"Sukuna's vessel?"
Hajime Kashimo rubbed his chin with one hand and tilted his head, his gaze settling on Itadori, who knelt on the ground coughing up blood, as though inspecting an unopened piece of merchandise. His tone was flat, with even a hint of idle curiosity.
"If you bring Sukuna out now, you might stand a better chance. But as you are now-" He paused, his lips curling slightly. "You're pathetically weak."
Before his words had faded, a gunshot cracked out. At some point, Mai Zenin had swung her gun toward him and pulled the trigger. A bullet formed from cursed energy shot from the barrel, heading straight for Kashimo's temple. It was blindingly fast, its whistle sharp and brief.
Kashimo did not even turn his head. He raised his right hand, extended two fingers, and calmly pinched them together.
The bullet stopped between his fingers.
The metal slug was still spinning faintly. Embers of cursed energy flickered a few times across its surface, then died out. Kashimo held the bullet up before his eyes and examined it.
"You make bullets with cursed energy, then fire them from a gun?" He casually tossed the bullet to the ground, where it landed with a crisp metallic ping. "Is your cursed technique Construction?"
Mai's pupils contracted sharply. Her finger was still on the trigger, but there was no time to chamber a second round-because Kashimo had vanished.
Kashimo moved too quickly for her eyes to track. The next instant, a violent impact rocked her temple.
Kashimo appeared behind her, his fist already swinging. It was not a heavy punch, at least by his standards, but it was enough to send Mai Zenin toppling sideways like a felled log. She slammed into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Her eyes remained