Chapter 35. Crossing the Threshold (Part 2)

"I'm not blaming you for anything," I noted calmly, shifting my gaze to the frozen curse. "So, we have a new variable. What will you do now?"

It was a purely rhetorical question; I had no interest in his answer. Taking advantage of my opponent's hesitation as he pondered his next move, I focused, summoning my spiritual energy. Flames flared up on my palms, burning hotter and hotter, searing the air. Jogo noticed this and tore himself away from his tormenting thoughts. Raising an imaginary eyebrow, he watched my actions with interest. It seemed this moment excited him as much as it did me.

Following my spiritual energy, I concentrated the flows of cursed energy and directed them into the burning flame, infusing it with rage and power. The flames shot up in two pillars, heating the air around me so intensely that the asphalt beneath my feet began to melt and char. Realizing the seriousness of the situation, Jogo took a combat stance, slightly bending his knees and raising his hands, ready for any attack.

My "Enhancement" worked at full capacity, flooding me with streams of thermal energy and accelerating my blood flow to inhuman speeds. By this point, I had already maximized the reinforcement of my legs and arms in the usual shamanic way, fortifying them with cursed energy. This meant I was in peak physical condition, ready for anything any of those present in Shibuya today could throw at me.

The street plunged into a strange silence, broken only by the crackling of the fire. In this eerie quiet, the curse let out a long, drawn-out exhale, like a battle signal announcing the beginning of the fight.

In an instant, I launched myself forward. The ground exploded beneath my feet, leaving clouds of dust and fragments of stone in my wake. Jogo didn't have time to comprehend my breakthrough: I was already behind him, slamming his head into the ground. The next strike was aimed between his shoulder blades but landed on his side, grazing several lower ribs. The cursed spirit somehow dodged, avoiding a gaping hole in his torso. However, in exchange, I tore his flesh with monstrous strength, ripping out a significant chunk of his liver or whatever passed for his innards.

Jogo roared in pain and fury, but I was relentless.

Paying such a price, Jogo managed to create a moment to summon ten mini-volcanoes on the walls of the nearby buildings. My [Sense of Danger] kicked in just in time, allowing me to dodge eight of the shots; unfortunately, I had to meet the remaining two head-on. Nonetheless, putting up a standard block and wrapping my arms in "Flame Armor," I easily avoided any injuries.

From everything I know so far, the smaller the mini-volcano, the faster it charged for a shot. Therefore, it was no surprise that they fired almost immediately after appearing. Unfortunately for Jogo, I had seen this trick too many times to be caught off guard. Besides my [Sense of Danger], I could now detect changes in the environment thanks to my [Enhanced Senses]: the smell of sulfur, the slightest vibrations on the surface, the sound of shifting concrete or earth. All of these indicated where the next mini-volcano would appear.

While my mind was busy analyzing the situation, I stabilized myself, landing a bit further away, and with a single wave of my hands, summoned a dozen small fireballs using [First Aspect: Compression]. At that moment, I realized something strange—among all the flames compressed into fireballs, there was some that didn't belong to me…

In the next second, I released all the fireballs at Jogo, each on its own trajectory, creating a whirlwind of fiery projectiles. The cursed spirit didn't give in so easily. Amidst the ash and fire, I saw his outline, barely visible but full of burning hatred. He had already managed to restore his body, which was commendable, considering I used "spiritual flame." From this, one could conclude that Jogo was currently the strongest curse in the world... However, neither Sukuna nor I considered him a serious threat.

Despite everything, the battle was still ongoing, and the cursed spirit wasn't planning to stay still. In a mad dash, Jogo rushed at me, maneuvering between the fireballs I hurled at him. His movements were unpredictable, instant, and fast, allowing him to dodge almost all of my fireballs. Though the real aim of this attack wasn't to hit the curse, I was still impressed by his agility and speed.

The moment Jogo leapt into the air, his hand shot forward. A mass of flame flared up on his palm, instantly transforming into a powerful fiery projectile, similar to my fireballs but much larger. The projectile streaked towards me, cutting through the air with a deafening roar. Easily dodging and ignoring the explosion behind me, I raised my hand, creating a block to protect myself from the curse's strike. Flames attacked me from behind, gradually dispersing, reflecting off my armor, scattering into sparks.

Despite failing to achieve anything with his attack, Jogo's face twisted into a vile, wide grin. Following this, several dozen insects emerged from his head, their wings vibrating furiously in the air. They spread out, forming a deadly swarm, rushing straight at me. The buzzing and flapping of their wings filled the air with a terrible noise, their bodies infused with cursed energy.

Ember Insects — Jogo's technique of creating a swarm of flying insects that attack their target with sound before exploding.

Quickly assessing the threat, I wrapped my ears in cursed energy to muffle the buzzing of the winged swarm. Without hesitation, I thickened my "Fire Armor" around me, creating a blazing barrier. The noise from the insects' sonic attack was the least of my worries. The real danger was their explosions — dozens ready to detonate simultaneously, tearing everything apart.

I had two options: evade or rely on my armor. Escaping was impossible; Jogo was close, poised to strike. I chose the latter.

I reinforced my armor, and the dense fiery barrier enveloped me as the first insect exploded, followed by another and another. Blinding flashes ripped through the air, thunderous booms rolling in waves, knocking everything in their path. The scorching shield trembled with the force of the explosions, but I stood firm, gritting my teeth and maintaining the blazing defense, feeling the cursed energy swirl around me, enveloping every muscle.

At a certain point, several explosions erupted in unison. Being so close to the epicenter — right in the damned center — I couldn't avoid the consequences, despite the protection.

Blasted aside by the powerful shockwave, I crashed into a building, smashing through several walls of a small restaurant. The fall should have been devastating, but I activated "Reverse cursed technique" mid-flight, allowing the "positive" cursed energy to heal the damage from the blast.

Since my "Flame Armor" absorbed most of the impact, the residual shockwave only slightly jostled my internal organs, though a painful throb still coursed through my body. Nevertheless, the wounds quickly healed thanks to the "healing energy," and by the time I rose from the debris, the pain was already fading. I brought my hand to my ear and felt a sticky liquid... Blood, the first injury I'd sustained today. My gaze shot to the street, still shrouded in smoke. However, Jogo was nowhere to be seen. Instead, I sensed a massive surge of cursed energy racing toward Shinjuku.

"I should have used 'Domain Expansion' right away," I muttered, scraping the remnants of blood from my ear with my pinky. "But where's the fun in that?"

Immediately after, I vanished, leaving a whirlwind that swept away whatever miraculously survived in the restaurant. My dash through the streets of Shibuya resembled a tornado, shattering windows and scorching the asphalt with a fiery trail. The wind whistled in my ears, and the streets blurred into smudged streaks.

And finally, I saw him — he was sliding down the stairs, heading into the subway, his shadow flickering below ground. However, I did not follow him. The underground labyrinths would be the best cover for him, meaning if I went down there, I'd be unlikely to catch him in time. At that moment, I took a deep breath, filling my nose with the scent of his cursed energy. In the next instant, I focused intensely on Jogo's cursed energy.

Around me, fireballs began to form, enveloping me like satellites. Waves of heat surged over my palms, stirring the air.

"Spell Four — Giant Fireball."

At my command, the fireballs began to merge into one massive flaming sphere, ten meters in diameter. Not the largest I'd ever created, but with time running short, it would have to suffice. I aimed, concentrating on the swiftly moving mass of Jogo's cursed energy, and hurled the blazing "meteor" downward.

Its speed wasn't high, but the fireball still pierced the first underground level, exploding deeper within the subway labyrinth. The destructive wave of fire was ready to sweep everything within a hundred-meter radius, but before the explosion could erupt outward, I invoked [Fifth Aspect: Area of Effect], compressing all its power in one direction — straight at Jogo.

Due to the concentration of my attack, a pillar of fire flared up, resembling a cylinder with a twenty-meter radius. It pierced through all lower floors, creating a luminous column of fire that sliced through the underground darkness like a gleaming sword. The fiery burst cleaved through the dark, tearing through concrete walls, and the devastating force crashed down on Jogo. The roar and crackle of flames filled the space, and I watched as the smoke curtain concealed the results of my attack.

The magic of the moment lay in how the fire remained strictly confined within the set boundaries, creating a spectacle of incredible beauty and power. It was like lightning striking the ground, but instead of a flash of light, it was an explosion of flame, channeling its destructive force exclusively in the chosen direction. Inside the impact zone, only the fire was confined, while the sound and shockwaves spread instantly beyond the fiery cylinder.

For a moment, everything went silent... until the next sensation made me smirk. A vile, sticky feeling crept along my spine. From the depths of the destruction, two signatures of cursed energy were rising: one belonged to Jogo, and the other...

"Sukuna," was all I could say, at the sight of the four-eyed bastard.