This time, Sukuna stopped holding back.
"Dismantle!"
A massive crescent-shaped slash materialized out of thin air. Carrying enough destructive force to carve through the earth, it tore across the battlefield and reached Sol in an instant.
Sol's expression finally grew slightly more serious.
He raised his right hand, pressed his index and middle fingers together, and casually swept them across the incoming slash.
Rip.
The enormous blade of cursed energy split cleanly in two, as effortlessly as paper cut by a knife.
Both halves flew past Sol, carving two perfectly smooth trenches through the buildings in the distance.
"Too slow."
Sol lowered his hand, his voice as indifferent as ever.
Sukuna's pupils shrank.
"Cleave!"
Without hesitation, he switched techniques.
The more lethal slash, one that automatically adjusted itself to its target, engulfed Sol from every direction.
Sol simply took a step forward.
As the countless slashes entered a certain distance around him, they twisted, veered off course, and disintegrated as though colliding with an invisible wall.
None of them reached him.
He walked through the deadly barrage as casually as if strolling through a park, steadily closing the distance between them.
"Boring."
Sol sounded genuinely unimpressed.
Before Sukuna could launch another attack, Sol disappeared.
In the next instant, he stood directly in front of Sukuna.
So fast!
Sukuna had no time to react.
Sol's fist came down again.
Not as a single strike.
As a relentless barrage.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Punch after punch hammered into Sukuna's abdomen, chest, and face.
Every blow carried unimaginable force, yet each was controlled with absolute precision, powerful enough to break bones without destroying Yuji Itadori's body.
Sukuna desperately tried to defend himself.
Each time his arms met Sol's fists, sickening cracks echoed through the battlefield.
His cursed energy reinforcement shattered as easily as thin glass.
Unable to fight back, he was driven across the ruins like a helpless training dummy.
The sounds of splintering bones, crushing impacts, and Sukuna's suppressed groans filled the air without pause.
Jogo stood completely frozen.
Its enormous eye remained fixed on the battle, unblinking.
Even breathing had become an afterthought.
The King of Curses.
The being it worshipped above all else.
Reduced to nothing more than a punching bag by the man in the blue tracksuit.
This was no battle.
It was a merciless beating.
Finally, Sol stopped.
Sukuna lay buried among shattered rubble.
Yuji's body was bruised and swollen, several limbs bent at unnatural angles, making it obvious that countless bones had been broken.
The black markings across his body had noticeably faded.
He struggled to rise.
Failed.
All he could do was gasp for breath, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth with every labored inhale.
Sol stood over him.
"Now," he said evenly, "can you quietly follow the arrangement?"
Sukuna slowly lifted his head.
His crimson eyes burned with humiliation and fury, but beneath both emotions lay unmistakable shock.
He stared at Sol, trying to understand what stood before him.
After a long silence, he coughed up another mouthful of blood.
"...You win."
The King of Curses.
A monster who had stood above countless others for a thousand years.
Had no choice but to admit defeat.
Sol gave a slight nod, as though the outcome had been obvious from the beginning.
He turned toward Jogo, who still stood trembling in the distance, desperately trying to make itself as inconspicuous as possible.
"Your opponent is awake. Don't waste time."
Jogo's lone eye twitched violently.
Molten blood churned beneath its rocky skin.
It looked at the battered Sukuna lying in the rubble, then back at Sol, whose breathing hadn't even changed.
Fear and utter absurdity overwhelmed its mind.
Fight Sukuna in that condition?
How was that any different from being told to commit suicide?
No.
It was even worse.
Behind them, Sukuna coughed violently, blood staining the rubble beneath him.
Humiliation and rage still burned within his crimson eyes, but reason forced him to suppress his desire for revenge.
This human's strength completely defied common sense.
Yuji's body could no longer endure an intense battle, and Sukuna could instinctively tell that Sol had yet to reveal his true power.
Continuing the fight would only bring further humiliation.
His thoughts raced.
A trace of malice flickered across his eyes.
If this body had become a burden...
Then he would simply return it to its rightful owner.
With a thought, Sukuna attempted to sink his consciousness back into Yuji's body, forcing the sleeping Yuji Itadori to regain control and deal with everything that followed.
His consciousness had barely begun to withdraw.
"Did I give you permission to leave?"
Sol's cold voice rang out beside him.
Before Sukuna could react, a slender hand casually rested on Yuji's head.
Buzz.
An incomprehensible force descended.
It felt as though the sky itself had collapsed.
The overwhelming will crushed down upon Sukuna, instantly halting his retreat and locking his consciousness firmly inside Yuji's battered body.
"Ugh!"
Sukuna groaned in pain.
It felt as though an invisible mountain had pinned down his very soul.
Even thinking became difficult.
He looked up in horror.
His eyes met Sol's steady crimson gaze.
That look conveyed only one message.
I know exactly what you're trying to do.
"It seems you haven't learned your lesson."
Sol's tone remained composed.
His hand pressed down slightly harder.
Crack!
A harsh snap echoed as Sukuna's neck was forced downward.
Boom!
His head slammed violently into the ground, sending cracks racing across the earth as rubble burst into the air.
It didn't end there.
Sol drew back his other fist.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Heavy impacts echoed relentlessly as punch after punch crashed into Sukuna's body.
Every strike was accompanied by the subtle sound of breaking bones and Sukuna's restrained roars of pain and fury.
This was no longer a battle.
It wasn't even a beating.
It was punishment for trying to escape.
===
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