Satoru Gojo's figure appeared in an instant, teleporting to the center of the battlefield with cursed energy so dense it could warp light.
Then, the strongest jujutsu sorcerer of the modern era completely froze.
His brain received a torrent of information far beyond its processing capacity in a single instant, plunging his mind into a brief, blank void.
The ground looked as if it had been plowed by a behemoth, covered in hideous trenches and fissures.
The air was thick with two identical, terrifying auras that made the very soul tremble.
His students were huddled together, their faces deathly pale as they shivered in fear.
And at opposite ends of the battlefield stood two... Ryomen Sukunas?
One was the King of Curses possessing his student, Yuji Itadori, radiating the massive cursed energy of fourteen fingers.
The other was a four-armed Sukuna dressed in ancient garb, possessing an aura similar to the first.
No! The dark, tyrannical aura exuding from him was far purer, far more ancient, and far more intimidating than the former.
Satoru Gojo's mind, enhanced by the [Six Eyes], actually struggled to process the situation.
'What the hell is going on?'
'Which one is Sukuna?'
'Wait, isn't the one in Yuji's body the real Sukuna? I even fed him the finger myself!'
He vanished in a flash and reappeared beside the completely dumbfounded Megumi Fushiguro, grabbing his shoulders with both hands and shaking him vigorously.
"Megumi! What exactly is going on?!"
"Say something! Tell me which one is Sukuna?!"
Megumi Fushiguro's body trembled like a leaf. His lips parted, but he couldn't utter a single word.
He was equally incapable of comprehending the surreal scene unfolding before him.
Meanwhile, Ryomen Sukuna's attention was no longer on the sudden arrival of Satoru Gojo.
His four crimson eyes were dead set on the "superior entity" Ian had transformed into—a being whose aura was far more ancient and evil than his own.
An absolute sense of suppression, stemming from a higher tier of existence, sent piercing alarms through every cell in his body.
A threat.
An unprecedented threat.
And... an indescribable sense of crisis, as if this were a battle for his very identity.
As the undisputed King of Curses for over a millennium, his existence, his image, and his power were being casually mimicked by some random piece of trash that had appeared out of nowhere.
This blasphemy was even more unbearable than the massive slap to the face he had received earlier.
Sukuna's pride was being provoked like never before.
"You piece of trash!"
A demonic roar erupted from the depths of his throat.
"How dare you imitate me!"
He struck first.
There was no probing; his opening move was his strongest slash, fueled by the power of fourteen fingers.
[Dismantle]!
A pitch-black, invisible edge burst from his fingertips and swept outward.
The air was silently sliced apart, and the earth was torn open, forming a bottomless, perfectly straight canyon.
The slash seemed to ignore space and distance, aiming straight for Ian's neck.
However, Ian stood rooted to the spot, his face completely devoid of any unnecessary expression.
With an almost bored demeanor, he simply extended a finger and lightly swiped at the empty air.
It was such a simple motion.
A purer, more condensed invisible slash—one that felt capable of severing the karma of all creation—quietly rose to meet the attack.
Two forces representing the absolute pinnacle of the concept of "cutting" clashed silently in midair.
An earth-shattering explosion followed.
Then, dazzlingly brilliant light scattered from the point of impact.
Sukuna's terrifying attack, capable of splitting mountains and shattering boulders, instantly disintegrated the moment it touched Ian's slash.
It was as if it had never existed.
Meanwhile, Ian's seemingly casual slash, after erasing his opponent's attack, continued with unabated momentum, silently closing in on Sukuna's face.
For the first time, the arrogance in Sukuna's four eyes was replaced by sheer shock.
His cursed energy erupted violently, and he used every ounce of his strength to barely dodge to the side.
A soft tearing sound echoed.
A lock of crimson hair, accompanied by a few drops of blood, drifted into the air.
A shallow, bloody gash was left on his cheek.
Sukuna had been forced to use his full strength just to evade.
For the first time, he found himself at an absolute disadvantage in the very cursed technique he was most proud of.
His face, which always wore a wildly arrogant smile, was now written with disbelief.
'How is this possible?'
'Why is this guy's slash... even purer and stronger than my [Dismantle]?!'
He no longer hesitated, nor did he hold anything back.
He brought his hands together in front of his chest and formed a hand sign.
[Domain Expansion—Malevolent Shrine]!
*Rumble—*
The earth fractured as a massive shrine, exuding an aura of endless misfortune and calamity, rose from the ground.
The shrine appeared to be built from countless bones and lingering grudges. Hideous demonic faces bared their fangs, and a giant mouth opened and closed as if ready to devour all of creation.
Within the domain, countless invisible slashes erupted from every corner of the shrine like a torrential downpour.
A sure-hit technique.
Inside this domain, he was the absolute ruler.
He was going to grind this piece of trash who dared to blaspheme him, along with his pathetic imitation technique, into the finest minced meat!
However, facing a domain that would drive any special grade jujutsu sorcerer to despair...
Ian's lips curled into an undisguised sneer.
He looked at the hideous shrine as if he were looking at a crude toy built out of mud by a toddler.
Immediately after, he formed the exact same hand sign.
"[Domain Expansion—Malevolent Shrine]."
The resulting roar was ten times more violent than before.
A [Malevolent Shrine] with a vastly larger range, a far more terrifying aura, and an even more grotesque structure expanded in reverse!
If Sukuna's shrine was a pile of bones...
Then Ian's shrine was a true demonic realm forged from the corpses of gods and demons!
This newly born, far more perfect domain took on an utterly unreasonable posture, instantly swallowing and overwriting Sukuna's smaller domain completely!
The roles of master and intruder were instantly reversed.
To his horror, Sukuna realized that his connection to his domain had been forcibly severed by a much stronger will.
At that moment, all the slashes within the domain changed direction.
They launched a frenzied, inescapable assault on the domain's original master—Ryomen Sukuna!
Sukuna's expression changed completely.
He scrambled pathetically, frantically dodging and parrying the very attacks he was most familiar with.
Every slash contained his own power, yet they were sharper and far more lethal than his own.
He finally realized it.
The man standing before him wasn't "imitating" him at all.
He was using a method completely beyond Sukuna's comprehension to "reproduce" his cursed technique in a far more perfect form!
This guy's strength was far beyond his imagination.
He might even be stronger than that mysterious person who had slapped his soul away earlier.
The thought of retreat sprouted in Sukuna's mind.
"This body... is not bad..."
Amidst his frantic dodging, his four crimson eyes locked onto Ian's physical form.
"Once I gather all twenty fingers and fully resurrect, I will definitely seize his body to use as my new vessel!"
Although he was no match for him right now, he firmly believed that as long as he returned to his prime, he would absolutely be able to defeat this opponent.