"Not bad, not bad."
"I like that look in your eyes much more now!"
With a flash, Sukuna vanished—crossing past the special-grade cursed spirit between them in a split second.
He raised his arm and struck!
Invisible blades shot from his fingertips, but just as expected, they passed straight through Mirai's head!
Boom!!!
Walls split with clean cuts collapsed one after another, the thunder of crumbling stone echoing loudly!
"After spending time with them, it seems my heart has softened a bit too," Mirai replied softly.
At the same time, he twisted his body and lashed out with a fierce kick toward Sukuna's abdomen!
A piercing sonic boom erupted as Sukuna bent low and raised his arm to block!
Boom!
An overwhelming force surged like a collapsing mountain!
Sukuna had just restored Itadori's fists—only for his right arm to be shattered into minced flesh by Mirai's kick!
Bang!
Itadori's body was sent flying, crashing through the bridge and plunging into the reservoir below!
Mirai stepped on a relatively intact chunk of rubble and descended alongside him.
"Interesting technique."
Midair, Sukuna twisted his body, stepping across falling debris as he once again closed in on Mirai!
His crushed right arm regenerated instantly!
Malice churned violently in Sukuna's eyes as slashes rose from below, covering Mirai from all directions.
Invisible cuts, cursed energy strikes…
Yet even as they landed on the water's surface, Mirai simply stood there quietly, watching Sukuna perform.
That indifferent gaze… that attitude of utter disregard…
The excitement on Sukuna's face faltered—
Then twisted into something even more insane!
After personally experiencing Mirai's intangibility technique, Sukuna had already thought of ways to counter it.
One was to attack at the exact moment Mirai struck.
The other… was the guaranteed-hit rule of a Domain.
"To be honest…"
"With only two fingers' worth of power, you're unbearably dull."
With his hands still in his pockets, Mirai's eyes flashed with mockery.
"How about I go easy on you?"
The moment he finished speaking, Mirai directly dispelled his intangibility!
Bang!
He dashed forward, sending water and debris splashing beneath his feet!
Though Sukuna sensed the danger approaching, he simply couldn't keep up with Mirai's speed!
Boom!
The bones in his left shoulder instantly collapsed, and even the arms he raised to block were reduced to scraps of flesh barely held together by sinew.
Warm blood dripped into the water.
Reflected on the surface was Sukuna's utterly twisted and grim expression.
Mirai pressed one leg firmly onto Sukuna's arm, the terrifying weight forcing him to kneel on one knee atop the water!
Just as Mirai had said—Sukuna, with only two fingers' power, was no match.
"Here—catch."
Looking down at him, Mirai casually pulled a finger from his pocket and tossed it out like he was feeding a dog.
The cursed spirit at the juvenile detention center had become special-grade precisely because of one of Sukuna's fingers.
As for that white cursed spirit…
It had already been sliced into pieces by the aftershock of Sukuna's slashes while he was testing Mirai's technique.
While Sukuna was focused on attacking, Mirai had calmly collected the falling finger.
Boom!!
Terrifying slashes erupted from Itadori's body, spreading in all directions!
Having already dispelled his intangibility, Mirai kept his word—he stepped back and exited the attack range.
Sukuna seized the moment, stood up, and swallowed the finger in one gulp.
"Brat… you piss me off more than that white-haired guy!"
The cursed energy surging from Itadori's body now was far greater than before!
"What? Didn't you tell me to stop pretending?"
A hundred meters apart—
Mirai took a light step and appeared before Sukuna in an instant!
With the dynamic prediction of the Mangekyō Sharingan, combined with his relentlessly trained physique—
Boom!
Another side kick!
Before Sukuna could defend, he was slammed straight into a wall!
From the moment he appeared until now…
Mirai's hands, still tucked in his pockets, were a silent display of contempt.
A thousand years of existence—
From human sorcerer to cursed spirit, Sukuna had seen the ugliest sides of humanity.
From the very first time he met Mirai inside Itadori…
Beneath that artificial smile lay a soul carved with indifference.
Hidden deep within his gaze was a detachment from all things—everything in the world.
That false façade was as transparent as glass to Sukuna.
And it was precisely this disdain that infuriated him so deeply now!
Embedded in the wall, Sukuna violently tore off his own arms and returned to the battlefield!
In the next instant, his regenerated hands surged with endless cursed energy!
"Domain Expansion—Malevolent Shrine!"
A shrine of bones filled with boundless malice rose from the ground!
Despite the clear gap in cursed energy reserves, the Sukuna now controlling Itadori's body radiated a presence as overwhelming as the sun hanging high in the sky!
Standing at the edge of the domain, Mirai's smile only deepened.
His earlier concern for Itadori before attacking was to confirm whether his consciousness was still suppressed.
His relentless humiliation of Sukuna was to force him to deploy his Domain as quickly as possible.
Mirai feared that Itadori might wake up midway and ruin his plans.
"Come on—let me see just how strong the King of Curses' slashes really are."
For the first time, Mirai slightly bent forward—and took his hands out of his pockets.
Standing before the shrine gate, Sukuna's malice surged even more violently.
To him—
Mirai clearly had the option to counter with his own Domain, yet chose to fight barehanded instead.
Wasn't that just another form of contempt?
Clang!
Hundreds of unavoidable invisible blades surged wildly toward Mirai's body!
Slash!
In an instant, his entire body was covered in dense, crisscrossing wounds!
Like a pierced gourd, blood poured out endlessly!
"Kid… what trick are you playing now?"
Looking at the blood-soaked figure before him, a hint of confusion crossed Sukuna's face.
Forget a domain clash—this sorcerer looked like he was deliberately waiting to be cut down.
But one thing was certain—
Mirai's physical durability was even tougher than that of most special-grade cursed spirits.
With the guaranteed-hit effect of the Domain-enhanced slashes…
If it had been that earlier special-grade spirit, it would've been reduced to dust in an instant.
"With three fingers' power, this is all you've got?"
As Mirai finished speaking, the horrifying wounds across his body visibly began to heal.
At the same time—
From the shadows lurking in the darkness, the faint sound of a rotating formation echoed once more.
Ignoring Sukuna's darkened expression, Mirai leisurely strolled through the Domain as if sightseeing.
"Can you make it stronger?" he asked seriously.
Boom, boom, boom!
Two thousand six hundred slashes—
The full force of Sukuna's power at three fingers!
From every direction, not a single strike missed—every slash landed on Mirai.
His brain, neck, chest, limbs—
The storm of cursed blades erupted again into a crimson rain of blood!
At that moment, Mirai's deep black eyes turned into blood-red Mangekyō.
He was testing whether it was possible to evade the guaranteed-hit effect within another's Domain.
Slash!
Mirai tilted his head slightly—yet the blade instantly appeared within his eye socket, splitting his eyeball in half!
"…Experiment failed."
Now drenched in blood, Mirai let out a faint sigh of regret.
The Mangekyō could indeed predict the trajectory and landing point of the slashes.
But the Domain's guaranteed-hit effect was absolute.
Even though he had clearly avoided the strike—
The blade simply teleported to his eye.
But it didn't matter.
A smile spread across Mirai's lips as Reverse Cursed Technique instantly enveloped his entire body.
Amid pain comparable to being flayed alive, Mirai instead laughed freely within the rain of blood.
Half a year ago, one of his goals inside Gojo Satoru's Domain—
Was now further perfected with Sukuna's help.
An open-barrier Domain.
That… was the true purpose of this journey.