"Amuse me."
These four words struck Chen Tian like a boulder, silencing his laughter!
Sukuna's laughter abruptly ceased, like a beast whose throat had been squeezed, leaving only a guttural, uncontrollable surge of excitement.
The violent red light in his eyes flared, and the black Cursed Markings on his face almost seemed to ignite!
How many years had it been? No! No one had *ever* dared to speak to him in such a tone!
"Hahahaha! Good!!!" Sukuna's wild laughter erupted again, shaking the ruins and rubble, filled with pure destructive intent. "Let this great one see what you're made of!!! Open—!!!"
Snap!
He clapped his hands together, and a violent flame instantly compressed and collapsed in his palms! The air shrieked an ear-splitting lament, scorched by the high temperature! The raging fire twisted and took shape wildly in his hands!
The next moment!
His left hand formed a sword-finger with his index and middle fingers, while the other three fingers were loosely held, as if grasping a giant bow! His right hand pulled back, as if drawing a thousand-ton weight!
A monstrous, fiery great bow, several meters long, condensed from flames and curses, materialized out of thin air!
The bowstring hummed as it was pulled to its limit, and a crimson, dripping arrow of flame, exuding an aura of incinerating all things, locked onto the tiny figure high in the sky!
Where the arrow pointed, space itself distorted!
"Here's a little welcome gift for you!!! Bastard!" Sukuna sneered, and his drawn-back right hand suddenly released!
Boom—!!!
The bowstring's snap echoed like thunder!
The flame arrow vanished! No, it was so fast that even afterimages couldn't be captured! Only a straight, scorching crimson trajectory, piercing through heaven and earth, remained in sight!
Where the trajectory passed, the air was instantly vaporized, leaving a pitch-black vacuum tunnel!
Zero point zero one seconds later!
Rumble—!!!!
High above, the clouds directly above Chen Tian's original floating position, like a lake into which a giant stone had been thrown, suddenly caved inward, then exploded with a roar!
A massive fiery void, hundreds of meters in diameter, suddenly expanded, its edges churning with lava-like waves of fire, and the violent shockwave brutally tore apart and pushed away the surrounding clouds!
The delayed colossal roar, like the war drums of a god, rolled across the entire Shibuya sky!
Sukuna's crimson eyes were fixed on the center of that destructive red lotus, his lips curled, waiting to enjoy the sight of his opponent turning to ashes or fleeing in disarray.
However—
Nothing!
The center of the red lotus was empty! The white-haired shadow seemed to have evaporated into thin air!
An icy, bone-chilling cold, without warning, like an arctic wind, instantly penetrated the hellish, furnace-hot Cursed Energy barrier around Sukuna, blowing against the skin of his nape!
Sukuna's sneer once again froze on his face.
His crimson pupils, with a hint of unbelievable stiffness, turned to his side.
Chen Tian!
He was just standing there! Less than a meter away from him!
His hood was slightly lifted by the wind from his recent high-speed movement, and a few strands of white hair fluttered in the breeze.
He was spotless from head to toe, and not even his breathing was disturbed in the slightest! As if that destructive arrow, which had torn through clouds and was capable of vaporizing mountains, was merely a gentle breeze brushing past his ear!
He didn't even spare a glance at Sukuna's frozen face.
Thud!
A dull thud as something hit the ground.
Chen Tian casually flicked his left hand.
Jogo, like a rag doll, covered in dripping blood and nearly extinguished Cursed Energy residue, arced through the air and slammed heavily into Panda's fluffy, stiff body.
The immense impact made Panda's large body sway, and he instinctively hugged the hot and repulsive 'trash' in his arms, his eyes wide, his brain completely frozen.
Only then did Chen Tian's gaze sweep past the equally petrified Kusakabe beside him, and Panda, who was holding the volcano-headed Cursed Spirits with a bewildered expression.
"Not leaving yet?"
Buzz!
A very subtle hum emanated from the space.
Kusakabe and Panda, holding Jogo, instantly blurred and distorted, as if erased from a drawing with an invisible eraser, leaving the spot clean, without a trace, not even a speck of dust stirred.
And at the very moment they vanished—
Pfft, pfft.
Two extremely faint sounds, like sharp blades cutting through new paper.
Beside them, the two Cursed Users who had previously been pinned in place by Sukuna's Cursed Energy, unable to move, still had expressions of bewildered fear from their narrow escape on their faces.
Their bodies, along with the Cursed Tools and clothing they wore, were, at the same instant, as if pierced by billions of invisible, perfectly parallel, sharp threads!
Silent disintegration!
There was no blood spurting, no screams or wails.
Their bodies, in an extremely bizarre manner, transformed into hundreds of perfectly uniform, mirror-smooth cubes!
Flesh, bones, clothing, metal Cursed Tools... all matter was neatly sliced open, the cuts so smooth they reflected the distant explosion's firelight! Blood was instantly sealed within the cut surfaces, presenting a strange dark red hue.
Clatter—
A pile of turbidly colored, sharply edged chunks of flesh mixed with fragments of cloth and metal, like refuse dumped from a slaughterhouse assembly line, crashed to the ground.
The silence of the entire process, contrasted with the destructive fire cloud still expanding and churning high above, and the delayed, thunderous roar, created a terrifying, hair-raising disparity.
Only now.
Chen Tian slowly and completely turned around, facing Sukuna's blood-red eyes, which were fixed on him, revealing for the first time a mix of surprise and extreme fury deep within their pupils.
His right hand, resting on the Yamato's hilt, flicked his thumb lightly.
Click.
A faint, crisp sound of a mechanism engaging.
The blade, as bright as ice, silently slid an inch of cold light from the ancient tsuba.
The stiffness on Sukuna's face shattered like an ice shell, the Cursed Markings on his face wriggled frantically, and his lips slowly curled into a grin, revealing sharp, pointed teeth, forming a ferocious arc mixed with rage, exhilaration, and disbelief.
"Sla…sh?!"
"Sla…sh?!" The stiffness on Sukuna's face peeled away like a shattered ice shell, replaced by an extremely absurd, then twisted and swelling fury and excitement!
He stared intently at the inch of cold, snow-like blade that Chen Tian had lightly flicked out, then glanced at the pile of Cursed User fragments beside them, cut as if forged by a precise mold.
Violent Cursed Energy boiled and surged within him, almost breaking free from the confines of this body!
This man… was using a slash?!
He actually dared to… play with slashes… in front of the King of Curses, who commanded the ultimate in slashes, with "Dismantle" and "Cleave" etched into the very essence of his Cursed Technique?!
Sukuna's facial muscles twitched uncontrollably, then his grin widened, forming a ferocious arc that almost tore his ears, revealing his stark white, sharp fangs, and a deep, insane laugh rolled from his throat: "Heh… heh heh heh… Hahahahaha! How interesting! Bastard!!!"
Before his laughter even subsided, his madness reached its peak!
"Dismantle!!"
Without any warning, Sukuna's outstretched right hand, forming a sword-finger, swung violently at Chen Tian, less than five meters away, as if tearing cloth!
The air emitted an extremely subtle, almost imperceptible tremor and distortion! An invisible, formless slash, yet condensed with pure cutting intent, instantly crossed space, intending to tear Chen Tian and the ground beneath him apart!
Fast! Ruthless! Absolute!
This was Sukuna's slash! The root of Cursed Techniques! The manifestation of death!
However—
Chen Tian didn't even glance at the trajectory of that slash.
He simply, casually, as if taking a post-dinner stroll, shifted half a step to his side.
Whoosh!
That "Dismantle," powerful enough to cleave a Special Grade Cursed Spirits, whistled past the fluttering corner of his clothes, fiercely striking a dilapidated office building several tens of meters behind him!
Screech—!!!
The office building's massive glass curtain wall was silently sliced open like thin paper, forming a smooth crack that ran from top to bottom!
Immediately after, the entire massive building slowly slid and shifted along this crack, emitting a grating groan of steel and concrete, finally breaking in the middle with a deafening roar, stirring up a sky full of dust!
Chen Tian slightly turned his head, his cold eyes sidelong glancing at Sukuna, whose expression had instantly frozen. His gaze was calm and unruffled, lacking even a single ripple.
The meaning was as clear as if etched onto Sukuna's retina:
Is that all?
"…" Sukuna's wild laughter froze for zero point one seconds, then, that stagnant smile exploded like cold water poured into boiling oil!
Violent Cursed Energy, like an out-of-control volcano, spewed from every pore of his body, sending shattered stones on the ground scattering like bullets!
"Interesting! Too interesting!" Sukuna roared, his voice distorted by extreme excitement. "Then again!!! Dismantle! Dismantle! Dismantle! Dismantle! Dismantle—!!!"
He completely transformed into a berserk slashing turret!
His sword-fingers swung wildly! So fast that they left a blurred afterimage in the dim moonlight!
One! Two! Ten!!
Dozens, hundreds of invisible slashes, like a furious swarm of bees, covered the sky and earth! Dense and overwhelming!
Instantly tearing apart all the air between the two of them! The trajectories of the slashes crisscrossed and overlapped, forming a death net that covered all angles of evasion and was capable of grinding a steel jungle into powder! It descended upon Chen Tian!
This was the King of Curses' slash! Continuous! Unavoidable!
Facing this world-destroying storm of slashes, Chen Tian's figure moved!
There was no earth-shattering explosion, no surging fluctuations of Cursed Energy.
He was just... walking.
His figure, like a blurry wisp of white smoke under the moonlight, leisurely shifted within the confined space.
His left foot lightly tapped, avoiding three intersecting cuts;
His right foot slightly retreated, letting seven slashes that grazed his face explode behind him with a roar;
His upper body casually tilted, and several slashes swept past his nose and waist, shattering a twisted bus in the distance!
He moved with a relaxed and unhurried grace! With effortless ease!
Every movement was precise to the millimeter, every dodge was as easy as breathing!
The storm of slashes, capable of tearing space itself to shreds, was as slow as a child's thrown toy blade in front of him!
Boom! Rumble! RUMBLE—!!!
The entire Shibuya battlefield became a release ground for Sukuna's slashes!
Each 'Dismantle' was like the brushstroke of the God of Death, wantonly painting over the steel jungle!
The high-rise apartment on the left was cut in half at the waist, its upper half tilting and crashing to the ground!
The exterior wall of the commercial center on the right was simultaneously hit by countless slashes, glass and concrete pouring down like a waterfall!
The entrance to the abandoned subway station in front was vertically split in two, revealing the dark tunnel below!
The GG Tower behind was diagonally cut open, its giant screen falling with sparks and a crash!
Smoke and dust continuously rose! Explosions flashed one after another! Concrete fragments, twisted rebar, and burning car debris rained down like a storm!
In the center of this scene of overwhelming destruction, only the small area where Chen Tian stood was as calm as the eye of a storm.
The ground beneath his feet was perfectly intact, not even a speck of dust disturbed, and not a single strand of his white hair moved.
And so, in the furious storm of slashes unleashed by Sukuna, capable of destroying half a city block, he moved like a phantom, effortlessly weaving through and easily avoiding every fatal cut.
Sukuna's frantic slashes lasted for a full ten seconds!
When the last 'Dismantle' diagonally sliced a low-rise building in the distance in half, emitting a deafening sound of collapse, he finally stopped his sword-finger gestures.
His chest slightly heaved from the extreme exertion, his crimson eyes fixed on the blurry white figure in the center of the smoke-filled area, burning not just with rage and excitement, but also with a hint of... unbelievable surprise!
The storm of slashes ceased.
The smoke and dust slowly settled.
Chen Tian's figure became clear again.
He still stood in his original spot, not having retreated an inch. Not even an extra wrinkle had appeared on his clothes! His cold gaze pierced through the swirling dust, landing on Sukuna's twisted face.
It was still those two words, clearly echoing above the collapsing ruins:
"That's it?"
Sukuna's breathing suddenly hitched, the muscles on his face twitching wildly, emotions mixed with anger, excitement, and humiliation surging like magma in his eyes!
He slowly raised his right hand, his thumb pressed against his bent index finger, pointing at Chen Tian.
At his fingertip, a point of deep, heart-stopping black Cursed Energy coalesced.
"... 'Dismantle'!"
Sukuna's thumb, pressed against his index finger, suddenly flicked out!
There was no trajectory, no process!
That pitch-black slash—'Dismantle'—Concentrated will to kill、Able to infinitely expand cutting power according to the target's spell power strength, which condensed a killing intent and could infinitely expand its cutting power based on the target's Cursed Energy strength, simply appeared out of thin air in front of Chen Tian's glabella!
Space seemed to be swallowed by this pure concept of "slash"! The icy touch of death pierced straight to the bone!
Sukuna's grinning mouth almost tore to his ears, his crimson pupils locked on, eagerly anticipating the sight of his opponent being pierced and torn apart by this ultimate slash that surpassed 'Cleave'!
This was the King of Curses' absolute mastery of the way of the slash!
However—
Clang!
A soft chime, as faint as an ice bead falling onto a jade plate.
Chen Tian's right thumb, resting on the sword hilt, merely flicked upwards with extreme casualness.
Click.
The ancient tsuba made a faint sound of a mechanism engaging.
The Yamato's icy, gleaming edge, drawn from its sheath, was still only... one inch long.
Buzz—!
An indescribable, sharp mark, as if capable of severing even light, appeared out of thin air in front of that one-inch-drawn blade!
There was no brilliance, no trajectory, only the subtle distortion of space itself being silently cleaved.
Ding!
An extremely faint, crisp sound, like a fine thread snapping.
Sukuna's pitch-black 'Dismantle', capable of obliterating Special Grade Cursed Spirits, was like a black bubble hitting an invisible barrier, instantly freezing, shattering, and dissipating the moment it touched that sharp mark! Not even a ripple was stirred!
The air seemed to solidify for a moment.
"...Huh?" Sukuna's wild laugh and anticipation instantly froze, his crimson pupils rapidly contracting to pinpricks, clearly reflecting the silent annihilation of 'Dismantle'.
This was not fear, but a moment of extreme exhilaration, where his understanding was completely overturned and he had met his match, instantly overwhelming all reason!
"He blocked it?!" Sukuna's throat let out a distorted, almost cracking roar, immediately drowned out by surging ecstasy! "Hahahaha!! Beautiful! Absolutely beautiful! Bastard! You really are... different!!!"
He suddenly spread his arms, as if embracing the entire ruined world! The twisted Cursed Markings on his face writhed frantically from extreme excitement!
"To thank you for entertaining this great one so thoroughly!!!" Sukuna's voice rose to a peak, filled with inhuman fanaticism and twisted "courtesy," "Next—let me extend my warm hospitality to you!!!"
He formed hand seals!
Cursed Energy, more violent than anything before, erupted from his body like a world-ending flood from an opened dam! The air groaned, and the rubble beneath his feet instantly turned to dust!
"Domain Expansion—"
Sukuna's hands suddenly froze in place! His right hand's three fingers were interlocked, his left hand's index finger bent, his ring finger and pinky held together straight, and his thumb tightly pressed against his palm!
A seemingly simple 'Enmaten' hand seal instantly formed!
"—Malevolent Shrine!!!"
Rumble!!!!!!
The flood of Cursed Energy, with Sukuna at its center, roared outwards!
Everything in sight—collapsing skyscrapers, burning streets, swirling dust, the pale moonlight—was instantly forcibly smeared, covered, and eroded by a viscous, heavy, dark red hue carrying endless bloodlust and blasphemy!
Space was forcibly cut and replaced!!
A scene of pure evil descended!
Beneath his feet was a bottomless, churning sea of vile blood, thick with gore! The heavy scent of blood was almost tangible, suffocating.
Behind Sukuna, a massive, sky-obscuring shrine of stark white bones rose from the sea of filth! The shrine's main gate was like a monster's gaping maw!
The maw, like the entrance to an abyss, seemed intent on completely devouring the tiny existence—Chen Tian—who had been pulled into this blasphemous divine realm!
Killing intent! Deadly silence! The invisible sound waves of countless wailing souls washed over his spirit!
In this absolute space, dominated by the will of the King of Curses, all laws were written by him!
Slashes would become an omnipresent declaration of death!
Sukuna stood upon the sea of blood, beneath the bone shrine.
He looked at Chen Tian, whose figure was dwarfed by the reflection of the blood sea, his smile twisted to the extreme, carrying a condescending "generosity" and a fanaticism for destruction:
"Savor it well! This feast!!!"
"Alright."
Chen Tian finally responded to Sukuna, but the coldness in his tone made one incredibly furious just by listening.
He took half a step back with his right foot, his body sinking slightly, his left thumb lightly pushing the tsuba, and his right hand loosely gripping the hilt—the purest Iai stance.
"Come on! Let this great one see what you're truly capable of?!" Sukuna roared with laughter, and the entire domain instantly boiled!
Buzz—!
Countless 'Cleave' and 'Dismantle' slashes erupted simultaneously!
From all directions, up, down, left, right, every inch of space burst forth with deadly slashes! The sea of blood churned, countless ghostly hands extended from the bone shrine, and the entire domain transformed into a purgatory of slaughter!
Chen Tian lowered his gaze.
Clang—!
The Yamato was drawn three inches.
In an instant, countless streaks of ethereal blue sword light bloomed within the domain! Each streak of sword light precisely intercepted a slash, and space was cut with spiderweb-like cracks!
"Dimensional Slash: Sever."
Amidst the soft whisper, Chen Tian's figure blurred for a moment.
Crack—!
Sukuna's pupils suddenly contracted.
He saw it—his own domain, split in two right down the middle by an ethereal blue sword mark that pierced through heaven and earth!
The sea of blood was neatly cut open! The bone shrine exhibited a smooth cross-section! Countless slashes silently vanished in mid-air!
"Impossible..." A crack appeared in Sukuna's smile.
His domain—Malevolent Shrine—was collapsing!
Chen Tian sheathed his sword, emitting a crisp "click" sound.
The entire domain, like a shattered mirror, began to fall apart!
"Boring."
