Meanwhile, outside the cinema, Yoshino Junpei dialed the number Shin had given him.
"Hello. I'm in a meeting. What's up, Shin?"
"Hello, my name is Yoshino Junpei. The owner of this phone asked me to call you. Right now..."
Yoshino Junpei quickly explained the situation on the scene.
On the other end of the phone, Satoru said indifferently, "Alright, I understand. If it's just the kind of Cursed Spirit you described—one that can't even detect the Cursed Energy Shin is hiding—he can handle it himself. Someone will be there shortly to ensure your safety, so don't worry."
Having said that, Satoru hung up the phone and continued sitting in the cafe eating dessert.
What? You say he's in a meeting? You believe that lie?
...
Inside the movie theater, Shin was beating Mahito so badly that he couldn't even lift his head. The gap in information between the two sides was massive, and at this moment, Mahito was nowhere near his peak state, he was ridiculously weak.
"Ugh!"
Facing such a huge gap in combat power, Mahito already had the intention to flee. He spat out four Transfigured Humans from his mouth, hoping to buy some time to gather Cursed Energy to escape, but Shin, wielding his trident, swept horizontally and cut all four Transfigured Humans in half at the waist.
Mahito's chest was also slashed open by this sweep. He leaned against the wall, using Cursed Energy to repair his body, a strange smile appearing on his face.
"Hahahaha! This is so interesting! You clearly know those were humans, right? You strike so decisively, just like a Cursed Spirit!"
Shin retracted his trident and raised his fist, responding, "Not all of them. I can only say they were once human. But the joke ends here. If you want to rely on your peculiar Cursed Technique related to the soul to fight a war of attrition with me, then I can only show you what a natural enemy is."
Shin's thoughts drifted back to that day during summer break when he was unilaterally beaten up by Satoru.
"Gojo-sensei, what should I do if a Cursed Spirit has a strange Cursed Technique where it can recover from any injury, no matter how severe, as long as its soul isn't damaged?"
Satoru answered, "Obviously you just attack its soul. But that's not something an average Jujutsu Sorcerer can do. Most Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerers can perceive the soul, and when facing a soul-based attack, they can subconsciously use Cursed Energy to protect their own soul."
"But that's not enough. If you want to hit the opponent, you at least need to be able to see them—that is, be able to perceive the outline of the soul. The difference between that and the soul protection mentioned above is like one being a rock of unknown shape that you can just splash water on and eventually hit, while the other is seeing the shape of the rock and slowly brushing the water onto it."
"For those without a special Cursed Technique, this is extremely difficult, unless you have actually seen what your own soul looks like."
"There's also a simple method: just use Domain Expansion. The opponent's Cursed Technique will be neutralized by the domain's effect and rendered ineffective."
...
If Shin used Domain Expansion now, his massive domain would burst through the Curtain and be clearly visible to the ordinary people nearby, so it wasn't very convenient. However, once he learned how to perform a partial expansion, it would be much easier.
But...
"Sorry, but I have actually seen the shape of my soul."
Shin coated his soul with Cursed Energy and punched Mahito in the face.
Bam!
Mahito's face was sunken in once again. This time, Mahito had truly taken damage, rather than just consuming some Cursed Energy like in the previous combat.
Drip...
Unlike other Cursed Spirits, bright red blood dripped from Mahito's face. He finally felt fear, because the Jujutsu Sorcerer in front of him could truly kill him.
'I'll die... I'll die! There's no doubt I'll die, but I don't want to die!'
Mahito took out the remaining six Transfigured Humans and fused them all together at once.
The originally small Transfigured Humans suddenly grew exponentially, almost filling up most of the movie theater, surging toward Shin like a wall of flesh.
Forced to retreat by this wall of flesh, Shin kept throwing TNT in front of him. Violent explosions rang out endlessly. Even amidst the smoke and dust of the explosions, Shin kept his lock on Mahito's soul fluctuation.
After all, Cursed Energy fluctuations could be faked at will by Mahito, but the soul could not be faked.
In desperation, Mahito forcibly tore his own soul apart, splitting it into ten pieces, and twisted his body into tiny rats to scatter and escape.
'What is this? I don't remember Mahito having this move.'
Although his mind was occupied with thoughts, Shin's body was already moving. He smashed a Splash Potion of Swiftness on the ground, focused his mind to the limit, locked onto the ten targets, and quickly darted around the movie theater, gripping his trident.
Every time the trident swung, one of Mahito's soul fragments would be dispersed. But there were simply too many targets. By the time Shin killed the eighth soul fragment, two had already escaped outside the theater.
"Don't even think about escaping!"
Boom!
Shin pushed off with his legs, and black light erupted from them.
Black Flash!
The powerful recoil increased Shin's speed by another notch. With another strike, he exorcised the ninth soul fragment, and then, with another Black Flash, he quickly leaped toward the tenth soul fragment.
At this moment, the tenth soul fragment was burrowing into the sewer.
Boom!
The trident, shining with black light, slammed onto the sewer entrance, blowing it open.
Mahito gritted his teeth and resisted the powerful force coming from behind, fleeing for his life, and finally landed in the filth of the sewer.
Above, Shin looked at the filthy sewer below and gritted his teeth, preparing to jump down after him, but suddenly, Satoru's voice sounded from behind his collar.
"Nice Black Flash, Shin. Looks like you've successfully taken care of it."