Hi3rd: Achievement Hunter

Shiing-!

Shiing-!

Shiing-!

The first thing that greeted Aleph was the swathe of invisible arcs headed towards him. The moment they touched his body, however, they seemingly lost all of their functions.

The entire twenty-meter radius where Aleph stood was turned into nothing but a space for these arcs.

Most combatants would have been seriously injured with it. The strongest special-grades would have to put their mind on operating their reversed curse technique to mitigate its damage.

Yet, this danger did not exist for Aleph at all.

For a while, Aleph only stood still. This made Sukuna's confident smile even more beaming.

"You are mitigating my slashes. Was it something similar to Satoru Gojo's Infinity?"

His self-musings were responded to by a sharp increase of danger.

Hum-!

The pressure exerted by Aleph went to another level. Every bit of his exerted cursed energy dominated the surroundings.

It was extremely similar to the 'intimidation' released by strong people. Only, it was amplified dozens of times.

Such was the effect of Aleph's glimpse into Li Shuwen's No Second Strike. Although it was done through his Juezhao, it was more than enough.

Crack-!

The edges of Sukuna's domain began cracking.

'This guy—!'

Before he could react, Aleph's figure appeared in front of him—out of thin air. None was the sword he once held. A concentrated black energy was all his fists had as it struck his chest.

BAM-!

CRACK-!

SHATTER-!

Sukuna's Malevolent Shrine collapsed in one go. His body flew rapidly into the air.

"Keuk..!"

It was a strike at the boundaries of the soul—one he was too weak against.

It didn't end there.

Like a ghost, Aleph reappeared on top of Sukuna's figure. All the latter saw was a spinning kick directed to his stomach. The kick contained a concentrated cursed energy once again.

Bam-!

Sou-!

Boom-!

"Kuk..!"

Blood dripped out from the corners of his mouth. His eyes became slightly unfocused as it was directed towards the night sky.

Tap.

The familiar sense of danger reappeared.

Without hesitation, Sukuna sent out numerous Dismantles all around him.

Unfortunately, they did not work.

Swoosh-!

Aleph gripped his neck and tossed him into the air.

Zoom-!

Bam-!

Sukuna's body flew midair for the third time. Having weakened due to the three consecutive Black Flashes mixed with the Soul-seizing strikes Aleph used against the Herrscher, Sukuna became briefly incapacitated.

For the current Aleph, it was more than enough to connect a combo against him.

Another spinning kick sent him flying horizontally.

Bam-!

Aleph sent Sukuna's body through several buildings at once. More than five high-rise buildings collapsed within the one-minute duration of their fight—rather, one-sided beatdown.

The latter utilized his reversed curse technique to barely regain his clarity.

His body spun several times on the office grounds before stopping. He tried standing up on the office floor, but to no avail.

His arms were shaking. His entire body felt extremely heavy. Each of Aleph's strikes hit like an unbreakable boulder. Add to that the effects of Black Flash and its effect on Sukuna's control over this body, it almost incapacitated him.

Still, Sukuna forced himself to complete a hand gesture.

From the time he fired off Cleave and Dismantle, all the requirements were met.

"Open."

A fire arrow emerged from Sukuna's hands. Its brightness far exceeded what Jogo demonstrated moments ago. It was the Fuga that could outclass a special-grade curse's special attack.

Boom-!

This single attack devastated multiple buildings at once. Everything at its blasting range was turned into cinders. The office ground was burnt into cinders as he got exposed into the night sky.

Even so—

Sou-!

—it wasn't enough to stop Aleph. He came out unscathed a dozen meters away from Sukuna. The only thing that it did to him was to push him back slightly. That, and the surface-level burns on his skin.

With Aleph's legs bent on the scorched ground, his entire figure shot towards him. His figure disappeared in the midst of it, turning Sukuna's senses into a brief period of blankness.

'What–?'

Bam-!

All he got was another punch to his face. 

His entire figure flew straight out of the office building. It didn't take long before he crashed diagonally to the ground.

Boom-!

Rumble-!

A cloud of dust kicked off. Sukuna's mind went completely blank. He didn't have the slightest bit of time to react to Aleph's insanely strong strikes.

Bam-!

Aleph landed into the ground. He looked at Sukuna's current state and thought:

'Nearly five thousand units of cursed energy… I didn't even need to use Juezhao directly.'

Although he expected Sukuna to be weaker than him, he didn't expect the fight would be this one-sided. He hadn't even used Simple Domain to negate Sukuna's Malevolent Shrine.

Unknowingly, Aleph became capable of easily dealing with what the others considered as a fraud.

'Separating him from this boy…'

It didn't take long for him to act. His thoughts were completely within a split second.

Aleph took out Yamato once again. His cursed energy began concentrating at one point. It was, by far, the strongest attack he was about to unleash in this world.

'That deadbeat used Yamato to split himself in half. If so, it should be able to separate souls.'

His thoughts were confirmed by the Great Sage.

{Result: The analysis of the item "Yamato" confirmed it possesses the power to cut souls. Consequently, it was found that it centers on its ability to bolster the concept of cutting…}

Aleph wanted to use this move against Herrschers with an alter ego. That way, he would be able to 'save' these Herrschers in another sense. 

The world did not give them a chance, but Aleph wants to change that.

'Not only to separate, but to completely exorcise him…'

His eyes became clear. The sheathed blade in his hands was held tighter. His feet walked towards the nearly unconscious Sukuna.

'Judgement Cut… What a fitting name.'

Click-!

Tchk-!

Yamato left its sheathe. The space around them was turned into a broken mirror. Be it the buildings, postlights, or Sukuna, they were all covered in thin silver lines.

Klink.

The moment the blade was sheathed once more, their surroundings went back to normal.

Shatter-!

An extremely strong surge of cursed energy erupted. The buildings around their thirty meter radius got obliterated. Every single building that got hit began crumbling down. The rest that got impacted by the leftover force, those beyond thirty meters, couldn't escape as well.

RUMBLE-!

Amidst everything, Sukuna's body seemed fine.

However, it wasn't just that.

Sizzle-!

A deformed body existed right beside Yuuji Itadori's body. At its end was a pair of clouded eyes and a big mouth. Its entire shape was akin to that of an entire right hand.

It began to slowly disappear as it got separated from Yuuji.

It was only then did Sukuna regain a trace of his consciousness.

"You…"

"How was it? I told you, didn't I?" Aleph paused before continuing, "You wouldn't regret this now, would you?"

Aleph half-expected to hear curses from his mouth, though it was something else he heard.

"You are very strong. Go take that."

The full-powered Juezhao that gathered his cursed energy, added on top of Yamato's own sharpness, brought an end to the King of Curses that brought fear to the entire Heian Era.

'The person Kashimo talked about with great interest… how would he react once he knew I killed him?'

Seeing the piles of ashes left on the ground as well as the unconscious Yuuji with a severely injured body, Aleph touched his chin.

'What should I do next?'

*****

A/N: The bonus chapter and the Christmas omake comes tomorrow. 

Happy Holidays~!