Chapter 119: You Can't Die Yet!
For a breath, no one moved.
The Special Grade stood between them, its malformed body radiating pressure so thick it felt like invisible hands were crushing their lungs. The twisted space around them seemed to bend toward it. Even the stagnant air carried the taste of rot and Cursed Energy.
Yuji gritted his teeth.
Black mist coiled at his waist. A sword formed there, its edge humming with the power of wind.
He drew it in one swift motion and slashed.
The next instant, his hand flew.
Blood burst from his severed wrist.
The Wind Sword slipped from his grasp, struck the ground, and dissolved back into black mist before vanishing completely.
Yuji stared at the stump of his wrist for half a second.
Pain arrived late, sharp and blinding.
His breath hitched, but he forced himself not to scream. The Special Grade was too close. At this distance, running was nothing but a pretty word for dying with your back turned.
Yuji lowered his head slightly, eyes fixed on the blood pouring from his wrist.
"Sukuna," he said through clenched teeth. "If I die, you die too. If you don't want that, help me."
Inside him, Sukuna fell silent for a moment.
If the brat died, Sukuna would not truly perish. At worst, he would lose the soul fragments contained in two fingers. It was annoying, but not fatal.
The real problem was Asuramaru.
If Yuji died here and Asuramaru disappeared with him, then who knew when that legendary existence would ever appear again?
For the first time, Sukuna felt as if someone had found the right place to put a knife against his throat.
Even so, the King of Curses only sneered.
"I refuse."
His voice dripped with malice.
"Even if I die inside this body, I still have eighteen soul fragments left. But helping you is not impossible. Let's make a Binding Vow. I'll get rid of this Cursed Spirit for you, and in return, you'll share Asuramaru with me."
"Who would believe you, you bastard?!"
Yuji tore a strip of cloth from his uniform with his teeth and remaining hand, then wrapped it tightly around his wrist. His fingers trembled from the pain, but he pulled the makeshift bandage until the bleeding slowed.
Sukuna's tone remained leisurely, almost amused.
"What an annoying brat. Once a Binding Vow is made, even I can't break it without suffering the consequences. Decide quickly."
His voice sank, sharp and poisonous.
"You don't want to watch your friends die here, do you?"
Before Yuji could answer, the Special Grade lifted its hand.
Cursed Energy gathered in its palm.
The mass of energy swelled violently, then fired like a cannon.
A golden shockwave tore across the space, blasting apart everything in its path. Concrete shattered. Rusted steel twisted. A wide trench was carved into the ground as if an enormous claw had gouged through the world.
The Special Grade laughed and danced in place, admiring the destruction like a child pleased with a toy.
It did not take them seriously at all.
To it, the three first-years were insects.
Yuji snapped back to himself.
"Fushiguro!" he shouted. "Take Nobara and get out of here!"
Megumi's expression changed. "What?"
"I'll hold this thing off until you're gone! Once you're outside, send me a signal. Then I'll let Sukuna out!"
Megumi's face darkened.
"You think you can stall a Special Grade with one hand?"
Yuji looked at him.
There was fear in his eyes. Pain too. But beneath both of them was something stubborn enough to be called resolve.
"Please, Fushiguro."
Megumi clenched his jaw.
At that same moment, Nobara was no longer beside them. The earlier shockwave had torn open the floor and separated her from the others, throwing her somewhere deeper into the warped domain.
Megumi glanced toward the direction where she had vanished, then back at Yuji.
His fingers dug into his palm.
He hated this plan.
He hated every part of it.
But staying here would only get all of them killed.
"Don't die," Megumi said sharply. "I'll send the signal as soon as I'm out."
He formed a hand sign.
"Nue."
His shadow surged, and a giant masked owl emerged from it. The shikigami seized Megumi by the back of his uniform and lifted him into the air.
Megumi flew off to search for Nobara.
The Special Grade did not stop him.
It simply let him leave.
Perhaps it did not understand.
Perhaps it did not care.
Soon, only Yuji remained.
He stood alone before the Special Grade, blood dripping from his bound wrist onto the broken ground.
After a moment, he asked inwardly, "Asuramaru... if I die, will you disappear too?"
Inside him, Asuramaru's lips curved.
"Of course. If no one else earns my recognition, I'll vanish along with you."
Yuji's eyes brightened at once.
He lifted his head and shouted proudly, "You hear that, Sukuna?! If I die, Asuramaru disappears too! You don't want that, do you?"
Inside the Innate Domain, Asuramaru nearly failed to keep his expression straight.
He had thought Yuji was simple-minded.
Who would have guessed the boy could actually improvise?
Sukuna, on the other hand, trembled with rage.
This brat.
This damned brat.
He had been threatened in reverse.
For all his fury, Sukuna truly could not simply watch Yuji die now. But the King of Curses was not someone who could be controlled so easily.
"Don't get carried away," Sukuna hissed. "True, I can't let you die. But I can kill this Cursed Spirit, then slaughter your friends and everyone outside afterward."
This time, Yuji went silent.
His move had worked.
And failed.
If he refused, he might die here.
If he agreed, Sukuna might turn everyone outside into corpses.
Inside him, Asuramaru watched the back-and-forth with growing interest.
A threat answered by a threat. A hostage turned into leverage, then turned back again.
I really did underestimate you, Yuji Itadori.
Across from them, the Special Grade stared at Yuji, baffled by the human apparently arguing with himself.
Then its body changed.
The malformed lower half of the Cursed Womb tore apart. Flesh split open with a wet, sickening sound, revealing a pair of powerful, fully formed legs inside.
It had completed its metamorphosis.
The bizarre loincloth at its waist somehow became the most eye-catching part, though Yuji was in no state to appreciate the absurdity.
The Special Grade raised one hand again.
Cursed Energy gathered.
Then it swung.
A golden shockwave blasted toward Yuji.
He had no time to think. Black mist surged from his waist, and the second sword formed.
Arcana.
Yuji drew it and slashed forward with all his strength.
The sword met the shockwave head-on.
To his surprise, the golden blast split apart.
The severed force crashed to either side of him, exploding against the ground and throwing up a storm of dust.
Yuji stared at the sword in his hand.
"Is this thing really that sharp?" he muttered, breathless. "If it can cut that, maybe I can still—"
The Special Grade appeared in front of him.
A fist slammed into Yuji's abdomen.
All the air in his lungs vanished.
His body flew backward like a rag doll, smashed through a wall, and crashed onto a bridge-like passage on the other side. He rolled several times before finally stopping, his body twitching from the impact.
The world spun.
He nearly blacked out.
The curse did not give him time.
From the hole in the broken wall, the Special Grade spread its arms and gathered Cursed Energy again.
Another shockwave fired.
Yuji forced his body to move. With blood running into his eyes, he lifted Arcana and cut.
The blast split open.
In that tiny interval, the Special Grade kicked him.
Yuji flew again and slammed into the wall behind him hard enough to crack it.
He slid down and collapsed onto the ground.
Blood blurred his vision.
Pain filled every part of him. His wrist. His ribs. His stomach. His back. Even breathing felt like swallowing broken glass.
For the first time, Yuji Itadori truly felt death standing beside him.
So this is it.
This is what dying feels like.
It hurts.
It hurts so much.
I want to run.
If I hadn't picked up that finger...
If I hadn't brought it back...
Would everything have been different?
Could I have just lived normally?
Gone to school. Visited Grandpa. Laughed with my seniors.
A normal life.
A normal death.
His resolve wavered.
Inside him, Asuramaru sighed and shook his head.
Playtime was over.
If Yuji died here, everything ended with him.
Black mist began to gather.
Asuramaru prepared to seize control and fight with the twin swords himself.
At the same time, deep within Yuji's soul, Sukuna's expression finally changed.
This brat...
He isn't really going to die here, is he?
No.
No, not yet.
You can't die yet.
.....
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