Deep in the forest.
The stench of rot was nauseating.
It was the distinct, bloody scent of a Special Grade Cursed Object after incarnation.
"Ugh..."
Looking at the pervert across from her—a man wearing nothing but a thong with a giant face on his back.
Nobara Kugisaki gagged reflexively.
It wasn't out of fear, but simply because she was disgusted by his terrible taste and the physiological discomfort.
"Hey, you pervert."
"Could you put some clothes on before picking a fight?"
"You're a total visual pollutant, you bastard!"
However, the only response she received was a roar of pure, unbridled rage from Eso, triggered by the fact that Nobara had seen the face on his back.
That was the ultimate taboo for the Cursed Womb: Death Painting brothers!
"I'll kill you!"
"I'm definitely going to kill you!"
Eso let out a piercing shriek. The giant face on his back seemed to come alive, its veins bulging.
[ROT TECHNIQUE: WING KING]!
Along with his roar, the blood spraying from his back didn't fall to the ground. Instead, it quickly condensed and took shape in the air.
Defying gravity, the blood transformed into a pair of massive, crimson skeletal wings!
The wings of blood shimmered with an eerie luster under the moonlight. Every 'feather' was made of highly concentrated, compressed toxic blood.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
With a flap of his wings, Eso sent a rain of lethal blood droplets toward Nobara, saturating the air.
Simultaneously, his frog-like younger brother, Kechizu, coordinated with the attack, spitting highly corrosive blood from the side.
The brothers' teamwork was flawless, cutting off almost all of Nobara's escape routes.
"Watch out!"
Yuji Itadori shouted, lunging forward like a hunting leopard.
He was Sukuna's vessel, giving him an incredibly high resistance to toxins.
But Nobara was just an ordinary person.
Even a minor scratch from that intense poison would instantly incapacitate any normal fighter with agonizing pain.
Splat!
A few drops of purple toxic blood splashed onto Nobara's arm, sending up hissing white smoke.
A piercing, soul-deep pain instantly surged through her entire body.
"Hahaha!"
"That's the curse of decomposition!"
"Once it touches you, rotten roses will bloom all over your body until you turn into a puddle of pus!"
Eso and Kechizu laughed triumphantly, certain that the woman was finished.
However, in the next second, their smiles froze.
The woman who should have been rolling on the ground in agony was actually laughing.
And she was laughing louder, more crazily, and more unsettlingly than they were.
Nobara Kugisaki looked down at her corroded arm, watching the spreading rose patterns.
There wasn't a hint of fear in her eyes, only a bone-chilling excitement.
"Pain?"
"Is this all?"
"Compared to the pain of my favorite beauty salon closing down, this is just a tickle!"
She snapped her head up.
Her beautiful eyes burned with a fire capable of incinerating all reason.
It was a madwoman's waltz!
"Since you like playing games with pain..."
"Then I'll play with you to the very end!"
Schlick!
Without a moment's hesitation.
Nobara reversed her grip on a large five-inch nail.
She slammed it ruthlessly into her own poisoned arm!
[STRAW DOLL TECHNIQUE: RESONANCE]!
Thump!
It was as if an invisible, massive drum had been struck in the air. It wasn't just a sound; it was a tremor that struck the soul!
"Aaaaaagh!"
The once-smug Eso and Kechizu suddenly screamed in agony as if electrocuted.
It was the backlash of the curse connected through the blood.
The more ruthless Nobara was to herself, the more violent the feedback of pain was to them!
"How is this possible?!"
"Is this woman insane?!"
Eso clutched his chest. The soul-rending pain made it nearly impossible to maintain his technique, and the [WING KING] on his back began to crumble.
This was [STRAW DOLL TECHNIQUE: RESONANCE].
Once a connection was established.
Even across a thousand miles, it could strike the source directly!
And Nobara.
She was using her own body as the medium and her own pain as a sacrifice.
All to buy this single, certain-kill opportunity!
"Yuji!"
"Now!"
Nobara laughed even as blood sprayed from her wounds. She looked like a demon crawling out of hell, yet she was breathtakingly beautiful.
"Beat them to death!"
He didn't need to be told.
Yuji Itadori had already charged in front of Eso, his eyes burning with fury.
To honor Nobara's resolve and to ensure her madness didn't go to waste.
Black lightning began to dance wildly around his fists.
It was the miracle produced when cursed energy and physical impact collided within a microsecond of each other—
"BLACK FLASH!"
Boom!
The punch landed square on Eso's face.
He didn't fly back immediately; space itself seemed to freeze for a split second.
Then, the red and black lightning exploded.
Eso was sent flying like a cannonball, smashing through over a dozen trees.
Before he even hit the ground, Yuji was already on him.
The second punch!
The third punch!
Consecutive Black Flashes!
Each punch was accompanied by the distortion of space and black electricity—absolute suppression of a Special Grade Cursed Spirit!
"Brother!"
Eso spat out blood in mid-air, his eyes filled with despair. He knew he was going to lose, but he couldn't die.
At least... he couldn't let his little brother die!
"Kechizu! Run!"
Eso squeezed out his last bit of strength, trying to activate his technique to cover his brother's retreat.
However, the madwoman was already blocking Kechizu's path.
Nobara raised her hammer high, a cruel yet beautiful smile on her face.
"Run?"
"Where to?"
"Since you've come to Tokyo, you have to leave something behind, don't you?"
Her final nail was aimed straight at Kechizu's heart.
One strike of this hammer, and Resonance would completely detonate the hearts of these two Cursed Wombs.
The outcome was set!
Eso closed his eyes in despair.
But at the very moment the fatal hammer was about to fall, just as Nobara was ready to reap the fruits of victory.
A slender, powerful hand appeared out of thin air.
It gently caught Nobara's wrist before she could swing.
The movement was light.
As light as catching a falling leaf, yet it carried an undeniable strength that forced the lethal blow to a dead stop.
All the madness, all the killing intent, all the noise—everything seemed to hit a pause button at that moment.
Nobara snapped her head around, her eyes full of bewilderment and confusion.
"Yo... Yoru?"
"What are you doing?!"
"Let go!"
"They're Cursed Spirits!"
But the man standing in the moonlight only silently watched Eso, who was struggling desperately to protect his brother.
In those red pupils, there was no killing intent, only a mysterious sort of compassion.
"Cursed Spirits?"
Yoru's voice was soft, yet it reached everyone's ears clearly.
"Perhaps."
"But right now..."
"They look more like humans fighting for their family."
He released Nobara's wrist but didn't back down. Instead, he slowly drew the pitch-black tachi from his waist.
The blade pointed at the trembling brothers.
Not to kill, but to judge.
"In this world."
"Some things are more important than life and death."
"Wouldn't you agree?"
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