The storm did not announce itself.
It simply arrived.
Ruined skyscrapers vibrated as lightning split the sky again and again.
At the center of the destroyed district—
Two anomalies stood facing each other.
One radiating violent electricity.
One radiating nothing at all.
The First Words
Hajime Kashimo tilted his head slightly.
"You're not the King."
Across from him, injured but standing firm—
Toji Fushiguro adjusted his grip on his blade.
"Not interested in kings."
Lightning cracked between them.
Kashimo narrowed his eyes.
"No cursed energy… yet you stand after fighting Sukuna?"
Toji didn't answer.
He vanished.
Speed vs Voltage
The ground exploded.
Kashimo barely blocked the first slash as sparks erupted violently.
Toji's movements were unreadable.
No cursed energy.
No warning.
Only killing intent.
Kashimo countered—
A direct electrical discharge erupted from his palm.
The blast tore through three buildings.
Toji barely twisted mid-air, but electricity grazed his side.
His wounds reopened.
Blood hit the ground.
Kashimo smiled.
"Good."
The Lightning Cage
Thunder roared.
Kashimo clapped his hands together—
The entire battlefield ionized.
Metal debris levitated.
Static filled the air.
"Let's remove your advantage."
Electric currents began bouncing between buildings—
A web of instant-trigger lightning strikes.
Toji stepped once—
Lightning struck.
He ducked—
Another strike.
Kashimo had turned the battlefield into a death grid.
Instinct Over Physics
Toji closed his eyes for half a second.
Not sensing cursed energy—
But reading intent.
Reading muscle tension.
Reading timing.
When Kashimo's shoulders shifted—
Toji moved before the strike.
He dashed through the lightning grid at impossible angles.
Burned.
Bleeding.
But closing distance.
Kashimo's eyes widened slightly.
"He's predicting the discharge timing…"
The Deciding Exchange
Kashimo stopped smiling.
Electricity surged around him violently.
"This body can only use my true technique once."
His cursed energy compressed.
Concentrated into a single, fatal strike.
A spear of pure lightning formed in his palm.
"Die."
He thrust forward—
A beam of white energy erased everything in its path.
Toji ran directly toward it.
Not dodging.
Not retreating.
He pulled from beneath his coat—
A cursed tool infused with anti-technique properties.
The moment the lightning spear connected—
Toji angled the blade.
Redirected.
Split the current in half.
The explosion swallowed the district.
Silence After Storm
When the smoke cleared—
Half the city block was gone.
Kashimo stood frozen.
His arm severed.
His chest deeply cut.
Toji stood behind him—
Blade pressed against Kashimo's neck.
Burned skin.
Broken ribs.
Barely conscious.
"You used it," Toji muttered quietly.
Kashimo coughed blood.
"…Worth it."
Lightning around him faded.
His reincarnated vessel began destabilizing.
Unlike others—
Kashimo had burned his life force in that single attack.
He turned his head slightly.
"You're not the strongest… but you're the most terrifying."
Toji didn't reply.
The blade moved.
One clean cut.
The storm stopped.
A New Realization
As Kashimo's body dissolved—
Toji dropped to one knee.
He was worse than before.
His body had taken too much damage.
But something was clear now.
Ancient sorcerers were not weak.
Not careless.
Each one was a battlefield veteran.
And Sukuna was above even them.
Toji looked toward the horizon again.
He could feel it.
Sukuna was waiting.
Not interfering.
Watching everything unfold.
Testing the world.
The King Observes
From miles away—
Ryomen Sukuna smirked faintly.
"Kashimo lost."
His eyes shifted slightly.
"But that man…"
He could feel it.
Toji was evolving.
Refining through near-death.
Becoming something that shouldn't exist.
Sukuna's smile widened.
"This is getting interesting."
The storm had ended.
But the war was escalating.
And Toji—
Though victorious—
Was closer to collapse than ever before.
The strongest hunter had survived lightning.
But the King of Curses was still untouched.
And watching.