On the screen, Sukuna landed calmly on the ground. Mahoraga appeared before him, its gigantic body radiating a menacing aura. The monster tried to charge forward, but suddenly its body seemed to be bound by something. It couldn't advance, its legs only stomping in place.
Then, that sound was heard again.
CLUNK.
Instantly, it became able to move forward slowly. Mahoraga lunged ahead. The King of Curses welcomed it, and the two clashed in brutal close combat. The King of Curses leapt backward toward the wall of a building and launched his attack.
Mahoraga did not stop. It rammed forward, forcing the King of Curses to leap into the air to evade. The impact was so powerful that train cars around them were hurled skyward as if they were weightless.
In midair, the King of Curses unleashed invisible slashes. The train cars floating around him were cleanly sliced apart, like paper cut by scissors.
"This is incredible…" Koko muttered, her eyes unblinking as she stared at the screen. "A nation's military wouldn't stand a chance against them."
"And it seems… this still isn't the peak of their battle," Kagaya added anxiously.
"The scale of their power is completely different from our world," L said flatly, though his hand clenched tightly around his knee.
Back on the screen, the King of Curses deflected Mahoraga's attack in midair, sending it flying even higher into the sky. In that gravityless moment, he twisted his body and grinned.
"You really are something," he praised.
He extended his hand. All the train cars around him shattered into fragments, and Mahoraga shoved a single intact car toward Sukuna, using it as an improvised shield.
Seeing this, Sukuna's expression turned momentarily shocked.
In the dimensional room, L and Zelretch sharpened their gazes at that sight.
L frowned. "Could it be that he…?" L muttered.
Mahoraga slammed into the train car, pushing it until the King of Curses inside was trapped. The monster crushed the car with its bare hands and hurled it toward a skyscraper.
BOOM!
The lights around the building flickered wildly from the massive shock. Mahoraga gave no pause and leapt after its enemy, diving into the hole where he had landed.
Sukuna leapt backward from Mahoraga's strike, then flicked his hands, forming an X-shape.
SLASH!
Suddenly, the walls and pillars around them were sliced at a diagonal. An invisible attack.
However… Mahoraga was unharmed. It sidestepped with eerie precision, as if it knew exactly where the invisible slashes would pass.
L's eyes widened in shock.
Zelretch fell silent for a moment, then burst into laughter.
"HAHAHAHA!"
His laughter perfectly overlapped with the laughter of the figure on the screen.
"HAHAHAHA!"
The King of Curses laughed freely, as if he had just discovered an incredibly amusing toy.
"Zelretch, why are you laughing?" Kagaya asked in confusion.
Zelretch's words and the King of Curses' words rang out at the same time, creating a terrifying harmony.
"That monster… it can see my technique / his technique!" Zelretch and Sukuna shouted simultaneously.
On the screen, the impact of the slashes split the building where they were fighting all the way up to the sky, even parting the clouds above.
"What do you mean by that, Zelretch?" Nobu asked, her brows knitting together.
Zelretch only laughed, clutching his stomach, offering no answer. He turned his wide grin toward L.
"L! How about you explain it to them? You noticed it too, didn't you?"
On the screen, the King of Curses moved his hand again. The display shifted into dramatic black-and-white, revealing the trajectory of the slash. The attack struck Mahoraga, severing its arm, which flew toward the King of Curses.
CLUNK.
The sound of the wheel turning echoed once more.
Mahoraga was blasted through a skyscraper, then emerged again from the dust with its arm fully regenerated.
CLUNK.
CLUNK.
CLUNK.
The sound repeated over and over. Mahoraga lifted a massive chunk of a building and hurled it. The King of Curses stood casually atop a streetlight pole, raised his hand, and sliced the chunk into dust.
Debris scattered everywhere. The camera focused on the King of Curses spreading his arms wide, savoring the chaos.
The camera pulled back, revealing a panoramic view of Shibuya reduced to ruins.
A commercial airplane that had lost control was seen diving toward the city, its engines ablaze.
"Th-this city… it looks like it's just been hit by a natural disaster," Koko muttered in horror.
"The city should have already been evacuated, right? We haven't seen civilians on the screen, so hopefully they've all been moved to safety," Kagaya said hopefully.
"We don't know. But what's certain is that a battle on this scale will cause civilian casualties. That crashing plane… it was probably hit by a stray attack," L analyzed coldly.
Among them all, Ritsuka was the calmest. His eyes were fixed on the screen, unblinking. His heart pounded violently, his body felt hot. Not from fear, but from a strange sensation spreading through his blood. His adrenaline surged sharply.
What is this feeling…? Ritsuka thought, clutching his chest.
Why do I… feel excited?
BOOM!
The plane exploded in the distance. Mahoraga fell freely from the sky, crashing hard into a public swimming pool and sending water splashing everywhere. Its movements were restrained when a collapsing tower crashed down on top of it, flooding the pool with high-voltage electricity.
BZZZTTT!
The surrounding lights went out.
CLUNK.
After the sound of the wheel turning, the light tower crushing it shattered into pieces. The camera zoomed into the water, revealing Mahoraga's hand clenched tightly. Then the camera pulled back, revealing the monster's neck.
Everyone in the dimensional room froze stiff.
"Th-that's impossible…" Kagaya whispered.
"Gills?!" Koko shouted in disbelief.
"How is that possible?! There was no such organ on its body before!" Nobu exclaimed.
"It's all clear now," Zelretch and L said in unison.
"What do you mean, both of you?!" Kagaya demanded.
"Hurry up and explain! I'm getting even more confused!" Koko pressed.
Back on the screen, Sukuna turned and fired another slashing attack. Black lines struck Mahoraga. But this time, there was no blood. Mahoraga's skin was only lightly scratched, and the wound healed in the blink of an eye.
The Dharma Wheel above its head spun again.
CLUNK.
The wounds vanished completely. The King of Curses grinned, his eyes glowing blood-red.
"As I thought. This is something similar to Yamato no Orochi," he said.
"Uhuk—uhuk!" Kagaya coughed in shock at the name. "Amane, what did he just say?!"
Amane hurriedly supported her husband.
"Oyakata-sama! He mentioned Yamato no Orochi!" Amane reported.
"If I remember correctly, that's a legendary monster from Japan, right?" Koko asked.
"Yes. An eight-headed serpent. In Greek mythology, it would be similar to Hydra," L answered.
"But why did he compare it to Yamato no Orochi?" Nobu asked curiously.
"Most likely because of the concept of immortality," Kagaya replied after steadying his breath. "In legend, Yamato no Orochi could regenerate from death and grow back, making it extremely difficult to kill. That's similar to Mahoraga."
L continued his analysis. "Not just regeneration. That monster suddenly gained the ability to see invisible attacks. And just now, it grew gills that should only exist in aquatic creatures. All of those drastic changes occurred immediately after the wheel above its head rotated."
Zelretch nodded, then added, "And the Furu chant and the circular form of that wheel represent a perfect cycle and harmony. From all this data, I conclude that the true ability of the Dharma Wheel is…"
Zelretch and L exchanged glances, then spoke their conclusion at the same time as the King of Curses on the screen:
"To adapt to all phenomena."
On the screen, the King of Curses formed a strange hand seal, grinning widely like a true demon.
"Like playing rock-paper-scissors after seeing your opponent's move!" he mocked.
The screen went dark.
"Exactly," a mysterious voice affirmed, followed by the ringing of a bell.
"WHAT?! Wait a second! What do you mean by 'adapting to all phenomena'?! " Koko shouted in frustration.
"Can you explain it in human language?" Kagaya pleaded, dizzy.
"It seems that wheel doesn't just strengthen and heal my Master, but something far more terrifying than that," Nobu muttered seriously.
Zelretch pointed toward the image of the Dharma Wheel lingering in their minds.
"That wheel allows its user to analyze and adapt to any phenomenon in the universe," Zelretch explained, his eyes gleaming with fascination. "Mysteries, concepts, or physical laws behind any attack that strikes them will be 'analyzed' and 'resolved.'"
"For example," L cut in, raising his index finger, "if you attack him with fire, he might burn at first. But once the wheel rotates, his body will rewrite its own biology to become fire-resistant."
"Or if he were to drown, like in that recording," Zelretch added. "Mahoraga grew gills to breathe underwater. So in theory, the same applies to Ritsuka. If you drown him, Ritsuka would evolve into an amphibious being."
"But it's not just defense," L said heavily, taking a deep breath before continuing with his most terrifying hypothesis.
"This is still speculation, but most likely, with that wheel… he can also adapt offensively."
"You mean…?" Koko asked.
"It means that if his enemy possesses an absolute defense that cannot be breached," L explained, "the wheel will keep turning until it finds a way to break through it. Either by changing the nature of his attack… or by rewriting the laws of physics themselves."