Chapter 41 — The Confrontation
On the other side, atop a high wall, Ren lowered his body and gently set Maki down on the rooftop.
As the girl immediately tried to rise, he pressed her back down with one hand.
"You can rest a little longer," he said calmly.
"If I can't handle it, then you can step in. We'll fight together."
Maki's eyes widened.
What kind of nonsense was that?
If this was an enemy even he couldn't defeat, what good would she be?
Fight alongside him? That would just be sending herself to her death!
Was he joking?
Ren ignored the confusion blazing in her gaze and straightened, looking toward another rooftop.
There, Megumi Fushiguro was still standing, though barely. His expression was strained. Beside him, Toge Inumaki lay collapsed on the ground, and Noritoshi Kamo was sprawled on his back, unmoving.
All three had clearly lost their ability to fight.
And all of it—
Seemed to be the work of the cursed spirit below.
Ren's gaze lingered briefly on Kamo's face, an odd expression flickering across his own. Then he turned toward the curse.
"Who are you?"
"What's your objective? Why infiltrate Jujutsu High? And what's with that curtain?"
"Are you an idiot?" Maki shot back from behind him, still panting. "Trying to have a conversation with a curse?"
"No," Fushiguro spoke hoarsely from the opposite rooftop. "Maki-senpai… and Ren-senpai. This curse is different. It possesses intelligence comparable to humans—and it can communicate normally."
"What?"
Both Maki and Ren reacted at once.
But for entirely different reasons.
"A curse that can communicate normally?"
"Wait—ordinary curses can't talk to people?"
Fushiguro ignored Ren's question—which hardly sounded like something a 'senpai' should ask—and continued.
"Be careful. This curse is extremely unusual. And extremely dangerous."
As if to confirm his words—
A string of complex, ancient-sounding syllables flowed from the curse below. The language was unfamiliar to Ren—yet the meaning poured directly into his mind without obstruction.
"You… who are you?"
"Within Jujutsu High, the only one with such power should be Satoru Gojo."
There was unmistakable unease in the curse's voice.
Ren tilted his head slightly and smiled.
Satoru Gojo.
The strongest sorcerer of the modern era.
"I'll take that as a compliment," Ren replied lightly.
"Though honestly, you're not bad yourself."
"You even managed to make Kamo-senpai open his eyes."
As he spoke, he cast another glance at Kamo lying beside Fushiguro.
On the pale face that usually kept both eyes tightly shut—
One eye was open.
Rolled back white, but open nonetheless.
It was the first time Ren had ever seen Noritoshi Kamo open his eyes.
Ren launched himself forward without hesitation, diving straight toward the curse.
"So powerful!"
Sensing the overwhelming cursed energy radiating from him, Hanami's expression darkened in alarm.
Ordinary techniques wouldn't be enough to contend with him.
But—fortunately—this opponent relied heavily on cursed energy. And against that, Hanami had the perfect counter.
It raised both hands.
Several cursed seeds shot out with a sharp hiss.
These seeds fed exclusively on cursed energy. Once they struck a target, they would burrow into the body and take root. The more cursed energy the enemy used, the more the seeds would grow—until they tore the host apart from within.
Against someone overflowing with cursed energy like this—
It was the ideal technique.
Yet in the very next instant, Ren lifted both hands, fingers slightly curved.
Shing—Shing—Shing!
Like iron cavalry trampling the earth, like jade bottles shattering in a symphony of steel, his fingers moved as though plucking invisible strings.
Every cursed seed Hanami had launched split cleanly in half midair.
A piercing shriek tore through the air.
Hanami's danger sense exploded. It twisted aside in a desperate dodge—
Slash!
An invisible blade carved away a piece of its cheek and opened a bloody gash across its chest.
Not good.
The opponent had long-range techniques too—and they were precise beyond reason. Cursed seeds alone would never land. He had to be restrained first.
Hanami dropped low, both palms slamming onto the ground.
Boom—boom—boom!
Enormous trees and writhing vines erupted from the earth. Countless trunks and roots surged like charging serpents, like a landslide of living wood, crashing toward Ren all at once.
Ren leapt upward, evading dozens of roots spearing toward him.
But immediately, dozens more thrust down from above, targeting where he would land.
He twisted midair, slipping past the incoming spikes, planting his feet briefly on a passing root to launch himself higher—
Only for even more roots to close in.
Wave after wave, like towering tides in a raging sea.
The entire space before him was swallowed by writhing timber and vines—an entire forest collapsing down upon him.
…So this was the disturbance he had sensed from afar.
Ren's gaze remained steady.
The spectacle was magnificent.
But in truth?
All bark, no bite.
His palms tightened.
A naginata formed from pure cursed energy materialized in his grasp.
He rotated his wrists, swung both arms, tracing a brilliant arc of steel—
And then drove straight into the overwhelming sea of trees.
Slash slash slash slash slash!
Like a scythe through grass, grotesque roots and knotted trunks were severed instantly before his unstoppable blade. A hollow cavity tore open in the heart of the towering forest.
By the time Hanami realized what had happened—
The blade's killing edge was already upon it.
"To kill," Ren's cold voice brushed past its ear, "you don't need an entire forest."
"You only need a sharp enough blade."
Shhk!
Hanami clutched its wounded body, enduring the searing pain as it retreated in a frantic burst.
When it finally landed, it looked down—
And saw that the previous strike had nearly split its chest completely open.
What a blade.
Among special-grade curses, Hanami prided itself on durability. Ordinary cursed tools shattered upon striking its body.
And yet this boy's weapon—
Had almost cleaved it in two.
That blade was forged purely from cursed energy.
And the boy had even shaped a proper hilt—an unnecessary aesthetic flourish—purely from energy as well.
Such refined control.
Such composure.
It was unheard of.
Why—
Why was there such a monstrous opponent inside Jujutsu High?
For the second time, that chilling, unanswerable question surged through Hanami's mind.