Frieren: Himmel — Chapter 179 - Mahoraga, Beat Sukuna to a Pulp!
After Fushiguro Megumi completed the incantation through muscle memory,
[Snap]
Like a bandage snapping taut, in an instant, massive cursed energy materialized from behind the man, spreading, reflecting, and flooding the entire space with the speed of light cascading across a surface.
"Huh?"
The [monster] that appeared from nowhere stood before Uraume.
Then,
Whoosh,
At a speed Uraume couldn't react to, a single punch sent 'Fushiguro Megumi' flying, still frozen in place, still locked in the post-Incarnation rigidity.
BOOM!——!
One casual punch. Fushiguro's entire body twisted grotesquely.
He crashed through the ice wall Uraume had made, slammed hard into the side of an ambulance, and buried himself into the metal, the gut-punch thud of shattering bones mixing with the screech of tearing steel.
Alive or dead. Unknown.
"Lord Sukuna!" Uraume cried out, then immediately bit down on the rest and turned to face the thing before them with grave, wary eyes.
THUD!
THUD!
Each step crushed the frost underfoot. The earth shook.
It was a pure white giant.
An unsettling white. A white so stark that even without a light source it would sting the eyes.
Its form was humanoid overall, but where the eyes should have been, two pairs of wings grew instead, spreading outward from either side of its face.
And above its head...
The Dharma Wheel. Symbol of cycle and harmony.
[The Pure White Otherworldly Divine General.]
[Descends upon Tokyo.]
"Bastard! How dare you do that to Lord Sukuna's body—"
"Ice Binding Cursed Technique!"
An innate manipulation of cursed energy properties.
Drawing cursed energy itself into a supercooled state, then hurling it at an opponent to destroy their physical body from within.
Combined with Uraume's abnormal cursed energy output, it could blanket an enormous area with a single strike.
Now, as Uraume moved, icy air billowed forward from their palm, a small swirling vortex expanding rapidly into a full storm, pushing toward Mahoraga where it stood.
Mahoraga didn't move.
It was frozen solid in an instant. A massive block of ice.
Two rows of white teeth sat exposed and obvious through the ice, making its locked posture almost comical.
"Phew...."
See, my ice is pretty accurate after all....
This thing isn't so scary.
Uraume exhaled slowly.
Crack,
"What!"
The ice began shattering from Mahoraga's arm outward, a sharp, clean break, and then the entire five-to-six-meter column of ice split apart in whole sections and came cascading to the ground.
"Impossible!"
Uraume went pale.
Their ice didn't break easily. That man called Fushiguro Toji, just moments ago, Uraume had been confident they could freeze even him.
But this thing,
"Reverse Cursed Technique?!"
Heavy footsteps. Mahoraga walked slowly toward Uraume, and the long sword swaying at its side drew Uraume's gaze.
(That sword is the [Sword of Extermination], it emits positive energy.... The problem is the output. That output level would kill even the most powerful Special Grade Cursed Spirit in a single hit. That's why my cursed energy was neutralized so fast!)
(Then I'll stall for time. Once Lord Sukuna, )
Tap.
One blink, and the Mahoraga that had been slowly walking toward Uraume was simply gone.
Like a frame torn from film. From Uraume's perspective, they hadn't even heard it move before the enemy had already vanished.
But...
They could feel it.
That... weight pressing down!
From the direction facing Uraume, their flank was already swallowed by the shadow of an enormous white giant. The giant raised its blade high, cocking it for a diagonal slash,
BOOM!
The blade struck the ground.
The ice layer sank several inches in an instant. A deafening roar followed.
Fine cracks shot across the ice membrane. Thousands of web-like fractures crawled across the entire surface in a breath.
Sharp shards exploded outward along every seam, mixed with larger chunks, the whole cascade blasting skyward dozens of meters before scattering far in every direction.
[?]
But Mahoraga's face, indistinct as it was, seemed to show a flicker of confusion.
CRUNCH!
It lifted the blade.
Beneath the blade. No blood.
"Heh."
It looked ahead.
Uraume had gone several shades paler. Sweat had soaked through their clothes, then refrozen against their skin in the cold. They were trembling slightly, held in a man's arms, looking thoroughly wrecked.
And the man holding them...
"Hehehe. Hahahaha. Well, well, Fushiguro Megumi."
The man with Fushiguro Megumi's face set Uraume down and rose without hurry.
Riiip.
Right hand came up and seized the front of his shirt. One pull. Torn completely off and tossed aside.
Left hand swept upward through his hair, slicking it back into the pompadour he favored.
'Fushiguro Megumi', no. What stood here now should be called,
[Ryomen Sukuna]
"Interesting. So there was still a trump card like this tucked away."
Sukuna looked at Mahoraga. His eyes burned with something rare: genuine interest.
"Uraume. Stand down. I'll test this one myself."
"....Yes."
Uraume retreated, frustration plain. On the battlefield's outer edge, the Cursed Womb: Death Paintings had already been hauled away by Choso the moment Mahoraga appeared.
Running, brothers. Running!
Any fighter worth their salt could feel it.
This place was about to become a purgatory.
Mahoraga's face looked almost blank at first glance. It watched Sukuna. For a moment, it didn't move to attack.
And Sukuna was perfectly happy to study it in return.
(Sword of Extermination.)
(And abnormal physical strength.)
"That's about all of it, I'd say."
He sank his body slightly. Clenched his fists.
"As a warm-up after waking up, I'll use you to—"
BOOM!
He hadn't finished the sentence before Mahoraga vanished again.
Unlike with Uraume, Sukuna caught the movement, and his mouth split into a wicked grin.
He wrenched his neck hard, his body's side blurring into afterimages, and swung his arm fast toward his own flank.
[Dismantle]!
CLANG!,,!.!,,
Metal screamed.
Cold light met cold light in an instant. Shockwaves detonated. The sound rolled outward through the air.
But...
Sukuna's Dismantle, swung with massive, deliberate force, in Mahoraga's hands...
The blade cut right through it.
Sukuna stiffened. But the sword was already at his face.
His swinging forearm barely caught the flat of the blade on its outer edge. The fine slashes covering his arm acted as a second layer of defense, intercepting the blow.
BOOM!
The entire rock layer heaved upward. The ground around them buckled and warped violently.
Heavy.
Sukuna registered.
(Raw strength alone, it's stronger than what I have right now.)
(Then I'll add the technique, )
The corner of his mouth twitched. His arm moved, swinging and slashing with fluid precision.
Through open air, the technique bloomed.
Blade light clashed like colliding meteors, the ringing impacts hammering out one after another without pause.
Fine sparks flew from Mahoraga's blade, scattering everywhere.
Between them, the shockwave swept outward in all directions, peeling up the already fractured ground and sending it rolling.
Fast, fast, FAST!
Sukuna laughed and accelerated. The Dismantle thrown from a single arm had multiplied from one slash to dozens. A dense net of blades, and everything the net passed through, rubble included, was cut to powder.
But...
SHING!,,
SHING,,
Lines of blood grazed the edge of its body. Mahoraga... had blocked the vast majority of the slashes.
(This thing! Has it grasped 'technique' like that brat Okkotsu Yuta? No, a Shikigami doesn't have that kind of reasoning circuit.)
But unlike Yuta, Mahoraga was working on pure instinct.
What it couldn't dodge, it took with its body. In just a few exchanges, it had already closed the distance.
Bzzz!.
Slashes too fast for the eye collided. Sukuna was the first to lean back, and felt a faint numbness spreading through his arm.
(....Stronger than, me...)
Before Sukuna could process that surprise, a massive palm dropped over his face.
BOOM,,!
Gusts of wind knotted into an invisible wall, then blew apart all at once.
The hand gripped his head and threw. Sukuna became a cannonball. His body lost all orientation in the air, spinning chaotically end over end.
The shot pulled back. Sukuna landed along an arc, but the astonishing inertia didn't die. His body pressed flat against the road, grinding along the hard surface like a heavy truck that had jackknifed and lost control.
Still sliding, and the white giant moved again.
The immense recoil sent tremors through the ground. Large sections of pavement buckled and tore upward.
Knees bent. Body sinking. Coiling down to load power, then both feet drove into the ground.
BOOM!
Mahoraga launched.
The air was torn apart. Like a rocket leaving the pad, Mahoraga spread both arms as it climbed into the sky, gliding like it was stroking through open water. Its head began to slowly rotate, away from the sky, downward, the angle dropping lower and lower, until it locked onto Sukuna on the ground.
BOOM! BOOM!
Gravity seized Mahoraga.
Faster. Faster. Faster.
Red and white scorching across its entire body, Mahoraga plummeted with absolute kinetic force, straight at Sukuna.
BOOM!,,!.
Impact. A crimson fireball erupted skyward. The shockwave hurled earth, stone, and shrapnel raging outward in every direction. The kinetic energy tore along the rock strata and kept spreading.
"Hahaha, you really are something!"
At the center of the explosion, the two of them ground forward together, Mahoraga on top, Sukuna beneath.
Mahoraga's palm pressed down. Sukuna's arms braced up. He used fine slashes to cushion his back against the ground, sparks grinding out continuously.
"Ha!"
He drove his leg upward, the top of his foot connecting squarely with Mahoraga's abdomen.
BOOM!
An air burst. Combined with his technique, Sukuna finally threw it off.
Swoosh.
Sukuna pulled back immediately and touched down.
"....."
He glanced sideways at himself.
His back had collided with concrete. The recoil of cursed energy had left it a raw, bloody mess. The rest of him carried bruises and contusions at various points.
In pure physical durability, Fushiguro Megumi was far below Itadori.
But these injuries,
(Not a problem. Any of them.)
HISS!
Masterful Reverse Cursed Technique sealed every wound in an instant.
For Sukuna, this was all noise. Minor skirmishing.
And for Mahoraga,
"Same for you, isn't it?" Sukuna's expression was contemptuous.
Mahoraga couldn't answer.
It bared its teeth wide, 'watching' Sukuna.
And then...
[Clang]
"Oh~"
Sukuna watched the Dharma Wheel begin to turn.
The anticipation in his eyes sharpened.
"You. Just now. What did you do~"
➤ Next: It's Actually! Mahoraga Unit Two!