The mind space had become an open battlefield.
Dark water stretched endlessly beneath their feet.
Ripples spread with every movement.
Raiden rolled his shoulders once.
Takeru stood opposite him.
Akari watched from the side quietly.
Sukuna sat nearby with crossed arms, still irritated he had somehow become a spectator.
Ryomen Sukuna
Raiden smirked.
"…Ready?"
Takeru grinned back.
"Yep."
Then—
he moved.
Not casually.
Not testing.
Fast.
Takeru's fist shot forward.
Clean form.
Perfect timing.
Enough force to flatten concrete.
THUD.
...
Nothing.
Takeru's eyes widened slightly.
"…Huh?"
Raiden hadn't blocked.
Hadn't dodged.
Hadn't even moved.
He smiled.
"…Got it."
The energy around his arm shifted.
Compressed.
Stacked.
Growing.
Takeru immediately realized.
"…WAIT—"
Too late.
Raiden stepped in.
And punched.
Directly into Takeru's stomach.
But at the instant of impact—
black lightning exploded outward.
Except—
it wasn't black.
Golden sparks erupted around the strike.
Cracking through the air.
Twisting space around the hit itself.
Silence.
Even Raiden's eyes widened.
"…I USED IT?!"
Because Raiden had borrowed the exact force Takeru would've used—
and unknowingly reproduced his phenomenon.
The golden Black Flash.
For one second—
everything froze.
Then—
BOOOOOM
Takeru's eyes widened.
Blood escaped from his mouth.
"—ghh!"
And he disappeared.
Not because he teleported.
Because he got launched.
Backward.
Past stone.
Past rippling water.
Past chunks of fractured space.
Just flying.
Flying.
Flying.
Until—
CRAAAAASH
Far away, he finally skipped across the surface and rolled to a stop.
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Raiden looked down at his hand.
"…Uh."
Akari blinked.
"…Light spar?"
Sukuna slowly stood up.
Very slowly.
Then smiled.
"…Oh that is hilarious."
Far away—
Takeru sat up slowly.
Coughed once.
A little more blood fell.
Then he looked down at himself.
"…Oh."
A pause.
"…So THAT'S what that feels like."
Fred appeared from nowhere with a sign:
"Light spar status: not light."