Todo Aoi gritted his teeth, staring intently at the terrifying heavy fist expanding rapidly in his vision—a blow powerful enough to shatter mountains.
Even with his abdomen pierced, even though his physical body was on the verge of being completely pulverized, there wasn't a trace of fear in this wild man's eyes.
Instead, there was only absolute trust in his comrade!
"Let him go!!!"
*Boom!*
A roar like a thunderclap erupted from Mahito's flank!
Yuji Itadori's figure lunged like a cheetah leaping from the void, forcefully cutting into the battlefield at the critical moment just before that heavy fist could reach Todo's chest!
His eyes were bloodshot, and his cursed energy was squeezed to the absolute limit at this moment, even causing faint blue electrical arcs to flicker across the surface of his skin.
"Break... damn it!"
Yuji didn't attack Mahito's main body. Instead, he locked his arms together and turned his entire being into a heavy meteor, slamming violently into the bone blade that had Todo hoisted high in the air!
*Bang!!!*
The agonizing sound of bone cracking rang out.
Under Yuji's reckless, full-power impact, that incredibly hard bone blade actually had several cracks slammed into it before snapping off under the sheer force!
"What?!"
Mahito's expression shifted slightly. He hadn't expected Yuji to resort to such a self-destructive method of rescue.
The moment the bone blade broke, Todo's body fell from the air.
Ignoring the searing pain from his own collision, Yuji twisted in mid-air, extending his long arms to catch Todo, whose abdomen was gushing blood, firmly in his embrace.
Then, he kicked off Mahito's abdomen in mid-air, using the counter-force to roll a dozen times across the ground with Todo in his arms, putting a full twenty meters of distance between them.
"Todo-senpai... Todo-senpai, hang in there!"
Yuji knelt on one knee, gasping for air as he hurriedly checked Todo's injuries.
"Cough... I'm not dead yet."
Todo spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of internal organs, yet a fierce smile appeared on his face.
"Good job... brother."
"Don't think you're escaping!!!"
*Boom!*
Mahito's massive frame lunged forward once more.
Looking at the prey that had escaped his grasp, the brutality in his eyes was almost overflowing.
"Vessel, your performance just now is becoming quite the pleasant surprise."
Mahito flicked the broken bone blade. The smooth break actually began to melt and reshape like wax, transforming back into an even sharper, thicker bone spike in an instant.
"But it ends here."
His massive form stalked across the ruins of Shibuya. Each footfall triggered a localized tremor.
"This Instant Spirit Body of Distorted Killing is the final answer for the soul!"
"Physical attacks are useless against me, and your pathetic cursed energy is nothing but a flicker of a firefly before me!"
Mahito's gaze swept over Yuji, who was barely protecting Todo in the rubble, then past his other companions lying in pools of blood with uncertain fates, and finally fell on Yoru, who was kneeling on the ground, supporting his weight with Shiranui.
"Do you see it now, meddling swordsman?"
"This is the limit of you humans!"
Yoru ignored Mahito's mockery.
His red eyes, reflecting the surrounding flames, were locked onto Yuji through the narrowest vision afforded by the Transparent World.
Though his stamina was drained to the absolute limit and his brain throbbed with a tearing pain from pushing the Transparent World too far...
Yoru still forced himself to remain absolutely calm.
"Yuji!"
Yoru's hoarse yet piercing voice cut through the clamor of the battlefield, landing accurately in Yuji's ears.
"Don't just charge blindly! To the left! There's a 0.1-second opening when his tail retracts!"
Hearing Yoru's command, Yuji didn't hesitate for a single second.
He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and lunged into a roll toward the left.
*Whoosh!*
As he rolled, Mahito's tail swept past his afterimage with terrifying wind pressure, carving a deep fissure into the ground where he had been standing.
"Todo! Three o'clock! That concrete chunk with rebar!"
Yoru's voice rang out again.
"Got it!"
Lying in a pool of blood, Todo Aoi endured the agonizing pain of his pierced abdomen and slammed his blood-stained left hand against his right!
*Clap!*
Boogie Woogie, activated!
Yuji's figure instantly vanished from Mahito's left, replaced by a massive chunk of concrete.
And Yuji appeared out of thin air at Mahito's three o'clock.
That was to say, he was now at Mahito's rear-flank, his absolute blind spot!
"Nice one!"
Yuji twisted his torso mid-air, his right fist glowing with blue cursed energy as he slammed it toward the back of Mahito's head!
"Divergent Fist!"
*Thump!*
The blow landed with pinpoint accuracy!
However.
The massive recoil numbed Yuji's right arm.
Mahito's skull, covered in bone armor, only showed a microscopic crack.
And in the next second.
The crack squirmed as if it were alive, healing instantly and returning to its original state!
"How is that possible..."
Yuji's pupils shrank.
"Heeheehee! I told you, it's useless!"
Mahito spun around violently, his left arm transformed into a giant blade as he swung it down toward the mid-air Yuji!
"Too slow."
Yoru's voice was as cold as frost.
"Yuji, feel the flow of your cursed energy!"
"Don't think! Don't calculate! Punch by instinct!"
Yoru's words struck Yuji's mind like a great temple bell, resonating through his consciousness.
"Your body knows how to fight better than your brain does! Trust your body! Trust your soul!"
In that instant.
All the surrounding noise seemed to fade into the distance.
Mahito's maniacal laughter, Todo's ragged breathing, even the giant bone blade about to crush him.
In Yuji's eyes, everything shifted into slow motion.
He closed his eyes.
He took a deep breath.
The warmth of Yoru's hand on his shoulder in the ruins.
The sight of Suguru Geto's back as he opened his domain to protect civilians.
Nanami, Nobara... and the bonds shared with all his comrades.
Everything transformed into an unprecedented power, pure to the extreme, gushing out from the depths of his soul!
'Cursed energy... isn't a tool for venting anger.'
'It is... an extension of the soul!'
*Hum!*
The cursed energy within Yuji's body reached perfect synchronization in this moment!
He snapped his eyes open, and there was no longer a trace of hesitation or fear in them.
There was only a steadfast light as brilliant as the stars!
"Boogie Woogie!"
At that moment, Todo Aoi roared from a distance, slamming his hands toward each other!
"Again?!"
Mahito's heart jumped, and he instinctively shifted his defensive weight, trying to predict the trajectory of the post-swap attack.
However.
*Clap!*
The sound of the clap never came!
Todo's hands stopped abruptly, less than a centimeter apart!
A feint!
"What?!"
Mahito's brain stalled for a fatal instant.
He'd been tricked!
And in that split second of distraction.
Yuji Itadori's fist, wreathed in terrifying cursed energy, broke through all defenses and slammed squarely into the core of the Instant Spirit Body of Distorted Killing's chest!
"Give... me..."
Yuji's roar exploded alongside the power in his fist!
"Crush him!!!"
*Boom!!!*
A flash of black lightning, more dazzling than any before it and seemingly capable of tearing space itself, exploded against Mahito's chest!
Black Flash!
This was no coincidence; it was a perfect strike delivered by Yuji after fully mastering the flow of cursed energy in a state of extreme spiritual focus!
"*Crack!*'
the crisp sound of shattering was exceptionally jarring in the silent Shibuya night.
Mahito's pride and joy, his supposedly indestructible pale bone armor...
...under the horrific power of this Black Flash, it instantly sprouted countless massive cracks spreading out like a spiderweb from the center of Yuji's fist!
"Aaaaaaaghhh!"
Mahito let out a scream of pure agony and terror.
He could feel it; this punch hadn't just shattered his outer shell.
That black lightning, carrying the power of spatial distortion, had pierced deep into his soul like a sword!
Under this fatal blow, would this Special Grade Cursed Spirit born from human malice finally reach its end?
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