Trump Card

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Jogo fled in panic.

As he ran through the crowd, he grabbed nearby humans and threw them behind him like shields.

The terror of being locked onto by a hunter clung tightly to his heart.

First, Satoru Gojo had torn off his arms again and again. Then Itsuki's "gentle" rescue had nearly killed him outright.

At this point, Jogo only had about seventy percent of his cursed energy left.

He glanced back at the ghostly white figure behind him.

That pressure was nearly equal to Gojo's.

Cold sweat pouring down his body, Jogo understood something clearly.

Even at full strength...

He probably would not be a match for the sorcerer behind him.

...

Yuta lowered his body and moved through the crowd.

While pursuing Jogo, he used the back of his blade to shove civilians roughly aside.

As the number of people around Jogo dwindled, the coldness in Yuta's eyes deepened.

One month earlier, Satoru Gojo had personally met Yuta in Africa.

The incident during the Goodwill Event.

Itsuki-sensei and White Zetsu's betrayal.

Even if Yuta found it difficult to accept, he eventually chose to stand with Gojo, Jujutsu High, Maki, Panda, and his other companions.

Clang!

He slipped past the last civilian, and his long blade closed in on Jogo's neck.

He was going to die.

In Jogo's terrified single eye, he saw Hanami's shadow for what felt like the hundredth time.

"Piercing Ox."

Itsuki sidestepped one of Gojo's heavy punches as the shadow at his feet boiled.

The completely black shikigami erupted with boundless force in a fraction of a second and slammed into its target.

Yuta turned sharply. Both hands gripped his sword as he endured the sudden, crushing weight from behind.

Boom!

Wrapped in that force, Yuta smashed into the wall on one side of the platform hard enough to leave a human-shaped hole.

Jogo, who had picked up another life, froze for a breath, then immediately rolled and fled toward the fourth level.

The barrier on the fifth level meant to trap Gojo had somehow been broken.

But for Jogo, that happened to create the best route of escape.

Because there were even more humans on the fourth level.

Buried under rubble, Yuta tightened his grip around the broken pressure in his hands.

"You really are strong, Itsuki-sensei."

Yuta whispered, and an ocean of cursed energy roared upward.

...

Itsuki noticed the difference.

No taunt.

No anger over Itsuki helping Jogo while fighting him.

Looking at the smile tugging at Gojo's mouth, a little doubt flashed through Itsuki's eyes.

Boom!

Yuta shot out from the rubble at a speed not inferior to Piercing Ox.

He did not chase Jogo toward the fourth level.

Instead, his gaze fixed on Itsuki, filled with resolve.

Once he chose the road forward, he would not turn back.

What came down was not the blade in his hand, but an iron fist wrapped in Black Rope.

At the same time, Gojo grinned and canceled Simple Domain.

His fist, carrying terrifying attraction, drove straight toward Itsuki's heart.

'So that's it.'

Scarlet light flickered in Itsuki's eyes. Space faintly wrinkled.

Blood-colored vines poured from the opening void and formed a sturdy shield in front of Gojo's fist.

Itsuki turned sideways and answered with his own fist.

He met Yuta's full-force strike with an even more violent posture.

Boom!

A piercing roar echoed through the station. The platform beneath the three of them split into countless spiderweb cracks.

Gojo had canceled Simple Domain.

Yuta had not used Domain Amplification.

Itsuki looked at the thin smoke rising from his fist and immediately understood their plan.

The God Tree branches he had dropped in haste were smashed apart by Gojo.

The instant Limitless attraction erupted, Itsuki flashed to the edge of the platform.

His black hair whipped wildly despite the lack of wind.

His gaze swept over the dying embers on the Black Rope wrapped around Yuta's fist, and his tone stayed calm.

"So this is your trump card?"

The instant Itsuki's fist touched Yuta's, he had felt a momentary disorder in his cursed energy.

The Black Rope had directly canceled the effect of his intangible technique and forcibly dragged him from the void back into reality.

In the original story, there had been Toji's Inverted Spear of Heaven and the Black Rope Miguel used during the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons.

Special cursed tools capable of breaking through Limitless should have been destroyed by Gojo long ago.

And judging by the thick layer wrapped around Yuta's fist, that amount could not possibly have been woven in a single year.

"I knew you were up to no good."

Gojo grinned.

"The head of one of the Big Three Families came to Jujutsu High as a teacher."

"With that fake smile of yours, how could I not keep something ready for you?"

As Gojo spoke, blue ripples of cursed energy rose from his entire body.

Without Simple Domain reinforcing him, Limitless repulsion and attraction could be displayed even further.

When Itsuki first joined Jujutsu High, Gojo had already tested him with a handshake.

Only later did Suguru Geto launch the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons.

The Black Rope Miguel had wielded was not destroyed when Gojo sent Yuta overseas to train.

Instead, he had ordered Yuta to gather every remaining piece of it.

If it could disrupt and cancel his untouchable Infinity, then it had to have an effect on Fake Smile's intangibility too.

That conscious precaution from the previous year had given Yuta one more practical card today.

"It doesn't matter. Come on."

It was only one against two.

Itsuki still had the confidence to face them.

The instant he spoke, he moved first.

Like a hurricane fired from a bow, he crossed a hundred meters in the blink of an eye.

One leg swept toward Gojo.

One fist drove straight at Yuta.

...

Deep in the subway tunnel on the fifth basement level.

Cursed Spirit Manipulation unfolded in the darkness, creating a deep fissure that hovered in the air.

Kenjaku hid every trace of his presence.

Sitting on the head of a cursed spirit, he showed a look of understanding.

No wonder the barriers set on the fourth and fifth levels to forbid other sorcerers from entering had been destroyed so suddenly.

If he had not arranged for Uraume to guard the fourth level in advance, Suguru Geto's body would nearly have been exposed.

The Black Rope in Yuta's hands carried an extremely rare cursed energy property.

It could disrupt the operation of all techniques.

Not only Gojo's Limitless and Itsuki Zenin's intangibility, but even the barriers Kenjaku laid down...

Including the seal of the Prison Realm.

It could break them all.

Kenjaku rested his forehead on one hand and frowned slightly.

That thing had to be completely destroyed when Satoru Gojo was sealed.

After all, the back of the Prison Realm was still in Tengen's hands.

...

What Kenjaku was considering, Itsuki understood just as well.

The Black Rope in Yuta's hands could not be left behind.

A blood-red waterfall rolled through the void. Hundreds and thousands of giant scarlet root-tails shot toward Gojo.

Itsuki twisted and punched.

His goal was not to kill Yuta.

It was to force Yuta to use the Black Rope in his hand to defend.

Shikigami and the Gedo Statue could be resisted with a blade or cursed energy.

If he wanted to consume the Black Rope, Itsuki had to attack with fists enhanced by intangibility.

At the same time, he still had to hide as much of his strength as possible.

At the very least, Kenjaku had to believe Sukuna at full strength could deal with him.

It was a real challenge.

A faint smile touched Itsuki's mouth as his fist smashed down.

Hiss. Boom!

The Black Rope in Yuta's hand immediately caught fire, and Yuta was blasted back into the rubble.

Itsuki flashed in the air, changed direction, and dropped an elbow.

Boom!

His elbow, wrapped in scarlet cursed energy, met Gojo's cursed-energy-reinforced fist perfectly.

"Cursed Technique Lapse!"

"Technique Extension!"

Itsuki and Gojo spoke at the same time.

Two immense and completely different cursed energies detonated at once.

Boom!

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