The color instantly drained from Nitta's face. The mention of an unannounced veil and a Special Grade completely overrode her confusion. Her training kicked in.
"Satozakura High," Nitta repeated, her voice dropping its nervous edge. She threw the tablet onto the dashboard and dropped into the driver's seat. "Hold on-ssu."
She slammed the door shut, shifted the sedan into drive, and floored the gas pedal. The tires screeched against the asphalt as the car violently launched into the morning traffic, tearing down the avenue toward the high school.
...
The black sedan's tires screeched violently as Akari Nitta slammed on the brakes, pulling up just outside the gates of Satozakura High School. A massive, semi-translucent black dome engulfed the entire campus.
Ren was moving before the car had even completely stopped. He shoved the passenger door open and stepped out onto the pavement.
"Ren-kun, wait-ssu!" Nitta yelled, reaching for her door handle.
"Stay out of the veil, Nitta," Ren ordered, his voice carrying a sharp, absolute authority that made her freeze in her seat. He didn't look back. "Contact someone. Get a medical team ready on standby."
He broke into a dead sprint, plunging straight through the dark, static-like barrier of the veil.
The heavy, oppressive pressure of cursed energy washed over him, but Ren ignored it, letting his Heavenly Restriction propel him forward.
His boots tore across the school courtyard, kicking up chunks of grass and dirt as he zeroed in on the open athletic grounds in front of the main building.
Just as he cleared the tree line, a massive, deafening shockwave rocked the campus.
The center of the courtyard blew outward. For a split second, Ren saw the grotesque, black wall of a Domain Expansion—giant, pale hands woven together in a sickly dome resting right on the open ground. And then, it completely shattered, disintegrating into the air like broken glass.
Sukuna. The King of Curses had just rejected Mahito's soul.
Ren skidded to a halt on the torn-up field, the dust and debris raining down around him. Through the settling smoke, the tactical layout of the open area became clear.
Nanami and Yuji were standing side-by-side, both battered, bleeding, and panting heavily, but very much alive. A few dozen yards away, Mahito was staggering backward.
The patchwork curse looked horrific, clutching a massive, violently bleeding slash across his right shoulder that Sukuna had just gifted him.
Ren's grip tightened around the dark scabbard in his left hand. His mind instantly ran the numbers.
The domain is down. He's exhausted and severely wounded, Ren thought, his pulse ticking up with anticipation.
If I can just land a clean strike on a Special Grade right now, the System is absolutely going to trigger a milestone achievement.
Ren stepped out through the settling dust, his boots crunching loudly against the cracked pavement and torn earth.
"Hey guys," Ren called out, his voice cutting clearly through the heavy silence. "Hope I'm not late."
Yuji's head snapped around, his blood-streaked face stretching into pure shock and some holes in his body. "Ren?! What are you doing here?!"
Ren didn't bother answering. He dropped his knees and kicked off the cracked pavement.
The sheer explosive force of the Heavenly Restriction launched him forward like a fired artillery shell. He crossed the distance across the courtyard in a fraction of a second, moving entirely too fast for a normal human.
Mahito's mismatched eyes went wide, trying to track the sudden blur of movement.
Schwing.
Nightfall hissed cleanly out of its scabbard. Ren stepped flawlessly inside Mahito's guard, rotated his hips, and drove a brutal, two-handed diagonal slash right across the curse's chest.
Mahito instinctively let out a manic grin, instantly manipulating his own soul to reshape the flesh and heal the wound on contact.
But the dark steel of Nightfall flared. The blade's innate anti-regeneration field bit viciously into the curse's flesh. The wound hissed and sparked with purple static, completely rejecting the soul manipulation. It refused to knit back together.
Mahito's grin shattered. "What?!" he shrieked, genuine panic bleeding into his voice as a fresh spray of blood hit the dirt.
Mahito stared at his own chest. The wound hissed loudly, purple sparks jumping across the severed flesh.
Ren didn't give him a single second to figure it out. He stepped in, his boots digging hard into the torn earth, and swung again.
Mahito ducked, throwing a morphed, blade-like arm at Ren's head. Ren pivoted effortlessly, bringing Nightfall around in a tight, brutal arc that sheared the arm clean off.
The severed limb hit the ground and immediately began to dissolve. Mahito screamed, manipulating his soul to reshape the shoulder, but the dark energy from the katana actively rejected it.
The wound stayed completely open, bleeding profusely.
"Yuji! Nanami!" Ren yelled, never breaking his momentum. "Now!"
Yuji didn't hesitate. He launched himself forward, his fist glowing with bright blue cursed energy.
He slammed a devastating punch directly into Mahito's face. The impact sent the curse stumbling backward, completely throwing off his balance.
Nanami was right behind him. His blunt cleaver struck Mahito's leg, the 7:3 ratio glowing brightly. A sickening crunch echoed as the joint shattered under the blow.
The three of them didn't stop. Ren kept the pressure on with rapid, relentless slashes, cutting off every single angle of escape and leaving jagged, unhealing wounds across the curse's body though him being spiecal grade so anti regenration effect was only 1-2 secs max.
Yuji hammered Mahito with raw, heavy punches, while Nanami systematically dismantled whatever limbs the curse tried to use to defend himself.
Mahito was getting torn apart. He coughed up a mouthful of dark blood, his mismatched eyes frantic. He knew he was going to die here.
With a desperate, high-pitched shriek, Mahito suddenly ballooned his torso, bursting it into a massive, blinding shower of blood and flesh. Ren swung his sword to clear the gore, stepping back to avoid the acidic splatter.
By the time his vision cleared a second later, the curse was already moving. Mahito had shrunk down, his body contorting into a small, grotesque shape. He scrambled and slid right through the iron grates of a nearby storm drain.
Ren stepped forward, driving Nightfall down into the grate, but it was too late. The curse was already gone.
Silence fell over the ruined courtyard.
Yuji's knees buckled. He hit the ground hard, gasping for air. His clothes were torn to shreds, and his body was covered in deep puncture wounds and blood. He stared blankly at the storm drain.
"He got away," Yuji whispered, his voice cracking with exhaustion and grief.