A dull thud of flesh colliding echoed through the empty street.
Like a cornered lion cub, Yuji Itadori wrapped his right fist in the blue glow of cursed energy and slammed it into the face of the foremost transfigured human.
*Crack—*
Amidst the stomach-turning sound of shattering bone, the monster's twisted head caved in instantly. Its body was sent flying like a broken kite, knocking over four or five of its kind along the way.
However, even a fatal blow like that didn't make these monsters flinch for even a second.
The transfigured human with half its head crushed merely twitched a few times on the ground before picking itself back up in an incredibly eerie posture.
Senseless growls emanated from its half-shattered jaw, as if it were completely incapable of feeling pain. It set off once more on its mangled legs, charging at Yuji with reckless abandon.
"Dammit, they just keep coming!"
Yuji gritted his teeth, ducking quickly to avoid the sharp claws of two monsters swiping from the side while simultaneously sweeping their legs out from under them.
Immediately following up, he delivered a heavy elbow strike that crashed into the chest of a third transfigured human.
"Divergent Fist!"
Blue cursed energy exploded upon contact, followed shortly by a second impact that completely pulverized the monster's ribcage!
But there were just too many!
Looking around, the entire intersection, the surrounding streets, and even the outer walls of the buildings on both sides were crawling with these hair-raising monsters.
He estimated there were at least several hundred!
They were like a swarm of army ants that had caught the scent of blood, disregarding life and death as they surged forward, attempting to drown Yuji in sheer numbers.
What pained Yuji even more than his rapidly depleting stamina was the indescribable mental agony deep within his soul.
'These... they were all living human beings once!'
As Yuji looked at the lingering expressions of human pain and distortion on the monsters' faces, his heart felt as if it were being squeezed by an invisible hand.
He knew these were ordinary people whose souls had been forcibly reshaped by Mahito's Idle Transfiguration.
They were already dead.
All that drove these husks now were pure curses and the instinct to kill.
But even though he understood this intellectually, every time his fist struck a body that had once been human, a suffocating sense of guilt washed over him.
'I can't stop... I have to save Gojo-sensei!'
Yuji shook his head violently, forcing the chaotic thoughts from his mind.
He took a deep breath, gathering his remaining cursed energy to prepare for the next, even more violent wave of attacks.
"Roar—!"
Over a dozen exceptionally large transfigured humans suddenly leaped high from the swarm. Their arms had mutated into sharp bone blades, and they slashed down at Yuji from all directions simultaneously!
A total encirclement!
Yuji's pupils shrank. His previous momentum was spent, and his next movement hadn't yet begun; he couldn't completely dodge this lethal assault.
'Do I just have to tank it...?'
He crossed his arms in front of him, bracing his body to take the hit.
At that critical moment!
"Stop!"
A slightly raspy voice, yet one possessing an undeniable air of absolute authority, suddenly boomed from the air like a clap of thunder!
The voice wasn't loud; it even seemed somewhat faint in the cacophony of the battlefield.
But the moment it rang out!
An invisible but dominant ripple of cursed energy swept across the entire intersection with visible speed!
*Hum—*
It was as if time had been paused.
The dozen or so transfigured humans about to strike Yuji froze mid-air, as if held by an invisible giant hand, unable to move even an inch.
It wasn't just them.
The hundreds of monsters surging forward like a tide all froze in place at the same time.
Some were still baring their claws, others were suspended in the air. The entire scene was eerie to the extreme, like a horrific oil painting forced into a single frame.
Cursed Speech!
"This is..."
Yuji was stunned for a moment, but his battle instincts, forged on the edge of life and death, allowed him to react in less than half a second.
'Now's my chance!'
Without hesitation, he pushed off with all his might, shooting like a cannonball through the gaps between the frozen monsters!
*Bang! Bang! Bang!*
As he broke through, he threw several heavy punches, smashing the monsters blocking his path. He finally managed to tear open a hole and escape the suffocating encirclement.
Yuji panted heavily, looking back toward the source of the voice.
On the roof of a low building about a hundred meters away...
A silver-haired youth wearing a Jujutsu High uniform with a high collar covering the lower half of his face stood there quietly.
Toge Inumaki.
He held a signature megaphone in his hand.
Clearly, the "Stop" command that had just frozen hundreds of monsters was issued through that speaker.
Seeing Yuji successfully break out, Toge slowly lowered the megaphone. A hint of exhaustion flashed in his calm eyes, but he gave a slight nod in Yuji's direction.
Though he didn't speak, the look in his eyes was clear:
'Keep going. I'll handle things here.'
"Inumaki-senpai..."
A wave of warmth surged through Yuji's heart.
In this hellish Shibuya, the support of a comrade was like the only light in the darkness.
"Thank you! I'll definitely save Gojo-sensei!"
Yuji shouted back to Toge on the roof, then turned without hesitation, sprinting deeper into Shibuya Station along the path Toge had opened for him.
He knew he couldn't stop.
Not just for Gojo-sensei, but also to make sure Toge-senpai's hard-won opportunity didn't go to waste.
Watching Yuji's back disappear into the end of the street, Toge's gaze turned cold again.
He slowly pulled down his collar, revealing the strange Snake and Fangs seals on his tongue and the corners of his mouth.
Below him, the hundreds of transfigured humans briefly restrained by the "Stop" command were already starting to struggle violently.
The effect of the Cursed Speech was fading fast.
*Creak... crack...*
Accompanied by the grating sound of grinding bone, the foremost monsters broke free from their restraints and let out bloodthirsty roars once more.
Toge took a deep breath and raised the megaphone again, aiming it at the surging tide of monsters below.
'There are just too many of them...'
Even for Toge, a Grade 2 Jujutsu Sorcerer with immense talent for cursed energy, facing such a massive number of enemies brought a heavy weight of pressure.
Cursed Speech was a powerful technique where words dictated reality.
But that power was built on the foundation of the user's own cursed energy and the physical limits of their throat.
Facing such a vast number of pain-immune transfigured humans, the amount of cursed energy and throat damage required to keep them suppressed would be terrifying.
Just how much longer could Toge Inumaki's Cursed Speech hold out?
[ Author's Note : If you're loving the story, a power_stone, review or comment means the world!
Want 40+ chapters ahead right now? patre0n.c0m/Royal_ink ]