Deathly silence.
In the once-boisterous battlefield, only a few withered leaves drifted slowly through the air, letting out a faint rustle.
Megumi Fushiguro, Maki, Noritoshi Kamo, and even Toge Inumaki in the distance all stared wide-eyed at the back of the figure standing before them.
Just moments ago, that Great Forest Bloom—powerful enough to crush them instantly—had vanished into nothingness the second it touched the air around the boy.
No explosions, no roars, just a simple dissipation.
As if it had never existed at all.
"Water Breathing, Eleventh Form: Dead Calm."
"Water Breathing... Eleventh Form... Dead Calm..." Noritoshi Kamo murmured, his eyes filled with disbelief.
"Is this... the power of that 'Cursed-Energy-Less Sword Saint'?"
He had always thought the title of 'Strongest First-Year' was just a name Satoru Gojo cooked up to irritate those conservative old men.
After all, how strong could someone without cursed energy really be?
In the jujutsu world, the total amount of cursed energy usually decided everything.
But now, reality had slapped him hard in the face; swordsmanship capable of nullifying a Special Grade Cursed Spirit's attack was simply unheard of!
It wasn't just a slash; it felt more like the prototype of a domain—an absolute rule.
"Interesting."
Hanami's pupil-less eyes stared intently at Yoru.
A voice echoed in its mind once more, tinged with a hint of confusion, but mostly caution.
"You... are not a jujutsu sorcerer."
It could feel that there wasn't a single ripple of cursed energy coming from the human in front of it.
Yet, the heart-pounding sense of threat he radiated was stronger than any sorcerer present.
It was the aura of a natural predator.
As if he were a raging inferno, ready at any moment to incinerate this entire forest to ash.
"For the sake of the planet's future, you must die."
Hanami's voice turned bone-chillingly cold.
It slowly raised its left arm. From the shoulder wrapped in white cloth, a bizarre flower bud suddenly bloomed in its entirety.
Vrrr—!!!
A surge of cursed energy several times more massive than before erupted. The physical pressure made everyone present feel a tightness in their chests.
The surrounding forest began to wither.
Not just the trees, but even the wild grass on the ground and the distant flowers turned yellow and wilted at a visible pace.
Their original life force turned into specks of green light, surging frantically into the flower on Hanami's left arm.
"It's draining the forest's life?!"
Megumi Fushiguro's face went pale, his pupils shrinking violently.
As a shikigami user, his perception of life force was the keenest.
At this moment, Hanami was like a massive black hole, greedily devouring every spark of life around it.
As the green light poured in, Hanami's originally pale skin began to glow with an eerie red light. Its body bulked up significantly, and its already towering frame now resembled a demonic god.
The pressure was so intense that even the air felt thick, making every breath feel like swallowing sand.
"Not good! It's getting serious!"
Maki gripped Playful Cloud tightly, veins bulging on her forehead as cold sweat trickled down her cheeks.
"With this level of cursed energy... if we don't interrupt it, we're all dead!"
There was no escape.
Under this all-encompassing pressure, running would only lead to a faster death.
"Go!"
Without needing a single word, the three figures moved simultaneously.
It was a survival instinct triggered by their desperate situation.
Noritoshi Kamo crushed another blood bag, pushing his Blood Manipulation to the limit. Several blood blades sliced toward Hanami's neck like boomerangs, each one letting out an air-shredding shriek.
Megumi Fushiguro formed hand signs. Although he couldn't summon Max Elephant, he forced a summoning of Nue, which dove from the sky crackling with electricity, attempting to distract Hanami.
Relying on the physical strength of her Heavenly Restriction, Maki swung the Special Grade Cursed Tool Playful Cloud, launching herself like a cannonball and slamming it into Hanami's knee.
However.
Every attack seemed utterly pathetic the moment it touched Hanami's body.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The blood blades shattered, splashing into puddles of useless blood.
Nue was sent flying by a casual wave of Hanami's cursed energy storm, dissipating into a black shadow before it could even let out a screech.
And Maki's strike, powerful enough to pulverize rock, hit Hanami's leg with a massive metallic boom.
"What?!"
Maki's pupils shrank.
The recoil traveled up through Playful Cloud, causing the webbing of her thumb to split instantly, blood streaming down.
She was sent flying back by the immense force, slamming heavily into a withered tree and snapping the trunk.
"Cough, cough..."
Maki coughed up blood, her eyes full of frustration.
She couldn't break its defense.
She couldn't break it at all!
Having absorbed the forest's life force, Hanami's physical durability had reached an unbelievable level—it was practically a mobile steel fortress.
"Is this... a true Special Grade?"
Toge Inumaki wanted to help, but the agonizing pain in his throat made it extremely difficult even to open his mouth. He could only watch helplessly as his teammates fell into a desperate situation.
Deep despair shrouded everyone's hearts.
Before absolute power, techniques, teamwork, and determination all seemed like a joke.
The strength they took pride in was as fragile as an infant before this monster.
"Humans, return to the dust."
Hanami slowly raised its hand. In its palm, a pitch-black seed was rapidly expanding.
Cursed energy rippled across the seed's surface with a heart-stopping glow, as if it were gestating some sort of destructive power.
It was a finishing move containing all of its cursed energy.
Once released, no life within a hundred-meter radius would survive.
This forest would become their graveyard.
"I can't dodge..."
Megumi Fushiguro looked at the seed that seemed to hold the very essence of death, his body too stiff to move.
His fingers trembled slightly as he tried to form the final hand sign to summon that one shikigami that would take them both down.
*Buru buru...*
Just then.
A faint sigh echoed.
"Phew..."
The sound was light, yet it clearly pierced through the din of the battlefield, reaching everyone's ears.
Immediately after.
A searing aura sliced through the suffocating cursed energy field without warning.
The once-thick air felt as if it had been slashed by a red-hot blade, turning scalding in an instant.
The withered grass on the ground even began to emit wisps of white smoke.
Everyone instinctively looked up.
They saw that Yoru had moved in front of them at some point. He still held the same posture, one hand on his hilt, standing tall and straight as a pine tree.
The Special Grade Cursed Tool Shiranui remained in its sheath.
But the air around him began to distort violently due to extreme heat, creating visible ripples of heatwaves that blurred the light itself.
Even the black seed in Hanami's palm, which was on the verge of exploding.
Under the pressure of this heatwave, it actually showed a tremor of instability, as if it had encountered something terrifying.
"Step back."
Yoru spoke calmly, without looking back.
His voice was quiet but carried an unquestionable authority.
In his red pupils, a never-ending flame seemed to burn.
"Leave this one to me."
A simple sentence.
Yet it made Hanami—who had been prepared for a fight to the death—unconsciously take half a step back.
It was the instinctive fear of a creature meeting its natural predator.
At this moment, in the eyes of the Special Grade Cursed Spirit Hanami, the one standing before it was no longer a human youth.
But rather...
...a rising sun.