Tokyo Colony No. 2.
A towering translucent black barrier had turned the once-bustling city into a lawless wasteland.
The sky was overcast, and the air was thick with the pungent smell of blood and the scorched scent of ozone.
Buzz.
A visible ripple spread across the edge of the barrier.
With one hand in the pocket of his black trench coat, Rin crossed the spatial boundary and stepped into the battlefield created by the Culling Game.
Toji followed close behind.
Ushi coiled around his shoulders, the Chain of a Thousand Miles hanging from his hand, his gaze like that of a starving wolf entering a flock of sheep.
A winged imp-like shikigami, Kogane, fluttered over and spoke in a mechanical tone.
"Welcome to Tokyo Colony No. 2. Please review the current point rules and—"
Smack.
Annoyed, Toji casually slapped the system shikigami into a shower of light particles.
"Boss, the smell of blood here is pretty strong."
He cracked his neck, producing a series of crisp pops.
His senses, far beyond those of ordinary humans, had already picked up several greedy gazes hidden among the surrounding ruins.
Ancient sorcerers and modern curse users lay in wait, eager to hunt newly arrived players.
"I'll leave the small fry to you."
"Don't let them dirty my shoes."
Rin continued walking forward at an unhurried pace.
His leather boots made crisp sounds as they stepped across roads littered with shattered glass.
"Gladly."
Toji grinned.
His body instantly blurred into several afterimages.
The next moment, shrill screams echoed from the darkened shops lining both sides of the street.
The tyrant blessed by Heavenly Restriction was like an invisible spectre inside the barrier.
Walls collapsed.
Blood splattered.
Those hunters who thought they had concealed themselves perfectly couldn't even perceive Toji's movements before the Chain of a Thousand Miles tore their internal organs apart.
In less than two minutes, not a single living thing remained on either side of the street.
Rin had no interest in such a one-sided slaughter.
He simply continued walking until he stopped in the middle of a crossroads.
Ahead of him stood a mountain of corpses.
Modern sorcerers.
Ancient reincarnated players.
Even dismembered curses.
Their deaths shared one thing in common.
Every corpse was charred black, carrying the stench of flesh instantly carbonized by overwhelming heat.
And seated atop the hill of bodies was a man.
He wore an ancient kariginu robe, weathered by time.
His short blue hair stood wildly in all directions.
A metal staff rested across his shoulders, and the lightning-shaped tattoo beneath his eye radiated arrogance and violence.
Hajime Kashimo.
The strongest lightning-user from four hundred years ago.
"Hey."
"You two just entered the colony?"
Kashimo rose from the mountain of corpses and rested the metal staff on his shoulder.
His eyes swept over the bloodstained Toji before locking directly onto Rin.
His instincts, sharpened by endless battles, told him that the black-haired youth standing there with perfectly steady breathing was the truly dangerous prey.
"You know the rules."
"So tell me."
"Where is Ryomen Sukuna?"
"If you can give me a lead, I might let you die quickly."
Kashimo rolled his shoulders.
Blue arcs of electricity crackled across his body.
"Looking for Sukuna?"
Rin raised his eyes.
His pitch-black gaze met Kashimo's.
"That trash I pinned under my foot and beat until he couldn't even lift his head?"
"What do you want with him?"
The atmosphere froze.
Kashimo stood motionless.
For a moment, he was completely stunned.
For four hundred years, Kashimo had sought defeat.
He had entered into a Binding Vow with Kenjaku and crossed through time into the modern era for one reason alone.
To fight the legendary King of Curses, Ryomen Sukuna, and die a satisfying death.
And now, this unknown man actually claimed that he had stepped on Sukuna?
"Hahahahaha!"
Kashimo suddenly burst into loud laughter, almost laughing himself to tears.
"Interesting!"
"How interesting!"
"Do modern sorcerers all love boasting this much?"
"But congratulations."
"You've successfully pissed me off."
Boom!
His laughter stopped abruptly.
The mountain of corpses beneath his feet exploded under the surge of violent lightning-infused cursed energy.
His entire body transformed into a streak of brilliant blue lightning, crossing more than ten metres in an instant.
The metal staff descended toward Rin's head with the force of ten thousand tons.
The strike broke the sound barrier.
The pungent scent of ozone filled the air.
Not far away, Toji whistled and showed no intention of helping.
What a joke.
Taking a hit for that monster?
He wasn't tired of living just yet.
The staff descended.
Rin didn't retreat.
With a slight push of his right foot, his body shifted with the smallest of movements.
Whoosh—!
The metal staff brushed past the edge of his trench coat and smashed into the ground.
Boom!
The asphalt split apart.
A trench dozens of metres long appeared in the street as debris flew everywhere like bullets.
Missing his attack didn't anger Kashimo.
Instead, his eyes burned with even greater excitement.
His cursed energy possessed the property of electricity.
As long as he struck an opponent, he could plant a positive charge within their body.
Afterward, he could release a guaranteed-hit lightning strike through the attraction between positive and negative charges.
"Got you!"
Borrowing the force from his missed strike, Kashimo twisted his waist and slammed a heavy left hook into Rin's shoulder.
At the moment of impact, the positive charge was transferred successfully.
"Die!"
Kashimo instantly retreated and raised a hand.
The negative charge within his body and the positive charge on Rin generated a fatal attraction.
A pillar of blue lightning materialised from thin air.
Ignoring distance and all physical obstacles, it followed the principle of absolute accuracy and shot directly toward Rin's heart.
No Domain Expansion.
No cursed technique.
This was a sure-kill attack created solely through the properties of his cursed energy.
The lightning swallowed Rin whole.
Kashimo snorted and rested the metal staff on his shoulder once again.
With that level of current, even if his opponent defended with cursed energy, his organs would have been roasted alive.
"A fool who can't even fight back dares to claim he stepped on Sukuna..."
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