Boom!
The moment his words fell, a deafening impact resounded like the toll of a temple bell.
Sukuna stomped on the concrete roof with monstrous force, shattering the reinforced structure beneath him as he lunged at Roy like a gust of wind. In the blink of an eye, he was right in front of Roy.
His face twisted into a demonic grin as he threw a punch straight at Roy's face.
"Getting impatient?"
Roy chuckled at the sight.
At the last seemingly impossible moment, his finger shot out like lightning, striking precisely between Sukuna's knuckles.
Sukuna's fist immediately spasmed as if cramping, all its force dissipating like floodgates bursting open.
Without pause, Roy flicked his finger again—a flash of light in the narrow space—and delivered a sharp flick to Sukuna's forehead.
Snap!
Before Sukuna could even touch Roy, a sharp pain exploded in his skull, sending him flying backward. He crashed through the school building's wall, leaving another gaping hole.
"Hah! Entertaining!"
With a loud laugh, Sukuna leaped back out from the wreckage, using the momentum to launch a flying kick aimed straight at Roy's head.
"I'll chop off your head and make soup out of it—bet it'll taste delicious!"
"Truly a chef—such professional dedication."
Roy let out an amused chuckle, tilting his head just enough to evade the airborne kick. At the same time, his fingers darted out like he was swatting a fly, landing a pinpoint strike on the back of Sukuna's calf.
"Huh?"
The moment Roy's finger connected, Sukuna's right leg suddenly seized up in a spasm. His landing faltered, nearly sending him tumbling to the ground.
"That finger—hit a pressure point?"
All four of Sukuna's eyes narrowed sharply.
Even in the midst of such high-speed combat, Roy had managed to precisely target the nerve cluster in his leg?
Did that mean his dynamic vision and reflexes far surpassed his own?
And not just by a little?
"Then how about this!"
Sukuna pushed off the ground with his unaffected left foot, launching himself upward, his toes stabbing toward Roy's chin like a blade.
"Still not learning, huh."
Roy sighed as if disappointed.
With a single effortless step, he shifted his footing in an almost surreal manner, easily dodging Sukuna's strike.
To Sukuna, Roy's movements were a dizzying blur—his figure flickering in and out of sight within mere inches. By the time he realized it, Roy was already right in front of him, his finger darting toward Sukuna's heart like lightning.
In an instant, a wave of numbness surged through his entire body.
His heart skipped several beats, all strength draining from his limbs as he collapsed weakly to the ground, his body convulsing uncontrollably.
"You may be the King of Curses from a thousand years ago, but you were just born a little earlier, that's all."
Roy stood before Sukuna, his figure blocking the moonlight that had been shining down on him, as if single-handedly pushing Sukuna into the darkness.
The white-haired, red-eyed youth looked down at the Cursed King from a thousand years ago, his face bearing an utterly placid smile.
"If you'd truly lived for a millennium, fighting you might have been interesting. But what a pity—you haven't accumulated wisdom over a thousand years. All you've gained is the experience of a single lifetime."
Roy, keeping to their agreement, faced him using only a single finger.
In fact.
He had only ever used the tip of that finger.
Yet from start to finish, he had completely suppressed Sukuna, who couldn't even manage a single effective counterattack.
Roy was Fan Xinglou's personal disciple.
Unlike Sukuna, who was merely a figure from a thousand years ago revived in the present, Fan Xinglou had genuinely lived for over a millennium. She had mastered every skill known throughout history—blades, spears, swords, halberds, fists, palms, fingers, and feet—reaching a level of inhuman perfection.
Because of this, Fan Xinglou desperately longed for an opponent who could satisfy her. But after waiting endlessly, no one could meet that expectation, leaving her to sigh endlessly upon her throne.
Let's be honest—mastering every historical technique over a thousand years without ever slacking, then expecting later generations to catch up to you? That's giving humanity's wisdom far too much credit.
After months of Fan Xinglou's relentless "instruction" (read: beatings), Roy was forced to engrave all eighteen martial arts into his body as instinct.
Compared to that, what was Sukuna?
Hailed as the strongest Cursed King in history, his talent was indeed exceptional—but in the end, he only possessed the wisdom of a single lifetime, still confined to the realm of humanity.
This King of Curses wasn't much.
He probably needed more fingers, huh?
Under the moonlight.
Roy's expression remained utterly blank.
Sukuna even caught a flicker of disappointment in his eyes.
Disappointment?
He was disappointed in him?
Disappointed in Lord Sukuna, who once dominated the golden age of jujutsu a thousand years ago?
"Hmph, hmph... HAHAHAHA!"
Sukuna kipped up from the ground in one swift motion. As cursed energy circulated through his body, his stopped heart and convulsing muscles recovered in an instant.
"Being looked down on like this is a first! Hilarious, absolutely hilarious! Once I kill you, I'll scrape every last scale off your body and toss you into a volcano to boil!"
Sukuna's face twisted as he unleashed a bone-shaking laugh, vibrating the organs of anyone who heard it.
At the same time, he swung his arm decisively—the air itself seeming to split.
No.
Not seeming—it was genuinely split!
Invisible "cleaves" sliced through the air in an instant, slashing toward Roy's entire body like razor winds.
This wave of attacks didn't prioritize quantity, but quality.
Sukuna understood: with only one-twentieth of his peak cursed energy, no matter how many slashes he unleashed, they'd be meaningless against a sorcerer of Roy's caliber.
So he reduced the number to just three cleaves, instead maximizing the instantaneous output of cursed energy—each slash honed to a lethal edge, sharp enough to sever gold and shatter jade. The mere proximity of the attacks made one's skin sting.
Roy's expression didn't change.
Sukuna's lips curled into a malicious grin.
His slashes were invisible to the naked eye. Any sorcerer who relied too heavily on their vision to track attacks wouldn't even realize they were coming!
"What's he trying to do?"
But suddenly, Sukuna froze.
Under his gaze, Roy raised his right hand again, curling all fingers except one into a fist.
"Is this brat actually—?!"
Sukuna found the sight before him utterly bewildering.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Roy's index finger moved like lightning once more.
In the blink of an eye, his finger flicked rapidly—first deflecting the slash aimed at his neck by striking its side with his knuckle, sending it flying. Then, using the same method, he repelled the second slash targeting his chest and the third aimed at his thigh.
Three metallic clashing sounds rang out in quick succession.
After the third deflection, concrete walls in three distant corners were cleanly sliced apart as if they were mere fabric.
"He deflected my slashes with his finger?! He can actually see my attacks?!"
For a moment, Sukuna's two pairs of eyes widened in shock, his expression filled with disbelief.
"...I see. So this era has sorcerers like you too. Even during the golden age of jujutsu in the Heian period, you'd rank among the strongest. How exciting—I can't wait to see the look on your face when you die!"
"But I'll call it quits for now. With just the power of one finger, it seems I can't win... Remember this, sorcerer! When I fully revive, your head will be the first I claim to celebrate!"
As he finished speaking, the black markings on Sukuna's face and body began fading like washed-away ink, and the secondary eyes beneath his eyelids slowly closed.
As if snapping out of a daze, he suddenly jolted awake.
"Huh? Where'd that guy go?"
His expression reverted to its initial state—innocent, with a hint of dopey confusion.
There was no mistaking it—this was Yuji Itadori.
Sukuna had voluntarily withdrawn, switching consciousness back to Yuji.
He must have realized he couldn't maintain control over this body.
"Running away after losing and spouting threats—how fitting for the King of Curses," Roy remarked dryly, retracting his finger with a faint scoff.
"Kid, that monster didn't disappear. He's still inside you, just lying low for now. Congratulations—you've become the vessel for Ryomen Sukuna, the strongest jujutsu sorcerer from a thousand years ago. Not that it's anything worth celebrating."
"So... is it bad?" Yuji asked, his tone more annoyed than panicked.
Despite his goofy demeanor, Yuji was sharp—he immediately grasped the severity of the situation.
"Very bad. You saw his personality just now—cruel, bloodthirsty. If he regains his freedom, countless innocent people will die."
Roy smiled faintly at Yuji.
"But for now, you're an excellent vessel. You can keep Sukuna sealed inside you, preventing him from wreaking havoc."
"Originally, according to jujutsu regulations, a vessel like you should be immediately exorcised as a curse. After all, based on past cases, people whose bodies are taken over by cursed objects usually lose their self-awareness—it's just how possession works."
"Roy-sensei."
At this moment, Fushiguro Megumi, who had been silently observing the entire battle, suddenly stepped forward.
"This person ate Sukuna's finger to save me. He's not a bad person. If someone like him doesn't deserve to live, then who in this world does?"
Upon hearing this, Yuji immediately shot Megumi a grateful look.
"Don't get so worked up. I haven't finished speaking yet."
Roy rolled his eyes at Megumi in exasperation.
With how frantic you're acting, anyone would think there's something going on between you two.
"Itadori Yuji's case is special. Not only hasn't he been taken over by the cursed object, he's actually suppressing its consciousness. This leaves us with considerable room for maneuver..."
Roy then turned to Yuji with a pleased smile.
"Young man, join the jujutsu world. That's the only way to ensure your survival!"
"I can personally handle your contract signing—excellent benefits included!"