BOOM!!!
A deafening explosion ripped through the night! A towering skyscraper crumbled like paper, instantly blasted apart and collapsing! Steel and concrete were torn to shreds by a savage force, hurling debris wrapped in smoke and flames in every direction!
Two dark figures shot out from the explosion's epicenter like cannonballs!
"Hah!" A wildly arrogant laugh erupted through the smoke. Sukuna, with his pink hair, hovered in the air, eyeing the battered form of Jogo. "That's all you've got, curse?"
Jogo spat blood, his massive single eye filled with fury and shock! He forced himself to stabilize, two furiously spinning lava fireballs forming in his palms, aimed straight at Sukuna!
"It's not over—!!!" Jogo roared, ready to unleash this destructive power!
But then—
Swish! Swish!
Two pitch-black slashes appeared out of nowhere, moving faster than the eye could track!
Splatter!
The lava fireballs Jogo had just formed, along with his arms, were severed cleanly at the wrists! The cuts were smooth as glass! His severed arms and fireballs fell helplessly to the ground.
"What…?!" Jogo's shock froze in his single eye.
Sukuna's figure appeared above him like a phantom, a cruel grin splitting his face! His fists clenched, carrying a ferocious force capable of crushing anything, and smashed down toward Jogo's skull!
THUD!!!
A dull, heart-stopping impact! Jogo's head visibly caved in, deforming! The terrifying force surged through his body, sending him crashing toward the ground like a meteor at even greater speed!
Sukuna was faster! He plummeted down, catching up in an instant! His left hand clamped onto Jogo's deformed head like iron!
CRASH!!!
The two became a human missile, smashing through the rooftop of the skyscraper below!
THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!
Relentless, bone-rattling crashes echoed as they tore through the building's floors!
One floor! Two floors! Three floors…
They smashed through layers of reinforced concrete, leaving a trail of massive holes! The entire building groaned and trembled violently!
Finally, a heavy thud exploded from the foundation, dust billowing upward.
At the bottom of the skyscraper, in the center of the collapsed ruins:
Moonlight struggled through the layers of holes above, casting a pale glow over a small area.
Sukuna stood tall, hands casually in his pockets, as if he'd just strolled in.
He tilted his chin slightly, the eerie black curse marks on his face glowing demonically in the moonlight. Below his eyes, the smaller pair of eyes stared coldly at the prey beneath him, glinting with inhuman light.
A wicked grin curled his lips, his icy voice echoing through the ruins:
"The moonlight's shining through…"
"Your pathetic state can't hide anymore."
Before him, Jogo's body was half-buried in rubble and twisted rebar, his chest heaving violently, wheezing like a broken bellows. Dark blood mixed with chunks of organs gushed from his mouth.
At his severed arms, flesh struggled to regenerate.
Under the cold moonlight, this once-invincible special-grade curse was reduced to desperate weakness and raw humiliation.
"How many of Sukuna's fingers am I worth?" Jogo asked, lounging on a beach chair, glancing at Kenjaku, who grinned beside him.
"Optimistically," Kenjaku tapped his chin with a finger, "maybe eight or nine fingers."
Jogo's massive eye was now filled with terror. That conversation with Kenjaku in Dagon's domain now seemed laughably absurd.
Eight or nine fingers? Kenjaku, you were hyping me up! Jogo screamed internally.
"Alright, alright, keep it up." Sukuna crouched beside Jogo, grabbing the back of his collar with one hand. "As long as I'm not bored, we can play as many times as you want." Jogo's pupil snapped toward Sukuna.
BOOM!!! Countless pillars of fire erupted from the building's windows, doors, and the gaping holes in the rooftop.
Outside on the street, Sukuna's figure appeared first, followed closely by Jogo. Jogo pulled back his right hand, claw-like, flames wrapping around his palm.
"Extreme Meteor!" Jogo roared, a massive explosion of flames bursting forth.
Not far away, Kusakabe and Panda, sensing the terrifying cursed energy, were about to flee. Two curse users were hot on their heels.
Suddenly, Sukuna's voice cut through the air between the four. "Not so fast."
The four froze, drenched in cold sweat under the weight of Sukuna's overwhelming cursed energy. He spoke playfully, "From now on, none of you move without my permission."
Sukuna raised his head. A massive meteor, wreathed in crimson flames, was hurtling down from the sky.
"Brace yourselves," Sukuna said, slowly raising his hands as if to clap, a mocking smirk on his lips. His scarlet gaze swept over the four—Kusakabe, Panda, and the two battered curse users—pinned in place by his cursed energy. Every pore radiated desperate trembling, every rigid limb screamed silently.
He savored this absolute dominance, like a child toying with quivering ants in his palm. "You can't run yet."
His cruel grin widened, the air between his palms seeming to freeze, primed for the "spectacle" of blood and flesh exploding after his clap.
Just as his hands were about to meet—
Buzz!
The world fell silent!
It was as if something primal had been sliced and torn apart in an instant!
The scene was flooded with countless blinding blue-white rays—not light, but the will to cut through everything!
Boundless sharpness filled every inch of Sukuna's vision!
Slash!!!
The sky—the massive lava meteor carrying apocalyptic force, plummeting violently—froze in midair amidst the storm of blue-white blades.
The next moment, no explosion, no roar.
Like a fragile sandcastle eroding or pierced by billions of invisible blades, the enormous meteor shattered and disintegrated!
It turned into a cloud of fine, dust-like particles mixed with extinguished red lava grains, drifting down in the night sky, forming a vast, eerie gray curtain that muddied the pale moonlight.
Sukuna's mocking grin froze.
His scarlet pupils contracted to pinpoints, clearly reflecting the cascading dust.
It wasn't fear—it was the irritation of a predator interrupted mid-feast, followed by a surge of wild excitement at spotting the intruder!
His frozen smile cracked like ice, twisting and expanding into a ferocious, thrilled expression!
"Heh… Hahaha!" Sukuna tilted his head back, a low, unstoppable laugh rolling from his throat, growing louder until it exploded into a wild roar over the silent ruins.
"Someone interesting showed up!!!"
In his laughter, his scarlet eyes, brimming with pure malice, pierced through the falling meteor dust, locking onto the sky above.
In the night sky, dust drifted like gray snow.
Gaio hovered there.
His left hand casually held Jogo by the back of his collar—the once-mighty volcano-headed curse now limp like a dead dog, his body broken, his single eye dull, his severed arms dangling lifelessly.
Occasional twitches proved he was still clinging to life. Foul cursed blood and ash dripped from his form.
Gaio's right hand rested lightly on the hilt of an ancient-looking blade at his waist—Yamato Blade.
The hood of his dark T-shirt was slightly lifted by the high-altitude breeze, revealing strands of white hair falling over his forehead.
He looked down at Sukuna, laughing wildly amidst the ruins below.
His gaze was calm, like eternal ice, without a ripple, only an absolute indifference that looked down on the dust below.
The wind swept through the ruins, stirring the ash.
As Sukuna's laughter peaked and then abruptly stopped, Gaio's voice cut through the silence, each word like ice smashing into the ground, bone-chilling:
"Sukuna."
His voice wasn't loud, yet it overpowered the lingering wind and distant, faint wails.
"Entertain me."