After Toge Inumaki and Maki Zen'in swiftly took down the Cursed Spirit with Cursed Speech, several figures were hiding in the woods nearby: Mai Zen'in, Mechamaru, and Kasumi Miwa of Kyoto.
They had clearly witnessed everything. Mai quietly told her companions, "Looks like we were right to use that Cursed Spirit to probe their techniques. That white-haired kid with short hair uses Cursed Speech. Put simply, he triggers compulsory effects through his words."
"Good thing we didn’t attack outright. If we’d gone in without knowing, we might have been wiped out before we even realized what happened."
Mechamaru’s voice was cold. "Once you know about that technique and prepare for it, it’s not so frightening. We’ll pressure him with long-range attacks and force him to use his technique, draining his Cursed Energy."
Kasumi Miwa raised her hand. "Then... what about me? I don’t have any long-range options."
Mai smiled. "You’ll be our final safeguard. Come on. Follow them and get ready to attack."
High in the sky, the petite blonde girl, Momo Nishimiya, rode her broomstick as she observed the movements of the Cursed Spirits and Tokyo’s students from above, relaying information to her teammates through her phone.
Down in the forest, Kaito Kamishiro had climbed a towering tree. Concealed by the dense foliage, he watched Momo Nishimiya in the air.
"Oh, right... she can fly. But she doesn’t seem all that strong in a fight? I didn’t bring Annihilation, but I can still try knocking her down. If the enemy has vision, naturally you try to take their vision away."
Kaito pointed two fingers at the figure flying overhead. Cursed Energy continuously gathered at his fingertips, condensing into a dazzling glow. Cursed Energy could be fired directly as an attack, but it was less effective than activating a Cursed Technique or reinforcing one’s body for physical strikes. Usually, it was only used to crush weak opponents or test the waters.
Kaito had no intention of eliminating Momo with this alone. If he put too much power into it, the attack’s area would expand as well. Even if he compressed it as much as possible, a direct hit could seriously hurt her. She was flying on a broomstick, wasn’t she? All he needed to do was break the broom.
Kaito took aim at Momo. When it felt about right, he imitated the sound with his mouth.
"Bang!"
[Wheel of Time: Turn]
Momo, flying through the sky, suddenly sensed a fluctuation of Cursed Energy. A Cursed Spirit? Sweeping her gaze over the ground below, she spotted the source at a moderate distance away.
"That’s... someone trying to attack me from range with Cursed Energy! Trying to catch me off guard and shoot me down? But since I noticed, it’ll be easy to dodge..."
Just as Momo moved to evade, a violent gust swept past her. One side of her broom snapped off, and she lost her balance, plummeting toward the ground.
"What... was that?"
Momo stared in stunned disbelief at the lingering traces of Cursed Energy in the sky and her damaged broom.
"I didn’t see the attack at all. Was the enemy’s attack really that fast? Preliminary assessment: their technique is related to speed! I need to tell the others this..."
Momo barely managed to use a treetop to cushion her fall. She immediately pulled out her phone to report the information to her teammates, but when she jumped down, phone still in hand, she saw a figure emerge from the woods.
Kaito looked at Momo, who was leaning against a tree after twisting her ankle, and whistled. "Didn’t think a casual try would actually knock you down. Might as well eliminate you while I’m at it."
"You..."
Momo had only just begun to speak when her consciousness blurred. The phone slipped from her hand and into Kaito’s. Kaito appeared beside her, withdrew his hand from the back of her neck, then hung her from a low branch overhead. Someone would come collect her soon enough.
And indeed, the teachers had their own monitoring methods. They promptly dispatched someone to retrieve Momo. Mei Mei chuckled. "Satoru, he’s fast. He brought down an airborne opponent in an instant, then subdued her before she could even share the information after landing."
Satoru Gojo rested both hands behind his head, watching Maki and Toge get attacked on the screen. At Mei Mei’s words, he flashed a brilliant, toothy smile. "Of course. He’s my student, after all. Kaito’s plenty strong. Once he completes a few more missions, he can apply for promotion to Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer."
Mei Mei lowered her eyes. Maintaining shared vision through [Black Bird Manipulation] for so long was tiring even for her, but those words perked her up. "If you need me, just call. You’re always so generous, Satoru."
Satoru gave her a thumbs-up. "No problem!" Then he turned his attention back to Maki’s side of the battle.
After exorcising the Cursed Spirit, Maki and Toge continued running forward. Before long, Maki, who was in front, abruptly stopped and held out a hand to signal Toge to stop as well.
"Bonito flakes?"
Maki swept her gaze across the surrounding trees. The moment they had approached this area, a faint sense of danger had settled over her, prompting her to halt.
"Toge, be careful. Something’s wrong. We might be—"
Before she could finish, the crisp sound of trees snapping rang out. Maki only had time to turn toward its source before grabbing Toge and pulling him aside.
A blazing torrent of fire instantly swept through the spot where they had been standing. Before they could catch their breath, several more streams of fire came flying in, covering every direction around them. Toge had no choice but to activate his technique.
"Extinguish!"
The streams of fire gradually shrank in midair before vanishing altogether. Beside him, Maki suddenly swung her naginata. Its blade whirled through the air, followed by a sharp impact as a bullet was knocked to the ground.
"Mai..."
"Toge, don’t let them open the distance. We need eyes on them. They already know your technique."
Leaving those words behind, Maki vanished into the woods in an instant, charging toward the source of the attacks. Toge immediately followed close behind.
The dense forest obscured their opponents’ whereabouts, but it also gave Maki and Toge the advantage of cover. With the two deliberately evading, their enemies’ attacks were not easy to land.
Elsewhere.
Mai’s group retreated while fighting, their expressions grim. They had not seen Momo in the sky for some time, and they could not contact her. Had she already been eliminated? Damn it!
Mai gritted her teeth. Without a teammate in the air to observe precisely, they could not accurately sense the pursuing Maki. Maki possessed very little Cursed Energy, so they could only judge her position through changes in the surroundings—and even that was extremely difficult.
At this rate, they would be caught. They had to find a way to deal with the Cursed Speech user first. Otherwise, with no significant gap in Cursed Energy, their first encounter would definitely cost them someone.
As the three raced past a small river, a blur suddenly shot toward them. It was a fist-sized stone, and its shrill whistle as it tore through the air was piercing.
Mechamaru reacted first. Reinforcing his steel arm with Cursed Energy, he neither dodged nor flinched as he met the incoming stone head-on, shattering it on impact.
But Maki had emerged ahead of them, blocking their path. A smile played on her lips as she rested her naginata over her right shoulder.
"Don’t be in such a hurry to leave. Starting trouble and then running away doesn’t look very good, does it?"
Seeing that she meant business, Mechamaru’s arms began to transform. A cannon barrel emerged from his left hand, while several gleaming blades extended from his right.
"Mai, Miwa, go deal with the Cursed Speech user. He likely only has binding commands such as stunning or restraining us. Even if it means trading one for one, eliminate him. I’ll hold this one here. We can’t let them surround us. If you fail, I’ll retreat immediately and find the others. You do the same."
Maki watched Mai and the blue-haired Kasumi Miwa circle back from behind, then spoke impatiently.
"I mean—"
"Boom!"
Her words—and the battle about to begin—were drowned out by a tremendous crash. Mechamaru stared in shock toward the distance. "What is that? That huge figure, that terrifying presence... can something like that appear in the Goodwill Event?"
Maki’s attention was drawn to the disturbance as well. Through her glasses, she could see a colossal figure emerging amid billowing dust and shattered trees in the distance.
After sending Momo out of the match, Kaito headed toward the central area. Reinforced by Cursed Energy, he moved through the trees as though walking on level ground. Even monkeys could not have matched his speed.
While moving at high speed, Kaito suddenly bent backward at an unnatural angle. A blood-red shadow flew past his face, neatly severing the branches overhead.
"Your reactions are pretty quick."
Kaito flipped himself upright and landed safely, then saw Noritoshi Kamo step out from behind a tree. Kaito smiled. "Of course. After all... you’re too slow."
As he spoke, he shifted half a step to the left. The crimson blade silently curved back around, only to miss him once again.
Noritoshi raised a hand and caught the object, letting it hover above his palm. It was a circular blade formed from blood, spinning ceaselessly in his hand.
[Blood Manipulation!]
The Kamo Clan’s inherited technique was exceptionally versatile—a Cursed Technique that could be called an all-rounder. Noritoshi showed no reaction to Kaito’s provocation. Instead, he controlled [Blood Manipulation: Slicing Exorcism] and attacked Kaito again.
"By the way, your teammate Momo Nishimiya? I eliminated her just now. She was flying pretty high, too."
Kaito stood there, watching the blood ring blade slash through the air. Noritoshi also took the longbow off his back, nocked an arrow, and aimed it at him.
Oh? Another archer. Unlike Kaito, though, Noritoshi probably combined arrows with Cursed Energy. Kaito’s attacks were made entirely from Cursed Energy. The advantages were power and convenience; the drawback was that it consumed far more Cursed Energy than Noritoshi’s method. Kaito could only fight that way because he had abundant reserves and an unusually fast recovery rate.
As the blood ring blade and four Cursed Energy-infused arrows reached him in the blink of an eye, Kaito’s right hand, gripping his sword hilt, finally moved.
[Wheel of Time: Godspeed Slash!]
A burst of blinding light flashed and disappeared. Noritoshi’s hand froze on the bowstring. The blood ring blade in the air abruptly lost its momentum and shattered into a pool of blood that splashed onto the ground. Beside it lay the four arrows, each cleanly severed in half.
"What... was that? My technique was dispelled... when did it happen?"
Noritoshi immediately abandoned the long-range probing attack and directly activated his technique.
"[Blood Manipulation: Flowing Red Scale]."
When he opened his eyes, red markings surfaced on the skin around his right eye. His heartbeat, blood circulation, breathing, body temperature, and more all increased to varying degrees, bringing a comprehensive enhancement to his physical abilities.
Put simply, he used his technique to control his own blood, achieving an effect similar to a stimulant that temporarily boosted his physical condition across the board.
"That speed exceeds the limits of what my vision and reactions can capture! If he had attacked me directly just now, I would already be out. But he didn’t. So... he’s looking down on me!"
Noritoshi quickly drew two blood packs from his clothes. Under the control of his technique, the blood formed ropes that spread around him.
[Crimson Binding: Guard.]
"Use Crimson Binding to form a net around me. If his attack touches it, it only needs to delay him for an instant. In this enhanced state, I’ll be able to catch his position—then I’ll use [Convergence: Piercing Blood] at full power and take away his ability to move. Don’t underestimate your opponent!"
Kaito loosely held his sword, wondering whether he should see what the inherited technique of one of the Three Great Clans had to offer. Yet at that moment, with battle ready to erupt between them at any second, a tremendous crash and the wave of power that followed drew both their attention.
"That is..."
Looking at the vague, gigantic silhouette in the distance and the terrifying presence it gave off, Kaito’s reaction differed from the puzzled Noritoshi’s. He had a rough idea of what it was.
Rika had gone out of control. Something had happened to Yuta Okkotsu.
"That shouldn’t be possible. Yuta’s gotten very skilled at controlling the curse lately. How could Rika lose control now? Unless he’s in mortal danger?"
Kaito immediately lost all interest in playing around. He had wanted to witness the inherited technique of one of the Three Great Clans, but this was clearly not the time.
Kaito adjusted his grip on his blade and turned to Noritoshi. "Sorry. As you can see, my companion over there has a problem. I’m in a hurry."
"Wha—"
Noritoshi, who had been waiting in full readiness, had only just felt a flicker of confusion when his vision went black. Kaito was already standing in front of him. Pain then erupted from his abdomen, and the technique he had laid down had long since been destroyed. The Crimson Bindings spread around him had broken apart into ordinary blood.
The wound was not fatal, but it was enough to rob Noritoshi of his ability to move for the time being. Besides, he did not believe his opponent could not unleash another attack at that impossible speed.
Kaito patted Noritoshi on the shoulder, breaking his precarious balance and knocking him to the ground. As he left, he offered a few consoling words.
"That slash was fast. I avoided anything vital, so it’s nothing serious for a Jujutsu Sorcerer. Just wait calmly for help."
Watching Kaito depart, Noritoshi lay on the ground with a conflicted expression. In the end, he let out a breath and gave up struggling.
As Kaito rushed toward the disturbance, he reflected on Noritoshi’s technique. The blood net had some use. When it was cut, it had tried to bind him. If it had truly delayed him for even a moment, Noritoshi, in his enhanced state, might have caught that instant of vulnerability.
Unfortunately, Noritoshi had too many openings—and he was still too slow. So...
Useless!
Noritoshi Kamo, eliminated.
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