Fast speed, greater strength than mine, sharp battle instincts—she even blocked my retreat the moment she sensed I wanted to fall back. On top of that, there's this unknown technique that lets her create clones. And considering the possibility that she's still holding back…
Zenin Toji felt an overwhelming pressure coming from the short-haired girl.
What's with her face? Is she a vessel for something?
Realizing something, the black-haired man smirked slightly.
No wonder the intel was wrong. It wasn't that the information was collected incorrectly—it was that we were misled.
That guy probably only knew about the girl's natural strength. As for the fact that she's a vessel… it's understandable that no one managed to dig that up.
I really walked into a trap this time.
If it were just this short-haired girl alone, it wouldn't be a big deal. The problem is, on the other side, Gojo Satoru and that bun-haired kid have been freed up because the Star Plasma Vessel is being protected.
The short-haired girl, Gojo Satoru, and the bun-haired kid—if it were only one of them, Zenin Toji wouldn't be this tense.
But that doesn't mean he was going to surrender. He had no intention of dying here.
His advantage lay in the powerful physical abilities granted by Heavenly Restriction and his complete lack of cursed energy, which made him invisible to sorcerers' usual perception.
If he used these properly, there was still a chance.
Zenin Toji slid his Soul Splitting Blade into the mouth of the curse wrapped around his shoulder, which acted as a sheath. Then, he took a sudden step forward.
The ground beneath him cracked in layers, forming a deep crater under his feet. His figure vanished from sight.
His silhouette flickered through the forest at high speed. The only thing left behind was the sound of dull impacts. By the time one's eyes caught up, all that remained was a spray of wood chips.
Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru reacted immediately. By tracking the faint cursed energy of the spirit coiled around Toji's shoulder, they could barely sense his presence.
To their perception, Zenin Toji was like a bolt of lightning streaking through the battlefield—fast, erratic, nearly impossible to catch.
And then, in the next moment, he was gone.
A massive swarm of Fly Heads surged forward like a plague of locusts, darkening the sky.
Under the interference of the Fly Heads' cursed energy, the tiny signature from the curse on Toji's shoulder completely blended in and vanished.
"Uwaaah!!! So many Fly Heads!!!"
Amanai Riko, who had been calmly sitting on a tree branch, screamed in terror. Even the well-trained maid beside her looked visibly uncomfortable.
Fly Heads weren't even as strong as a grade-four curse, but their grotesque, fly-like appearance and hideous faces were a nightmare for most women.
Even Yukinoshita Haruno, who was watching from the sidelines without controlling her body, was shouting in her head: *Get rid of them already!*
Hayashizaki shook his head with a sigh. Without even lifting a hand, the Fly Heads surrounding the three of them were sliced into tiny pieces.
But that was only the ones nearby. Compared to the overall number, it barely made a difference.
Gojo Satoru and Geto Suguru still couldn't sense Toji's position through the overwhelming swarm of Fly Heads.
"Damn, this is annoying." Gojo clicked his tongue. Then, he suddenly raised his hand, a blue light flashing in his palm.
"Geto, back up!"
"Reversal Technique: Blue!"
Once Geto had moved to a safe distance, the blue light in Gojo's palm condensed into a glowing orb. White spirals of energy swirled around it, pulling in everything nearby.
The Fly Heads were sucked into the sphere, instantly shredded like they were thrown into a meat grinder.
Even the surrounding trees and ground trembled. Trees were ripped from their roots, deep trenches were carved into the earth, and rocks and dirt were drawn into the vortex, as if swallowed by a miniature black hole.
Hayashizaki had to relocate Amanai Riko and her maid, Kuroi Misato, to a safer spot.
"Tsk, all that flash for so little impact."
Hayashizaki smirked with a mocking expression.
At this age, Gojo Satoru was still too inexperienced.
Blue's sheer power and destruction wiped out most of Toji's Fly Heads in one go. The few that survived weren't nearly enough to obstruct their vision, and their ability to sense cursed energy became clear again.
Gojo Satoru clenched his fist, and the glowing blue orb vanished instantly.
"Now you have nowhere to hide… What!?" The white-haired boy suddenly turned around, looking in Suguru Geto's direction.
In his cursed energy perception, a streak of black lightning flashed in the distance. A loud roar followed, and a strong gust of wind swept through the area.
A black-haired man suddenly appeared behind Geto, his tense arm gripping the hilt of his sword. A menacing grin spread across his face. "I'll take out one first."
Geto's eyes widened in shock. He turned quickly, summoning a curse between his hands like a shield.
A chilling flash of the blade cut through the air. The curse wrapped around Toji Zenin's shoulder acted as a sheath as he drew his Soul Liberation Blade in a single swift motion, slashing straight at Geto.
The hastily summoned curse was sliced apart effortlessly by the sword's edge, which could cut through anything. The tip of the blade grazed Geto's chest, leaving a thin trail of blood.
"Geto!" Gojo Satoru's eyes widened in alarm as he shouted, reaching out toward the black-haired man.
Toji was sent flying by Gojo's attack, but he managed to stabilize himself in midair. The long sword he had used to ambush Gojo earlier emerged from a curse's mouth, and he caught it before hurling it straight at the exposed Geto.
Toji crashed into a tree, blood dripping from the corner of his smirking lips. Meanwhile, the short blade he had thrown had already pierced into Geto's chest.
Geto was knocked to the ground by the sheer force of the impact, coughing up a mouthful of blood.
"Geto! Are you okay!?"
Gojo Satoru abandoned the chase and rushed to his friend's side, checking his condition.
"Cough… Gojo! Stay on guard!" Geto coughed up more blood, struggling to warn him.
Toji's presence had vanished once again—this time, even the cursed energy of the spirit on his shoulder had disappeared completely.
"Ahhh!" Hayashizaki jumped down from the tree, causing the branches to shake slightly. Amanai Riko clung to Kuroi in fear.
"Geto! Hang in there. The people at Jujutsu High must have noticed the battle by now. I'll call Shoko right away!"
Gojo Satoru forced himself to stay calm as he pulled out his phone, though the slight tremble in his fingers betrayed his emotions.
Hayashizaki had already walked up to them.
Just as Gojo was about to make the call, Hayashizaki reached out, grabbed the handle of the blade in Geto's chest, and yanked it out.
Blood splattered onto Gojo Satoru's stunned face.
"Hey! What the hell are you doing!?"
You should never pull a blade out of a wounded person like that! It would only worsen the injury, enlarge the wound, and make them bleed out faster.
What the short-haired girl had done was practically speeding up Geto's death.
Gojo's eyes went wide with shock. He reached out to stop her, but the next second, Hayashizaki swung a fist, sending him flying.
"Move. Don't get in the way."
Hayashizaki crouched down, placing her hand gently over Geto's wound. A soft white glow emerged from her palm, spreading a warm energy that quickly began to heal him.
Geto's eyes slowly widened. "...Reverse Cursed Technique?"
His wound healed almost instantly. He didn't even have time to feel the usual warmth of positive energy flowing through his body—it was like swallowing a divine fruit in an instant.
And it wasn't just any Reverse Cursed Technique. It was the kind that could heal others, just like Shoko's. Except… this was far faster.
Gojo Satoru, who had just been knocked back, stood up and saw Hayashizaki healing his best friend. The curse words that had nearly left his mouth were swallowed back down, stuck in his throat.
Still kneeling on the ground, Gojo shuffled closer step by step. But just as he finally made it over, Geto was already back on his feet, looking down at the suddenly quiet white-haired boy with confusion.
"What are you doing?"
"You're already up!?" Gojo gawked at the completely unharmed Geto, so shocked that his sunglasses nearly slipped off his face.
…
Meanwhile, Toji Zenin darted through the trees, swiftly escaping the battlefield.
The curse spirit that stored his weapons had already shrunk in size and was swallowed into his stomach. With that, he became invisible once again.
As long as he could put some distance between himself and that monster, even he wouldn't be able to find him… or so he thought.
"You really won't let me leave, huh?" Zenin Toji stopped in his tracks and shrugged helplessly.
He landed on a thick tree branch sturdy enough to hold a person's weight, shaking loose a few leaves in the process.
Standing opposite him was a short-haired girl with a smile on her face, hands tucked into her pockets.
"Running away in the middle of a fight isn't exactly heroic," Hayashizaki said with a smile.
"Heroic? Don't be ridiculous. I'm just a monkey who can't even use cursed techniques," Zenin Toji grinned. "I threw away my pride a long time ago."
As he spoke, he stored his Soul Liberation Blade back into the curse spirit's belly. Another weapon's hilt emerged from the spirit's mouth, and he grabbed it.
The branch beneath his feet snapped, and in an instant, Zenin Toji shot forward like an arrow. His grip tightened around the handle as he drew out a strange-looking dagger from the curse spirit's mouth, slashing straight at the girl's swan-like, slender neck.
A strange surge of cursed energy spread from the unusual dagger.
The special-grade cursed tool, Inverted Spear of Heaven—capable of nullifying all techniques—was originally prepared specifically to counter Gojo Satoru's Limitless technique. But the first time this weapon saw action, it wasn't against Gojo, but against this mysterious short-haired girl.
Something felt off.
Sensing something unusual, the black-haired man's pupils shrank sharply. He forcibly retracted his attack and quickly switched to a defensive stance, holding the blade in front of him.
*Clang!*
A sharp metallic clang echoed as a powerful force sent Zenin Toji flying backward. His hand, still gripping the Inverted Spear of Heaven, trembled slightly, the impact numbing his fingers.
What just happened?
He landed back on a tree branch, his face filled with surprise. Looking up, he tried to get a clear view of Hayashizaki standing above him. But sunlight filtered through the dense canopy, casting fragmented rays over his face, making it hard to see the girl's expression.
Her technique was supposed to be clones, right? Could she make them invisible?
Hayashizaki's abilities were shrouded in mystery, making it impossible for Zenin Toji to fight at full force. He could only proceed cautiously, testing the waters.
A chilling smile appeared on his face as he extended a hand toward the black-haired man.
Something felt wrong.
Time seemed to slow, his vision freezing over as a layer of icy blue spread across it. Zenin Toji's eyes widened as he vaguely sensed countless white lines, an intense warning blaring in his mind.
As the blue light faded, his muscles tensed. He swung the Inverted Spear of Heaven in rapid succession, leaving behind a trail of afterimages. The sound of clashing metal echoed repeatedly.
"Oh?" Hayashizaki raised an eyebrow in slight surprise.
The branch beneath Zenin Toji snapped, and his body plummeted toward the ground.
Flipping midair, he landed lightly on the ground. His figure blurred for a moment before he dashed forward like a hawk swooping down, stirring up fallen leaves in his wake.
*Boom! Boom! Boom!*
Zenin Toji leaped between tree trunks, each step landing with a dull thud.
A sharp whooshing sound came from behind Hayashizaki as the Inverted Spear of Heaven pierced through the air, aiming straight for the back of her head.
Hayashizaki ducked at the last moment, narrowly avoiding the fatal strike. The blade skimmed past her head, slicing off a few strands of hair.
Zenin Toji twisted his body, spinning midair as he thrust the blade toward her back, aiming straight for her heart. Each of his attacks was meant to kill.
But the Inverted Spear of Heaven never reached its target.
Hayashizaki was faster. Her hand shot backward and pressed against his abdomen before he could land his strike.
A barrage of slashes erupted. Blood splattered through the air as deep wounds appeared across Zenin Toji's stomach. The force of the attack sent him flying backward.
"Cough… slashes?" Zenin Toji spat out a mouthful of blood. He looked up at Hayashizaki, who still stood high above him, and forced a grin. "I thought your technique was just clones?"
"That's her technique." Hayashizaki pointed to his head with a smile. "Not mine."
"Heh, so you're just borrowing the body. That's kind of sad." The black-haired man leaned against a tree, straightening up. "You really are a monster."
"Don't worry, I won't openly reveal my technique to make it stronger," Hayashizaki said. "This is my first time fighting someone like you, a Heavenly Restriction user. Let's enjoy this battle."
"I'd actually prefer if you did reveal it."
Zenin Toji shrugged, flexed his hands to make sure they were still in good shape, then switched the Inverted Spear of Heaven to his left hand and drew the Soul Liberation Blade with his right.
"Let's kill each other."
The black-haired man grinned, showing his sharp, almost animal-like smile.
…
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