The Shinjuku rooftop.
Yamada applied a slight force with his palm, and with a 'pop,' he crushed the fly Cursed Spirit into a wisp of blue smoke.
He could feel that the mental thread connected behind the scenes had been decisively cut by the other party.
"Runs quite fast."
Yamada clapped his hands, and the Rinnegan in his eyes returned to a deep black.
He did not use space-time Ninjutsu to pursue.
Someone like Kenjaku, who had lived for a thousand years, had endless life-preserving methods. Even if he pursued now, at most he would only kill a useless puppet shell.
The best way to uproot this cancer hiding in the gutters was to let him feel the time was ripe and take the initiative to put all his cards on the table.
The Culling Game, the resurrection of Ryomen Sukuna.
That was the true goldmine for harvesting massive amounts of Dimension Points.
Killing a hiding turtle now would be too much of a loss.
Cast a long line to catch a big fish.
Yamada pulled back his thoughts and leaped from the edge of the rooftop, landing steadily on the street cleared by Shinra Tensei.
Almost at the same time he landed, Satoru also descended from mid-air, standing less than ten meters away from Yamada.
At the other end of the street.
In the dark alley, the sound of heavy footsteps echoed.
A youth wearing a robe with his long hair half-draped slowly walked out.
There was a prominent scar on his face, and his narrow eyes held a coldness that seemed to have seen through the world yet remained extremely obsessive.
Suguru.
Once a top student at Jujutsu High, now a Special Grade Curse User wanted by the entire Jujutsu World.
He looked at the empty street and the massive semi-circular gap where even the buildings had been sliced in half.
The expression on his face froze. "A thousand Cursed Spirits. The bait I painstakingly prepared to stall you was actually gone in an instant."
Suguru's gaze passed Satoru and landed on Yamada, a bitter smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "Yamada-san, it's been twelve years. Your way of saying hello is as rough as ever."
Yamada looked calmly at the youth who had strayed onto the wrong path.
Twelve years ago, he had saved Riko, clearing the regrets of the Star Plasma Vessel incident for Suguru. But in the end, Suguru still chose to defect because he couldn't bear the exploitation and persecution of sorcerers by ordinary people, embarking on this dead-end path to 'kill all non-sorcerers'.
The inertia of fate is indeed laughably stubborn sometimes.
"Your spectacle was too noisy, it's a public nuisance." Yamada replied flatly.
Satoru stood with his hands in his pockets, blocking the path between Yamada and Suguru. He looked at his former best friend, his eyes holding no anger, only a deep sorrow.
"Suguru. Stop this."
Satoru's voice was soft, yet it echoed clearly in the empty street.
"The Night Parade of a Hundred Demons has already failed. The Cursed Spirits in your hands have been wiped clean. Even if you go to Jujutsu High to find Yuta now, it's impossible for you to take Rika."
Suguru looked at Satoru and suddenly burst into laughter. The laughter contained unmasked mockery, though it was unclear if he was mocking Satoru or himself.
"Stop? Satoru, do you think there's any possibility of turning back now that I've come this far?"
Suguru spread his arms, his wide robe fluttering in the wind.
"This world is full of nauseating monkeys. They emit ugly negative emotions and create Cursed Spirits, yet they expect us Jujutsu Sorcerers to risk our lives and die for them. Why?"
His gaze became incredibly fanatical and obsessive. "I just want to create a paradise where there are only Jujutsu Sorcerers and where we don't have to watch our comrades die in vain. What's wrong with that?"
Satoru's fists tightened in his pockets. "But you killed ordinary people, even your own parents."
"Those were necessary sacrifices."
Suguru stopped smiling, his gaze turning cold. "Since you cannot understand my cause, there's nothing more to say."
He slammed his hands together.
Boom!
An extremely massive and cold Cursed Energy erupted from within him.
Although the thousand Cursed Spirits used to stall for time had been instantly evaporated by Yamada, as a Special Grade Jujutsu Sorcerer, Suguru's trump cards were far from exhausted.
Special Grade Imaginary Vengeful Cursed Spirit: Tamamo-no-Mae Incarnate!
Accompanied by a terrifying wave of Cursed Energy, a massive Cursed Spirit with several fox tails rose from the shadow behind him.
The pressure it emitted was more terrifying than all those small fry combined.
"Satoru. Today, it's either your death or mine." Suguru prepared for a life-and-death struggle.
Satoru fell silent.
He slowly pulled out his hands, and the Cursed Energy around him began to operate at full power.
This was not just a conflict of ideals, but a fated battle between two Special Grade Sorcerers and former best friends.
In this moment of tension where a life-and-death struggle could break out at any time, Yamada sighed, "What a boring melodrama."
He pulled his hands from his pockets, walked straight past Satoru, and headed toward Suguru.
"Old man, don't interfere. This is between Suguru and me." Satoru reached out to stop Yamada but grabbed only air.
Yamada's figure passed through his arm like a ghost, it was the intangibility of Kamui.
Seeing Yamada approaching, Suguru acted as if facing a formidable foe. He immediately controlled Tamamo-no-Mae. Its thick fox tails, like giant pillars supporting the sky, slammed down toward Yamada with a storm that tore through the air.
Yamada didn't even raise his head. In his right eye, a crimson hexagram suddenly lit up.
Amaterasu!
Pitch-black flames ignited out of thin air on Tamamo-no-Mae's fox tails.
These black flames, said to be able to burn everything in the world, instantly spread along the Cursed Spirit's body.
"Aaaaah!"
That imaginary vengeful cursed spirit, which ranked among the best even among Special Grades, couldn't even last three seconds before this unreasonable black hellfire and was burned into void-like ashes.
Suguru's pupils constricted sharply.
Just as he thought of retreating, Yamada had already appeared in front of him.
With a front kick, Yamada slammed his foot into Suguru's abdomen.
Bang!
The sound of bones shattering rang out.
Suguru was sent flying dozens of meters, crashing heavily through a brick wall and becoming buried in the rubble.
"Pfft!"
Suguru spat out a large mouthful of blood, losing even the strength to stand up.
Just a single blow.
A Special Grade Cursed Spirit was insta-killed, and a Special Grade Curse User was crippled with one kick.
This was the massive gap between the Six Paths level and this world's power system.
Yamada walked to the rubble and looked down at the dying Suguru.
Satoru hurried over, his gaze complex as he looked at his heavily injured best friend.
"Your cause? Your paradise?"
Yamada squatted down, grabbed Suguru's hair, and yanked up his blood-covered face, his tone filled with unmasked contempt.
"To be able to kill even your own parents and wrap your escapism in such high-sounding words... your way of thinking is even more pathetic than that rat Muzan."
Yamada let go, allowing Suguru to fall back into the rubble.
He stood up and looked at Satoru nearby. "I've crippled him for you. Whether you execute him on the spot according to your Jujutsu World's rules or spare his life is up to you."
Yamada clapped his hands and turned around. "But I'll give you a warning. If his body isn't handled properly after he's killed, something even more disgusting than him will come out to occupy his shell. Weigh that for yourself."
Yamada's figure vanished into the night, leaving behind a mess of ruins and two former best friends facing off.
Satoru stood silently in place, his eyes watching Suguru, who was lying in the rubble and coughing up blood.
The robe, symbolizing his status as the leader of the Star Religious Group, had been completely dyed red with blood.
"Suguru."
Satoru crouched down, his voice devoid of any emotion, yet carrying a profound sadness.
"That man was right. Your 'great cause' was a dead end from the start. Having reached this point, neither of us can turn back."
Suguru struggled to curl the corner of his lips, looking up at the pitch-black sky. "Yeah... there's no turning back."
He closed his eyes, flashes of the past decade or so flickering through his mind.
From fighting side-by-side during their time at Jujutsu High, to the confusion following the Star Plasma Vessel incident, and then to the faces of the ignorant villagers in that remote hamlet.
He was too tired.
"Satoru. In the end, I'm still dying by your hand. Well, whatever. At least it's much better than dying at the hands of those monkeys."
Satoru remained silent for a long time. He slowly raised his right hand, a lethal glow of Cursed Energy lighting up his fingertips.
"Goodbye, my one and only best friend."
Pfft!
After a faint, dull thud, Suguru's breathing stopped completely.
***
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