The arcade had gone completely silent.
Broken machines sparked weakly.
Coins rolled across the floor.
Everyone stared at Takeru.
At the massive hole through his abdomen.
At the blood pooling beneath him.
And somehow—
he still stood up.
Barely.
Shaking.
But standing.
Yuji looked horrified.
"…WHY ARE YOU STANDING?!"
Megumi immediately stepped forward.
"…Sit down before you die."
Hakari pointed aggressively.
"…BRO YOUR INSIDES LOST THE FIGHT!"
But Takeru ignored them.
His breathing slowed.
His eyes sharpened.
Then he looked at Raiden.
"…Again."
Raiden froze.
"…No."
Takeru took one unstable step forward.
"…Again."
Raiden's expression tightened.
"…Takeru, I literally punched through you."
Sukuna watched carefully now.
No grin anymore.
Just attention.
Ryomen Sukuna
Then—
Takeru lowered himself slightly.
One arm back.
One stance.
Everyone felt it instantly.
The pressure.
The intent.
The force gathering.
Megumi's eyes widened.
"…He's serious."
Yuji stepped backward.
"…WAIT—"
Takeru moved.
One punch.
That was it.
No barrage.
No tricks.
Everything.
The force shattered the ground before it even connected.
Space bent around his arm.
Golden sparks exploded outward violently—
BLACK FLASH.
Raiden's eyes widened instantly.
"…YOU IDIOT—"
But instinct activated.
Borrowed Momentum.
The force transferred.
Stored.
Multiplied.
Raiden's arm shook violently trying to contain it.
"…TOO MUCH—"
Then it came back.
One returned punch.
And the world ruptured.
BOOOOOOOOOOM
Silence.
Not normal silence.
The kind after something so violent the world itself pauses.
Yuji froze completely.
Megumi's pupils shrank.
Hakari stopped breathing for a second.
Because Takeru's body—
Was gone.
Not entirely.
But almost.
The returned force had burst through him completely.
Not just his torso.
His entire body.
What remained was barely recognizable.
A carved-out frame.
Destroyed from the inside outward.
Blood scattered across the shattered arcade floor.
Silence.
Raiden stared at his own hand in horror.
"…No…"
Akari's eyes widened.
"…That should've killed him."
Even Sukuna's expression changed slightly.
"…Takeru."
Nothing moved.
Then—
a twitch.
One finger.
Yuji immediately shouted:
"…HE'S STILL ALIVE?!"
Megumi looked genuinely disturbed now.
"…That's impossible."
Takeru's ruined body shifted slightly.
Trying to move.
Still alive somehow.
Fred slowly raised a sign with shaking hands:
"Spar officially escalated beyond reason."