Chapter 149: Inverted Spear of Heaven vs. Crimson Blade Prototype
"Cough!"
Toji Fushiguro jerked his head to the side and spat out a mouthful of thick black blood.
His beastlike eyes remained fixed on Shiranui.
The blade had already touched his throat.
The heat radiating from it scorched his skin before it even cut deeper. Death crawled across his nerves, making every hair on his body stand on end.
"You think…"
Toji's voice was hoarse, rough, and filled with the stubborn madness of a man refusing to die.
"That's enough to win?"
The muscles across his body tightened.
"I'm the Sorcerer Killer!"
In the final fraction of a second before Yami's blade could sever his windpipe, Toji forced his body backward in a twisted, almost self-destructive motion.
Shhk!
Shiranui flashed across his neck.
The blade that could burn through flesh and soul only managed to carve open the surface.
A charred wound split across Toji's throat, deep enough to reveal bone in places, but he had stolen half an inch of life from certain death through sheer instinct.
At the same time, his blood-covered right hand plunged into the Inventory Curse's mouth.
Clatter!
The crisp sound of metal links rang through the Tomb of the Star Corridor.
The Chain of a Thousand Miles emerged again.
This time, however, its end was not connected to an ordinary weapon.
It was locked tightly around the ominous cross-shaped blade.
The Inverted Spear of Heaven.
"If I can't beat you up close…"
Toji's smile twisted into something hysterical.
"Then I'll shred this whole space apart with you in it!"
His arm whipped outward.
The full strength of his Heavenly Restriction surged through his body, pushed beyond its normal limit by desperation and madness.
Hum!
The Chain of a Thousand Miles spun at terrifying speed.
With the Inverted Spear of Heaven attached to its end, it transformed into a silver storm more than thirty meters wide.
This was not merely a physical sweep.
As the cursed tool rotated, the Inverted Spear of Heaven's ability to forcibly nullify active techniques spread across the storm like a field of destruction.
Air was torn apart.
Residual Cursed Energy was erased.
The massive stone pillars supporting the Tomb of the Star Corridor were sliced through one after another, no tougher than wet paper against that whirling silver death.
Rumble!
The ceiling began to collapse.
Tons of rubble broke loose and rained down.
But Toji was not attacking blindly.
Even driven half mad, the Sorcerer Killer's tactical instinct remained terrifying.
He guided the chain's trajectory, smashing one of the largest dome beams toward Suguru Geto and Riko Amanai.
"If you care so much about those burdens…"
Toji laughed through bloodied teeth.
"Then get crushed with them!"
Several tons of stone dropped toward the two, who had no way to resist.
Riko closed her eyes in despair.
Swish!
A figure appeared in front of them faster than thought.
Yami did not hesitate.
Shiranui swept upward in a reverse slash.
"Water Breathing, Eighth Form."
The blade carried a violent rising current.
"Waterfall Basin."
The falling boulder was split cleanly in midair.
The two halves crashed down on either side of Geto and Riko, shaking the ground beneath them but leaving them untouched.
But that was exactly the opening Toji wanted.
In the tenth of a second Yami spent saving them, the silver storm had already curved behind him.
The Tomb of the Star Corridor, once a sacred underground space meant to receive the Star Plasma Vessel, had become a dead zone filled with shattered stone, screaming metal, and killing intent.
"Die, monster!"
Toji drove the spinning storm forward like a grinding wheel, tearing toward Yami from his blind spot.
There was no gap.
No clean path of escape.
The Inverted Spear of Heaven and the Chain of a Thousand Miles closed in from all directions, crushing everything in their range.
And behind Yami were people he had to protect.
So he did not retreat.
He stood in place, black hair whipping in the violent airflow.
The Demon Slayer Mark on his face flickered with a dark red glow, as if it had come alive beneath his skin.
"You want to shred everything?"
Yami lowered his eyes and drew in a slow breath.
[Ding! High intensity pressure detected.]
[System Prompt: Synchronization breaking through critical thresholds.]
[41 percent.]
[42 percent.]
[43 percent.]
The mechanical voice echoed in his mind.
Yami pushed the oxygen in his lungs through his limbs and bones in a perfect rhythm.
Total Concentration: Constant.
Every drop of strength in his body.
Every trace of vitality.
Every bit of power drawn out by the fully awakened Demon Slayer Mark.
All of it poured into Shiranui.
Hum!
The blade trembled violently.
Its original ink-black surface began to change under the extreme heat and pressure. The dark blade gradually turned red from within, as if fire had been sealed inside the metal.
Then the color deepened.
A brilliant scarlet glow erupted from the edge, as bright and terrifying as the heart of the sun.
[Crimson Blade Prototype.]
It was a miracle that could only appear when swordsmanship reached the realm of the divine, when body temperature broke past human limits, and the blade responded to that impossible heat.
"Come."
Yami opened his eyes.
There was no emotion left in them.
Only a terrifying, godlike calm.
"Sun Breathing, Tenth Form."
He shot upward like a cannonball, rushing straight against the falling rubble and the incoming silver storm.
Against the current.
Against death.
"Raging Sun."
At the highest point, Yami gripped the scarlet Shiranui with both hands.
Then he slashed downward with a posture that seemed capable of splitting heaven and earth.
For one instant, time inside the Tomb of the Star Corridor appeared to stop.
The descending blade carried a physical shockwave dozens of times faster than sound.
That force perfectly overlapped with the extreme heat of the Crimson Blade.
A physical Black Flash.
[Hekishin.]
Boom!
Space itself seemed to distort.
A colossal spiral of dark red flame crashed down like divine punishment from above, carrying unstoppable force.
"Impossible!"
Toji's desperate roar tore through the chamber.
The defensive net he had built with the Inverted Spear of Heaven and the Chain of a Thousand Miles lasted less than a tenth of a second.
Then it shattered.
Crack!
The Chain of a Thousand Miles melted under the extreme heat, its silver links glowing red before breaking apart into molten fragments.
The Inverted Spear of Heaven let out a harsh metallic scream beneath the impact.
The ominous cross-shaped blade cracked.
Then shattered completely.
Black fragments scattered through the air, while only the broken hilt flew backward and embedded itself deep into a distant wall.
The spiral slash did not stop.
It descended with all its remaining force and struck Toji Fushiguro directly in the chest.
"Ahhhhh!"
A shrill scream ripped from Toji's throat.
The force smashed him straight into the ground.
The bluestone floor within a hundred meters was annihilated, collapsing into a massive bottomless crater. Violent flames burned at the bottom, reducing shattered stone to ash.
One strike.
Just one strike.
The Sorcerer Killer, who once stood arrogantly above the Jujutsu World and trampled its pride beneath his feet, suffered the most thorough defeat of his life.
Smoke slowly cleared.
Yami descended to the edge of the crater, Shiranui in his hand gradually fading from its scarlet glow back toward deep red.
The Demon Slayer Mark on his face also began to dim.
He looked down into the pit.
At the bottom lay a charred figure, broken and motionless, his life or death uncertain.
Had that strike ended Toji Fushiguro's life?
....
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