Chapter 235

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Even a man made of mud has a spark of fire, let alone Abel, who is notoriously short-tempered!

He originally had no intention of getting into a conflict because, win or lose, there was nothing in it for him.

Yet for some reason, even though he had already eradicated the special grade cursed spirit, and his fingers had been retracted, his mission had still not been declared complete. Thus, his consciousness had not returned to its original form.

He suspected that the reason might be that he was caught up with Sukuna, preventing him from being considered 'out of combat'.

Now the guy was aggressively pressing on, as excited as if he'd found an interesting toy.

This pushed Abel's patience to its limits.

If he wanted a proper fight, then so be it!

No more thoughts on Yuji's body or the optional rewards of the prayer order – to hell with all that!

Today he was determined to teach this 'four-eyes' a lesson!

At that moment, Abel, now serious, erupted with a surprising aura.

It was his full-force Conqueror's Haki!

If Sukuna's presence was one of utter dominance, then Abel's now was an invincible defiance of the world!

"Ha ha ha, with such an aura, you would have been considered a true hero even in my era," commented Sukuna with delight rather than anger upon realizing that his own aura was being suppressed, his expression growing more maniacal.

Megumi barely caught up before being hit by the aftershock, feeling as though someone had struck his head with a hammer, almost knocking him unconscious.

But he immediately bit his tongue to fight off that sensation.

"Itadori!" exclaimed Megumi, hoping he could awaken the consciousness within Yuji.

But Sukuna simply flicked him away with a surge of cursed energy, "I'm thoroughly enjoying myself here; don't interrupt us."

Initially, Sukuna had some interest in Megumi, who was hiding his power, but upon seeing a more interesting Abel, those thoughts were cast aside.

Now nothing could stop him from enjoying the battle, the slaughter!

And Abel was also prepared for this confrontation.

Asura Aurora Slash – he launched a powerful slicing attack.

Sukuna, seeing this, gathered cursed energy for a head-on collision.

"Break for me!"

Abel's attack was crushed bare-handedly by the adversary, at the cost of his hands getting severely lacerated – injuries that would have disabled a normal person, but Sukuna healed them in the blink of an eye with his cursed energy.

However, that slicing attack was a feint. With the cover of darkness, Abel moved silently to his enemy's rear, leaving behind an illusion to confuse his opponent.

Even the legendary King of Curses was inevitably fooled by this move the first time.

Abel, wielding a cursed tool dagger called "Slaughter Demon," pierced through his opponent's heart from behind!

While spitting blood, Sukuna's eyes revealed a hint of surprise.

Only then did the distant illusion begin to dissipate.

"Interesting little trick, to think that even I could be deceived," mumbled Sukuna before turning with an elbow strike and following up with a rapid succession of punches.

Clearly, a pierced heart was a minor injury to him and did not impede his actions at all.

A being like him, a special-grade cursed spirit, is not constrained by vital points; not having a heart would make no difference. 

It might even be said that this stab actually helped him, preventing Yuji's consciousness within him from attempting to take over the body once more. 

Because if Itadori's consciousness managed to take control, the wound from the heart being pierced would instantly be fatal.

Dark Breath, Second Form: Dark Cutting!

Boom!

Abel seized the moment, immediately detonating the dark energy he had intentionally left inside the opponent's body.

In an instant, twelve blades of dark force exploded from within, spewing blood everywhere. 

This caused the enemy's formerly smooth attack to be interrupted, leaving his entire body full of openings.

Abel naturally would not miss this opportunity and showed no mercy.

Dark Breath, Third Form: Shadow Sword Dance!

Abel launched his fastest flurry of strikes, slashing dozens of times in the blink of an eye, each cut deep and accompanied by a spray of blood. 

And with each slash, a dark trace was left in the space, gradually coalescing into a vertical, crescent-shaped blade of black energy!

With a swoosh, he ferociously cleaved it onto the body of the foe.

Caught off-guard by being suppressed to this extent by a human, the enemy erupted with incredible curse power. Even though he was pushed back over twenty meters, he ultimately managed to block the attack.

The price he paid was half of his body being sliced open, blood sprayed everywhere.

Coupled with the injuries sustained earlier, he now looked extremely wretched, devoid of any prior air of superiority.

"Human, your swordsmanship is interesting. Now, witness the true power of this great one."

After rapidly healing all of his injuries, he brought his hands together and made a strange gesture.

"Domain Expansion: Malevolent Shrine!"

It was as if a droplet fell into a lake, a gigantic domain with a radius of 200 meters suddenly emerged, as if painting directly on the air without canvas.

"Release!"

Puff!

Despite seemingly doing nothing, Abel suddenly burst into numerous mists of blood. Those were the injuries from countless simultaneous slashes!

"Within this domain, all my attacks are guaranteed to hit, and you'll endure this endless 'slashing' until the domain disappears."

Having turned the tide, the enemy began to laugh wildly.

He didn't feel the slightest bit ashamed to use his domain against a normal human without cursed energy.

Perhaps, it's because in the previous fight, Abel's strength had earned his recognition, prompting him to continue the game with the domain.

Abel, covered in blood yet with a calm expression, stood his ground.

He realized something was amiss the moment his opponent deployed the domain but was unable to prevent this almost instantly activated domain effect, and thus had to withstand the first wave of attacks with his body.

There were many cuts, but luckily, they were only of a normal level of severity.

They seemed serious but under the protection of the Armament Haki, they were mostly superficial wounds.

"A domain? How inconvenient, I also have a domain to offer. Please, enjoy tasting it."

As Abel spoke, he brought his index finger and middle finger together, gently touching his forehead.

In the next instant, a bright silver light shone forth.

Countless sword intents soared into the sky, ultimately forming three massive sword rings that expanded another domain of the sword within the enemy's domain!