Chapter 108: Uraume's Sneak Attack
The cold came without warning.
One moment, the fifth underground platform had been a furnace, warped by crimson flames and molten steel. The next, frost crawled across the walls like a living thing. The steam in the air froze into glittering dust. The heat Yami had brought with him was pushed back inch by inch by a killing chill that seemed capable of reaching the soul.
"Ice Formation: Straight Waterfall."
An indifferent voice drifted from the darkness.
Then the ceiling turned white.
Countless massive spears of ice plunged down like a frozen waterfall, filling every gap around Yami and sealing off every route of escape. Each icicle was thick as a pillar, sharp enough to impale concrete, and coated with cursed energy so dense it made the air scream.
Uraume.
The curse user who had served Sukuna a thousand years ago had finally stepped onto the battlefield.
They had no choice.
If Kenjaku died here, the entire plan would collapse.
"In the way."
Yami did not even turn his head.
The blade that had been descending toward Kenjaku shifted its path in a single smooth motion, changing from an executioner's stroke into a backward sweep.
"Sun Breathing, Third Form."
The flames along Shiranui flared.
"Blazing Sun of the Red Mirror."
Boom!
A deep crimson arc tore through the air.
Fire met ice.
The collision of extreme heat and extreme cold erupted across the ruined platform. A violent hiss filled the underground space as the falling icicles exploded into boiling steam. White vapor swallowed everything, turning the entire station into a scalding fog bank.
"Is that all?"
Uraume's figure flickered within the steam like a ghost.
Their expression remained calm, but their eyes were cold and fanatical. It was not personal hatred. It was devotion. The killing intent of someone clearing obstacles from their lord's path.
They formed another hand sign.
The temperature plummeted again.
Even the steam froze halfway through the air, breaking into fine shards of glittering ice.
"Ice Formation: Frost Wind."
Whoosh!
A wave of white cold swept along the ground.
Everything it touched froze on contact. Broken tiles, twisted rails, pools of blood, chunks of concrete. Even the moisture in the air turned into countless tiny needles, spreading outward in an all-covering storm.
There was no gap to dodge through.
No safe direction.
"Interesting."
Yami narrowed his eyes.
This enemy was different.
The pressure coming from Uraume far surpassed that of an ordinary Special Grade Cursed Spirit. Their control over cursed energy was refined to a terrifying degree, and their mastery over ice was not simple elemental output. It was polished, condensed, and lethal, the result of surviving across centuries.
A thousand-year-old monster.
But in the face of still water, all waves eventually died.
Yami exhaled.
Shiranui lowered.
The tip of the blade touched the ground.
In that instant, his presence vanished.
Not weakened.
Not hidden.
Gone.
It was as though he had melted into the space around him, becoming part of the platform, part of the air, part of the silence.
"Water Breathing, Eleventh Form."
A faint sound rang out.
Like a single drop of water falling into a deep lake.
"Dead Calm."
Ding.
The white freezing wind entered the three-meter space around Yami.
Then it disappeared.
There was no explosion. No clash. No dramatic burst of power.
It simply ceased to exist.
The ice needles, the freezing air, even the killing wind itself were swallowed by an invisible stillness. Within that small radius, all movement sank into silence, as if the world had become a pond without a ripple.
"Technique neutralization?"
Uraume's eyes sharpened.
Surprise flashed across their face, but their hands never stopped moving.
They were not a modern sorcerer who would freeze at the sight of an unknown technique. They had fought for Sukuna in an age when monsters wore human skin and death came faster than thought.
If cold air failed, then mass would crush him.
Boom!
The floor split open.
Massive ice spikes erupted from the ground, rising like a forest of frozen blades. They lunged toward Yami from every direction, growing, branching, and stabbing with terrifying speed.
Yami stepped forward.
His breathing changed.
"Total Concentration."
A cold, lonely moon seemed to rise behind his crimson eyes.
"Moon Breathing."
Purple-black crescent blades gathered along Shiranui.
"Sixth Form: Perpetual Night, Lonely Moon, Incessant."
Swish!
Countless crescent-shaped slashes burst outward.
The ice forest shattered.
Blade winds and frozen spikes collided again and again, sending shards of ice flying through the platform like shrapnel. Yami and Uraume moved between the collapsing pillars at speeds beyond normal sight, their figures reduced to streaks of red fire and pale frost.
Every clash rang like thunder.
Every step cracked the ground.
Every breath turned into mist, then flame, then shattered ice.
"This density of slashes…"
Uraume retreated across a broken rail, forming hand signs as they moved. Ice walls rose one after another, each one layered with cursed energy and reinforced from within.
The crescent blades carved through them anyway.
The slashes were not merely fast. Their trajectories were chaotic, curving at strange angles, splitting mid-flight, then cutting back from blind spots. Predicting them was almost impossible.
Worse, the hidden spikes Uraume had planted beneath the frost were being avoided before they could even emerge.
It was not luck.
Yami was seeing through them.
"Got you."
His voice sounded behind Uraume.
The Transparent World had already read their next landing point.
Shiranui, wrapped in roaring solar flame, descended with lethal heat.
"Sun Breathing, First Form."
"Circle Dance."
Uraume's pupils narrowed.
"Ice Formation: Glaze Ice."
Crack!
A thick wall of deep blue ice appeared between them.
It was denser than the others, layered with such heavy cursed energy that it looked more like crystal than frozen water. Uraume condensed three more shields behind it in the same breath, stacking defense upon defense.
The crimson blade fell.
Boom!
The first ice wall melted instantly.
The second cracked apart.
The third evaporated into white mist.
Only at the final shield did the slash finally slow, the recoil blasting both fighters backward at once.
Steam roared upward.
Uraume landed lightly, one hand brushing the ground. A thin line of blood slid from the corner of their mouth. They wiped it away with their thumb, expression colder and more serious than before.
"As expected of the one Lord Sukuna has taken interest in."
Their voice remained even.
"Your strength is worthy of attention."
Yami steadied his footing and tightened his grip on Shiranui.
His breathing was slightly heavier now.
"A thousand-year-old monster really isn't easy to kill."
If not for the Transparent World revealing the hidden trap behind Uraume's ice barrier, that last exchange might have cost him half his body. Uraume's ice was not just freezing cold. Once it entered the flesh, it tried to lock cursed energy, blood, nerves, and movement all at once.
One mistake would be fatal.
The two faced each other through drifting steam.
Flame and frost divided the platform between them.
For the first time since Yami had arrived in Shibuya, someone had stalled his blade head-on.
Not far away, Kenjaku watched the exchange with a dark expression.
This was bad.
Uraume had not lost, but victory would not come quickly.
And Yami was still accumulating power.
The temperature around him was rising again. Slowly. Abnormally. The ice covering the platform was beginning to weep and crack under the pressure of his breathing.
If this dragged on, Uraume's Ice Formation would eventually be suppressed.
Too many variables.
Kenjaku's gaze dropped to the ancient hourglass in his hand.
He had not wanted to use it here.
This was meant to be the final contingency against Satoru Gojo.
Limitless made ordinary physical attacks meaningless. Even the best-laid traps could fail against those Six Eyes. That was why Kenjaku had prepared a Special Grade cursed object that interfered with time itself.
But Gojo had been sealed.
Against all expectations, the Prison Realm had succeeded.
And now, the trump card meant for Gojo would be spent on Yami.
"I can't delay any longer."
Kenjaku's face twisted.
He poured cursed energy into the hourglass.
The object shuddered in his palm. The golden sand inside, instead of falling downward, began to flow backward.
Time around it distorted.
The air bent. Sound dragged. Even the falling debris seemed to slow for an instant near the cursed object.
"Yami!"
Kenjaku shouted.
Yami's eyes flicked toward him.
"You really are strong," Kenjaku said, his voice ragged but filled with madness. "Far stronger than I expected."
The smile on his face widened.
"But there are rules in this world that power alone cannot break."
Yami's gaze settled on the hourglass.
His instincts screamed.
The cursed energy flowing through that thing was unlike anything he had seen before. It did not belong to fire, ice, blood, or space. It was ancient, alien, and oppressive, warping the air as though reality itself were being tugged out of shape.
"Special Grade cursed object."
Kenjaku raised the hourglass.
"Sands of Time."
A crazed glint flashed in his eyes.
"It's a shame. I wanted to save this for Satoru Gojo."
The sand reversed faster.
"But you'll do."
Yami moved.
The ground beneath his feet exploded as he shot forward, Shiranui burning like a falling star.
Kenjaku's smile became savage.
"Go wander at the end of time!"
Crack!
Before Yami's blade could reach him, Kenjaku crushed the hourglass in his hand.
The golden sand burst outward.
For a moment, the entire fifth underground platform stopped breathing.
Then time broke.
.....
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