"Kakakakaha! Arrogant piece of trash! I'm going to tear you apart until there's nothing left!"
A crushing pressure filled the place, so intense it seemed to squeeze the lungs of anyone who dared breathe there.
Hiromi, Nanami, Yuji, and Hana felt sweat break out uncontrollably as the cursed energy, heavy with malice, enveloped them.
Damian remained motionless but slightly tilted his head toward Gojo, without taking his eyes off the monstrous figure before them.
"Aren't you going to get them out of here?"
Gojo raised an eyebrow. "You're right."
In the same instant, he disappeared and reappeared next to Yuji and Hana. Without wasting time, he scanned the scene at a glance and then turned his head slightly toward Nanami and the exhausted Hiromi.
"Let's go."
It wasn't a suggestion.
Before the echo of his voice could fade, the space folded like a shattering mirror, and Gojo vanished, taking Yuji and Hana with him.
"…"
Nanami and Hiromi exchanged a brief look; no words were needed. Both cloaked themselves in cursed energy and shot away.
Only two remained.
"Still not finished?" Damian didn't take his eyes off Sukuna.
But the only answer he received was a furious roar.
"Shut up!"
Sukuna formed a hand sign. "Ryōiki Tenkai: Malevolent Shrine!"
The ruined city vanished like a mirage and, in an instant, everything was replaced by a horrifying landscape: a sea of blood stretching as far as the eye could see, altars of bleached bones, and at the center, a sinister shrine.
With it, the space filled with imperceptible slashes.
Every molecule cut.
Every breath could be the last.
Damian remained still, but this time he slowly closed his eyes, allowing his skin to feel the hostile texture of this new space.
His soul analyzed the environment, gauging the intensity of the "guaranteed hit" law that made Sukuna's slashes inescapable.
Compared to the domain he had witnessed in Shibuya, this one was different: more focused, more aggressive… more complete.
A true work of art.
"Die!"
Sukuna didn't lift a single finger, but his domain answered his will. Millions of slashes materialized instantly, descending from every direction to devour Damian.
!
But that was when Damian opened his eyes.
His amber pupils showed no fear or surprise, only a flash of absolute disinterest.
At the exact moment the slashes were about to reach him—
Clang
Yamato came out of its sheath like lightning.
"Acceptable."
His calm voice came as the blade traced an almost imperceptible flash through the air.
The instant he swung his katana, his arm vanished from sight; the movement was so fast the eye could not follow it.
Swish
Suddenly, countless lines of light crossed in every direction, intercepting with precision each slash from Sukuna.
Every clash released blinding sparks that lit the sea of blood, weaving a brilliant net like a starry sky.
The entire domain trembled but did not collapse as it had in Shibuya.
"Trash!"
Sukuna growled in rage, "Do you think this is still like before?!"
His four arms moved in unison: two maintained the seal sustaining the domain, while the other two swiftly executed the mudras of the Ten Shadows Technique.
The shadow at his feet stirred.
"Furube Yura Yura!"
From the dark sea emerged three gigantic silhouettes.
The massive forms of three Mahoraga appeared, each one wielding a colossal Sword of Extermination.
"Triple adaptation." Sukuna smiled with sadism. "I want you to despair as you watch your slashes become useless."
!
The central Mahoraga struck the ground, making the surface tremble before appearing right in front of Damian, raising its sword for a downward strike.
Faced with this cut, Damian merely tilted his torso, and the blade passed grazing his side without touching him.
But there was no respite. In the instant he dodged, a second sword was already flying straight at his back. Yet Damian slid his body backward with agility, avoiding the deadly tip.
And the third was not far behind, attacking from below with an upward diagonal slash, aiming to cut him in two. Damian reacted without looking, lifting one foot and delivering a sharp kick against the ascending blade.
It was a light touch, but the hidden force deflected its trajectory and threw the third Mahoraga and its sword off balance.
All of it happened in a single second.
After that, the three Mahoraga gave him no room to breathe.
The first raised its sword overhead again, unleashing a vertical slash.
The second crouched low and lunged at ground level, its blade kissing the floor as it sought to slice through Damian's ankles.
The third advanced diagonally from the side, aiming at the abdomen and flank, closing every possible escape route.
Damian's eyes narrowed, and calmly he set the tip of his foot down and turned his body fluidly, like a ballet dancer.
During that turn, his left hand traced a wide arc, and Yamato followed his movement with a cutting glow. Every slash that tried to reach him disintegrated the instant it touched the blade, erased in a moment without leaving a trace.
Facing the simultaneous onslaught of the three Mahoraga, Damian used the force of his spin and lifted his right leg in an elegant yet lethal kick.
Boom
The precise impact struck the wrist of the Mahoraga descending from above; the monstrous arm twisted sharply, and the huge sword veered off and fell.
Without breaking rhythm, Damian let the reaction from that impact propel his own body. He slid several meters to the side, using the momentum to precisely avoid the upward thrust of the third Mahoraga.
The gigantic blade passed grazing his ankle; he barely had to lift his leg and the edge brushed the sole of his shoe without leaving a mark.
From a distance, Sukuna's smile remained… but deep within his multiple pupils, a flicker revealed a crack in his confidence.
Mahoraga should have shattered the rhythm of any opponent, forcing them to defend desperately and allowing its slashes to adapt.
But Nero… was different.
In the midst of that savage offensive, he moved freely: dodges measured to the millimeter, blocks so natural they almost seemed playful, and that katana held in one hand, as if the weight of that mortal pressure didn't exist.
Slashes? Mahoraga? To Damian they were nothing more than a carnival juggling act.
This was not defense… it was mockery aimed at Sukuna.
"Fūga!"
With a roar, his two upper arms remained firm, sustaining the domain, but the other two—the ones that had summoned Mahoraga—changed mudras.
In his palms, flames compressed in an instant and took tangible form.
Zas Zas
Instantly, two fiery arrows shot out, ripping through space with trajectories impossible to follow.
One aimed directly at Damian's brow, and the other sealed his retreat.
And the timing was perfect.
Damian had just spun to dodge the lateral sweep of a Mahoraga and deflect another wave of slashes; his body was still in the air, vulnerable for a fraction of a second.
That microspace was all Sukuna needed.
Domain pressure, the relentless siege of the Mahoraga, and now lethal shots from afar. A triple mortal strike designed to be unavoidable.
Sukuna's smile widened. He had him.
However
CLANG
No one knew when it had happened, but the dark sheath of Yamato was already crossed in front of Damian.
Then the first fire arrow, the one coming from the left, ricocheted off the scabbard with a deafening spark and exploded to the side in a shower of embers.
At the same time, Damian pivoted on his heel like something out of Matrix. His body arched violently backward, as if weightless.
Whoosh
The second arrow swept through the space where his face had been seconds earlier. It passed so close the heat wave scorched the loose strands of hair at his forehead.
Behind him, the impact raised a column of flames that tore through the bloody sea, painting the surroundings with an infernal glow.
While his back was still bending to dodge, his right hand, the one holding Yamato, did not stop for even an instant and with a flick of the wrist, the spectral blue blade traced a reverse arc.
CLANG
Two invisible slashes from the domain, which had tried to attack him from his blind spot, were intercepted.
Every action of Damian flowed naturally into the next: first he blocked, then he dodged and, in the same breath, counterattacked. Three different responses, executed with absurd fluidity and ease.
"..."
Sukuna's fierce smile froze.
"This is becoming… boring."
Damian spoke as he brushed aside a descending slash from the first Mahoraga, deflecting it with a shift of his hips.
And before those words had even finished falling, his body was already propelling backward with a leap, spinning midair and, as the turn stopped, his left hand rose vertically in front of his chest.
"Don't get so cocky."
Suddenly, around him, nine long swords formed from pure blue light appeared one after another, floating with a chilling hum.
All pointing directly at his enemies, waiting for the order.
Then Damian lowered his right hand.
Shuá
The nine swords vanished without a trace.
An instant later…
!
The three Mahoraga that a second earlier had been charging violently froze. In their chests, necks, and heads, bright blue tips emerged as if born from within.
There was no visible tearing — they were simply there, piercing organs and bones before they could react.
Time seemed to stop.
Even the sound of the continuous slashes went silent.
Sukuna's rigid expression was replaced by astonishment as his many eyes followed the scene in disbelief.
The three Mahoraga he had summoned, creatures meant to adapt to any attack, were motionless, impaled from within by those swords of light.
Their adaptation ability, nearly absolute, didn't even have a chance to activate.
The giants began to convulse and, before they could react, collapsed like burst balloons.
With a crash, they dissolved into a sea of shadows that slowly faded.
The swords, having fulfilled their purpose, also dimmed one by one until they disappeared.
Destroyed, Damian descended calmly over the sea of blood.
He landed effortlessly with Yamato resting on his shoulder, the blade glowing faintly and lighting his serene face.
But once again, the ever-present slashes of the domain resumed. Unfazed, Damian raised Yamato and made a single diagonal slash.
With that, all the cuts unraveled.
Lwering and leaning slightly on Yamato, Damian fixed his eyes on the monstrous figure standing before the shrine.
"Is this really all you have?"
"Seems you still can't satisfy me."
________
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