The battle for Tokyo had reached its critical moment.
Zenin Maki moved through the horde of Cursed Spirits like a blade given life—each step precise, each strike lethal. The spirit-slaying sword in her hands sang as it carved through ethereal flesh, exorcising a dozen spirits with every passing minute.
Above her, Zenin Mai lay prone in the Tokyo Tower's observation deck, her own spirit-slaying sword reconfigured into a sniper rifle. Through the scope, she tracked every threat to her sister, her finger gentle on the trigger.
Bang.
A Cursed Spirit lunging for Maki's blind spot dissolved mid-air.
Maki didn't look back. She didn't need to. The twin bond told her everything.
Then the atmosphere shifted.
A woman descended from the sky—pink hair, pink vest, an expression of casual boredom. Uro Henko, captain of the Moon-Sun-Stars Assault Squad, ancient sorcerer from a millennium past.
She had witnessed Sukuna in his prime. She had survived wars that reduced cities to rubble. And now, bound by an ancient contract with Kenjaku, she had come to fulfill her obligation.
The guardian barrier pulsed before her. Behind it, thousands of unconscious civilians waited.
Uro didn't hesitate.
Sky Cursed Technique: Uzumaki Bomb. *
Powerful cursed energy slammed into the barrier's surface—and splashed harmlessly. The shield didn't even flicker.
Uro's eyes narrowed. 'Reinforced. Tied to a caster.'
Below, Maki had already abandoned her Cursed Spirit opponents. She seized a car, muscles coiling, and hurled it skyward with all her Heavenly Restriction-enhanced strength.
Mai's rifle cracked simultaneously, a bullet aimed directly at Uro's forehead.
Uro raised one hand lazily.
She grasped the sky.
Space flattened beneath her palm—a conceptual "plane" that existed beyond physical reality. The car and bullet struck that plane and rebounded, their trajectories perfectly reversed, rocketing back toward their senders.
Maki dove aside. Mai ducked behind the tower's structure. Their own attacks screamed past, missing by inches.
Maki rose, eyes locked on Uro. 'She needs her hands. The technique requires her to grasp something.'
Mai's voice echoed in her mind through their twin bond. 'I see it too. If we pin her hands...'
'Then she's vulnerable.'
They didn't need words to coordinate.
Maki launched herself skyward, long sword extended, every ounce of her perfected Heavenly Restriction pouring into the strike. She wasn't trying to cut space—not yet. But the intent behind her blade was enough to make Uro's eyes widen slightly.
This girl was dangerous.
Below, Mai's rifle tracked every movement, waiting for an opening.
The true battle for Tokyo had begun.
The battle reached its critical moment.
Under Zenin Maki's relentless assault, Uro Henko found herself in an impossible position. Her hands—the medium for her Sky Cursed Technique—were pinned, unable to grasp the space she needed to flatten. And even if she could, Maki's sword intent churned the surrounding air so violently that any attempt to "flatten" it would be like trying to crush a bottle already filled to bursting with water.
Uro was a warrior of a thousand years. She had witnessed Sukuna's prime. She had survived wars that reshaped nations.
But she had never faced a Heavenly Restriction in close combat while unarmed.
'I relied too much on my technique,' she realized bitterly. 'Neglected the basics.'
Fury built within her—at herself, at this situation, at the humiliation of being cornered by a child. There was only one way out.
Domain Expansion: Pure Land of Ruri. *
Space warped. The world dissolved into crystalline beauty—a realm of perfect order and absolute control.
Uro breathed relief. Within her Domain, she was sovereign. The girl would fall—
Maki moved.
The sure-hit effect of the Domain Expansion... missed. Completely. As if Maki existed outside the rules Uro had established. She wove through attacks that should have been unavoidable, her Heavenly Restriction rendering the Domain's absolute control meaningless.
Then she struck.
From inside, Maki's blade pierced the Domain's shell.
From outside, three consecutive sniper rounds—each imbued with Mai's cursed energy—slammed into the same point.
The Domain shattered.
Uro stood amid the dissolving remnants of her ultimate technique, Cursed Technique burnout leaving her vulnerable, her mind struggling to accept what had just happened. She had planned for this—quickly eliminate Maki inside the Domain, then deal with the weaker sister outside.
She had not planned for Maki to be completely unaffected.
She had not planned for the sisters to coordinate perfectly across the barrier of her own Domain.
She had not planned to lose.
Maki closed the distance. One step. Two. Her blade rose and fell.
Uro's head separated from her shoulders.
In her final moments, the ancient sorcerer's thoughts were not of Kenjaku, nor of her contract, nor of the millennium she had waited to return.
'I went through all that... only to die for someone else again.'
A strange peace settled over her fading consciousness.
'If there's a next life... I'll be more selfish. Live only for myself. Find true happiness...'
The light left her eyes.
Zenin Maki stood over the body, breathing hard but steady. Below, Mai emerged from cover, rifle lowering, a fierce smile on her face.
The Tokyo Barrier was safe. For now.