More enemies?
Satoru Gojo, dispatching cursed spirits, frowned and looked skyward.
A figure with devil wings materialized, radiating surging mana.
A massive magic bullet formed instantly.
"What a strong aura… So this is their real trump card," Gojo muttered, pausing his cleanup to charge up against Creuserey.
But a burst of cursed energy erupted nearby.
With a boom, Gojo and the surrounding ground shattered into rubble.
In the thick dust, a figure approached, one hand in its pocket.
"Megumi?" Gojo's gaze pierced the haze, then he shook his head. "No, you're not him."
"Of course I'm not that brat," Sukuna sneered, halting to form hand signs. "Heard you're the modern era's strongest sorcerer. Let's test that."
"Damn it, I set this off, didn't I?" Gojo realized.
The terrorists' target was Roy from the start.
Blinded by rage, he'd played into their plan, dragging Roy into this trap.
No point in regrets now.
Facing Sukuna's peaked cursed energy, Gojo raised his right hand, forming signs.
Two colossal cursed energies, enough to shake the air, clashed.
"Domain Expansion: Infinite Void!"
"Domain Expansion: Malevolent Shrine!"
"Gojo's tied up," Lege observed from a battlefield corner, smirking at Mahito. "Your turn."
"Notify the Old Demon Faction devils to take out Akatsuki's espers."
"On it!" Mahito flashed an OK sign.
His clone in the building opened its eyes, broadcasting the attack order.
Thousands of Old Demon Faction devils swarmed out, encircling Suzuki and the others.
"It's over," Lege grinned.
Gojo was locked in Sukuna's domain.
Akatsuki was pinned by the Brigade of Calamity.
Roy, without backup, faced Haba and Creuserey alone.
Though Roy was stronger than expected, thwarting Creuserey's sneak attack, two Demon Lord-tier fighters should—
Boom!
A deafening roar interrupted.
Lege's gaze snapped skyward.
"No way!" he gasped.
The purple-flame Yamata-no-Orochi was torn apart, and Creuserey, missing a wing, was visibly weakening.
Lege's champagne moment fizzled, his face twisting in disbelief.
This wasn't right.
Two Demon Lord-tier fighters, and Roy was winning?
"What kind of monster is this guy?!" Haba cursed, echoing Lege's shock.
Lege's intel had called Roy a two-month awakened devil, at best a standard Demon Lord.
Standard? This was insanity.
If this was "standard," half the current Demon Lords would be out of a job.
"Can't play anymore," Roy's voice rang out.
Glancing at Suzuki's group, surrounded and struggling, gray energy surged from Roy, his aura spiking further.
"For my tools' sake, let's wrap this up quick."
"You're holding back?!" Haba froze, incredulous.
Creuserey, silent till now, burst into laughter. "The mighty Red Dragon Emperor cares for ants?"
"What's weird about that? I'm not a heartless monster," Roy replied, aiming at the sky.
Hundreds of magic arrays, fusing natural energy and destructive mana, unfolded.
A crimson thunderstorm engulfed the battlefield.
In an instant, cursed spirits and sorcerers were obliterated.
Rogue mages and Old Demon Faction devils, stronger, survived briefly.
But a second wave of thunder erased them.
Akatsuki members, spared by precise strikes, stood stunned, gaping at the cleared battlefield.
"Holy—did the boss get stronger?" one gasped.
"Obviously! Last time, he'd have flattened Toichiro Suzuki in two hits with this."
"Boss is badass! Thought I was a goner!"
"Roy, wreck those poser punks!"
Cheers erupted as Akatsuki rallied, hyping Roy.
Creuserey, dodging thunder in the sky, roared, "Red Dragon Emperor, stop!"
"Keep fighting, and I'll drop this barrier, spreading the battlefield to the city!"
"Threatening me?" Roy asked.
"Damn right I am!" Creuserey sneered.
He knew do-gooders like Roy.
If Roy exposed his trump card to save his team, he'd hesitate to risk civilians, letting Creuserey and Haba escape.
But a scoff cut through.
The sky's arrays doubled, the crimson storm intensifying.
Caught off-guard, Creuserey took a direct hit, screaming.
"Red Dragon Emperor! Are you insane?"
"I'm not joking. One more move, and I drop the barrier!"
"Go ahead and try," Roy taunted.
Creuserey roared, channeling mana to control the barrier.
But he'd lost access.
"What did you do?!"
"Took the controls," Roy said, dispelling an illusion.
A massive magic array, covering the battlefield, appeared.
"Impossible! When?!" Creuserey stammered.
"Dumb question. While I was toying with you two," Roy sneered, multitasking with Senjutsu to summon illusionary mist.
"You thought I couldn't kill you earlier? I was buying time to seize the battlefield."
"Now the barrier's mine. This farce ends here."
"Damn it! How'd it come to this?!" Creuserey's face twisted.
No use whining now.
To survive, he turned to his ally. "Haba, can you teleport us out?"
"Of course," Haba said.
"Then hurry—"
"One correction," Haba interrupted, a magic array forming at her feet. She vanished. "Only I get to leave. Stay and cover me."
"Haba!!!" Creuserey's mentality collapsed.
Betrayed by his ally, battered by his enemy.
Losing it, his eyes blazed red, ready to fight Roy to the death.
But Roy's Senjutsu mist descended, enveloping him.
In the fog, Creuserey's mind warped, his vision distorting.
The arrays unleashed a fourth thunder wave.
Blinded, Creuserey couldn't dodge, raising a mana shield.
Roy had anticipated this, lacing the thunder with piercing effects.
The crimson bolts shattered the shield instantly.
Creuserey's defiant roar was drowned by the storm, consumed.
[Congratulations on defeating Creuserey Asmodeus. Obtained Red Entry: Demon Lord Bloodline.]
[Demon Lord Bloodline (Red): Cultivation speed +600, mana capacity greatly increased, mana recovery greatly increased.]
"Not bad," Roy tossed the entry into his vault, glancing where Haba fled.
High-tier mages with teleportation were a pain to kill.
He'd set up a spatial interference barrier, but Haba brute-forced through with some trick.
"Guess she lives for now."
Roy looked down.
His thunder waves hadn't held back.
Besides Haba and Creuserey, no enemy on the battlefield could resist.
That included Lege, the mastermind.
Roar! Moo! Sizzle!
Strange noises filled the battlefield as cursed spirits, contracted to Lege over centuries, surged from the shadows.
Ten, a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand…
In moments, tens of thousands covered the area, numbers still climbing.
"Time to work," Roy reactivated the arrays.
Crimson thunder rained from the heavens.
The air quaked, the ground cracked, the battlefield's elevation sank.
Like a world-ending demon god, Roy obliterated the surging spirits.
The purge lasted a full minute.
Perhaps due to differing world rules, Lege's contracted spirits weren't as numerous as expected.
Still, Roy wiped out over a million.
His entry vault, stuffed to the brim, stretched endlessly.
Roy's lips twitched, then he burst into laughter.
This beat chasing Haba any day.
Haba might drop a Red entry and a Gold Longinus.
But a million cursed spirits? No contest.
His laughter echoed, unnerving Suzuki and the others below.
What's up? Roy gone mad?
Recalling his terrifying display, no one dared breathe loudly.
As the mood stiffened, a bang rang out.
Nearby, the spherical domain from mid-battle shattered, revealing Sukuna and Gojo.
Both in technique burnout, they were limited to close combat.
Before they could resume, Roy's voice cut through.
"Hm?" Sukuna frowned, noticing the battlefield's state.
Scanning, his eyes widened, frozen.
What the hell?
Where's my team?
Where'd my whole damn crew go?!
"Almost forgot about you," Roy's laughter stopped.
A crimson figure flashed before Sukuna, fist crashing down.
Boom!
Sukuna, defenseless, was smashed into the ground, critically injured.
[Congratulations on defeating Megumi Fushiguro. Obtained Purple Entry: Ten Shadows Technique.]
[Ten Shadows Technique (Purple): Consume cursed energy to summon and tame shikigami, up to ten types simultaneously.]
"Wait, hold up!" Gojo snapped back, shouting. "Roy, that's Megumi's body! Don't kill him!"
"If I wanted him dead, he'd be gone," Roy shot him a look, exiting Balance Breaker and approaching Sukuna.
He'd split Sukuna's fingers before, fresh off awakening.
Now, with advanced Senjutsu, it was child's play.
In moments, nineteen fingers were extracted.
Roy pulled the final finger from storage, laying all twenty out.
Destructive mana gathered on Gram's edge, and Roy swung, boosted.
The fingers were consumed by sword aura, vanishing.
[Congratulations on defeating Sukuna. Obtained Purple Entry: Cleave Technique.]
[Cleave Technique (Purple): Consume energy for slashing attacks; more energy, more slashes, greater power.]
Purple entry. Decent enough.
Roy didn't need it, but he could toss it to Meredith or others.
He glanced at the still-unconscious Megumi.
A Senjutsu burst healed his wounds, stabilizing him.
"Looks like the Spirit Healing Bracelet's retiring," Roy mused.
Normal Senjutsu wouldn't heal this well.
But he'd used fused energy (mana + natural energy).
Amplified, Senjutsu matched magic's boosted potency.
Without the bracelet, he could do the same.
"Sorry, Roy," Gojo said, approaching with an awkward smile. "I got played and dragged you into this mess."
"Mess? This was awesome!" Roy clapped Gojo's shoulder, beaming. "You did great."
"Forget the full commission fee. Just pay the special-grade cursed tools; the rest's on me."
"Huh?"
"Call me for the next gig like this."
Ignoring Gojo's reaction, Roy hummed, opening his vault to sort his haul.
A million entries—pure joy.
But then, a dozen figures breached the barrier from outside.
Dressed variably, men and women, all radiated power.
A veiled woman in a miko outfit stepped forward. "Excuse me, are you the Red Dragon Emperor, Roy?"
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