Mount Fuji erupted.
Within ten minutes, everything within a twenty-kilometer radius, including Hayakawa, Nanbu, Yui, and Hakone, was buried under thick volcanic ash.
Buildings collapsed. Entire towns were wiped out. Countless lives vanished in an instant.
And it did not stop there.
Tsunamis, earthquakes, and forest fires followed in rapid succession, each one feeding into the next.
Maki ran through what looked like hell itself, carrying Toji on her back.
"Damn it! These cursed spirits are insane, causing this much destruction even as they die!"
Jogo's final act had pushed the eruption far beyond any recorded level.
Even Tokyo, eighty kilometers away, was affected.
Tokyo, Shinjuku Ward.
Bang!
A heavy punch, layered with Black Flash, sent Sukuna flying through a building.
Shion rushed forward with a sharp grin.
Sukuna casually grabbed a fire extinguisher nearby and hurled it.
Bang!
Shion shattered it with a single punch, white smoke exploding around them.
"Open: Hellfire!"
Sukuna formed a blazing arrow and released it like a drawn bow.
The heat was overwhelming. Even steel melted in its path.
Shion did not move.
He caught the flaming arrow with both hands.
Sizzle.
The sound of burning flesh echoed, but his expression did not change. He snapped the arrow in half, scattering it into sparks.
"Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue."
His scarred left hand pulled.
Sukuna's body was dragged forward.
"Cursed Technique Reversal: Red."
The blast struck the mouth on Sukuna's abdomen, detonating with violent force and tearing apart the building.
Using Hiten, Sukuna retreated at high speed.
The wound on his abdomen turned into a bleeding hole, but it healed instantly under Reverse Cursed Technique.
"Dismantle."
Invisible slashes rained down on Shion.
He did not dodge.
His body was carved into a grid of wounds, yet he advanced straight toward Sukuna.
"Cursed Technique Reversal: Red."
Boom.
His injuries healed rapidly.
Shion looked at Sukuna stepping out of the rubble and smirked.
"You are hard to put down."
He moved again, landing another Black Flash.
Bang!
Sukuna crashed back into debris, but stood up almost immediately.
His durability was absurd.
Even under pressure, he smiled like everything was under control.
"You are not bad either," Sukuna said, laughing.
"You caught my Hellfire with your bare hands and only burned your palms."
"And you endured Dismantle without using Infinity like it was nothing. You are a monster."
Shion raised his hands, showing the damage.
"My healing has slowed down. What kind of flame is that?"
Sukuna smirked. "Why would I tell you?"
"Tch. Stingy."
Sukuna lifted Futsunushi.
"Naraka: Divine Punishment."
Lightning tore through the sky, forming a massive thunder serpent that lunged at Shion.
At the same time, Sukuna attacked again.
Four arms, two faces, two techniques at once. A level no normal sorcerer could reach.
The thunder serpent and a lethal slash closed in from different angles.
Shion raised his hand calmly.
"It is time."
"Maximum Technique: Hollow."
In Sukuna's vision, Shion vanished.
But he had not disappeared.
He had become too fast to see.
Sukuna's instincts sharpened.
"He did not vanish. His speed increased beyond perception."
From Shion's perspective, everything slowed.
The thunder serpent and slash barely moved.
He stepped aside slightly.
Both attacks missed.
In the next instant, he stood before Sukuna.
Blue and Red twisted together in his hands, cursed energy output at its peak.
"Hollow Technique: Purple."
Sukuna's eyes twitched.
He could not see Shion clearly, but he felt death approaching.
When he finally saw it, Purple was already in front of him.
Too close.
Too fast.
No way to dodge.
For a brief moment, memories from a thousand years ago flashed through his mind.
Every technique, every battle, every piece of knowledge.
His instinct for survival surged.
He pushed beyond his limits.
"Dragon Scale."
"Repulsion."
"Twin Meteors."
"Dismantle."
Without moving his lips, without chanting, he activated his technique.
A slash appeared out of nothing.
No chant.
A new form.
Dimensional Slash.
A cut that divided the world itself.
It collided with Hollow Technique: Purple.
For a moment, everything turned white.
Sound vanished.
Then—
Boom!
Everything was erased.
Buildings, ground, debris, all reduced to nothing.
At the same time, the aftershock of Mount Fuji reached Shinjuku.
The earth cracked. The sky filled with ash.
The entire district looked like the end of the world.
Two figures stepped out from the smoke.
Sukuna laughed loudly.
His face was filled with madness and excitement.
"Thank you, Shion."
"Because of you, I finally understood the true nature of my technique."
"To repay you, you will be the first to die by it."
Shion did not care.
"Keep talking."
Maximum Technique: Hollow lasted ten seconds under his own perception.
Now only three seconds remained.
Shion vanished again.
That overwhelming sense of danger returned to Sukuna.
This time, he did not panic.
"Dragon Scale."
"Repulsion."
"Twin Meteors."
"Dismantle."
"Infinity."
"Kingship."
"Heaven and Earth Net."
"Maximum Technique: Dismantle."