Chapter 143 (Patreon)

“Winning a single battle proves nothing... Six Eyes.”

Kenjaku lay broken across the ground, only half of his body remaining. His voice was barely more than a murmur.

A crimson sphere of repulsive force formed between Satoru Gojo’s fingers, aimed directly at him.

“You have no chance left.”

Kenjaku gave a faint, humorless laugh.

“Is that really so?”

Gojo’s brow tightened.

“Cursed Technique Reversal: Red.”

A low hum reverberated through the air as Red shot from his hand.

“What?”

The crimson sphere stopped in midair.

A diamond-shaped spatial barrier had appeared in its path, shielding Kenjaku from the attack.

In the next instant, Tengen appeared beside him. With a single motion, five Grade 1 cursed spirits took shape around them.

“Tengen?!”

The cursed spirits immediately rushed Gojo. He exorcised them within moments, but that brief distraction was all Tengen needed.

Tengen seized Kenjaku’s severed upper body and prepared to escape.

“See? Death has no claim on me, Six Eyes. Our struggle is far from over.”

“You’re not getting away!”

Gojo thrust out one hand.

“Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue.”

Space twisted beneath the force of Blue’s attraction.

Tengen and Kenjaku vanished an instant later. Blue’s pull missed them by the narrowest margin, coming within a fraction of dragging them back.

“Damn it.”

---

After temporarily escaping from Satoru Gojo, Kenjaku used the technique he had extracted from Kurourushi moments earlier to produce a new body.

“It was fortunate that I extracted this technique. Now I no longer need to concern myself with losing a body.”

He reshaped the newly hatched humanoid vessel until it resembled the form he knew best. Once it was ready, Kenjaku activated his own technique and transferred his brain into it.

“This vessel is even more compatible with me than I expected.”

A long while passed before Kenjaku slowly opened his eyes.

The familiar line of stitches had appeared across his forehead.

“Tengen, take me to Mahito. He is close to death.”

Kenjaku could not afford to waste another moment. His own body was expendable, but if Mahito died, carrying out the rest of his plan would become far more difficult.

“Understood.”

Tengen immediately transported Kenjaku to Mahito’s location.

“Would you like me to save you, Mahito?”

Mahito stared up at him, his ruined body trembling uncontrollably. With great difficulty, he raised one shaking hand, desperate to grasp something before him.

Kenjaku looked down at him.

“Then become part of me.”

Rika Orimoto materialized in front of them without warning and drove her fist toward Mahito.

Before the blow could land, a ring of darkness spread beneath her feet.

For an instant, Rika felt as though the ground had vanished and her body was plunging into a bottomless abyss. Her balance wavered.

“A cursed spirit...?”

Rika forcibly steadied herself and stopped rather than rushing forward blindly.

“Domain Amplification.”

A thin veil of domain spread across the surface of her body, neutralizing the technique affecting her.

Kenjaku watched with interest.

“Impressive. You used Domain Amplification to counter the Giant Catfish’s illusion of falling.”

His expression darkened.

“But that alone will not be enough.”

Rika moved again, closing the distance between them. Just as her fist was about to reach Kenjaku, an orange beam of cursed energy tore across the battlefield from afar.

“What?!”

Caught off guard for a fraction of a second, Rika crossed both arms and blocked the incoming blast.

“That technique... Kokichi Muta?”

No one else in the jujutsu world produced cursed-energy artillery with such a distinctive signature.

With Rika’s advance interrupted, Kenjaku seized Mahito with one hand.

Mahito’s body immediately contracted, collapsing into a small black sphere under the power of Cursed Spirit Manipulation.

“A new world is about to begin—a world belonging to jujutsu sorcerers.”

A twisted smile spread across Kenjaku’s face.

“Cursed Technique Extraction.”

With that, Kenjaku obtained Mahito’s Idle Transfiguration.

Clang!

A blade flashed toward Kenjaku’s forehead, aimed directly at the brain beneath his stitches.

“You concealed your presence well. Unfortunately, your killing intent gave you away.”

Kenjaku’s arm transformed into solid bone. He caught the blade with his bare hand, stopping it before it could pierce his skull.

“Switch, Rika.”

Yuta Okkotsu withdrew Yamato and immediately sprang back.

Rika used the opening created by Kenjaku’s momentary stiffness and drove a straight punch into him.

“Impressive strength. No wonder Mahito could never defeat you.”

The arm Kenjaku raised to catch Rika’s fist exploded from the impact, flesh and bone bursting apart.

“Idle Transfiguration.”

In the next instant, his destroyed arm returned to its original form.

“That was the cursed spirit’s technique...”

“Correct. Consider this your reward.”

Kenjaku raised his head.

The bones throughout his body sharpened into spikes before erupting in every direction.

Everything within a hundred-meter radius was pierced by the expanding forest of bone.

“Rika!”

“I’m fine.”

Both Yuta and Rika had been pierced in several places, but none of the spikes had struck a vital point. Their wounds could be restored quickly with Reverse Cursed Technique.

Rika tore the bone spike from her shoulder.

“This attack is even stronger than when that cursed spirit used it.”

Kenjaku smiled faintly.

“It is not over yet.”

Yuta glanced around and saw the air filled with scraps of flesh and shattered bone. His expression immediately changed.

“Rika, watch everything around you! Every one of those fragments is part of him!”

“His fragments?”

Rika swept her gaze across their surroundings.

Kenjaku snapped his fingers.

The scattered bone fragments expanded at once, transforming into sea urchin-like clusters. Countless sharpened spikes erupted from them in less than half a second.

Yuta shattered the ground beneath his feet and launched himself forward, drawing Yamato in a single motion.

“Judgement Cut End!”

One of the bone fragments was already on the verge of piercing Rika’s heart when Yuta appeared in front of her.

In that instant, the surrounding space shattered like a mirror.

“A slash that severs space...!”

Only in the final moment did Kenjaku understand the nature of Yuta’s attack.

A sharp tearing sound split the air.

Every bone spike was shredded in an instant. Kenjaku’s body was sliced apart along with them.

However, Kenjaku managed to protect his head at the last possible moment. The rest of his body had been divided into dozens of clean, even sections.

Wriggling strands of granulation tissue extended from the exposed surfaces of each slice. In the blink of an eye, they connected and pulled his body back together.

“If I had not acquired Mahito’s technique, you might truly have killed me, Yuta Okkotsu.”

“His regeneration is even faster than Reverse Cursed Technique...”

Just as Rika prepared to finish Kenjaku, the sky and the surrounding sea of clouds were illuminated by a scarlet radiance.

“This cursed energy...”

“Gojo-sensei.”

Yuta and Rika spoke at the same time.

“Kenjaku, who gave you permission to run?”

Red continued expanding above Satoru Gojo’s hand until it became a colossal sphere of repulsive force, hanging high over everyone’s heads.

“Yuta, Rika, get farther away. Be careful not to get caught in the blast.”

Gojo launched Blue from his other hand.

It landed at Kenjaku’s feet, and its immense attraction immediately locked him in place, leaving him unable to move.

Seeing what Gojo intended to do, Yuta and Rika swiftly retreated several hundred meters.

“To be honest, I’ve never tested just how large Red can become.”

“You lunatic. A technique this dense will engulf even its caster.”

“Is that so?”

Gojo showed no concern. Red alone could never break through his Infinity.

“You’ll be the test subject for this technique.”

Despite its colossal size, Red had lost none of its speed.

It crossed the distance between them in an instant and descended upon Kenjaku.

“Cursed Technique Reversal: Red.”