Boom!
A deafening crash erupted within the faculty office at Jujutsu High.
The solid wood desk shattered into a spray of splinters under Yoru's terrifying strength!
The two assistant supervisors responsible for relaying the mission slumped to the floor, paralyzed with terror. They couldn't even find the strength to crawl away, staring in horror at the boy who stood before them like a god of death incarnate.
Yoru didn't give them another look.
He spun around, the hem of his black Jujutsu High uniform snapping in the gale of his own movement.
His crimson eyes, usually deep and calm, were now ablaze with a fury that could incinerate everything in its path.
Two hundred kilometers!
A remote mountainous area two hundred kilometers away from Tokyo!
At normal driving speeds, even going full throttle, it would take at least two hours to arrive.
But for Yu Haibara and Kento Nanami, who were facing a semi-special grade cursed spirit, two hours was an eternity. Even a single minute was enough for them to die a thousand deaths.
Clang!
With a crisp chime of metal, a pitch-black blade radiating heart-stopping heat manifested in Yoru's hand.
Special Grade Cursed Tool: Shiranui!
Yoru gripped the hilt, every muscle in his body tensing to the limit.
He would bridge that two-hundred-kilometer gap of despair before the Reaper's scythe could fall.
However, just as Yoru turned into a black blur about to charge through the school gates...
A tall, imposing figure blocked his path like an iron tower.
"Yoru! Stop right there!"
Masamichi Yaga stood with arms crossed, brow furrowed as he stared down the boy who seemed on the verge of a total rampage.
Beside Masamichi Yaga stood several massive mutated cursed corpses, each radiating powerful cursed energy.
"Move."
Yoru stopped, his voice so cold it felt as though it could freeze the air.
He had no time for explanations. Every second wasted meant Yu Haibara's chances of survival grew slimmer.
"You cannot go!"
Masamichi Yaga took a deep breath, his tone carrying an uncompromising severity.
"You haven't been assigned this mission by the General Headquarters! If you leave the school without permission and forcibly intervene in someone else's task..."
"Those higher-ups will absolutely seize this opportunity to brand you a traitor for defying orders!"
"They might even issue an immediate execution order!"
It wasn't that Masamichi Yaga didn't care about his students; as the principal of Jujutsu High, he knew the methods of those rotten oranges at Headquarters all too well.
They were desperately looking for an opening to take down Satoru Gojo and Yoru. If Yoru gave them an excuse, the consequences would be catastrophic.
"Desertion? Execution?"
Hearing those words, Yoru suddenly laughed.
The laugh was filled with utter derision and blatant killing intent.
"Principal Yaga, do you really think I give a damn about what those old fossils think?"
Yoru slowly raised Shiranui, the tip of the blade pointing directly at Masamichi Yaga.
"Rules are meant to protect the weak, not to kill people!"
"Do you have any idea that the mission those rotten oranges assigned to Haibara and Nanami isn't a Grade 2 task at all?"
"It's a monster evolving into a semi-special grade!"
Masamichi Yaga's pupils constricted as shock replaced his firm expression.
"Semi... Semi-Special Grade?! How is that possible? The mission brief clearly stated—"
"The brief is a lie!"
Yoru cut him off sharply, his voice trembling slightly with rage.
"They intentionally falsified the intel to use the lives of two first-year students just to test Satoru's and my bottom line!"
"Principal Yaga, listen closely!"
Yoru took a step forward. The terrifying pressure he exerted even forced the cursed corpses beside Masamichi Yaga to back away.
"If I don't go today, Haibara will definitely die!"
"Nanami will completely break in despair and become nothing more than a walking corpse!"
"And Suguru..."
A flicker of deep pain crossed Yoru's eyes.
"Suguru will lose his mind because he won't be able to accept his comrades dying to protect 'monkeys.' He'll walk down a path of no return, making himself an enemy of the entire world!"
"Do you really want to stand by and watch your students meet such an end?!"
Every word from Yoru struck Masamichi Yaga's heart like a heavy sledgehammer.
Masamichi Yaga was stunned.
He looked at Yoru's bloodshot eyes and saw the images of Yu Haibara's bright smile, Kento Nanami's perpetually stoic face, and Suguru Geto's increasingly melancholic gaze.
The rules he upheld seemed so ridiculous and cruel in this moment.
"I..."
Masamichi Yaga opened his mouth but found he couldn't say a word.
He slowly lowered his crossed arms.
The cursed corpses beside him also stood down from their combat stances.
"If anything happens, I, Yoru, will take full responsibility!"
"If those rotten oranges need a scapegoat, tell them to come find me!"
"If it comes down to it, I'll just cut them all down!"
Yoru didn't give Masamichi Yaga another chance to speak. He took a sharp, massive breath.
This was no ordinary breath.
It was a unique breathing technique that pushed the human body's potential to its absolute limit!
"Total Concentration: Constant!"
Boom!
As Yoru inhaled, it felt as though a nuclear engine had been ignited within his body!
Dazzling golden lightning began to surge and crackle violently across his skin!
His muscles vibrated at an incredible frequency, his bones emitting a grating sound.
"Thunder Breathing, First Form..."
Yoru lowered his center of gravity, placing his right hand on Shiranui's hilt and planting his left foot firmly back.
Crack!
The hard bluestone ground instantly caved in, forming a massive crater as spider-web cracks rippled outward.
"Thunderclap and Flash: Godspeed!!!"
Rumble—!!!
A thunderclap erupted out of thin air!
In front of the gates of Jujutsu High, a blinding burst of golden lightning exploded!
Masamichi Yaga couldn't even catch a glimpse of a blur. He only felt a sudden gale and a terrifying sonic boom hit him, stinging his cheeks.
When he opened his eyes again, the space before him was empty.
There was only a charred trench, carved out by intense heat and lightning, stretching from where Yoru had stood all the way to the horizon!
Fast!
Even faster!
On the streets of Tokyo, countless pedestrians only saw a streak of golden lightning flash past.
The deafening sonic boom followed a beat later, shattering the display windows of the shops lining the street.
Yoru had pushed his speed to a level that surpassed the sound barrier!
The friction of his body against the air generated such high temperatures that the edges of his school uniform began to singe and burn.
[SYSTEM: WARNING! HOST'S CURRENT PHYSICAL LOAD HAS REACHED 150% OF THE LIMIT!]
[SYSTEM: MUSCLE FIBERS ARE TEARING ON A LARGE SCALE! INTERNAL ORGAN TEMPERATURE IS TOO HIGH!]
[SYSTEM: IMMEDIATE CESSATION OF HIGH-SPEED MOVEMENT IS RECOMMENDED; OTHERWISE, IRREVERSIBLE PERMANENT DAMAGE WILL OCCUR!]
In his mind, the system's red sirens were screaming frantically.
But Yoru was deaf to them.
"Shut up!"
He gritted his teeth so hard they bled, his lip split and blood trickled down his chin, only to be instantly evaporated by the rushing wind.
He couldn't stop!
Scenes from the original story played on a loop in his mind.
Yu Haibara's cold body covered by a white sheet. Kento Nanami sitting outside the morgue, his eyes drained of all light, filled only with dead silence.
And Suguru Geto, after seeing his friend's corpse, his faith completely collapsing as he whispered in despair.
"I didn't transmigrate into this shitty world just to watch a tragedy repeat itself!"
"If I can't even save the comrades right beside me, what's the point of holding this blade?!"
"Synchronization Rate... Max it out!"
Vwoom!
Along with Yoru's roar, which seemed to come from the depths of his soul.
On his left forehead, the flame-like mark suddenly flared with an incredibly dazzling light!
Slayer Mark activated!
His body temperature instantly breached forty degrees Celsius! His heart rate surged to over two hundred beats per minute!
The speed that had already reached its limit exploded once more in a terrifying burst!
Lightning tore through the clouds.
Yoru became a burning meteor, crossing cities, plains, and mountains in a manner that almost seemed to rip through space itself!
Meanwhile.
In that remote mountain range still dozens of kilometers away.
The shadow of death had completely enveloped the ruins of the dilapidated shrine.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
The storm of bone spikes spat out by the Mutated Land Deity poured down like a torrential rain.
Covered in blood, Yu Haibara held his broken blade, standing firmly in front of the heavily injured Kento Nanami.
Those sharp bone spikes expanded rapidly in his pupils, carrying the suffocating stench of death.
Despair.
Utterly irredeemable despair.
"Nanami... live on..."
Yu Haibara closed his eyes, a faint, tragic smile still lingering on his lips as he tried to comfort his companion.
The Reaper's scythe was already pressing against the boy's neck!
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