Chapter 144 (Patreon)

“Cursed Technique Reversal: Red.”

Crimson cursed energy erupted from Satoru Gojo’s hand, dyeing the entire world red.

“Cursed Technique Lapse: Antigravity System.”

Kenjaku activated the technique at once, stopping the descending Red in midair.

Swish!

An invisible slash tore through the enormous sphere of cursed energy and split it cleanly in two.

“This technique… Sukuna.”

Gojo turned toward the source of the attack. Just as he expected, Sukuna was rapidly closing in from the distance.

However, Sukuna wasn’t aiming for Gojo.

He rushed toward the divided Red, caught one half with his bare hand, and hurled it behind him.

Ragnar Kagenou froze for an instant when he saw half of Red hurtling toward him.

What was that supposed to be?

“Sukuna can do that too?”

Ragnar immediately dodged. The severed Red struck the ground behind him, unleashing a violent explosion and a devastating shock wave.

If that had hit him, a few bruises would have been the least of his problems.

“Gojo?”

Ragnar first spotted Satoru Gojo in the sky. Lowering his gaze, he then saw Kenjaku and Sukuna standing on the ground below.

Swish!

Dozens of invisible slashes tore through the air.

At the same time, a golden Noble Phantasm streaked low across the ground, aimed directly at Sukuna.

“Dismantle.”

Sukuna’s invisible slashes intercepted the Noble Phantasm in midair.

Boom!

The remaining half of Red detonated overhead, and Gojo instantly retreated to Ragnar’s side.

“What’s happening here?”

“As you can see, Sukuna has taken control of Yuji Itadori’s body. You could say he’s been partially resurrected.”

“Sukuna’s back? That’s about the worst news I could’ve heard.”

Across from them, Kenjaku and Sukuna fixed the two sorcerers with cold stares.

“Kenjaku… your plan was miserable.”

“Resurrecting you at all was difficult enough, Sukuna. This is hardly the time to start making demands.”

Kenjaku had no other choice. With Ragnar present, the plan to seal Satoru Gojo had completely fallen apart.

Fortunately, his larger plan could still proceed. He had failed to seal Gojo, but Sukuna had successfully seized control of Yuji Itadori’s body.

“Those two sorcerers won’t be easy to deal with,” Sukuna said. “Do you have any more fingers?”

Kenjaku spread his hands. “I gave every finger I managed to collect to Jogo. Judging by your current strength, you must have eaten all of them already.”

“It isn’t enough. Fifteen fingers won’t be enough to defeat that sorcerer named Ragnar Kagenou.”

Sukuna stared at Ragnar before continuing, “We should leave. Once I’ve consumed the remaining fingers and regained my full power, we can fight them again.”

Kenjaku let out a dry laugh. “Do you think I don’t want to leave? Look around. Whose barrier do you think this is?”

Sukuna’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean? Are we still inside his barrier?”

“That’s right. Tengen’s barrier is resisting Ragnar’s influence and preventing this entire region from falling under his control.”

“At present, Tengen can only use the barriers in this vicinity to move our allies from place to place.”

“Even that comes with severe restrictions. Unless Ragnar’s barrier is destroyed, there’s no way for us to escape.”

Sukuna looked at Kenjaku in confusion. “Tengen? Since when would they cooperate with you?”

“Naturally, they wouldn’t. Tengen and I have been mortal enemies for a thousand years. Unfortunately for them, they remain hopelessly bound by their principles. Rather than fight me with everything they had, they chose to preserve the pure barriers.”

An amused smile appeared on Sukuna’s face as he realized what had happened.

“You used Cursed Spirit Manipulation to absorb Tengen, didn’t you?”

“As expected of the King of Curses. Under the effects of their Immortality technique, Tengen evolved into an existence closer to a cursed spirit. Otherwise, Cursed Spirit Manipulation would never have worked so easily.”

Sukuna considered his words for a moment.

“In that case, why don’t you transform the pure barriers here into a Bon Barrier?”

“I had the same idea, but there are too many people interfering. I can’t begin the transformation immediately.”

Sukuna gave him a disdainful look.

“With your mastery of barrier techniques, transforming a few pure barriers should hardly take any time.”

“A few? No, Sukuna, you’ve misunderstood.”

Kenjaku smiled and continued, “After obtaining Tengen’s power, I expanded the pure barriers across the entire country.”

“Transforming them now will take time. If I rush the process, the entire barrier network will collapse.”

“Then you had better hurry. I have no intention of waiting here forever.”

Kenjaku slammed both hands against the ground. It would take several minutes for his cursed energy to travel beneath the earth and spread throughout all of Japan.

Golden Noble Phantasms shot toward Kenjaku and Sukuna from every direction.

At the same time, Gojo appeared directly in front of Sukuna, with Red already gathering in his hand.

Behind Sukuna stood Yuta Okkotsu and Rika Orimoto.

This was a battle between special grades. Anyone without power on that level would be killed by the resulting shock waves before they could even approach the battlefield.

“Domain Expansion: Malevolent Shrine!”

In an instant, countless slashes manifested throughout a two-hundred-meter radius.

“Domain Expansion: Authentic Mutual Love!”

Yuta expanded his own domain at the same moment, dragging everyone inside it.

Within the domain, Yuta imbued its barrier with Toge Inumaki’s Cursed Speech as its sure-hit technique.

“Stop!”

The command reverberated throughout the domain.

Sukuna’s countless slashes gradually came to a halt, while his own movements became exceptionally difficult.

“This is… Cursed Speech?”

However, Yuta’s cursed energy was being consumed at a terrifying rate. He had only thirty seconds before it was completely exhausted.

“I can hold Sukuna’s domain back for thirty seconds! Use that time!”

“Well done, Yuta.”

Sukuna clasped his hands together.

“Hollow Wicker Basket.”

A woven, basketlike barrier formed around him. Like Simple Domain, it was an anti-domain technique capable of neutralizing a domain’s sure-hit effect.

Sukuna immediately regained his freedom of movement.

“You’ve underestimated me. Did you truly believe Cursed Speech alone could restrain me? How naive.”

Gojo aimed Red directly at Sukuna.

“Cursed Technique Reversal: Red!”

“Furnace—Open.”

Sukuna drew his hands back as though pulling the string of a bow. A blazing arrow formed between them before tearing through the air.

Rumble!

The two attacks collided, filling the battlefield with flames, smoke, and shattered earth.

Rika charged straight through the smoke and drove her elbow into Sukuna’s chest.

“Not bad.”

Sukuna staggered back several steps before answering with a punch of his own. He immediately followed it with several invisible slashes.

Dozens of golden Noble Phantasms erupted from behind Rika and intercepted Sukuna’s attacks.

Bang!

Sukuna quickly broke away from the melee, but Enkidu—the Chains of Heaven—shot through the smoke after him.

“What troublesome chains.”

Sukuna was forced to evade the Chains of Heaven while simultaneously defending himself against Rika and Gojo.

“Idle Transfiguration.”

Without warning, the exterior of Yuta’s Domain Expansion was breached.

A misshapen cursed spirit clawed its way through the broken barrier and pushed its head inside.

In the next instant, its head was shredded into a cloud of blood and mangled flesh.

Sukuna glanced toward the hole in the domain’s barrier.

“It seems Kenjaku succeeded.”

“O Sun, become my armor.”

Kavacha and Kundala materialized around Ragnar’s body in a flash of pale-golden light. Wielding the Blade of Immortality, he charged straight toward Sukuna.

Bang!

“What?!”

Before Sukuna could react, a spear slammed into him and hurled him hundreds of meters away.