Chapter 143 — Hand-Crafted Black Hole
"Well? Have you decided?"
Sukuna gazed down at Zen'in Shinsuke and Gojo Satoru from above.
"This is the only chance the two of you have to stay alive."
He intended to crush them completely—body and spirit.
In all the centuries since he became the King of Curses, no one had ever entertained him as much as these two.
He doubted he would ever meet such amusing adversaries again.
---
Gojo exhaled slowly.
Silver light flickered in his eyes as cursed energy surged through him like a tide.
"Looks like we've hit a dead end."
He turned to Shinsuke with a crooked smile.
"Hard to believe I'd end up dying together with you of all people."
Then, quietly:
"Can we take him down with us?"
With Sukuna evolved into… whatever this was… Gojo no longer held any delusion of victory.
If they could drag Sukuna to hell with them, that would be the best possible outcome.
Still—
The idea that the greatest sorcerer of the era would die alongside the man he disliked most…
It irritated him.
"Take him with us? With you?"
Shinsuke sneered.
"If I weren't here, you'd already be in two pieces."
Gojo's eyebrow twitched.
"We're literally about to die and you're still talking trash?"
"Enough bickering."
Yuki Tsukumo stepped between them, gaze calm but burning with resolve.
"Buy me some time. I'll see if I can kill him."
Shinsuke frowned.
"What are you planning?"
Yuki tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and winked.
"Relax, I'm not going to blow myself up.
I'm planning to detonate a fully-charged Garuda.
If that can't kill him… then we all die together."
"Do you really think I can't hear you plotting?"
Sukuna's patience snapped.
A spatial-severing slash erupted from his hand, tearing the city apart.
The three dodged in advance—barely.
In the same instant, Gojo and Shinsuke reappeared above Sukuna's massive head, launching a furious assault.
Gojo spammed Reversal: Red, relentlessly hammering Sukuna with blasts meant to disrupt.
Shinsuke, true to his style, simply punched—each blow carving bloody craters into Sukuna's colossal flesh.
Sukuna's size didn't slow him, but it did limit his flexibility.
The two small fighters clung close, attacking from every blind spot.
"Two little insects… still wriggling."
The wounds peppering his body did nothing.
With his regeneration, their attacks might as well have been raindrops.
Six massive arms swept outward—
DOZENS of spatial-splitting slashes carved through the battlefield, shredding land and sky alike.
From afar, it looked like a titan swinging at two darting fireflies.
Each swing gouged deep ravines into the earth.
Even the black cursed clouds in the sky were torn open.
"Everyone, fall back! Retreat at least one kilometer!"
When gods fight, mortals suffer—
The clash between Sukuna and the duo of Shinsuke and Gojo felt like the end of the world itself.
Forget helping—any sorcerer who stepped too close risked dying from stray shockwaves, let alone direct attacks.
The moment the fight erupted, Kusakabe dragged the weakest students hundreds of meters back.
The others followed instantly—nobody dared hesitate.
One brush from Sukuna's slashes and their corpses wouldn't even be recognizable.
---
"Ugh… who on earth thought it was a good idea to let Sukuna out?"
Someone couldn't help complaining.
To share an era with the King of Curses? That was just unlucky.
Fushiguro Megumi immediately turned to Yuji.
"Yuji, don't let that get to you. Even without you, Sukuna would've returned in this era."
Yuji shook his head calmly.
"I'm not dwelling on it. There's no time to."
Nobara clasped her hands in prayer like a desperate student before finals.
"Please, old man, Gojo-sensei… you have to win.
I'm still young and pretty! I haven't done half the things I want to! I refuse to die like this!"
She hadn't found her long-lost sister.
She hadn't even gotten a boyfriend.
She absolutely refused to die single and unfinished.
---
"Hey, Nobara," Mei Mei offered with a lazy smile,
"Should I have Ui Ui take you overseas? You'd live longer, at least."
Before Nobara could reply, Kusakabe instantly leaned into view.
"Mei Mei-sama, PLEASE send me abroad!"
Yaga hauled him away by the collar.
"Don't even think about it. Stay with us. Dying together is friendship."
"LET ME GO! I don't want to die!"
Kusakabe thrashed uselessly.
Nobara waved him off.
"Forget it, Mei Mei. I'm not running."
Cowardice wasn't her style.
Mei Mei chuckled.
"How touching. Seems your bonds run deep."
Her gaze then turned to the distant titan looming over the battlefield.
Her birds were all killed instantly by Sukuna's cursed-energy shockwave—
From here on, she had to witness everything with her own eyes.
---
"Three little insects… no, two—
and one pathetic third.
Give me everything you've got. Entertain me."
Sukuna was reaching peak excitement.
Shinsuke and Gojo struck him again and again, dodging with tight precision.
But his wounds regenerated almost instantly.
Gojo's headache intensified.
"His regeneration… this isn't just Reverse Cursed Technique anymore."
Their attacks were no more than tickles.
One good hit from Sukuna on the other hand…
They'd explode like water balloons.
Meanwhile, Yuki Tsukumo had finished charging her technique.
A pitch–black sphere floated beside her—dense, heavy, and horrifying.
A miniature black hole.
One touch would annihilate anything.
Her face pale but smiling, she tightened her muscles, swung her leg back—
BOOM!
Her kick launched the sphere.
The entire battlefield shuddered.
Debris lifted into the air, dragged along by its gravitational pull.
"You two! MOVE!" Yuki shouted.
Shinsuke and Gojo instantly retreated.
Sukuna narrowed his eyes.
The black sphere radiated pure danger.
He instinctively fired a slashing attack—
Only for it to be shredded, absorbed into the sphere like nothing.
Sukuna's expression hardened.
He could not take that head–on.
He could out-speed it.
He could dodge—
Just as he prepared to evade, a thunderous voice blasted across the battlefield, amplified at full volume:
"DON'T. MOVE."