"——"
In that single instant, sound vanished.
Boundless light filled the entire world.
The impact force formed by the light spread outward endlessly.
A semi-circular dome of light slowly rose from the ground.
Due to its excessive power, another layer of vapor rings exploded above the rising dome, looking like a halo on an angel's head descending to earth, bestowing holiness upon heaven and earth.
The dragon had predicted the direction of Naobito's Projection Sorcery and spat out the breath it had been charging without hesitation.
This breath far exceeded the one used against Kinji Hakari.
Over two kilometers of terrain were permanently destroyed, and the destructive power reached a distance of ten kilometers.
It was as if a thousand suns had risen on the earth, making all the gods of "All Things Severed" bow their heads.
But the dragon did not believe Naobito had died just like that!
The dragon believed more than Naobito himself that he wasn't dead.
How could a man who had used Black Flash four times in a row die here?
How could the man known as the fastest in the world besides Satoru Gojo fail to dodge?
So, where was he?
Where was Naobito Zenin?
"Right here!"
A roar exploded in the sky higher than the dragon.
The dragon looked up; right among the clouds, Naobito was there.
He was descending through the clouds, accompanied by wind, rain, lightning, and massive Cursed Energy.
He had actually jumped with great force before the breath hit, reaching a height of over a hundred meters!
Normally, he could never have done this, but now he didn't even judge whether he could; his Projection Sorcery had already completed the preset movements.
He completed the action as naturally as breathing, and he was already high in the air above a hundred meters.
Then, a dive!
—Projection Sorcery!
Even with the dragon's eyes, he was almost invisible.
This wasn't the speed of falling due to gravity, but an action completed within one second by Projection Sorcery.
The multiple stacked applications of the technique were now so fast they seemed like a beam of light—a meteor of Cursed Energy smashing down!
The dragon whipped its body and swung its tail.
The massive wind pressure swept up all the rainwater, like a moving waterspout destroying everything at high speed.
But Naobito, while falling, pulled his fist to his waist.
Just before the dragon's tail could hit him, the fist at his waist struck out—
—Naturally, it was a Black Flash!
The fifth one!
Bang!
The Black Flash fist pierced a ten-meter diameter tunnel through the waterspout.
At the end of the tunnel was the dragon's tail.
The Black Flash collided head-on with the tail.
Amidst the massive force, black lightning flashed between heaven and earth—the manifestation of distorted space.
The sound of their immense strength spread outward, layer upon layer of sonic waves shattering the rain, circle after circle of sound waves expanding.
The dragon's tail wasn't actually crushed!
Dragon scales fell like rain, and dragon blood sprayed onto Naobito's half-naked body, staining the other half of his kimono through the gaps in his muscles.
His eyes were bloodshot because he saw new scales rapidly growing on the muscle exposed beneath the missing scales.
He had only knocked off the scales; he hadn't truly managed to harm the dragon's body.
Without any hesitation, he activated Projection Sorcery again!
The dragon danced wildly in the sky, and the man ran along the dragon's body.
Naobito was gambling with his life!
The principle of Projection Sorcery was preset and action, but there was a prerequisite: he had to perform the exact movement he had preset.
Once he failed to perform the preset action, he would be frozen for one second due to the technique's backlash.
In this high-speed battle, one second was enough to die a hundred times.
But every one of his judgments was correct!
His brain seemed to be burning as well.
Five consecutive Black Flashes had put him into an unprecedented state of omnipotence.
He could perceive every breath of the dragon, every muscle movement, every flow of blood, every circulation of Cursed Energy, and every undulation of its scales.
He immediately understood why the dragon's scales could withstand a Black Flash.
It was because there was actually an invisible Cursed Energy-filled space between the dragon's scales and its body.
The scales were not tightly attached like those of a fish, but rather like an insect's carapace, with a buffer layer.
This design had another benefit: if it encountered an attack that couldn't be resisted or buffered, the scales could automatically detach.
Even with destructive power like the Black Flash, after breaking through the scale buffer layer, it couldn't apply a more lethal attack to the dragon's body.
It could only cause a wound; it couldn't sever the tail.
But even with a buffer layer, the scales weren't without limits.
Didn't the Black Flash break the buffer layer as well?
It was just that the power of that Black Flash still hadn't exceeded the upper limit of its damage absorption capacity.
Seeing through this, Naobito immediately abandoned the idea of continuing to strike the dragon's body.
With the dragon's regenerative power, it didn't matter how many times he injured the body.
The speed of scale growth and the dragon's regeneration meant that no matter how many Black Flashes he threw, it would be useless.
If this continued, he would be the one to be worn down and die first.
He had to accurately predict the Cursed Energy amounts of both sides, minimizing his own consumption while maximizing the dragon's, so he could wear down this great creature according to the original plan.
A fatal wound!
Only a fatal wound would do!
Don't strike the areas covered by scales.
Only the places where scales cannot cover are the dragon's true vital points.
But the dragon's entire body was covered in scales; only the eyes and nostrils were not.
However, both the eyes and nostrils were surely points the dragon protected heavily and wouldn't be easy to approach.
No, with such a clever design for the scales, it was hard to believe the dragon's eyes and nostrils didn't have other protections.
Perhaps those were specifically decoy organs intended to lure in self-righteous hunters.
But besides the eyes and nose, wasn't there another place where one could directly attack the dragon's interior?
Naobito was startled by his own crazy idea, but before his reason could stop him, his body acted first.
Don't be ridiculous!
Having fought to this point, do I, as the Head of the Zenin clan, have any other way out?
Kill the King of Curses, wash away the Zenin clan's shame—transcending myself happens right now, right here!
Naobito couldn't help but roar at the top of his lungs due to the hot blood in his chest.
He began to preset his next actions using his field of vision.
In his state of constant acceleration, he seemed to surpass everything in the world.
His brain began to suffer damage from over-calculation.
He didn't know the Reverse Cursed Technique; if this continued, he would likely suffer permanent brain damage.
But he didn't care at all.
Driven by a frenzied will, he had never felt such exhilaration.
The final Projection Sorcery!
Time seemed to slow down, dozens of times slower.
The dragon was still dancing wildly, its scales standing on end like a series of sharp blades.
Naobito's preset actions were complete; now, he began his final sprint.
The dragon rolled over; he shifted his steps, changing his footwork the moment it turned.
The dragon bristled its scales; he leaped, crossing over from above the scales.
The dragon curled its body like a snake, and he continued to run along its coiled form.
Finally, the dragon's head appeared before his eyes.
Those heterochromatic eyes were like two massive searchlights.
Naobito was stared down, feeling like a fugitive caught firmly in the searchlights on a prison wall.
A massive sense of crisis spread frantically from the depths of his heart; his spine chilled, his heart nearly leaped out of his chest, and his mouth went dry, making even the act of swallowing feel arduous.
Countless instincts screamed warnings simultaneously, telling him to run, run, run!
But he didn't run; he flashed a smile.
He leaped high according to his preset movements.
The potential of this body was fully tapped, yet Cursed Energy continued to replenish incessantly, as if all the Cursed Energy in the world were converging upon him.
He was growing stronger every second.
He surpassed his own limits and ascended to a new level.
Now, he was going to slay a god!
The dragon's heterochromatic eyes suddenly vanished, and a maw capable of devouring all of creation appeared before Naobito.
Deep within the throat of that maw, a high-concentration Cursed Energy shell—the Dragon's Breath—was swirling, ready to be unleashed.
Ah, the dragon's head really was a trap, Naobito thought to himself.
Then, he thought again—just as I expected!
Cursed Energy that surpassed everything was grasped in Naobito's hands.
He kept only a basic layer of Cursed Energy protection to prevent dying instantly at high altitude; all the remaining Cursed Energy was being concentrated and charged.
His entire skeleton was creaking, for the rapid flow of Cursed Energy had begun to damage his body.
A trace of blood sprayed from the corner of his eye, drawing a crimson streak in the air.
Using all his Cursed Energy, he threw this punch.
Black—! Flash—!
Use Black Flash to push the Dragon's Breath back!
Was it possible?
It was possible the Dragon's Breath would explode before being pushed back, resulting in mutual destruction.
It was also possible there was no Dragon's Breath at all, and the dragon would choose to ram him directly with its horns.
Even if he broke the horns and heavily injured the dragon's head, it would be meaningless, as the dragon's regenerative power could heal those wounds in an instant.
Even worse, what if the dragon suddenly slowed down and dove from the sky to the ground?
With just one wrong step, the preset Projection Sorcery would send Naobito to Hell.
But, once again, he won.
He had banked on the dragon's pride.
Just as the dragon disdained using the elderly and weak to bind his hands and feet, he firmly believed the dragon craved a final one-on-one.
When he took the initiative to head into the sky, the dragon would surely settle the score with him there.
Before he reached the dragon's head, the dragon would surely use its maximum Dragon's Breath against him, just as he believed the dragon had judged that he would surely use Black Flash to counter-kill it.
When two samurai crouch simultaneously in an open field, placing their hands lightly on their hilts, is there any other possibility besides both using an Iai Slash at the same time?
No, there isn't.
There are no other possibilities.
This is a man's romance!
So, it's now—right this moment!
The! Final! Strike!
Naobito's Black Flash and the Dragon's Breath were released at the same time!
Naobito was stunned, because the high-concentration Cursed Energy shell deep in the dragon's throat wasn't its usual color.
The color of the breath—suddenly ignited with black flames.
Normally, Naobito wouldn't have understood this phenomenon, but now he immediately knew why the high-concentration Cursed Energy shell was ignited by black flames:
The phenomenon of Black Flash is caused by both physics and Cursed Energy.
In other words, to use Black Flash, both physical force and Cursed Energy must exist simultaneously.
This is why Black Flash can be used while holding a weapon, but typical Jujutsu attacks cannot.
Pure Cursed Energy attacks cannot trigger a Black Flash, so from the start, Naobito hadn't considered the possibility of the Dragon's Breath producing a Black Flash.
But what if this wasn't a pure high-concentration Cursed Energy shell?
What if there was also air inside?
The principle of Black Flash is the spatial distortion created when the gap between a physical hit and a Cursed Energy impact is within 0.000001 seconds.
In other words, as long as this premise is met, anything can potentially give birth to a Black Flash.
Using a special organ to spit out a physical "Air Cannon," and concentrating a high-density mass of Cursed Energy within that Air Cannon—this perfectly satisfies the premise of a physical hit and a Cursed Energy hit!
The rest is simple.
It's the same principle as Kento Nanami using a blunt blade to trigger Black Flash in the original work, or Nobara Kugisaki using Black Flash with her hammer and nails.
Before the Air Cannon was spat out, a Black Flash that distorted space converged directly at the dragon's mouth.
Then, it was spat out all at once along with the resulting spatial distortion.
Out it went—this was the first ever in the history of the Jujutsu world:
Black! Flash! Breath!
A pillar of absolute darkness spread from the dragon's breath into the sky.
The dark clouds of the pouring rain were swept away by the breath, as if a pitch-black blade had been spat from the dragon's mouth.
This blade shot straight into the sky, slicing through the clouds; the rain vanished, the lightning vanished, and it continued to surge upward, extending infinitely, spreading infinitely, until finally—
—the Black Sword sliced through the silver moon, splitting the moonlight in two.
The wind, rain, and thunder ended there.