Gyomei did not hesitate. He opened with First Form: Serpentinite Bipolar, manipulating the chain connecting his spiked flail and hand axe to strike at Sukuna from both sides.
But Sukuna simply extended his right hand and deflected the attack, quipping as he did so.
"Using things like this and you still call yourself a swordsman?"
Though Gyomei could not see Sukuna's movements, the feedback through the chain and the sounds of the flail and axe clashing with Sukuna allowed him to vaguely sense the outcome.
His heart sank. He had held nothing back. This first strike had been his full strength, yet Sukuna had handled it far more easily than he had anticipated.
Just as he was evaluating Sukuna, Sukuna was likewise assessing Gyomei Himejima's abilities.
He did not look down on the man for being blind. On the contrary, he felt that reaching such strength under such adverse conditions only highlighted his power.
In direct comparison, Sukuna found Gyomei Himejima considerably stronger than the previous swordsmen, though somewhat weaker than the power Kyojuro had displayed at the end of his life.
He vaguely recalled that Kyojuro Rengoku's body had developed something like tattoo-like markings. After that, his strength had increased dramatically. Perhaps that was also an effect of the Breathing Techniques. Sukuna assumed as much for now.
There was no rush. If that was indeed an effect of the Breathing Techniques, then as his battle with Gyomei Himejima progressed, the man would surely demonstrate it for him.
Gyomei then used the momentum of Sukuna knocking away his flail to launch Second Form: Upper Smash, bringing the flail crashing down from above Sukuna's head while stomping hard on the trailing chain to further accelerate its speed and force.
But even this rapid combination could not touch Sukuna in the slightest.
Sukuna raised his hand and threw a casual punch, sending the flail flying once more with a metallic clang.
Gyomei's shock continued to mount, but his offense did not waver. Using the momentum of the flail's flight, he executed Fourth Form: Volcanic Rock Rapid Conquest , manipulating the chain to swing the flail around behind his enemy in an attempt to restrict Sukuna's movement.
But against an opponent like Sukuna, even this was insufficient.
Gyomei's combat power did not show a sustained increase during the fight. This disappointed Sukuna and bored him. He unleashed a Dismantle, severing the chain of Gyomei's weapon. Fourth Form: Volcanic Rock Rapid Conquest lost all meaning as the flail detached.
Feeling the sudden release of weight in his hands, Gyomei knew that the chain of his nichirin blade—forged from extremely high-purity iron—had been easily destroyed by Sukuna.
A weapon that was unstoppable against demons was utterly useless before Sukuna.
He also recognized that the attack Sukuna had used to destroy his weapon was the same one that had killed Sanemi.
With his weapon destroyed, Gyomei could no longer properly execute Stone Breathing. His combat ability was severely diminished.
Though he grabbed the severed chain with his other hand, he could no longer fight in his accustomed manner.
Sukuna had anticipated this outcome after witnessing two of Gyomei's techniques. That was why he had not destroyed the blade immediately.
He only destroyed it after confirming he had no intention of learning to use such a weapon.
Shinobu watching from the sidelines, was also shocked, though more than Shock, she felt disappointment.
So even Himejima-san cannot...
Having still not seen Gyomei Himejima use any markings by this point, Sukuna questioned him with irritation.
"Doesn't your Breathing Technique create markings on the body and increase your power? Why aren't you using them?
"Markings?" Gyomei Himejima had no idea what Sukuna was talking about. Being blind, he could not understand Sukuna's meaning at all.
"Markings…"
Shinobu, also watching from the side, murmured to herself. Then she quickly recalled Rengoku's battle with Sukuna. She had indeed seen some kind of markings on Kyojuro's skin. At the time, she had assumed they were burn scars. But now, hearing Sukuna say this, it seemed that was not the case.
Sukuna glanced at Shinobu's reaction. It appeared neither of them knew about this. Still, he asked her.
"You should have seen it back then as well. You don't know either?"
Shinobu answered very honestly. "I did witness that phenomenon on Rengoku-san's body at the time. But that was also my first time seeing the existence of such markings. I doubt even he himself knew about it. I think the details would require asking Master Ubuyashiki."
"Is that so?"
From Shinobu's description, Sukuna gathered that these marking-like phenomena had likely been something unconscious that Kyojuro Rengoku developed while fighting for his life against him.
Verifying whether this applied to other swordsmen would be easy enough. He simply needed to recreate the conditions of such a battle again.
But before that, Gyomei Himejima was becoming too boring like this.
Suddenly, Sukuna vanished from Shinobu's sight. When he reappeared, he was directly in front of Gyomei Himejima. A sense of unease welled up in Shinobu's heart.
What is he planning to do?
Gyomei also tensed as he sensed Sukuna's movement. As he prepared to attack or defend, he felt a tearing, excruciating pain in his eyes.
Sukuna had delivered a precise slash, horizontally slicing Gyomei's eyes. Blood immediately gushed from his eye sockets.
The sudden, intense pain made Gyomei hesitate in his movements.
Then Gyomei felt his entire head being seized by Sukuna's hand.
As Gyomei tried to swing the chains in both hands to bind Sukuna and himself together, he grabbed nothing but air.
Only then did he realize that Sukuna's touch had given him a strange, unprecedented sensation.
Gyomei Himejima blinked away the blood from his eyes. In a daze, he saw a boy with four eyes standing not far before him.
Unbelievably, it seemed his vision had returned.
Sukuna spoke flatly. "Use your full strength. Fight me as if your life depends on it. Otherwise, I'll kill you. Then I'll kill everyone here."
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