Jogo felt Mahito's hand suddenly grip his shoulder harder.
"Can you make another one of those domes, Jogo?"
Jogo nodded.
Then, he suddenly felt himself being lifted into the air as Mahito's arm stretched, before finally being dropped atop the destroyed remains of a nearby building, likely torn apart by the shockwave of the explosion.
Jogo was then left there before being given a nod by Mahito.
He lifted his arms, a thin dome of lava appearing around him.
When it finally hardened into volcanic rock, Jogo fell to his knees and succumbed to exhaustion, depositing his faith into his two friends.
Meanwhile, Ryomen Sukuna was staring at Mahito pensively.
If he shot his fire arrow forward, he could hit Mahito, but the blast would be big enough to hit himself. And even if it killed Mahito, Sukuna would end up hurt badly, and would likely be caught in the incoming tsunami. If he turned back and fired at the Tsunami, then he'd expose his own back to Mahito. And without his slashes and domain, he'd need to rely on martial arts.
A smirk formed at his mouth as he looked at Mahito, before doing the movements to summon the fire arrow in reverse, causing it to disappear.
Dagon's tsunami had already crossed three-fourths of the enormous crater when it suddenly stopped, completely frozen.
The culprit stood directly in front of it, not a care in the world present on their face.
It was a girl... or maybe a boy. Mahito and Dagon couldn't be too sure. They had mostly white hair with a bit of red in a bowl cut, strange monk-like robes, and piercing dark pink eyes. The curse user suddenly kneeled and closed them.
"Greetings, master Sukuna. I've taken the liberty to deal with this curse's attack, if that is alright."
Sukuna then sidestepped before turning his head toward his servant, his eyes glistening with mischief.
"Uraume! Long time no see. How about you lend me a hand?"
Uraume smiled.
"Your wish is my command."
As their conversation happened, Dagon jumped off the frozen tsunami, landing directly in front of the new challenger.
Meanwhile, Mahito circled Sukuna while walking back, eventually making his way down into the crater, getting back to back with Dagon.
"I'll take care of Sukuna. You can deal with that little girl. When you're done, come and help me. How about that?~."
Asked the patchface curse in his regular tone, although it sounded quite strange coming from his new form.
"I won't keep you waiting. You and Jogo got a lot stronger, but I've not stayed still either."
Responded Dagon, Conviction showing in his dark black eyes.
"It's settled then."
Just as Mahito said that, he began rapidly racing toward Ryomen Sukuna, who also did the same.
Mahito then attempted to strike at him with one of his many fists, only for it to be easily blocked by the king of curses' palm. Then, he attempted to punch with his other 3 arms in quick succession, but the king of curses had managed to block all 3 without much struggle as well.
Sukuna attempted to strike Mahito, but one of the curse's four arms deflected the blow.
Both of them then sped up their attacks tenfold, a rapid barrage of punches and blocks, with no side gaining the advantage.
Then, Mahito changed his tactics, significantly lengthening one of his arms' blades, attempting to stab into it.
But Sukuna was faster. He sidestepped, leaving Mahito's strike to stab through the air, before slamming his fist's full might upon Mahito's thick skin.
At least, that was what he expected to happen.
But where Mahito's lower stomach was supposed to be, there was only air surrounding Sukuna's fist.
A void of nothing but air. Mahito had altered his body, opening a hole directly where the attack was meant to hit.
around the hole, Sukuna could see three different layers of flesh: the darker blue of Mahito's current form, the lighter blue tone of the instant spirit body of distorted killing, and the clearly less resistant pale skin of Mahito's regular form.
Ryomen Sukuna realized he could use this to his advantage, although it would be trickier without his slashes.
He attempted to pull his arm out of the chasm, but when he did, he felt a strong grip holding his arm back.
Mahito's six tentacles were holding onto Sukuna's arm with all their might, causing pain to spread throughout it.
Realizing he couldn't brute force his way out of Mahito's grip, Sukuna used his currently stuck right arm to leverage his body upwards, spinning into a kick straight into Mahito's face.
But as his foot approached, Mahito's head suddenly deflated like a balloon, shriveling and darkening rapidly, causing Sukuna's foot to only hit air once again. The sheer sight of this disgusting act would be enough to scare any normal man.
Ryomen Sukuna was, of course, no normal man.
Once he looked back down, Mahito's tentacles had coalesced into a singular blob of flesh, as if it was simply a regular part of his body, only protruding outward.
Then, what remained of Mahito's shriveled-up face suddenly simply joined with the rest of his neck, leaving him entirely faceless.
A myriad of mouths and eyes formed all over his skin in another terrible sight. Then, all of these mouths opened and spoke in unison, as if with a single voice.
"Tell me, Ryomen Sukuna. What is humanity's greatest strength?"
--<>--
Meanwhile, Dagon was facing Uraume, completely determined. His opponent looked at him condescendingly.
"Master Sukuna was going easy on that volcano-headed curse, of course. If he used all his power, he would've been dead instantly. Though I recognize him, and that patch-faced one would be at least interesting in battle against me. You, meanwhile?-"
Uraume's words were interrupted by Dagon, his fist clenching in rage.
''Mahito and Jogo, those are their names... They'll still grow much stronger, surpassing every single sorcerer, every single curse user. All of you humans.
And I'll grow alongside them. I won't be left behind.
I'll make you pay dearly for running your mouth!"
Dagon threw his hands forward, a large stream of piranhas pouring out from them in their direction.
Uraume then formed from their mouth a cloud of cold air, which made its way forward and met the piranhas in the air, effortlessly freezing all of them into a large chunk of ice, before allowing it to fall onto the floor.
Dagon was still completely enraged and ran toward Uraume with all his speed, his first already coiled and prepared to strike.
His opponent effortlessly stepped to the side, then slowly stepped back, putting some range between the two of them.
Dagon's fists met the frozen tsunami, causing cracks to appear around where his fist hit.
Not allowing this to get in his way, Dagon once again turned and began running directly at his opponent.
"Icefall.''
When Uraume uttered those words, a torrent of chunks of Ice rapidly fell on and around Dagon, before rapidly expanding around him, effectively trapping most of his body, except the face and part of his arms.
The painful cold was almost too much to bear, but the curse withstood it.
"This battle isn't over yet, sorcerer! Mahito still needs me! I can't be exorcised yet!"
He flexed his arms, mustering all his strength, finally causing the ice around him to shatter, while Uraume looked on in disdain.
"Get stronger. Don't be left behind."
Repeated Dagon, opening his arms wide and turning his palms up.
"Mahito! Jogo! I can still reach you, can't I?!"
"DISASTER TIDES: POSEIDON!"
When Dagon said this, a three-pronged crimson-red trident suddenly formed in his hands, with shapes similar to scales carved into it.
Uraume, unimpressed, simply blew another cloud of cold air in his direction.
Dagon, in response, moved around it before thrusting the trident in his opponent's direction.
Uraume managed to dodge and get some 2-3 meters away, but he, or she, hadn't yet noticed how lucky they were.
Dagon's trident finally reached the ice wall formed from the tsunami, the tip making contact with the surprisingly durable ice.
But when it did, cracks began forming around it.
Slowly, at first, then rapidly.
The colossal ice wall, some 200 meters tall, was quickly marked by an uncountable number of cracks.
Then, it finally burst under the pressure.