The darkness inside the Youth Palace seemed to have substance, viscously wrapping around their senses. Jade Dog White silently led the way, Megumi Fushiguro sensed the flow of cursed energy at the center, while Kugisaki and Itadori guarded the flanks, one left, one right.
The vivid children's drawings and educational exhibits on both sides of the corridor twisted into grotesque outlines in the dim light, as if about to come alive.
"Fork on the left, cursed energy reaction, closer to the center," Megumi Fushiguro suddenly whispered, his gaze sharpening towards the corridor leading to the "Ocean Exploration Zone." Almost simultaneously with his words, a teeth-tingling sound came, like countless slimy tentacles scraping against the ground, growing closer and closer.
Immediately after, a massive, writhing black shadow burst from the corner.
It was a repulsive Grade 2 cursed spirit.
It had a bloated, bubble-like main body, soaked in mucus, about two meters in diameter. The surface of the main body was covered in sucking mouthparts that constantly opened and closed, drooling. Dozens of pale tentacles of varying thickness, covered in suckers and barbs, extended from all sides of this sarcoma, thrashing like mad sea serpents, supporting its heavy yet swift movement. A strong smell, like rotten seaweed and fish, hit their faces.
"Be careful of its tentacles—they have paralyzing toxins and entangling properties. The main weakness is likely under the largest mouthpart in the center," Megumi Fushiguro quickly relayed information about the cursed spirit, his hands already raised to summon shikigami for cooperation.
However, someone moved faster than him.
"Leave it to me!"
Instead of fear, Yuji Itadori's eyes flashed with a hint of excitement, like a hunter spotting prey. He pushed off with his left foot, the special tiles beneath him clicking loudly, and he shot forward like a projectile from a cannon, fearlessly charging at the thrashing tentacles!
"Hey! Itadori!" Kugisaki instinctively tried to stop him, but Itadori's speed was too fast.
The cursed spirit seemed enraged by this reckless charge. Several of its thickest tentacles, with a sound of tearing wind, lashed out at Itadori from different angles like steel whips, blocking all his escape routes! The suckers at the ends of the tentacles opened, revealing fine spines inside, shimmering with a blue, poisonous light.
Facing this onslaught that could bend steel plates, the corners of Itadori's mouth grinned wide. He didn't slow down for a second or try to fully dodge. As the tentacles were about to reach him, he performed several rapid changes and twists in the air that almost defied the laws of physics, dodging with millimeter precision!
Swish! Swish!
Two tentacles grazed his shoulder and waist, only tearing his tracksuit and causing no serious damage. A third tentacle, thrusting towards his face, was caught by his left hand, which shot out like lightning and yanked it to the side!
"Hah!"
Itadori let out a shout, his arm muscles bulging, his terrifying physical strength exploding! He stopped the thrust of a tentacle thicker than his thigh with one hand, even lifting it in a half-circle to smash into another attacking tentacle! The two tentacles intertwined, making a chilling sound of breaking bones (if the cursed spirit had bones).
And his attack didn't stop!
Using the reaction force from this hand, Itadori instantly closed the distance to the cursed spirit's bloated sarcoma, bringing himself within three meters! This distance entered the "dead zone" for most tentacle attacks!
The largest mouthpart on the cursed spirit's main body hissed sharply, as if sensing danger, while the smaller mouthparts around it frantically opened and closed, spewing corrosive dark green mucus.
But Itadori was faster! His free right hand had already been raised to his waist during the charge, palms facing each other. The abundant cursed energy in his body was like summoned soldiers, frantically compressing, focusing, and rotating towards the "point" between his palms with unprecedented speed and precision!
No hand seals, no incantations, only absolute control over the flow of cursed energy and instinctive bodily coordination. A blue cursed energy light glowed between his palms, emitting a low, dangerous hum. A dark blue sphere, about twenty centimeters in diameter with a swirling internal light that seemed to pull in all eyes, condensed in an instant!
Rasengan!
Although it was only the most basic form and attribute changes hadn't been added, the destructive power caused by the high-speed, chaotic rotation of the internal cursed energy was not to be underestimated!
"Eat this!"
Itadori roared lowly and, with the remaining momentum of his charge, slammed the turbulent dark blue energy sphere in his right palm fiercely into the center of the cursed spirit's main body, beneath the largest mouthpart—the supposed weak point Fushiguro had hinted at!
The cursed spirit seemed to want to use its tentacles to defend, but it was too late. Its bloated body tried to retreat, but it was also too slow.
Crunch—!!!
The moment the Rasengan touched the cursed spirit's body, it didn't explode but made a strange, muffled sound, like a fast drill being screwed into mud! The dark blue vortex of cursed energy frantically tore and ground through the thick flesh and blood of the cursed spirit! The terrifying rotational force easily broke through the surface defense and penetrated deep inside!
"Screech—!!!"
The cursed spirit let out a horrific howl. Its entire sarcoma-like main body convulsed and shuddered, countless mouthparts on its surface simultaneously spewing dark green suspension fluid and shattered cursed energy light spots! The area hit by the Rasengan looked like a huge, sunken hole, the edges continuously being torn by the rotational force, the writhing black-red core tissue of the cursed spirit faintly visible inside!
The damage from this single strike far exceeded that of an average Grade 2 sorcerer! Most of the cursed spirit's aura instantly dimmed, and the thrashing tentacles drooped weakly.
"No way…" Nobara Kugisaki, who had been about to throw nails to help, widened her eyes, freezing all her movements, and blurted out. "His skill with that technique and his speed of execution… how long has he been practicing?"
She recalled that Itadori had only recently started systematically learning acquired techniques. The Rasengan, an attribute-less attack technique, required extremely high precision in cursed energy control and output stability. How could he use it so smoothly and powerfully in real combat?
Megumi Fushiguro looked at the staggered cursed spirit, now severely damaged, then at Itadori, who was crouched on the ground breathing slightly heavily, and calmly analyzed. "Itadori's physical fitness and combat intuition are themselves extremely outstanding. An approach like this—requiring instantaneous burst, close combat, and high demands on fine cursed energy control and physical coordination—suits him perfectly."
"Both Gojo-sensei and Lord Zen'in Genji have said that he lacks systematic knowledge of cursed energy and technique models, but once he gets started, his rate of progress will be very surprising."
He paused, recalling the man who had bet on him, and added, "In time, in terms of pure physical potential and close-quarters combat ability, he might... truly be comparable to my father—no, to the level of a Heavenly Restriction user's physical training. Techniques like the Rasengan, in his hands, could exert far greater power than in ordinary people."
"With this technique, Itadori has an attack method that works against cursed spirits without relying on unfamiliar cursed tools."
At that moment, Itadori didn't relax because the attack had succeeded. He knew well the tenacious vitality of Grade 2 cursed spirits, especially the large type. The moment the cursed spirit stiffened from the intense pain, exposing its core, Itadori's eyes flashed, and his body shot out again like a cheetah!
This time, he didn't use the Rasengan. Instead, he filled his fists with cursed energy and, with pure speed and power, thrust his hand like lightning into the wound torn by the Rasengan, his five fingers hooking and pulling with force!
Plop!
A fist-sized chunk of the cursed spirit's core flesh—black-red, still slightly writhing, radiating strong cursed energy and a malevolent aura—was ripped from the cursed spirit's body! Darker lubricating fluid burst from the wound, and the cursed spirit's pitiful howl turned into a dying whimper, its breathing rapidly seizing.
Itadori paid no attention to the repulsive sensation. Immediately after securing the core chunk, he performed a clean backflip and landed confidently back beside Kugisaki and Fushiguro. He tossed the still-dripping piece of cursed spirit flesh to Kugisaki.
"Kugisaki, catch! While it's fresh!" Itadori smiled, shaking the stains off his hands.
Nobara Kugisaki instinctively caught the heavy, moist chunk of flesh. Her hands felt cold and slippery, making her frown, but her eyes lit up with an impatient flame. She glanced at the dying but still struggling cursed spirit and snorted coldly.
"A bit gross, but this 'material' is indeed enough! Thanks, Itadori!"
She didn't hesitate. Quickly, she took out a simple straw doll from the tools at her waist, which had been prepared and processed with her right-hand cursed technique, and gripped her special cursed hammer in her left hand.
Her technique was Straw Doll Technique: Resonance.
It was an extremely special and dangerous cursed technique. The principle was to obtain a part of the target's body (hair, blood, or even flesh) and establish a "connection" with a special straw doll. Then, by "nailing" the straw doll to a base point (usually the ground or a special talisman) that symbolized "fixation" or "connection" with the hammer, you could inflict a lethal cursed energy attack on the target, regardless of distance!
The higher the "quality" of the target's body (the more powerful the cursed energy, vitality, and the closer the connection to the body), the stronger the technique's effect, the more precise the lock-on, and the more terrifying the damage. The most frightening thing was that this technique had almost no risk of backlash from ordinary curses. Its theoretical power ceiling was extremely high—if the "medium" had enough "weight," it could even inflict practical, effective damage on a level like Sukuna's, rather than just tickling him.
Kugisaki quickly pressed the piece of cursed spirit core to the straw doll's chest. Strangely, the moment the flesh touched the doll, it seemed to melt into it, leaving only a black-red mark with a pulse-like sensation on the doll's chest. The doll's empty eyes also seemed to light up with two red flames, resembling the cursed spirit.
"Got you, you stinky octopus!" The corners of Kugisaki's mouth curved into a sharp arc, not a trace of pity in her eyes. She raised the cursed hammer high; the demon-subduing runes engraved on the hammerhead glowed with a flickering light.
The next second, she exhaled and slammed the hammer attached to the straw doll onto the solid ground beneath her feet!
"Straw Doll Technique: Resonance!"
Bang!!
The hammerhead struck the ground, making a muffled sound. There was no enormous destruction, only a cold, strange cursed power that, using the straw doll as a medium, instantly traversed the tens of meters of distance along the invisible "connection" and acted upon the dying Grade 2 cursed spirit!
The cursed spirit's main body suddenly stiffened, even its final whimper ceasing.
Immediately after, dozens of tiny, needle-like, deep "core" holes burst without warning from within its bloated body—corresponding to the area where the straw doll had been "nailed"! It was as if an invisible, burning nail had pierced it from the inside!
There was no earth-shattering explosion, no dazzling cursed light. The Grade 2 cursed spirit, which a moment ago was still gnashing its teeth and thrashing its claws, seemed to have all its supporting "mud" drained away. Its massive body suddenly collapsed and disintegrated, turning into countless wisps of black smoke and flying remnants of cursed energy, falling with a rustle, finally leaving a puddle of stains on the ground that quickly evaporated and disappeared.
Dust to dust.
From Itadori's sudden attack, to the Rasengan causing severe damage and the core extraction, to Kugisaki's final one-shot kill—the entire process was seamless, taking only a few seconds. A Grade 2 cursed spirit that could have kept an ordinary team of Grade 2 sorcerers fighting was completely destroyed by this efficient cooperation.
Silence returned to the corridor, only the faint afterglow of the dissipating cursed energy indicating what had just happened.
Itadori brushed non-existent dust from his hands and gave Kugisaki a thumbs-up. "Clean kill, Kugisaki!"
Kugisaki pulled out the hammer, the mark on the straw doll's chest having dimmed. She carefully stowed it away and lifted her chin. "Right back at you. You got that piece of flesh perfectly, saved me a lot of trouble."
Megumi Fushiguro relaxed his alert posture slightly. Jade Dog White quietly returned from the shadows, rubbing against his leg. He glanced at the spot where the cursed spirit had vanished, then at his two companions who had tacitly cooperated, and a nearly imperceptible look of satisfaction flickered in his eyes.
"Continue. Don't let your guard down. The commotion might have attracted other factors," Megumi Fushiguro reminded, taking the lead towards the third floor, following Jade Dog White's indication of where the survivors might be.
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