Mark turned towards him and wailed, "Run away! You can't beat him!"
Forcing himself to move despite his various injuries, he tried to buy him a window to leave but was swatted away with a single wave of Omni-Man's hand, crashing into a nearby building.
He then looked at him and down at his chest with a disgusted expression.
The diagonal slash that had torn through his suit was already knitting itself back together. His skin bubbled and frothed until the wound vanished, as though it had never existed.
His gaze lifted towards him slowly…
And then he moved.
In a blur, he crossed the distance between them, his arm extended and his hands opened as he reached for his throat.
"..."
Omni-Man was fast. Terrifyingly so.
There hadn't even been a moment to react — one second he was on the ground, the next he was being driven through buildings as Omni-Man's hand clamped around his throat.
Okay, yeah. This is so unfair!
It was getting difficult to maintain an accurate count given that each new building arrived before he'd finished surviving the last one — with Omni-Man's hand around his throat trying to snuff out his life, it was hard to count.
"Jesus Christ, don't these people have a speed limit!" Sukuna choked out as his fingers clawed at Omni-Man's wrist.
If not for the cursed energy flooding his body and reinforcing every inch of him, he would've been reduced to paste long ago. But the more he pushed, the more Omni-Man responded.
As Sukuna kept pushing his cursed energy output higher, he could only hope Omni-Man would reach his limit before he did.
Shit. If I was able to see him, I could do something at least.
His expression hardened.
Am I going to die here?
Sukuna bared his teeth, a strained, almost manic grin forcing its way through the pressure.
"Nah, that's how losers think."
His grin twitched.
"Binding Vow…"
In an instant, the incomprehensible blur snapped into something clearer.
Sukuna had made a Binding Vow with himself — in exchange for his vision sharpening to the point of being able to see the movements of Viltrumites, twenty percent of his Cursed Energy would be permanently rendered unusable when he squared up against them.
A fitting exchange.
But with the vow came a blinding flaw that he hadn't forseen… he no longer had enough Cursed Energy to reinforce himself!
"Motherfucker."
Okay, he thought, So in my infinite wisdom I traded the thing keeping me alive for the ability to watch myself die in high definition. Fantastic. Great trade. Really glad thought that one through.
His fingers clawed at Omni-Man's wrist still, reflexively, the same thing he'd been doing for the last four buildings — and found the same result, which was that he was just far too strong.
"Fucking JJK characters and being city level, couldn't Gege powerscale more!"
He gagged out.
GAWK! GAWK!
Sukuna's eyes rolled back to the back of his head and his skin turned purple from the pressure. His chest spasmed and his lungs were forced dry. His vision grew increasingly dark as he couldn't help but regret.
I really shouldn't have played hero.
All of a sudden, the building behind Omni-Man exploded inward. Through the hole came Mark, running on fumes and pure rage, and thankfully he swung with everything he had.
The punch connected and Omni-Man's grip loosened just enough for Sukuna to free himself.
RNGesus, he thought, landing back on the ground at approximately enough speed as Artemis I, was not kind to me today.
He turned his attention back to Mark who was still desperately pleading Omni-Man to stop.
"I've seen you saving people. I've seen you put your life on the line to protect them… maybe you were a Viltrumite when you came to Earth, but you've changed! Please, dad, stop. We can fix all this, Cecil will help cover this up!"
Omni-Man regarded the both of them indifference as he stepped forward, his foot coming down without pause — crushing a screaming child beneath him as if they were a roach.
"I'm loyal to Viltrum, not this pathetic excuse of a civilisation. The older I get, the more I realise the value of things," he continued, gazing at the burning city, "And these people… their lives… their entire existence…"
His eyes flicked briefly to a mother frantically trying to drag her child away, only for both of them to turn into a mist of blood as he ran, or well, flew through them, "…means nothing."
Mark's face twisted into horror, "That's not true!" he shouted, staggering forward, clenching his fists. "You taught me they do matter! You—"
Omni-Man didn't let him continue.
With a single step forward, he arrived next to him and drove his fist into Mark's gut.
The sound that Mark let out wasn't even a scream.
He opened his mouth, but before the sound could travel, he was hurtled backwards, crashing into the wreckage of what used to be a storefront.
"Man oh man, real heartwarming family moment you've got going on here. Although I would rather be anywhere but here, possibly somewhere in the Philippines with an asian baddie wrapping her tongue around my dick. I still can't let you just… you know, destroy this entire country.
"I mean if I don't interrupt this fight and let you murder your son and report back to the Viltrum Empire, I'll probably be saying some Heil Viltrum a few months from now which I really don't wanna do. So you see the problem? ...I think it's time for a rematch."
Nolan's voice contained nothing but disgust, "I beat you the last time we fought. What do I need to waste my time rematching you for?"
Sukuna grinned, "Not this time… Not this time… cause I'm stronger than you now."
Nolan snorted, "Do you actually think you can beat me in a fight, an inferior species such as yourself."
Sukuna's grin didn't falter.
"Strongest?" He repeated with a laugh, "Nah… I wouldn't go that far."
He flexed his fingers, "But I did figure something out, a neat little trick a few days ago."
His hands came together.
"It took me twenty one years but I finally got it."
His warm grin faded, replaced by a callous expression.
"Domain Expansion: Malevolent Shrine."
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