CLANG!!!
The legendary blade Dojigiri Yasutsuna bit into Taira no Masakado's neck, producing the jarring screech of steel grinding against reinforced iron.
Yuta Okkotsu blurred backward, his sword hand trembling from the sheer density of the impact. Even a Special Grade cursed tool can't draw blood?
Of the Four Great Vengeful Spirits, Masakado was unique. Legend said that at his birth, a great serpent had licked his entire body, coating him in its mystical saliva. From that day forth, he possessed a frame of "Vajra-steel"—impenetrable, unyielding, and immune to blade or bow.
Crack—
Rumble—
Yuta glanced toward the horizon. In one direction, lightning cascaded like a waterfall as his ancestor, Michizane, descended like a god. In another, the colossal, moon-blotting silhouette of the Crimson Great Tengu radiated a suffocating pressure.
"Gojo-sensei and Geto-sama are facing monsters like that... I can't afford to lag behind!"
Yuta's throat tightened as Cursed Speech markings manifested around his mouth. But before he could speak, Masakado's shadow rippled. Six separate masses of darkness detached from the ground, molding themselves into identical copies of the warrior.
This was Masakado's signature technique: Shadow Warriors.
Seven identical Taira no Masakados, each possessing the same diamond-hard skin and lethal swordsmanship, lunged at Yuta from seven different cardinal directions.
"Crumble!" Yuta commanded.
Using a combination of high-speed swordsmanship and Cursed Speech, Yuta barely weathered the onslaught. His eyes, however, remained fixed on the frantic dance of the seven spirits. Cursed energy began to churn within him in a familiar, mimicry pattern.
After a grueling exchange of blows, Yuta's eyes snapped wide.
"Cursed Technique Mimicry: Shadow Warriors!"
Four copies of Yuta Okkotsu erupted from his own shadow. While his mimicry was unconditional, his efficiency with a foreign technique in the heat of battle had its limits—four was his maximum.
But four was enough.
The clones engaged four of the Masakado copies, leaving Yuta's original body to contend with the remaining three.
"Crumble!"
One of the clones was flattened into the concrete by the weight of the command. Yuta accelerated, his eyes zeroing in on the only Masakado that cast a natural, secondary shadow—the true body.
As the final clone stepped in to intercept, Yuta reached out and seemingly grabbed a handful of air, yanking it toward him.
Uro Takako's Technique: Sky.
The spatial plane warped, bending Yuta's straight-line charge into a sharp "C" curve. He bypassed the guard in a flicker of distorted light.
If the legends are true...
Yuta rolled beneath Masakado's counter-swing. The Dojigiri Yasutsuna didn't aim for the heart or the neck this time. It lunged straight for the center of the forehead.
Legend had it that the serpent licked every inch of Masakado's body except for one tiny spot: the glabella. His one and only death point.
Masakado realized the intent too late. He threw up a hand to block the blade.
"Sky!"
The space buckled again. The tip of Yuta's sword seemed to "bend" around the defensive hand, piercing the forehead with clinical precision.
Masakado's body stiffened. The six shadow clones dissolved into smoke. With a harrowing shriek, the true body began to fracture like a broken mirror, blinding white light pouring through the cracks.
BOOM!!!
With a final detonation of cursed energy, Taira no Masakado vanished into the wind.
"Phew..." Yuta exhaled, wiping sweat from his brow. "Finally. Who knew the history lessons Sensei forced on us would actually save my life one day?"
"The same ability as Kenjaku?!"
Yuki Tsukumo clicked her tongue in annoyance, staring at Prince Sawara.
"No... not exactly the same," she corrected herself. "Kenjaku uses 'Anti-Gravity.' This guy... he's a pure telekinetic."
Prince Sawara ascended slowly. Hundreds of abandoned cars and massive concrete slabs rose with him, orbiting his body like moons around a planet. With a flick of his wrist, he launched the debris like high-velocity shells toward Yuki.
"Tch!"
Yuki blurred through the wreckage, her movements a masterclass in agility. But the rain of steel and stone was relentless. At this rate, her stamina would be sapped before she could even get close.
"Garuda!"
Her shikigami, the mechanical serpent Garuda, coiled itself into a tight, dense ball.
"Star Rage!"
Under Yuki's technique, Garuda's virtual mass increased to a terrifying, planetary scale.
CRACK!
Yuki kicked Garuda like a professional striker. The "ball," now carrying the kinetic energy of a meteor, tore through the orbiting cars and slabs as if they were wet paper.
Prince Sawara swerved, but Garuda grazed his shoulder. The vacuum of the passing mass was enough to completely rip his arm from its socket.
Yuki followed in Garuda's wake, surging through the gap she had created. She reached the Prince, her fist glowing with the weight of concentrated mass.
"Got you!"
BOOM!!!
A split second before impact, a massive stone pillar slammed into Yuki's side from the periphery, sending her hurtling through the air.
Crash! Crash! Crash!
Yuki smashed through three buildings before coming to a halt in the rubble. Her limbs were twisted at impossible angles, her skull fractured, and her internal organs reduced to a bloody slurry.
Fortunately, her Reverse Cursed Technique was already screaming into life. The bones snapped back into place with a sickening pop as she stood up.
She looked up to see why she had missed. The cars and debris orbiting the Prince were now moving at such a high velocity they formed a solid, shimmering wall of matter—an Absolute Defense.
Yuki's eye twitched. "Oh, so that's how we're playing?"
"In that case..."
Yuki took a deep breath and brought her hands together. Her technique, Star Rage, allowed her to add virtual mass to herself. And when mass reaches a certain density within a finite space... it becomes a Singularity.
"Maximum Output: Black Hole."
Yuki opened her hands. A tiny black sphere, the size of a marble, hovered between her palms. She gently lifted it, letting it float into the sky.
As it neared Prince Sawara, the sphere stopped.
An absolute, terrifying suction erupted. A massive vortex appeared in the center of the Ginza district. Cars, concrete, trees, billboards—even entire skyscrapers—were uprooted and dragged toward the center.
Under the weight of that gravity, Sawara's "Absolute Defense" was swallowed instantly.
The Prince struggled, using every ounce of his telekinetic power to fly away, but the pull of a Black Hole is not a suggestion. Not even light can escape its event horizon.
Within three seconds, Prince Sawara was sucked into the void like a rag in a storm.
Seconds later, the effect expired. The gravity vanished. But the compressed energy inside had to go somewhere.
The massive sphere of compacted matter detonated from within. Fire and molten rock rained down upon the ruins.
Prince Sawara was gone. Not even ash remained.