Little Satoru Gojo and Esdeath Fight Over a Target While Xingbao Struggles to Survive

The instant the voice fell silent.

The air three meters above the scrap heap suddenly caved inward.

As though an invisible hand had crushed it into a ball.

Pop.

A muffled spatial bubble burst.

Light bent sharply in that tiny patch of space.

Little Satoru Gojo, wearing small round sunglasses, appeared out of nowhere atop the rusty shipping container.

She sat cross-legged.

A white plastic stick protruded from her mouth.

Her cheeks bulged as hard candy crunched between her teeth.

In the hidden Nihility space.

Su Chen's true body clutched his head tightly with both hands.

It felt as though a rusty chainsaw had split his brainstem open.

The strain of controlling two Avatars separately far exceeded anything he had imagined.

Half his consciousness had been pulled into the body of a cold, arrogant queen of ice.

The other half had been forced into Little Satoru Gojo's rebellious mind.

The two Avatars' domineering personalities clashed wildly inside his consciousness.

Su Chen gritted his teeth.

His teeth cut into the inside of his mouth, and the thick taste of blood rushed up his nose.

Veins bulged across his forehead like twisting green snakes.

He had to keep both Avatars' emotions firmly under control. He could not show the locals the slightest crack.

Esdeath slowly raised her head.

Beneath the shadow of her military cap, her ice-blue eyes were unnaturally cold.

The hem of her white uniform snapped despite the still air.

"Seventh Seat."

Her rich, mature voice echoed across the empty Waste Mining Area.

Each word was like a block of ice carved from a glacier.

"This is my hunting ground. Get lost."

Atop the container.

Little Satoru Gojo tugged her sunglasses down to the tip of her nose.

Her azure eyes rolled dramatically, full of unchecked mischief.

"Huh?"

She crunched the lollipop in her mouth to pieces.

She casually spat the plastic stick onto the rusty metal roof with a light tap.

"Just because you say it's yours, that makes it yours?"

Her short legs swung smugly in midair.

"Then I say this whole underground is my playground."

She held out a small finger and pointed at Svarog, who was still smoking below.

"So what if you're the Seat of Ice?"

"I spotted this hunk of metal from up there. It's perfect for a little practice."

Just two sentences.

And neither Divine Court Avatar would give an inch.

The already murky air of the Underworld turned oppressively heavy.

The frozen earth beneath Esdeath's feet cracked in rapid succession.

White frost rushed outward along the ground like a wild beast.

Everywhere it passed.

Rusty rails and abandoned mine carts disappeared beneath thick ice.

The extreme cold made the metal brittle, and it cracked under the strain.

Sharp ice lotuses forced their way into bloom across the wasteland.

Little Satoru Gojo refused to back down.

She extended a pale finger and tapped the air.

Limitless Cursed Technique: Full Power.

The once-still space instantly turned viscous.

A vast gravitational field centered on her slammed downward.

One force was cold; the other, heavy.

The two unreasonable powers collided at the center of the Waste Mining Area.

Boom—

There was no blinding flash.

Only the muffled groan of the earth being compressed.

A clearly perceptible earthquake shook the entire Underworld of Belobog.

The thick alloy barrier overhead let out a teeth-grating screech.

Large flakes of rust and dust rained down.

They struck the frozen ground, kicking up a gray haze.

The mountains of old shipping containers nearby buckled under the combined assault of gravity and ice.

Their metal sides crumpled like wadded-up paper.

Clara crouched in front of Svarog, clutching her head in terror.

Under Su Chen's deliberate control, the cushion of soft ice beneath her feet held her steady.

It shielded her completely from the devastating pressure outside.

But Xingbao, who had just come down the stairs, was not so lucky.

She charged into the Waste Mining Area in a hurry.

Leaves and grease from the trash cans she had rummaged through still clung to her gray coat.

All she could think about was her grand plan to find Sukuna's Finger and learn to make a giant glowing ball.

She had barely rounded the corner.

When a violent gust full of sharp ice shards struck her face.

The soft flesh of Xingbao's cheeks rippled wildly in the wind.

Her breathing stopped.

The pressure forced the air from her lungs, and her chest felt as though it had taken a hammer blow.

The freezing wind sliced her skin like blades, leaving several thin bloody cuts.

The cold bit to the bone.

"Waaah—"

Her scream came out at a warped pitch.

Her legs went weak, and her knees knocked uncontrollably.

The crushing spatial pressure bore down on her back like a mountain weighing several tons.

Xingbao thought her spine was about to snap.

Her bones crackled.

Snow and dust swirled off the ground into a miniature tornado.

It caught the hem of her gray coat.

The wind was absurdly strong, threatening to sweep her into the air.

Xingbao's shoes left the ground.

She flailed desperately in midair.

All ten fingers scrabbled at empty space.

At last.

She wrapped both hands tightly around a rusty iron post half-buried in the frozen ground.

The post's rusted surface was incredibly rough.

Under the tremendous pull, it scraped a layer of skin from her palms.

Blood seeped out and stuck to the cold metal.

Xingbao had no time to worry about the pain.

She kicked wildly twice, then locked both legs around the base of the post.

She hung from it like a koala.

The wind pressure kept rising.

Her coat ballooned into a gray hot-air balloon.

Face down, she pressed herself against the cold post that reeked of rust.

Snow-laden wind poured down her collar.

Her teeth chattered so hard they rattled.

"Help... I'm flying, I'm flying, I'm flying!"

Xingbao shouted with her eyes squeezed shut.

The wind tore her words apart the instant they left her mouth. She could not even hear herself.

Her arms felt ready to pop out of their sockets.

Her shoulder joints were stretched to their limits.

The wind blew her tears back into her eyes, leaving them stinging.

Caught between two terrifying powerhouses fighting.

This newly recruited "underling" was barely clinging to life.

She never should have followed the sound of the tremors over to watch.

Hidden deep in his consciousness.

Su Chen felt as though his head was about to split open.

Two immense mental forces were hammering against each other.

Veins bulged and throbbed at his temples, tugging painfully at his scalp.

His stomach cramped, and sour liquid surged up his throat.

If he kept up this act.

He would break himself before any of the locals did.

Both sides had shown their power. He had achieved his goal; it was time to stop.

Esdeath gave a cold snort.

Annoyance flickered through her ice-blue eyes.

She raised a hand and waved it casually.

The raging snow and ice around her instantly settled.

The spreading frost stopped at the foot of the container and advanced no farther.

"Consider yourself lucky, Seventh Seat."

The queen's tone remained lofty.

She glanced at Svarog, still smoking on the ground, then looked away in disgust.

"That pile of scrap is already broken anyway. I won't dirty my hands with it."

On the container.

Little Satoru Gojo curled her lip.

She withdrew her pale finger, and the suffocating gravitational field around her vanished.

Space returned to normal.

The crushing pressure disappeared.

"Tch."

The little girl dusted off her hands and stood up on the container.

"What? You'd already broken it."

She slipped her hands back into the oversized pockets of her uniform.

"I don't want a toy that falls apart at a touch."

Xingbao slid down the iron post with a thud.

She collapsed onto the frozen ground.

She gulped down air, her chest heaving.

Her palms burned where the skin had been torn open.

Her legs still shook like limp noodles.

She lifted her rust- and dirt-smeared face and gazed in awe at the white-haired girl above.

That's a real powerhouse.

She doesn't even care what the Seat of Ice thinks.

Little Satoru Gojo stood high above her.

Her short white hair lifted slightly in the breeze, brushing the rims of her sunglasses.

She raised her head.

Her gaze cut through the Waste Mining Area's dim searchlights.

She looked up at the thick steel barrier sealing off the upper district.

Behind her sunglasses, those pale blue eyes

blazed once more with a wild hunger for chaos.

She raised a small, soft hand and pointed at the heavy steel overhead.

Her mouth stretched into an utterly unhinged grin.

"If the toys down here are too weak, let's go up there, drag out that old woman Cocolia, and beat her up!"