Both sides charged at each other simultaneously.
This time, there was no probing.
This was the final battle!
Whether it was Ryomen Sukuna or the Rider of Heaven, both knew their time was limited.
Ryomen Sukuna was constrained by his own circumstances. He was still maintaining Malevolent Shrine and did not dare to close it. If he did, he would suffer Cursed Technique Burnout. Using Limitless also required him to burn his brain, so he couldn't maintain it for long.
As for Tsumiki Fushiguro, it went without saying. The Rider of Heaven only lasted for ten minutes. The previous probing and dialogue had already consumed over two minutes, leaving her with only seven minutes of active time.
She could not afford to waste any more time.
The Rider of Heaven slammed both hands onto the belt slot.
[Time Stop]!
Within the world of stopped time, the Rider of Heaven could perceive the endless slashes of Malevolent Shrine even more clearly.
It wasn't rain.
It was a hurricane.
Rain has gaps.
A hurricane does not.
The slashes produced by Malevolent Shrine were exactly like that. Even in the world of frozen time, Malevolent Shrine continued functioning, appearing before the Rider of Heaven like an endless curtain of blades.
And the Rider of Heaven chose to face that curtain head-on.
She stretched out her hand into the sea of slashes.
The metal gauntlets and the slashes should have produced a shrill sound upon collision, but in the silent world of stopped time, even the propagation of sound was forbidden.
Thus, the Rider of Heaven stepped through the slashing curtain and arrived directly before Ryomen Sukuna.
Then, she abruptly released Time Stop.
From Ryomen Sukuna's perspective, the Rider of Heaven had still been charging in the previous instant.
In the next instant, she had already arrived in front of him, her fist appearing before his eyes.
Bang!
The Rider of Heaven's hundred-ton punch was only a hair's breadth away from striking Ryomen Sukuna's head.
In the next moment, Ryomen Sukuna counterattacked.
His fist smashed forward violently while the eyes on both of his faces stared intently at the Rider of Heaven.
However, despite focusing all his attention, the scene before his eyes changed once more.
The Rider of Heaven vanished.
"Again!"
Relying entirely on combat experience and intuition rather than vision, Ryomen Sukuna instantly deployed a layer of Limitless behind himself.
As expected, he immediately sensed an attack from behind.
Then—
The Rider of Heaven vanished.
Vanished.
Vanished again!
She disappeared three times in succession, and every single time Ryomen Sukuna failed to capture her movements.
This was despite the fact that he was currently standing inside his own Domain Expansion.
Ryomen Sukuna was certain this wasn't teleportation.
It was something closer to extreme speed.
But it was simply too fast—
So fast that even his eyes couldn't follow.
This was because he knew every inch of space inside Malevolent Shrine like the back of his hand.
He could clearly sense that the disappearance of the slashing storm wasn't the result of skipping space, but rather a continuous path through space.
This proved that the Rider of Heaven had truly traversed that distance physically.
But even understanding that, he could do nothing.
Ryomen Sukuna's fists struck empty air while the Rider of Heaven flashed continuously around him.
This was the method the Rider of Heaven had devised to counter Ryomen Sukuna's "Premature Adaptation."
Attacking during Time Stop indeed carried the risk of allowing Mahoraga to adapt in advance, because the opponent would have genuinely received the attack.
But what if Time Stop was used solely for movement?
As long as no attack was delivered during the stopped time, no adaptation to Time Stop itself could occur.
Thus, the Rider of Heaven's greatest ability remained effective.
Meanwhile, Ryomen Sukuna was simultaneously maintaining Malevolent Shrine while operating Limitless with both his hands and the giant mouth on his abdomen.
Could his brain truly endure this level of overload?
The Rider of Heaven possessed extraordinary eyesight.
She clearly saw that Ryomen Sukuna's movements were gradually becoming distorted.
Urgency causes panic.
Panic slows thinking.
Slower thinking prevents one from displaying their full strength.
Ryomen Sukuna had begun to feel that urgency.
This was only natural.
Anyone facing the Rider of Heaven, who possessed Time Stop and punches exceeding one hundred tons, would feel despair.
If the Rider of Heaven hadn't been restricted to only ten minutes and if her Fantasy Intensity hadn't continuously declined, Tsumiki Fushiguro might even have challenged Gojo Satoru or Mahito himself.
This wasn't arrogance.
Time Stop truly possessed such potential.
Just as Tsumiki Fushiguro expected, Ryomen Sukuna's movements became distorted because his brain was nearly reaching its limit.
The combined burden of Limitless and Malevolent Shrine pressed heavily upon him.
Meanwhile, the elusive Rider of Heaven remained a constant threat.
Under the pressure of one-hundred-ton attacks, even a momentary lapse would result in his entire body exploding.
Even worse—
He discovered that he could not adapt prematurely to the Rider of Heaven's attacks.
Because every one of her strikes was a sure-kill attack.
One punch was enough to kill him.
He still possessed nine lives.
But after nine deaths, only one life would remain.
Before reaching that point, there simply wasn't enough time to complete adaptation.
The stronger the attack, the longer the adaptation cycle.
In other words—
As long as every attack was powerful enough to kill Mahoraga instantly, Mahoraga would never gain the opportunity to adapt.
He was being countered.
Ryomen Sukuna took a deep breath amid this desperate situation.
Logically, with nine extra lives remaining, he could afford to die a few times.
He could even use death itself to cool his overheated brain.
But he couldn't.
He had already deduced the nature of the opponent's ability.
The answer was obvious.
It wasn't teleportation.
It was something similar to extreme-speed movement.
Even with Ryomen Sukuna's eyesight, he couldn't perceive it while it was occurring.
There was clearly a trajectory, yet no time existed for that trajectory to remain.
What else could it be?
Time Stop.
It could only be Time Stop.
The opponent possessed Time Stop.
Defense capable of withstanding Malevolent Shrine.
Attack power exceeding one hundred tons.
If he hadn't possessed four arms and two mouths—
If he hadn't copied Limitless several days ago—
Even eleven lives wouldn't have been enough.
The situation remained unchanged now.
Although Limitless allowed him to survive, the threat of Time Stop itself had not been resolved.
Just as Tsumiki Fushiguro expected, if the Rider of Heaven had repeatedly killed Ryomen Sukuna during stopped time, he might truly have used a Binding Vow or some other method to allow Mahoraga to adapt to Time Stop in advance.
He would undoubtedly have used the adapted Mahoraga to ambush the Rider of Heaven at the crucial moment, just as he had done against Gojo Satoru in the original timeline.
But the Rider of Heaven hadn't done that.
She only used Time Stop for repositioning.
As a result, Premature Adaptation became completely useless.
What should he do?
What could he do?
Ryomen Sukuna calmly pondered while cornered.
Then, relying upon his combat experience, he finally discovered the Rider of Heaven's weakness.
No—
Not the Rider of Heaven's weakness.
But rather, the weakness of the person behind it.
Suddenly, Ryomen Sukuna formed hand seals with all four hands simultaneously.
The Rider of Heaven immediately noticed.
This was—
"My Cursed Technique is called Malevolent Shrine," Ryomen Sukuna said.
Cursed Technique Disclosure.
This was the first time Ryomen Sukuna had ever performed a Cursed Technique Disclosure.
Even a thousand years ago, he had never done so.
He had only casually revealed the name of his technique to Yorozu and Uraume.
"My Malevolent Shrine possesses two characteristics."
"It may even be the only Cursed Technique of its kind."
"One characteristic is slashing."
"Slashing itself is divided into two types."
"One is the long-range Dismantle."
"The other is a sure-kill attack activated through contact and adjusted according to differences in Cursed Energy."
"The second characteristic of my technique..."
"Is fire."
The Rider of Heaven continued attacking while flashing around him.
"I already knew that."
"The purpose of Cursed Technique Disclosure is to temporarily strengthen oneself by revealing information disadvantageous to yourself."
"Your disclosure is meaningless against me."
"I already knew your secrets long ago."
Cursed Technique Disclosure only works against opponents ignorant of the technique.
That was the reason.
This was also why neither Ryomen Sukuna nor Gojo Satoru had used it during their battle.
Both already understood the details of the other's techniques.
Merely revealing the name alone wasn't enough.
Without revealing the effects, no disadvantage existed.
However, Ryomen Sukuna continued speaking.
"The second characteristic of Malevolent Shrine is called Furnace."
"It is a terrifying flame capable of reducing everything to ashes."
"However, although its destructive power is overwhelming, its speed is very slow and its range isn't large."
"Therefore, it is extremely difficult to use."
"In order to make it practical..."
"I imposed an extremely strict Binding Vow upon it."
Even Yorozu and Uraume didn't know this.
In their eyes, Furnace was Ryomen Sukuna's most terrifying ability.
Its power, speed, and range all surpassed his slashes.
Whenever Ryomen Sukuna used Furnace, it meant he had become serious.
In other words—
When he used slashes, he was merely playing around.
When he used fire, that represented his true killing intent.
This was why Uraume had stubbornly believed until the end that Ryomen Sukuna had never truly fought seriously.
In her eyes, his true power had never been fully revealed.
But the truth wasn't like that.
Neither Yorozu nor Uraume knew Furnace's true Binding Vow.
And now, Ryomen Sukuna revealed it completely.
"It cannot be used outside of a Domain Expansion during one-versus-many situations."
"Whether my side is outnumbered or the enemy side is outnumbered, it cannot activate."
"In other words, Furnace cannot be used in group battles."
"Despite possessing overwhelming destructive power and range..."
"It cannot be utilized in the situations where it should shine the most."
"This is an extremely severe restriction."
"It confines such an excellent ability to one-on-one combat."
This was the first time the Rider of Heaven had learned this.
But why reveal it now?
Wait—
"Outside of a Domain Expansion"?
She was currently inside Malevolent Shrine.
The Rider of Heaven slammed her hands onto the belt.
[Time Stop]!
Everything froze.
"No matter what you're planning," the Rider of Heaven said as she turned and walked toward the edge of the Domain, "as long as I leave Malevolent Shrine, you'll become—"
—helpless.
Step.
The Rider of Heaven stepped beyond Malevolent Shrine's range.
She turned around and lightly pressed the belt again.
Time resumed.
And at the exact instant Time Stop ended—
The Rider of Heaven was cut in half.
Her upper body collapsed onto the ground.
Her lower body remained standing.
Two hundred meters away, within the center of Malevolent Shrine, the hand seal formed by Ryomen Sukuna's four hands was not Furnace—
But Dismantle.
This was the World-Cutting Slash.
(T/N: Yor/Ozu?!)
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Next Bonus Chapter at 700 Powerstones.