Chapter 144: A Slash That Transcends Time
Ten centimeters.
That was the final distance between the bullet and Riko Amanai's brow.
Suguru Geto's pupils shrank to their limit.
He could see the bullet tearing a thin path through the air.
He could see the smile on Riko's face, still bright, still unfinished.
But his body could not keep up.
Summon a Cursed Spirit?
Too late.
Throw himself in front of her?
Too late.
"Riko!"
Geto's desperate roar tore through the Tomb of the Star Corridor, filled with helplessness and regret.
He hated his own weakness.
He hated that he had promised to protect her, only to stand there and watch as death reached for her right in front of his eyes.
Tragedy seemed inevitable.
In the darkness not far away, Toji Fushiguro watched with a cruel curve at the corner of his mouth.
It was over.
Once the Star Plasma Vessel died, his mission would be complete.
As for the Six Eyes brat, he was probably already lying cold in his own blood by now.
Then, at that impossibly thin instant between life and death, just as the metal tip of the bullet was about to touch Riko's skin—
Boom!
A thunderclap exploded inside the Tomb of the Star Corridor.
The sound was violent enough to make the entire underground space tremble.
Golden lightning flooded the passage in an instant, branching wildly through the air. Alongside it came a burning stream of dark red flame, cutting into the world like the arrival of a sun beneath the earth.
[Ding! Driven by the host's extreme rage, synchronization has broken through to 39%!]
[Current synchronization: 39.2%!]
[Unlocked: Sun Breathing, Tenth Form: Burning Bones, Summer Sun.]
[Unlocked: Sun Breathing, Eleventh Form: Dragon Sun Halo Head Dance.]
Thunder Breathing, First Form: Thunderclap and Flash, Godspeed.
Combined with Sun Breathing, Eleventh Form: Dragon Sun Halo Head Dance.
In that instant, Yami became a fire dragon wrapped in golden lightning and dark red flame.
His figure crossed the space faster than the eye could follow, leaving behind countless intersecting streaks of red and gold light. The blade in his hand moved like a dragon weaving through the air.
One hundred slashes in a single breath.
Clang!
A sharp metallic sound rang out.
The bullet carrying death toward Riko's brow was split cleanly in half less than a centimeter from her skin.
The two severed halves grazed past her cheek and buried themselves deep into the stone wall behind her.
Everything happened too quickly.
So quickly that Riko did not even realize she had just stepped through the gates of hell.
She only stared blankly at the tall figure standing in front of her.
"Big Brother… Yami?"
Her voice trembled.
Her eyes were filled with disbelief.
Geto froze as well.
He gasped for breath, staring at the man who had appeared before them like a divine punishment falling into the underground palace.
His eyes reddened instantly.
He made it.
Yami had actually made it in time.
Yami did not turn back.
He stood between Riko and Toji, his chest rising and falling violently.
Extreme rage, combined with sprinting here at Godspeed without pause, had pushed his body to a terrifying state.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
His heartbeat echoed through the empty underground space like a war drum.
The surrounding temperature climbed sharply.
Shiranui, the Special Grade Cursed Tool in his hand, radiated suffocating heat. Its black blade glowed dark red along the edge, as if it had been pulled from a furnace.
On his left cheek, with his body temperature and heartbeat rising beyond their limits, a dark red flame-like pattern began to emerge.
The prototype of the Demon Slayer Mark.
"Toji…"
Yami's voice was hoarse.
Every syllable sounded as if it had been forced through clenched teeth.
"Fushiguro."
The killing intent in those two words seemed heavy enough to crush the air.
He remembered what he had seen at the Fushiguro home.
He remembered the System's warning screaming across his vision.
And he finally understood.
The distant stare.
The horse racing track.
The hint about that home.
All of it had been a trap.
Toji had used his own son as bait to lure him away from Jujutsu High.
"Oh?"
Toji looked at the bullet split in two.
The cruel smile on his face did not fade. Instead, it grew more excited.
He tossed the pistol aside and slowly drew a strange short blade from the mouth of the Inventory Curse coiled around him.
Special Grade Cursed Tool, Inverted Spear of Heaven.
"That's surprising."
Toji rolled his neck, bones cracking softly.
His beastlike eyes locked onto Yami.
"You fell for my trick and still managed to rush back this fast."
His smile widened.
"And you even split a bullet. You really are a monster through and through."
A hint of fanatic battle intent entered his voice.
He had just carved the Six Eyes brat, the so-called strongest of the modern era, into a bloody mess.
And now, another monster with no Cursed Energy, one who relied purely on physical strength to break common sense, stood before him.
Toji's long-dormant instincts began to stir.
"Where is Gojo?"
Yami stared at Toji.
His voice was so cold it seemed capable of freezing the soul.
Geto's heart clenched violently.
A terrible premonition wrapped around him.
Toji grinned, showing white teeth.
"That Six Eyes brat?"
He tilted his head, deliberately drawing out his words.
"Let me think."
His tone was contemptuous.
"I stabbed him through the throat with this blade. Then I opened up his chest a few more times."
He looked at Yami and laughed softly.
"By now, his corpse is probably already stiff."
Boom!
The moment Toji finished speaking, Yami's killing intent erupted.
The air seemed to ignite.
The stone pillars of the Tomb of the Star Corridor trembled under the pressure of that pure, terrifying physical force.
"What…"
Geto stared at Toji, his mind going blank.
"What did you say?"
Gojo was dead?
That Satoru Gojo, the honored one in heaven and earth, the strongest best friend who acted shamelessly even in his sleep, had been killed by this assassin with no Cursed Energy?
"Impossible…"
Geto's eyes turned bloodshot.
"That's impossible!"
Cursed Energy surged from his body in a frenzy. Countless grotesque Cursed Spirits roared out from his shadow, flooding toward Toji like a tide.
"I'll kill you!"
His roar was almost hysterical.
But just as the Cursed Spirits were about to surge forward, a firm hand pressed onto Geto's shoulder.
"Geto."
Yami's voice was quiet.
"Stand down."
It was soft, but it carried an authority that could not be ignored.
"Yami!"
Geto turned toward him, tears already blurring his vision.
"He killed Gojo! He killed Gojo!"
Yami did not answer.
He only looked at Geto.
There was no visible rage in his eyes.
No sadness.
Only an icy stillness so pure that it was almost terrifying.
"I said, stand down."
Yami slowly raised Shiranui.
The tip of the blade pointed straight at Toji Fushiguro.
"Take Riko somewhere safe."
His voice remained steady.
"The battle that comes next is not something you can interfere with."
Geto clenched his teeth.
The grief and rage in his chest nearly tore him apart.
But he understood.
Yami was right.
Even Satoru Gojo had fallen to this man. If he and Riko stayed here, they would only become burdens.
Geto forced himself to breathe.
"I understand."
He swallowed the pain in his throat, grabbed Riko's hand, and quickly pulled her toward the edge of the Tomb of the Star Corridor.
Riko looked back at Yami, her face pale and tear-streaked.
But she did not resist.
In the center of the vast underground palace, only two figures remained.
Yami.
Toji Fushiguro.
Two monsters standing at the peak of human physicality faced each other in the depths of the place that buried countless secrets.
No more words.
No probing.
No hesitation.
The moment Geto and Riko retreated to a safe distance, the battle erupted.
.....
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