Decisive Battle

December 24, 2018. Shinjuku.

The winter wind swept through the deserted streets like a razor. This city, once the busiest in the world, was now silent.

"Phew..."

Shiyue Shuo stood atop an office building in Shinjuku and exhaled a cloud of warm breath.

He lowered his head and glanced at his palm. The lines on it were clearly visible, along with several beads of sweat.

Even after enduring Shibuya's hell, even after fighting ancient powerhouses in the Culling Game, even with absolute faith in himself, now that he truly stood here facing the strongest being of ancient times who was about to arrive, a trace of unease still lingered in his heart.

"So, using six at once only lets me bring out half their power."

Over the past month of testing, Shiyue Shuo had discovered that whenever he tried to use his abilities at full strength, the world's rejection of him intensified, while the cursed energy around him rapidly rose.

He looked up at the eight enormous black vortices in the sky. The negative emotions within them had grown increasingly dense. Over the past month, he, Satoru Gojo, and the others from Jujutsu High had investigated them more than once, but even he and Gojo could not approach. They could only watch as the massive figure inside continuously condensed into physical form.

"Hey, are you sure you don't need me to send you over?"

Gojo's voice came from behind him. He was not wearing his blindfold today, and his azure Six Eyes glimmered faintly in the shadows. He leaned against the railing with his hands in his pockets.

"No need, Gojo-sensei." Shiyue Shuo did not turn around. He was adjusting his breathing. "If you get too close, I figure that guy will open his Domain right away from sheer excitement. Then the battlefield between the three of us will only hold each other back."

"True enough." Gojo smiled and reached out to pat Shiyue Shuo on the shoulder. "Then go. Remember, don't get yourself killed. I'm still here."

"Got it."

Shiyue Shuo took a deep breath and stomped his foot.

"Free Chicken lets me soar to the moon."

Telekinetic power erupted. His body shot forward in an instant, becoming a streak of black light as he raced toward the tallest tower in central Shinjuku.

Central Shinjuku.

Ryomen Sukuna sat cross-legged at the edge of a rooftop. He wore a loose bathrobe, and Megumi Fushiguro's body bore black cursed markings across what had once been a handsome face. Like a Buddha statue from hell, he waited there for his offering to arrive.

"Here already?"

Sukuna slightly raised his eyelids, all four eyes turning toward the sky.

"Boom!"

Shiyue Shuo landed heavily on the adjacent tower. The tremendous impact bent the steel lightning rod, but he stood firm, looking down at the King of Curses from above.

Less than fifty meters separated them.

The air seemed to freeze at that moment.

"So it's you." Sukuna propped up his chin, obvious disappointment in his tone. "Where's Satoru Gojo? Sending a brat to lead the charge? Is he planning to use your blood to entertain me?"

"I'm enough on my own."

Shiyue Shuo jumped down from the lightning rod and landed on the rubble-strewn rooftop. He rolled his neck, producing a series of cracks.

"Ha... Hahahahaha!"

Sukuna burst into wild laughter. He rose to his feet, his bathrobe snapping in the cold wind.

"Interesting. I thought you were a strange brat back in Shibuya. You clearly have no cursed energy, yet you can use all those bizarre abilities." Sukuna extended one finger, aiming it at Shiyue Shuo. "Then let me see whether you're qualified to be my opponent."

"Dismantle."

Shiyue Shuo's pupils suddenly contracted. In his vision, space itself was torn apart. An invisible slash had reached the tip of his nose in an instant.

"Smack."

An immensely profound ripple spread from his palm.

The slash, powerful enough to sever space, touched Shiyue Shuo's palm and melted away like ice meeting boiling water. The violent cursed energy within was harmonized, dismantled, and finally dispersed into nothingness.

Shiyue Shuo's palm remained unscathed, while Sukuna's slash had vanished.

The entire scene fell silent.

Even the Jujutsu High group watching the battle through Mei Mei's crow broadcast held their breath.

"He blocked it?" Yuji Itadori stared fixedly at the screen, his fists clenched until they turned white.

"He didn't block it." Yuta Okkotsu's expression was extremely grave. "Shiyue harmonized the negative emotions within the slash. He said that was the Tiger Talisman's power—it can reconcile good and evil, and cursed energy happens to be negative emotion. I never expected him to have mastered it so well."

On the battlefield.

The smile in Sukuna's eyes deepened.

"I see. So this is what you rely on?" Sukuna lowered his hand, not angered in the slightest that his attack had been neutralized. "Very interesting. If you can neutralize slashes, then what about this?"

Sukuna vanished.

The next second, a blood-scented gust appeared directly behind Shiyue Shuo.

Too fast.

He had not used any technique. This was purely an explosion of physical strength.

"Bang!"

Sukuna's fist slammed solidly into Shiyue Shuo's chest.

That punch was enough to shatter a small mountain.

Shiyue Shuo flew away like a cannonball, crashing through the rooftop railing and tracing a long arc through the air before smashing heavily into an office building hundreds of meters away.

"Boom!!!"

The entire building shook, and dust billowed everywhere.

"Is that all?" Sukuna stood at the rooftop's edge and boredly shook out his hand. "Interesting, sure, but still too weak."

However, before his words had even faded—

The half-collapsed office building suddenly exploded.

Countless chunks of rubble hung suspended in midair. Then, a figure radiating a faint brown glow shot out from within.

Shiyue Shuo floated in the air and wiped the thin trail of blood from the corner of his mouth. His clothes beneath the ribs had been torn apart, revealing flawless skin beneath.

[Horse]'s restorative power had healed his injuries the instant he was hurt.

"That's it?" Shiyue Shuo looked at Sukuna, the pink glow in his eyes intensifying. "Old man, your fists are a little light."

"Blazing Boar lets my blazing gaze overwhelm all."

Two searing white heat beams burst from his eyes. Like two peerless swords, they tore across the sky and stabbed straight at Sukuna's face.

Sukuna tilted his head.

"Sizzle—!"

The lasers grazed Sukuna's cheek and instantly severed the clouds for several kilometers behind him. The high heat made the skin on his cheek curl slightly, but Reverse Cursed Technique repaired it in an instant.

"Not bad eyes." Sukuna grinned, revealing his white fangs. "Then let's keep killing each other."

The battle instantly entered a fever pitch.

Above Shinjuku, two figures collided madly like shooting stars.

This was a battle that completely defied reason.

"Swift Rabbit lets me transcend time."

Shiyue Shuo left thousands of afterimages in the sky, moving so fast that even Sukuna's dynamic vision could only catch blurred trails.

"Mighty Ox lets me pull mountains from the earth."

Every time he traded punches with Sukuna, he unleashed brutal strength capable of uprooting mountains. Even Sukuna's body felt numb in the arms from their collisions.

"Sacred Dragon lets me fear nothing."

Crimson flames continuously exploded above Shinjuku. Every one of Shiyue Shuo's attacks came with a violent blast, turning the gloomy sky red with firelight.

"Shadowy Snake lets me be everywhere."

His figure flickered in and out of sight, his presence completely vanishing as he launched ambushes from Sukuna's blind spots like a ghost.

Sukuna was starting to get "irritated."

It was not because his opponent was especially strong, but because this fighting style was too disgusting.

Shiyue Shuo was like a slippery loach. If Sukuna wanted to compete in strength, he answered with brute force; if Sukuna wanted to compete in speed, he was even faster; if Sukuna wanted to cut him apart, he either neutralized the attack or endured it and instantly healed; if Sukuna wanted to bombard him with techniques, he simply turned invisible or became a bird and flew away.

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