The air felt heavier than before.
No spectators dared move.
This was no longer a battle between sorcerers.
This was predator vs calamity.
The Standoff
On one side—
Ryomen Sukuna, fully manifested, cursed energy swirling like a living storm.
On the other—
Toji Fushiguro, silent, breathing steady, blade angled downward.
No cursed energy.
No aura.
Just killing intent.
Sukuna smirked.
"Show me."
Toji disappeared.
Impact
The ground exploded as Toji crossed the distance instantly.
His blade aimed straight for Sukuna's heart.
Sukuna reacted with inhuman precision.
Clang.
Bare fingers stopped the blade.
The shockwave shattered windows kilometers away.
Toji twisted mid-air, attempting to redirect toward Sukuna's neck.
Sukuna leaned back unnaturally far, the blade slicing across his chest instead.
Blood splattered.
But Sukuna didn't retreat.
He smiled wider.
"You're fast."
He countered with a point-blank Cleave.
Space distorted.
Toji ducked low—
The slash erased everything behind him for hundreds of meters.
Even he felt the heat of it graze his hair.
Too close.
Brutal Exchange
Sukuna kicked downward.
Toji blocked with his forearm.
The impact cracked bone.
Toji used the momentum to flip backward and immediately launched a throwing blade.
Sukuna tilted his head—
The blade pierced his cheek.
He pulled it out casually.
Regenerated instantly.
"Annoying trick."
Toji rushed again.
This time no hesitation.
Elbow strike.
Knife thrust.
Knee to ribs.
Each movement perfect.
Each strike lethal.
Sukuna blocked some.
Took others deliberately.
Studying.
Learning.
Adapting.
King's Power
Sukuna stepped back suddenly.
Cursed energy condensed around him violently.
"Let's raise the stakes."
Without forming a full Domain—
He expanded a partial barrier.
The ground began slicing itself automatically.
Invisible dismantles erupted everywhere.
Toji moved purely on instinct.
He didn't see cursed energy.
He read intent.
Air displacement.
Micro vibrations.
He twisted through death like water slipping between blades.
But one slash cut deep across his back.
Blood sprayed.
He stumbled.
Sukuna appeared instantly in front of him—
Palm pressed against Toji's chest.
"Die."
A concentrated Cleave exploded.
Toji crossed his blade at the last millisecond.
The explosion launched him across the battlefield like a missile.
He crashed through debris.
Silence.
Dust rising.
Aftermath of First Clash
Sukuna stood calmly in the ruined center.
He checked the cut on his chest.
Already healed.
He smiled.
"He survived."
From within the rubble—
A hand pushed upward.
Toji rose slowly.
Bleeding heavily.
But alive.
His eyes sharper than before.
He had learned something.
And Sukuna noticed.
The King's smile thinned slightly.
"So you adapt mid-fight."
Toji wiped blood from his mouth.
"You're not a god."
Sukuna's cursed energy flared darker.
"And you're not human."
The first clash had ended.
Neither dead.
Neither victorious.
But the battlefield had been erased.
And both now understood—
The next exchange would not be testing.
It would be execution.