The light of destruction slowly faded.
The deafening roar gradually subsided.
The lingering smoke and dust slowly scattered in the cold wind.
They revealed the ground at the center of the battlefield, as though ravaged repeatedly by meteors, then sliced and plowed by countless colossal blades.
A horrifying scar spanning over five hundred meters in radius, reduced entirely to scorched earth and deep craters.
And at the very center of that devastation.
A figure stood, swaying.
It was Sukuna.
But he no longer possessed his earlier ferocity and imposing might.
The true form he had manifested was now in an utterly wretched state.
Two of his four arms had been severed at the shoulders. The stumps were charred black, with no blood flowing from them, as though instantly carbonized by intense heat.
His two remaining arms were also covered in bone-deep slashes and burns, hanging limply at his sides, trembling slightly.
Large patches of his skin were blackened and cracked, exposing the muscles and bones beneath that had yet to fully heal.
Half his face was almost completely ruined, its flesh peeled back to expose stark white cheekbone and teeth. One sinister eye was dull and lightless, as though already blind.
The other half of his face was likewise covered in wounds, but his three remaining sinister eyes stayed wide open, burning with a savage light that refused to die.
The Cursed Energy that had once surged around him like an ocean had now weakened to its utmost limit, flickering like a candle in the wind.
The domain of "Malevolent Shrine" had long since collapsed completely in that final clash.
Sukuna was now not only mortally wounded, but more importantly-
His Cursed Technique had burned out.
After forcibly maintaining a domain as powerful and far-reaching as "Malevolent Shrine," only for