A few days passed, and I was grinding like my life depended on it—because, well, it did. I trained morning, noon, and cursed dusk. I wasn’t going to be another pawn in the Shibuya Incident. Not this time.

  I was locked in a brutal sparring match with Megumi.

  His demon dogs circled me, baring fangs like I owed them money.

  “Watch the tail,” Megumi warned, summoning Nue overhead.

  I ducked a strike from the white dog and spun, catching one on the side of its head with a cursed energy-laced elbow. I felt it—the rhythm, that nanosecond of total cursed energy control.

  CRACK—

  “BLACK FLASH!!”

  My fist connected with Megumi’s chest, and he flew like a ragdoll, slamming into a wall with an echoing thud that cracked the plaster.

  A beat of silence.

  Then a slow clap.

  Gojo appeared at the edge of the field, shades gleaming.

  “Well well, Yuji. You might just be the second-fastest growing sorcerer after yours truly, of course.”

  I grinned so wide my face hurt. My hands were shaking with the aftershock of the Black Flash. That power—raw and precise—was becoming mine to command.

  Gojo threw an arm over my shoulder. “You ready for a real mission now?”

  “Try me.”

  ---

  Mission: The Hospital of Whispers

  Our destination was an abandoned mental hospital, where two patients had died under mysterious and horrifying circumstances. We rode in silence, me between Nobara and Megumi in the backseat of a Gojo-driven SUV.

  We reached the hospital just past twilight.

  The air grew heavy. Thick. Like something watching us breathe.

  The hospital was ancient—concrete stained with black moss, windows long shattered, walls laced with rust and scratches like fingernails trying to escape.

  We stepped inside.

  The door slammed shut behind us.

  And then—disappeared.

  Literally gone. No hinges. No frame. Just smooth wall.

  “Oh, lovely,” Nobara muttered.

  But I’d been watching the anime religiously. The demon dogs. They could track smells.

  “Megumi,” I said. “Get one of the dogs to remember the door’s scent. We’re not getting stuck in here like a bunch of NPCs.”

  He gave a quick nod, summoning one of the white-fanged dogs to sniff around.

  We moved deeper into the building. The lights above flickered like they were afraid to shine.

  Then—the floor cracked beneath Nobara.

  She yelped.

  But unlike the other Yuji, I grabbed her wrist and pulled her up fast. She landed beside me, heart pounding, hammer clenched.

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “You good?”

  She panted. “Yeah. Thanks.”

  We kept going until we entered a vast, empty room.

  And then we felt it.

  That suffocating presence. The kind of pressure that made your skin crawl and your instincts scream.

  It was already there.

  Standing in the center of the room.

  A Finger Bearer.

  A grotesque mass of muscle, horns, and talons, a cursed spirit born from one of Sukuna’s fingers—and now it stood between us, eyes gleaming with hunger.

  We froze.

  But then—I moved.

  “BLACK FLASH!”

  My fist collided with its jaw. The creature exploded backward, tearing through rubble and crashing into a far wall.

  It screeched in fury.

  We fanned out.

  “Demon Dog!” Megumi shouted, summoning both canines and Toad for crowd control. His technique was fluid, strategic—Ten Shadows dancing around the battlefield like it was a game of deadly chess.

  I moved like lightning—Muhammad Ali style.

  Ducking swipes, countering with flurries.

  Left jab—cursed punch to the gut—step back—right hook.

  “RHYTHM, TIMING, IMPACT!”

  The spirit retaliated, slashing my shoulder open, but Nobara’s hammer whistled through the air, nailing a cursed spike into its knee.

  “RESONANCE!” she screamed.

  The curse howled, buckling as another nail hit home. Nobara stepped back to safety, now spamming Resonance from afar, her grip steady and vicious.

  We kept pressing.

  The Demon Dogs bit chunks from the spirit—two fingers and part of its palm torn clean off.

  Nobara grabbed the detached flesh, hammer raised.

  “RESONANCE!”

  A wave of cursed pain ripped through the finger bearer, and I saw my chance.

  “BLACK FLASH!”

  I hit it again. The impact shattered the air like thunder. The curse slumped, falling hard—dead at last.

  ---

  A Taste of Power

  The corpse twitched.

  Inside its chest was something gleaming.

  Another one of Sukuna’s fingers.

  I reached in, hand trembling.

  The power was immense. It called to me like it knew I could handle it now. But the taste—I remembered the horror.

  I hesitated.

  Then a mouth opened on my palm.

  Sukuna’s voice.

  “Don’t mind if I do.”

  He ate the finger, bypassing my taste buds entirely.

  Then another mouth formed on my cheek.

  “Come oooon, brat. Let me out for a spin.”

  I slapped him again. “Not happening.”

  ---

  A Deal with Gojo

  Later that night, back at Jujutsu High, I cornered Gojo.

  “I know you have six of Sukuna’s fingers.”

  Gojo raised an eyebrow, amused.

  “I want them,” I said. “Not all now. Just enough to keep growing—without losing control.”

  He studied me, then smiled. “Was planning for this anyway.”

  He tossed me two fingers.

  I ate one that night. The other, a few hours later.

  And then—it was back to training.

  ---

  The Promotion (Kind Of)

  After a week, I was called to update my student ID.

  I looked at it.

  “GRADE 3?!”

  My scream echoed through the halls.

  “HOW AM I A GRADE 3 WHEN I CAN SMACK MEGUMI INTO WALLS LIKE HE’S A FLY!?”

  Gojo calmly dragged me away by the collar, suppressing a laugh.

  “Don’t worry. You’ve got a special assignment.”

  “Yeah? What is it?”

  “You’re going to watch me fight a special grade curse.”

  ---

  Fire vs. Infinity

  Gojo placed a hand on my shoulder.

  Teleport.

  In a flash, we were standing in a wasteland.

  The ground was scorched black. Lava bubbled in nearby cracks. Ash fell like snow.

  And standing ahead of us was a volcano-headed curse.

  Short. Stocky. One eye. Lava oozing from its scalp.

  Jogo.

  The special grade cursed spirit of fire.

  “Yuji,” Gojo said, adjusting his blindfold, “watch carefully. This is how you deal with a domain.”

  Jogo moved first—fist flying toward Gojo’s face.

  But it stopped.

  Frozen in mid-air.

  “The Infinity,” Gojo whispered.

  Jogo’s eye twitched in rage. He made a hand sign.

  “DOMAIN EXPANSION: COFFIN OF THE IRON MOUNTAIN!”

  The world shifted.

  Suddenly, we stood in the center of a volcano. Lava everywhere. Heat pressing in.

  Jogo smirked. “You’re finished, Gojo.”

  But Gojo…?

  He smiled.

  “Now Yuji—pay attention. This is the best way to deal with a Domain.”

  He raised his hand.

  “DOMAIN EXPANSION—INFINITE VOID.”

  And reality shattered.

  ---