Gokudo Flower, having absorbed the negative energy born from the depths of the internet, kicked off the floor and lunged, swinging a heavy, leaden fist.
"Die!!"
Reflexively, I crossed my arms, pulling up a rigid guard.
A density of Cursed Energy that defied imagination—completely different from her clumsy martial arts earlier—slammed into my forearms.
BOOM—!!
"Gah...!"
I definitely had my guard up. But an impossible surge of Cursed Energy tore through my defense, mercilessly rattling every bone in my body.
My vision spun. A lethal pain throbbed in my skull. My consciousness flickered on the edge of a blackout, but I forced myself to hold on, gritting my teeth so hard my jaw felt like it might snap.
Swoosh! Thud! Crash!
Sensing the momentum, she began pouring out a frantic barrage of blows.
Yet, compared to her explosive output of Cursed Energy, the trajectories of her attacks remained amateurish at best.
It wasn't boxing, karate, or any recognizable martial art. It was just a desperate, chaotic street brawl, swung however she felt in the moment.
Under normal circumstances, such unrefined punches wouldn't have even left a bruise... but the sheer Cursed Energy infused into her fists was shattering my bones with every glancing blow.
I began to dance through the narrow net cafe corridor, utilizing paper-thin footwork to dodge her fists by a hair's breadth.
'Her Cursed Energy is ridiculously high, but her attack patterns are simple. If I can just catch the rhythm...!'
Whiz—!
Her large right hand shot forward in a straight punch aimed directly at my face.
I twisted my shoulder, letting the trajectory slide off smoothly. Her guard was wide open. I pivoted my hips, preparing to drive a devastating counter into that gap.
It was exactly at that moment.
Ring-a-ding— Ring-a-ding—!
The familiar ringtone of a cell phone erupted from my pants pocket.
And the moment I looked up, my vision was filled with... a sphere of compressed Cursed Energy the size of a small house, which had coalesced out of the net cafe monitors behind her. It was screaming toward my face like a railgun shot!
"Are you insane?!"
Instinctively, I threw my body to the side, dodging the destructive sphere by the skin of my teeth.
But.
Vroom—!
The massive sphere of Cursed Energy, which should have sailed past, banked at a sharp ninety-degree angle in mid-air like a living creature. It veered violently toward my body as I tumbled across the floor.
'It's tracking the target? It's a homing missile!!'
There was no space to dodge, and no time to deflect.
Right before the sphere swallowed me whole, a heavy, metallic sound echoed through the net cafe from the space above the crown of my head.
Click—!!
Mahoraga's Dharma Wheel turned, pushing my durability and defensive power to their absolute limits. Simultaneously, the sphere of terrifying destructive force made direct contact with my body.
BOOOOOM—!!!
Accompanied by a violent explosion, the walls and ceiling of the net cafe were shredded like wet paper.
A cloud of acrid dust rose, and chunks of shattered concrete and the burnt wreckage of computers collapsed, pinning my body down under their weight.
Through the thick shroud of smoke, Gokudo Flower's relaxed voice drifted toward me.
"Whew. Well? That one had to hurt. You still alive?"
When no answer came from the pile of debris, she smirked and muttered to herself.
"Ah, is it over already? How dull. Well, I'll give you one compliment—that wheel that appeared over your head earlier was quite stylish. Just as flashy as that handsome face of yours."
"It looked like a very sophisticated Innate Technique that those fossils in the Upper Management would just love."
Just as she was about to turn her back, convinced she had finished me off for good—
Rumble— Crash!
The pile of debris was violently thrown aside. Covered in dust and soot, I emerged from the wreckage, gasping for breath. Thanks to the rotation of the Dharma Wheel, I had avoided a fatal injury, but my entire body throbbed with a dull, heavy ache.
"Haah... huff..."
And then, targeting the man who had miraculously returned from the dead, that chilling ringtone began to scream once more.
Ring-a-ding— Ring-a-ding—!
As if possessed, I reached into my pocket and pulled out my vibrating folder phone, checking the LCD screen.
Two notifications were displayed on the screen.
One was [Missed Call: Shoko].
And the number currently calling me in real-time was...
[ Incoming Call: 080-XXXX-XYYX ]
"...Ah."
It was Gokudo Flower's number—the one we had swapped just moments ago while sitting side-by-side in the corner of the net cafe, laughing after our StarCraft match.
The dialer on the phone she held and my own device were being linked in real-time through the communication network. As I stared blankly at the screen, Gokudo Flower, standing a short distance away, clicked her tongue and scoffed.
"Oops. You figured it out."
Now it all made sense.
The bitch had pretended to be friendly just to get my number. She needed it to serve as the definitive coordinate—the medium—to forcibly hit me with her technique: the exchange of Cursed Energy via telecommunications.
That homing missile was nothing more than a transmission of Cursed Energy sent from her phone and forcibly received by mine.
"Ha. So you can use network exchanges as a homing missile for tracking a target and delivering damage?"
I let out a smirk and gripped the folder phone, which was still ringing incessantly, in my palm.
Crack! Crunch!!
Under the force of my grip, the LCD screen shattered into a thousand pieces, and the folder phone snapped in half, utterly destroyed.
The chilling ringtone that filled the net cafe ceased instantly.
"...Damn it."
With the medium destroyed, Gokudo Flower's face twisted into a look of frustrated defeat.
I tossed the remaining scrap metal onto the floor and gave her a savage grin.
"Well now, the coordinates are smashed. You don't have a way to land your Cursed Energy anymore. What are you gonna do?"
Even though I had severed her tracking by destroying my phone, the hundreds of computer monitors throughout the net cafe were still emitting a blue glow, relentlessly supplying her with negative energy.
'Those batteries providing a constant supply are annoying. If I can't break them all at once, there's only one spot to aim for.'
I sprinted across the floor, feinting a direct punch toward Gokudo Flower.
"Urgh!"
The moment Gokudo Flower tensed and raised her guard, I blew past her. I drove a decisive kick into the metal circuit breaker box mounted on the corner wall of the cafe.
CRUNCH—!!
Sparks flew as the circuit breaker box was completely pulverized.
In that instant, the hundreds of computer towers and monitors that had been humming and glowing died simultaneously. The power supply for the entire net cafe was severed.
Zap—!
As darkness fell over the interior, only the red emergency lights flickered on, casting a gruesome glow over the two of us.
With the thread of infinite Cursed Energy severed, Gokudo Flower's breathing became noticeably labored.
I cracked my knuckles and grinned wide.
"Alright. Since the batteries are dead, shall we keep it simple and trade some blows?"
"You little bastard...!"
I dove into her space and began raining down punches. I backed Gokudo Flower into a corner, her form noticeably crumbling now that her Cursed Energy supply was cut off, and applied relentless pressure.
"Huff, huff...!"
"Gack...!"
Taking a clean hit from my fist, Gokudo Flower coughed up blood. She staggered backward in a panic. She had realized that with the circuit breaker destroyed and her CE supply cut, she was now completely on the defensive.
But the light in her eyes hadn't died out yet.
Wiping the blood from her mouth, she squeezed every last drop of Cursed Energy remaining in her body for one final act of defiance. A massive sphere of CE with terrifying density formed instantly in the air above her head.
Then, she flipped open the blue folder phone she still held and began pressing buttons with trembling fingers, attempting to make a call.
I let out a hollow laugh at the desperate sight.
"Ha! Seriously, Boss? What are you doing at a time like this? You gonna call your mommy and daddy because you're scared?"
Just as I mockingly prepared to close the distance—
Ring-a-ding—! Ring-a-ding—!
The sharp, horrifying sound of a phone receiving a call pierced through the pitch-black cafe.
'?? What?! I definitely just smashed my phone—the one she was using as a coordinate—with my own hands!'
I momentarily faltered, fumbling near my feet. But my phone was already a useless piece of scrap metal.
The ringing wasn't coming from me.
The source of the sound was Gokudo Flower's own waistline...
Wearing a bloodied smirk, she snatched a red folder phone from her pocket—the very one she had used earlier to frantically answer her subordinate's call.
Then, she threw that ringing red phone toward me with every ounce of strength she had left!
'What?!'
The red folder phone cut through the air. Simultaneously, the massive sphere of Cursed Energy she had wrung out chased the trajectory of that red phone, screaming toward me.
'Crazy bitch! She threw her own second phone to manually guide the missile toward me!'
I stared at the incoming red phone, falling into a split-second dilemma.
'Even if I smash that red phone with my fist right now, the momentum and explosive force of that massive Cursed Energy orb won't stop—it'll hit me directly!'
As I backpedaled, my steps faltering as I tried to figure out how to block it—
Thump.
My foot kicked something heavy. I didn't even need to look down. It was my baseball bag, which I had tossed aside where I'd been playing StarCraft earlier. And inside it slept my beloved blade.
Reflexively, I bent down, tearing through the bag. I gripped the hilt of Muramasa and pulled it into the air.
Shing—!
The silver blade glinted under the red glow of the emergency lights. At that exact moment—
A heavy vibration echoed from the crown of my head.
Click—!!
Mahoraga's Dharma Wheel turned violently once more.
This wasn't like before—this wasn't the sensation of my skin hardening or my guard becoming sturdier. The very nature of the Cursed Energy flowing through my body was being sharply converted. A surge of power and confidence exploded from deep within me.
'...I can cut it.'
An absolute, overwhelming conviction that I could cleave that massive lump of Cursed Energy in two, leaving it with no form at all.
Mahoraga had already completed its adaptation to her Innate Technique.
"Fine then, bring it on!!"
I dropped my hips and lowered Muramasa, letting out a roar.
"Let's see which is stronger—your petty little tricks, or my stubborn blade!!"
"Die, Zenin!!"
Flash—!!
Aiming for the red phone and the massive Cursed Energy orb, I poured every ounce of CE into Muramasa and delivered a powerful diagonal upward slash.
The moment the silver arc of Cursed Energy, imbued with the power of adaptation, bit into the very center of the sphere—
BOOOOOOOOOOM—!!!
An ear-splitting explosion rocked the entire net cafe as if an earthquake had struck.
The windows shattered completely, and a torrential storm of dust and debris swept through the cramped interior.
"Aaargh!"
Caught in the shockwave of her own explosion, Gokudo Flower screamed and rolled across the floor.
And through the billowing cloud of dust, I emerged—completely unscathed. I lunged forward and pinned her to the floor, the cold back of Muramasa's blade pressing firmly against her throat.
"Urgh...! L-let me go!"
She struggled to push the blade away, but with her Cursed Energy depleted, she couldn't hope to overcome my physical strength as a man.
The battle was decisively over, but the suffocating adrenaline was still surging through my veins.
A bloody life-and-death struggle against a fallen curse-user, and the genius application of an Innate Technique she had shown...
I didn't bother hiding my thrill or my manic grin. Looking down at the woman pinned beneath me, I shouted from the bottom of my heart.
"Hahaha! Hey! You've got a hell of an Innate Technique there!"