There is a limit to how much brain capacity a person can devote to a technique.
Therefore, one technique per person.
That had been an unwritten rule in the world of jujutsu for ages, and an utterly natural principle.
Even Ryomen Sukuna and Gojo Satoru, the most anomalous beings in jujutsu history, did not escape that law.
But there is always an exception.
"Rika!"
Okkotsu Yuta.
A special-grade jujutsushi who possessed both [Copy] and Rika at the same time.
By storing the stock of copied techniques inside Rika, an external technique, he had overcome the limits of his brain.
[Now?]
"No. Not yet."
Once a day, for five minutes, Rika could fully manifest.
By lifting the limiter during those five minutes, unlimited copying became possible, and output rose as well.
Kenjaku, watching with interest, licked his lips.
"Orimoto Rika... the original has attained enlightenment, so I suppose that one should be considered her remnant."
Originally, the power obtained by cursing Rika had made such things possible in ordinary circumstances, but when she attained enlightenment, [Copy] had also disappeared.
Still, even if it was limited to five minutes, the Okkotsu who had accumulated years and grown further was a troublesome opponent.
That beam that had overwhelmed Geto Suguru could no longer be used, but if he let his guard down, he might meet the same ending as the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons from a year ago.
"Looks like he has no intention of showing his hand yet...."
He probably had no intention of fully manifesting from the start and laying all his cards on the table.
But Kenjaku had already predicted what technique he would use.
Considering his movements since entering the Culling Game, he must have stacked up his stock with the cooperation of Jujutsu High students.
Just what came to mind right away: Fire of the Game, Ten Shadows Cursed Law, Cursed Speech, Left-Side Killing Blade, Star-Space Flight, cursed speech.....
What a troublesome opponent.
If only he wouldn’t use that one thing.
Kenjaku was troublesome, but so was Okkotsu.
"Kenjaku has body-swapping technique, and cursed spirit manipulation. There’s a high chance he has other techniques too."
The exception did not apply only to Okkotsu.
Kenjaku could steal and use the technique of the body he transferred into.
Even if it wasn’t a technique extracted through Uzumaki, he would still be hiding the technique of a body he had passed through before.
Since it wasn’t external, any additional technique would be limited to one, but unlike Okkotsu, who was limited to five minutes, it could be used at all times.
Annoying.
That was the thought they both shared about each other.
But a clash was unavoidable.
"Then... let’s see what you can do."
"Likewise."
Black holes formed around Kenjaku as cursed spirits were summoned.
At the same time, Okkotsu, with Rika at his side, charged toward Kenjaku.
The opening of a fight where they cursed each other.
Special-grade cursed spirits could not be used against Okkotsu, who could output reverse cursed technique.
The ones summoned now were all low-grade cursed spirits that Kenjaku favored for their versatility.
He wouldn’t use reverse cursed technique one by one, so the proper way to deal with Okkotsu was to wear him down with sheer numbers.
"Go."
-Shrrrk!
Kenjaku poured cursed energy into the spirits to strengthen them, then sent them flying at Okkotsu.
As the grotesque legs wriggled and split into several branches to swarm in from every direction, Okkotsu infused the sword in his hand with cursed energy and swung.
-Fwoosh!
With a single slash, more than half the cursed spirits were swept away.
The remaining half were destroyed when Rika waved her hand and slapped them aside like she was swatting flies.
Through the smoke rising from the disappearance reaction, something flew in.
Maximum-
Uzumaki
A miniature Uzumaki, shrunk down in size like the Hollow Purple Gojo had used in Shibuya to snipe Kurourushi.
Small in size, but not at all weak in power, given its density.
The projectile, glinting with ominous black light, pierced through Rika’s hand blocking the way and collided with Okkotsu’s Japanese sword.
-Clang!
The moment he raised the density of the cursed energy poured into the blade and deflected it, Kenjaku’s hand reached out.
As cursed spirits extending from his fingertips struck Okkotsu’s abdomen, Rika, who had moved to the side at some point, dropped a fist toward Kenjaku.
-Thud!
[Who are you touching?]
"Still possessive, I see. Or is it even stronger now?"
Kenjaku leapt lightly upward to dodge Rika’s fist, then used her arm as a springboard to kick her in the face.
A heavy impact rang out with a dull wham, and Rika’s head snapped to the side.
Rika endured it with her considerable toughness, bared her teeth, and stretched her neck out to bite Kenjaku, but by then Kenjaku had already finished preparing another Uzumaki.
[!]
-Thwack!
Just before the black tendril fired and pierced Rika’s head, Okkotsu, who had leapt in almost as if he were flying, landed a flying kick into Kenjaku’s side.
Holding his aching ribs, Kenjaku regained his stance and landed, and Rika and Okkotsu rushed at him.
-Clang! Clang! Thwack!
The two-on-one assault constantly targeted Kenjaku’s blind spots.
As Okkotsu skillfully used sword, hands, and feet to seal Kenjaku’s movements, Rika poured in heavy attacks.
It was the kind of situation where he should have been crushed into a pulp long ago, but Kenjaku responded with astonishing improvisation, mixing cursed spirit manipulation into hand-to-hand combat at just the right moments.
-Thud!
Kenjaku blocked Okkotsu’s thrusting sword with a cursed spirit, then pulled out another cursed spirit and hurled it at Rika.
The net-like cursed spirit that tightened around her head clung to her and blocked her vision, and while Okkotsu’s attention was drawn to her, their hands mixed.
Kenjaku pressed down on Okkotsu’s wrist as he tried to twist the sword free, then smashed a fist into his cheek.
-Pow!
[Yutaaa!!]
"Even if your possessiveness has grown, you still haven’t fully manifested."
Kenjaku dodged Rika’s stab with an annoyed look, and a slash flew in behind his back.
-Bang!
Wrapping a cursed spirit around his hand to seize the sword, Kenjaku pulled Okkotsu toward him, then used the recoil to plant a foot on the ground and leap, kicking Rika in the abdomen as she came up from behind.
Once the sword was seized, Okkotsu let go of the hilt without hesitation.
He blocked Kenjaku’s bizarrely angled high kick, then shot out an elbow with his other arm and struck the bridge of Kenjaku’s nose.
-Fwoosh!
He had pulled his head back to reduce the damage, but he hadn’t been able to avoid it completely; blood burst from Kenjaku’s nose.
Kenjaku immediately countered with a short, snapping straight punch.
Hit in the temple, Okkotsu clenched his teeth and endured the dizziness.
'I need to stay as close as possible!'
The body of Geto Suguru that Kenjaku was using was 186 centimeters tall.
He was at a disadvantage in reach, and he had several means of dealing with things at mid-range.
If he retreated carelessly, cursed spirits would push in with sheer numbers, or a miniature Uzumaki would come flying.
-Whoosh!
Perhaps knowing that too, Kenjaku kept attacking to push him back while looking for counters.
'I’m confident with the movement of the line, but not the plane.'
He had learned it harshly.
More flexible, more freely.
Let it flow, evade, and press in softly.
'Ride the flow.'
'Now!'
Just as Kenjaku’s shoulder pulled far back and the trajectory he had been aiming for turned into a big punch, Okkotsu reacted swiftly.
He let the hook pass with a weave, raised his shoulder, and slammed his body into Kenjaku, and Rika, waiting for him to be forced back, grabbed him.
Before he could react, Kenjaku’s body was dragged down by overwhelming force and slammed into the ground.
-KWAANG!
"Cough, khhahaha!"
Rika hadn’t merely thrown him; she had driven Kenjaku into the ground like a bonsai tree.
As he laughed with a cough mixed with blood, Okkotsu’s flying knee smashed into his face.
Feeling the hard kneecap crush his cheekbone, he flew to the edge of the barrier and rolled across the ground.
-Crash! Rattle!
"Rika, chase him... ugh!"
As Okkotsu tried to pursue, he felt something seize his ankle.
It was a cursed spirit Kenjaku had summoned in advance and sent underground so it wouldn’t be detected.
A torrent of cursed spirit tendrils Kenjaku had sent at him surged over the immobilized Okkotsu.
-Dududududududu!!!
"Kuh!"
The cursed spirits swept over his crossed arms as he blocked, leaving wounds in their wake.
Even low-grade cursed spirits, when Kenjaku infused them with cursed energy and fired them at high density, had this much power.
Flesh was sliced, bones cracked, and his feet were driven backward.
[Grrr!]
-Thud!
By the time Rika cut it off, Okkotsu’s arms were already a wreck.
As if refusing to give him even a moment to recover with reverse cursed technique, that same Uzumaki flew in again.
Okkotsu lowered his stance and hurriedly dodged, only to be seized by the sensation that the ground had suddenly caved in beneath him.
'The gaki!'
Old Japanese people believed that a gaki with its mouth wide open lived in the earth.
Born from that belief, a cursed spirit that cast an illusion on its target and induced the sensation of falling.
Okkotsu’s head spun rapidly as he finished assessing the situation, and he sent Rika at Kenjaku while pouring cursed energy into his arm and smashing the ground with all his strength.
-Boom!
-Kiiiiii!
With the force of the ground turning over, the gaki vanished and turned into a puff of smoke.
'His judgment and experience have improved a lot.'
Kenjaku’s eyes widened as his prediction missed again, and Rika’s hand, as large as a pot lid, filled his field of vision.
The palm that could easily crush a first-grade cursed spirit slapped fiercely into Kenjaku’s upper body.
The one sent flying by the unguarded hit was in the direction Okkotsu was standing.
Kenjaku twisted his body instinctively, and a savage sound rang above his head.
-Whoosh!
The attack aimed at his shoulder missed, and a few strands of hair were cut away.
He tried to follow up, but Kenjaku had already moved out of his range.
"Tch."
Okkotsu clicked his tongue.
He couldn’t kill him recklessly, but it was hard to subdue him too...
Even two-on-one, this was a disadvantageous fight for him.
'I wish Maki-san and Choso would get here soon.'
As if guessing his feelings, Kenjaku chuckled.
His face, already restored by reverse cursed technique, had become spotless again.
"Where did you learn hand-to-hand combat? Doesn’t seem like Gojo’s style."
"From the original owner of this body’s companion."
"Not Larue, then. Miguel, I assume."
He had definitely grown much stronger than a year ago.
Even without relying on [Copy] or Rika, his hand-to-hand combat and basic cursed energy control were enough to overwhelm most first-grade sorcerers.
This was not the accidental power he had once gained, but the result of his own effort and a fragment of his talent.
If Geto Suguru had not split his power back then, the winner would have been him, but if it were the current Okkotsu Yuta, honestly, he wasn’t sure.
"You’re stronger than Geto Suguru was a year ago. Want me to praise you?"
"I’m not very happy about that. So what if I got stronger?"
"Haha, right. You never were interested in yourself."
"Other people are far more important than someone like me."
Interesting.
Very interesting.
That bizarre conviction, and the new power built on top of it.
'Has he not used [Copy] yet because he’s confident he can still suppress me like this?'
He himself had only shown cursed spirit manipulation, but even so, Okkotsu was at a disadvantage.
Okkotsu Yuta’s movements were extremely troublesome, and every time he was hit by Rika’s attacks even once, his cursed energy drained away as he used reverse cursed technique.
But if he used that, it felt like the copied techniques would come pouring out immediately....
"Honestly. Even looking like this, we’re still hiding our cards from each other."
"You go first."
Even while battered and ragged from trading hand-to-hand blows, the two men’s stubbornness was remarkable.
Neither would reveal his hand until the other moved first.
But Kenjaku himself did not want this sluggish fight to end in some unexpected way.
"Well now...."
So, they would clash at full power here.
"If we’re both this wary and still not opening our domains, that’s basically the same as saying we’re not confident in a domain tug-of-war."
"...Agreed."
They turned their palms upward and interlocked their fingers, hands pressed together.
The moment he saw it, Okkotsu seemed to catch on too, and slowly began moving his hands.
A craftsman with a fist at his chin, a hand raised and thrust forward.
The exclusive symbol of sorcerers aiming for the inhuman realm, and the greatest sign of the power they possessed.
"Domain Expansion."
It unfolds now.
[Innate Domain]
[True and False Love]
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