Chapter 52: The Insurmountable Defense Line
"Until the match is over, no one passes."
The words were not loud.
If anything, Yami's tone was so calm it sounded as though he were simply stating a fact. Like saying the sky was blue, or that the wind had changed direction.
Yet to the students of Kyoto Jujutsu High, it hit like a thunderclap.
The forest fell silent.
The cicadas that had been shrieking a moment ago seemed to vanish all at once. The wind died. The leaves stopped rustling. Even the sunlight filtering through the trees felt frozen in place.
The only thing left in that stillness was the young man standing alone on the scorched earth and the black sword at his waist, still sheathed, yet already radiating a pressure that made their hearts clench.
A bead of cold sweat slid down Kamo Noritoshi's temple.
As the next head of the Kamo Family, one of the Three Great Families, he had seen his share of powerful figures. He had even once witnessed a Special Grade sorcerer from afar.
But never had he seen anyone like the boy before him.
Yami was not releasing any Cursed Energy. He was not posturing. He was not even moving.
And yet, just by standing there, he gave off a despairing certainty.
An insurmountable wall.
Kamo's jaw tightened.
Their plan had been simple.
Split into two groups. Let the main force surround and kill Yuji Itadori while Todo Aoi kept the most troublesome variable occupied. As long as Sukuna's vessel died, Kyoto Jujutsu High would have achieved its true objective in this exchange event.
As for Yami, though he had been rated as a pending Special Grade, he was still supposed to be a sorcerer with no Cursed Energy. As long as Todo stalled him, the rest could finish the job.
That had been the plan.
But Todo Aoi had disappeared the moment the match began.
And now Yami had appeared directly in front of all of them.
Worse, he had done so in the most overbearing way possible.
One man.
One sword.
And he was blocking the path of all Kyoto Jujutsu High by himself.
At the other end of the forest, the Tokyo team was sprinting at full speed.
Then a deafening roar of thunder rolled through the woods.
Megumi Fushiguro halted at once and turned toward the sound. He knew that gold red lightning far too well.
"That was Yami," he said.
"Looks like he's already started."
Maki Zenin adjusted her glasses, and the corner of her lips curved upward in a wild grin.
"He's really making a mess of things."
Panda scratched the back of his head, sounding a little worried.
"Shouldn't we go help? That sound came from Kyoto's side. Yami didn't seriously charge into their whole team alone, did he?"
"He probably did," Nobara Kugisaki said, already looking more excited than concerned. "As expected of him. A real man takes on the whole field himself."
"Salmon," Toge Inumaki added in agreement.
Maki snorted and turned her eyes forward again.
"Forget Yami. If even he can't handle it, then us going there would just be getting in the way."
She raised her weapon and pointed toward the deeper forest.
"He's holding back the Kyoto main force for us. That means we clear out every cursed spirit in the area and end this before they can recover."
Her voice sharpened.
"This match is ours."
The Tokyo students surged forward again without hesitation.
They chose to trust him.
They trusted the boy who usually wore a gentle smile, yet always stepped forward when it mattered most.
Back at the confrontation, Kamo Noritoshi took a slow breath and forced his mind to cool.
He glanced toward the others.
Mechamaru was still in a combat stance, though the mechanical joints in his body were already humming in warning.
Momo Nishimiya had flown high into the air on instinct and clearly had no intention of coming down anytime soon.
Mai Zenin had raised her gun, but her trembling hands betrayed the fear in her chest.
Kasumi Miwa was gripping her sword so hard her knuckles had turned white, her face pale enough to match the steel.
If this continued, they would lose without even fighting.
The match had a time limit. If all of Kyoto Jujutsu High was pinned here by one person, then Tokyo would win cleanly without paying any price at all.
Kamo lowered his voice and sent it through Cursed Energy so only his team could hear.
"Listen carefully."
Everyone's attention snapped to him.
"His goal is to stop us. Not to chase us."
Kamo's eyes narrowed.
"That means we do not need to defeat him. We only need to break through."
A sharp light flashed in his gaze.
"We split up. Force him to choose. I'll pin him down from the front. The rest of you rush past him from different angles and head straight for Itadori."
He did not say the rest aloud.
Kill Sukuna's vessel, and this exchange event would still belong to Kyoto.
"Understood."
The replies came one after another.
Training overcame fear. Whatever they thought of Yami, they were still Jujutsu sorcerers.
Kamo shouted.
"Move!"
In an instant, the Kyoto students exploded in all directions.
Momo dove from high overhead, intending to fly straight over Yami's head.
Mechamaru's thrusters flared as he charged from the left under cover of suppressive fire.
Mai and Miwa broke to the right, trying to circle around his blind side.
Kamo himself charged directly from the front.
Fresh blood burst from the pouch in his hand and transformed into a red binding net.
"Blood Manipulation: Crimson Binding!"
The blood web tore through the air and shot straight toward Yami.
Five prongs.
Five attack angles.
A perfect pincer meant to force open a single gap.
Yami did not move.
He did not draw his sword.
He did not even shift his footing.
He merely lifted his eyes.
Deep within those gold red pupils, a faint light flickered.
Though he had not fully stepped into that legendary realm, the support of 18.9 percent synchronization had already pushed his senses to an absurd height.
In his perception, the world became painfully clear.
The movement of the wind.
The vibration of the leaves.
The pulse of every body around him.
The flow of Cursed Energy through each attack.
The slight tightening of muscles before a change in direction.
Even without turning his head, he could see where every one of them intended to go.
"I already told you," he said quietly.
"No one passes."
Boom.
An invisible force burst from him.
Not Cursed Energy.
Not a technique.
Just presence.
Pure, overwhelming, sharpened will.
Momo Nishimiya, who had been about to soar over him from above, suddenly felt as if a mountain had crashed down on her shoulders. Her broom lurched violently, and she lost control.
"Aaah!"
She plummeted from the air in a panicked scream.
On the left side, Mechamaru's internal alarms blared.
[Warning. Warning. High threat target detected. Estimated danger level: Special Grade.]
For the first time, even the puppet body registered a false sense of death. The feeling of being locked onto was so intense that his entire combat logic shifted at once. His advance stopped cold, and both mechanical arms swung up into a defensive posture on instinct.
On the right, Mai and Miwa froze mid step.
Yami's gaze had not lingered on them for more than a heartbeat, but that was enough.
The two girls felt as though a cold blade had already been laid across their throats.
If they forced themselves forward another step, they would die.
Kamo Noritoshi, charging from the front, felt it most clearly of all.
His Crimson Binding never even reached Yami.
Three meters from him, the blood web vanished into steam.
Kamo's eyes widened.
It had not been dispersed.
It had not been blocked.
It had been evaporated by the heat radiating from Yami's body.
One glance.
One stance.
And every possible route had been sealed.
Without lifting a sword, without taking a single step, he had forced back the entire Kyoto team.
Kamo's breath caught.
How could this even be called a fight?
A pending Special Grade?
A Heavenly Restriction user with no Cursed Energy?
Even Toji Fushiguro had not been described in terms this ridiculous.
"What are you…" Kamo muttered before he could stop himself.
Yami's fingers lightly brushed the hilt of Shiranui.
A faint red glow pulsed beneath the black sheath, as though the cursed tool itself were breathing.
"Do you still want to try?" Yami asked.
His voice remained calm. Too calm.
"If you insist on forcing your way through…" His eyes narrowed slightly. "Then I'll have no choice but to send you back lying down."
Silence.
The Kyoto students exchanged glances, but not one of them dared to move first.
The pressure was too much.
Kamo bit down so hard he tasted blood.
He was Kamo Noritoshi.
The next head of the Kamo Family.
If Kyoto Jujutsu High lost its nerve here, if they were frightened into immobility by one first year in front of an official exchange event, what face would Kyoto have left in the Jujutsu world?
What face would the Kamo Family have?
His expression hardened.
"Don't let him intimidate you!"
His shout ripped through the oppressive silence.
Everyone flinched.
Kamo crushed another blood pack in his hand. Blood streamed around his body and sharpened into floating crimson blades.
"No matter how strong he is, he's only one person!"
He glared at Yami.
"He has no Cursed Energy. That kind of pressure can't last forever!"
His voice grew fiercer, forcing courage into the others and into himself.
"If we can't get around him…"
The blood blades around him spun faster, humming with danger.
"Then we crush the variable first!"
He thrust his hand forward.
"All members attack!"
TL: Check out my newly released fanfic on my second account "FicLord"
Crossover Anime World: Reborn as Abe no Seimei
I didn't know that there's a limit on how many books you can publish here in webnovel
.....
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