"The comet is upon us. His power should be reaching its zenith right about now."
"Most likely."
Shinjuku stretched endlessly, a forest of steel and glass rising into the night sky. Towers loomed like silent sentinels, their windows glowing faintly, each one a hollow eye staring into the darkness. Neon signs flickered, casting fractured colors across empty boulevards, but no footsteps echoed, no voices carried. The streets were wide and clean, yet they felt abandoned, as though the world had paused mid-breath and forgotten to resume.
Above the sky, an endless black with zero clouds to obstruct the majestic comet. It shines bright red, masking itself as a second sun that shone to the lowly mortal below. Such a sight can only be seen once in a hundred years, and yet, the city remains peaceful. Even the air is reluctant to move, as if its lives depend on its silence.
Two figures stood amongst the sprawling concrete jungle, each separated by kilometers, yet close enough to sense each other. One is a boastful, red-haired young man wearing a white shirt and baggy black pants, and the other, the King of Curses, who is possessing the body of a woman with silky black hair, four arms, and markings on her body.
"Fuuuhh… Haaaah… Here we go."
The young man began making hand signs with extreme concentration. His eyes don't blink, his mouth is shut close, and his attention is pointed at one person.
"Snake… Ram… Monkey… Boar… Uma… Tiger…"
The young man dictated the hand signs he was making to make sure he didn't miss even a single step.
"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!!"
"And it's off."
The young man spit out a ginormous fireball–the size of which dwarfed the building around him. The ball of fire travels at a speed that is supposed to be impossible for something of that size, consuming a building in its wake and leaving only charred concrete and ash.
"Kuh!"
The King of Curses extends all her arms forward, putting up a barrier to stop the incoming fireball. The bright ball closes the distance until eventually–
*KKKAAABBBBOOOOOOMMM*
A massive explosion shook the city to its core. Buildings around the explosion collapse, and all glass shatters within a 4-kilometer radius.
But, even after such a violent explosion, the King of Curses came out of the smoke in one piece while only missing a single hand. To most, that would scare them, but for the young man, it's only proof of how much fun he will be having.
"Let me get one thing straight. You are the challenger here."
"Kukuku!! Cocky brat!"
XxX-XxX
"Grind."
"Hmph!!"
The King of Curses stretches her hand toward the young man, and the young man instinctively encompasses his body with fire. The next moment, invisible slashes hug the young man's body. If only it weren't for his fire, he would surely take each and every single slash.
So he figured it out. Don't think I'm a one-trick pony, Igo.
The young man burst out of his flaming cape and leaped forward with his fist prepared. And the King of Curses also prepared her first. They both launch their fists at each other, aiming to punch their enemy in the face.
The young man's mastery over fire can't be stated enough. As he saw the fist coming at him, he expelled flame from the left side of his face, propelling his head away from the fist's trajectory.
"KOKUSEN!!"
"GUUUH!!"
The King of Curses was hit by the young man's black flash once again. Even when she had dug his feet into the ground, she was still pushed back.
How many of those has he thrown tonight?!? I guess I need to bust out the other techniques.
"Grind."
"Huh…"
The young man once again engaged his fire cloak. Most of the slashes around him hit the fire as the young man continues his advance toward the King of Curses.
"She is not stopping her slashes…"
The Professor commented on watching the fight on television. He has noticed that the King of Curses rarely keeps up her attack if she sees it not working, but this time it's different. The slashes keep surrounding the young man, even when it doesn't hit him at all.
"She is trying something new."
"Whatever it is, Igo isn't that naive to not notice it."
As Dya said, the young man moves to try to intercept whatever Sakana is doing. He plants his feet onto the ground and triggers an explosion under his soles to propel himself forward.
*Bump*
The young man throws a punch, which Sakana parries to the side. He continues with the momentum and swings his leg at the King of Curses. Sakana grabs the young man by his ankle and throws him away while keeping her slashes around the young man.
The young man quickly jumped back into action. Instead of going straight forward, he decided to circle her first.
But that doesn't matter to the King of Curses. Her upper right arm extends forward to the young man with her fingers open. She turns her palm to look down toward the ground before bending her fingers down only at their base joints. It looks like she was pointing at the ground with five of her fingers.
"The beans have been crushed enough. Poke."
*Stabs*
"KUH!!"
"He is frozen?!?"
From the television, Light Star and Dya Betels watched as the young man stopped moving. He stopped moving mid-run with one of his legs up. A very uncomfortable position if he is doing this on purpose.
"You're mine now!! World Cutting Slash!!!"
*Pop* *SSSLLAAASSSHHH*
The young man instantly uses his Amenotejikara Jutsu to teleport himself away from the world-cutting slash.
Poke… The technique activation must have something to do with the prolonged usage of Grind. After being hit by that technique, I feel stabbing pain all over my body, and they are all uniform in their orientation. It's as if I were stabbed by a thousand thin needles from top to bottom.
But my body was leaning forward and to the side, and yet the pain had the same orientation as my body. So instead of being oriented to the user or the earth, the technique follows the target's orientation and stabs them with invisible needles from the top of the head to the bottom of the feet.
To render the technique useless, I need to make sure there is no traceable straight path from the top of my head to my feet. Quite the added difficulty, but it's still manageable. The main question now is whether the needles materialize right above my head, or is there a space for me to maneuver first?
A fire burns on the young man's palm before it materializes into a throwing knife. The young man turns toward the King of Curses and runs to her with the throwing knife prepared in his hand.
Whatever he is trying to do, I'll slash him with this next attack!
The young man throws his knife at the King of Curses, who she casually headbutts and causes it to knock above her. Not caring for his failed attack, the young man opened his right palm and gathered a massive amount of fire on it. He compressed and circled it into a ball of concentrated fire.
I'll poke and instantly cut you in half. There will be no gap for you to escape.
The King of Curses prepares her technique using both of her upper arms while he lower arms prepare to meet the young man's attack. The world slowed down for the 2 of them as they launched their attacks.
"Poke. Grind."
*POP*
"AH—"
*STABS*
"GUH!!"
"HAAAH!!!"
*BOOOOOOOM*
"GGGAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"
The young man instantly switches places with his throwing knife, using Amenotejikara to position himself above the King of Curses. Not only that, but he also oriented himself upside down, which caused the invisible cursed needles to strike the King of Curses first, as she is technically above him. He then slammed his right hand at Sakana's back, unleashing the concentrated fireball with all of its power and delivering a powerful attack. The young man was about to deliver another powerful follow-up attack, but the King of Curses's Grind forced him to retreat.
"Pant!! Pant!! Kah!! Pant!! Gah!!"
Blood flows out of Sakana's mouth. Under intense pain, the King of Curses forces herself up. She can still feel the sting of her own technique and the young man's on her bruised body. The latter is expected; the first one wasn't. Being hit by her own technique is a first for her.
He figured out a new technique in a mere moment and used its own rules against the user. If he were born in the same era as me, he would be the one who is considered the Strongest.
"Pant… Pant… Kukukuku!!"
New plan. I'll cut off all of his limbs and use him as a sperm factory.
"Be grateful, Igo Heita. Pant… Pant…"
"Of having the right to fight you? Push me a little bit more, and I might start worshiping you."