Chapter 9: 400% Hollow Purple

Within the shattered realm, Mahoraga, Sukuna, and Xuan hovered in mid-air, gazing at each other.

"So this is how they defeat Yama?"

As fragments of Cursed Residue Cursed Energy fell into his hand, Xuan looked at the scene before him and sighed.

"You're truly impressive, Sukuna... It seems you used the same technique as my domain the moment you first saw it, didn't you? It took me a long time to figure out that you'd use yourself as Shrine to my domain..."

Zenin Xuan let out a long sigh of relief.

"You bastard! How could you resort to such despicable tactics against Xuan, who fought so honorably?!"

"Enough, step back, Little Mo."

With a wave of his hand, Mahoraga vanished, leaving only Zenin Xuan and Sukuna in the vast Shinjuku sky.

"Is it because of the area I usually work in? Or is it just pure luck? I really want to know... Ah, but you probably won't tell me, because you're Sukuna."

Xuan raised his hand.

"Hollow Technique, Chaos."

What?!

Sukuna instinctively dodged to the left—but Xuan's hands were empty. Despite the activation of Cursed Energy, the precursors "shadow" and "light" of the Hollow Technique: Chaos did not appear simultaneously.

"You even know this trick?"

The bandages on Zenin Xuan's face suddenly trembled, and his dim golden eyes instantly emitted the same gentle golden light as his counterpart in another world.

Are you kidding me?

"Hmph, because you've been looking so surprised... so I'm guessing something."

tread.

With a soft sound, Sukuna immediately raised his hand—while Xuan raised his hand as well, and a small flower appeared in his hand.

"Look—you even calculated my speed perfectly. You instinctively blocked my chest because I really enjoy the first punch hitting my chest."

At this moment, Zenin Xuan was like a child who had found a toy, staring intently at Sukuna in front of him.

"You fought me before, didn't you, Sukuna?"

The instant those words were spoken, Sukuna immediately repaired his Burnout, grabbed Xuan, and threw him away violently. Xuan, who was flying in mid-air, looked at Sukuna, who had instantly vanished underground, with a puzzled expression, and then—he turned around.

Purple Cursed Energy raged through the air, and a massive sphere of light capable of destroying everything appeared before him in an instant—while Zenin Xuan, who had been tossed into the air, squinted his eyes as if he had known all along—enjoying the violent energy.

"Nine Ropes."

"Polarized Light."

"Crow and Shomyo."

"Between Front and Back."

"Hollow Technique · Zi"

On the rooftop of the Cerulean Tower Tokyu Hotel —the moment the power was fully charged, Gakuganji and the Utahime leaped off the edge of the building—and were caught safely by Rika, who had transformed into a monitoring room. The white Cursed Spirit carried them into the air, while Ijichi maintained the hidden barrier by using the Cursed Energy that had been enhanced by the separate restricted area.

"Ijichi, let's stop here."

At the moment Sukuna Domain shattered, Satoru Gojo uttered these words, and immediately activated the 400% "Zi" power—at the cost of not being able to strengthen it again after a complete release process.

The moment Zi flew out, Ijichi's Cursed Energy was also exhausted. He gritted his teeth and, like Gakuganji and the Utahime, flew towards Rika. Meanwhile, Satoru Gojo himself quickly used Ao to fly towards the scene.

Snap... Snap.

Sukuna braced himself on the ground with one hand, his charred body making him look somewhat disheveled. If he had taken that feint Hollow Technique head-on, he would have died instantly.

In such an energy environment, even Zenin Xuan should be severely injured, or even dead without a complete corpse—that's without any Cursed Technique involved, no matter what...

Watching the violent purple energy erupt continuously, the Cursed Energy surged forth, and the explosive energy gathered together—then it exploded a second time.

tread.

"It looks like it's working well."

Satoru Gojo used his Azure Aura to instantly land next to Sukuna, then looked at the disheveled Sukuna and burst out laughing.

"Hahaha! Look at yourself! What a mess you've made of!"

"... Never mind that, is he dead?"

Satoru Gojo raised his head, his azure eyes fixed on the sky.

"No."

In the Six Eyes vision, Zenin Xuan's body did not disappear; instead, the bandages on his body broke and reformed in an instant, then broke again, constantly churning his black body. As the purple light continued to churn, Satoru Gojo's Six Eyes noticed a completely different kind of Cursed Energy being awakened.

And the same hand gesture of Yama that matched Sukuna.

A spiderweb-like black Cursed Energy suddenly erupted from all parts of the barrier. Gojo and Sukuna reacted immediately, forming hand seals simultaneously before the barrier could fully solidify.

"Domain Expansion."

"Domain Expansion!"

"Domain Expansion!!"

The Open Domain of the three bodies instantly overlapped—as the light of the elixir disappeared, the sneak attack tactic officially failed. Slashes, Limitless, and shadows intertwined continuously. As the three continued to increase their power, the storm formed by the collision of Cursed Energy instantly swept up the ruins of the entire town, and a huge hole was instantly torn in the Sky Manipulation within the area.

Almost entirely dressed in black, Mahoraga appeared from behind Xuan, placing his hands on the last remaining strips of black cloth on Xuan's body—the remaining fabric was no longer sufficient for protection, so Mahoraga stood in front of Xuan.

"Sir, shall I handle those two?"

Seeing the strip of cloth still stubbornly growing and covering his withered body, Xuan's dry hands grasped the black cloth.

Tear, rip--

"Ha... as expected, you really need to feel the sunlight with your body."

The blue flames of Cursed Energy energy instantly burned away the dirt on Xuan's clothes—while the two the Strongest were secretly leaning against each other.

"Sukuna —you have a way to counter its domain, right?"

Satoru Gojo floated on the water, asking questions of the Ryomen Sukuna beside him during Gen's brief rest.

"I will destroy his domain, but this time it won't be as easy as last time."

"Last time" naturally refers to just now. Can't Zen-in-the- Zenin Xuan, who was tricked by this method once, come up with a solution?

"You just need to maintain your territory; he's still playing games with us."

Sukuna's Mahoraga has adapted to the Unlimited Void, and Xuan's performance—even the young Xuan from his original world had a way to resist the Unlimited Void, so the Xuan of this world is probably the same.

"Playing... Indeed, our carefully prepared tactics barely broke through even that outer shell—so, I believe in you, Sukuna, go."

For Satoru Gojo, that 400% Hollow Purple was definitely the Strongest move he could use right now, yet it didn't even destroy the opponent's Cursed Tool.

That's terrifying...

As Satoru Gojo formed a hand seal, he began to consider his next battle strategy.

Sukuna, on the other hand, stomped his feet on the air and, with a loud bang, lunged at Zenin Xuan.

Smack

The moment the Mahoraga vanished, Xuan placed his hand on Sukuna's face.

"Chaos."

Light and shadow overlapped in an instant—although Zen- in Zenin Xuan, entangled by Yama, did not become a completely illusory black shadow, he still possessed the ability to evade all attacks—but.

Above the Shrine... that is to say, another layer was placed over oneself...

But!

Sukuna's lips curled into a smile, and Megumi Fushiguro immediately began chanting incantations.

"... Dragon Scales, Recoil, Paired Shooting Stars."

"Untie!"

Sukuna slashed upwards from Xuan's lower body—the black shadow split apart violently under this strike, and the barrier was naturally severed by the World-Cutting Slash.

"Its power isn't that great."

The moment Xuan realized that Chaos was useless, he knew that Sukuna in front of him knew all of his moves.

It's because of Mahoraga... If the Sukuna before me has fought me through some means, then Chaos will absolutely be ineffective.

Of course, it was indeed because of the Mahoraga —however, it was actually Hui who resisted this attack.

However, the Mahoraga adapted to this move extremely quickly. Hui's consciousness was disconnected for only eight days before she successfully adapted—and this adaptation even spread to the two Mahoraga.

The shadow instantly coalesced back into Xuan's body—and Sukuna seized the opportunity, slapping Xuan's cheek with her palm.

"Eight."

Swoosh, hiss hiss hiss

Fine, checkered lines of blood appeared on Xuan's face, and Sukuna's expression immediately changed.

This is just a superficial wound?!

"I already said that."

Snap!

Sukuna's hand was immediately grabbed by Gen, and after a brief moment of stunned silence, Sukuna was violently thrown away—at which point Satoru Gojo immediately abandoned maintaining his domain and raised his hand—

Then.

"Chaos."

Xuan's body appeared before him, his withered hand slamming into his face in an instant. Light and shadow overlapped for a moment, and Satoru Gojo suddenly exerted force, unleashing a burst of surging energy—

Before his eyes, time flowed extremely slowly. If it weren't for his Six Eyes, he wouldn't even be able to awaken his Cursed Energy within the one second that was divided into 3,153,600,000 parts, let alone send the Xuan flying.

Xuan was only thrown about three meters before stopping in mid-air—and Sukuna's body, enveloped in lightning, had already arrived beside him.

"Too slow, Sukuna."

Xuan dodged the punch imbued with Lightning Cursed Energy by tilting his head. The trajectory of the lightning and Cursed Energy was instantly shattered by Xuan's "Release" before it could explode. Xuan then grabbed Sukuna's wrist, twisted and accelerated in an instant, and spun Sukuna's body like a windmill.

"Phase, Twilight, Eyes of Wisdom."

As Sukuna was suddenly flung away, Satoru Gojo immediately chanted a spell, and Ao caught Sukuna back. Satoru Gojo also used Ao's teleportation to instantly arrive in front of Zenin Xuan.

Blue Cursed Energy and a twisting suction force appeared on Satoru Gojo's fist—then, as Gen raised his hand to block, the Cursed Energy on Satoru Gojo's fist suddenly turned red—

Boom!

Xuan's body was briefly thrown out by the influence of the Red Fist —and the Hekken injected into his arm exploded in an instant. The red Cursed Energy stunned Xuan, and at the same time, his eyes showed obvious disbelief as he looked at Satoru Gojo.

"Using Reverse Cursed Technique to enhance Cursed Energy... It was just a concept at first, what do you think? Not bad, right?"

"This is a pleasant surprise, Satoru Gojo."

Before Satoru Gojo could speak, the half of his body that had been blown apart had already been fully restored—the first round of combat was over, and all three had completed their assessments—Sukuna, who hadn't yet used his Sukuna, was naturally the last to be assessed, but his Cursed Technique had already inflicted damage on Gen.

At this moment, Xuan was still in a state of incomplete recovery in the eyes of the two—his emaciated body and pale hair were rapidly recovering under the effect of the Reverse Cursed Technique. However, even in his withered state, Xuan did not suffer any major losses when fighting against the two the Strongest.

"That's wonderful, you two! Let's continue dancing!"

Xuan's body suddenly erupted with a large amount of Cursed Energy, shaking off the remaining strips of cloth covering his body. The blue Cursed Energy danced wildly, eventually transforming into a black, sticky shadow that enveloped Xuan's body, coiling around him like a strangely shaped deer—until...

call--

"Dragon Scales, Recoil, Paired Shooting Stars" / "Nine Ropes, Polarized Light, Crow and Shomyo, Between Front and Back"

As Zenin Xuan entered the "Phase Transition," the two the Strongest were not idle either—they immediately combined their the Strongest techniques, and Sukuna even took out a loan.

At the cost of never being able to use all four hands to chant spells simultaneously again, the power and range of this World-Cutting Slash were increased to 300% of its original value. At the same time, the output was adjusted to form a grid pattern.

Accompanied by the sound of wind, Zenin Xuan's figure emerged from the black shadows, and at the same time—

"Solve!" / "Zi!"

The barrier around Xuan was ripped open in an instant, and the black phantom was instantly cleaved into thousands of pieces. The following Zi also instantly devoured the land where Xuan was located—fiercely swallowing up thousands of pieces of the black phantom.

As the flying projectile exploded in the distance, Satoru Gojo and Sukuna watched the scene unfold with tense expressions.

"Did it succeed?"

"It feels like we're the two 'cheaters' who sneakily attack during the boss's Phase Transition..."

"Hmph, as long as we can win, what means are acceptable?"

"Seriously... you should have some comedic talent too."

"Your Six Eyes can see that too, right? Hurry up, we need to move on to the next step soon."

"Ah, yes, they're really tenacious... Even though their bodies have completely disappeared, they're still alive..."

Satoru Gojo raised his hand again, and the One-Handed Indra Hand Sign appeared in his hand. The Shrine in the open, Unlimited Void instantly increased its power, and the boundary of the domain instantly swallowed Xuan's domain.

As the black shadows converged, Sukuna immediately activated "Light".

Xuan's domain shattered the instant it overlapped with Sukuna's domain Shrine.

The Unlimited Void —it struck.