Roy wore a faint smile as his gaze swept over Toji before him, occasionally glancing at Mahoraga's reactions.
"Toji Fushiguro... So that old hag actually managed to summon him after all. As the strongest Heavenly Restriction user, his strength is no joke..."
Typically, the restrictions sorcerers place upon themselves involve paying a price to gain certain enhancements—these are actively imposed by the sorcerer.
But there exists a type of person born with a mandatory restriction imposed by fate itself. This is known as a Heavenly Restriction.
This Heavenly Restriction might deprive them of part of their body to enhance the range and effectiveness of their techniques, or it might strip them of cursed energy entirely, granting them an unrivaled physical form.
Toji Fushiguro was the latter.
Humans—or rather, all living beings—possess some degree of cursed energy, even if they can't normally control it. But Toji was born with "absolutely zero cursed energy."
This was the restriction fate had forcibly placed upon him. In return, he gained an unparalleled physique, extraordinary athletic talent, and incredibly sharp senses.
As someone completely devoid of cursed energy, he couldn't even see cursed spirits. Yet, through hearing, vision, and touch that surpassed human limits, he could perceive their presence and movements. While he couldn't kill cursed spirits without cursed tools or weapons imbued with cursed energy, his ability to suppress sorcerers was unmatched, earning him the infamous title of "Sorcerer Killer."
"Even though we only clashed briefly just now, his physical abilities are stronger than I imagined."
Roy quietly raised his guard against Toji.
Mahoraga was powerful, but it needed time to adapt and grow. In comparison, Toji posed a more immediate threat to Roy—one that even surpassed Mahoraga.
"Hey, white-haired brat. Tell me—who's the sorcerer that summoned this monster?"
Toji irritably ruffled his messy hair before lifting his gaze to Roy. His usual carefree expression now carried a hint of seriousness.
But in that instant—
As if seizing the moment his attention wavered, Mahoraga lunged forward, its blade slicing toward Toji's head.
"You think just because I'm distracted, your sneak attack will work?"
What seemed like a perfectly timed strike was effortlessly dodged as Toji tilted his head slightly, the blade missing him by a hair's breadth.
It was as if he had already seen through Mahoraga's attack. Though it appeared dangerous, he evaded it with the ease of a leisurely stroll.
No—it wasn't foresight.
Rather, by listening to the sharp howl of the air and sensing the flow of wind against his skin, he had predicted where Mahoraga's attack would land. He already understood its patterns, allowing him to evade with minimal movement.
Roy narrowed his eyes slightly, discerning Toji's evasion method, and thought to himself—
While dodging Mahoraga's sword, Toji suddenly reached out and firmly grasped Mahoraga's right wrist. With a swift rotation of his body, he effortlessly lifted Mahoraga off the ground.
Before Mahoraga could react and counterattack, Toji had already hurled it into the sky like a baseball hit for a home run.
He flexed his fingers, as if savoring the moment, a smirk of utter indifference spreading across his face.
"Reversed Cursed Technique, huh? Hahaha, impressive, this monster! Attacking with the positive energy from Reversed Cursed Technique—if I were a cursed spirit, I'd be dead on contact. Too bad for you, I'm not a cursed spirit. I'm a vengeful spirit!"
At this moment, Toji was akin to a heroic spirit summoned to the mortal realm, one that completely suppressed the consciousness of the vessel he inhabited. He was nothing like a cursed spirit.
Whoosh!
But just as he flung Mahoraga away, Roy charged forward with a fearless grin, driving a punch straight toward Toji's liver.
"Tch!"
Toji clicked his tongue in annoyance, dropping his elbow to deflect Roy's strike.
Most sorcerers, even those with exceptional cursed energy, couldn't hope to match Toji's monstrous physical prowess when reinforcing their bodies with cursed energy. A single elbow strike from him would leave an ordinary opponent's arm throbbing in agony.
Yet Roy seemed unfazed. As his right arm was knocked aside, he immediately followed up with his left, slipping it under Toji's chest and locking his arm in a joint hold. Then, with a powerful push from his legs, he forced Toji backward.
Toji staggered as an overwhelming force sent him reeling.
Seizing the opening, Roy swung his freed right arm in a reverse elbow strike aimed at Toji's midsection. Toji's eyes sharpened—he planted his feet firmly, halting his retreat, and without hesitation, twisted his other arm around Roy's chest, mirroring the joint lock on Roy's right arm.
Now, the two were locked in a stalemate, arms entangled like battling bulls, neither willing to yield an inch.
"This guy... his strength is on par with mine!"
Both Roy and Toji shared the same thought in that instant.
Back and forth they struggled, neither gaining the upper hand, their contest of brute force perfectly balanced.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a gleaming sword descended from above, aimed straight for Toji's skull.
During their clash, Mahoraga had returned.
It seemed to regard Toji as a sworn enemy, hellbent on killing him no matter what.
Toji's ears twitched—he sensed Mahoraga's attack before it landed.
Already locked in combat with Roy, now Mahoraga was targeting him too. His irritation flared.
Abandoning the struggle, he leapt low, using their entangled arms as leverage to deliver a double-footed kick straight at Roy's groin.
"You bastard!"
Roy's face darkened. Without hesitation, he released his hold on Toji.
Toji also released Roy at the same time. The moment they separated, he immediately leaped backward, narrowly avoiding Mahoraga's downward thrusting sword.
"This monster has already been fed attacks by that white-haired brat first, greatly increasing its resistance to blunt force."
Toji's feet moved rapidly as he kept his eyes locked on Mahoraga while continuously retreating.
At the same time, his mind raced to devise a strategy.
"Without a cursed tool like the Split Soul Katana at hand now, I'll have to make do with whatever weapons are available!"
He swiftly turned and charged into the building, plowing through several walls like a battering ram as if searching for something. Before long, he found the juvenile detention center's kitchen and retrieved two boning knives.
Mahoraga remained fixated on Toji, pursuing him the moment he entered the building.
"Since fists aren't working well, you're switching to weapons now?"
Roy observed the scene from a distance, barely suppressing his amusement.
"Then let me raise the difficulty for you a bit more!"
With visible delight, he extended his right hand as if holding something, carefully considering where to strike as he aimed at Mahoraga from afar, forming a hand seal in his palm.
"—Release!"
Shlick!
In that instant, fresh blood suddenly erupted from Mahoraga's body without warning, painting a grotesque arc in the air.
Its steps faltered.
Before it could comprehend what had happened.
Shlick shlick shlick—!
Countless slashes materialized across Mahoraga's body, slicing through it inch by inch like a torturous execution. Blood sprayed wildly, enveloping the area in a misty crimson haze.
Click!
The wheel-like array above Mahoraga's head rotated another minimal increment.
At this moment, Toji leaped out from the building.
Landing on the ground, he witnessed the entire spectacle, his face suddenly contorting with profound shock.
"That white-haired brat has cursed energy... and a technique?!"
He had never detected any cursed energy flow from Roy. Combined with Roy's physical prowess rivaling his own, Toji had assumed Roy was another Heavenly Restriction bearer like himself—someone who traded innate zero cursed energy for a tyrant's invincible physique.
But in reality, Roy wasn't lacking cursed energy at all—he simply hadn't been using it.
He judged the current battle and enemy strength didn't yet warrant employing his cursed energy!
"So you're actually one of those esteemed sorcerers after all."
Toji sighed, voicing his disinterested lament.
In the jujutsu world—especially within traditional, feudal clans like the Zen'in family he originated from—the reverence for powerful techniques was unparalleled.
Similarly, the contempt and mockery directed at technique-less, energy-deprived individuals like Toji knew no equal.
Having grown up in the Zenin household, he'd long been exposed to their warped ideologies: "Only technique users are true elites," "Ordinary people without techniques don't even qualify as human," "How could common sorcerers compare to our noble Three Great Families?"
Enduring his clan's constant ridicule and scorn, the Zenin-raised outcast eventually chose to leave, sustaining himself as a mercenary until he forged his reputation as the Sorcerer Killer.
Toji harbored no resentment toward sorcerers as beings.
He simply no longer held any expectations for the world of sorcerers.
If someone were to brag to his face about being a sorcerer, boasting about some incredible technique they had awakened, he would only respond with a dismissive "Yeah, yeah, sure," while his mind wandered to where he should go drinking that night.
However, if his opponent was someone like him—someone of his own kind—he would find the fight interesting, worth seeing through to the end.
But if the opponent was a sorcerer...
"How boring."
Toji charged straight at Mahoraga, the boning knives in his hands stabbing relentlessly at its vital points.
But after taking a hit from "Dismantle," the wheel-like array on Mahoraga's back—symbolizing its "adaptation progress"—had already rotated once, granting it resistance to slashing attacks.
Toji's knives could only carve off chunks of flesh from Mahoraga's body, unable to pierce deeper than the surface, let alone reach its muscles or internal organs.
"That brat's methods are infuriating!"
Toji shot Roy a glare in between attacks.
Now, Mahoraga had locked onto him—likely because he had been dragged into the taming ritual.
No, more accurately, it was the body he had taken over that had been caught in the ritual, which was why Mahoraga was fixated on him, determined to kill him no matter what.
The problem was, he didn't have any powerful cursed tools on hand. His only options were blunt force and slashing attacks—both of which Mahoraga was already adapting to. There was no way he could land a decisive blow.
And if Mahoraga's adaptation progress filled completely, he'd be completely powerless against it!
Toji grabbed Mahoraga's arm, kicked off the ground, and vaulted onto its back. Gripping his knife tightly, he drove it straight toward Mahoraga's temple.
Mahoraga had incredible regenerative abilities.
But no matter how strong its regeneration was, the heart and brain were still vital weak points!
If he could destroy either in one strike, even Mahoraga would die!
Crack!
But then, the array on Mahoraga's head rotated once more right before Toji's eyes.
His knife sliced through Mahoraga's skin, only to meet flesh at the temple that felt like the toughest rubber in the world. No matter how hard he pushed, the blade just skidded uselessly across the surface, unable to penetrate.
In his frustration, he applied even more force—only for the knife to clang and shatter first.