Kagura Shin stamped his foot hard against the ground, and in the blink of an eye, he arrived in front of Kamo Rin at a speed almost invisible to the naked eye, the trident in his hand smashing straight towards his chest.
However, Kagura Shin still held back his strength, because one of the rules was that killing was forbidden; if he had swung the trident with full force and actually hit Kamo Rin, Kamo Rin would likely have been torn to pieces.
"Bang~" The scene of Kamo Rin flying backward, vomiting blood incessantly, and losing the ability to fight did not happen. Kamo Rin only took a few steps back, his face instantly flushing red, and a trace of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth; however, he swallowed the blood in his mouth directly and quickly manipulated his Cursed Paper to counterattack.
Kagura Shin did not dodge or evade; braving the attacks of the Cursed Paper, he punched Kamo Rin in the face. The immense force sent Kamo Rin flying backward, breaking a large tree before he lay on the ground, struggling to get up.
Kagura Shin realized why the trident attack hadn't been very effective earlier; beneath Kamo Rin's tattered clothes, he saw layers of white scales folded from Cursed Paper filled with Cursed Energy. They had significantly cushioned Kagura Shin's attack, so Kagura Shin had no choice but to attack the face, which was not protected by these things.
Kamo Rin manipulated the paper to prop himself up, taking the opportunity to forcibly snap his crooked face back into place with the Cursed Paper, then spat out three broken teeth and leaned with difficulty against the tree behind him.
Kagura Shin stood not far away, leaning against his trident, and said softly, "It's over. To be honest, you're quite strong; you must be a Grade 1 Jujutsu Sorcerer, right!"
"Strong? Perhaps. But what's the point of being strong? Without inheriting the family Cursed Technique, no matter how strong one is, they are just a foil. However, regarding what you just said about it being over, I'm afraid I cannot accept that. Our battle is not over yet!"
[Origami Technique — Dance of the White Scales!]
"Clatter..." All the Cursed Paper scattered on the ground seemed like soldiers having heard an order, floating in mid-air and rapidly folding as they flew toward Kamo Rin, forming layers of white armor on his body.
The white paper scales on the surface of the armor seemed to express its sturdiness, and the claws rolled from paper were also extremely sharp, arming Kamo Rin into a sharp-clawed warrior wearing heavy armor.
"Boom!" Kamo Rin's speed increased by more than just a little as he rushed toward Kagura Shin at high speed and swung a punch down. Kagura Shin quickly raised his trident to block, but the scales in front of Kamo Rin shot toward Kagura Shin like bullets.
"Clang, clang, clang..." Although the power of Kamo Rin's Cursed Paper scales was quite decent, it was clearly not enough in front of the fully enchanted netherite armor set.
A pair of huge paper wings suddenly unfolded from behind Kamo Rin's paper armor, and he abruptly pulled away from Kagura Shin, flying into the air. Kagura Shin narrowed his eyes, seemingly having discovered the reason for Kamo Rin's significant increase in speed and strength.
He had wrapped the Cursed Paper all over his body; when attacking, his body didn't even use any force, relying entirely on manipulating the Cursed Paper to move his body. His body was like a marionette, moving by relying on the [thread] of the Cursed Paper. He had originally thought it was a person wearing armor, but now it seemed the person's role might just be to fill the excess space inside the paper.
It was not hard to imagine how intense the Cursed Energy consumption of this move would be; it was unclear how long Kamo Rin could hold on.
"Swish, swish, swish—" Countless paper darts shot from the air toward Kagura Shin, but they were all blocked by the netherite armor set. Kagura Shin juggled his trident and threw it toward Kamo Rin in the air.
Kamo Rin flapped his wings and abruptly increased his altitude to dodge the trident, then swooped toward Kagura Shin with a whistle.
Kagura Shin casually threw a bottle of lingering Slowness potion at his own feet, waiting for Kamo Rin's attack.
[The thing he threw at his own feet shouldn't be anything bad, right...] This thought drove Kamo Rin to descend even faster, and the moment he touched the lingering Slowness potion, he felt that something was wrong.
[Oh no—]
Kagura Shin grinned viciously and grabbed Kamo Rin's head, slamming it into the ground with a "boom," creating a large crater in the ground. The immense force stunned Kamo Rin's brain instantly, and the armor on his body instantly scattered, falling all over the ground.
Kamo Rin lay on the ground and tried to struggle for a moment, but eventually gave up. The Dance of the White Scales he had just used put a bit of a burden on his brain circuits; although it wasn't as serious as Cursed Technique Burnout after a Domain Expansion, it was now impossible to output Cursed Energy at high intensity.
If this were a real battle, the current Kamo Rin would only be able to fold a small white flag with that tiny bit of Cursed Energy output to surrender.
Kagura Shin also put all his items away and sat on the side to chat with Kamo Rin.
"Although your Cursed Technique has quite a lot of variations, it seems to always have the shadow of Blood Manipulation, whether it's the darts imitating Cleave, the white binding imitating Crimson Bind, or that Dance of the White Scales which looks a bit like Leap of the Red Scale in its performance... Of course, I feel that the Dance of the White Scales is much stronger than Leap of the Red Scale. After all, the trashy Leap of the Red Scale can only strengthen the body; it's too monotonous. But you really are still living in the shadow of Blood Manipulation!"
Kagura Shin took out an apple and took a bite, then threw one to Kamo Rin. Kamo Rin slowly climbed up, grabbed the apple, took a bite, and said slowly,
"I have indeed always been imitating Blood Manipulation. I don't want to fight for the position of family head; I just hope that Father and Mother won't be so indifferent to me anymore. Right now, I'm just like an ordinary person in the family. No matter how strong my strength is, it cannot make Father and Mother show a smile to me... I really envy Noritoshi, envy the love and trust the parents have for him, but... how should I put it, heh~ it's still because I'm not good enough, and I didn't inherit the family Cursed Technique. If there is a next life, I want to be born into an ordinary family..."
"...Why are you making it sound like I'm about to kill you? The atmosphere is so sentimental. You're hurt pretty badly now; you can exit the stage. I expect someone will come to pick you up in a while. I'll be taking my leave first. Goodbye!"
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