Chapter 139 (Patreon)

“No. More precisely, you’re the one trying to kill Yuji Itadori.”

Choso raised his head slightly and stared at Sukuna.

“That’s right.”

“I see.”

Sukuna’s lips twisted into a contemptuous smile.

“But I’m the one who will kill Yuji Itadori. Who do you think you are to interfere?”

Dismantle.

Splat!

“Gah!”

Choso clutched the stump of his severed arm as cold sweat poured down his forehead.

It wasn’t the pain that terrified him.

Sukuna’s presence was far more overwhelming than he had imagined.

Unable to endure that crushing pressure any longer, Choso immediately turned and fled.

“Blood Manipulation: Blood Link!”

At Choso’s command, the blood flowing from his severed arm twisted through the air. The discarded limb suddenly changed direction and swept toward Sukuna from behind.

“Oh?”

Sukuna glanced over his shoulder.

“You still intend to resist?”

The severed arm closed in—

Only to be shredded by countless invisible slashes before it could touch him, exploding into a cloud of blood.

“What a pathetic little trick.”

Sukuna hadn’t moved a single step.

“An attack this dull isn’t even worth my attention.”

Choso gritted his teeth and brought his hands together.

“Flowing Red Scale: Stack!”

His body surged with power as his blood circulation accelerated to its limit.

“Convergence…”

Blood gathered between his palms, compressed under tremendous pressure.

“Piercing Blood!”

A crimson beam erupted forward with explosive force.

Sukuna watched it approach without the slightest concern.

“That might be enough to tear through Itadori.”

His smile widened.

“But did you honestly think it would work on me?”

Another invisible slash flew from his fingertips.

The compressed stream of blood was split cleanly down the middle.

Whoosh!

In the next instant, Sukuna vanished.

He reappeared behind Choso without warning, the two of them standing back-to-back.

“I suppose I could use a little warm-up.”

Choso’s eyes widened.

When did he—?!

He hadn’t sensed Sukuna move at all.

Bang!

Boom!

A single strike sent Choso hurtling out of the subway station. He crashed through the front of a distant shop, reducing its walls to rubble.

“Too slow.”

Choso had barely begun pushing himself upright when Sukuna appeared before him.

A hand clamped down over his head.

Before Choso could react, Sukuna leaped twenty or thirty meters into the air, dragging him along.

“At least you Death Paintings are sturdier than ordinary humans.”

Sukuna accelerated across the side of a high-rise building, grinding Choso’s head against its outer wall.

“Humans are far too fragile. They break before things become interesting.”

Blood smeared across the concrete in a long crimson trail.

Choso forced his eyes open.

“Blood Manipulation: Blood Meteorite!”

The blood left behind on the wall hardened instantly. Dense projectiles tore free from the concrete and shot toward Sukuna from behind.

Boom!

Sukuna twisted in midair and hurled Choso toward the ground.

At the same time, he crushed the incoming Blood Meteorite with his bare hand.

Choso plummeted through the air.

Sukuna looked down at him, his voice carrying an unmistakable threat.

“You’d better run faster.”

His grin sharpened.

“Otherwise, you’ll die.”

Those words hung over Choso like a storm cloud.

Sukuna raised one hand.

“Open.”

Flames erupted from his palm.

The fire compressed rapidly, taking the form of a blazing arrow.

“Faster…”

Choso forced every drop of blood through his body and pushed his enhanced speed to its absolute limit.

“Faster!”

He raced between the buildings.

But the flaming arrow still caught him.

Splat!

It pierced straight through his shoulder.

Choso acted without hesitation.

He formed a blade of blood and severed the burning portion of his shoulder before the flames could spread any farther.

The detached flesh struck the ground.

Within seconds, it had been reduced to ash.

“That was close…”

Choso staggered, staring at the scorched remains.

He had almost died.

“You made the right choice.”

Sukuna descended slowly, watching as Choso converted cursed energy into blood and began forcing his damaged body to recover.

“But on a battlefield, your enemy won’t politely stand there while you put yourself back together.”

Choso’s expression changed.

Cracks raced across the ground beneath him.

They were approaching far too quickly.

“Ghk—!”

Blood burst from Choso’s mouth.

For a moment, he didn’t understand what had happened.

Then his upper body began to slide away from his lower half.

Sukuna had cut him cleanly in two at the waist.

“Weak.”

Sukuna looked down at him with undisguised disappointment.

“Far too weak.”

He turned his gaze toward the ruined city.

“The humans of this era are feeble, and even the curses have become disappointingly fragile.”

Then Sukuna looked up.

High above the city, Ragnar Kagenou sat upon the golden flying ship, Vimana, watching him from the sky.

Sukuna’s disappointment disappeared.

“Still…”

His eyes gleamed with anticipation.

“There is one exception.”

A savage smile spread across his face.

“So perhaps I won’t be bored after all.”

Whoosh!

Sukuna vanished from the ground in a blur.

An instant later, he appeared directly before Ragnar.

“We meet again…”

Sukuna stared at him.

“Ragnar Kagenou.”

Ragnar remained seated upon his throne, calmly swirling the red wine inside the Holy Grail.

“I was beginning to think you were too afraid to show yourself, Sukuna.”

Sukuna’s cursed energy surged.

“Let me see how strong you’ve become.”

“You’ve consumed approximately fifteen fingers.”

Ragnar raised the Holy Grail to his lips and took an unhurried sip.

“You’re still somewhat short of your full strength.”

“So what?”

Sukuna clearly had no concern for the fact that his incarnation remained incomplete.

Ragnar lowered the cup.

“You’ll die.”

For a moment, silence fell between them.

Then Sukuna threw back his head and laughed.

“Hahahahaha!”

His laughter echoed across the ruined city.

“Interesting!”

The pressure surrounding him intensified.

“The last time we fought, I didn’t even possess one-tenth of my true power.”

Sukuna disappeared.

“And this time—”

He appeared directly before Ragnar.

A dense web of slashes spread across the sky.

The surrounding high-rise buildings disintegrated instantly, reduced to countless neatly severed fragments.

“Rho Aias.”

A seven-petaled flower of light unfolded before Ragnar.

Sukuna’s eyes narrowed.

“This flower again.”

He appeared in front of the shield and pressed one hand against its surface.

“Dismantle.”

Bang!

Six of the seven petals shattered instantly.

Only the final layer remained.

It was the strongest petal of Rho Aias, yet even its surface was already beginning to crack.

“You’ve certainly grown stronger.”

Ragnar watched the fractured shield while calmly finishing the red wine inside the Holy Grail.

The final petal trembled on the verge of collapse.

“Since you desire a battle so badly…”

Golden ripples spread across the sky behind Ragnar.

The Gate of Babylon opened until it seemed to cover the heavens themselves.

Countless Noble Phantasms, ranging from E-rank to A-rank, emerged from the golden portals with their blades aimed at Sukuna.

Ragnar rose from his throne.

“I’ll grant your wish, King of Curses.”

Whoosh!

The Noble Phantasms were unleashed.

They descended like a storm of falling stars.

“Come!”

Sukuna grinned.

Countless invisible slashes surged upward to meet them.

Rumble!

Explosions tore across the sky as Noble Phantasms collided with Sukuna’s slashes.

Steel fragments and cursed energy scattered in every direction.

Sukuna carved a bloody path through the endless barrage and charged toward Ragnar at extreme speed.

“I suppose even I should exercise once in a while.”

Ragnar stepped away from his throne.

A golden sword appeared beside him.

The holy sword Joyeuse flew into his hand.

At that same moment, Sukuna broke through the final blockade of Noble Phantasms and appeared before him.

“Your very existence makes my body tremble!”

Sukuna’s expression was filled with wild exhilaration.

“Not from fear. Not from terror.”

His cursed energy erupted.

“But from excitement!”

“Is that so?”

Ragnar tossed the Holy Grail high into the air.

For a single heartbeat, the world seemed to fall still.

Neither man moved.

Both waited for the exact moment the Holy Grail completed its descent.

Ding!

The cup struck the golden deck of Vimana.

A deafening impact erupted in midair.

Sukuna and Ragnar vanished simultaneously.

Only black afterimages could be seen racing across the sky, accompanied by shockwaves that erupted from every direction.

Their blows collided again and again, each impact sending tremors through the surrounding buildings.

“I’ve spent quite some time observing those weapons of yours.”

Sukuna knocked Joyeuse aside with the palm of his hand and released several invisible slashes at point-blank range.

“And I’ve finally reached a conclusion.”

“Oh?”

Ragnar narrowly avoided each slash as though he could see them clearly.

He immediately counterattacked, driving Joyeuse toward Sukuna from a difficult angle.

“What conclusion would that be?”

“Those weapons…”

Sukuna twisted his body and avoided the blade.

“They aren’t Cursed Tools, are they?”

Ragnar slipped between another barrage of invisible slashes.

Joyeuse flashed.

A deep sword wound appeared across Sukuna’s body.

“Heh.”

Ragnar’s lips curved faintly.

“That’s right.”

Clang!

He raised the holy sword and cut straight through the slashes approaching from the front.

Cursed energy gathered around Joyeuse, coating its golden blade in a dense, violent aura.

“Cursed Energy Release.”

Hum!

A crushing wave of cursed energy erupted from the holy sword.

“Ghk…”

Sukuna crossed both arms in front of himself and endured the pressure of the massive cursed-energy blade.

Boom!

The attack blasted him away.

His body tore through one high-rise building after another, smashing through dozens of structures before he finally managed to stop himself.

Ragnar remained standing upon Vimana.

“Even in an incomplete incarnated state, you’re remarkably capable.”

Sukuna answered with another Dismantle.

The massive slash tore through dozens of high-rise buildings and raced toward Ragnar at overwhelming speed.

“So this is your true Dismantle.”

Ragnar’s lips curved upward.

“It’s considerably stronger than the version you used inside your Domain.”

He raised Joyeuse.

Rather than evade, Ragnar struck the incoming slash head-on.

The force of the collision shook the sky.

Then Dismantle shattered.

Sukuna stared at him through the drifting wreckage.

“You aren’t bad yourself.”

He glanced at the countless Noble Phantasms floating behind Ragnar.

“Strange weapons that were never born from curses…”

For the first time, genuine curiosity appeared in Sukuna’s eyes.

“Tell me honestly, Ragnar Kagenou.”

His smile slowly returned.

“Are you even from this world?”

Sukuna couldn’t understand it.

In a world where curses gave birth to power, how could weapons greater than even the strongest Cursed Tools possibly exist?

“Do you want to know?”

Ragnar rested Joyeuse against his shoulder.

“Then defeat me.”

The golden portals behind him continued to shine across the sky.

“Perhaps, if you manage to hold my interest, I’ll tell you.”