Chapter 241: I Owe You Nothing Now!
From the perspective of combustion, flames and high temperatures can melt all things, but that does not necessarily mean all things can "burn."
In essence, combustion and fire are chemical reactions. As is common knowledge, some substances possess an inertness that prevents them from reacting with most other things, while other substances simply do not undergo chemical reactions with each other at all.
Therefore, even though the temperature at the core of the clash between Emiya and Ryomen Sukuna a moment ago rivaled the sun—vaporizing and burning everything in the vicinity—it did not mean those things were completely erased from the physical realm.
A small portion of the matter simply changed its state of existence, just as liquid water evaporates into gas. A larger portion was burned at high temperatures and transformed into another chemical form... namely, the dust covering the ground and the invisible microscopic particles in the air.
Thus, at this moment, when the blade in Emiya's hand glowing with black light swung out violently, the omnipresent dust was stirred simultaneously, forming a thick fog that obscured the surroundings.
Under the force of that immense power, this visible mist was blasted toward the distant horizon, leaving yet another widening trail within the crater that stretched from near to far.
"..."
"...Wait, something's wrong!"
Logically, no matter how strong Ryomen Sukuna was, he could not violate the physical laws of nature. Under the full-force bombardment of Excalibur just now, almost every organ in his body should have fallen into a state of necrosis. Even if he was currently recovering his injuries at an extreme speed, Emiya clearly shouldn't have given him such an opportunity.
In other words, under Emiya's current attack, Sukuna should have had no ability to put up a defense, because the muscles in his limbs hadn't fully recovered yet; he shouldn't have even been able to lift his arms.
But the moment Hrunting descended and the dust kicked up to completely block his vision, Emiya sensed something wrong from the tactile feedback through the blade. This definitely wasn't the feedback of slashing into a torso; rather, it felt like...
"You actually forced me into using this form to successfully block your assault. You're quite capable, kid.
But the game... no, the battle ends here."
As Sukuna's voice fell, Emiya finally saw why his attack had failed to produce results: two broad palms were deathly gripping the edge of the blade, stopping it right before Sukuna's chest, unable to advance an inch further.
Then, in the next second, Sukuna's hideous face—now mostly recovered—emerged from the smoke, allowing Emiya to understand the meaning behind those words.
Beneath Ryomen Sukuna's pair of still-charred arms, two more robust arms had somehow grown out, making his previously proportional body look instantly bizarre.
Bizarre as it was, the phrase "two fists are no match for four hands" is more than just a metaphor. As long as Ryomen Sukuna could perfectly master these extra arms, his close-combat capabilities would increase at least twofold.
And judging by how effortlessly he caught a [Black Flash] slash with his "new" arms, it was clear this wasn't the first time he had fought in this four-armed state.
Perhaps even the Noble Phantasm Hrunting hadn't been able to react to such a freak occurrence; after all, the "most correct slash" was originally calculated based on a Sukuna with only two arms. Who would have thought he could transform into this grotesque form?
"How... what is this now?"
This truly began to elude Emiya's understanding. Sukuna's [Shrine] had already displayed the two technique states of "fire" and "slashing," but what was this ability to alter his physical form?
Emiya had been a chef for many years, but he had never heard that a chef was required to have four arms to be considered normal or excellent.
Or was the name Ryomen Sukuna...
Was that name, from the very beginning, a descriptive term for a monster possessing two faces and four arms?
But thinking that way didn't seem right either. Emiya had previously consulted the data at Jujutsu High regarding the "King of Curses." According to those descriptions, the reason Sukuna was granted the name Ryomen Sukuna—originally reserved for a ghost-god—was simply because his image and strength were very close to that deity.
If that data was accurate, it meant that the "King of Curses," Ryomen Sukuna, was not something born out of a curse in the beginning, but an unquestionable sorcerer—a human.
Furthermore, the fact that this guy left behind Special Grade cursed objects after his death proved his status as a sorcerer. Normal cursed spirits do not produce or leave anything behind after death; there has never been such a precedent.
The only anomaly was Hanami, whose blood had influenced the ground after death, leaving a patch of vibrant plants. That was already considered highly unusual. The essence of a cursed
spirit is just a curse; it is a formless, substanceless thing that naturally dissipates upon death, returning to the world as pure cursed energy.
The reason sorcerers leave behind cursed objects after death is that they haven't truly died; they have simply used a [Binding Vow] to trade "the loss of all life activity" for "the inability to die."
But for a human to possess four arms... what was going on?
"Don't get distracted, kid!"
One of Sukuna's extra palms pinned the blade of Hrunting, while the other clenched into a fist and smashed violently toward Emiya's head. Facing the rapid attack, Emiya released the blade and leaned his upper body back to narrowly avoid it. Using the momentum of the backward lean, he touched the ground with his hands and kicked off, slamming his feet into Sukuna's chest.
THUD!
The kick landed solidly. Sukuna, whose body hadn't yet fully recovered, instinctively let go of the blade and stumbled back several steps. Emiya immediately flipped back onto his feet and caught Hrunting as it fell from the air.
Regarding Ryomen Sukuna, it wasn't quite right to say he lacked skill and was just a "stat monster," because he had refined the special technique of sorcerers—the [Reverse Cursed Technique]—to its absolute limit.
For someone like Dagon, the only thing worth praising was his massive cursed energy, but his nature as a cursed spirit still allowed him to directly use cursed energy to fill in the injuries on his body. Even so, an injury like losing a heart would be a heavy, difficult-to-heal wound for it... but for Ryomen Sukuna, it was nothing.
Never mind losing a heart; using [Reverse Cursed Technique] to heal Sukuna's current state was clearly a hundred times more difficult than simply healing a heart—because the use of [Reverse Cursed Technique] requires the coordination of imagination.
Is it simpler to imagine the process of a heart healing, or more difficult to simultaneously imagine the recovery process of all surface tissues across the entire body? The answer was self-evident. Furthermore, Sukuna had to constantly control the output of cursed energy during this process.
It had been less than two minutes since he sustained those injuries, yet the char on Sukuna's body had mostly fallen off, revealing fair skin that looked as if it had never been tainted by anything.
In other words, he had completed this entire process in a mere moment, while simultaneously talking and fighting with Emiya.
If Emiya possessed this level of skill with [Reverse Cursed Technique], he wouldn't even need to worry about the backlash from his [Magic Circuits]. He could recklessly project Noble Phantasms that he was normally unable to project without a second thought. As long as he didn't die instantly, those injuries could always be healed.
For a guy who could already use "stats" to crush his enemies, this setting was a bit too broken.
"You're confused as to why I possess a body so different from a normal human, right?
This is why I look down on all humans... this appearance right now is the true form that belongs to me.
Compared to this, the human form is far too weak and restrictive."
Seeing the doubt in Emiya's heart, Ryomen Sukuna didn't get angry at the previous sneak attack. Instead, he thoughtfully explained.
Why did Sukuna always like to grow mouths and eyes on the sides of Yuji Itadori's face? Naturally, it was because his own eyes were located there during his previous life.
He was indeed born human, but from the moment of birth, he possessed a massive deviation from the concept of "humanity"—because he was born with four arms and four eyes, and even the "Cursed Markings" consisting of black lines on his body were innate.
Never mind a thousand years ago when most people were ignorant; even from a modern perspective, this appearance was an unmitigated outlier. Likely from the day he was born, people began calling him a monster or a ghost-god... they either spat on him or worshipped him, but regardless of their mindset, the possibility of anyone treating him as a normal human was almost non-existent.
He had already been autonomously excluded from the human group; was he supposed to stubbornly believe he was "human" himself? From that perspective, it was no wonder he became the "King of Curses" and developed such an extremely egoistic personality.
"A freak born with this form?"
Emiya felt that if Sukuna's own description were true, his title as a ghost-god gained a bit more credibility. In the legends of the world of Magecraft, if one were active in ancient times without a slightly miraculous birth, they wouldn't even be qualified to be called a Heroic Spirit.
"A freak? It doesn't matter. You can say whatever you like; I've heard it until my ears have calluses.
To be honest, I almost miss that specific title. Because back then, everyone who dared to call me that died, so I was never called that again.
In any case, I can't exactly give you special treatment, can I? That would be too unfair to all those dead people!"
Before the final word had even fallen, Ryomen Sukuna exploded with power, arriving in front of Emiya. Both arms on the right side of his body exerted force simultaneously, swinging a violent blow toward him.
BOOM!
Even though Emiya immediately parried with his blade, the exaggerated force still sent him skidding over a dozen meters away, his feet plowing deep trenches into the ground.
After completing this strike, Sukuna—still mid-air—skillfully crossed all four arms and swung, releasing several slashes that intertwined into a "well" shape (#) aimed at Emiya.
It was impossible to observe or judge the location of the "slashes" with the naked eye; the only secondary reference Emiya could use was the ground being constantly destroyed. But even that wasn't enough; the specific number of slashes couldn't be determined. If he overlooked even a single attack, Emiya could very well fail right then and there.
Sukuna could afford many mistakes, but Emiya could not afford even a single lapse in caution.
Have withstood pain to create many weapons.
"Trace on!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
When the instantaneous, invisible slashes reached Emiya's position, massive clouds of dust were kicked up by the powerful impact. As the mist obscuring his vision settled, Emiya was revealed again, holding the Axe-Sword upright in front of him like a shield.
In essence, Heracles' Axe-Sword was not a true weapon; it was a "foundation stone" from a temple, shaped roughly like an axe-sword. Only this indestructible material could be wielded freely as a weapon by the Berserker-class hero.
Yet at this moment, four clear gouges had been left on the surface of the supposedly indestructible Axe-Sword, looking as if a little more force would snap it entirely.
Yet, those hands will never hold anything.
Emiya did not dwell on the damage to the weapon but continued chanting the incantation for his [Reality Marble], determined to fully summon it in the shortest time possible.
The Excalibur just now was already his strongest offensive method in his normal state, yet even such an attack couldn't completely finish off Ryomen Sukuna. In that case, he had to use the [Reality Marble].
Of course, just as he had done with Mahito, deploying the [Reality Marble] directly inside the opponent's body—especially a more complete version than before—would surely be able to erase Sukuna entirely.
However, Sukuna wasn't like Mahito; he couldn't be easily restrained there. And if he did that, there was no chance Itadori would survive. Thus, the simplest solution was to use the [Reality Marble] itself as the stage for battle.
What did it matter how terrifying Sukuna's destructive power and recovery were?
No matter how strong his destructive power, he couldn't break through the world barriers of a [Reality Marble]. No matter how strong his recovery, he would eventually meet his end under the crushing weight of countless Noble Phantasms. Most importantly, inside the [Reality Marble], Emiya could truly go all out without worrying about involving the defenseless ordinary citizens in the city.
"Wait... the incantation hasn't been completed until now?!"
At this point, Sukuna suddenly realized something—Emiya's chanting wasn't for charging the output of Excalibur after all, but for another unknown technique he was entirely unfamiliar with.
Actually, it wasn't entirely correct to say it wasn't for Excalibur, because the incantation of the [Reality Marble] itself can be used to strengthen [Projection Magecraft], as the latter is derived from the former.
But Sukuna didn't know this, and Emiya saw no need to tell him.
Realizing things might be veering off in an unexpected direction, Ryomen Sukuna immediately raised all four palms and aimed at Emiya, instantly calling forth a flame arrow even larger and more ominous than before.
In truth, Sukuna didn't need to build any momentum to use this technique. Even if the power was slightly reduced compared to before, it still possessed the magnitude to completely crush someone like Jogo.
"[Divine Flame]!!!"
The speed of the arrow's arrival was countless times faster than imagined, and in this fleeting moment, Emiya had no time to release another attack of the same scale to defend himself.
So... could he only try to gamble?
After thinking, Emiya immediately made the decision to abandon direct defense, planning to dodge as much as possible to buy time to deploy the [Reality Marble]. Even if he sustained some injuries as a result, it was an unavoidable necessity.
I have no regrets...
But just as Emiya's chant reached the halfway point, an unexpected figure suddenly appeared in front of him, fearlessly meeting Sukuna's attack.
"I owe you absolutely nothing now, Emiya Shirou!!!"
BOOM!!!
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