"You should feel proud. I originally planned to use this trump card to catch Gojo off guard."
On the battlefield, as the lingering thunder faded away, Sukuna stood with his arms crossed and looked ahead. His words carried a hint of regret, but his face was filled with an appreciative smile.
Sky Manipulation was a technique capable of twisting and controlling space, making it the perfect counter to Satoru's Infinity. And no matter what kind of trump card it was, it would always have the greatest impact the first time it was revealed.
Earlier, Sukuna could have endured Kashimo's lightning strike head-on and then used Reverse Cursed Technique. He could also have summoned Rika to protect himself. Yet he had deliberately chosen not to do so.
Partly because he wanted to conserve as much cursed energy as possible, and partly because he had a small amount of respect for Kashimo, who was fighting with everything he had. Although it might have looked as if Sukuna had been forced into this situation, he had intentionally revealed his card before the crucial moment.
He had given up on the idea of catching Satoru off guard. Instead, he wanted his opponent to remain wary of Sky Manipulation and the unknown techniques he might possess.
The psychological battle and pressure between opponents were also a form of combat.
Sukuna simply loved crushing his enemies completely.
"Well, that's quite an honor."
The moment the lightning disappeared, Kashimo had already rushed in front of Sukuna. His cursed energy itself possessed an electrical property, giving him an extremely strong resistance to lightning-based attacks. Thunder powerful enough to reduce a person to a charred corpse felt no more threatening to him than taking a bath.
Blood continued to seep from the wound in his abdomen, yet his face carried an incredibly bright smile. He brought his two claws together toward Sukuna.
Btzzt!
When Sukuna raised both arms to block his sides, the force behind the attack made his eyes widen instantly.
Kashimo had landed a Black Flash, and he had done it with both claws at once.
His cursed energy output was already astonishing. Combined with Mythical Beast Amber and the boost from Black Flash, even Sukuna could not help feeling his arms tremble as if the bones themselves were making cracking sounds.
'This feeling is incredible!'
Kashimo felt as if his entire body was about to take flight. In his previous life, when had he ever encountered an enemy who forced him to forget everything else and attempt to land a Black Flash?
The extreme sensation brought by this strike was something he had never experienced before. It was unbelievably satisfying.
Sukuna had given him an entirely new experience.
He could feel the flow of his cursed energy becoming so natural, while his body felt incredibly light. Even the wound around his waist seemed to have stopped hurting completely.
If this continued, perhaps he could become even stronger and hold out a little longer.
However, the sudden, intense pain in his forehead brought him back from that beautiful fantasy.
While their claws and arms remained locked together, Sukuna did not hesitate to smash his head into Kashimo's.
The third eye that had opened on his forehead to observe Sukuna had already begun shedding tears of blood, even blurring the vision of his original two eyes. At the same time, the resulting dizziness caused the cursed energy output in his claws to drop sharply.
Sukuna immediately took advantage of the opening. He grabbed both of Kashimo's arms and swung his entire body around. After spinning him halfway through the air, he violently hurled him high into the sky.
"Although I would still like to play with you for a while, I can't afford to waste too much cursed energy and too many techniques on you."
Sukuna looked up at Kashimo as he gathered cursed energy at his fingertips. The power continued to rise.
Kashimo could be considered an opponent capable of making him take things a little more seriously. But under the current circumstances, Sukuna could no longer afford to fight a drawn-out battle with him.
He understood the boost that Black Flash provided very well. Even if Kashimo had only landed one, he was currently in such a highly sensitive state that there was a good chance he could land a second or even a third.
That would become troublesome.
There were still one or perhaps even two main courses waiting to be served. Sukuna had no intention of getting full this early.
He had to finish Kashimo immediately.
"I can still fight!"
In the air, Kashimo could no longer dodge. Instead, he shouted as he extended both claws in front of himself. The muzzles opened as he prepared to fire an electromagnetic cannon.
But in the next moment, he suddenly felt as if everything had lost its meaning.
Or perhaps, the loneliness he had carried for four hundred years had finally been fulfilled in this instant.
Because...
"Dragon Scales. Repulsion. Paired Falling Stars."
Sukuna had already finished chanting.
In Kashimo's eyes, a grid-like slash that seemed capable of covering the entire sky cut through the electromagnetic waves and came straight toward him.
(The instant Grid Dismantle from the original work is too overpowered and unreasonable, so here it has been changed into something that requires chanting.)
* * *
"Long ago, there was a fool who preached to me about 'love.' She claimed that I didn't know what love was and said that I felt lonely because there was no one equal to me."
In a barren wilderness, an old man stood alone on top of a mountain and gazed into the distance. Behind him, Sukuna's voice suddenly rang out.
"I understand what she meant. Still, being told that I 'didn't know' was somewhat unexpected. She should have lectured you instead. After all, you were clearly born surrounded by it, yet you didn't understand it."
"What do you mean?"
The old man turned around and calmly looked at Sukuna.
"You were strong. In your era, you should have been someone standing at the very top, right? Surely many powerful people challenged you, and they must have fought you without holding anything back."
What appeared before the old man's eyes was the soul of Sukuna in his original two-faced form, possessing a "perfect physique."
"They might not have cursed you because of their defeat. They simply wanted to gain your recognition, or perhaps use the battle to understand themselves. Yet you killed them all."
"You ask me whether I don't know how to connect with others or understand compassion. What else could that be if not compassion?"
This was Sukuna's understanding of a kind of "love."
Simply because they were strong, they had constantly experienced the love of challengers who came to test themselves against them, and they had also returned that love in their own way.
"Even so, you were still troubled by loneliness. That's why I called you a spoiled and greedy man," Sukuna explained what he meant.
"Was that really enough? If you were already satisfied, why would you go so far as to split your soul and turn yourself into a cursed object just to cross through time?"
The old man's appearance changed back into the young Kashimo after reincarnation. Because this was the moment when he had finally experienced "love."
Yet there was still something he did not understand.
"I have never relied on others to satisfy myself. If I want to eat, I eat. If I want to kill, I kill. When I feel like having some fun, I amuse myself. I simply live however I please. It's only that other people can't understand it."
When the topic came up, Sukuna's eyes became indifferent. After finally understanding what love was, he found it terribly boring.
"Wouldn't you get tired of that eventually…" Kashimo was stunned for a moment before asking with a helpless smile.
It was obvious that Sukuna's "love" was somewhat different from the supreme state he had been pursuing.
"No. The taste of humanity comes in countless forms and changes from moment to moment. It's perfect for passing the time I have left in this life."
Sukuna's thoughts had not changed.
Kashimo shook his head before asking his final question, "If I learned Domain Expansion, would that make things more enjoyable for you?"
He had already obtained the answer he wanted. Although it was not exactly what he had hoped for, at least he had been satisfied.
Yet he had been unable to return this feeling to Sukuna in a better way despite how seriously the latter had treated him.
"Your strength probably comes from devoting yourself completely to developing your body and cursed energy."
Sukuna raised the corners of his mouth. "I've already had enough fun. Let's end it here."
As an appetizer before the main course, Kashimo had been truly excellent. He had even made Sukuna feel as if he wanted to make him the main course instead.
"Is that so..."
Kashimo's soul began to fade. Even when it completely disappeared, a smile remained on his face.
Thus, the strongest man from four hundred years ago had been defeated.
* * *
"Then, who's next?"
Sukuna stretched his body and waited for the next challenger.
At that moment, an unusual cursed energy reaction rose in the distance.
"Hm?" He narrowed his eyes and looked in that direction.
What he could not see was that several kilometers away, Satoru had already taken that familiar starting stance.
"Hollow... Purple!"
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