In the Jujutsu world, anything is possible.
Riko Amanai calmed her thoughts.
There were three auras on the rooftop. Two belonged to Jujutsu sorcerers, and the third… was odd. Ordinary people all possess Cursed Energy to some extent, but this aura lacked even the faintest trace of it.
It instantly reminded her of the man who had nearly killed her twelve years ago.
Then she thought of Sōjun Minamoto. His aura was also clean, completely free of Cursed Energy—perhaps even purer than this one.
She gently touched her right shoulder. A crystal-like eyeball surfaced, floating in a swirl of gray mist. Its pupil contracted, capturing the figure of the man on the rooftop before transmitting the image directly to her mind.
It was Toji Fushiguro.
The two sorcerer auras were already extremely faint. One belonged to a Jujutsu High sorcerer she recognized—Takuma Ino, a promising junior. The other was a Curse User, an elderly witch.
Now this was getting interesting. A technique that could bring someone back after twelve years had to be fascinating.
It had clearly caused backlash—but that only proved the Curse User was too weak to control it. In someone else's hands, it could work just fine.
She was determined to get that technique.
Riko Amanai focused.
Toji Fushiguro moved incredibly fast. Before she could register it, he was already in front of the Curse User.
She couldn't see him clearly—but the eye on her shoulder could. The visuals streamed directly into her brain, helping her analyze the situation.
She made her move...
In an instant, Toji Fushiguro's and the Curse User's shadows merged, casting a large, warped shadow on the ground. He pulled his arm back and threw a punch.
From the fused shadows, a pair of pale arms emerged. They looked fragile, lacking any real strength—but in that moment, both their bodies froze.
The hands' owner stepped out without hesitation. Interlocking his fingers, he pressed a gray blade against the Curse User's throat.
Riko Amanai pressed her right shoulder against the old witch's back, her body crouched low, fully concealed behind her.
Toji Fushiguro's movement stalled for a moment. His expression tightened, but the punch still landed.
Despite the interruption, the motion remained fluid.
Thump—
A faint impact sounded.
The Curse User's abdomen sank unnaturally, the punch embedding an inch deep. The sensation was harder than flesh.
Toji Fushiguro looked down.
Blood oozed from the Curse User's eyes and nose, but the body didn't react, standing there like a puppet. The sorcerer behind him remained completely unscathed.
On the knuckles of his sunken fist, a layer of dark shadow stained the gaps between his fingers.
"Again," Toji Fushiguro muttered, his expression lifting slightly.
"A shadow?"
His punch seemed fluid, yet something felt off—like a snag in the motion. The blow left the Curse User dying, but it gave him a distinct feeling of "just enough."
Just enough to be dying—so the punch stopped there. His strength dissipated, and no further damage followed.
It felt like someone had decided the punch should stop at "near death." And so, that's all it could do.
If the expectation had been light injury—or no effect at all—that would've been the outcome instead.
The scar at the corner of his mouth twisted with disgust.
He loathed sorcerers.
Spoiled by their parents, blessed by the heavens.
While he paused, the gray blade gently swept across—blood arced through the air. Toji Fushiguro slipped free in time, retreating swiftly to avoid the spray.
He deliberately positioned himself under a light source, shrinking his shadow down to a small black blotch at his feet.
'Sharp one.' Riko Amanai wiped the blade clean on the Curse User's clothes. Once she let go, the old witch collapsed limply to the ground.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a new, faint sigil forming on the blade.
Expressionless, she straightened and faced the man with the scarred mouth.
Seeing Toji Fushiguro again didn't spark any of the anger she had once imagined. No resentment, no emotional turmoil.
Her state of mind was perfectly calm.
Only that scar stood out. Years ago, he'd ambushed her from the shadows, believing he'd succeeded. He'd even smiled—a cruel, twisted smile that made her fingers itch.
But that was all.
She carefully stored the gray blade. Her posture dipped, sleek and poised like a leopard. In each hand, she held a scalpel—one blue, one black.
Toji Fushiguro couldn't see either of them.
Riko Amanai stood still as an invisible domain expanded outward.
It was [Falling Blossom Emotion].
Unlike the [New Shadow Style], which specialized in negating sure-hit techniques within Domains, [Falling Blossom Emotion] automatically launched a counterattack the moment she was hit.
Perfect for this situation.
She still couldn't clearly track Toji Fushiguro's movements. Against an opponent of his caliber, even a moment's distraction could be fatal. The eye from Sōjun could only be used when the timing was absolutely right.
Unless she used it to summon Sōjun himself...
Then there's no need to hold back.
Riko Amanai still had confidence. Her technique countered his, and while her Taijutsu couldn't compare, she wasn't about to be overwhelmed.
Whether to advance or retreat—the choice was hers.
Her mind grew calm. Once [Falling Blossom Emotion] was activated, it came with a non-issue that could still be considered a flaw: she had to remain completely still.
She had to fight reactively—turn her initiative into passivity, find the right moment to gain the upper hand, and then strike with full force.
She'd made her decision. She was going to fight.
Toji Fushiguro remembered this girl—the Star Plasma Vessel. To him, it was like he had blinked, and when he opened his eyes again, the person in front of him had changed. Once just an ordinary girl, and now, she was a threat?
He analyzed silently. Whether or not he understood her technique would drastically change the battlefield.
Those brief moments of disruption just now had already irritated him.
The rooftop fell silent. Only the faint whimpers of the Curse User broke the stillness—and even those were growing more spaced out. She was close to death.
Toji Fushiguro felt a sudden urgency, which he quickly suppressed—but he still made the first move.
He adjusted his stance so his shadow would fall only behind him. Then with a flash, he closed the distance and appeared in front of Riko Amanai.
Exactly what she wanted.
The moment he stepped into the invisible domain, Toji launched a punch at invisible speed. Riko Amanai, who seemed too slow to react, struck back with a punch of her own, meeting his head-on.
The force of pure physical strength clashed with Cursed Energy and canceled each other out.
Riko Amanai could feel it—about a third of her Cursed Energy was consumed in that one clash. Which meant that punch carried close to half the power of a Special Grade.
And that was just a test?
But...
The domain vanished instantly. At the same moment, a crystal eye floated high above them, suspended over their heads. Moonlight, city lights, and neon all refracted through it, softening its cold glow into something almost warm.
She was back on her own turf.
Toji Fushiguro kept moving at high speed, his elevated position making his shadow hard to pin down. He shifted from a punch to an elbow strike, aiming straight down...
Moonlight shifted, casting his shadow into view.
Toji flinched and jumped to the side, but the light adjusted again. As the distance between him and Riko widened, his shadow stretched across the ground.
Riko smiled. The shadow slid under his feet on its own—and her technique activated.
The familiar stuttering sensation returned.
So did a streak of blue.
Toji leapt free with a powerful jump, creating a wide gap. Between them stood a long vertical shadow—stretching nearly from one end of the rooftop to the other.
He raised his arm to check. The spot where the slash landed showed no external damage, but deep within, another soul inside him was howling in pain.
"A soul-slashing attack, huh." It didn't harm his body much—but the screeching inside was annoying.
Easily tuned out.
The sorcerer across from him understood that as well. The blue short blade had already been withdrawn.
Still, the pain let him faintly glimpse the knife's shape.
Toji felt the situation getting tricky. The rooftop was the highest point in the area—no buildings to offer cover. Fully exposed to all sources of light. Managing shadows here was already annoying. Now...
He glanced up at the eye above. Its pupil had shrunk to a pinprick, suspended far above—too high to leverage for a counter.
'What a pain.'
They both had the same thought.
Riko's [Shadow Fixation Technique] worked well—but it couldn't hold him long. His composition was too unique.
She'd tried to sever his soul—only to realize the soul she saw wasn't even his. Most likely, it was just a consciousness steering another soul.
If brute force wouldn't work, she had one last move to try.
In the distance, the Curse User had already engaged the other sorcerer. Time was tight. Her mission was critical. She couldn't afford to waste any more of it here.
She charged forward, suddenly shifting directions without warning. The moonlight split into varying shades, casting layered shadows beneath Toji Fushiguro's feet.
Any one of them would do—as long as he stepped on it.
No matter how much Toji dodged, he couldn't outrun the terrain and the light. He dropped into a defensive stance. As long as he could break free from the bind, he was confident he could guard in time.
All he had to do was catch that instant when her energy faltered—when old force had ended, and new force had yet to rise. The advantage would be his again. After all, Cursed Energy had limits.
But his stamina? Nearly limitless.
The tide turned. Offense and defense switched places.
Riko Amanai stepped on the shadow. A faint curve formed at the corner of her lips.
"Maximum: Uzumaki!"
The old moon lost its glow. A new one rose. Ripples spread across the night sky as halos of light condensed into fluid motion, spiraling into a tangible vortex.
At its center—an upright pupil shimmered briefly, as if it looked straight at Riko Amanai.
"Shhh—"
A barely audible sound broke the stillness of heaven and earth.
A brilliant pillar of light tore through space—through brightness, through darkness—plunging straight down. It pierced Toji Fushiguro, blasted through the edge of the rooftop, and plunged into a pitch-black domain, erupting in a spray of starlike sparks.
The sky above was oppressively dark. Faintly, the sound of crashing waves echoed.
The vertical pupil above gave a brief glance upward, its light dimming.
A gaping hole the width of an arm opened in Toji Fushiguro's chest.
He had been pierced the instant he faced the beam. The residual impact was still too much to withstand. He was blasted toward the rooftop's edge, barely managing to stop himself from falling over.
Was it luck that the pillar was too powerful?
He narrowly arrested his backward momentum.
"Boom—"
Instinctively, he raised his arms to block a kick—only to feel the ground disappear beneath his feet. He stared up at the face above, growing smaller and smaller with distance.
A wicked smile.
"Wahaha—!"
Riko Amanai laughed triumphantly, hands on her hips, before vanishing into the shadows.
Of course, Toji Fushiguro wouldn't die that easily. But she was almost out of Cursed Energy, and continuing the fight wouldn't change the outcome. She needed to conserve what she had left.
She had already won.
The shadows warped for a moment, then calmed. Moonlight returned to its cold clarity, as if nothing had changed.
Silence fell over the rooftop.
Only then did the Curse User breathe her last.
She had been a skilled master of Séance Technique, her advanced age a testament to her expertise.
Séance Technique allowed the transference of a deceased person's body or soul into a new vessel—be it the caster's own body or someone else's—then used that vessel to control techniques.
Naturally, this carried risks.
If the deceased's soul was too powerful, there was a chance it would resist the vessel, rendering it uncontrollable.
This sorcerer was seasoned and careful, having made a Binding Vow to exclude the soul itself—thus avoiding the risk, while strengthening the spell's power by refining it.
Unfortunately, the physique of someone bound by Heavenly Restriction—especially one like Toji—was far beyond conventional understanding. Greed led to her downfall, but also allowed that superhuman body to reemerge.
The caster died, her Cursed Energy vanishing with her, which should've nullified the technique. But Toji Fushiguro hijacked the vessel instead. And without the concept of Cursed Energy within him, he existed like a bug in the system.
Mindless, relentless—a weapon of pure slaughter.
...
On a distant battlefield, Riko Amanai arrived just in time to hear a voice.
"I've figured out his technique," said Megumi Fushiguro. "It weakens strong attacks and empowers weak ones. In other words... it reverses the power scale."
He glanced at the bewildered Itadori beside him, then simplified.
"In short—it swaps strength and weakness."
That was all Itadori needed. As a newcomer to Jujutsu, he instantly got it.
"So how do we counter it?" he asked.
Learning from past mistakes, Megumi got straight to the point this time.
Their eyes met. In that moment, they understood each other—and launched a simultaneous attack.
Across from them, the Curse User didn't look the least bit concerned.
"So what if you know? When I was killing sorcerers, you two weren't even born."
"I've killed more people than you've eaten grains of salt."
Spinning his blade with practiced ease, he charged straight at Megumi and Itadori, utterly fearless.
Suddenly, the Curse User staggered—frozen in place.
Megumi and Itadori stopped too, alert and focused.
A pale hand appeared from behind the Curse User's neck, gripping a grey blade. With calm precision, the hand flipped the knife and pressed the flat edge to his throat. A flicker of light danced across the blade, narrowing Megumi and Itadori's eyes.
"Shhh—"
Blood erupted, splattering the ground in front of them. The Curse User collapsed, gurgling as blood foamed from his throat. After two choked, unwilling gasps, he went still.
Nothing remained behind him.
Megumi noticed a flicker of abnormal distortion in the shadow—but it quickly faded.
The two exchanged a tense look.
"Let's regroup with Ino-senpai," said Megumi.
"Yeah."
They returned to the rooftop. Ino lay collapsed on one side, his condition unclear. One Curse User was dead, the other nowhere to be found.
The scene showed little sign of battle, making everything more mysterious. Megumi's thoughts returned to the shadow he'd seen twist earlier.
They searched the rooftop, pulled out the wedge nailed into a corner, and added it to the ones they'd found earlier. With three now broken, three layers of the Barrier were gone.
Only the five underground layers remained—though those only targeted non-sorcerers.
"Let's meet up with the others, then rescue Gojo-sensei."
"Yes."
The sorcerers soon regrouped and headed toward the underground station.
It was quiet. Too quiet.
No people, no Cursed Spirits, no strange beings. It was as if none of them had ever existed.
The area, which intelligence had flagged as densely packed, showed no signs of that chaos.
This anomaly put everyone on edge.
Guided by Mechamaru, they headed directly underground.
No obstacles barred their way.
...
Meanwhile, Riko Amanai completed her sweep, eliminating all the remaining Curse Users and was now hurrying back to Sōjun Minamoto.
Choso had spotted Itadori and Kugisaki—but seeing he was outnumbered, he chose to fall back to the platform.
Toji Fushiguro was also searching. In his current state, stripped of reason, he would prioritize killing the strongest first.
And at this moment, the strongest person in Shibuya... was Kenjaku.
"So soon?" Kenjaku stood, looking toward the passageway.
Everyone, after crossing paths—whether directly or indirectly—was about to converge.