.
Using only that, he had to survive twenty minutes against Geto Suguru, a Special Grade curse user who possessed thousands of cursed spirits and could throw around Maximum Techniques whenever he felt like it…
“This isn’t even a race anymore.
This is playing Fast & Furious with Hades on the road to the afterlife…” Makoto wiped the cold sweat from his palm and poured the last mouthful of ice-flecked cola down his throat.
Since he was getting crushed in every direct combat category, he could only choose another fighting style, one much more fitting for the “weak.” Using the difference in intelligence between humans and gorillas to whip a boomerang straight into the enemy’s face!
Vmm—!
An extremely oppressive tremor spread through the air.
Makoto abruptly raised his head and saw a black Curtain spreading rapidly over Jujutsu High like spilled ink, devouring the last of the sunlight.
It worked!
Maki’s signal should have already gone out.
“So he’s here, our beloved ‘victim of family trauma,’ ‘abandoned husband of Jujutsu High,’ and ‘peerless genius of world-shaking wisdom.'” Makoto stood up and rolled his stiff neck.
He shoved his still-trembling hands into his pockets, and a faint, almost relieved smile curved across his face.
The gate to the training grounds was pushed open without a sound.
Geto Suguru walked in wearing his loose kesa robe, his long hair half tied back, his narrow eyes carrying a sorrowful compassion that seemed to see through the dust of the world—and behind that false pretense, a bottomless disgust toward “non-sorcerers.” His gaze swept across the empty training grounds before finally landing on Makoto.
“Makoto…
Satoru actually left a knockoff like you here to guard the gate?
It seems Jujutsu High really has run out of people.” “Geto-san.” Makoto walked toward him step by step, facing a pressure that could have made a Grade 2 sorcerer collapse on the spot.
There was no fear in him, only a malicious desire to drag the entire situation into chaos.
“Before you make your move, professional habit compels me to offer a friendly peer review of that so-called ‘great cause’ of yours.” Geto Suguru stopped and looked at the boy with great interest, as though watching a monkey attempt to wag its tail at him.
“Oh?
What do you want to say?” “I want to say that your plan—’I’m going to kill all non-sorcerers and create a world only for sorcerers’—is quite possibly the most breathtaking display of fucking wisdom this century.” Makoto spoke quickly, every word landing precisely on Geto Suguru’s delusional pride.
“How many jujutsu sorcerers are there in the entire world?
A thousand?
Two thousand?
Ten thousand?
And you, of all people, should know better than anyone that being a sorcerer isn’t something that can be stably passed down through bloodlines.
Two sorcerers can have a child and still end up with an ordinary person with no cursed energy!
With a population base that pathetic, if you kill all ordinary people, are you trying to speedrun natural extinction?” “Gojo-sensei often tells us one thing—’read more books.'” Makoto stopped walking and deliberately sighed, his eyes filled with sincere concern.
“I personally think that line was actually meant for you, his ‘best friend.’ After all, for someone like you, the most urgent matter right now isn’t the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons.
It’s learning some basic math and biology.” He gave a mocking laugh and spread both hands.
“Just imagine it, Geto Suguru-sama.
In that beautiful ‘sorcerers-only’ world of yours, a minor epidemic breaks out—one that wouldn’t even be fatal to non-sorcerers.
But because there isn’t a large enough research base to develop medicine, the whole world is left relying on the handful of Special Grade sorcerers who can use Reverse Cursed Technique.
Oh, wait.
Can you use Reverse Cursed Technique?
Seems like you can’t.
So when the time comes, are you planning to say to our beloved Shoko-san, ‘Please suffer a little more, Shoko-chan.
I’ll bear the blame’?” Geto Suguru’s smile stiffened little by little.
The air around him began to twist, and several low-grade cursed spirits emerged from the shadows.
‘Step one: make his emotions fluctuate.’ “So, Geto Suguru-sama, the fact that you were able to come up with such an ‘excellent’ yet completely unworkable plan means your intelligence is probably enough for you to go to the African savanna, sumo-wrestle chimpanzees, become the tribal king of the apes, and lead them to the peak of evolution as cavemen!
Instead of standing here, trying to challenge ‘the strongest’ and his sense of responsibility with a few thousand small-fry cursed spirits.” [Current time: 00:13.
Target: hold for another 19 minutes and 47 seconds.] The instant he finished speaking, Makoto very naturally reached into his coat.
Whoosh!
Something cut through the air and flew straight toward Geto Suguru.
Geto almost instinctively reached out and caught it.
It was a golden-yellow, fully ripe banana!
And taped very securely onto the banana was the crystallization of Makoto’s life’s work—the extremely realistic, almost Buddhist Portrait of the Great Gorilla Cult Leader Pursuing His Cause.
In the image, the compassionate gorilla wearing the same style of kesa robe stood together with the banana attached to it, silently delivering the ultimate double certification of “intelligence and species” to this Special Grade curse user.
Geto Suguru stared fixedly at the “Gorilla Cult Leader Certification Set” in his hand.
In that instant, the air across the entire training ground froze completely.
It was not anger.
It was his personality and mind crashing under an impact so extreme that his spirit simply shut down.
Geto Suguru slowly lowered his head, his bangs covering his expression.
When he raised his head again, every trace of compassion in his eyes had vanished, leaving only a killing intent so cold it felt like frost.
“Makoto…
congratulations.
You’ve successfully made me change my mind.” He extended his hand, and a massive Special Grade cursed spirit covered in sharp teeth roared from the shadow behind him, loud enough to shake the sky.
“I’m not going to feed you to a cursed spirit anymore.
I’m going to tear your mouth off with my own hands and see what filthy things are inside it.” “Come on, Gorilla Cult Leader.” The corner of Makoto’s mouth curled upward.
‘First Limitless defense, three seconds—activate!’