Chapter 139: The Tyrant's Concealment and Choubao
Tokyo Jujutsu High, outer barrier.
A dense primeval forest surrounded the edge of the grounds.
Ancient trees towered overhead, their tangled branches sealing away most of the sunlight. The ground was buried beneath a thick layer of rotting leaves, and every step would have released a damp, moldy odor into the air.
Even the insects were quiet here.
In that dead stretch of forest, a figure crouched in the shadow of a massive old tree.
Toji Fushiguro.
He leaned against the rough trunk, turning a tarnished coin between his fingers. His cold, beastlike eyes stared through the gaps in the leaves toward Tokyo Jujutsu High, hidden beneath the invisible protection of Tengen's barrier.
"It's about time."
The corner of Toji's mouth curved.
A moment ago, the oppressive presence that had been wrapped around the barrier finally disappeared.
That was the signal.
Satoru Gojo had deactivated Limitless.
The divine child praised as the strongest in the Jujutsu World had finally lowered his guard after three days and three nights of tension, right after stepping into this so-called absolute safe zone.
"What an arrogant brat."
Toji flicked the coin away.
"Does he think hiding in a turtle shell means the job's done?"
His smile sharpened.
"Still, I have to thank that freak with no Cursed Energy."
Yami's cold, murderous face flashed through his mind.
"If that guy wasn't as sharp as a hunting dog, biting at me and refusing to let go, I wouldn't have needed to perform such a boring little play."
The kid named Megumi should have been found by that freak by now.
Maybe controlled.
Maybe protected like some precious bargaining chip.
Toji let out a low, hoarse laugh.
There was no guilt in it.
Only satisfaction.
He had used the other party's weakness, that ridiculous desire to save everyone, and thrown out his only supposed flaw as bait.
And it worked.
Yami, the biggest variable on the board, had been lured far away from the true battlefield.
Now, nothing stood between him and the Star Plasma Vessel.
It was time to show what real assassination looked like.
Toji straightened and rolled his shoulders. The muscles under his tight black shirt shifted like stone beneath skin, and his bones cracked in a series of dull pops.
Then he slowly pulled open the front of his shirt, exposing a scarred, powerful chest.
At the same time, far away on a suburban highway outside Tokyo, lightning tore across the road.
Boom!
A streak of electricity ripped through the night at a speed that bordered on insanity.
Yami's eyes were bloodshot, and the Demon Slayer Mark on his forehead burned with terrifying heat.
Thunder Breathing, First Form: Thunderclap and Flash, Godspeed.
Every step shattered asphalt.
The air behind him was violently torn open, leaving a long white trail like a scar across the road.
Damn it.
Damn it.
Damn it!
Rage roared inside Yami's chest.
He had been played.
Toji had left that clue on purpose, all to make him leave Jujutsu High at the most critical moment.
Draw the tiger away from the mountain.
The oldest trick in the book.
And he had still stepped into it.
"Faster."
His heart hammered violently, as if it would burst apart inside his ribs.
"Faster!"
He squeezed every last drop of strength from his body, trying to erase the dozens of kilometers between him and Jujutsu High.
Inside the barrier, however, the atmosphere was completely different.
"Phew… finally back."
Satoru Gojo stretched lazily, rubbing his bloodshot eyes.
He had completely deactivated the Cursed Technique he had maintained for three straight days, allowing the crushing fatigue to wash through his body.
"Suguru, I could eat a whole cow right now."
Suguru Geto smiled faintly and recalled the Cursed Spirits he had kept on guard.
"Then let's hurry and bring Riko to the Tomb of the Star Corridor. Once the mission is finished, we can go eat as much as you want."
Riko Amanai sat on the nearby steps, exhausted but smiling with the relief of someone who had survived far longer than she thought she would.
"Thank you, both of you. Really."
This was Tokyo Jujutsu High.
The safest place in Japan.
Protected by Tengen's barrier.
No one believed there was any danger left.
But outside that barrier, Toji Fushiguro was already moving.
"Come out, Choubao."
At his cold command, an ugly Cursed Spirit crawled out from the shadows.
It looked like a thing patched together from lumps of flesh, swollen and misshapen, with a mouth far too large for its body. This was Toji's Inventory Curse, a storage-type Cursed Spirit he had forced into obedience.
"Open your mouth."
Choubao obeyed, opening its bloody maw.
Toji began stuffing weapons into it one by one.
Ordinary katanas.
Special firearms.
Poisoned hidden weapons.
Tools for killing sorcerers.
Finally, he took out a short blade with a strange shape.
Its edge was split in a peculiar way, and ancient cursed markings ran across the blade. The aura around it was thin but terrifying, like something capable of severing the logic of a technique itself.
Special Grade Cursed Tool, Inverted Spear of Heaven.
A weapon capable of forcibly dispelling any activated Cursed Technique.
Toji's ultimate trump card against Satoru Gojo's Limitless.
He stroked the blade once, a faint fanaticism flashing in his eyes.
Then he fed it into Choubao's mouth as well.
After that, he turned his gaze toward the Cursed Spirit's bloated body.
Ordinary infiltration would never work against Tokyo Jujutsu High.
Tengen's barrier could detect traces of Cursed Energy. Toji himself had none, but the Cursed Tools he carried and Choubao itself would still emit residual traces. If he brought them through normally, the barrier would react.
So there was only one way.
Turn the source of that Cursed Energy into part of his own body.
"Sorry for the trouble."
There was no pity in Toji's voice.
The next second, he grabbed Choubao's fat body with both hands.
Then he forced it into his mouth.
"Guh… guh…"
Choubao let out a muffled, painful whimper. Its misshapen body struggled violently, but Toji's grip was like iron.
He looked less like a man swallowing something and more like a monster devouring another monster.
Bit by bit, he forced the Cursed Spirit into his throat.
Gulp.
The wet sound was enough to make the skin crawl.
Choubao disappeared completely into Toji's body.
For a moment, Toji bent over and clutched his throat, retching violently. His stomach bulged unnaturally, something inside it writhing as if trying to tear its way out.
Then his body suppressed it.
By sheer physical force, he crushed the struggle inside him.
Toji wiped the saliva from the corner of his mouth and breathed heavily.
A mad smile spread across his scarred face.
Disgusting.
Insane.
Effective.
With Choubao swallowed, the residual Cursed Energy from the tools was sealed inside Toji's Heavenly Restriction body.
His own Cursed Energy had always been zero.
Now, everything he carried had been erased from the world's perception as well.
No Cursed Energy.
No detectable presence.
No fluctuation for the barrier to catch.
At that moment, Toji Fushiguro became something close to a nonexistence.
A ghost outside the rules.
Even the Six Eyes, which could see the flow of Cursed Energy with impossible precision, would not detect a grim reaper who produced none.
"Preparations complete."
Toji rolled his neck, bones cracking softly.
He looked up at the invisible barrier in front of him.
His eyes were hungry.
Then he stepped forward.
His body touched the barrier.
Nothing happened.
No alarm.
No rejection.
The barrier established by Tengen, praised as impenetrable, was no different from empty air to a man who carried no trace of Cursed Energy.
Toji passed through it without resistance.
He stepped onto the grounds of Tokyo Jujutsu High.
Looking at the familiar buildings beyond the trees, his smile turned cold.
"The hunt begins."
A breeze passed through the forest, shaking loose several yellow leaves.
The moment they touched the ground, Toji's figure had already vanished into the shadows.
The perfect assassin had infiltrated.
Silent.
Cold.
Without a trace for the world to follow.
Far away, Yami was still racing down the highway like a bolt of thunder.
Inside Tokyo Jujutsu High, Satoru Gojo was taking Riko toward the vending machines, his guard finally lowered after three days of strain.
And in the unseen spaces between them, the death knell of fate had already begun to ring.
.....
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