As long as he survived, there would always be another chance.
The next second.
Under everyone's astonished gazes.
Sukuna, the aloof and arrogant King of Curses for a thousand years, actually suppressed his own consciousness and relinquished control of the body.
This was the first time since his incarnation that he had actively retreated.
The bizarre markings on Yuji Itadori's body faded instantly.
The extra pair of arms and two mouths also rapidly vanished.
He reverted back to the boy in the blue school uniform. His body went limp, and he fell weakly to his knees, staring blankly at the hellish mess before him.
Ian looked at the cowering Sukuna and slowly dispelled his domain.
Keeping this guy around might have some other uses in the future.
For example, creating a "2.5 Satoru Gojo".
The moment the despair-inducing aura of Sukuna vanished into thin air within the Curtain.
Outside the Curtain.
Kyoto High's principal, Yoshinobu Gakuganji, and the others who were rushing over at full speed suddenly halted in their tracks.
They clearly felt that the terrifying cursed energy, which seemed capable of crushing heaven and earth, had disappeared.
It vanished without a trace, as if it had never existed.
"What's going on? Sukuna's aura..."
"It disappeared?"
Everyone's faces were filled with shock and uncertainty.
That terrifying aura capable of tearing heaven and earth apart dissipated into nothingness along with Ian's retracted domain.
Only the smoke and dust mixed with the stench of blood remained in the air.
Satoru Gojo let out a long sigh of relief, his tense nerves finally easing a fraction.
The threat was temporarily resolved, and not a single student had died.
But before he could completely relax, an unprovoked chill shot up from his tailbone straight to the crown of his head without any warning.
It was as if in some unseen dimension, a pair of extremely cold eyes had already marked him as some interesting prey, or perhaps an experimental subject waiting to be dissected.
In a daze, he saw a vision of himself being sliced in half at the waist, while someone pointed at him and said, "2.5 Satoru Gojo."
He subconsciously shuddered.
Then, Satoru Gojo abruptly turned his head, scanning his surroundings with his [Six Eyes], but found nothing out of the ordinary.
"An illusion?" he muttered.
He scratched his signature white hair and quickly tossed the strange feeling to the back of his mind.
"It must be an illusion! After all, I'm the strongest!" he reassured himself.
"Who could possibly cut me in half?"
Satoru Gojo's face regained its trademark confident smile, as if the sudden palpitation had never happened.
Right at that moment, the unlookable four-armed demonic figure in the center of the battlefield underwent a new transformation.
Under everyone's shocked, almost sluggish gazes, the ferocious demonic body began to shrink and contort.
The ancient kimono and evil aura attached to his body gradually faded away.
Amidst the shifting light and shadows, he reverted back to the appearance of a young man.
It was still that handsome face that transcended gender, beautiful enough to eclipse the sun, moon, and stars.
Ian strolled leisurely, his posture as elegant as if he were taking a walk in his own backyard.
He finally stopped in front of a few piles of mangled flesh.
Those were Jogo, Hanami, and Dagon, whose limbs had been completely severed, leaving only their torsos lingering on their last breaths on the ground.
Jogo struggled to lift his head. In his single eye, the previous fear was gone, replaced only by a tragic and fanatical smile belonging to a martyr.
"If you're going to kill us, do it quickly!" Jogo rasped.
His voice was hoarse but full of power.
"Cursed spirits cannot be killed!"
"As long as the deep-rooted human traits of selfishness, hatred, and fear remain, we will eventually return from the endless curses!"
"We will eventually build a true, pure world guided by us cursed spirits!"
Ian couldn't be bothered to offer any opinion on this impassioned speech.
He slowly raised his foot.
Then, cleanly and decisively, he stepped on Jogo's volcano-like head.
The moment his shoe sole made contact with the skull.
Jogo's single eye, burning with fanatical flames, suddenly contracted.
An incredibly familiar cursed energy aura transmitted from the sole of Ian's foot.
It was this!
It was exactly this aura!
The very aura he had suddenly felt a few days ago while bathing in the magma deep within the earth's core!
So that was it.
So... it was you...
The one newly born deep within the earth's core... the true...
King of Curses!
All the fanaticism and unwillingness in Jogo's single eye transformed entirely into enlightenment and relief at this moment.
So the King had already been born.
It was just his own stupidity that prevented him from seeing his true face.
He gave up all resistance, even taking the initiative to convert all his remaining cursed energy and life force into the purest energy, sacrificing it to the monarch stepping on him.
"Since... we are both cursed spirits..." its voice carried a hint of devotion and liberation for the first time.
"My power... I leave to you..."
"Please... fulfill our long-cherished wish in our stead..."
Before the words fully faded.
Bang.
A soft sound echoed.
Jogo's head shattered completely like a ripe watermelon, transforming into the purest energy that converged toward Ian's body.
Beside him, Hanami and Dagon, who had long lost consciousness, also transformed into two torrents of energy upon hearing Jogo's words, surging into Ian's body with the same shock and submission.
Ian could feel that within his massive, vast-as-a-starry-sea energy reserves, a minuscule trace of "cursed energy" had been added.
It was like pouring a cup of water into the boundless cosmic sea.
It didn't even stir up the slightest ripple.
He scratched his head, feeling a bit bewildered.
'What were they muttering about just now? How did I become the King of Curses?'
'And they were shouting about bonds, long-cherished wishes, and whatnot.'
On the other side, Satoru Gojo finally managed to piece together the sequence of events from the incoherent and chaotic descriptions of Megumi Fushiguro and the others.
His brain began to rapidly deduce the identity of the young man in front of him.
A flash of blue light streaked by.
Satoru Gojo's figure swiftly moved in front of Ian.
He took off his blindfold. In those pale blue eyes, there was not a trace of frivolity or indiscipline; instead, they were filled with a heartfelt, incredibly sincere gratitude.
"Thank you so much!" he said, wearing an exceptionally bright smile as he bowed deeply to Ian.
"Thank you for saving my students!"
This gratitude was genuine and profound.
However, the next second, he straightened up, his face returning to its cynical, goofy appearance, as if the solemnity from a moment ago was just an illusion.
He clapped his hands together and loudly proposed in a tone as if announcing some joyous occasion:
"To celebrate everyone's narrow escape from death, and to soothe the frightened little hearts of our friends from the Kyoto Sister-School!"
"I have decided! For the rest of the Goodwill Event, all combat events are canceled!"
"They will be replaced with—the Tokyo-Kyoto Sister-School Talent Show! How about it!"
"And it's the perfect opportunity to invite this gentleman to be a judge as well!"
His voice reached the ears of every student present.
The students, who had just experienced a bloody slaughter and walked right up to death's door, froze for a few seconds upon hearing the words "no more fighting."
Three seconds later.
"Ooooohhhh!!!"
"Awesome! Long live Gojo-sensei!"
"We're saved! I love talent shows!"
Deafening cheers instantly washed away all the blood and gloom on the battlefield.
The Kyoto High students couldn't care less about victory, defeat, or dignity anymore; they were all moved to tears of excitement.
They were completely unaware that what they were about to face might be an even more terrifying situation than fighting special grade cursed spirits.