The battlefield no longer looked like a place where humans fought.
It looked like a rule set being overwritten in real time—collapsed layers of cursed energy stacked on top of each other until even perception started failing to keep up.
Sukuna stood inside Takeru's real body, still steady—but no longer comfortable.
Blood at the nose had already dried.
His expression had shifted from calm calculation into something sharper.
More attentive.
Less dismissive.
Across from him—
Takeru's manifested body tilted its head.
Then smiled.
But this time—
it didn't look playful.
It looked like a decision had already been made.
"…Alright."
A pause.
The air tightened instantly.
"…Enough testing."
Yuji's eyes widened instantly.
"…That tone…"
Nobara stepped back.
"…That's the 'I'm done playing' tone."
Megumi's voice dropped.
"…It's escalating again."
Gojo didn't speak.
But his expression had gone still.
Watching closely now.
Takeru's cursed energy expanded.
Not outward like a burst—
but outward like structure being added.
Six arms became eight.
Then—
ten.
Two additional arms formed on each side.
Balanced.
Stable.
Deliberate.
Yuji's voice cracked immediately.
"…HE HAS TEN ARMS NOW?!"
Nobara screamed.
"…WHY DOES IT KEEP INCREASING?!"
Megumi's eyes widened slightly.
"…That's beyond Heian Sukuna output structure…"
Gojo muttered under his breath.
"…Yeah… that's officially unfair."
Inside Takeru's manifested body—
each arm moved independently now.
Not just parallel processing.
But layered intent execution.
Two arms cracked forward instantly.
BLACK FLASH.
BLACK FLASH.
Impact detonated against Sukuna's guard.
Then another pair followed.
BLACK FLASH.
BLACK FLASH.
Then another.
And another.
Yuji staggered slightly just watching it.
"…That timing… it's nonstop…"
Nobara:
"…It's like he doesn't need recovery time anymore!"
Megumi's voice tightened.
"…Because he removed internal synchronization delay."
Sukuna shifted his stance inside Takeru's real body—
blocking more cleanly now.
But still being pushed.
Still forced backward incrementally.
"…Tch."
A small sound.
Not irritation.
Something closer to acknowledgment.
Then—
Takeru moved again.
His legs locked around Sukuna's torso in the real body again—
anchoring him.
Preventing disengagement.
Yuji froze.
"…He's doing it AGAIN?!"
Gojo exhaled slightly.
"…He likes grappling a little too much."
Nobara:
"…THIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR THAT COMMENT—"
And then—
the remaining arms activated.
Hollow Purple ignited.
Idle Death Gamble output surged.
Ten Shadows constructs erupted mid-air.
Mahoraga's partial adaptation presence flickered behind Sukuna's position again.
Megumi's eyes widened.
"…He's layering systems on top of each other…"
Yuji whispered.
"…It's too much…"
Sukuna's expression finally changed more noticeably.
Not panic.
But recognition of instability risk increasing.
"…You're overclocking yourself."
Takeru answered instantly.
Calm.
Sharp.
"…Incorrect."
A pause.
Then—
"…I am scaling faster than you can stabilize."
Silence.
Gojo narrowed his eyes slightly.
"…That's the issue."
A pause.
"…He's not burning out."
"…He's expanding faster than exhaustion can matter."
Sukuna exhaled slowly inside Takeru's real body.
Then—
for the first time in this entire confrontation—
his voice carried something closer to caution.
"…You're becoming… inconvenient."
Yuji froze slightly.
"…Did Sukuna just say that?!"
Nobara:
"…That's basically fear for him!"
Megumi didn't answer immediately.
His eyes were fixed forward.
"…Not fear."
A pause.
"…Assessment of uncontrollable growth."
Takeru's ten arms moved again.
Not chaotic.
Not desperate.
Controlled violence layered across multiple output channels.
BLACK FLASH. BLACK FLASH. BLACK FLASH. BLACK FLASH.
Sukuna was forced to adjust continuously now.
No longer countering comfortably.
No longer dominating exchanges.
Just surviving the timing pressure.
Gojo's voice was quieter now.
"…He's forcing Sukuna into reaction loops."
A pause.
"…That's dangerous."
Yuji whispered.
"…Is Sukuna actually losing control of the fight…?"
Gojo didn't answer immediately.
Then—
"…Not losing."
A pause.
"…But he's no longer leading it."
Inside Sukuna's expression—
something tightened slightly.
Not defeat.
Not injury.
But something far more rare.
A recognition that the opponent was no longer a single entity to calculate.
It was a system that kept rewriting itself faster than he could simplify it.
"…Hah…"
A faint breath.
Almost amused again.
But strained underneath.
"…You're not just copying anymore."
Takeru's ten arms slowed slightly.
Not stopping.
Just stabilizing.
"…Correct."
A pause.
Then—
calmly.
"…I am evolving execution faster than adaptation."
Silence fell again.
Heavy.
Pressurized.
Gojo finally spoke quietly.
"…Sukuna's actually… rethinking this."
Yuji swallowed.
"…That's bad, right?"
Gojo exhaled slightly.
"…No."
A pause.
"…That's worse."
Because now—
Sukuna was no longer treating Takeru as a vessel.
Not as a tool.
Not as an anomaly.
But as something that required real strategy adjustment.
And that meant the fight was no longer about dominance.
It was about who could evolve faster without breaking first.
Takeru's ten arms lifted again.
Sukuna steadied inside his real body.
And both of them—
for the first time—
prepared for a second phase.