Shibuya Center.
Sukuna was preparing to make a move against Satoru, the fighting spirit blazing in his four crimson eyes.
Suddenly, his movements paused slightly, and his four eyes simultaneously glanced in four different directions, as if he had seen something interesting.
"Oh?"
An undisguised, even deeper interest appeared on Sukuna's face, and he even temporarily withdrew his gaze from Satoru.
"Interesting... there are actually new tricks?"
He clearly sensed that the four "bugs" he had just casually swatted away had not only failed to flee or hide but had undergone some fundamental mutation in a very short time. Their auras had become mixed, dangerous, and full of aggression, and they were charging toward him from four directions at an alarming speed, carrying overwhelming resentment and killing intent.
"Merged with something else? The flavor has become a bit strange but it seems more chewy?"
The giant mouth on Sukuna's abdomen opened and closed, dripping viscous saliva, while his four arms excitedly cracked their joints.
He looked at Satoru and shrugged. "It seems the snacks have run back on their own, and they've brought some new seasoning. The main course will have to wait a moment, Six Eyes brat. You don't mind, do you?"
Satoru had already sat up straight, his Six Eyes also capturing those four rapidly approaching, violent auras that mixed Cursed Spirits with some unfamiliar evil concept.
He pushed up his sunglasses, his face showing no sign of emotion. "Be my guest. But don't go choking to death on the snacks. I'm still waiting to eat the main course."
Sukuna laughed, his voice shaking the surrounding area. "Don't worry, I have a very good appetite."
As his voice sounded, he took the initiative to meet those four terrifying auras of resentment and newborn power coming from different directions. He slowly descended from the air, stepping onto the ruins and assuming a casual yet seemingly earth-rooted fighting stance.
His four crimson eyes precisely locked onto each of the four incoming targets. His eyes were no longer filled with pure amusement, but now held a hint of the serious and cruel anticipation one has toward "slightly threatening prey."
"Come then, let me see what new tricks bugs that have eaten poison can struggle to produce."
"Sukuna!!!"
A roar, mixing metallic screeching, boiling lava, rampant plant growth, and deep-sea wailing, tore through the air from four directions.
Facing this more bizarre and dangerous pincer attack than before, Sukuna's reaction formed a stark contrast to the Cursed Spirits' rage.
He didn't even bother to fully assume a combat stance.
Of his four arms, the two in the normal lower positions remained leisurely folded across his chest with his elbows hanging naturally, his fingertips even idly tapped against his own arms.
Only the newborn upper arms hung loosely at his sides, with faint sparks of black Cursed Energy flickering around his fingertips as if it were just an unconscious habit.
He tilted his head slightly, his four crimson eyes glancing at the four incoming targets respectively. There was no trace of gravity in his gaze, only a near-bored scrutiny and a hint of playfulness, as if saying, "Let's see what tricks you can pull."
Sukuna commented with a rumbling voice, "Your momentum has certainly improved. I just wonder if it's actually useful."
Before his voice faded, the attacks arrived.
Jogo was the first to arrive.
After merging with the Gun Devil's flesh, what he sprayed was no longer simple lava, but a highly compressed, scorching jet mixed with molten metal fragments and dark red Cursed Energy. It was faster, had stronger penetration, and a wider range, like a horizontal storm of fire and metal, instantly covering most of the ground where Sukuna stood.
Almost simultaneously, the tide of armed plants controlled by Hanami, growing sharp metal barbs and spewing corrosive spores, erupted frantically from the ground and every crack in the ruins like a living hell of green steel thorns. They coiled, strangled, and stabbed at Sukuna's lower body and back, sealing off any space to dodge on the ground.
Mahito performed several leaps in the air that defied the laws of physics, moving so fast he left only a trail of blue afterimages.
His right hand became a rotating multi-barreled "Soul Machine Cannon" flashing with eerie blue soul fluctuations, while his left hand extended into a several-meter-long invisible "Conceptual Bayonet" with space-distorting ripples flowing along its edges.
The machine cannon roared silently, firing "bullets" that were hard for the naked eye to discern but struck directly at the essence of the soul.
The bayonet silently traced a lethal arc, aiming for Sukuna's seemingly defenseless neck and joints.
Dagon burst out from underground, the rusted metal structures and sharp bone spurs on his massive body rotating at high speed, driving him like a giant deep-sea drill top covered in viscous corrosive liquid. With terrifying kinetic energy and penetration, he bored upward toward Sukuna's abdomen and legs.
This first joint attack by the four "Armed Cursed Spirits" was coordinated, swift, and ruthless, merging physical, energy, soul, corrosive, and binding attack methods. It covered almost all angles and attributes, its power far exceeding before.
Even a Special Grade Sorcerer, facing such a siege, would likely be flustered or even instantly heavily injured.
However, Sukuna only gave a light "Tsk."
Then, he moved.
It wasn't a jump, nor a teleport. He didn't even take a step.
His hands remained folded across his chest, but below his ankles, the soles covered in black cursed markings where they touched the ruins' ground suddenly erupted with circles of extremely subtle yet incredibly dense black Cursed Energy ripples.
In the next instant, Sukuna's entire body, as if his feet were mounted on an absolutely smooth hoverboard that ignored inertia and friction, "slid" backward across the ground with a light, fluid, and even eerily elegant posture.
The range of motion was tiny, yet the speed was ridiculously fast.
Whoosh—
The lava jet mixed with metal grazed past the tip of his nose, and the scorching high temperature instantly vaporized a huge fan-shaped gap in the reinforced concrete wreckage dozens of meters behind him.
Crack... Crack...
The sharp barbs and coiling vines of the armed plants closed and stabbed frantically where he had just been, but they only crushed an afterimage and air, not even touching the corner of his clothes hanging at his side.
The invisible bullets from Mahito's Soul Machine Cannon pierced through the afterimage left behind, blasting several bowl-sized holes into a tottering building further away, their edges constantly annihilating soul matter. That invisible bayonet sliced through the air, leaving a faint spatial ripple.
Dagon erupted from the ground where he had just stood, exploding into a crater several meters deep filled with corrosive pits. Viscous liquid splashed everywhere, but not even a drop touched the soles of Sukuna's shoes.
"Oh? Your speed isn't bad, Volcano Head. Your aim is just a bit off. Are you practiced at hitting the air?"
Sukuna slid over twenty meters, lightly tapping a half-toppled billboard pole. His figure turned without any lag, continuing to weave through the ruins in that leisurely sliding manner, his four eyes still filled with mockery.
"The plants and flowers grow quite fast, but unfortunately, they're too slow. They can't keep up with the rhythm."
His sliding path was not a straight line. Sometimes he curved around burning car wrecks, sometimes he slid up a few steps along a tilted floor slab before landing lightly, and sometimes he slid past the edge of a crater, using the uneven terrain to change direction at will.
His movements were smooth as flowing water, as if he weren't dodging a lethal siege on a life-and-death battlefield, but taking a stroll in his own backyard, even carrying a bit of the casualness and ease of ice skating. His hands remained steadily folded across his chest.
"Bastard! Don't be so arrogant!" Jogo's single eye spat fire.
His body had become heavier after the fusion, but his speed increased rather than decreased.
His arms transformed into two "cannons" constantly spitting explosive metal projectiles, and combined with the even thicker mixed jet from his mouth, he subjected Sukuna to carpet-bombing.
Boom... Boom...
The fire and shockwaves of the explosions constantly went off near Sukuna's sliding path, sending rocks flying and dust filling the air.
Hanami no longer tried to directly entwine him with plants, but instead scattered countless tiny tracking metal spores and armed roots that could instantly harden into sharp ground spikes like falling petals across every area Sukuna might move, trying to restrict his sliding space and create obstacles.
The smile on Mahito's face grew more and more excited. He gave up on long-range attacks that required prediction, his body becoming like a boneless mollusk as he engaged in ultra-high-speed close-quarters combat from various incredible angles and postures.
His arms, legs, and even torso could transform at any time into various melee weapons like knives, swords, spears, hammers, and scythes. His attack angles were tricky and ruthless, specifically targeting Sukuna's turning points and center of gravity while sliding.
Dagon utilized his "Terrain Modification" ability, his massive body crashing through the ruins, plowing furrows with corrosive slime and bone spurs to change the terrain. At the same time, he constantly spat high-pressure, concentrated corrosive water cannons and clusters of bone spurs like tracking torpedoes from his mouth, performing long-range blockade and harassment.