Impossible to Please

Satoru Gojo's Azure Eyes narrowed slightly, and a playful smile tugged at his lips. "Sukuna."

His voice was light and casual, like he was greeting someone, yet the air suddenly froze.

Sukuna's four crimson eyes contracted at once. Cursed Energy surged skyward like tangible black flames. "Die!!"

He stomped, shattering the ground beneath him, and shot toward Satoru Gojo like a blur! But the instant he swung his claws, he suddenly froze, a flicker of shock crossing his face, covered in Cursed Marks.

'Fushiguro Megumi?!' Sukuna's pupils trembled violently.

He felt a consciousness stirring inside him, winding around the flow of his Cursed Energy like thorns. The boy's soul, which should have been completely suppressed, was now fighting for control of the body!

"Heh." Chen Tian stood with his arms folded. "The Vessel is fighting back."

Satoru Gojo suddenly appeared in front of Sukuna, their noses nearly touching. "You can't even control your own body."

He wagged an index finger, then teleported beside Chen Tian and draped an arm over his shoulder. "So how are you going to tear me and..." He gestured to Chen Tian. "This Star Guy to pieces?"

"Bastard!!" Sukuna furiously grabbed his own throat, his nails sinking into his flesh.

Chen Tian suddenly raised a hand and knocked Satoru Gojo's arm off his shoulder. His gaze passed over the struggling Sukuna and fixed on Satoru Gojo. "This is boring." His voice was cool. "You have Sukuna's Last Finger."

Satoru Gojo raised an eyebrow, surprise filling his Azure Eyes. "Ah, yeah."

"Hand it over," Chen Tian ordered.

"Huh?" Satoru Gojo opened his mouth in exaggerated disbelief. "You're not serious, are you, little guy?"

"Sukuna like this is boring," Chen Tian repeated, his gaze utterly impassive.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Satoru Gojo pointed at his own temple and circled his finger. "If we do that, Fushiguro will be completely suppressed, you know?"

"I know."

"You know, and you still—?!" Satoru Gojo's voice rose.

A wild curve slowly formed at the corner of Chen Tian's mouth. "That would... make things interesting."

Even Sukuna stopped struggling. His four blood-red eyes stared fixedly at Satoru Gojo and Chen Tian.

Satoru Gojo's mouth fell open wide enough to fit an egg. His Azure Eyes contracted twice as if shaken by an earthquake.

The next second, he clutched his stomach and burst into earth-shaking laughter. "Hahahahaha! Interesting! That's fucking interesting!!!"

He laughed so hard he doubled over, even theatrically wiping away tears of laughter.

His laughter stopped abruptly, as if severed by a blade. The carefree expression on his face froze over in an instant.

"You're sure?" Satoru Gojo's voice sank like the icy depths of the Abyss. "Sukuna will be insanely strong then." The air grew heavy with every syllable.

"I know." Chen Tian didn't even blink.

Satoru Gojo's lips slowly curled into an utterly deranged grin. "Then—"

"Can you win?"

Chen Tian placed a hand on the Enma Sword Hilt at his waist. The scabbard and metal rang out with a clear hum.

He raised his eyes slightly, looking past Satoru Gojo toward Sukuna.

"I'll win."

"I'll win."

As those three words fell, an astonishing light suddenly blazed in Satoru Gojo's Azure Eyes!

That wild certainty struck the deepest part of his heart like an electric current, igniting the madness that had long lain dormant.

"Hahahaha! Good!" Satoru Gojo's laughter burst out, filled with unprecedented exhilaration. "You got it!"

He casually raised two fingers and beckoned toward the sky.

A streak of Azure light tore through the heavens. A tiny black speck in the distance rapidly grew larger, whistling through the air as it shot toward them!

Satoru Gojo caught it precisely. An old-fashioned wooden box landed in his palm. Without even looking at it, he swung his arm and sent it flying toward Chen Tian like a blur.

Chen Tian didn't even raise his eyelids. He caught the box behind his back and, without pausing, flicked his wrist, sending the box containing the last source of the King of Curses' power—

flying toward Sukuna, who was at the heart of the Cursed Energy storm, consumed with rage at being haggled over like merchandise!

"Bast—ard!!!" Sukuna's roar twisted into a distorted snarl, his four crimson eyes almost dripping blood!

His overwhelming humiliation turned into tangible killing intent, as if it would drag the entire space into hell! He

snatched the flying box and brutally crushed it along with the last withered finger inside!

Without hesitation, he shoved the fragments and the finger carrying endless curses into his mouth!

A teeth-grinding crunch echoed through the air.

BOOM—!!!

Pure Jet-black Cursed Energy, countless times more terrifying than before and so potent it inspired despair, erupted around Sukuna like the primordial explosion at the birth of the universe!

The ruins' concrete and steel beams instantly turned to weightless dust!

The body belonging to Fushiguro Megumi swelled and twisted wildly within the vortex of black energy!

His skin tore open. More Cursed Marks spread and intertwined like living things, radiating an aura of destruction.

Four grotesque arms burst from his body, and a huge mouth suddenly appeared on his abdomen. At the heart of the destruction, the complete, suffocatingly terrifying form of the King of Curses rose to its feet!

"Wow," Satoru Gojo clicked his tongue, his Azure Eyes sweeping over the inhuman demonic figure. "He's even scarier than I expected."

He turned to Chen Tian with a playful grin. "Go ahead, little guy. Don't hold back."

He gave a thumbs-up and pointed to himself. "If you lose, the strongest is right behind you."

Chen Tian's gaze remained fixed on the King of Curses, who was undergoing his final transformation.

He didn't even look at Satoru Gojo. His voice was calm, yet carried the cold, blade-like edge of something that cut off all doubt:

"No need."

"Sukuna will die."

"Your student," he paused, his gaze seeming to pierce the boiling tide of curses and see something beyond, "will survive too."

Chapter 19: Impossible to Please

Sukuna's wild laughter erupted from the heart of the roiling black Cursed Energy, like the roar of a demon from hell:

"Hahahahahaha! Arrogant white-haired bastard!!! I'm going to chop you into pieces!!!"

A terrifying pressure crashed over them like a landslide and a tsunami. Haguruma Kanko, Nanami Kento, Yuji Itadori, and Angel Sumika were instantly drenched in cold sweat. It felt as if Sukuna's Cursed Energy, brimming with endless malice, had clenched their hearts.

Chen Tian turned his head and glanced at Satoru Gojo. "Aren't you taking your students and colleague out of here?"

Satoru Gojo raised an eyebrow, a grin spreading across his face. "Right."

He vanished and reappeared beside Yuji and Sumika. Turning to Nanami and Haguruma, who was struggling to stay upright, he gave a brief order:

Before he could finish speaking, space warped, and Satoru Gojo disappeared along with Yuji and Sumika.

Nanami and Haguruma exchanged a glance. Without the slightest hesitation, they unleashed their Cursed Energy and sprinted away in two blurs!

Chen Tian's gaze returned to the churning core of curses.

"Are you done yet?"

Sukuna's furious roar and a collapse of Cursed Energy powerful enough to crush space answered him!

"Shut up! I'll cut you down!"

"Domain Expansion—"

"Fukuma Mizushi!!!"

The world changed dramatically! The familiar, bizarre shrine, bone altar, and endless sea of blood instantly replaced the ruins! The rules of slashing filled every inch of space!

Chen Tian remained where he was, still not moving. This time, however, he slowly closed his eyes.

His skin sensed the "cutting" of space itself, while his soul analyzed the strength of the rules of "guaranteed hit" and "ignoring defenses."

Compared to the Domain in Shibuya... it was more condensed, more savage, and more... complete.

The King of Curses' true fangs.

Sukuna's roar swelled infinitely within the Domain! Without any movement, the omnipresent slashes had already descended!

Glints sharp enough to cut through space, cold edges that could tear through time—[Lataib]! [Hachi]!

Billions of slashes ignored distance and process, striking Chen Tian directly, seeking to chop him—and space itself—into nothing but dust!

There wasn't the slightest hint of despair in those dark eyes. If anything, they looked... a little bored.

Just as the slashes, powerful enough to annihilate any living creature billions of times over, reached him—

A clear ring, like Dragon Scale scraping against Dragon Scale, tore through every other sound within the Domain!

Enma Sword, drawn!

"Not bad." Chen Tian spoke as Enma Sword traced a ghostly blue blur through the air.

The instant the blade swung, his entire arm and the sword vanished from sight—pure physical speed had surpassed the limits of the retina!

Hum! Hum! Hum!

Countless intersecting streaks of swordlight suddenly illuminated the Domain, each one precisely intercepting one of Sukuna's slashes.

Blinding sparks burst wherever the blades met, weaving a brilliant web of stars across the sea of blood.

Unlike the overwhelming destruction in Shibuya, Sukuna's Domain only trembled violently this time. Cracks appeared in the shrine's pillars, but they did not collapse.

"Bastard!" Sukuna's four crimson eyes contracted at once, and his grin suddenly split all the way to his ears. "You think this is still going to be a piece of cake?!"

All four arms moved at once—two maintained the hand sign for the Domain, while the other two quickly formed the Ten Shadows Technique signs. Cursed Energy solidified at his fingertips into black lightning!

"Furube! Yura Yura!"

Three shadows rose from the sea of blood.

Three towering Mahoraga rose from Sukuna's shadow.

"Triple adaptation." Sukuna grinned savagely, licking his fangs. "I'll make you watch in despair as your slashes become useless!"

Mahoraga One slammed his foot into the ground!

As the ground exploded beneath him, his towering figure was already in front of Chen Tian, swinging the Demon Slaying Blade down at him.

Faced with the unstoppable blow, Chen Tian merely leaned slightly to one side. The blade fell past his body.

The instant he leaned aside, a second Demon Slaying Blade stabbed toward his back. Chen Tian slid a little farther back, dodging the tip.

As he avoided the second attack, a third Demon Slaying Blade slashed upward from below.

Chen Tian lifted his foot and lightly kicked the oncoming Demon Slaying Blade. The seemingly weightless kick had no apparent force, yet it knocked both the blade and Mahoraga Three away.

Chen Tian's dodging might have sounded complicated.

Yet he had completed all those movements in a single second.

The three Mahoraga gave Chen Tian no chance to catch his breath. Their attacks came in relentless waves, without a moment's pause.

Mahoraga One raised the Demon Slaying Blade above his head. With the force of a thousand jun, he brought it down in a full-power slash, the blade slicing through the air with a sharp whistle.

Mahoraga Two crouched low, the Demon Slaying Blade skimming the ground as it shot toward Chen Tian's ankle like a black bolt of lightning.

To the side, Mahoraga Three lunged at an angle, its long sword aimed at Chen Tian's vulnerable abdomen in a tricky thrust.

The three attacks worked together seamlessly, compressing Chen Tian's room to dodge to a minimum.

Chen Tian's eyes narrowed slightly, but his figure was as light and nimble as a willow leaf in the wind.

He lightly touched the sea of blood with his toe and let his body turn with the motion, as graceful as a dancer in mid-performance.

As he spun, he casually swept his left hand through the air in an arc. Enma Sword followed, leaving a streak of ghostly blue light that effortlessly severed all the invisible slashes rushing toward him within Sukuna's Domain.

The slashes vanished the moment they touched the swordlight, like snow under the blazing sun, leaving behind only scattered flecks of Cursed Energy.

Facing Mahoraga's fierce three-pronged assault, Chen Tian used the momentum of his spin to flick out his right foot. His toe struck the wrist of the Mahoraga above him with pinpoint accuracy.

The seemingly gentle kick carried astonishing force. Mahoraga's thick arm jerked sharply to the side, knocking the Demon Slaying Blade off course. It struck the ground nearby, sending a spray of blood across the air.

At the same time, Chen Tian used the recoil to shift several meters sideways like an arrow loosed from a bow, easily evading Mahoraga Three's deadly thrust.