"Die!"
In that moment, Yoru's dark red eyes erupted with a radiance more blinding than the scorching sun!
Absolute sword intent!
Before this sword intent, the thick, nauseating miasma surrounding them recoiled in a frenzy, as if it had encountered its natural predator.
"Roar—!"
The Mutated Land Deity let out a piercing, agonized shriek.
Run!
It had to escape!
That was the only thought remaining in the Mutated Land Deity's mind.
Yet its instincts as a Semi-Special Grade Cursed Spirit told it clearly: under the weight of this murderous intent locked onto its very soul, there was nowhere to hide!
Since it couldn't flee, its only choice was a desperate, final struggle!
Rumble!
The ruins of the dilapidated shrine began to shake violently. The earth cracked open, and countless thick trees were uprooted.
The Mutated Land Deity squeezed out every drop of cursed energy, every ounce of resentment, and every bit of poisonous miasma within its body without reservation!
Its body, covered in tumors and bone spurs, writhed frantically.
The faces of countless villagers it had once devoured surfaced across its skin, letting out hair-raising wails and screams.
"Die... let's die together..."
Accompanied by the grating sound of bones grinding together, the Mutated Land Deity swung open its maw, wide as an abyss.
The surrounding light seemed to be swallowed whole.
A sphere of cursed energy, over several meters in diameter and condensed to a pitch-black hue, crackled with destructive waves as it coalesced in its mouth!
This was the final, life-risking blow of a Semi-Special Grade Cursed Spirit burning its own core!
If it detonated, not just this hilltop but the forest for miles around would be leveled instantly, turned into a barren wasteland where nothing could grow!
"Instructor Yoru! Get out of the way!"
Kento Nanami, lying in a pool of blood and finding even breathing agonizing, bellowed with eyes nearly bursting from their sockets.
No matter how fast Yoru was, he couldn't possibly escape unscathed at such close range!
Yet, facing this cataclysmic strike, Yoru didn't retreat even half a step.
He simply raised the pitch-black Special Grade Cursed Tool in his hand: Shiranui.
Under the ultimate vision of the Transparent World...
The violent cursed energy blast and the massive body of the Mutated Land Deity became transparent in Yoru's eyes.
Deep within that gargantuan frame, a black core pulsed frantically.
The fatal spot!
"Any piece of trash who dares to trample on life..."
Yoru lowered his stance slightly, his left foot slamming onto the cracked flagstones.
Crack!
The hard rock was instantly reduced to powder.
...should be burned to ash!"
Hum—!
Yoru's breathing rhythm changed abruptly.
The air in his lungs was compressed to the extreme, then circulated through his body at a very specific frequency.
The flame-like Slayer Mark on his left forehead erupted with an unprecedented, blinding red light!
"Sun Breathing, Sixth Form..."
Yoru's body seemed to merge with the long blade, transforming into a dark red sun that tore through the darkness.
"Burning Bones, Summer Sun!"
Boom!!!
There were no elaborate cursed technique incantations, nor any fancy hand signs.
Only the ultimate swing of the blade!
A spiral of flame, born from the resonance of pure intent and breathing techniques, soared into the sky as the blade cut through the air!
The moment this flaming slash appeared, the ambient temperature skyrocketed to a terrifying level.
Even the air itself warped and twisted from the heat!
A second later.
The dark red flaming slash collided head-on with the pitch-black cursed energy blast in mid-air!
It was a one-sided, absolute crushing!
Hiss—!
The cursed energy blast, which contained the full power of a Semi-Special Grade Cursed Spirit, acted like a drop of water falling into a red-hot iron pan the moment it touched the Burning Bones, Summer Sun.
It couldn't even hold out for half a second before it was instantly vaporized by the extreme heat!
"Aaaaagh—!!!"
The dark red sun surged forward like a hot knife through butter, piercing through the cursed energy blast and slamming into the Mutated Land Deity's massive frame with undiminished force!
A scream of absolute agony tore through the entire mountain forest.
Its mountain-like body, enveloped in flames, began to melt and collapse at a visible rate.
This fire didn't just burn its flesh.
It followed the cursed energy circuits, incinerating its very soul!
"Help... help me..."
The faces of the trapped souls on the Cursed Spirit's surface actually showed smiles of liberation the moment they touched the flames, before scattering into specks of starlight.
Within a few short breaths.
Even a Semi-Special Grade Cursed Spirit, renowned for its infinite regeneration...
Didn't leave behind a single scrap the size of a fingernail at this moment, utterly incinerated into primordial nothingness!
Whoosh.
A gentle breeze blew through.
The pervasive poisonous miasma dispersed, and the nauseating cold vanished along with it.
The shrine ruins, once shrouded in endless shadows, saw the long-lost evening sun once again.
Golden sunlight spilled over the devastated earth and across the back of the young man standing there with his long blade.
"We... we're saved..."
Yu Haibara stared blankly at the scene, the broken half of his blade falling limply to the ground.
His eyes, which had been prepared for death, were now filled with indescribable shock and adoration.
One strike.
With just a single blow.
The Semi-Special Grade monster that had driven them to the brink and filled them with despair had simply vanished into ash!
Just what kind of god-like power was this?!
Kento Nanami's jaw dropped as well, his mind momentarily blanking out the agonizing pain from his broken ribs.
He looked at Yoru's shadow, stretched long by the setting sun.
The cold wall in his heart—the belief that 'the jujutsu world holds only despair'—crumbled completely in that moment.
Clang—!
A crisp ring echoed as the blade moved.
Yoru reversed his grip and slowly slid Shiranui back into its scabbard.
With the final click of the blade seating home, the oppressive pressure that had been pushed to its limit finally vanished.
Yet, just as the dust settled and the crisis seemed over, Yoru suddenly began to tremble violently.
Spurt—!
A large spray of dark red blood erupted from his mouth without warning, staining the scorched earth before him.
His face turned as white as paper in an instant, drained of all color.
Even his left hand, still gripping the scabbard, began to spasm uncontrollably.
He had been too reckless.
A desperate distance of two hundred kilometers.
To arrive before the Reaper could swing its scythe, he had forcibly activated his Slayer Mark and sprinted the entire way using Thunder Breathing, First Form: Thunderclap and Flash - Godspeed at supersonic speeds.
The strain on his body was nothing short of appalling!
Although the system reaching 46% synchronization had provided a small recovery in stamina...
After unleashing the devastating Burning Bones, Summer Sun, even that final shred of strength was completely drained.
Every inch of his muscle had reached the breaking point during that explosive output.
His internal organs felt like they were on fire.
His vision began to spin, and the sound of the wind grew distant.
Yoru felt his consciousness rapidly sinking into a boundless darkness.
His legs buckled, his body losing all support as he collapsed forward, falling heavily.
"Instructor Yoru!!!"
Seeing this, Kento Nanami and Yu Haibara, who were still reeling from shock, screamed in absolute terror.
Just as Yoru's body was about to hit the ground...
Thud! Thud!
Two bloody, battered figures somehow erupted with strength beyond their physical limits and lunged forward frantically!
Two pairs of trembling yet incredibly firm hands caught Yoru's falling body from both sides!
It was Kento Nanami and Yu Haibara.
These two boys, who shouldn't have even been able to stand...
Forced their broken bones and bleeding wounds to move at this moment, using their own bodies to prop up the man who had collapsed after saving them.
Kento Nanami gritted his teeth, using his unbroken right shoulder to brace Yoru's left side.
Yu Haibara used all his strength, wrapping his unpierced right arm tightly around Yoru's waist.
Three people.
One man and two boys.
Covered in blood and in a sorry state, they huddled together amidst the ruins.
But under the blood-red setting sun, their overlapping figures radiated a warmth even more intense than the sky-scorching flames from before.
"Don't... don't fall asleep, Instructor Yoru..."
Yu Haibara's voice was thick with tears, which pitter-pattered onto Yoru's uniform.
He called out desperately, trying to use his own body heat to warm Yoru's cooling skin.
"You're the strongest... You promised to take us out for yakiniku when we got back..."
Kento Nanami said nothing.
He only pressed his lips together tightly, his eyes—reignited with a piercing light—fixed firmly on the unconscious man in their arms.
He had never imagined.
In this shitty jujutsu world where life was treated as cheap and the higher-ups viewed low-level sorcerers as disposable pawns...
There would actually be someone willing to defy orders for the sake of saving two insignificant first-year students.
Someone who would put their very life on the line!
It caused Kento Nanami's heart—which had already decided to trend toward numbness and escapism—to boil over!
"This rotten place..."
Nanami murmured, a spark of unprecedented ruthlessness and resolve flashing in his eyes.
"I absolutely cannot let it continue to exist like this!"
The sun, red as blood, shone quietly over the ruins.
The crisis had been resolved.
But the reckoning for that despicable attempted murder—orchestrated by the higher-ups who deliberately falsified intel to target students—had only just begun.
Yoru's coughed-up blood, the boys' tears, and these ruins that nearly became a grave for two young lives...
Would all become the sparks that ignited the transformation of the entire jujutsu world.
The very first flame!