Everyone

The air froze completely in that instant.

Sukuna's Dismantle had already reached Shiyue Shuo's nose. This was a near point-blank Dismantle. At this distance, even Satoru Gojo would not dare claim he could definitely withstand it.

In Ryomen Sukuna's eyes, the boy before him was already a corpse.

Yet what happened next exceeded his expectations.

The domain wielded by the person before him had neither an expanded barrier nor an open domain like Sukuna's own.

Streams of color intertwined around his body, endlessly collapsing inward while continuously spilling outward.

"Bzzzt—!"

In that instant, the authority of the twelve talismans was no longer constrained by time, frantically overlapping within his mindscape.

"Splat!"

Sukuna's slash sank three inches into flesh, yet could go no deeper. The Dismantle that should have cut through anything struck Shiyue Shuo's skin like a dull blade sawing at meat, leaving only a shallow scar. The instant the wound appeared, it healed.

"Oh?"

Sukuna's dark crimson eyes narrowed slightly, and something called "interest" appeared in his gaze.

Shiyue Shuo wasted no words.

He stomped down. The asphalt beneath his feet instantly softened and rebounded, launching him toward the King of Curses like a cannonball.

"Roaaar—!"

The power of the [Dragon] gathered in his right fist, while the power of the [Pig] erupted from his eyes. Scarlet flames and searing white lasers exploded within less than half a meter, shining with the brilliance of the sun.

"Boom!"

Sukuna raised his arms to block. The violent shockwave instantly leveled everything within a hundred-meter radius around them. Charred marks appeared on Sukuna's arms—the first true injury he had suffered since descending upon Shibuya.

"This power doesn't belong to this world." Sukuna laughed wildly. "Interesting. Truly interesting!"

Sukuna abruptly spread both hands, ready to unleash slaughter on an even greater scale.

Just then, Sukuna's body shuddered violently. The black markings on his face began to fade rapidly, and that suffocatingly evil presence receded like the tide.

"Tch, kid. We'll meet again. Don't die before then."

"...Shiyue?"

The terror and pain in Yuji Itadori's eyes gave way to clarity. He looked at his companion, half-covered in blood with madness in his eyes, then at the ruins around them that had been reduced to nothing. The memories of Sukuna's slaughter within the domain corroded his sanity like poison.

"You... finally... woke... up."

The domain Shiyue Shuo had opened this time was actually incomplete. He had only mastered half the talismans' power. When the domain opened, the other half ran rampant inside him, trying to burst into the outside world, and he could only force himself to hold it together. As Sukuna withdrew, Shiyue Shuo relaxed, and the authority forcibly unifying the talismans instantly dissolved, triggering an overwhelming backlash.

"Crack."

It was the sound of the mechanical watch that had always accompanied him shattering.

Blood mist sprayed from Shiyue Shuo's eyes, nose, mouth, and ears at once. Under the double strain of constantly switching talismans and forcibly opening his domain, parts of his brain tissue had begun to die from overheating.

Like a dead tree trunk, he fell straight backward.

"Shuo!"

Yuji let out a heart-rending cry. Enduring the agony of his soul being torn apart, he caught Shiyue Shuo before he hit the ground. He could not feel the boy's heartbeat—only breaths so faint they were almost nonexistent.

"I'll take you to... Miss Ieiri... Hang on!"

Yuji hoisted Shiyue Shuo onto his back and ran madly through the ruins. He avoided collapsing buildings and the Transfigured Humans still wandering about. The memories of Sukuna's massacre replayed endlessly in his mind. Tears blurred his vision, but he did not dare stop.

Shibuya Station, B4.

"Ratio Technique."

A blunt blade wrapped in cursed energy precisely severed a Transfigured Human's spine. Kento Nanami pushed up the green goggles on his nose bridge. His expensive suit had long been soaked in dark red bloodstains, and his breathing wheezed like an old bellows.

"Mr. Nanami, their numbers haven't decreased at all!" Takuma Ino growled from behind him. His Auspicious Beast Summon was swaying from excessive cursed energy depletion.

Kento Nanami said nothing. He could sense the tremor coming from the surface, enough to make his soul quiver—it was Sukuna's presence. Though he was too far away to know the extent of the battle above, the strange power that had erupted and vanished so abruptly at the end filled him with unprecedented dread.

"Kokichi Muta, report the current situation." Nanami pressed the miniature communicator at his ear, his cold voice cutting off Ino's anxiety.

"The Prison Realm is still on B5. It hasn't moved." Kokichi Muta's voice came through the speaker, distorted by electronic interference. "Sukuna has gone dormant. Yuji is currently carrying the unconscious Shiyue Shuo as he retreats toward Shoko Ieiri's location."

"In addition, the three Special Grade cursed spirits—Jogo, Hanami, and Dagon—have been confirmed dead."

Kento Nanami watched another tide of Transfigured Humans surge toward him and slowly undid his suit cuffs.

"Really... so I still have to work overtime, do I?" Weariness showed in his eyes, but there was even more resolve.

"My, my. How beautiful."

Mahito sat atop a broken steel beam, his legs swinging lightly. His gaze pierced through several floors, locking tightly onto Shiyue Shuo, who was being carried on Yuji's back.

To Mahito's unique senses, Shiyue Shuo's soul had once been a treasure intermingled with twelve colors. Now, that soul was trembling violently from overload, like an exquisite porcelain vessel covered in cracks that could shatter at any moment.

"The scent's gotten stronger." Mahito grinned, revealing a dazzling smile that made one sick. "Is it because it's about to break?"

He was in no hurry to give chase. As a cursed spirit born from humanity's hatred for humanity, what he enjoyed most was not killing, but that moment of "change."

He turned toward his side. Several Tokyo School students were struggling miserably against the army of Transfigured Humans he had unleashed.

"Hey, the girl with the hammer and nails." Mahito waved at Nobara Kugisaki in the distance, his tone as casual as if he had run into an old friend. "Want to play a game?"

Nobara's answer was three nails tearing through the darkness.

"Quit talking to yourself, you stitched-up freak!" Nobara's gaze was sharp as a blade. Though covered in wounds, her unyielding pride had never faded.

Mahito nimbly twisted aside, letting out a cheerful laugh.

"That look in your eyes... ah, it really makes me want to crush it with my own hands."

Kyoto, a secret workshop.

Kokichi Muta stared fixedly at the red dot flashing frantically on the monitor, representing Shiyue Shuo's vital signs.

"Shuo... you bastard, don't you dare die like this."

His extreme tension left deep finger marks on the console. As someone who had once been Shiyue Shuo's "ally," he worried about that boy more than anyone.

"Miwa, how are things on your end?" Kokichi Muta asked Kasumi Miwa through a distant puppet.

"I'm heading to the perimeter to provide support." Miwa's voice carried a sob, but she still gripped her sword steadily.

"Be careful. An unknown cursed energy source has appeared ahead," Kokichi Muta warned.

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