"I'll start by exorcising you first."
Gojo Satoru pulled off his blindfold. His pale blue Six Eyes pierced through with a chilling coldness, locking onto Hanami.
"Come on, step up."
He beckoned provocatively, strolling casually between the two curses with a look of cold indifference.
"Why have you stopped? Weren't you just shouting at me not to run?"
Jogo and Hanami exchanged a glance, cold sweat rolling down their foreheads.
The fear of being targeted by a top-tier predator made their instincts scream at them to retreat.
But they had no way back. If they didn't stall Gojo Satoru here, the plan would fall apart.
"Go!"
With silent rapport, Hanami and Jogo lunged simultaneously.
Both activated Domain Amplification again, purely for the chance to touch the 'invincible' man.
Jogo used his explosive power to charge from the front, throwing a punch coated in Amplification directly at Gojo's face.
At the same time, Hanami moved.
A leg shrouded in cursed energy blurred, breaking the sound barrier as it swept toward Gojo's waist with massive force.
Smack!
The crisp sound of flesh meeting flesh rang out.
Without even glancing to the side, Gojo Satoru caught Jogo's straight punch with one hand.
In the next instant, Gojo's center of gravity dropped sharply.
With the fluid motion of a shoulder throw, his body folded in the space of a hair's breadth.
Whoosh!
Hanami's whip-like kick, powerful enough to snap steel pillars, barely grazed Jogo's face as it swung past.
During that split second of contact, Jogo's single eye widened as shock surged through him.
'The sensation... it's real?!'
This warm, solid feeling of skin...
'This guy actually deactivated his Infinity technique?!'
'Is he planning to fight us with pure martial arts?!'
He didn't give Jogo any time to process the shock.
The world spun.
Jogo felt his body go airborne, but the arm being held felt like it was welded into a steel vise.
Then, an incredibly brutal force bore down on him.
Gojo flipped through the air like a playful child, his legs locking tightly around Jogo's right arm as he mounted him!
"One, two."
Gojo counted the beat cheerfully, as if he were doing morning calisthenics.
The next second.
Rip!!
A sickening tearing sound erupted—the noise of ligaments snapping and bone separating.
Blood sprayed everywhere!
Before Jogo could even scream, his charred right arm was ripped clean off his shoulder like a weed pulled from the ground!
Gojo didn't even look at the severed limb in his hand; he just shifted his weight.
Boom!
The off-balance Jogo was hurled away like a broken ragdoll, trailing a rain of blood.
At that moment, Hanami's attack arrived.
Without looking, Gojo backhanded with Jogo's severed, still-twitching arm.
Bang!
Hanami was struck full in the face by its comrade's arm, the massive impact sending its huge frame flying backward like a cannonball.
"Argh!"
Jogo let out a pained cry, clutching its stump while retreating frantically. It needed to create distance to regenerate its arm.
Gojo landed and immediately stepped forward to pursue Jogo.
'His target is Jogo after all!'
Climbing out of the rubble, Hanami watched this, its mind racing.
'His earlier declaration was just psychological misdirection! He wanted me to think he was targeting me so I'd show an opening, but the one he really wants to kill is Jogo, who has lower recovery speed!'
Hanami glanced at its surroundings.
Due to the fallout of the battle and Gojo's overwhelming pressure, the crowd in this area had panicked and scattered, leaving a large open space.
'It seems he intends to use this increasingly empty space to transition into a tight offensive through pure cursed energy manipulation.'
Hanami reached a conclusion:
'But in that case, we no longer need to huddle in the crowd either. We can just use our techniques!'
Since Gojo was chasing Jogo and there was no one blocking the way—
Hanami deactivated Domain Amplification.
Massive amounts of cursed energy began converting into floral vitality. It prepared to activate its innate technique for a backstab on Gojo.
But this was exactly the trap Gojo Satoru had set.
The fleeing Jogo turned back and saw this. Its single eye widened to its limit as it let out a desperate roar:
"Don't deactivate Amplification!! Hanami!!"
Too late.
In the 0.1-second gap right after Hanami deactivated Amplification and began forming its technique.
Gojo, who had been chasing Jogo, came to a sudden halt.
He turned back toward Hanami, his pale blue Six Eyes shimmering.
A crazed smile touched the corners of his mouth.
It was a speed that transcended the limits of human dynamic vision.
By the time Hanami realized something was wrong, Gojo had already appeared directly above it like a phantom.
Gojo spread his legs and sat astride Hanami's shoulders.
His hands precisely gripped the two fragile, branch-like antennae on top of Hanami's head—the source of its power.
A slightly manic smile appeared on Gojo's face.
"Got you."
"I heard this is your weak spot."
Squelch!
Without the slightest hesitation, Gojo applied force with both arms and ripped upward.
A torrent of blood geysered from the top of Hanami's head, along with white brain matter and plant fibers.
"Aaaaagh!!"
Hanami let out a piercing scream from the soul-crushing agony.
The moment Gojo touched the ground, a streak of blood shot toward him like an arrow.
It was Piercing Blood!
However, upon landing, Gojo seamlessly reactivated his Infinity technique.
"You bastard!!"
Jogo had regenerated its arm by now. Seeing its companion's suffering, it rushed back in a frenzy, fists wrapped in concentrated Amplification, trying to force Gojo away.
But Gojo didn't care in the slightest.
"Listen closely."
Gojo's voice suddenly sounded in Hanami's ear, so close it could feel his breath—the whisper of a death god:
"The more you try to use Amplification to neutralize my technique, the more I'll just maintain it with even greater power."
With a wild smile, Gojo walked toward Hanami step by step.
A terrifying repulsive force exploded. Gojo pushed Hanami's massive frame back, step by step, unstoppably toward the wall.
Hanami's feet plowed two deep furrows into the ground, but it was powerless against the overwhelming force.
'What?!'
Utter terror finally surfaced in Hanami's eyes.
"Gojo Satoru!!!! Look over here!!!!"
Jogo roared insanely as flames erupted from its palms, aimed at the crowd behind them, trying to divert Gojo's attention.
Yet Gojo didn't even turn his head.
In his eyes, there was only this weed that had to be uprooted.
Boom!
Hanami's back slammed violently into the wall.
Gojo's palm remained pressed against its face. The cursed energy of Infinity began to intensify exponentially—a terrifying pressure capable of crushing all matter into atoms.
Hanami's body began to crack, its eyes bulging as blood seeped from every pore.
Death was inches away.
Gojo looked at the Special Grade curse disintegrating in his grasp, his gaze as indifferent as if he were squashing an ant.
He was ready to speak the final words:
"Next—"
Rumble rumble rumble rumble rumble!!!!!
Just a split second before Hanami was reduced to a puddle of gore.
An utterly untimely, deafening roar of steel forcefully intruded upon the battlefield with an arrogant posture.
The sound came from deep within the tracks.
Clang—Boom!!
A speeding subway train burst through the darkness and, with the screech of brakes, slammed violently toward the three combatants!
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