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“It’s not over yet!
Don’t lose focus!
If you want to kill that shikigami before it adapts to your punches, the only answer is Black Flash!”
Todo’s thunderous voice rang out across the battlefield.
Clap!
With another sharp clap, Todo’s massive figure distorted through space and instantly switched places with Yuji, who had just unleashed a devastating Black Flash and was caught in the brief opening after fully committing to the strike.
Todo landed firmly beside Mahoraga and glanced at the damage Atsushi’s fists had inflicted.
Just as I thought.
There’s something unusual about his cursed energy.
It might have some kind of defense-ignoring property, or something similar.
Whatever it is, that shikigami is having trouble adapting to it.
Todo recognized the opportunity immediately.
Mahoraga had just taken three heavy blows in succession, and its damaged body had yet to fully regain its balance.
Todo twisted violently at the waist and launched a brutal spinning kick into Mahoraga’s side.
Against Mahoraga at full strength, the kick might have done little more than force its upper body backward.
But right now, the damage from Yuji’s Black Flash was still lingering.
On top of that, Atsushi had landed two strikes carrying true damage, directly tearing apart Mahoraga’s physical structure.
Todo’s kick slammed into its side.
BOOM!
Mahoraga’s enormous pale body was sent flying.
It crashed through several broken tree trunks before finally coming to a stop.
“Good!”
Todo stared across the battlefield.
But there was no relief on his rugged face.
Instead, his eyes burned with almost feverish excitement.
“And the best part is…”
“They’re both evolving.”
Yuji had already entered a completely different state after landing Black Flash and touching the core of cursed energy.
That much was obvious.
But the Blood Manipulation user who had looked inexperienced in hand-to-hand combat was also gaining control over his body at an astonishing rate in the middle of a life-or-death battle.
Is that what talent really looks like?
Todo’s excitement only intensified.
Then what about you, Todo Aoi?
Are you really going to be the only one among the three of you who doesn’t reach another level?
Are you satisfied being left behind?
The challenge echoed through his mind.
His refusal to fall behind, his desire to stand beside strong opponents as an equal, erupted inside him like fire.
That emotion became fuel.
Todo’s already heavily strained cursed energy surged through his body with renewed force.
Clap!
Clap!
Clap!
Clap!
A rapid, rhythmic series of claps exploded across the battlefield.
Todo’s enormous figure blurred.
Between his raw speed and the constant spatial switching of Boogie Woogie, his movements became almost impossible to follow.
He turned into a storm of dark blue cursed energy.
Through relentless position changes, Todo kept Mahoraga suppressed before the shikigami could fully recover.
And immediately behind him came Itadori Yuji.
After landing two Black Flashes in succession, Yuji had entered peak condition.
The flow and explosive output of his cursed energy had visibly improved.
His punches, which previously had barely affected Mahoraga, now struck with enough force to make the enormous shikigami’s body shudder and briefly stagger from the impact.
But Mahoraga was the strongest shikigami of the Ten Shadows Technique.
Even Ryomen Sukuna had regarded it as a genuine threat.
It wasn’t something they could suppress forever.
Mahoraga’s body was almost fully regenerated.
And then its movements changed.
Dramatically.
It seemed to have realized that adapting to slashing attacks alone wasn’t enough to deal with the enemies surrounding it.
Its movements became faster and more efficient as it continued adjusting to the battle.
Clap!
At exactly the right moment, Todo switched Atsushi into Mahoraga’s blind spot.
After his breakthrough at the edge of death, combined with the extreme physical enhancement of Flowing Red Scale: Stack, Atsushi could now keep up with Todo’s rapid spatial switches and Yuji’s relentless attack rhythm.
The three-man assault truly began.
They surrounded Mahoraga from three different directions.
Their attacks were no longer isolated strikes.
Everything connected.
Every punch, every movement, every switch flowed naturally into the next.
Strike.
Switch.
Strike again.
Switch again.
The cycle repeated without pause.
Mahoraga was forced to keep adjusting as it tried to respond to the trio’s constantly shifting attack pattern.
And in return, Atsushi, Yuji, and Todo were forced to draw out even more of their own potential just to maintain the pressure.
Neither side was allowed to stop.
Neither side could afford to fall behind.
In the middle of that storm of attacks and spatial switches, both sides seemed trapped in the same escalating cycle.
Adaptation.
Each side pushed the other higher.
Each forced the other beyond its previous limits.
And the first one to break that delicate balance was…
Mahoraga.
Click.
The horrifying sound of the wheel turning echoed across the battlefield.
Mahoraga had endured the trio’s relentless assault without appearing capable of mounting a proper counterattack.
Then the wheel above its head rotated.
The third adaptation was complete.
The instant the wheel stopped, Mahoraga’s enormous pale right hand clenched into a fist.
Then it moved at a speed none of them had seen before.
It tore through the air and launched itself directly at the closest target.
Itadori Yuji.
Shit!
Todo, who had been controlling the flow of the entire battle, reacted immediately.
His hands came together.
He chose to switch Yuji with an unremarkable piece of rubble nearby.
But just as Yuji’s body began to distort…
Mahoraga’s attack didn’t slow down.
Not even slightly.
Its enormous body twisted in midair, abandoning the momentum of its original charge with terrifying precision.
It gave up on Yuji and redirected the attack toward Todo, whose hands were still together from activating his technique.
Todo reacted even faster.
Clap!
Boogie Woogie activated again.
Todo switched himself with another stone in the distance.
But then something terrifying happened.
In the instant Todo’s body vanished…
Mahoraga stomped down.
The ruins beneath its foot exploded into dust.
Then its huge body changed direction at almost the exact same moment Todo disappeared.
Mahoraga carved a perfect arc through the air and flew directly toward the location where Todo had just reappeared.
It predicted the switch.
No.
This wasn’t like Atsushi anticipating Todo’s destination through instinct.
Mahoraga had adapted to the technique itself.
Its third adaptation wasn’t to their punches.
It was to Todo Aoi’s Innate Technique.
Boogie Woogie.
There was no need to predict or calculate anymore.
Even without eyes, Mahoraga could now respond to where Boogie Woogie would place its targets.
“What?!”
Todo had barely reappeared beside the distant stone when his head snapped upward.
Reflected in his contracting pupils was an enormous pale fist rapidly filling his vision.
There was nowhere to dodge.
At the last possible instant, Todo twisted his body with everything he had.
Mahoraga’s fist, wrapped in cursed energy and violent wind pressure, tore across Todo’s bare chest.
It ripped away a large strip of flesh.
Blood spilled from Todo’s mouth.
Even while badly injured, he clapped again.
His body vanished through distorted space and reappeared farther away.
“Todo!”
Yuji shouted in alarm.
But against an opponent on Mahoraga’s level, even a moment of distraction was dangerous.
Yuji had left himself open.
In the next instant, Mahoraga’s enormous pale body tore across the battlefield.
It appeared directly in front of Yuji like death itself.
This time, Mahoraga didn’t punch.
It swung one arm sideways in a massive backhand.
BOOM!
Yuji reacted quickly enough to cross both arms in front of his chest.
It still wasn’t enough.
The blow launched him nearly a hundred meters.
His body smashed through more than a dozen massive trees in succession.
One thunderous crash followed another before Yuji finally disappeared beneath a heap of wreckage.
Whether he was still conscious was impossible to tell.
The wind generated by the battle slowly died away.
The battlefield fell silent.
Only Atsushi remained.
“Almost…”
And yet…
Todo had been badly injured.
Yuji, even after landing Black Flash, had been blasted out of the fight.
Atsushi now stood alone in front of Mahoraga after its third adaptation.
But there wasn’t even a trace of fear on his face.
His bloodshot eyes no longer seemed aware of the danger around him.
They held the same absolute concentration Yuji had shown when he first landed Black Flash.
Complete immersion.
Flow.
“I’m almost there…”
“Almost touching the core of cursed energy.”
Instead of retreating, Atsushi slammed one foot into the ground.
Boom!
His body became a streak of crimson light.
He charged directly toward Mahoraga.
“ROAR!”
Atsushi was still using Flowing Red Scale: Stack, forcing his body far beyond its normal limits.
But Mahoraga had already completed its third adaptation.
Its speed and reactions had reached another level.
Mahoraga existed to destroy anything involved in the exorcism ritual.
There was no hesitation in its movements.
It instantly locked onto Atsushi’s trajectory and threw a punch with its full power.
A killing blow.
Yet Atsushi, completely immersed in that state of absolute focus, showed no hesitation.
He didn’t dodge.
He didn’t defend.
He continued charging directly into Mahoraga’s fist.
Like someone willingly running straight into death.
Far away, blood leaked from Todo’s mouth.
Seeing what Atsushi was doing, he forced his injured arms upward, preparing to activate Boogie Woogie again.
But just before his hands met…
Todo stopped.
“Heh…”
“Don’t disappoint me.”
Whatever he saw made him lower his hands.
Atsushi stared at Mahoraga’s approaching fist.
And answered it with one of his own.
For an instant…
The world went silent.
Through Atsushi’s eyes, stained red by Flowing Red Scale: Stack, Mahoraga’s fist seemed to approach impossibly slowly.
He could see every detail.
The texture of its pale skin.
The air warping around the fist from the pressure.
It was getting closer.
Closer.
And time seemed to keep slowing.
So much that it felt absurd.
Is this what people mean when they say their life flashes before their eyes?
Because in another instant.
Mahoraga’s fist is going to turn my body into paste.
Unlike Itadori Yuji, who had been born with an abnormal physique, Atsushi had already pushed his body as far as it could go.
And yet there was still that final, paper-thin barrier between him and Black Flash.
So this is where I die?
Against Mahoraga after its third adaptation?
Wait.
Slowing down?
Physical impact.
Cursed energy.
And the interval between them.
That’s it.
This is the perfect opportunity.
Inside this stretched-out instant, Atsushi could perceive everything with absolute clarity.
The impact of his body.
The flow of cursed energy.
That infinitesimal interval of 0.000001 seconds.
Right now…
I can do it.
But what happens after that?
Even if I land Black Flash…
How do I survive Mahoraga’s punch?
Should I give up on Black Flash?
In this state, I can still react to Mahoraga’s attack.
I could avoid it.
But if I do…
I might lose the only chance I’ll ever get to land Black Flash.
No.
I don’t need to back away.
As Mahoraga’s fist grew large enough to fill almost his entire vision, an old memory surfaced in Atsushi’s mind.
Street Fighter III.
There was a famous mechanic in that game.
The parry.
Instead of holding back to block an incoming attack, you did the exact opposite.
At the precise instant an attack was about to connect, you tapped forward.
You stepped into the attack.
And if your timing was perfect.
You took no damage.
Back away and die.
Move forward and survive.
With time seemingly frozen around him, Atsushi drove his fist toward Mahoraga’s.
One enormous.
One small.
One belonged to a seemingly invincible divine shikigami.
The other belonged to a fragile human who should have been completely outmatched.
The two fists collided.
And in that infinitesimal instant between life and death…
Black light erupted.
“Black Flash!”
Against Mahoraga after its third adaptation…
Atsushi abandoned any thought of retreat.
He stepped directly into death.
And finally.
Touched the core of cursed energy for himself.
(To be continued.)