Sukuna.
Sukuna.
No one knew his true name. They could only call the demon who had ruled an era by the name of the legendary demon-god Sukuna.
Four arms and two faces—thus, Ryomen Sukuna.
Even after death he did not decay. His soul was stored within twenty fingers, undying and eternal.
Everything connected inside Kira Nanami's mind.
All the clues linked together.
Why did Kenjaku know about his ability to rewind time?
On the very first timeline, Kira Nanami had killed part of Sukuna's soul with the Arrow.
But when Done Again activated for the first time, none of the deaths were engraved into fate. Todo, Fushiguro... all of them revived on the new timeline.
Naturally, Sukuna had been fine as well.
Next.
On one timeline, Kira Nanami had once pierced Hoshino Ei with the Arrow as an experiment. The final result was that on the next timeline, Hoshino Ei awakened a cursed technique called The Love of My Life.
From this, it was clear that the Arrow's power transcended time.
Then what had happened to Sukuna, who had been pierced twice by Kira on that original timeline?
—
7:40.
The fifth underground level was dim. The lights in the ceiling flickered on and off, making the place indescribably gloomy.
Ryomen Sukuna opened his mouth. Two smaller mouths also opened at the sides of his lips. His grin split wide, revealing stark-white teeth. His pupils lifted as he looked down at Kira Nanami with open delight and whispered,
"Dismantle."
At that moment, instinct saved Kira Nanami.
For the first time, Kira's body moved before his mind. He retreated. Cursed energy burst from both feet, black flashes blooming again and again. Slash marks appeared one after another everywhere Kira Nanami passed, precise as a master butcher's cuts and falling in a flurry like pear blossoms in the rain.
Those slash marks divided the corridor, the entire fifth underground level, every corpse, every brick and tile, even a train hundreds of meters long—everything was sliced into fragments.
Kira Nanami dropped toward the ground. Cold light flashed in his hand as a Cursed Tool appeared. In an instant, his blade became a blur and met the incoming slashes, all of which turned into lines in his vision.
Section 127.
At each line's 7:3 ratio point, explosions erupted. Fragments of the slashes fell around Kira and cut the floor to pieces.
After only a few breaths, the Grade 1 Cursed Tool shattered into fragments.
Hoshino Ei appeared. Her snow-white hair billowed as she grabbed Kira Nanami by the shoulder, her clear voice sounding beside his ear.
"Concealment."
Slash! Slash! Slash!
Every slash fell onto empty space and carved deep marks into the ground.
It was worth noting that Fushiguro Megumi was also present, yet Sukuna's attacks deliberately avoided him.
"Insects. Only insects hide underground."
Sukuna picked the Prison Realm up from the ground and toyed with it mockingly.
"You humans are interesting."
He spoke without looking back.
"Isn't this exactly what you wanted, King of Curses?"
Geto Suguru still wore that lazy smile. He pushed himself up from the ground as he spoke.
"Who gave you permission to stand?"
Heavy, icy, viscous malice pressed down on Geto Suguru's shoulders. Sukuna flicked a finger. A slash passed through Geto and took one of his arms with it. The cut was perfectly smooth, so clean that even the blood vessels inside were clearly visible.
For Geto Suguru, whose body had already been badly injured by Black Flash, the wound only made his condition worse.
"Easy, easy~ I'm still reluctant to give up this corpse."
Geto Suguru looked as though someone else had been injured. He still wore that calm, carefree expression.
"We each get what we want... We're on the same side."
Sukuna shrugged, tilted his head back, and opened two narrow eyes on the sides of his face.
"Fuck off."
"My, my."
Geto Suguru shrugged. A black Cursed Spirit wrapped around him, and hand after hand reached out, dragging him into the abyss.
"One word of advice. Don't play for too long. You don't have much time."
—
7:40.
Twenty minutes remained before time was reshaped.
Kira Nanami remained covered by Concealment. He lowered his arm. His wrist was already covered in dense slash wounds.
Those injuries had only come from fragments and had not been direct hits. He had already used Reverse Cursed Technique to keep the damage under control.
Sukuna's true body should still be inside Itadori Yuji. As for this Sukuna, the one standing outside,
he should be Sukuna's spiritual incarnation—his shikigami, just like Hoshino Ei's shikigami.
Kira did not know what kind of cursed technique Sukuna had awakened. The safest option now was simply to endure until this period ended. After time was reshaped again, Kira could deal with him specifically on the next timeline.
Sukuna would not be difficult to deal with.
A shikigami could not move too far away from its true body. Even an ultra-long-range shikigami like Hoshino Ei could not stray too far from its main body. There was only one reason Sukuna could appear here: his true body, Itadori Yuji, was nearby.
The opening in Sukuna's defense was Itadori Yuji.
Had Sukuna waited until now to act because he needed Gojo Satoru to be sealed first?
So this was the agreement between Geto Suguru and Sukuna. Geto would seal Gojo, and Sukuna would deal with Kira.
The Goddess of Fate really was standing on Kira Nanami's side.
As long as time could be reshaped... as long as time was reshaped,
everything could be solved.
He leaned against the wall, held his breath, and suppressed the fluctuations of his cursed energy to the lowest possible level. Hoshino Ei lay against his shoulder, maintaining Concealment around them.
"Kira-kun."
Hoshino Ei's snow-white hair brushed Kira's cheek. Her crimson eyes looked so dark they seemed ready to drip blood. She lowered her head and avoided his gaze, speaking with guilt.
"Concealment can't last much longer... I'm sorry."
Maintaining Concealment over two people was already extremely difficult, and she had only just used The Love of My Life. Her cursed energy had long since been exhausted.
In fact, the only reason Hoshino Ei had lasted this long was that she had begun burning her own soul.
Regret. Hoshino Ei bit down hard on her lip. Her fingers trembled under the weight of self-reproach.
Hoshino Ei, you're fucking useless. You can't help with anything. You deserve to get dumped... she told herself.
She could not hold on any longer?
Kira Nanami's fingernails began growing. He clenched his hand until his nails dug into his flesh.
It doesn't matter.
Irritation.
That was what he thought.
But what he said aloud was,
"It doesn't matter."
His expression remained as calm as ever. Kira patted Hoshino's hand, his tone perfectly even.
"Drop the technique."
The instant he finished speaking,
Kira's figure vanished.
Black cursed energy erupted and poured outward like an enormous brush soaked in thick black ink, splashing straight toward Sukuna.
Boom—
Sukuna vanished from where he stood. All of Kira Nanami's cursed energy struck empty space. The vast torrent of power exploded like a blooming black poppy, black flames twisting and tearing the air apart.
Sukuna's spiritual body appeared above Kira. He formed a hand seal with both hands. Cursed energy had only just begun to surge when his arms exploded.
Sukuna had dodged Kira, but he had not dodged Killer Queen!
Just now, within that black poppy, within that vast torrent of cursed energy, an invisible hand had reached out and lightly touched Sukuna's arms with its fingertips.
It had turned them into bombs.
Killer Queen!
Kira Nanami had told Hoshino Ei to drop the technique covering the two of them early. But at the same time,
he had shifted Concealment onto Killer Queen.
Kira Nanami's first strike had been a feint. The true killing move was Killer Queen.
Sukuna was a spiritual body, not flesh. Like Hoshino Ei, he existed as a soul.
The powerful regenerative ability of a Curse's flesh was useless against damage to the soul, and Killer Queen's bombs could permanently blow pieces off a soul.
7:43.
He could win.
Kira Nanami kicked off in midair. Night light spilled over his body and was immediately left behind. Kira Nanami was simply too fast. Within a few moments, he was already behind Sukuna.
"Gara."
The world became points and lines. All form was stripped away. All color separated. At Sukuna's neck, Kira raised his right hand. Every trace of cursed energy in his body converged, driving white lightning and black fire with it.
"Gara!"
Cut!
With his back to Kira, Sukuna's mouth split into a grin. All four eyes rolled back, and he laughed in delight.
Blood sprayed. Blood sprayed.
Sukuna's head remained perfectly intact.
Kira only felt his shoulder suddenly become lighter. Something inside his body was rapidly draining away. Something had flown off.
It was his own arm.
There had been no cursed-energy fluctuation, no warning. His arm had simply reached that point in space and separated on its own. The severed surface was perfectly smooth.
It was as though the space there was separated.
Had Sukuna's slash cut space itself?
Had that section of space already been cut apart, which was why Kira had sensed no cursed-energy fluctuation?
No. That was not right...
Sukuna had no way of knowing what Kira would do. How could he have known that Kira would attack the back of his neck?
And Kira had been watching Sukuna the entire time. Sukuna had never even passed through that section of space. How could he have prepared it in advance?
Questions came one after another, surging through Kira's mind together with the pain.
No. This was more like...
No.
This was more like...
Sukuna tilted his head back. All four eyes stared at Kira.
"Die."
He did not move. He did nothing at all. He simply looked at Kira Nanami. Kira was certain Sukuna had made no movement whatsoever.
There was no cursed-technique fluctuation. There was not even any killing intent, not even a desire to attack.
And in fact, the Sukuna of the present truly had done nothing.
Yet four razor-sharp slashes had already landed on Kira's body, cutting apart that section of space and Kira's flesh
Section 128.
together.
In the midst of overwhelming agony, Kira Nanami finally understood what kind of shikigami Sukuna had awakened.
It was...
the power to cut through spacetime.