In his frustration, he applied even more force—only for the knife to clang and shatter first.
"Haah..."
Toji let out a long sigh.
If he had been properly prepared, if Mahoraga hadn't started adapting yet, he might have stood a chance at destroying it.
But right now, neither of those conditions was met.
He was out of options.
Grabbing Mahoraga's massive hand as it reached for him, he leaped off its back, uprooting the cursed spirit like a tree and hurling it away like a hammer!
"You were the one fighting it first—here, take it back!"
Mahoraga went flying uncontrollably, crashing toward Roy's direction.
"Hahaha! Is this your way of admitting defeat, Toji Fushiguro?"
Roy laughed as he placed a hand on his waist, drawing a pure-white activation device from its holster.
The cursed energy poured in, causing the activation body to suddenly radiate a blood-red glow. Immediately after, a snow-white blade condensed along the sword's length, with pitch-black infernal flames spiraling around it like a helix.
In an instant, a surge of scorching heat erupted, turning the surrounding area into a veritable sauna. The temperature skyrocketed, rapidly climbing to eighty or ninety degrees—and still rising.
Yet, the most terrifying heat remained concentrated on the blade itself!
"This round of practice ends here, Mahoraga. Next time, I'll let you taste even more delicious attacks!"
Roy murmured under his breath.
Facing the charging Mahoraga, his eyes turned cold as the blade, blazing like wildfire, unsheathed in a single slash aimed straight for Mahoraga's neck!
For a moment, even Roy felt immense resistance—Mahoraga's neck was like solid granite, the blade meeting intense obstruction as it cut into flesh.
But the Sword of the Black Furnace wielded a power capable of severing and incinerating all things.
What granted it its unblockable offensive trait was not just the razor-sharp edge forged from vast amounts of mana, but also the ultra-high temperature capable of cutting through any substance on Earth!
Mahoraga gripped the blade, desperately trying to resist.
In this single strike, it instinctively sensed a lethal threat!
Seeing this, Roy immediately channeled his cursed energy into the Sword of the Black Furnace without restraint. The demonic sword flared brilliantly, its infernal flames coating the blade like a thin film.
Schlick!
A faint sound of slicing flesh echoed.
Mahoraga's head flew off like a rootless weed, landing on the ground some distance away.
Its body, like a collapsing mountain, slowly crumpled to its knees.
For a while, Mahoraga writhed, its body and head twitching as if trying to reconnect.
But soon, it stilled completely, its life force extinguished.
Then, it dissolved into a shadowy mist, fading away.
Watching this, Roy finally relaxed, exhaling softly.
With Mahoraga's death, the taming ritual naturally concluded.
However, though the taming had technically succeeded, since it wasn't the holder of the Ten Shadows Technique who had subdued Mahoraga alone—and worse, Mahoraga had been slain by Roy, an outsider not part of the ritual—it didn't count as a true submission. Megumi still couldn't use this shikigami.
In short, Mahoraga refused to yield.
Only if Megumi defeated it himself would it willingly serve him.
"Mahoraga adapts to blunt and slashing attacks, but its physical strength doesn't improve. That's a bit of a shame. Against all-rounded powerhouses, it might still get killed before fully adapting to their attacks..."
In other words, though Mahoraga was strong, even if Roy obtained and tamed it for his own use, it wouldn't bring about a qualitative leap in his combat prowess.
No—perhaps he was mistaken?
Mahoraga's strength indeed couldn't improve through adaptation alone. At best, it could learn various techniques. But what determined a shikigami's power wasn't the shikigami itself, but its master, wasn't it?
Take Nue, for example—the same shikigami exhibited entirely different performances in Megumi's hands versus Sukuna's.
The Nue in Megumi's hands was only as tall as a person, and its electric discharge ability was practically negligible, but in Sukuna's grasp, Nue could grow as tall as a seven- or eight-story building, with lightning strikes as thick as a water vat!
In other words, the strength of a shikigami is tied to its master. The stronger the master's cursed energy, the more powerful the shikigami becomes.
If Roy were to make Mahoraga his own, then as Roy's cursed energy grew stronger, Mahoraga's base strength should also continue to increase!
From this perspective, Mahoraga might be able to accompany him for a long time.
The problem was, Roy's current cursed energy limit had been stagnant for quite some time, with no way to break through in sight.
"Alright, now it's just you left, Toji Fushiguro."
These thoughts flashed through Roy's mind in an instant before he snapped back to reality, turning to face Toji not far away, a leisurely smile appearing on his face.
"Ah, not just you—there's that old hag too... Never mind her for now. What are you going to do? Want to fight?"
Roy raised the Sword of the Black Furnace in his hand toward Toji.
The flames of purgatory coiled and burned quietly around the demonic sword, radiating an astonishing heat.
Seeing this, Toji lowered his stance, his entire body tensing.
A defiant grin spread across his face.
"Sure, let's fight!"
Toji wasn't afraid of any battle.
That sword was strong—extremely strong.
Not the kind of strength born from bizarre abilities, but pure, raw power!
If that blade struck him, even with his physique, he'd undoubtedly be cleaved in two.
But that wasn't a reason to avoid the fight.
After all, he was already a dead man walking, with no reason to cling to this second life.
Last time, when he faced Satoru Gojo, he hadn't run—and lost his life for it.
This time, facing this white-haired brat, he had no intention of running either!
Even if he died here, there'd be no regrets!
"Sensei!"
Just as Toji steeled himself with this resolve, a voice abruptly intruded into his ears.
"Huh?"
His expression instantly turned terrifying.
Was someone really interrupting him during a crucial battle again?
He turned to look.
And saw a black-haired boy.
The moment he laid eyes on the boy, Toji froze.
There was something oddly familiar about his features.
"Megumi."
Roy glanced back and called out the boy's name.
"Did you regroup with Itadori and the others?"
"Yes, Teacher. Then I sensed Mahoraga had been defeated, so I came to check the situation."
Megumi stopped a short distance behind Roy, aware that he might become a burden, so he didn't recklessly step forward. Instead, he fixed the black-haired man across from him with an icy glare.
"Is this man another curse user like that old woman, here to capture us alive?"
"Well, that's a bit hard to say!"
Roy looked at Megumi, then back at Toji, and sighed helplessly as he rubbed his forehead.
Toji was stunned.
His silence at this moment could only be described as deafening.
Megumi?
This white-haired brat just called him Megumi?
Those strangely familiar features, that cold gaze that felt like looking into a mirror—could this kid possibly be... his son?
"Still want to fight?"
Roy looked at Toji and asked the question.
But the demonic sword in his hand had already lowered slightly.
"..."
Toji said nothing.
He only cast a deep glance at Megumi Fushiguro—
As if engraving the boy's silhouette into his very soul.
Then he turned away, stomped hard against the ground, and shot into the sky, leaping beyond the curtain and vanishing into the distant horizon.
Before long, his figure vanished from their sight.
"Aren't you going to kill him?"
Megumi watched the rapidly retreating figure with an unreadable expression, merely posing this question to Roy.
This kid... unexpectedly has quite strong homicidal tendencies.
But this is taking filial piety to questionable extremes.
"It wouldn't be appropriate to kill him in front of you."
Roy withdrew the Sword of the Black Furnace, sheathing it back into the scabbard at his waist before shrugging and giving Megumi an ambiguous answer.
For a son to curse his father is already improper.
For a son to kill his father would likely create an ocean of blood feud.
Though Toji was far from being a proper father, he remained Megumi's biological parent—a blood-connected existence. Killing Toji before Megumi's eyes wasn't something a teacher should do.
"Besides, I currently have complete awareness of his whereabouts. I can deal with him anytime."
Roy glanced down at his palm, a meaningful smile playing across his features.
Depending on brain function, most people can sustain about two or three cursed techniques.
Roy's brain function was excellent—capable of supporting three techniques.
One was Sukuna's Cleave.
Another was Ui Ui's teleportation—allowing him to instantly move to any location or person he'd marked with cursed energy.
The reason he could be abroad one moment and rescuing students at the juvenile detention center the next was precisely because of this teleportation technique.
During their brief encounter earlier, he'd already marked Toji with cursed energy, enabling him to teleport to the man's side at will.
The clinical trial of his technique concluded with perfect success.
His initial concept of infinitely replicating techniques could now be moved up the development schedule.