[The muddy clearing rang with the dull, meaty thuds of fists and feet colliding.]
[Even sealed by Nagihiru Kinkou, Geto's hand-to-hand combat was a tempest forged through years of relentless training.]
[But he noticed it quickly. None of your strikes aimed for anything vital. And against his heavy blows, you didn't dodge at all. You were trading wound for wound, burning your own body as fuel to keep him pinned.]
[White steam rose from your skin as the Reverse Cursed Technique knitted bone-deep gashes shut, and each time you hurled yourself at him again, clawing to drag the fight into a war of pure attrition.]
[Geto deflected your knife-hand strike and stepped back half a pace. He studied your bloodshot eyes, still carrying not a shred of killing intent, and the ice on his face cracked for just a moment.]
[Then came a bitter, self-mocking laugh. Something resigned settled into his gaze, threaded with a regret that ran deep.]
[Night wind lifted the dark hair fallen across his forehead. When he spoke, his voice had softened to the tone he used during idle chatter in the classroom, almost gentle.]
["Hayase... back then, when Yuki Tsukumo pitched her insane theory about eradicating Cursed Energy, your rebuttal was razor-sharp. Absolute. Cold enough to kill over. So why is it that now, when it matters most... you've gone so soft?"]
[Your face, pale from overusing the Reverse Cursed Technique, stared back at him from those narrow eyes.]
["You see things before they happen. If you knew it would come to this, why didn't you kill me sooner? On the drive here, before that door opened... you had a hundred chances. You know you did."]
["Shut up...!"]
[You bit down until your teeth ached, swallowed the taste of blood rising in your throat, and charged him again. Your voice had gone raw and shredded.]
["Killing someone was never the point! What I hate is this twisted world that grinds people into consumables and turns the weak into monsters! Not the people trapped inside it!"]
[You seized the front of his uniform, and what tore out of you was something between a roar and a plea.]
["Stop this, Suguru! Put your hand down! I will find a way to change all of it. Until I do... please. Hold on a little longer!"]
[This was your conviction. Your own greater good. You refused Gojo's path, the lonely divinity of a god shouldering the sky alone. You refused Geto's, the cold mercy of culling the weak. You would tear down the rot at the top with mortal hands, stitch this broken world back together piece by shattered piece.]
[But the last ripple of hesitation in Geto's eyes went still.]
[He shook his head. When his lids rose again, every trace of warmth had been flayed away, leaving nothing but the cold of an abyss and the resolve of someone who'd already stepped off the edge.]
["I know, Hayase. That's who you are. You see the world for the cruel thing it is, but you can never bring yourself to cut those pointless bonds."]
[His voice could have frozen stone.]
["Since you can't make that choice... let me make it for you."]
[Dread seized your heart like a fist closing around it.]
[A bright, cold clatter of metal split the night.]
[From Geto's right sleeve, a length of heavy chain slithered free, coil after coil of dark-gleaming links pooling on the ground like a living serpent. Far, far more chain than any sleeve could hold.]
[Your pupils contracted to points. The Chain of a Thousand Miles.]
[The weapon Toji Fushiguro had used against Gojo during the Star Plasma Vessel incident. You'd assumed Geto would store it the same way Toji had, swallowed inside that grotesque inventory Cursed Spirit, inaccessible under Nagihiru Kinkou's suppression.]
[You hadn't imagined he'd wound the chain around his own body in advance.]
["No! Suguru! Stop!!"]
[Realization hit like a blade between the ribs. You erupted with everything you had, lunging to stop him.]
[Too late.]
[Geto's wrist flicked. The Chain of a Thousand Miles became a shrieking blur that tore through the air, a reaper's lash, bypassing your guard in an instant and cracking across the village chief still gawking from the sidelines.]
[BANG.]
[Like a sledgehammer through an overripe melon. No scream. No struggle.]
[The chief's head burst apart on contact.]
[Shards of bone, red tissue, and pale slurry of brain matter erupted outward, splattering hot across the faces and bodies of the villagers standing closest.]
[The air froze.]
["AAAAAH!! MURDER!!"]
["The sorcerer's a monster!! RUN!!"]
[Screams and wailing punched through the night sky. Villagers scattered like ants from a kicked nest, scrambling, tripping, crawling in every direction.]
[Geto stood in the rain of blood and calmly reeled the stained chain back in.]
[He looked at you. The corner of his mouth curved into something frigid.]
["Now you can go all out. Can't you, Hayase?"]
["GETO!!"]
[The howl that ripped from your throat was the sound of a wolf bleeding out. You understood, with final, absolute clarity, that there was no road back for him. Hesitation died. Your hand swept behind you and drew Asakirimaru, the short blade trailing a ribbon of light as you slashed toward him with killing intent sharp enough to cut bone.]
[Steel parted his uniform. He gave ground. The difference between the you holding this blade and the you who'd only defended moments ago was night and day, and he could feel every inch of it.]
["This is how you should've started."
[Geto sighed, weaving away from the arc of the blade.]
["This isn't the outcome I wanted!!"]
[You snarled through clenched teeth, slashing back.]
["No. You always want the ending where everyone gets saved."]
[Geto parried with the chain's weight, watching you, something complicated flickering behind his eyes.]
["Satoru is strong because he believes he's a god. He wants to carry the weight of the world alone. But you, Hayase... you're greedier than he is. You're mortal, and you still want to save everyone. You've fought so hard. But..."]
[Before he could finish, your blood went cold. The Cursed Energy you'd been strangling with Nagihiru Kinkou was boiling above Geto's head, erupting in defiance.]
[Countless pitch-black, writhing Cursed Spirits were wrenched from the void. They didn't materialize. Instead they shrieked, twisted, and compressed as though fed into a meat grinder, fusing into a single, spiraling vortex of annihilative, hyper-dense Cursed Energy.]
[Your eyes blew wide.]
Impossible. Inside Nagihiru Kinkou's radius, he shouldn't be able to summon Cursed Spirits. And that volume, that completely altered frequency of Cursed Energy... how?!
[But maintaining the suppression field left you no spare capacity to switch back to Phantom Night Parade and analyze this attack.]
[Geto held that black mass on one palm, gazing down at you with something close to pity.]
["The essence of Cursed Spirit Manipulation is devouring subjugated spirits and commanding them. You neutralized my 'command.' But what if I convert them directly into ultra-high-density pure Cursed Energy and fire it?"]
["Maximum: Uzumaki."]