When Hakari hit the jackpot, Junpei released the limit on the cursed energy he had been suppressing all this time.
Fwoosh!
Massive cursed energy burst forth from his body, clad in black armor similar to a berserker’s.
Feeling that overwhelming aura, Hakari laughed heartily as a chill ran down his spine.
TU-CATU-CATU-CATU-catucadão, catucadão
"I take back what I said about you being a boring bastard!"
Charging straight in, he threw a telegraph punch gathered from his momentum.
Junpei didn’t dodge. He met it head-on and took Hakari’s fist with his head.
Bang!
Fist and helmet collided, and the result was not good.
In terms of hardness, Junpei had the advantage. The secondary impact that came in was also absorbed by [Moonlit Wave], so there was no damage.
His toughness was so absurdly superior that Hakari’s fist was left half-shattered and ragged.
Thwack!
Junpei kicked up at Hakari’s rebounding chin, then immediately hammered his upper body.
Head, neck, liver, and every other vital point imaginable came under a relentless barrage, and each time, blue bruises spread across Hakari’s body.
He should have flinched from the pain, but Hakari didn’t retreat. Instead, he swung his right hand wide.
Whoosh!
"A reversed technique shouldn’t be able to reduce pain, right?"
Backing off with a sense of déjà vu, Junpei could see it.
Hakari’s damaged body had fully recovered in barely more than a second, leaving it spotless.
CE QUER SEXO AGRESSIVO?
"Hmph!"
Hakari blew out the blood clogging his nose and charged Junpei again.
He was strong and persistent, but maybe because he trusted his recovery too much, his movements were far too crude.
Did he have something up his sleeve?
Crack! Crack!
Junpei extended his arm, and his flicker jab slipped precisely through the wide-open gap in Hakari’s guard at the perfect timing.
The fist, thrown like a toss, smashed Hakari’s chin dead on, and his eyes rolled upward.
Reversed technique comes from the brain. Even without blowing the brain apart, once consciousness is lost, most users of reversed technique are instantly rendered combat ineffective.
But once again, as if mocking Junpei’s expectations, focus returned to Hakari’s eyes.
Grab
He was tougher than Junpei had imagined.
No matter how much of a speed advantage he had, there was always a gap after each hit. If Hakari could just bulldoze through every attack with sheer durability, Junpei would have to give up the turn.
Hakari clamped both hands around Junpei’s hips and then bent his waist backward, slamming Junpei into the rooftop floor.
Boom!
A perfect suplex cracked the rooftop floor.
From that bent-back posture, he released his grip, planted a hand on the ground, and jumped.
Hakari’s stamping kick came crashing down on Junpei’s face, which was still buried in the ground.
Pshhk!
The foot flying in with enough force to smash his head was blocked by the transformed [Black Scale].
The sharply honed tip pierced straight through the sole of his foot, and blood spilled out.
Even with a hole punched through his foot, Hakari acted as if something like that didn’t even sting. Instead, he put more force into twisting his leg.
Snap!
Even at that moment, Hakari’s foot was regenerating.
As [Black Scale] was compressed into the replenished muscle, force was applied horizontally, and the slender, deformed blade could not withstand the structural limit and broke.
After casually flicking his foot to pull out the embedded [Black Scale], Hakari tried to stomp down on it. Junpei met the attack with a smile and took it head-on.
VOU DAR TAPA, TAPA, TAPA!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Every time Hakari brought his foot down, the shock flowed into Junpei’s helmet.
He couldn’t completely block the near-infinite amount of cursed energy and output.
"He’s ridiculously tough."
Even while his head was being battered around, Junpei assessed Hakari’s true ability with satisfaction.
He wasn’t stronger than Okkotsu. Junpei had never actually fought him, but even just facing him down had been enough to gauge his skill.
Until he hit the jackpot, he had to endure with his bare body, so he lost points for stability. His attack pattern was also limited to hand-to-hand combat, which left plenty of room to respond.
But the bonus effect was so outrageously broken that it was more than enough to make up for Okkotsu’s absence.
"It feels like I’m fighting Yuji after he learned reversed technique."
The output was probably the strongest among the Jujutsu High students, aside from himself.
On top of that, there was the matching toughness, pain tolerance, trained body, and even the special nature of his cursed energy.
With the infinite cursed energy added on top, it felt like fighting a hunk of iron.
"Senpai, you really are strong."
"Then how about you just pass out for me...!!"
Unlike Junpei, who calmly took the attacks, Hakari, the one on the offensive, was having a miserable time.
"Why are you so damn hard!"
Those strange dual layers of armor were making his strikes useless.
Even his own output in bonus mode couldn’t be ignored, but even that would only amount to a trivial amount of damage.
As he thought that the betting and the fight were both leaning toward the other side, his body naturally tensed up.
"His cursed energy isn’t that high."
He was below Okkotsu, and even below himself in bonus mode.
But the performance of his technique and his cursed energy control more than made up for it.
Fast, tough, strong—basically just strong. He was exactly the kind of opponent whose sheer weight class made everything fit.
That was exactly how it had felt when he once sparred with Gojo Satoru.
Creek....
Deciding that striking him down through damage was impossible, Hakari quickly changed tactics and drove Junpei’s neck down with his knee.
Maybe strikes wouldn’t work, but a choke definitely would.
Unlike himself, Junpei wouldn’t be able to restore his brain in a situation where there was no oxygen.
"How about it? Feel the difference in power?"
"It should be about time for the effect to kick in...."
"What?"
Hakari only had a moment to feel something was off at Junpei’s strange muttering before his body lost control and lurched.
Thud
The [Black Scale] that had just pierced Hakari’s foot.
Junpei’s cursed energy, which had flowed through the wound, circulated through Hakari’s entire body and put him into a poisoned state.
In an instant, black spots spread all over Hakari’s body and he collapsed. Junpei stood up, then paused, slightly startled by the warm sensation he felt from his nose.
He quickly repaired his nose with reversed technique and stopped the bleeding, then sincerely marveled at Hakari’s skill.
"Wow... you actually broke through it."
Since Gojo and Sukuna, Hakari was the first opponent to break through his barrier.
No matter how much he had let himself get hit on purpose, he hadn’t released the technique, and Hakari had still forced his way through it with nothing but brute strength.
"At this point, I can’t not bring you with me."
Hakari’s evaluation in Junpei’s mind rose another notch.
He was a vital combat asset that couldn’t be left out.
If their compatibility had been even a little better, he would have fought much more effectively.
"Anyway, I won."
DADE, DADE, DADE, DADE!
"No, wait. Huh. It’s still playing?"
He laughed at the absurdity of still hearing the BGM even though the man himself had been knocked out.
Just as he was about to carry the unconscious Hakari back with him.
DENTRO DA COMUNIDADE!
Hakari’s eyes snapped open. He sprang up and slammed his forehead into Junpei’s.
Smack!
"...!"
"Hah! I thought I was dead, you bastard!"
The black spots covering Hakari’s body vanished the instant he regained consciousness.
In the blink of an eye, he had successfully detoxified and regained his original full condition.
Junpei, clutching his throbbing skull from the surprise headbutt, frowned.
"You can detox poison that fast?"
It wasn’t like he had poison resistance like Junpei or Yuji.
Could it be that because he had full-auto reversed technique, he could detox poison that quickly too...!
"You’ve got a special quality to your cursed energy too, don’t you? I was only watching out for that poison needle, so that was my mistake."
"....."
"A normal poison would’ve been detoxed the moment it hit, but because it was cursed energy, I guess it took longer than expected."
"You can’t do that consciously, right?"
"Yeah."
Normally, Hakari couldn’t use reversed technique, but in bonus mode, it was different.
It was something his body had unconsciously learned so it wouldn’t break under infinite cursed energy.
He could detox poison and even fully recover from brain damage in just a few seconds.
That speed even surpassed Gojo and Sukuna.
"That dual armor thing you used earlier looked like it ate up a ton of cursed energy. I wonder how many more times you can use it."
At last, Hakari found his composure and smiled brightly.
Seeing that obnoxious face twist up made him feel like ten years of indigestion had finally gone down.
And this was the moment the momentum had shifted into his hands.
Hakari’s victory plan against Junpei had two parts.
Win the cursed energy consumption game, or pull three ooatari before going down.
The latter was half left to chance, since once he hit the 4-4-4 ooatari, [probability change] could no longer activate. But the former condition had already been met.
"Shouldn’t you be the one worrying, Hakari-senpai? Your bonus effect is over too."
"That’s something we’ll see by trying. Gambling that doesn’t test your luck isn’t any fun."
The music that had been blaring so triumphantly was gone now, but that was fine.
Unlike him, whose cursed energy and injuries had all been restored by the bonus effect, the other side had probably burned through a fair amount in the previous exchange.
If he could just hit the jackpot one more time, he could lock in this momentum.
"[Domain Expansion]."
Once again, the domain spread out centered on Hakari as he formed hand signs.
It returned to the ordinary stage, but the way it unfolded was a little different from the first time.
Even if it wasn’t an odd jackpot, [time reduction], that is, [Shidan], was applied, so the prelude sequence and richi action could be skipped.
Shhhhhh!
All the intermediate steps were skipped, and with a fierce sound, numbers appeared behind Hakari.
1-1, Saito Aya.
The result was—
"I told you. I’m always lucky in situations like this."
1-1-1.
A surprise ooatari triggered at the [Shidan] stage.
VAI, VAI, VAI, VAI, VAI!
"What the—"
With the music starting up again, the bonus poured in once more.
Hakari clenched both fists at his own unbelievable luck after hitting the jackpot in just one stage.
In front of Junpei, who was brushing his bangs back with a dumbfounded look, Hakari wore a relaxed smile.
"I’ll admit it. You’re strong. You’re the first guy like you I’ve met in the last few years. But right now, I’m in top form."
"So luck... is a skill too?"
His opponent would have to endure another 4 minutes and 11 seconds while already drained of cursed energy.
Even if he managed to endure that, this ooatari was 1-1-1, an odd result. On the next domain, [probability change] would kick in, making another jackpot almost guaranteed.
If that happened, then Hakari would win by pulling three ooatari in a row.
"So, what are you going to do now?"
He was in a dead-end situation.
And yet Junpei still stood there motionless, his expression impossible to read.
Just as Hakari was tilting his head, wondering if he had given up, Junpei’s aura changed completely.
"Mapari."
Splash!
Responding to its master’s call, a jellyfish of black mist appeared in the air.
Void-Form, Unchanging Demon Sea Moon Jellyfish -
Akasha Yurayura Mapari.
The alien aura it emitted sent cold sweat trickling down Hakari’s forehead.
"That’s his shikigami?"
All this time, Junpei hadn’t even been using his proper technique.
That grotesque jellyfish was probably the bastard’s true power.
He felt completely overwhelmed by that monstrous strength.
"Uh... am I screwed?"
No, no. He’d hit an odd jackpot too.
Today was definitely his lucky day.
There was no way he could lose.
Hakari shook off the rising unease and charged Junpei, but unfortunately for him, the goddess of luck did not side with him this time.
"Even so, if I just last 4 minutes and 11 seconds, I win....!"
Whirl!
In the blink of an eye, Mapari vanished from sight and wrapped Hakari’s entire body in its tentacles.
"Huh."
Krrrk...
The constricting force was no joke.
He struggled to break free and pounded at it with his fists, but Mapari didn’t even twitch.
Then the infinitely overflowing cursed energy in Hakari’s body began to be sucked out along Mapari’s tentacles.
"Huh?"
Shurururuk
Infinite cursed energy from the bonus of [ooatari].
From Mapari’s perspective, which could absorb cursed energy, Hakari was like a feast that never ran out no matter how much it ate.
The cursed energy Mapari absorbed was refined inside it and sent to its master, and before long Junpei’s cursed energy was completely full.
"My shikigami, Akasha Yurayura Mapari’s ability is [absorption]. Thanks for the cursed energy."
"What the fuck?"
Apparently excited by the long-awaited feast, Mapari’s absorption didn’t stop even after filling Junpei’s cursed energy to the brim.
Hakari, who was shrieking every curse in the book, soon saw his cursed energy take form as a blue beam right in front of him.
The vortex of output looked like it would fry anyone who got close, crackling as it spat blue sparks.
With that thing, even an immortal would be erased without leaving a trace.
"This is beyond ‘heat’—I’m going to burn to death.....?"
The thought that he might actually die crossed his mind.
In the heat so intense it felt like he might melt, Hakari twisted into a distorted smile.
It wasn’t because he was enjoying the situation. He was just so overwhelmed by fear that he’d started smiling without realizing it.
"It’ll sting a little."
"Yoshino, I’m sorry. Can we maybe solve this with a conversation from here on out?"
"Have you felt enough of the ‘heat’ yet?"
"Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I’m sweating my ass off here."
"Hmm... I don’t feel any sincerity."
In front of Hakari, who was begging with humiliating desperation, Junpei began chanting the incantation with a disinterested expression.
He looked like he wouldn’t stop until he himself shouted [die].
"Full moon, eternal exhaustion, resonance...."
"I surrender!! I surrenderrrrr!!!!"
In the end, Hakari swallowed his pride and chose his life over a gambler’s creed.
The moment he shouted his surrender in panic, his body was released from the tentacles’ restraint.
The blue beam fired above his head as he fell on his ass painted the night sky beautifully.
The vortex, flying with the momentum of a falling comet, exploded in midair with a tremendous flash and vanished.
"Haa, haa....."
"I won, right?"
"Yeah.....you won.....you bastard....."
Tears streamed down Hakari’s face as he lost both the bet and the fight.
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