The night sky above Shibuya had been completely dyed a strange purplish-red.
The hundred-metre-tall Perfect Susanoo stood amidst the ruins.
Its enormous wings spread wide in the raging winds, blotting out the pale moonlight overhead.
A deep violet glow flowed across the armour of the tengu warrior, radiating an ancient pressure that felt capable of crushing the entire world.
And at the feet of this divine colossus...
Sukuna's Domain, Malevolent Shrine, built from heaps of bones, looked absurdly small.
It resembled nothing more than a cheap bonsai placed before a giant.
Screech! Screech! Screech!
Within the Domain, countless invisible slashes continued to rage without pause.
Cleave and Dismantle, attacks capable of reducing skyscrapers to pieces in an instant, crashed endlessly against the armour of the Perfect Susanoo.
Yet all they produced were showers of sparks and ear-splitting metallic screeches.
Not a single visible scratch appeared on the violet armour.
Absolute defence.
Before the power of Six Paths Chakra, slashes governed by the laws of jujutsu and the physical world had become meaningless.
"What... what the hell is that thing?!"
Hidden among the ruins at the edge of the Domain, Jogo's eye nearly bulged from its socket.
Even the smoke billowing from the volcano atop his head had frozen.
In all his years of existence, he had never seen such a colossal and indestructible construct.
Even the guaranteed-hit slashes of Malevolent Shrine couldn't break through its defence?
Before the shrine itself, Sukuna stared upward.
His gaze was locked on the hundred-metre-tall giant towering above him.
And on Rin, standing within the crystal at the forehead of the Perfect Susanoo, looking down at him with cold indifference.
Humiliation.
Rage.
For a thousand years, the King of Curses had always stood above everyone else.
He was accustomed to trampling others beneath his feet.
Accustomed to watching the weak scream as his slashes reduced them to pieces.
But today, the roles had been reversed.
He was the one forced to look up.
The one standing beneath another.
"Don't think you're safe just because you've hidden inside an oversized turtle shell!"
The markings on Sukuna's face twisted with fury.
The cursed energy contained within fifteen fingers erupted from him without restraint.
The sheer concentration distorted the surrounding air, producing visible ripples and eerie wails.
Then his hands came together before his chest.
An ancient and sinister hand seal formed.
"Open."
An obscure and ancient incantation escaped his lips.
Boom!
A sphere of intensely compressed flames burst into existence between his hands.
The temperature was terrifying.
The shattered concrete beneath his feet instantly melted into crimson magma.
Sukuna lowered his stance.
The sphere of flames rapidly stretched and reshaped itself in his hands, transforming into a gigantic flaming bow and arrow.
This fire technique, known as "Open," was one of his greatest trump cards.
A thousand years ago, it had reduced countless powerful sorcerers and entire cities to ashes.
"Get down here!"
Sukuna roared as he pulled the fiery bowstring to its limit.
The arrow was aimed directly at Rin, standing within the crystal at the forehead of the Perfect Susanoo.
Whoosh!
The flaming arrow left the bowstring.
It transformed into a crimson meteor that pierced through the heavens.
The air along its path ignited instantly, creating a massive trail of fire and vacuum in its wake.
Carrying enough destructive power to incinerate everything in its path, it shot straight toward Rin.
Inside the violet crystal, Rin watched the incoming inferno with a cold sneer.
"Playing with fire in front of me?"
The Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan in his right eye blazed crimson.
"You're only embarrassing yourself."
The colossal Perfect Susanoo moved.
It made no attempt to dodge.
Its left arm rose.
A gigantic longbow formed entirely from Lightning Release chakra materialised in its grasp.
The right hand pulled back the string.
A sphere of pitch-black fire appeared out of nowhere.
Amaterasu.
Under the precise control of Blaze Release: Kagutsuchi, the inextinguishable black flames rapidly stretched and condensed into a pure black arrow dozens of metres long.
Black flames burned across its surface.
Violent purple lightning crackled around it.
"Blaze Release: Susanoo Kagutsuchi."
Rin released the string.
TWANG!
A thunderous explosion echoed across Shibuya like divine judgment.
The black flame arrow became a streak of dark lightning that tore through the night sky, descending to meet Sukuna's attack head-on.
The two arrows collided in midair.
They represented the pinnacle of two entirely different power systems.
At the moment of impact, Sukuna's crimson flames—capable of burning cities and boiling oceans—met their natural predator.
The black flames of Amaterasu devoured them instantly.
There was no struggle.
No resistance.
The ordinary flames simply became fuel for the inextinguishable black fire.
The black flame arrow crushed through Sukuna's attack as though it were dry grass.
Its speed didn't decrease in the slightest.
It continued downward and slammed directly into the bone shrine below.
BOOM—!!!
This time, it was true devastation.
The kind of destruction that seemed capable of tearing apart heaven and earth itself.
The black flames erupted the moment they struck the ground.
They spread into a pitch-black sea of fire, swallowing everything within hundreds of metres.
Crack... BOOM!
Before the black inferno that could burn even the soul itself, Malevolent Shrine stood no chance.
The shrine constructed from Sukuna's cursed energy lasted less than a second before every bone was reduced to ash.
The Domain collapsed completely.
"AAAAAAAH!"
At the centre of the explosion, Sukuna let out a shrill scream.
The black flames of Amaterasu instantly latched onto his body and began devouring him relentlessly.
His vaunted Reverse Cursed Technique became meaningless.
Fresh flesh would begin to regenerate, only to be burned to charcoal before it could fully form.
Run.
That was the only thought left in Sukuna's mind.
Ignoring the agony of being consumed alive, he gritted his teeth and forcibly severed his left arm along with the half of his body engulfed by the black flames.
Using the blast wave from the explosion, he retreated desperately.
At the distant edge of the ruins, Jogo witnessed everything.
His soul trembled with fear.
Sukuna...
Had actually been defeated in a single move?
Even Malevolent Shrine had been burned through?
"A monster... That's an invincible god!"
"I have to run!"
"I have to tell Kenjaku!"
Black smoke erupted violently from the volcano atop Jogo's head as he fled toward the underground entrance of Shibuya Station.
At that moment, only one thought remained in his mind.
The plan was flawed.
There was an absolute calamity walking this world.
A being that must never be provoked.
"You've watched the entire show."
"And now you think you can leave?"
A whisper as cold as a grim reaper's voice suddenly sounded beside his ear.
Jogo's eye widened.
He didn't even have time to turn around.
Thrust!
A black longsword wrapped in purple lightning pierced through his back, tore through his chest, and burst out from the front amidst crackling arcs of electricity.
The Kusanagi Sword.
At some point, Rin had already dismissed the Perfect Susanoo.
Using Amenotejikara, he had instantly swapped places with a piece of rubble near Jogo and appeared silently behind him.
"Urgh..."
Jogo opened his mouth and coughed out a large mouthful of purple cursed blood.
High-density Lightning Release chakra surged through the blade and flooded into his body.
His cursed energy pathways were instantly overloaded and shattered one after another under the violent current.
"In my hunting ground..."
"No prey escapes alive."
Rin twisted the sword.
Lightning exploded.
BOOM!
Jogo, the Special Grade Curse whose reputation had shaken the jujutsu world, didn't even manage to finish a final sentence.
His body exploded into a cloud of ash beneath the rampaging lightning.
Rin casually flicked the residue from the Kusanagi Sword.
Then he turned his gaze elsewhere.
Several dozen metres away, Sukuna knelt upon the scorched earth.
Half of his body had been burned away.
He gasped for breath, his remaining right hand digging into the ground.
Although his Reverse Cursed Technique was working frantically, the lingering black flames deliberately left behind by Rin continued to obstruct the regeneration of his wounds.
"Cough... cough..."
"You bastard..."
Sukuna looked up.
Yuji's face was covered in grotesque black markings, and his eyes burned with hatred.
Holding the Kusanagi Sword, Rin approached at an unhurried pace.
"Fifteen fingers."
"And this is all you've got?"
Looking down at the former King of Curses, Rin's eyes were filled with nothing but disappointment and boredom.
"It seems I overestimated you."
"A thousand years haven't made you any stronger."
"They've only turned you into a piece of trash that hides inside a brat's body and barks."
"I'll kill you... I'll definitely kill you!"
Sukuna roared through gritted teeth as his remaining right hand tried to form another slash.
Bang!
Rin's kick landed squarely on his chin.
The tremendous force instantly dislocated Sukuna's neck.
His body tumbled across the ground several times before crashing heavily into a distant pile of concrete rubble.
"Go back where you belong."
Rin's voice was ice-cold.
"The current you isn't even worthy of making me take this seriously."
"When you've gathered all twenty fingers and returned to your so-called peak..."
"Then come kneel before me and beg for death."
The continuous punishment and the lingering effects of Amaterasu had already pushed the vessel's body beyond its limits.
Sukuna's consciousness began to fade.
He roared unwillingly.
Yet the black markings on his face receded like a retreating tide.
The second pair of eyes closed.
As Sukuna's power weakened, Yuji finally regained control of his body.
"Cough...!"
Yuji's eyes snapped open.
He spat out a mouthful of blood.
The agony of broken bones and severe burns coursing through half his body made him convulse uncontrollably.
Even so, when he saw the surrounding ruins that looked as though they had been struck by a natural disaster, and the figure of Rin standing nearby with a black sword in hand, he managed to remain conscious.
"Mr. Rin..."
"Thank you..."
Yuji knew exactly what would have happened if Rin hadn't intervened.
Once Sukuna had fully taken control, an unstoppable massacre would have unfolded throughout the district.
"Shut up and stay still."
Rin walked over and put away the Kusanagi Sword.
He raised his right hand.
A rich emerald-green Yang Release chakra bloomed within his palm.
The green light enveloped Yuji's battered body.
Once again, that miraculous vitality displayed its overwhelming power.
The flesh destroyed by Amaterasu began regenerating at visible speed.
Bones reconstructed themselves.
Damaged meridians and internal organs rapidly returned to normal.
Within moments, the worst of the injuries had been completely healed.
Feeling strength return to his body, Yuji slowly sat up, his face filled with disbelief.
"Alright. Stop sitting there in a daze."
Rin lowered his hand and turned toward the entrance of Shibuya Station.
A subtle yet unmistakable barrier fluctuation was spreading from below.
"Gojo Satoru has already been sealed inside the Prison Realm."
His voice remained calm.
Yet beneath that calmness lurked a chill reminiscent of the stillness before a storm.
"The opening act is over."
"Let's go."
"Down below."
"It's time to collect some interest from the mastermind behind all of this."
___
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