Above the ruins of Shibuya, the sky was dyed an ominous, dark red.
The power of Hundred-Finger Sukuna made all of Tokyo tremble beneath his feet.
He was surrounded by pure, evil cursed energy, an aura so dense it squeezed the very air into a viscous state.
He simply raised a single finger and lightly swiped it toward a relatively intact building in the distance.
A pitch-black edge, invisible to the naked eye, silently flashed past.
The next second, an entire row of buildings forged from steel and concrete was cleanly sliced in half.
The upper halves slowly slid off, collapsing with a deafening crash amidst the teeth-aching screech of twisting metal, kicking up a massive cloud of dust.
This was the power at the pinnacle of curses.
World-destroying devastation, unleashed with a mere flick of a finger.
However, facing such overwhelming might, not a single trace of pressure could be seen on Ian's face.
"Is that it?"
Sukuna's four crimson eyes sharply contracted, his monstrous fury instantly ignited.
He roared, swinging all four arms simultaneously. Countless slashes capable of tearing through space swept toward Ian like a violent storm.
Yet Ian merely strolled through the airtight net of slashes as if taking a leisurely walk in a park.
He did not even exert much power, simply deploying the [Limitless Cursed Technique] around his body.
Sukuna's attacks, capable of severing all things in the world, bizarrely ground to a halt the moment they neared his body, before dissipating into nothingness.
"You piece of trash!"
Sukuna bellowed. Never before had he felt such powerlessness and frustration.
Right at that moment, a brilliant bolt of golden lightning descended from the heavens. Carrying an atmosphere-tearing shriek, it viciously struck the ground between the two men!
*Boom—!*
The terrifying lightning exploded, scorching a massive, blackened crater into the earth.
As the electricity dissipated, a man wreathed in golden lightning slowly stepped out from within.
The newcomer was none other than Hajime Kashimo.
He ignored the apocalyptic scenery around him, as well as the seemingly unremarkable Ian.
His lightning-sparking eyes locked dead onto Hundred-Finger Sukuna, his face displaying an undisguised, almost manic fervor and excitement.
"Are you the strongest of this era?"
"Come on!"
"Entertain me!"
Before his voice even faded, he transformed into a streak of golden lightning and charged straight at Ryomen Sukuna.
Sukuna was just frustrated with having nowhere to vent his boiling rage, and here was a small fry delivering himself right to his doorstep.
"Get lost!"
He roared furiously.
Sukuna's four bulging, muscular arms, carrying pure physical force, met the golden lightning head-on with a devastating punch.
*Bang!*
An incredibly dull, heavy thud echoed out.
Hajime Kashimo's body, honed to its absolute limits, was as fragile as paper before Sukuna's iron fists.
The lightning enveloping him was instantly shattered.
Every bone in his body was pulverized in an instant by that unreasonably tyrannical force.
His body flew backward like a dead dog, trailing a long string of bloody mist before smashing violently into the ruins of a distant building, never to make another sound.
Truly unable to withstand a single blow.
Having dealt with the line-cutter, Sukuna was just about to resume his battle with Ian.
Only to discover that Ian's body was now manifesting Yuki Tsukumo's [Star Rage].
"You like using your fists? Then let me ask you, what kind of woman is your type?"
Mimicking Yuki Tsukumo's posture, Ian threw a heavy punch imbued with terrifying "virtual mass" straight toward Sukuna.
Sukuna's four eyes widened drastically.
He could clearly sense the absolute, pure "power" contained within that punch!
He wanted to dodge.
But the surrounding space warped violently under the sheer terror of that mass, locking him firmly in place.
*Boom—!!!*
Sukuna's massive, demon-like body took the punch head-on.
As if struck directly by a meteor, he was launched into the sky.
His body continuously broke through the atmosphere; he was nearly punched straight out of Earth's orbit!
Sukuna was completely dumbfounded.
'What kind of monster... is this man?'
'Why can he use someone else's cursed technique?'
'Wait...'
'Using someone else's cursed technique?'
A sudden realization flooded his mind.
'Could it be...'
'Could it be that the guy who transformed into my appearance earlier, perfectly replicating even my Domain Expansion, was him?!'
At that exact moment, Hiromi Higuruma, Kinji Hakari, and a host of resurrected ancient powerhouses were completely drawn by the battle and arrived at the periphery of the battlefield.
They looked at Sukuna, who was rapidly plummeting from space like a meteor, and then looked at the calmly composed Ian.
The flames of battle ignited in everyone's eyes.
It was as if Ian had eyes in the back of his head.
He slowly turned around and casually beckoned the newly arrived powerhouses with a finger.
"You want to fight?"
"Sure."
"Come at me all at once. I'm in a hurry."
This naked, undisguised contempt completely detonated the fury of all the powerhouses present.
Without any hesitation, they launched a fierce, simultaneous assault on Ian from all directions!
For a moment, the light of various cursed techniques shot into the sky above the ruins of Shibuya, resembling a dazzling fireworks display.
However, standing at the center of the storm, Ian did not even move an inch.
These cursed techniques were completely unable to breach that thin layer of the Limitless Cursed Technique.
Then, like a phantom, he rapidly weaved through the crowd.
With every strike, a powerhouse who had left a resounding name in history was instantly crushed.
Having just crashed back down to earth, Sukuna could not accept being humiliated so thoroughly by Ian. He completely erupted.
He went completely mad!
Disregarding everything around him, he began frantically unleashing wide-range [Dismantle] and [Cleave] attacks.
Spatial slashes began to run rampant.
Invisible edges, like the sharpest of plows, completely leveled the ruins of Tokyo to the ground.
One massive spatial slash crossed hundreds of kilometers and struck the distant Mount Fuji with absolute precision!
*Rumble—!!!*
The volcano, which had slumbered for centuries, was forcibly detonated by this power from the pinnacle of curses!
Terrifying volcanic ash blotted out the sun, and boiling magma surged down the mountainside!
A chain reaction had begun.
The collapse of the volcano triggered violent movements in the deepest tectonic plates of the Japanese archipelago.
Magnitude 8.0, 9.0, and even 10.0 super earthquakes erupted one after another!
Coastal cities sounded the highest-level tsunami alarms.
Hundred-meter-tall rogue waves, like moving mountain ranges, surged forward to swallow the shattered coastline.
Doomsday had arrived.
Countless civilians wailed under the dual blows of natural disaster and man-made calamity.
Looking at the apocalyptic scene he had personally created, Sukuna did not stop; instead, he grew even more thrilled.
He was going to completely destroy this displeasing world!