"Boom!"
A deafening explosion erupted in the Shibuya underground transfer hall.
Yuji Itadori was sent flying like a cannonball, slamming heavily into a thick support pillar, carving a massive human-shaped crater into the hard concrete surface.
Debris and dust rained down, instantly filling the surrounding space.
"Cough..."
Yuji coughed up a mouthful of blood, feeling as if every bone in his body had shattered in agonizing pain.
He stared intently at the figure slowly approaching through the bloody mist, his eyes filled with unprecedented gravity.
He's too strong!
Less than three minutes had passed since the fight began, yet he had already fallen completely into a disadvantage!
"What's wrong? Is this all you've got?"
Choso looked expressionlessly at Yuji, who was struggling to stand up from the ruins, his hands elegantly crossed in front of him.
"If you truly have some unspeakable connection to those two children, then your performance... is truly disappointing."
"Swish! Swish! Swish!"
Before he finished speaking, a dozen drops of crimson blood suddenly floated in front of Choso.
These drops writhed eerily in the air, instantly transforming into a dozen razor-sharp blood spikes that rained down toward Yuji's position like a torrential downpour!
Blood Manipulation: Slicing Exorcism!
"Damn it!"
Yuji cursed. Ignoring the intense pain in his body, he kicked off the ground with his legs, rolling away clumsily in mid-air.
*Thud thud thud thud!*
Those blood spikes sank deep into the spot where he had just been standing, not only instantly piercing the thick concrete floor but even letting out a piercing corrosive sound at the edges.
If he were hit directly by those things, he would definitely be turned into a pincushion in an instant!
"I've already told you! I have no idea what you're talking about with this 'scent of your brothers'!"
Yuji roared loudly while frantically dodging Choso's continuous attacks.
"My name is Yuji Itadori! I'm just a high school student caught up in this disaster! Aside from those monsters I met outside earlier, I haven't come into contact with anyone else today!"
"Still refusing to admit it?"
Hearing Yuji's defense, the fire in Choso's eyes did not subside; instead, it burned even more fiercely.
His already pale face twisted to the extreme with rage.
To Choso, his brothers were the entire meaning of his existence.
He could absolutely not tolerate anyone desecrating that sacred blood connection with lies!
"Since you're determined to take this secret to hell with you, then I'll grant your wish!"
Choso took a deep breath and quickly formed a complex hand seal.
*Hum!*
A terrifying cursed energy, more than ten times more violent than before, erupted from his body, causing the surrounding air to hum and vibrate.
Yuji's pupils shrunk.
He clearly saw that the horizontal blood mark on Choso's face seemed to come alive at this moment, beginning to emit a brilliant blood-red light!
Even the gravity around Choso seemed to undergo a bizarre distortion at this instant!
'This feeling... I can't dodge it!'
Yuji's beast-like intuition was screaming in a frantic alarm.
He could feel that Choso's next strike was definitely not something that could be avoided by relying on speed and footwork alone!
"Then I'll just have to face it head-on!"
Yuji gritted his teeth hard, abandoning the thought of continuing to dodge.
He gathered all the cursed energy in his body into his arms without reservation.
Blue cursed energy flickered wildly on his fists, like two storms about to erupt.
Divergent Fist: Maximum Output!
At that moment, Choso's attack finally finished charging.
He slammed his hands together in front of him; in his palms, a drop of dark red blood, seemingly containing endless destructive power, was compressing and spinning frantically.
"Blood Manipulation: Secret Technique..."
Choso's voice, like a death knell from the depths of hell, boomed through the hollow underground hall.
"Piercing Blood!"
"Bang!"
Along with a sharp sonic boom that felt as if it could tear his eardrums.
That drop of blood, compressed to its limit, instantly turned into a red beam that the naked eye could not track, shooting toward Yuji's heart at a terrifying speed exceeding the speed of sound!
It was too fast!
There was no time to even think!
Yuji only felt a flash of red light before the lethal sense of crisis descended upon his chest!
"Aaaaaah!"
At the final moment between life and death, relying on that terrifying instinct that even Sukuna marveled at, Yuji managed to twist his body to the left by just a few centimeters!
*Splurt!*
Blood sprayed everywhere!
That laser-like Piercing Blood grazed the edge of Yuji's heart and brutally pierced through his right shoulder!
A fist-sized hole appeared on Yuji's shoulder; the pale bone fragments and the scorched muscle tissue inside were clearly visible!
"Ugh-ah!"
The immense impact sent Yuji's body flying backward, crashing into a pile of rubble over ten meters away.
"Cough... cough, cough..."
Yuji knelt on one knee, coughing up large amounts of blood.
He clutched his completely pierced right shoulder tightly; the intense pain caused his vision to blur.
If his reaction had been even 0.01 seconds slower, that Piercing Blood would have pierced his heart instead of his shoulder!
"You... actually avoided a fatal wound?"
Choso slowly lowered his hands, a rare flash of surprise in his eyes as he looked at the figure in the ruins that still hadn't fallen.
He was well aware of the power of his previous strike.
The speed and penetration of Piercing Blood were top-tier among all cursed techniques.
Even those long-established Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerers would absolutely not be able to dodge this strike if caught off guard.
But this boy, who looked only in his teens, had managed to avoid his vitals through sheer physical reaction!
This terrifying physical constitution was simply like a monster's!
"No wonder..."
Choso walked up to Yuji step by step, looking down at him with an extremely complex gaze.
"No wonder your body can contain the soul of the King of Curses."
"This body of yours... is a vessel meticulously created to carry some kind of terrifying power, isn't it?"
Hearing Choso's words, Yuji snapped his head up, his bloodshot eyes filled with unbelievable shock.
"What... what are you talking about?"
"I'm a human! I'm not some manufactured vessel!"
Yuji roared angrily, but his voice, trembling from excessive blood loss, sounded so weak and futile.
"Still being stubborn?"
Choso looked at him coldly and slowly raised his right hand.
A drop of thick blood condensed on his fingertip again, emitting a heart-palpitating aura of death.
"Since your body is so special, I'll see just how many Piercing Blood attacks you can take!"
Choso's voice was cold to the extreme, devoid of any mercy.
"I'll ask you one last time..."
"Why do you have the scent of my brothers on you?!"
Faced with Choso's near-maniacal interrogation and feeling the terrifying killing intent in the blood on his fingertip...
Yuji Itadori gritted his teeth tightly, his mind racing.
'The scent of his brothers?'
'Could it... really be related to my origins?'
'What exactly does this man named Choso know?!'