Chapter 14: Sun Breathing, Third Form: Raging Sun
The Special Grade could not speak.
And yet the hatred in its many eyes said everything.
You're courting death.
Dozens of writhing tentacles, swollen with terrifying cursed energy, came crashing down like a mountain collapsing from the heavens.
That kind of force could flatten a tank into scrap in an instant.
But just before they reached him
Yami's blade moved.
"Sun Breathing, Third Form: Raging Sun!"
Clang!!!
A deep crimson slash swept out in a blazing arc, like the sudden rise of a blood red sun.
The blade carried terrifying heat and piercing sharpness as it smashed into the descending storm of tentacles.
Thud thud thud thud thud!
There was no metallic collision.
No deafening impact of strength meeting strength.
Only the heavy, nauseating sound of flesh being split apart.
Those tentacles, which Yuji's monstrous strength had failed to shake, which seemed as solid and unyielding as iron, were carved apart like soft tofu under Yami's sword.
They severed instantly.
The cuts were smooth.
Polished.
Almost mirror like.
Golden flames clung to the wounds, hissing and crackling as though the flesh itself had been branded by sunlight.
"ROAR!!!"
The Special Grade let out a furious shriek.
A burning pain spread from every severed point, sharp enough to make even a curse recoil. But its pride as a Special Grade refused to accept being overpowered by a human.
A vast flood of cursed energy surged through its body and forced down the golden flames bit by bit.
Regeneration.
Though far slower than before, the severed tentacles still twitched, writhed, and began to grow back.
Kill him. Tear him apart.
Boom!
The floor beneath it shattered.
Its body vanished from sight.
Then it reappeared directly above Yami, claws and tentacles descending in a torrential storm.
Fast.
Even faster than before.
This was the true speed of a Special Grade Cursed Spirit.
And yet
"Too slow."
Yami's eyes did not waver in the slightest.
They were calm as still water.
The sword in his hand blurred, leaving behind scorching afterimages through the air.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
A dense chain of sparks erupted across the narrow corridor.
The figures of man and curse twisted into blurred streaks as they collided again and again at terrifying speed.
One side was a violent storm of black cursed energy, heavy with malice.
The other was a blood red current of blade arcs wrapped in the raging heat of the sun.
"This... what kind of fight is this...?"
Megumi stared forward, cold sweat pouring down his forehead.
His eyes could not keep up.
He could only see the violent bursts of wind detonating through the corridor and the new sword marks appearing out of nowhere across the walls.
The Special Grade roared soundlessly inside its own mind.
Regenerate. Regenerate. Regenerate!
It had wanted to wear Yami down by trading injuries.
But something was wrong.
Horribly wrong.
As the battle went on, the curse realized with dawning terror that its regeneration was getting slower.
At first, wounds had closed instantly.
Then after one second.
Then two.
Now the injuries carved open by Yami's blade remained stubbornly split, as though the flesh itself had been branded with a sunlit seal. No matter how much cursed energy it poured into them, they refused to heal.
The sword in Yami's hand had become like a rising sun.
Each strike stole away another piece of the curse's right to regenerate.
Its once ferocious offense gradually began to slow, stiffen, and falter beneath that relentless burning pressure.
"It's time."
Yami caught it.
The tiniest hesitation.
The moment its regeneration finally failed and its movement lagged.
An opening.
"Sun Breathing, First Form: Dance!"
Whoosh!
Yami became a streak of red lightning, crossing the distance in an instant.
The blade in his hand glowed crimson from the extreme heat as it traced a perfect circular arc through the air.
For one blazing moment, it was as if a true sun had risen within that cramped corridor.
Scorching.
Blinding.
Overbearing.
The surrounding air evaporated.
The temperature spiked violently.
Even the moisture pooled on the floor turned to steam on the spot.
"ROAR!!!"
Sensing lethal danger, the Special Grade went berserk.
Its enormous blood red mouth opened wide, and within it a dense mass of purple cursed energy began to gather, compressed to an extreme. It was preparing to blast this reckless human apart at point blank range.
"A duel of speed?"
A cold smile touched Yami's lips.
Under the gaze of his burning eyes, the curse's every motion seemed to slow.
At that moment, he could vaguely see it.
The flow of cursed energy within its body.
The line of movement around its core.
"Your movements... are too slow."
Just before the cursed blast could fire
Yami's sword rose once more.
This time, in a fierce upward slash.
"Sun Breathing, Second Form: Clear Blue Sky!"
Boom!!!
A gigantic tornado of fire exploded upward.
It was not merely sword energy.
It was the air itself igniting from extreme heat.
The flames roared like a dragon ascending to the sky, swallowing half the Special Grade's body in an instant.
The cursed energy cannon it had been charging was cut off halfway and detonated inside its own mouth.
"GAAAAAAAHHH!!!"
The resulting explosion tore through its head and chest from the inside, mixing with the blazing spiral of Yami's slash.
Fire and cursed energy erupted together.
The entire upper half of the Special Grade was engulfed.
The corridor shook violently as the blast roared through it, and everyone behind Yami could do nothing but stare at the inferno unfolding before them.
Nobara's mouth hung open.
Megumi forgot to breathe.
Even Yuji, still half kneeling among the rubble, stared in blank disbelief.
That iron sword...
That plain, standard issue blade Yami had brought with him...
In his hands, it was more terrifying than any cursed tool they had ever seen.
The flames gradually died down.
What remained of the Special Grade twitched weakly on the floor a few times before finally collapsing into ash and scattering into the air.
Only one object did not burn.
One withered finger lay quietly in the ashes.
Sukuna's finger.
Yami remained standing where he was, chest rising and falling violently.
The blade in his hand had cooled, but spiderweb cracks now spread across its surface from the strain of the heat.
"Huff..."
He tried to steady his breathing.
But the searing pain in his lungs made his whole body tremble.
Pfft!
A mouthful of blood burst from his lips and splattered across the ground beneath him.
"Yami!"
"Hey, are you okay?!"
Megumi and Nobara rushed to him at almost the same time, catching him from either side as his body swayed.
"Cough... it's nothing..."
Yami's voice had gone hoarse.
He lifted the back of his hand and wiped the blood from his mouth, forcing out a pale smile.
"I just... overdid it a little."
That was what he said.
Only he knew the truth.
Every muscle in his body felt torn apart.
His veins and organs felt as though they had been seared from the inside by fire.
Forcing his current body to sustain Sun Breathing over and over again had been a gamble that bordered on suicide.
This had not been an overwhelming victory.
It had been a desperate, self destructive win scraped together with his life on the line.
Crack!
A sharp sound broke the silence.
As Yami instinctively leaned on the sword for support, the standard issue blade, already pushed far beyond its limit, finally gave up.
It shattered.
The iron split into countless fragments that clattered across the floor, leaving only the hilt in Yami's hand.
He looked down at it and let out a helpless, bitter laugh.
"Looks like... I'll have to ask Gojo-sensei for a decent sword next time."
Ordinary iron could not bear the domination of Sun Breathing.
"What are you worrying about your sword for at a time like this?!"
Nobara looked at the scattered fragments, then at Yami's pale face and still bright eyes. Her voice carried lingering shock.
"Hey, Yami..."
"That fire just now, and that ridiculous slash..."
Her expression twitched.
"You're not secretly some battle manga protagonist who got isekai'd here, are you?"
Yami was about to laugh it off.
Then suddenly, he sensed something.
His head snapped upward.
High above the ruined building, suspended in the night sky, stood a white haired man in a black blindfold, looking down at the scene below.
Satoru Gojo pulled one corner of the blindfold aside.
The Six Eyes beneath shone like a blue galaxy.
At the edge of his lips was a wild, delighted smile.
"Interesting breathing."
"And that kind of madness..."
His gaze remained fixed on the boy below, on the lingering gold of the flames reflected in Yami's blood stained figure.
There was something different in his eyes now.
No longer simple amusement.
No longer mere interest in a strange new toy.
It was expectation.
Deep, dangerous expectation.
"So..."
"The darkness those rotten old bastards have worked so hard to preserve..."
Gojo's smile deepened.
"Has finally met its natural enemy."
His eyes gleamed.
"At last."
"We've found it."
"The key that can burn this corrupt jujutsu world to ash."
.....
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