On the rooftop of Sugisawa Third High School in Sendai City,
The night wind howled, whipping Rin's black trench coat into loud flutters.
Standing opposite him, Ryomen Sukuna had completely dropped his arrogant laughter. His two pairs of eyes, belonging to the King of Curses, were fixed firmly on Rin.
In a thousand years, this was the first time anyone had dared to look down on him with such blatant contempt.
It was also the first time he had felt such a dense, suffocating sense of death from a human who carried no detectable trace of Cursed Energy.
That pressure did not come from Cursed Energy, but from an absolute suppression on a higher level, as if a colossal dragon were gazing down upon an ant foolish enough to bare its fangs.
"Crush my bones inch by inch?"
A cruel smile spread across Sukuna's face, the black markings twisting along with his tensed muscles.
"Are insects these arrogant nowadays? I don't know what trick you used to hide your Cursed Energy, but in the face of absolute violence, all tricks are meaningless!"
Boom!
Before his words had even finished, the concrete beneath his feet shattered.
Using the explosive recoil, his body blurred into an afterimage, crossing dozens of meters in an instant and appearing directly in front of Rin.
Though this vessel had only consumed a single finger and his power had recovered to merely a twentieth of its peak, the sheer force behind that movement was still enough to reduce an elephant to pulp.
"Die!"
Sukuna clenched his right fist, the wind howling around it as he drove it straight toward Rin's face.
Faced with that thunderous punch, Rin did not even blink.
He stood calmly on the railing at the edge of the rooftop, both hands still tucked in his pockets.
At the very moment Sukuna's fist came within an inch of his nose, Rin's left foot lifted slightly.
He moved later, yet struck first.
Bang!
A dull explosion rang out in mid-air.
Rin's left foot slammed directly into Sukuna's incoming fist.
Two purely physical forces collided head-on.
The air compressed to its limit, then burst outward as a visible white shockwave, tearing apart the rooftop's wire mesh and water tank.
"What?!"
Sukuna's eyes widened, disbelief flashing through them.
The recoil force transmitted through his fist was far beyond anything a human body should produce.
That power tore through his muscle fibers and shattered the bones in his fingers.
Crack!
The sharp sound of breaking bone echoed through the night.
Sukuna's right arm, strong enough to punch through steel, bent backward at an unnatural angle under that seemingly simple kick.
The overwhelming recoil sent him flying.
Rumble!
His body smashed through the rooftop floor, blasted through two load-bearing walls in succession, and was finally embedded deep within the ruins dozens of meters away, sending dust billowing into the air.
Fushiguro Megumi, watching from the side, was completely stunned.
He hadn't even seen their movements clearly. All he saw was the arrogant King of Curses charge forward, only to be sent flying back even faster.
"Already down? I haven't even used ten percent of my strength."
Rin stepped lightly off the railing, his boots crunching over the rubble.
He walked forward, step by step, toward the ruins where Sukuna had crashed, his gaze cold.
A harsh coughing sound came from within the debris.
"Cough… Hahaha!"
Sukuna shoved aside the slab pinning him down and staggered to his feet.
His shattered right arm, fueled by Reverse Cursed Technique, healed instantly with a puff of white steam, returning to normal.
He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. The look in his eyes as he stared at Rin had completely changed. The contempt was gone, replaced by a burning, fanatical hunger for battle.
"Magnificent! Your physical strength… it surpasses even a Heavenly Restriction! If I kill you and taste your flesh, it will be a feast beyond compare!"
Sukuna brought his hands together in front of his chest as blinding Cursed Energy gathered at his fingertips.
Since close combat couldn't give him the advantage, he would use his Cursed Technique to tear his opponent apart.
"Dismantle!"
Shua, shua, shua!
With Sukuna's low command, several invisible slashes tore through the air, instantly covering the space where Rin stood.
This was Sukuna's most basic yet deadliest technique. Invisible, formless, and lethal. Once it struck, it could cut a target into pieces in an instant.
Facing this inescapable barrage, Rin came to a stop.
In his left eye, that pitch-black pupil shimmered faintly as a trace of purple light quietly flowed within.
Ripples spread outward in concentric circles, and within them, six black tomoe slowly took shape.
Exactly 0.1 seconds before the countless invisible slashes could touch Rin's body, his gaze locked onto a large chunk of concrete not far ahead.
"Amenotejikara."
Buzz.
Rin's figure vanished from where he stood.
In his place appeared that heavy slab of concrete.
Rip—!
The invisible web of slashes tore into it mercilessly.
The solid concrete was instantly shredded into countless fragments, reduced to dust that scattered through the air.
"Spatial displacement?"
Sukuna reacted instantly. The moment he realized the attack had missed, he turned to locate Rin.
But the instant he moved, his eyes met a pair of purple ones looking down at him from above, filled with cold mockery.
Rin had appeared in mid-air less than a meter above Sukuna's head.
His hands were still tucked in his coat pockets, his body suspended effortlessly, as though gravity no longer applied to him.
"Where are you looking?"
Rin's voice fell like a whisper from a reaper, echoing above Sukuna.
Sukuna's heart tightened. Instinctively, he tried to look up and counter.
But the moment he tilted his head back, Rin's right leg came crashing down.
"Your head's too high."
Bang!!!
The downward kick struck Sukuna's cheek with devastating force.
The sheer strength was like a mountain crashing down.
Sukuna didn't even have time to raise his arms to block. His head was forced sideways under the impact.
His legs failed to withstand the pressure. His knees shattered instantly.
Boom!
With a thunderous roar, Sukuna was driven straight into the concrete floor.
The entire fourth-floor corridor collapsed at that instant, massive cracks racing outward from the point of impact.
The floor gave way.
With Rin's foot pressing down on Sukuna's head, the two crashed through the third and second floors along with falling debris and twisted steel, finally slamming into the center of the first-floor lobby.
Rumble—!
The building shook violently. Dust surged into the air, blotting out the moonlight.
At the center of the ruined lobby,
Rin stood calmly, his right foot planted firmly on the back of Sukuna's head, pinning the once-invincible King of Curses into the rubble like a dead dog.
"Ugh… damn you!"
Sukuna roared from the crater, his voice filled with fury and humiliation.
He struggled desperately, trying to push himself up with his hands, but no matter how he channeled his Cursed Energy, the foot on his head would not move even a fraction.
Humiliation.
Utter humiliation.
Ryomen Sukuna, reduced to being trampled like garbage.
"A fragment of a single finger dares to boast in front of me."
Rin looked down at him, his expression completely indifferent.
"The slashes you take pride in... mean nothing to me."
___
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