Boom!
In the northern part of the Sendai Colony, a pillar of cursed energy erupted into the clouds like a volcanic blast!
Ryu Ishigori, an ancient sorcerer famed four hundred years ago for possessing the highest cursed energy output in history, was panting heavily, unable to conceal the terror in his eyes.
His pompadour was ruined, and the sturdy physique he took such pride in was covered in bone-deep slashes as blood dripped steadily onto the ruins.
"Are you kidding me... cursed energy reserves and a recovery rate of this caliber..."
Ryu Ishigori glared intently at the white-clad youth standing before him, his entire worldview shattered.
"Even Ryomen Sukuna himself couldn't possibly possess cursed energy this absurd, could he?!"
Over the past few short minutes, Ryu Ishigori had lost count of how many full-power Granite Blasts he had fired.
Those terrifying blasts, capable of flattening an entire city block in an instant, couldn't even fully breach the youth's defenses!
And that young man, Yuta Okkotsu, had not only withstood all his attacks head-on, but during the battle, he had even had the Special Grade Cursed Spirit behind him copy his cursed technique!
"Hitting me with my own cursed technique... you really know how to piss a guy off!"
Gritting his teeth, Ryu Ishigori mobilized every drop of cursed energy remaining in his body.
"Still, a warrior's pride won't allow me to go down here!"
"Take this! This is my final and greatest strike!"
"Domain Expansion: [—]"
Yet just as Ryu Ishigori braced for a desperate gamble to force his domain open,
Yuta Okkotsu's gaze turned chillingly cold.
"Rika!"
Crash!
The massive form of the Special Grade Vengeful Cursed Spirit Rika Orimoto instantly materialized above Ryu Ishigori, her giant arm covered in grotesque eyeballs crashing down atop his head with enough force to shatter a mountain!
Crack!
With a sickening crunch of bone, Ryu Ishigori's skull—which even a Special Grade Cursed Tool could not easily sever—was smashed by Rika until countless fractures spread across it!
"Guh—!"
Ryu Ishigori spewed a huge mouthful of blood as his Domain Expansion was forcefully interrupted, his body sent flying backward like a tattered rag doll.
"Not done yet."
Okkotsu vanished from the spot, reappearing directly along the path of Ryu Ishigori's flight.
Gripping his blade with both hands, he furiously channeled an ocean of cursed energy into the steel, the edge crackling with the brilliant sparks of Black Flash!
"It's over, predecessor."
Slash—!
A pitch-black crescent slashed across Ryu Ishigori's body like the scythe of the grim reaper!
The ancient powerhouse, renowned for his unmatched cursed energy output, was sliced clean in two before he could even utter a scream!
"Phew..."
Okkotsu slowly sheathed his sword, exhaling a quiet breath.
"Targets to the north and east have been cleared."
"I wonder how things are going on Senior Yoru's end..."
Before Okkotsu could finish his thought, his gaze snapped toward the southern sky.
There, a sacred aura that made his very soul tremble was erupting with unmatched ferocity!
...
The southern portion of the Sendai Colony had originally been a dense, mutated jungle.
Entrenched here was the most bizarre and troublesome entity among the four top contenders—the special grade imaginary cursed spirit Kurourushi!
Born from humanity's intense fear of cockroaches, this cursed spirit possessed terrifying reproductive and regenerative abilities, and could even command millions of mutated roaches in an overwhelming swarm.
In the original timeline, Okkotsu had been forced to expose his Reverse Cursed Technique trump card, resorting to mouth-to-mouth contact to pump positive energy into it just to defeat it.
Now, however, the one standing before Kurourushi was Yoru.
The absolute natural predator of all plant-type, insect-type, and regenerative cursed spirits!
"Skreeee—!"
Staring at the black-haired youth strolling through the jungle without a trace of cursed energy on him, Kurourushi let out a piercing screech.
It sensed danger—an absolute terror etched into the deepest recesses of its soul, born of pure primal instinct!
"Kill him! Eat him!"
Kurourushi furiously brandished the Fester Life Blade formed from countless insects, unleashing a black tide of mutated cockroaches that surged toward Yoru from every direction!
The writhing swarm was enough to trigger an instant breakdown in anyone with trypophobia!
Facing a black insect tide capable of devouring an entire city in moments,
Yoru's gaze remained calm as still water.
"How disgusting."
Yoru rested his hand against the hilt of Shiranui, instantly entering the Selfless State.
His presence vanished entirely as he blended into the world itself—no killing intent, no fighting spirit.
Yet to the mutated roaches charging in the vanguard, the figure standing ahead was no longer a mere human.
It was a rising sun capable of incinerating every evil in the world!
Sun Breathing, Eleventh Form: Dragon Sun Halo Head Dance!
Boom—!
The moment Yoru drew his blade, a crimson fire dragon spanning over a hundred meters roared forth from the scabbard!
The terrifying heat ignited the very air itself!
With feral fury, the fire dragon plunged headlong into the dense sea of insects!
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—!
Amidst the hair-raising sound of scorching flesh, mutated roaches that even a Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer would struggle against were vaporized into nothingness the instant they touched the flames of the Bright Red Nichirin Sword!
Not a single intact corpse remained!
"Impossible! That's impossible!"
Watching its prized swarm wiped out in an instant, Kurourushi's grotesque insect face twisted in sheer horror.
"Flames like that... can burn right through my regeneration?!"
"Flee! I have to flee right now!"
Robbed of every shred of fighting spirit, Kurourushi flared the insect wings on its back and attempted to shoot straight up into the sky.
Yet before it could rise even ten meters,
a chilling voice suddenly rang out from right above its head.
"Did I say you could leave?"
Kurourushi snapped its head upward, discovering in sheer terror that Yoru had materialized directly overhead!
Within the sight of the Transparent World, the core cursed energy node inside Kurourushi shone as clearly as a beacon in the dark.
"Perish, disgusting bug."
Gripping his sword with both hands, Yoru flipped inverted in midair.
Sun Breathing, Ninth Form: Setting Sun Transformation!
Slash—!
A crimson arc of light, reminiscent of the setting sun's afterglow, cut across Kurourushi's body with breathtaking beauty!
No blood splattered; no agonized shrieks sounded.
Before the absolute suppression of the Bright Red Nichirin Sword, Kurourushi's massive body simply ignited into crimson flames midair.
In less than two seconds, the special grade imaginary cursed spirit who once ruled the southern Sendai Colony was reduced entirely to ash, scattering on the wind.
Ding!
Midair within the colony, Kogane delivered another cold announcement.
"Player Yoru has successfully killed one special grade imaginary cursed spirit, earning five points!"
"Player Yuta Okkotsu has successfully killed two special grade reincarnated sorcerers, earning ten points!"
The entire Sendai Colony fell dead silent.
Survivors hiding among the ruins stared blankly at the dissipating residual dregs of the Four Heavenly Kings' cursed energy, their minds going completely blank.
It was over?
The four powerhouses who had ruled the Sendai Colony and struck fear into countless souls... had been wiped out just like that?!
What was more, from the moment those two monsters entered the colony until now, not even half an hour had passed!
Atop a skyscraper, Yoru slowly returned his sword to its sheath as his Slayer Mark and Transparent World faded away.
His gaze pierced the barrier of the colony, looking out toward the distant horizon.
"Sendai Colony, clean-up complete."
"Now then, where will the next target be?"
At that exact moment,
hundreds of kilometers away in the depths of the Tombs of the Star Corridor,
the mastermind watching everything unfold through surveillance monitors finally wore a look of pure, sullen darkness.
Kenjaku stared fixedly at the two invincible figures on the screen, the stitches on his forehead throbbing violently.
His thousand-year plan seemed to be slipping into a terrifying abyss entirely beyond his control.